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| Bible Question: Please explain Ezekiel chapter 12. Bible Answer: Nebuchadnezzar had invaded Palestine and deported thousands of Jews to the city of Babylon in 605 B.C. This should have been a warning to the Jews that God was serious about their sin and that they needed to seek God, but it was not. The exiles did not repent but believed that all the prophetic predictions of the future destruction of Jerusalem and the land of Palestine were in error. They believed that the prophecies were false. They had a heart problem, not a head problem.
Ezekiel 12 is another warning from God to the Jews who were in exile in Babylon and Palestine that destruction was coming and very soon. The Sign. Therefore, God told the prophet Ezekiel to give them a sign by acting as if he were going into exile before the "rebellious house." He was to to do this before those . . .
So Ezekiel prepared his baggage during the day (v. 3-4) as God had directed, and then in the evening, he dug through a wall (v. 4-7) as one seeking to escape from the invaders. Ezekiel's actions were successful because people started asking "What are you doing?" (v.9). So God told him to tell them that he was a sign to them that most of the Israelites back in Palestine would go into exile too (v. 10-11). Ezekiel predicted that "the prince," or Zedekiah, who was in Jerusalem, would go into exile but not see Babylon. Zedekiah was called the prince because the real king of Palestine, King Jehoiakim, was already in exile in Babylon. Ezekiel's "sign" was fulfilled later when Nebuchadnezzar's army defeated Zedekiah's army, and then captured Zedekiah, who had left the city and was fleeing in the plains of Jericho (2 Kings 25:4-7; Jer. 39:4-10; 52:5-10). Zedekiah's sons were killed; his eyes were blinded, and then he was taken to Babylon. |
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