Verse 1 shows that this part of the book was written after the captivity had taken place.
The Gibeonites are catalogued being those who Joshua had made hewers of wood and drawers of water (Joshua 9:27). As some of the original inhabitants of the land the men of Gibeon would be almost unique in the land.

V.22 Gatekeepers were guards to the temple entrances.  Some had specific duties to guard the ark.  The aim was to keep out those who were not permitted to worship at certain places (unclean in terms of the Law). 

Originally, they were appointed by David and Samuel.  Samuel was familiar with the job as it was his childhood responsibility (1Sam 3:15). 

When the Israelites first returned from Babylon, there were 212 gatekeepers appointed.  Compare that with the 4000 gatekeepers originally appointed for the temple alone (1Chron 23:5). 

9:3  Whilst we might not be surprised to read of Judah and Benjamin dwelling in Jerusalem as Jerusalem was a city on the border between Judah and Benjamin we may well be surprised to read of Ephraim and Manasseh dwelling there also.

9:41 Notice that whilst Mical – who had been David’s wife – had sons none of them figured in David’s activities with regard to the tent in Jerusalem.

22:4 reproach unto the heathen Deuteronomy 28:37
22:7 set light by father and mother Deuteronomy 27:16
22:7 dealt ... with the stranger Exodus 22:21
22:7 vexed the fatherless and the widow Exodus 22:22
22:8 profaned my sabbaths Leviticus 19:30
22:10 discovered thy fathers nakedness Leviticus 18:7
22:10 humbled ... apart for pollution Leviticus 18:18
22:11 committed abomination ... wife Leviticus 18:20
22:11 lewdly defiled his daughter in law Leviticus 18:17
22:11 humbled his ... fathers daughter Leviticus 18:9
22:12 in thee ... shed blood Deuteronomy 27:25
22:12 thou hast taken usury and increase Exodus 22:25
22:12 hast forgotten me Deuteronomy 32:18
22:15 I will scatter ... heathen Deuteronomy 28:25
22:25 like a roaring lion 1 Peter 5:8
22:25 devoured many widows Matthew 23:14
22:29 oppressed the stranger wrongfully Exodus 22:21
22:30 stand in the gap before me Psalm 106:23

The extensive use of the Law of Moses is interesting. Ezekiel, the priest, is quoting the details of the law - see the list above - but he is saying that Israel have committed all the things that they should not have done. Notice that the details from the law all have the 'thou shalt not' removed in Ezekiel. As the final overthrow of the temple approaches the message of the prophet becomes more urgent and direct.

V.20 Following on from yesterday's 1 Chron. 8 note, we see the array of metals (excluding gold) worked at this time.

Vs.30,31 Yahweh sought a priest to stand in the gap between Himself and the people.  Moses did exactly that and turned away the wrath of Yahweh (Exo 32:10-14).  The Lord Jesus bridged the gap between Yahweh and man, acting as a mediator (bringing God to man) (1Tim 2:5).

Being the cornerstone, Jesus truly stood in the gap and built up the wall (Isa 28:16; Eph 2:20; 1Pet 2:6). The cornerstone, in construction, was the foundation stone which supported the junction of two walls. The two walls which Jesus brought together were the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.  As one wall came to an end, the other wall would begin, the cornerstone being the pivot.

22:9  Those to whom Ezekiel was speaking were not actually murders. They were those who like to tell tales and as such were like tose that Isaiah spoke of - Isa 59:7

22:4 The idols had ‘defiled’ Israel. That is their thoughts and actions had put them out of fellowship with their God.

22:7-12 This section contains a litany of cases where Israel had violated the law of the Moses. Yu can see the list in an earlier posting for this chapter. The prophet is making the point that the law of Moses was a witness against them. He has been quoting the curses that will come upon them as have the earlier prophets. Now he is indicting them with the details of the commandments of the law of Moses – those details which relate to the way in which one man had to treat another. They may well have tried to reason that they offered all the sacrifices at the appointed time. Ezekiel is making the point that there is more to worshipping God than observing ritual. We do well to remember that in our Christian lives.

22:15 In saying ‘I will scatter thee among the heathen’ the prophet is again quoting from the curses, this time Deut 28:25

Direct consequences

God's focus until now in the book of Ezekiel has been Israel's idolatry and shunning of His laws. And I'll warrant that this doesn't mean much to us in reality. It's like when we hear about a neighbour or friend at work fiddling their tax return - it's just a broken law to us - and doesn't affect us. Yet when we hear on the news about a violent crime or abuse, the pain of it reaches into our hearts. But with God there isn't this distinction. His law was designed to protect the widow, weak, fatherless, poor, slave and stranger. And when rulers and the general population started to ignore that law (tied in with worship) casualties multiplied. So in effect it was turning away from worshipping God that caused murders, crime and the collapse of the welfare system that protected widows and orphans from starvation. We can see a similar thing today in countries where rule of law is non-existent.

