Ezekiel 12:12
A plain-spoken deep dive on this verse. Read the chapter →
And at dusk the prince among them will lift his bags to his shoulder and go out. They will dig through the wall to bring him out. He will cover his face so he cannot see the land.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
Though the vision of God's glory had gone up from the prophet, yet his word comes to him still, and is by him sent to the people, and to the same purport with that which was discovered to him in the vision, namely, to set forth the terrible judgments that were coming upon Jerusalem, by which the city and temple should be entirely laid waste. In this chapter, I. The prophet, by removing his stuff, and quitting his lodgings, must be a sign to set forth Zedekiah's flight out of Jerusalem in the utmost confusion when the Chaldeans took the city (v. 1-16). II. The prophet, by eating his meat with trembling, must be a sign to set forth the famine in the city during the siege, and the consternation that the inhabitants should be in (Eze 12:17-20). III. A message is sent from God to the people, to assure them that all these predictions should have their accomplishment very shortly, and not be deferred, as they flattered themselves they would be (Eze 12:21-28).
Open source ↗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.
Open source ↗Cross-references
Other passages the community most often connects to this one. Tap to read.
Then the city was breached; and though the Chaldeans had surrounded the city, all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden. They headed toward the Arabah,
When Zedekiah king of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled. They left the city at night by way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the two walls, and they went out along the route to the Arabah.
And as they watch, lift your bags to your shoulder and take them out at dusk; cover your face so that you cannot see the land. For I have made you a sign to the house of Israel.”
Then the city was breached; and though the Chaldeans had surrounded the city, all the men of war fled the city by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden. They headed toward the Arabah,
After ten days the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah,