24 For there shall be no more any false vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel.
It will come to pass in that day, says Yahweh of Hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they will no more be remembered; and also I will cause the prophets and the spirit of impurity to pass out of the land. It will happen that, when anyone still prophesies, then his father and his mother who bore him will tell him, 'You must die, because you speak lies in the name of Yahweh;' and his father and his mother who bore him will stab him when he prophesies. It will happen in that day, that the prophets will each be ashamed of his vision, when he prophesies; neither will they wear a hairy mantle to deceive:
Then said I, Ah, Lord Yahweh! behold, the prophets tell them, You shall not see the sword, neither shall you have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place. Then Yahweh said to me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name; I didn't send them, neither have I commanded them, neither spoke I to them: they prophesy to you a lying vision, and divination, and a thing of nothing, and the deceit of their own heart. Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, and I didn't send them, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land: By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed. The people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them-them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness on them.
Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made him horns of iron, and said, Thus says Yahweh, With these shall you push the Syrians, until they be consumed. All the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramoth-gilead, and prosper; for Yahweh will deliver it into the hand of the king. The messenger who went to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying, See now, the words of the prophets [declare] good to the king with one mouth: please let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak you good.
In the prophets of Jerusalem also I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies; and they strengthen the hands of evil-doers, so that none does return from his wickedness: they are all of them become to me as Sodom, and the inhabitants of it as Gomorrah. Therefore thus says Yahweh of Hosts concerning the prophets: Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem is ungodliness gone forth into all the land. Thus says Yahweh of Hosts, Don't listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you: they teach you vanity; they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of Yahweh. They say continually to those who despise me, Yahweh has said, You shall have peace; and to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart they say, No evil shall come on you. For who has stood in the council of Yahweh, that he should perceive and hear his word? who has marked my word, and heard it? Behold, the tempest of Yahweh, [even his] wrath, is gone forth, yes, a whirling tempest: it shall burst on the head of the wicked. The anger of Yahweh shall not return, until he has executed, and until he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days you shall understand it perfectly. I sent not these prophets, yet they ran: I didn't speak to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my council, then had they caused my people to hear my words, and had turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings. Am I a God at hand, says Yahweh, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places so that I shall not see him? says Yahweh. Don't I fill heaven and earth? says Yahweh. I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceit of their own heart? who think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers forgot my name for Baal. The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the straw to the wheat? says Yahweh. Isn't my word like fire? says Yahweh; and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
Many will follow their immoral{TR reads "destructive" instead of "immoral"} ways, and as a result, the way of the truth will be maligned. In covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words: whose sentence now from of old doesn't linger, and their destruction will not slumber.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Ezekiel 12
Commentary on Ezekiel 12 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 12
Eze 12:1-28. Ezekiel's Typical Moving to Exile: Prophecy of Zedekiah's Captivity and Privation of Sight: the Jews' Unbelieving Surmise as to the Distance of the Event Reproved.
1, 2. eyes to see, and see not, … ears to hear, and hear not—fulfilling the prophecy of De 29:4, here quoted by Ezekiel (compare Isa 6:9; Jer 5:21). 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 wilfully 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 typical acts. At the same time, the symbolical prophecy was designed to warn the exiles at Chebar against cherishing hopes, as many did in opposition to God's revealed word, of returning to Jerusalem, as if that city was to stand; externally living afar off, their hearts dwelt in that corrupt and doomed capital.
3. stuff for removing—rather, "an exile's outfit," the articles proper to a person going as an exile, a staff and knapsack, with a supply of food and clothing; so "instruments of captivity," Jer 46:19, Margin, that is, the needful equipments for it. His simple announcements having failed, he is symbolically to give them an ocular demonstration conveyed by a word-painting of actions performed in vision.
consider—(De 32:29).
4. by day—in broad daylight, when all can see thee.
at even—not contradicting the words "by day." The baggage was to be sent before by day, and Ezekiel was to follow at nightfall [Grotius]; or, the preparations were to be made by day, the actual departure was to be effected at night [Henderson].
as they that go forth into captivity—literally, "as the goings forth of the captivity," that is, of the captive band of exiles, namely, amid the silent darkness: typifying Zedekiah's flight by night on the taking of the city (Jer 39:4; 52:7).
5. Dig—as Zedekiah was to escape like one digging through a wall, furtively to effect an escape (Eze 12:12).
carry out—namely, "thy stuff" (Eze 12:4).
thereby—by the opening in the wall. Zedekiah escaped "by the gate betwixt the two walls" (Jer 39:4).
6. in … twilight—rather, "in the dark." So in Ge 15:17, "it" refers to "thy stuff."
cover thy face—as one who muffles his face, afraid of being recognized by anyone meeting him. So the Jews and Zedekiah should make their exit stealthily and afraid to look around, so hurried should be their fight [Calvin].
sign—rather, "a portent," namely, for evil.
