Chapter Twelve

1–7. The captivity of Zedekiah and the people, represented in a symbolic act. 8–16. The explanation of this symbolic act. 17–20. The distresses of the siege, represented in a symbolic act. 21–25. The immutability of prophetic predictions. 26–28. The immediate nearness of their fulfillment.

Ezekiel 12:1. And the word of the Lord came to me: Neither the date for this revelation nor for the whole series following up to Ezek 20:1, where the date is the 7th year, 5th month of the captivity, that is, of the reign of Zedekiah; therefore, all the revelations of chapters XII-XIX should fall within these 11 months of the 7th–6th year of Zedekiah (591–590 B.C.). On this basis the speeches of these chapters are united in one (4th) section of the book, which has the purpose of closer grounding and confirmation of the catastrophe described first in chapters IV–VII, and then in chapters VIII–XI, grounding caused by the people’s disbelief in the predictions of Ezekiel (Ezek 12:2).

Ezekiel 12:2. Son of man! You dwell in the midst of a rebellious house; they have eyes to see, but do not see; they have ears to hear, but do not hear; for they are a rebellious house. The beginning of the chapter moves us to a somewhat later time: the prophet seems to speak under the impression of new bitter experiences made over the captives; the failure of the former preaching, apparently, was the cause of new revelations; not only to the Jerusalemites, but also to little disposed toward them Babylonian colonists, faith in the approaching fall of Judah somehow did not come. – “In the midst of a rebellious house.” Intentionally without explanation, as something familiar and often mentioned (Ezek 2:5 and others), not as in verse 9, where explanation is less needed. The LXX for some reason: “in the midst of injustices,” perhaps from Lev 16:16. – “They have eyes, to see, and do not see,” and so forth, from Deut 29:4 became a favorite expression among the prophets: Isa 6:9; Jer 5:21; Mark 8:18.

Ezekiel 12:3. You, son of man, prepare for yourself baggage for exile, and go into exile by day in their sight; you shall go from your place to another place in their sight; perhaps they will understand, though they are a rebellious house; “Baggage for exile,” Church Slavonic “vessels of captivity,” that is, presumably a staff, sandals, a belt, a bag with provisions, a waterskin (as shown by Assyrian depictions of captive caravans), and perhaps some household articles. – “By day go into exile in their sight.” The command is repeated three times (the second “go into exile” in the LXX, however, is absent), a sign of special insistence. But in this verse the command is given in general expressions and in essential traits: prepare things, perform the action in the day, go to another place. The details are given in the following verses. This must be kept in mind for a correct understanding of the expression: “by day go into exile.” As the following verse shows, only the preparations for exile should be made during the day, while the exile itself should occur in the evening; but since the preparations here are the most important thing, the whole emigration can be said to be made in the day. – “Go from your place to another place.” Not from Tel-Aviv to another settlement, because in verse 8 the prophet is again in Tel-Aviv, and not out of the city or into another house, but only to play the emigrant, carry things, and so forth, as detailed in the following verses. – “Perhaps they will understand.” The expression sounds with greater hope for success than the analogous one at the calling: “whether they will listen or not.”

Ezekiel 12:4. Bring out your baggage by day in their sight, as baggage for exile, and you go out in the evening in their sight, as those go who go into exile. The verse, like verses 5–6, describes in particulars and details the general command of verse 3. The prophet is to carry out from his house in the day before the eyes of neighbors the things indicated in the explanation of verse 3 and stack them before the house in the manner in which they take them on a journey (“as baggage for exile”), that is, tied up and packed. And the prophet himself is to go out from the house for exile only in the evening, either because with the approach of evening coolness, journeys to the east generally begin, or in order that preparations for a journey during the whole day attract as much attention as possible from those around, or most likely of all as a sign of the nighttime flight of Zedekiah (verse 12). – “As those go who go into exile,” Church Slavonic: “As a captive goes forth,” that is, provided with the most necessary and showing on himself the oppression and sorrow.