So when Ezekiel lists Israel's sins in this chapter, it is a list of effects, not causes. It is however all part of the Godlessness which led to lawlessness which led to these effects. So the list of crimes in this chapter may not have been perpetrated directly by the rulers, but their miss-rule,  inaction brought on by ignorance of God's principles led to starvation, crime and injustice - in other words the bloodshed of the innocent in v13, which is exactly the point that Jesus makes about the rulers of his time "who devour widows households" (Matt 23:14).

22:12 The condemnation that they had taken money to shed blood is one of the violations of the Law – Deut 27:25– which Ezekiel is charging the people with.

19:37 descent of the mount of Olives 2 Samuel 15:30
19:38 blessed ... Lord Psalm 118:26
19:46 My house ... prayer Isaiah 56:7
19:46 ye have made it a den of thieves Jeremiah 7:11

The use of 2 Samuel 15 - the flight of David from Absalom is the beginning of this theme in the last week of Jesus' life. The last one is to be seen in John 18:1 where Jesus crossed the brook Kidron. Commented on in the notes on John.
The use of Psalm 118 in the last week of Jesus' life is instructive. The Pharisees requested that the people be stopped from crying out the Psalm. Later - Matthew 21:42 - Jesus silences his opponent by using the Psalm and finally tells those same critics that they will not see him again until they speak the words of the very Psalm that they wished the people to stop saying - Matthew 23:39.

But there's always hope. Jesus had demonstrated that his kingship was not to be an immediate one, or an earthly one. He now went on to preach all the more that the gospel was their way out of these judgments. (v48). To those people who were converted to the gospel, even the terrors of AD70 would hold no fear, because their treasure would be in heaven.

Vs.4-6 The sycamore tree is not the same as the sycamore tree found in the western world. Actually it is a fig tree (ficus sycomorus). It is different to the ficus carica which is the short, summer fruit-bearing fig tree that is normally associated as a symbol of Israel.

And so, this was the setting for Zacchaeus' encounter with the Lord.  Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector and very wealthy.  And yet, he was sitting in the fig tree of the poor.  How ironic, that this very rich man was surrounded by (spiritual) poverty.  But the Lord bid him out of (spiritual) poverty to become rich in faith.  Zacchaeus' actions backed up his faith (v.8;James 2:20); and he became found of Christ (vs.9,10; James 2:21).

19:10  The people who are ‘lost’ are the ones who realise their need – Jesus has spoken about priorities already – Luke 9:27, 18:43. Do we realise that we are lost without Jesus and that we cannot save our own lives?

19:41 Jesus’ behaviour in weeping over the city s in stark contrast to Jonah who sat looking at Nineveh waiting for its destruction. Jon 4:5

Vs.45,46 This is the second temple cleansing, which occurred near the end of Jesus' ministry. The first temple cleansing took place at the beginning of His ministry and is recorded in John 2:13-17.

These two cleansings relate to the cleansing of a house for leprosy under the Law (Lev 14:33-57). Then, the priest inspected the leprous house and commanded that it be cleansed by removing the affected stones, scraping clean the rest of the house, and replastering. The priest would come a second time to inspect the house, and if leprosy had appeared again, then the whole house had to be destroyed.

The Lord Jesus inspected His Father's house and found leprosy (spiritual rot). After cleansing it, He came back a second time and found it still leprous. The house had to be destroyed, which occurred in 70 AD. This is a clear example of how the Lord fulfilled the Law (Matt 5:17).

19:42 Jesus weeping over the city must have been a stark contrast to the rejoicing as he travelled towards the city. It must have brought a sombre mood to the whole events.

Luke ch 19 outlines for us the disciples life:
v1-10 Zacchaeus (the call of the gospel to repentance).
v11-27 Parable of the servants and the pounds (life of servants/disciples of Christ and judgement at Christ's return).
v29 Christ on the Mount of Olives (his return Zech 14:4).
v47-48 Christ teaching (the Law goes out from Zion to the nations Mic 4:2)

Also in v47 the scribes seek to destroy Jesus and in v48 and could not find what they might do: for all the people were very attentive to hear him this is exhortation to us as the world seeks to destroy us and Christ; we must be very attentive to hear the word of God that is able to keep us from being destroyed by the world James 1:21-25

Vs.12-27 The parable of the pounds is similar to, but not the same as, the parable of the talents found in Matt 25:14-30.  The parables were spoken in different places to different people; and the monetary amounts were different (same number of pounds to each person; differing number of talents to each person). 

The parable of the pounds displayed that, given the same amount of faith, each participant showed the increase in assets he could produce.  The parable of the talents showed that, given differing amounts, the participants demonstrated that they could all achieve the same amount of fidelity (talents doubled in each case). 

Of course, making no gains, in either circumstance, was not acceptable.

19:8 In saying that he restored ‘fourfold’ anyone he might have defrauded or wronged Zacchaeus is showing that he was a faithful observer of the law of Moses – Exo 22:1

19:14 In putting words into the citizens mouths ‘we will not have this man to reign over us’ Jesus is likening the ‘citizens’ who are representative of the Jewish leaders to the people in the days of Samuel when they rejected God from being their king, choosing Saul instead. 11Kin 8:5