{"id":20699,"date":"2022-09-24T08:38:18","date_gmt":"2022-09-24T13:38:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/exegetical-and-hermeneutical-commentary-of-ezekiel-128-2\/"},"modified":"2022-09-24T08:38:18","modified_gmt":"2022-09-24T13:38:18","slug":"exegetical-and-hermeneutical-commentary-of-ezekiel-128-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/exegetical-and-hermeneutical-commentary-of-ezekiel-128-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 12:8"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 align='center'><b><i> And in the morning came the word of the LORD unto me, saying, <\/i><\/b><\/h3>\n<p> <strong> 8, 9<\/strong>. <em> in the morning<\/em> ] This circumstance might seem to imply that the prophet really performed the actions described. But though in this case performance of the action was not an impossibility it was probably only narrated (see on ch. 4). The natural sequel of the action (supposing it done), the curiosity of the people, is described, just as the action itself was, as if it had literally been shewn.<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p><P> In the evening he packed, digged through the wall, and removed in the sight of the people; next morning inquiry is made how the people resent it. <\/P> <\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p><strong>And in the morning came the word of the Lord unto me, saying.<\/strong> That is, in the morning after he had done all the above things commanded him; explaining the meaning of them, and showing to whom they belonged.<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: John Gill&#8217;s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p> Explanation of the Symbolical Action<\/p>\n<p><span class='bible'>Eze 12:8<\/span>. <em> And the word of Jehovah came to me in the morning, saying, <\/em> <span class='bible'>Eze 12:9<\/span>.<em> Son of man, have they not said to thee, the house of Israel, the refractory generation, What art thou doing? <\/em> <span class='bible'>Eze 12:10<\/span>.<em> Say to them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, This burden applies to the prince in Jerusalem, and to all the house of Israel to whom they belong. <\/em> <span class='bible'>Eze 12:11<\/span>.<em> Say, I am your sign: as I have done, so shall it happen to them; into exile, into captivity, will they go. <\/em> <span class='bible'>Eze 12:12<\/span>.<em> And the prince who is in the midst of them he will lift it upon his shoulder in the dark, and will go out: they will break through the wall, and carry it out thereby: he will cover his face, that he may not see the land with eyes. <\/em> <span class='bible'>Eze 12:13<\/span>.<em> And I will spread my net over him, so that he will be caught in my snare: and I will take him to Babel, into the land of the Chaldeans; but he will not see it, and will die there. <\/em> <span class='bible'>Eze 12:14<\/span>.<em> And all that is about him, his help and all his troops, I will scatter into all winds, and draw out the sword behind them. <\/em> <span class='bible'>Eze 12:15<\/span>.<em> And they shall learn that I am Jehovah, when I scatter them among the nations, and winnow them in the lands. <\/em> <span class='bible'>Eze 12:16<\/span>.<em> Yet I will leave of them a small number of men from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may relate all their abominations among the nations whither they have come; and learn that I am Jehovah.<\/em> &#8211; As queries introduced with  have, as a rule, an affirmative sense, the words &ldquo;have they not asked,&rdquo; etc., imply that the Israelites had asked the prophet what he was doing, though not in a proper state of mind, not in a penitential manner, as the epithet  plainly shows. The prophet is therefore to interpret the action which he had just been performing, and all its different stages. The words    , to which very different renderings have been given, are to be translated simply &ldquo;the prince is this burden,&rdquo; i.e., the object of this burden. <em> Hammassa <\/em> does not mean the carrying, but the burden, i.e., the threatening prophecy, the prophetic action of the prophet, as in the headings to the oracles (see the comm. on <span class='bible'>Nah 1:1<\/span>). The &ldquo;prince&rdquo; is the king, as in <span class='bible'>Eze 21:30<\/span>, though not Jehoiachin, who had been carried into exile, but Zedekiah. This is stated in the apposition &ldquo;in Jerusalem,&rdquo; which belongs to &ldquo;the prince,&rdquo; though it is not introduced till after the predicate, as in <span class='bible'>Gen 24:24<\/span>. To this there is appended the further definition, &ldquo;the whole house of Israel,&rdquo; which, being co-ordinated with  , affirms that all Israel (the covenant nation) will share the fate of the prince. In the last clause of <span class='bible'>Eze 12:10<\/span>  does not stand for  , so that the suffix would refer to Jerusalem, &ldquo;in the midst of which they (the house of Israel) are.&rdquo;  cannot be a nominative, because in that case  to be understood as referring to the persons addressed, i.e., to the Israelites in exile (Hitzig, Kliefoth): in the midst of whom they are, i.e., to whom they belong. The sentence explains the reason why the prophet was to announce to those in exile the fat of the prince and people in Jerusalem; namely, because the exiles formed a portion of the nation, and would be affected by the judgment which was about to burst upon the king and people in Jerusalem. In this sense Ezekiel was also able to say to the exiles (in <span class='bible'>Eze 12:11<\/span>), &ldquo;I am <em> your<\/em> sign;&rdquo; inasmuch as his sign was also of importance for them, as those who were already banished would be so far affected by the departure of the king and people which Ezekiel depicted, that it would deprive them of all hope of a speedy return to their native land.<\/p>\n<p> , in <span class='bible'>Eze 12:11<\/span>, refers to the king and the house of Israel in Jerusalem.  is rendered more forcible by the addition of  . The announcement that both king and people must go into exile, is carried out still further in <span class='bible'>Eze 12:12<\/span> and <span class='bible'>Eze 12:13<\/span> with reference to the king, and in <span class='bible'>Eze 12:14<\/span> with regard to the people. The king will experience all that Ezekiel has described. The literal occurrence of what is predicted here is related in <span class='bible'>Jer 39:1<\/span>., <span class='bible'>Jer 52:4<\/span>.; <span class='bible'>2Ki 25:4<\/span>. When the Chaldeans forced their way into the city after a two years&#8217; siege, Zedekiah and his men of war fled by night out of the city through the gate between the two walls. It is not expressly stated, indeed, in the historical accounts that a breach was made in the wall; but the expression &ldquo;through the gate between the two walls&rdquo; (<span class='bible'>Jer 39:4<\/span>; <span class='bible'>Jer 52:7<\/span>; <span class='bible'>2Ki 25:4<\/span>) renders this very probable, whether the gate had been walled up during the siege, or it was necessary to break through the wall at one particular spot in order to reach the gate. The king&#8217;s attendants would naturally take care that a breach was made in the wall, to secure for him a way of escape; hence the expression, &ldquo;<em> they<\/em> will break through.&rdquo; The covering of the face, also, is not mentioned in the historical accounts; but in itself it is by no means improbable, as a sign of the shame and grief with which Zedekiah left the city. The words, &ldquo;that he may not see the land with eyes,&rdquo; do not appear to indicate anything more than the necessary consequence of covering the face, and refer primarily to the simple fact that the king fled in the deepest sorrow, and did not want to see the land; but, as <span class='bible'>Eze 12:13<\/span> clearly intimates, they were fulfilled in another way, namely, by the fact that Zedekiah did not see with his eyes the land of the Chaldeans into which he was led, because he had been blinded at Riblah (<span class='bible'>Jer 39:5<\/span>; <span class='bible'>Jer 52:11<\/span>; <span class='bible'>2Ki 25:7<\/span>).  , by eye = with his eyes, is added to give prominence to the idea of seeing. For the same purpose, the subject, which is already implied in the verb, is rendered more emphatic by  ; and this  is placed after the verb, so that it stands in contrast with  . The capture of the king was not depicted by Ezekiel; so that in this respect the announcement (<span class='bible'>Eze 12:13<\/span>) goes further than the symbolical action, and removes all doubt as to the credibility of the prophet&#8217;s word, by a distinct prediction of the fate awaiting him. At the same time, his not seeing the land of Babylon is left so indefinite, that it cannot be regarded as a <em> vaticinium post eventum <\/em>. Zedekiah died in prison at Babylon (<span class='bible'>Jer 52:11<\/span>). Along with the king, the whole of his military force will be scattered in all directions (<span class='bible'>Eze 12:14<\/span>).  , his help, i.e., the troops that break through with him.  , all his wings (the wings of his army), i.e., all the rest of his forces. The word is peculiar to Ezekiel, and is rendered &ldquo;wings&rdquo; by Jos. Kimchi, like <em> k e naphaim <\/em> in <span class='bible'>Isa 8:8<\/span>. For the rest of the verse compare <span class='bible'>Eze 5:2<\/span>; and for the fulfilment, <span class='bible'>Jer 52:8<\/span>; <span class='bible'>Jer 40:7<\/span>, <span class='bible'>Jer 40:12<\/span>. The greater part of the people will perish, and only a small number remain, that they may relate among the heathen, wherever they are led, all the abominations of Israel, in order that the heathen may learn that it is not from weakness, but simply to punish idolatry, that God has given up His people to them (cf. <span class='bible'>Jer 22:8<\/span>).<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Keil &amp; Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p> We gather from these words of the Prophet, that he was himself derided when he began to migrate: then that he dug through the wall by night secretly, and thus carried away his baggage. For those who think that the Israelites enquired about this, as if it were unknown to them, do not sufficiently consider the Prophet&#8217;s words. For the repetition of the epithet  rebellious house  is not in vain; for if this question had proceeded from mere folly, God would not have called them rebellious. This epithet, then, refers to the present passage, and thus we may determine that the Israelites asked the Prophet deridingly, what does this mean? For he seemed to them to be trifling, and thus they jeered at him; for we know the audacity of the nation in despising their Prophets. It is not, then, to be wondered at, when they obtained a plausible ground for it, if they commented rather freely upon what the Prophet was doing. We said yesterday &#8216;that this seemed a childish spectacle. Hence the Israelites seemed, not without reason, to reject what the Prophet was doing as a thing of nought. But God does not suffer his servants to be reviled in this way. He now signified to the Prophet that his calling ought to be deservedly held sacred. Since therefore Ezekiel bore certain marks of the prophetic office, although at first sight his conduct could not appear serious, yet the people ought to have enquired modestly. For whatever we know to flow from God should be reverently received without controversy. But if there is any obscurity we may wonder and enquire into it; but as I have said, docility and modesty ought always to precede. But what did the Israelites do? they enquired, indeed, the meaning of the Prophet&#8217;s conduct, but only to reject it with ridicule. For this reason God is angry, and announces himself a severe avenger of that audacity, because they persecuted the sacred Prophet. Hence this must be read emphatically &#8212;  what doest thou?  as if they said that the Prophet was foolish, and carried and prepared his goods, and dug through the wall, in vain, since all these things were of no moment. But the answer, when it shows that God is greatly offended with such trifling, sufficiently demonstrates that they did not ask the question through ignorance, or want of thought, but through mere wantonness. <\/p>\n<p> He now says,  this prophecy relates to the prince, and the whole house of Israel which is in the midst of them.  