Ezek 12

12:1–24:27 This section collects diverse prophecies and sign acts that are united in their condemnation of Jerusalem and its leaders.12:1-2 The inhabitants of Judah were not the only ones who had stony, stubborn hearts that were reluctant to hear the prophet’s message (11:19). The exiles among whom Ezekiel lived were also rebellious people who would refuse to see that their ways were evil and decline to hear his message, just like those left behind in Judah.

12:5-7 Ezekiel was to dig a hole through the wall as though sneaking out of a besieged city without being noticed, as Zedekiah later attempted to do (2 Kgs 25:4).

12:12-13 King Zedekiah was unable to see the coming judgment, so he would be unable to see either the land he is leaving or the land of the Babylonians. This prophecy was fulfilled when the Babylonians captured Zedekiah as he fled from besieged Jerusalem. After making him watch while his sons were tortured to death, the Babylonians gouged out his eyes (2 Kgs 25:1-7). This terrible fate for Judah’s last king was not simply due to the Babylonians’ imperial expansionist ambitions. More fundamentally, the Lord wanted to capture him in his snare.

12:16 The unhappy few survivors would confess all their detestable sins to their captors, not necessarily in repentance, but in recognition that the Lord had acted justly in judgment against them.

12:17-20 For Ezekiel to tremble and shake while eating and drinking was a sign act that reflected the terrible anxiety of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah as they saw their inevitable doom approaching. When the exiles learned that their former homeland had been destroyed, they would realize that they were not castoffs from God’s plan, but rather the fortunate ones who had escaped his comprehensive judgment (see Jer 24:1-8).

12:21–14:11 The messages in this section address the issue of true and false prophecy.

12:22 Ezekiel’s hearers were so reluctant to open their ears to the message of the prophets that they had coined a proverb to express their skepticism.

12:23-25 In response to the people’s unbelief (12:22), the Lord framed a new proverb for the people, using similar words but with an opposite meaning.

12:26-28 The people responded with a second proverb, and again the Lord refuted them. What the Lord had threatened, he would do.