Ezekiel 12:5. Before their eyes break through the wall, and carry your baggage through it. “Through the wall,” of course the house, because the city wall or the yard wall would be more precisely defined; and hardly did Tel-Aviv have a wall. The significance of the image see in verse 12. “And carry through it,” that is, the remaining things, perhaps the smaller ones; this was the most difficult, why perhaps only this is mentioned, not the passage through the hole of the prophet; the absence of a direct object is strange, however, why the LXX, Targum, Peshitta, and Vulgate: “and go forth through it”; and the things were carried out earlier in the day, verse 4.

Ezekiel 12:6. Take the baggage on your shoulder in the dark, and cover your face so that you may not see the land; for I have set you as a sign for the house of Israel. “Take the baggage on your shoulder.” Church Slavonic: “upon the shoulders you shall be taken,” that is, the prophet was to be carried on the shoulders; Church Slavonic reading is doubtful (why was the prophet to be carried?) and arose, perhaps, in view of the fact that the things from the house were carried out in the day; but here is spoken of further carrying them to another place. “In the dark.” The Hebrew word (“alata”), used only once more in Gen 15:17, means heavy, nocturnal darkness; Church Slavonic: “covered,” and in verse 7, the same word “secretly.” – “And carry it,” that is, take it from the house at some distance. – “Cover your face” – from shame, or so as not to be recognized, or as a sign of the blinding of Zedekiah; cf. verse 12. – “For the house of Israel,” that is, in the nearest sense to the fellow-captives of the prophet, who could see all this, and then to all Israel, which was ever to know of such accurate and true predictions of the prophet.

Ezekiel 12:7. And I did so as I was commanded; I brought out my baggage by day, as baggage for exile, and in the evening I broke through the wall with my hands, brought my baggage out in the dark, and carried it on my shoulder before their eyes. A detailed account of the fulfillment of God’s command wishes to mark the exactness of the fulfillment. – “With my hands.” According to the Hebrew without the article, therefore, does not mean: without the aid of a tool (for example, so as not to be heard or from haste), but with own hands or with force (as in Isa 28:2): without a tool it would hardly have been possible to break through the wall: “Ezekiel lived not in Japan” (Kraetzschmar): in some Greek manuscripts missing.

Ezekiel 12:8. And the word of the Lord came to me in the morning: The strange actions of the prophet, already occupying an exclusive position among his fellow villagers and drawing their amazed, if not frightened, eyes upon himself, could not help but attract their attention and not give rise to talk. Therefore the prophet on the very next morning after the night, most of which must have been spent in symbolic wandering, receives from God for publication (cf. verse 10) an explanation of his symbolic action. Consequently, the prophet himself had to perform this action without understanding its meaning, although perhaps he looked forward into it somewhat: previous symbolic actions were explained to him by God before their performance.

Ezekiel 12:9. Son of man! Has not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said to you, “What are you doing? The question of the fellow-countrymen, as shown already by the again used and moreover as a definition epithet “rebellious house,” was caused not so much by serious curiosity and the seeking of instruction as by naive thirst for novelty and mocking curiosity: cf. in Ezek 24:19, where the attitude toward the prophet is already more serious.