Without doubt he understands the king, as we shall soon see: nor does he speak of any king indefinitely, but points out Zedekiah, as will be immediately evident from circumstances. He says, therefore,  this burden,  or this sorrowful prophecy,  looks towards the prince, and to the house of Israel,  which dwell at Jerusalem. But it is probable that some had fled that they might not fall into the hands of the enemy, since Jerusalem was a safe receptacle for them. The captives thought themselves bad managers, because they had not followed those leaders, since Jerusalem was a safe refuge for them, and hence the greater sorrow at their captivity. Hence God pronounces that the Israelites were comprehended with their king in this prophecy. It is indeed true that this was a common name to all the posterity of Abraham; for the twelve tribes sprung from the patriarch Jacob, but it was then becoming customary for the ten tribes to retain the name of Israel, and for that of Judah to have their own proper and peculiar name. Afterwards he confirms his teaching,  that he was as a sign to them.  We explained this expression yesterday, showing how the Prophet was placed before them as a sign, so that God represented what was as yet unknown to them; for signs divinely sent are called portents, when they foretell what no one would expect to happen. God, indeed, often shows what he is going&#8217; to do by many, yet ordinary signs; but an extraordinary one, which cannot be considered natural, is called a portent. So therefore the Prophet is ordered to say to the Israelites  that he was to them for a wonder,  namely, to reprove their obstinacy, which, as we have said, was the cause of their impious contempt. For it was no part of their religion for a Prophet to deride them, so that they should suppose him to be trifling with them, as if frightening children about nothing. God, therefore, that the Israelites might at length be roused up at his own time, pronounces his servant to be a wonder to them. And we gather from the reason which is added, what the name portent meant in yesterday&#8217;s lecture. For he says,  as I have done, so shall it be done to you;  that is, what you now think to be child&#8217;s play, shall be seriously fulfilled in yourselves. For the Prophet seemed to act a part, like a player, and on this account was derided. He now declares that it should not be fabulous, since the Israelites, who were left in Judea among the Jews, and the king himself, should not act a part; for God would compel them to collect their baggage, and to take flight by stealth in the darkness of the night, which he follows up through the whole verse.  Into banishment and exile,  says he,  shall they go.  When therefore the Prophet was commanded to collect and prepare his goods, he was a sign of the exile of which he now speaks. But the explanation of the second part is added. <\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Calvin&#8217;s Complete Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p>(8) <strong>In the morning.<\/strong>This implies that the foregoing symbolical action was actually performed, since the Divine message comes in answer to the inquiry of the people (<span class='bible'>Eze. 12:9<\/span>), What doest thou?<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Ellicott&#8217;s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p> <strong> 8-12<\/strong>. <strong> <\/strong> In reply to the question of the exiles, who have finally been roused to interest, &ldquo;What doest thou?&rdquo; (<span class='bible'>Eze 12:9<\/span>,) Ezekiel on the following morning is permitted to explain the meaning of his acted parable.<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Whedon&#8217;s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p> -10 &lsquo;And in the morning the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, &ldquo;Son of man, has not the house of Israel said to you, &lsquo;What are you doing?&rsquo; You say to them, &lsquo;Thus says the Lord Yahweh, This burden concerns the prince in Jerusalem and all the house of Israel among whom they are.&rsquo; &rdquo; &rsquo;<\/p>\n<p> Ezekiel carried out his instructions, and as expected the people came to him and asked him what he was doing, and why he was doing it. So God then revealed to him the full import of what his actions revealed. They revealed not only what would happen to some of the people, but also to &lsquo;the prince&rsquo; himself. (He possibly prefers this term for Zedekiah because all saw Jehoiachin (<span class='bible'>2Ki 24:15<\/span>; <span class='bible'>2Ki 25:27-30<\/span>) as still their real king, even though deposed. But we should recognise that &lsquo;prince&rsquo; is a regular term for the king in Ezekiel). All would be included in the situation.