Ezekiel 12

Ezekiel 12:1

J. Ezekiel’s Signs of the Coming Exile (Chap. 12)

1. His Baggage (12:1-16)12:1-12 Ezekiel was commanded to move his household goods from one place . . . to another, as a sign to the Jews that they would be moving off into captivity. By digging through the wall at night with his eyes covered, he predicted that Zedekiah (the prince) would flee from the city at twilight (when he could not see the ground). 12:13-16 However, he would be captured and taken to Babylon, though he would never see it . . . with his eyes (v. 13). This is exactly what happened. Zedekiah was captured as he fled from Jerusalem, his eyes were put out at Riblah, and then he was carried to Chaldea (2Ki_25:7). The people would be scattered among the nations, and many of them would die from the sword, famine, and . . . pestilence.

Ezekiel 12:17

2. His Quaking (12:17-28)12:17-20 When Ezekiel ate and drank with trembling and quaking, he gave a pre-picture of the fear and anxiety that would precede the exile. 12:21-28 The people had a proverb that God’s prophecies of doom were never fulfilled. God gave them another proverb, announcing that the day of fulfillment was at hand, and that every prophecy (vision) would come to pass. Those who said that the fulfillment was yet future would see it in their own day. The people’s tendency to explain the prophecies away or apply them to future generations is still with us. When God speaks to us through a message or a book, we immediately seem to know how our brother or sister should apply it and change. It is an evil and destructive tendency to apply God’s Word to others and not to our own lives. We should also watch out for glib cliche9s that contradict God’s Word or that deny or postpone His intervention.