Ezekiel 12:10. Say to them: Thus says the Lord God: This burden is for the prince in Jerusalem and for all the house of Israel who are in it. Ezekiel 7:27. “This burden is for the prince in Jerusalem,” that is, for Zedekiah, whom Ezekiel calls king (“melech”) only in Ezek. 7:27, and in other places, as here, only “prince,” “nasi”: Ezek 21:25, perhaps considering him unworthy of the first title (cf. Ezek 1:2 and Ezek 17:12 about Jehoiachin – “melech”), which in the prophet is applied to the Messiah (Ezek 37:22-24) and in general is the usual designation of a king, also of Nebuchadnezzar, the kings of Tyre and Egypt in chapters XXVI-XXIX); and in the future theocracy Israel will have only a “nasi”: Ezek 44:3 and others. “Burden for the prince” in the Hebrew a word-play: “hanasi – hammasa,” literally: “prince – burden,” Church Slavonic: “to the prince and elders.” – “And for all the house of Israel, which... is there,” that is, in Jerusalem. The expression is somewhat strange, and the last definition seems superfluous; perhaps the prophet means to say that all the eyes of Israel are now turned toward Jerusalem, which they consider the sole representative of the house of Israel. Ezekiel 12:11. Say: I am a sign for you; as I have done, so shall it be done to them – they shall go into exile, into captivity. The sign relates first of all to the captives (depriving them of hope for a speedy return to their homeland), though it will be fulfilled only on those remaining in Jerusalem; hence the 2nd and 3rd person in the pronouns.

Ezekiel 12:12. And the prince who is among them shall lift his baggage on his shoulder in the darkness, and shall go out; they shall break through the wall to carry him out through it; he shall cover his face, so that he does not see the land with his eyes. From the fate of the people it passes to the fate of the king. “The prince” – Zedekiah (verse 10). – “Among them” – from them. The fate of the king will not be such as of the subjects. – “In the darkness” – the flight of Zedekiah from the besieged city took place at night. – “Shall lift,” what is not said in the Hebrew; perhaps something of his possessions, or: sin and curse. The LXX: “take shall take upon the shoulders,” that is, pack animals or his fellow-countrymen; such detail in the account of Zedekiah’s flight is not transmitted. – “And go out.” The king leaves his capital, being the cause of the destruction of the people. – “They shall break through the wall,” that is, those around Zedekiah (the LXX – singular). In 2 Sam 25:4; Jer 39:4 it is said that Zedekiah fled “through the king’s garden to the gate between two walls,” that is, presumably through a small gate leading from the royal garden to the south-east angle of the city wall beyond the city, because all the large gates were guarded by those besieging; the gate, perhaps constructed during the siege, was probably a hidden one, which explains the expression of the prophet: the king, who always entered the city triumphantly through the main gates, now like a criminal must flee along back ways. – “Cover his face” – incognito, and perhaps an indication also of the blinding. – “That he does not see the land” – of Palestine; not only it, however, but the land of captivity also, about which it will be said in verse 13.

Ezekiel 12:13. I will spread my net over him, and he shall be taken in my snare; and I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans; but he shall not see it, and he shall die there. The captivity of Zedekiah is presented under the aspect of a hunting net upon him by the Lord, a comparison which has the purpose of expressing the great wrath of God upon this king, mainly, as chapter XVII shows, because of his faithlessness and oath-breaking toward Nebuchadnezzar. The comparison is very strong and beloved by Ezekiel (Ezek 17:20), but not new: Hos 7:12; Jer 18:22; Lam 1:13. As the Lord Himself in chapter IV besieges Jerusalem, so also here the Chaldeans are only executors of His will. God deprives the king of every possibility of escaping from the Chaldeans. – “To Babylon.” This then is the “other place” of verse 3. – “But he shall not see it,” the land of the Chaldeans. With scarcely solvable for the listeners, skillful and truly prophetic mystery, the blinding of Zedekiah is foretold. – “And he shall die there.” This goes beyond the symbolic action of verses 3–7.

Ezekiel 12:14. And all who are around him, his helpers, and all his troops, I will scatter to all the winds; and I will unsheathe the sword after them. The fate of Zedekiah’s army. “His helpers” – the immediate force. – “All his troops.” The Hebrew word “agad” found only in Ezekiel and related to Arabic, Aramaic, and Assyrian roots, means “detachments of troops”; Church Slavonic: “standing by him.” – “I will scatter...” see Ezek 5:12.

Ezekiel 12:15. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I scatter them among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries. The fate of the people. “Among the nations...throughout the countries” see explanation in Ezek 5:5.

