Ezekiel 11:16

yet will I be to them] Rather: and have been to them for a sanctuary but little in the countries where they are come. The expression “for a sanctuary but little” refers to the taunt of the dwellers in Jerusalem that the exiles were far from the sanctuary and had no part in Jehovah. It is true that he had not been to the exiles in great measure that which a “sanctuary” is, viz. a presence of Jehovah, a sanctification, and a religious joy. It is doubtful if “sanctuary” has anywhere (even Isa_8:14) the meaning of asylum, protection; the sanctuary is the abode of Jehovah, and his presence there sanctifies those in the midst of whom he dwells. The exiles longed to be near the sanctuary and mourned their distance from it (Psalms 84, 137); while those left in the land boasted of the possession of it and looked on the exiles as outcasts.