Ezekiel 12:23

Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision. THE DAYS ARE AT HAND, AND THE EFFECT OF EVERY VISION - "the effect," literally, the word, namely, fulfilled; i.e., the effective fulfillment of whatever the prophets have spoken is at hand....

21-28 From that forbearance of God, which should have led them to repent, the Jews hardened themselves in sin. It will not serve for an excuse in speaking evil, to plead that it is a common saying. There is but a step between us and an awful eternity; therefore it concerns us to get ready for a future state. No one will be able to put from himself the evil day, unless by seeking peace with the Lord....

Verse Ezekiel 12:23. _THE DAYS ARE AT HAND_] Far from _failing_ or being _prolonged_, time is posting on, and the destruction threatened is at the door....

As in Ezekiel 7, the nearness of the judgment is foretold. Ezekiel 12:22 THE LAND OF ISRAEL - is put generally for the land where the children of Israel dwelt, whether at home, or in exile. There was prevalent a disregard for the true prophets, which is ever followed by a recognition of the false. First, the true prophet is rejected because it is thought that his prophecies fail. Then men persuade themselves that if the prophecy be true it respects some distant time, and that the men of the present generation need not disturb themselves about it. Compare Jeremiah 1:11; Amos 6:3;...

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

TELL THEM THEREFORE,.... Plainly and boldly, with the greatest assurance and confidence, as from God himself: THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD, I WILL MAKE THIS PROVERB TO CEASE; by quickly accomplishing the things which they, by this proverb, represented as at a great distance, and what would never be brought about: AND THEY SHALL NO MORE USE IT AS A PROVERB IN ISRAEL; when the things predicted shall take place: BUT SAY UNTO THEM, THE DAYS ARE AT HAND, AND THE EFFECT OF EVERY VISION; the time is hastening on, and will quickly come, when every prophecy shall be fulfilled: it was in the sixth year of Jehoiachin's captivity that these prophecies were delivered out; and in the ninth year Nebuchadnezzar came with his army, and besieged Jerusalem; so that the days were at hand; in three years' time there began an accomplishment of the above predictions, which were scoffed at in the proverb used....

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)

DISREGARD OF THE TRUE PROPHETS. One reason for ignoring the stern message of Ezekiel is suggested by the popular saying that the days keep stretching out but the doom is never fulfilled, so that there is nothing in prophecy after all (Ezekiel 12:21). Another group of people appears to have believed in prophecy, but regarded the doom at which it pointed to be so far away as to be negligible (Ezekiel 12:26). To both Ezekiel reiterates his message with the assurance that the doom is coming speedily....

ARE AT HAND. The fulfilment took place five years later. EFFECT. word: i.e. the [fulfilled] word, meaning, or purpose....

Warning against despising of prophecy The prophet felt that such threats as those just uttered (Ezekiel 12:1) were neglected and little thought of. People disposed of such prophecies by saying that they did not come true; or, if they did not go so far, by saying that they referred to the distant future. Ezekiel warns them that Jehovah's threatenings bear upon the present time, and that they shall be fulfilled....