Ezekiel 12
Ezekiel eats with trembling hands
Ezekiel’s hole in the wall
1 The LORD sent me a message:2“Human, you are living with a bunch of rebellious people. They have eyes to see but can't. They have ears to hear, but don't. 3That's because they are rebellious people. So, human, I want you to put together a travel bag like an exile would on their way to another land. During the day, I want the people to see you going around as though you are headed into exile.
4I want you to take your travel bag wherever you go during the day or in the evening. When people see you, I want them to see you with your travel bag. 5Dig through the wall of your house. [1] Then crawl through the wall, carrying your travel bag. 6While people are watching in the evening, shoulder your travel bag and crawl through the hole in the wall. When you get outside, cover your face [2] so you can’t see the ground. All of this is a warning to the people of Israel.”
7I did what I was ordered to do. I carried my travel bag during the day. In the evening, I dug through the wall, shouldered my bag, and carried it through the hole.
The king will run for his life
8Next morning I got a message from the LORD:9“Human, those people of Israel certainly are rebellious, aren’t they? I want you to ask them this question, ‘What in the world do you think you're doing?’
10Tell them, ‘This is what the Lord God says: this warning is about King Zedekiah [3] and all the people of Israel.’ 11Tell these people, ‘I am a walking, talking warning for you people. Everything you see me doing is something that's going to happen to you. You are going into exile as captives.’
12Even the king there with you will lift his bag on his shoulder in the dark and try to sneak out through a hole in the wall. He will cover his face and will no longer see his homeland. 13As he tries to escape, I will throw my net over him, capture him and take him off to Babylon in the land of the Babylonians. He will go there, but he will not see it. And he will stay there until he dies. [4]
14I will scatter his royal entourage of officials and soldiers and then hunt them down with drawn swords. 15When I scatter these people among the nations, it will finally hit them that I am the LORD. 16But I won't kill them all. I will let a few of them escape from the sword, starvation, and disease. I'm going to let them live so that wherever they go, they can tell about all the repulsive things they've done. Then they’ll know I'm the LORD.” [5]
Get ready to be horrified
17 The LORD gave me another message:18“Human, eat your food like you’re terrified, with your hands shaking as you hold your bread and quivering as you drink your water.
19Then tell the people: ‘The Lord God has a message for you people in Jerusalem and those throughout the land of Israel. He says, you’ll be afraid to eat because food will be in short supply and violence will run wild. 20Your cities will turn into rock piles and your farms will be devastated. Then you’ll figure it out: I am the LORD.’”
God: All prophecies will come true
21I got another message from the LORD:22“Human, what is that proverb your people have about the land of Israel? Doesn't it say something like, ‘Days are long but the prophet’s fall short.’
23Tell them the Lord God says this:
Here in Israel, I’m going to put an end to that little snippet of a proverb. And tell them: Time is coming when every prediction they hear will come to life. 24Fake visions and the flattering promises of mediums won’t exist in Israel anymore.
25I am the LORD, and I have something to say. I’ll speak the words. Then I’ll bring them to life. No more delays. You stubborn and rebel-minded people are about to see what happens when I speak words and when I make them real to you.
Ezekiel’s visions aren’t for the future
26The LORD also told me this:27“Human, listen to me. The people of Israel are saying, ‘Not to worry. Ezekiel's visions are for the distant future. They don't have anything to do with us.’
28So, I want you to tell them, ‘This is what the Lord God says: What I’m about to say next is for you in your spot on the timeline. Whatever I say is going to get done. Now. That comes from the Lord God.
Footnotes
It would have been easy enough to dig through the wall of the typical house, made of sun-dried clay bricks. Some scholars say in doing this, Ezekiel seemed to represent the invaders, Babylonians, who broke through Jerusalem’s walls in the summer of 586 BC and leveled the city. But it seems possible, too, that he could have represented people of Israel trapped inside the besieged city, sneaking away in the night.
Some say that by covering his head, Ezekiel was representing exiles led far from home, unable to see their land. He also represented what happened to King Hezekiah (Ezekiel 12:12-13).
King Zedekiah and what was left of his army ran for their lives in the night, breaking through a Babylonian siege. Babylonian soldiers caught him in a Jericho field. They took him to their king, Nebuchadnezzar who was camped 200 miles (320 km) north of Jerusalem in Riblah (now called Rablah), Syria. “As ordered, Babylonian soldiers slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons right in front of him. Then they cut his eyes out of his head. They tied him up and shipped him off to Babylon” (2 Kings 25:7).
Yessir, that’s what happened. All of it, as though Ezekiel was telling the story of what had already happened (see 2 Kings 25). And that’s what many mainstream Bible scholars say may be going on, that Ezekiel wrote or edited his work after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. They say another possibility is that later editors or followers of Ezekiel made those additions. Conservative and evangelical scholars, however, generally argue that Ezekiel was authentically predicting the future.
This phrase shows up in other books of prophecy (Jeremiah 24:7; Hosea 2:20; Isaiah 45:3), but most distinctly in the book of Ezekiel. It appears there more than 60 times. The phrase reads like a divine signature at the end of a stern statement, or a stamp of approval with a thud on the table. The phrase, however, does not sound particularly divine to many biblical scholars, it seems. Many scholars say the phrase more likely reflects human writing style than it does a direct quote from God. They say the prophets were trying to press God’s message and plans, but they did it through their own words—much like someone would argue a case around a corporate boardroom table.
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