<\/p>\n<p>&lsquo;This burden.&rsquo; Prophecy is regularly described in this way, for it was a heavy burden to the prophet, who did not delight in what he had to prophesy, and to the people who heard it because of the nature of the prophecy.<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p> <em> <\/p>\n<p><\/em><\/p>\n<p> Eze 12:8 <em> And in the morning came the word of the LORD unto me, saying,<\/p>\n<p><\/em><\/p>\n<p> Ver. 8. <strong> And in the morning came the word of the Lord.<\/strong> ] <em> Mane, id est, mature.<\/em> God not only betime, but timeously, admonished his people; but they refused to be reformed &#8211; would have none of his counsel.<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: John Trapp&#8217;s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p>NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Eze 12:8-16<\/p>\n<p> 8In the morning the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 9Son of man, has not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said to you, &#8216;What are you doing?&#8217; 10Say to them, &#8216;Thus says the Lord GOD, This burden concerns the prince in Jerusalem as well as all the house of Israel who are in it.&#8217; 11Say, &#8216;I am a sign to you. As I have done, so it will be done to them; they will go into exile, into captivity.&#8217; 12The prince who is among them will load his baggage on his shoulder in the dark and go out. They will dig a hole through the wall to bring it out. He will cover his face so that he can not see the land with his eyes. 13I will also spread My net over him, and he will be caught in My snare. And I will bring him to Babylon in the land of the Chaldeans; yet he will not see it, though he will die there. 14I will scatter to every wind all who are around him, his helpers and all his troops; and I will draw out a sword after them. 15So they will know that I am the LORD when I scatter them among the nations and spread them among the countries. 16But I will spare a few of them from the sword, the famine and the pestilence that they may tell all their abominations among the nations where they go, and may know that I am the LORD.<\/p>\n<p>Eze 12:8 YHWH communicated to Ezekiel regularly as he finished the previous revelation.<\/p>\n<p>Eze 12:9 the rebellious house This phrase refers to the exiles (cf. Eze 2:5-8). The term rebellion (BDB 598) is used often by Ezekiel (cf. Eze 2:5-8; Eze 3:9; Eze 3:26; Eze 12:2[twice],3,9,25; Eze 17:12; Eze 23:3; Eze 44:6).<\/p>\n<p>Eze 12:10 Say to them This (BDB 55; KB 65) Qal INFINITIVE is repeated twice (Eze 12:10 and Eze 12:11) to emphasize that Ezekiel is modeling the future judgment of YHWH on idolatrous Jerusalem.<\/p>\n<p>Eze 12:11 a sign This term (BDB 69) basically means wonder, sign, or portent. Here it is used to show YHWH&#8217;s control of future events (i.e., Eze 12:6; Eze 12:11; Eze 24:24; Eze 24:27; 1Ki 13:3; 1Ki 13:5; 2Ch 32:24; 2 Chronicles 31). In the Ancient Near East a military defeat demonstrated the power of one god over another. Israel was defeated because of her covenant disobedience, not YHWH&#8217;s impotence! Passages such as this demonstrate His omnipotence and control!<\/p>\n<p> As I have done, so it will be done to them Notice these are words from YHWH for Ezekiel to speak to the exiles. They show<\/p>\n<p>1. the power of YHWH&#8217;s word (cf. Isa 44:24-28; Isa 45:23; Isa 55:11; Mat 24:35)<\/p>\n<p>2. that Ezekiel is a true prophet<\/p>\n<p>Both of these theological items are crucial, especially when Ezekiel begins to prophesy about the restoration!<\/p>\n<p> they will go into exile, into captivity The they refers to the few in Judah and Jerusalem who will escape the destruction and horror of the invasion (cf. Eze 12:16).<\/p>\n<p>The terms exile (BDB 163) and captivity (BDB 985) are parallel. Judgment is coming! YHWH will do it! His own people will be taken out of the land (cf. Jer 13:19; Jer 15:2; Jer 20:4; Jer 20:6) which He promised to their fathers!