Ezekiel 12:16. But I will leave a small number of them from the sword, from famine, and from plague, so that they may declare all their abominations among the nations where they go; and they shall know that I am the Lord. The purpose of God’s punishment, as also of the merciful preservation of a small number (Church Slavonic: “men in number”) of Israel, remains always the same: knowledge of God (cf. for example, Ezek 6:7 and others), so that they might know that God did not act toward Israel from weakness, but because of their abominations, and let not only the Israelites themselves know this (cf. Ezek 14:21 and ff.), but also the heathen: this is the novelty of this place compared to the previous parallel ones; and it must be noted that Ezekiel seems not to expect from the heathen, in the near future at least, anything more than such recognition (Ezek 17:24); however – Ezek 16:53. Three punishments: sword, famine, and plague are the same as in chapter V.

Ezekiel 12:18. Son of man! Eat your bread with quaking, and drink your water with trembling and anxiety. The symbolic action described in verses 17–20 is parallel to Ezek 4:10 and ff.; repetition is a characteristic of Ezekiel. The present symbolic action, as is always the case with repetitions in the prophet Ezekiel, introduces an essential addition to Ezek 4:10 and further: the food of the besieged and captives will not only be scanty and repulsive, but will be taken with fearful hurriedness, which the prophet is to portray perhaps on his face during the taking of the food commanded in chapter IV. Consequently, this symbolic action required good mimicry for its performance and was hardly less difficult (Kraetzschmar) than the previous ones: “bread” and “water” perhaps denote all kinds of food in general. – “And drink your water.” The pronoun – from correspondence with “your bread”: the majority of Greek manuscripts and Ezek 4:11 do not have the pronoun, but in verse 19 it is again present.

Ezekiel 12:19. And say to the people of the land: Thus says the Lord God concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the land of Israel: They shall eat their bread with anxiety and drink their water with horror, because the land will be stripped of all its abundance because of the violence of all those who live in it. “The people of the land” commonly means all the population of the country (2 Sam 21:24) or the common people (Ezek 22:29); so also here by it may be understood the subjects of that king of whom until now the speech has been; though the prophet no longer lives among them and cannot in the proper sense speak (“say”) to them, yet the vivacity with which he follows the fate of his homeland allows him to see in his fellow-countrymen its representatives; moreover, he writes for the time when all should realize that the prophet was speaking to them. – “Because” Church Slavonic more precisely: “that,” “so that.” The whole tragedy will be in that the Jerusalemites and Judeans in general by their final panic-struck state should themselves contribute to their evil fate overtaking them the sooner. – “Of the land,” that is, of Jerusalem; the LXX without the pronoun. – “Abundance” – of inhabitants, products, riches. – “Because of the violence...” Ps 106:34.

Ezekiel 12:20. And the inhabited cities shall be laid waste, and the land shall become a desolation; and you shall know that I am the Lord. Cf. Jer 4:27. “It should be noted that at the same time Jeremiah was prophesying in Jerusalem, while Ezekiel in Babylon, and the prophecies of the first were sent to the captives, while the second to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that one might be convinced of the providence of one God in different lands” (Jerome).

Ezekiel 12:21. And the word of the Lord came to me: Until Ezek 14:11 proceeds a series of speeches on true and false prophecy, caused it seems by the increasingly growing distrust of prophetic predictions. This distrust was caused by 1) the slowness of the fulfillment of the prophecies; 2) the multiplication of false prophets; 3) the improper use of true prophecies. The first subject is devoted to two revelations in chapter XII: Ezek 12:21-25 and Ezek 12:26-28, the first of which, directed chiefly against those remaining in the homeland, speaks of the immutability of the predictions, the second – against the captives – of the nearness of their fulfillment; but both these revelations are closely connected with each other because the slow, not in the present generation, fulfillment of God’s threats for the latter would equal their complete non-fulfillment.

