Ezekiel 12:1

The word of the LORD also came unto me, saying, A REBELLIOUS HOUSE, WHICH HAVE EYES TO SEE, AND SEE NOT ... EARS TO HEAR, AND HEAR NOT - fulfilling the prophecy of , "Yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day," here quoted by Ezekiel (cf. ; ). Ezekiel needed often to be reminded of the people's perversity, lest he should be discouraged by the little effect produced by his prophecies. Their "not seeing" is the result of perversity, not incapacity. They are willfully blind. The persons most interested in this prophecy were those dwelling at Jerusalem; and it is among them that Ezekiel was transported in spirit, and performed in vision, not outwardly, the...

Because God was about to give a command to his servant, he wished to inspire him with fortitude of mind, lest, when he saw that he was consuming his labor in vain, he should withdraw from his course. For we know how severe is that temptation to God’s servants when they speak to the deaf, and not only is their doctrine rejected but even refused with ignominy. They think, therefore, that nothing is better than silence, because where their word is so despised it only exposes the name of God to the reproaches of the impious. Now then we understand for what purpose God admonishes his Prophet about the contumacy of the nation. The Prophet had tried enough, and more than enough, how unmanageable the Israelites were, but God confirms by his judgment what the Prophet had discovered sufficiently in practice. Then we must observe another reason, for God not only commanded his Prophet what to say, b...

1-16 By the preparation for removal, and his breaking through the wall of his house at evening, as one desirous to escape from the enemy, the prophet signified the conduct and fate of Zedekiah. When God has delivered us, we must glorify him and edify others, by acknowledging our sins. Those who by afflictions are brought to this, are made to know that God is the Lord, and may help to bring others to know him....

CHAPTER XII _The prophet proceeds, by a variety of types and parables, to_ _convince those of the captivity that their brethren who were_ _left behind to sustain the miseries of a seige and the insults_ _of a conqueror, would be in a much worse condition than they_ _who were already settled in a foreign land. In the beginning of_ _this chapter he foretells the approaching captivity of Judah by_ _action instead of words_, 1-7. _He predicts particularly the flight, capture, captivity, and_ _sufferings of Zedekiah and his followers_, 8-16,...

EXPOSITION EZEKIEL 12:1 THE WORD OF THE LORD, etc. This formula, so familiar in Isaiah and Jeremiah, appears for the first time in Ezekiel, but occurs repeatedly afterwards, especially in this chapter (verses 8, 17, 21, 26. and again Ezekiel 13:1; Ezekiel 14:2, _et al._)_. _The teaching by "the visions of God" ceases, and that of direct message or symbolic acts is resumed. In each case the point aimed at was the same. The people who heard the one or saw the other were to be taught how utterly groundless was the hope that Jerusalem could hold out against its enemies. The interval between the two was probably a short one, and the new teaching, we may conjectu

THE WORD OF THE LORD CAME UNTO ME, SAYING. The word of prophecy, as the Targum; the vision of the cherubim being over, this, very likely, immediately followed upon the former; though the exact time of the prophecy cannot be fixed, because the date is not given; it must be between the sixth month of the sixth year of Jehoiachin's captivity, Ezekiel 8:1; and the fifth month of the seventh year, Ezekiel 20:1....

CHAPTER S 12-19 Signs, Messages, and Parables _ 1. Signs given through the prophet (Ezekiel 12:1) _ 2. The message of speedy judgment (Ezekiel 12:21) 3. The message against false prophets and prophetesses. (Ezekiel 13:1) 4. The message against the elders (Ezekiel 14:1) 5. The parable of the vine given to the fire (Ezekiel 15:1) 6. The parable of the abandoned child and Israel's whoredom (Ezekiel 16:1)

EZEKIEL 12. EXILE FORESHADOWED. Ezekiel 12:1. Flight from the Beleaguered City. Ezekiel's message of doom has surely been made plain enough, but the rebellious house will not listen; for one thing, their confidence in the indestructibility of the monarchy and the throne made such a message incredible. Well then, if they will not hear, they must be made to see; and again, as before (4) Ezekiel incarnates his message. By his conduct, he becomes a prophetic sign. In the daytime, before the eyes of the people, he packs a few belongings together, such as an exile might take with him to the land for which he was destined; then, having thus stimulated their curiosity, he carries them on his shoulder in the dead of night through a hole which he had dug in the wall (apparently of his house). In the morning, in answer to their astonished queries, he tells them plainly that it is a prophetic sy

THE LORD. Hebrew. _Jehovah._ App-4....

THE WORD OF THE LORD ALSO CAME, &C.— This happened in the sixth year of Zedekiah, and five years before the siege of Jerusalem. The prophesies in the following Chapter s to the 20th are of the same year. The prophet here applies himself to those of the captivity among whom he dwelt: they saw Jerusalem still inhabited, and under the government of its own king; so that they who were left in the land of Canaan, insulted the exiles, who repined at their own situation; thinking those who dwelt at Jerusalem in a much better condition than themselves. The following parables, therefore, are designed to shew, that they who were left behind to sustain the miseries of a siege and the insults of a conqueror, would be in a much worse situation, than those who were already settled in a foreign land. See Lowth and Calmet. Houbigant, however, is of a different opinion, and thinks that this prophesy was...