<\/p>\n<p>Eze 12:13 I shall also spread My net over him This refers to the capture of King Zedekiah. It was YHWH who planned and executed (by means of the Babylonian army) his capture (i.e., Eze 5:10; Eze 5:12; Eze 6:8; Eze 12:14-15; Eze 20:23; Eze 22:15; Eze 36:19). The metaphor used is a net (BDB 440, cf. Eze 17:20; Eze 19:8), which denotes either<\/p>\n<p>1. a fishing net<\/p>\n<p>a. casting, Eze 12:13; Eze 32:3<\/p>\n<p>b. dragging, Eze 26:5; Eze 26:14; Eze 47:10<\/p>\n<p>2. a snare (for birds)<\/p>\n<p> yet he will not see it See Jer 39:1-10, especially Eze 12:7.<\/p>\n<p>Eze 12:14 I shall scatter to every wind This VERB (BDB 279, KB 280, Piel IMPERFECT) is used in Eze 5:2, which describes Ezekiel&#8217;s prophetic acts of judgment (see note at Eze 12:13).<\/p>\n<p>Every wind is an idiom for every direction (i.e., complete exile).<\/p>\n<p>Eze 12:15 This verse, which describes the exile of Israel into all the surrounding nations, can be viewed theologically in two ways.<\/p>\n<p>1. This is the consequence of covenant rebellion predicted in Deuteronomy (i.e., Deu 4:27; Deu 28:64; Deu 29:28).<\/p>\n<p>2. This had a secondary effect of forcing Israel to fulfill her missionary mandate (similar to the dispersion of the Tower of Babel). Ezekiel makes this missionary mandate definite in Eze 36:20-38!<\/p>\n<p> they will know This VERB (BDB 393, KB 390, Qal PERFECT) is used in a special sense in Ezekiel. It describes YHWH&#8217;s desire that His people, all people, know (in the sense of intimate personal relationship, i.e, Gen 4:1; Jer 1:5) Him. The characteristic phrase they will know that I am the LORD first occurs in the covenant context of the exodus (cf. Exo 6:7; Exo 7:5; Exo 7:17; Exo 16:12; Exo 29:46). The phrase refers to future actions of YHWH, positive and negative. All His acts are revelations of His character and purposes!<\/p>\n<p>Eze 12:16 But I will spare a few of them The VERB (BDB 451, KB 451, Hiphil PERFECT) is used in several senses by Ezekiel.<\/p>\n<p>1. spare, Eze 6:8; Eze 12:16<\/p>\n<p>2. the rest, Eze 34:18<\/p>\n<p>3. some survivors, Eze 14:22<\/p>\n<p>4. what remains, Eze 39:14; Eze 39:28; Eze 48:15; Eze 48:18; Eze 48:21<\/p>\n<p>See Special Topic: THE REMNANT, THREE SENSES .<\/p>\n<p> the sword, the famine, the pestilence These are the three major enemies of a city under siege (cf. Eze 5:12; Eze 6:11-12; Eze 7:15; Eze 14:21). These are mentioned repeatedly in Deuteronomy (esp. Deuteronomy 27-29).<\/p>\n<p> and may know that I am the LORD The goal of a chosen people was to be a means of revelation to the nations. Israel was called to be a kingdom of priests (cf. Exo 19:5-6), but she failed.<\/p>\n<p>SPECIAL TOPIC: YHWH&#8217;s ETERNAL REDEMPTIVE PLAN <\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p>Eze 12:8-13<\/p>\n<p>Eze 12:8-13<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And in the morning came the word of Jehovah unto me, saying, Son of man, hath not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said unto thee, What doest thou? Say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: this burden concerneth the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel among whom they are. Say, I am your sign: like as I have done, so shall it be done unto them; they shall go forth into exile, into captivity. And the prince that is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the dark, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby: he shall cover his face, for he shall not see the land, because he shall not see the land with his eyes. My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare; and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This burden concerneth the prince in Jerusalem &#8230;&#8221; (Eze 12:10). The word &#8220;burden&#8221; refers to a prediction of some woeful event, and was often used by God&#8217;s prophets to describe the prophecy of doom to some city or some individual, as, for example, in the case of Nahum&#8217;s &#8220;burden of Nineveh.&#8221; Here, the message is that this prophecy of capture, blindness, and captivity applies to Zedekiah, the puppet king of Nebuchadnezzar&#8217;s on the throne of Judah.