Ezekiel 12:22. Son of man! What is this proverb that you have in the land of Israel, saying, “The days are prolonged, and every vision comes to nothing”? As in other places (Ezek 8:12, cf. Jer 5:12) he likes to do this, the prophet for characterizing those to whom he addresses himself uses the phrase borrowed from the people’s lips, which he calls a proverb, Church Slavonic more precisely: “parable,” in the sense of a current figure of speech strongly impressed in the shortest and most compressed form. Perhaps the long-term proclamation of Jeremiah of the city’s and temple’s destruction gave rise to this proverb. – “Every vision comes to nothing,” Church Slavonic “perished.” A word, especially solemnly pronounced, as an oath, curse, prophecy, in antiquity had much greater significance than now, for it was considered a living force bringing about fulfillment; the word of God was indeed such a force (1 Sam 3:19; Ps 145:4); therefore if it did not come to pass, it could be spoken of, as of a known reality, that it perished.

Ezekiel 12:23. Therefore say to them: Thus says the Lord God: I will put an end to this proverb, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say to them: The days are at hand, and the fulfillment of every prophetic vision. The Lord comes forth with anger against such words, for they constitute an insult to His name, and such He cannot bear any longer; very soon that which He threatens will come to pass, and then those skeptics will themselves experience that Jehovah spoke through the prophets. “The fulfillment of every prophetic vision”; Church Slavonic more precisely: “the word, that is, the substance, of every vision.”

Ezekiel 12:24. For there shall no longer be any false vision or flattering divination within the house of Israel. Church Slavonic gives another thought for this verse: Israel will have no more false prophets and soothsayers. Those and these, thanks to the fact that their predictions did not come to pass, were the main reason for the weakening of faith in true prophecies. Therefore for the restoration of this faith, and with it the honor of God Himself, who predicted through true prophets, besides the speedy fulfillment of the prophecy, it is necessary to root out the false prophets; thus in this verse is indicated the second means to achieve the purpose, for which verse 23 indicates the first means.

Ezekiel 12:25. For I am the Lord; I will speak, and the word which I speak shall come to pass; it shall no longer be delayed; but in your days, O rebellious house, I will speak the word and perform it, says the Lord God. All false predictions will cease to make way for the one word of God. Rather than opposing the true prophets (of whom verse 24 speaks, according to the Church Slavonic text) with the false, Jehovah opposes Himself to the former. – “I speak” – the 1st and 2nd Church Slavonic more precisely “I will proclaim.” – “It shall no longer be delayed,” instances of which have occurred until now, thanks to the long-suffering of God, Who often made only conditional threats and hoped for the nation’s repentance (Jer 18:7 and ff. Joel 2:14; Jonah 3:9); now the long-suffering is exhausted. – “In your days.” The fulfillment of the prophecies is to come very soon and those who hear these must still in their lifetime see the first. By this the prophet transitions to the examination of another proverb which he must have often heard from the captives; hence the transition to the 2nd person plural. That the fulfillment of God’s word will touch the contemporary generation, on this the prophet insists the more, the more the general speeches about the prophecy not having real power were applied to him personally.

Ezekiel 12:27. Son of man! Behold, the house of Israel is saying, “The vision which he sees is for many days hence, and his prophecy is for a far distant time. This speech is directed apparently not against the Jerusalemites, but against the prophet’s fellow-countrymen (among whom there were also false prophets: Jer 29:8 and ff. Ezek 13:1); here, as well as there, Ezekiel’s preaching meets with frivolous attitudes and lack of understanding; but there is no open mockery, which sounds in verse 22; the listeners console themselves only with the remoteness of the prophecy, which, not touching them, for them has no real existence. An anonymous (“he”) prophet whose vision finds no serious belief is none other than Ezekiel himself.

Ezekiel 12:28. Therefore say to them: Thus says the Lord God: None of my words shall be delayed any longer, but the word which I speak shall be performed, says the Lord God. “None of my words shall be delayed any longer,” Church Slavonic: “shall not be prolonged for all my words” – sounds eschatologically.