9. What doest thou?—They ask not in a docile spirit, but making a jest of his proceedings.
10. burden—that is, weighty oracle.
the prince—The very man Zedekiah, in whom they trust for safety, is to be the chief sufferer. Josephus [Antiquities, 10.7] reports that Ezekiel sent a copy of this prophecy to Zedekiah. As Jeremiah had sent a letter to the captives at the Chebar, which was the means of calling forth at first the agency of Ezekiel, so it was natural for Ezekiel to send a message to Jerusalem confirming the warnings of Jeremiah. The prince, however, fancying a contradiction between Eze 12:13; "he shall not see Babylon," and Jer 24:8, 9, declaring he should be carried to Babylon, believed neither. Seeming discrepancies in Scripture on deeper search prove to be hidden harmonies.
11. sign—portent of evil to come (Eze 24:27; Zec 3:8, Margin). Fulfilled (2Ki 25:1-7; Jer 52:1-11).
12. prince … among them—literally, "that is in the midst of them," that is, on whom the eyes of all are cast, and "under whose shadow" they hope to live (La 4:20).
shall bear—namely, his "stuff for removing"; his equipments for his journey.
cover his face, that he see not the ground—See on Eze 12:6; the symbol in Eze 12:6 is explained in this verse. He shall muffle his face so as not to be recognized: a humiliation for a king!
13. My net—the Chaldean army. He shall be inextricably entangled in it, as in the meshes of a net. It is God's net (Job 19:6). Babylon was God's instrument (Isa 10:5). Called "a net" (Hab 1:14-16).
bring him to Babylon … ; yet shall he not see it—because he should be deprived of sight before he arrived there (Jer 52:11).
14. all … about him—his satellites: his bodyguard.
bands—literally, "the wings" of an army (Isa 8:8).
draw out … sword after them—(See on Eze 5:2; Eze 5:12).
16. I will leave a few … that they may declare … abominations—God's purpose in scattering a remnant of Jews among the Gentiles; namely, not only that they themselves should be weaned from idolatry (see Eze 12:15), but that by their own word, as also by their whole state as exiles, they should make God's righteousness manifest among the Gentiles, as vindicated in their punishment for their sins (compare Isa 43:10; Zec 8:13).
18. Symbolical representation of the famine and fear with which they should eat their scanty morsel, in their exile, and especially at the siege.
19. people of the land—the Jews "in the land" of Chaldea who thought themselves miserable as being exiles and envied the Jews left in Jerusalem as fortunate.
land of Israel—contrasted with "the people in the land" of Chaldea. So far from being fortunate as the exiles in Chaldea regarded them, the Jews in Jerusalem are truly miserable, for the worst is before them, whereas the exiles have escaped the miseries of the coming siege.
land … desolate from all that is therein—literally, "that the land (namely, Judea) may be despoiled of the fulness thereof"; emptied of the inhabitants and abundance of flocks and corn with which it was filled.
because of … violence—(Ps 107:34).
20. the cities—left in Judea after the destruction of Jerusalem.
22. proverb—The infidel scoff, that the threatened judgment was so long in coming, it would not come at all, had by frequent repetition come to be a "proverb" with them. This skeptical habit contemporary prophets testify to (Jer 17:15; 20:7; Zep 1:12). Ezekiel, at the Chebar, thus sympathizes with Jeremiah and strengthens his testimony at Jerusalem. The tendency to the same scoff showed itself in earlier times, but had not then developed into a settled "proverb" (Isa 5:19; Am 5:18). It shall again be the characteristic of the last times, when "faith" shall be regarded as an antiquated thing (Lu 18:8), seeing that it remains stationary, whereas worldly arts and sciences progress, and when the "continuance of all things from creation" will be the argument against the possibility of their being suddenly brought to a standstill by the coming of the Lord (Isa 66:5; 2Pe 3:3, 4). The very long-suffering of God, which ought to lead men to repentance, is made an argument against His word (Ec 8:11; Am 6:3).
days … prolonged … vision faileth—their twofold argument: (1) The predictions shall not come to pass till long after our time. (2) They shall fail and prove vain shadows. God answers both in Eze 12:23, 25.
23. effect—literally, "the word," namely, fulfilled; that is, the effective fulfilment of whatever the prophets have spoken is at hand.
24. no more … vain vision … flattering divination—All those false prophets (La 2:14), who "flattered" the people with promises of peace and safety, shall be detected and confounded by the event itself.
25. word … shall come to pass—in opposition to their scoff "the vision faileth" (Eze 12:22). The repetition, "I will speak … speak," &c. (or as Fairbairn, "For I, Jehovah, will speak whatever word I shall speak, and it shall be done") implies that whenever God speaks, the effect must follow; for God, who speaks, is not divided in Himself (Eze 12:28; Isa 55:11; Da 9:12; Lu 21:33).
no more prolonged—in opposition to the scoff (Eze 12:22), "The days are prolonged."
in your days—while you are living (compare Mt 24:34).
27. Not a mere repetition of the scoff (Eze 12:22); there the scoffers asserted that the evil was so often threatened and postponed, it must have no reality; here formalists do not go so far as to deny that a day of evil is coming, but assert it is still far off (Am 6:3). The transition is easy from this carnal security to the gross infidelity of the former class.