<\/p>\n<p>G. A. Cooke, and other radical critics, denominate this prophecy as a &#8220;post eventum&#8221; prophecy, without any authority whatever, against all evidence, and in spite of the historical corroboration of the fact that the prophecy was spoken long before Zedekiah&#8217;s fall.<\/p>\n<p>What is the basis of this scholarly blindness? It is based upon the critical dictum that, there is no such thing as predictive prophecy, a silly and irresponsible rule that has no basis whatever except in the prejudice of evil men who are simply unwilling to believe God&#8217;s Word.<\/p>\n<p>Did not the Hebrew Scriptures prophesy the whole person and works of the Son of God afull quarter of a millennium before our Lord was born? Did they not name the town where he would be born, eight centuries before the event? Only a fool can accept the critical dictum that there is no such thing as predictive prophecy.<\/p>\n<p>ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF PREDICTIVE PROPHECY<\/p>\n<p>In the paragraph before us, we have the prophecy of Zedekiah&#8217;s flight from Jerusalem by night, his capture, his blinding, and his deportation to Babylon. It just happens that Ezekiel dates his prophecy (Eze 8:1), about five years prior to its fulfillment.<\/p>\n<p>Canon Cook reminds us that, &#8220;The genuineness of Ezekiel and the position of this passage within it are beyond dispute. Jer 39:4,2Ki 25:4 provide a Scriptural record of the historical fulfillment; and the only legitimate inference is that Ezekiel received his information from above.<\/p>\n<p>Note that Cook stated that the facts here are &#8220;beyond dispute.&#8221; How is this true? The Jewish historian, Josephus records the fact that Zedekiah himself was familiar with Ezekiel&#8217;s prophecy, which definitely means that the prophecy did not originate after the king&#8217;s death.<\/p>\n<p>Zedekiah himself heard the prophecies both of Jeremiah and of Ezekiel, for Ezekiel&#8217;s prophecy had been sent to Jerusalem; but Zedekiah did not believe their prophecies for the following reason. The two prophets agreed with one another in all other things: (1) that the city should be taken, (2) Zedekiah himself would be taken captive and carried to Babylon. Zedekiah was told by Jeremiah that his eyes should see Nebuchadnezzar; but Ezekiel prophesied that Zedekiah would never see Babylon. Zedekiah thought that contradicted Jeremiah who had prophesied that Zedekiah would indeed be carried to Babylon. Therefore, he disbelieved what they both said, condemning them as false prophets!<\/p>\n<p>This event is too well documented, both in the Bible and in history for it to be intelligently denied. Poor old Zedekiah, like many another skeptic, fancied that he found a contradiction in God&#8217;s Word; but both prophecies were most accurately and circumstantially fulfilled. It all happened as the prophets said. Zedekiah did indeed see Nebuchadnezzar face to face in Riblah in Hamath, but he never saw Babylon, despite the fact of his being carried captive to Babylon and eventually dying there. Nebuchadnezzar blinded Zedekiah at Riblah after forcing the unhappy king to witness the execution of all of his sons.<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p>Eze 12:8. The scenes described in the preceding verses produced some interest among the people as the night was passing, and in the morning the Lord spoke again.<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:bold\">The explanation of the sign of the departing deportee 12:8-16<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p>The morning after Ezekiel had performed this little drama the Lord spoke to him again. He reminded His servant that the Jews had asked him to interpret his symbolic acts.<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>And in the morning came the word of the LORD unto me, saying, 8, 9. in the morning ] This circumstance might seem to imply that the prophet really performed the actions described. But though in this case performance of the action was not an impossibility it was probably only narrated (see on ch. 4). &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/exegetical-and-hermeneutical-commentary-of-ezekiel-128-2\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 12:8&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20699\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}