Commentary - Ezekiel 12:1-7

Bird's-eye view

In this passage, God commands His prophet Ezekiel to engage in a bit of street theater. This is not for entertainment. This is a visceral, acted out sermon for a people who have stopped listening to mere words. Ezekiel is already in exile, but he is living among Jews who are clinging to the false hope that Jerusalem will be spared. They believe the first deportation was a fluke, and that God would never abandon His holy city. God intends to shatter this delusion. He instructs Ezekiel to pack his bags for exile, dig through a wall, and sneak away like a refugee, all in broad daylight for everyone to see. This prophetic sign-act is a living picture of the coming final doom of Jerusalem and its king. It is a severe mercy, a last ditch effort to get the attention of a people who are spiritually deaf and blind.

The core of the passage is the collision between God's clear, unvarnished truth and the stubborn rebellion of His people. God diagnoses their condition with brutal accuracy: they are a "rebellious house." The sign is designed to bypass their hardened intellects and strike at their imaginations. The final verse, where Ezekiel simply does as he was told, stands in stark contrast to the rebellion of the people he is called to address. It is a quiet testament to the simple, masculine obedience that God requires of His servants.

Outline

Context In Ezekiel

Ezekiel is a prophet of the exile. He was taken to Babylon in the second deportation in 597 B.C., along with King Jehoiachin. This is important. He is not in Jerusalem prophesying its fall like Jeremiah was. He is in Babylon, among the exiles, prophesying to them. The prevailing mood among these exiles was one of denial. False prophets were telling them it would all be over soon, that they would be returning home in a couple of years. They still saw Jerusalem as inviolable. Ezekiel's ministry in these early chapters is a relentless assault on that false hope. God is making it clear that things are not going back to normal. The judgment on Judah is not complete; the final, catastrophic destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple is still to come. This acted-out parable in chapter 12 is one of the most vivid ways God drives this point home.

Key Issues

Commentary

1 Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

Everything that follows is grounded in this reality. This is not Ezekiel's idea. He is not an innovative communicator trying out a new technique to spice up his sermons. This is a divine command. The word of Yahweh came. This is the foundation of all true ministry. Without a "thus saith the Lord," the preacher is just a man making noise. Ezekiel is under authority, and that is why his message has authority.

2 "Son of man, you live in the midst of the rebellious house, who have eyes to see but do not see, ears to hear but do not hear; for they are a rebellious house."

God begins with a clear-eyed diagnosis of the congregation. "Son of man" is God's typical way of addressing Ezekiel, reminding him of his humanity, his frailty, and his solidarity with the people he is addressing. He lives right there with them, in the midst of this "rebellious house." This is not a polite disagreement. The word is rebellion, a stiff-necked, defiant opposition to the known will of God. Their problem is not a lack of information. They have eyes and ears. The Word has been preached to them. They have seen God's mighty acts. The issue is a matter of the will. They have eyes, but they refuse to see. They have ears, but they have determined not to hear. This is the classic description of a hardened heart, a condition that Jesus would later diagnose in the Pharisees using these very same words. The reason for this willful blindness is stated plainly at the end for emphasis: "for they are a rebellious house." Their identity is wrapped up in their rebellion. It is who they are.

3 "Now as for you, son of man, prepare for yourself baggage for exile and go into exile by day in their sight; even go into exile from your place to another place in their sight. Perhaps they will see, though they are a rebellious house."

Because words are bouncing off them, God commands an action. Ezekiel is to become a living parable. He is to pack up his belongings, the kind of stuff you would grab if you had to flee your home, and do it all "by day in their sight." This is a public act. God wants everyone to see it. He is to move from his own place to another, a mini-exile right there in the settlement. The purpose is stated with a "perhaps." "Perhaps they will see." This is not God expressing uncertainty about the outcome. It is a rhetorical device that places the responsibility squarely on the people. It is a gracious invitation to repent, an opportunity for them to break through their self-imposed blindness. God is giving them one more chance to consider what is happening, even though He knows their track record is abysmal. The final clause reminds us of the odds: "though they are a rebellious house."

4 "Bring your baggage out by day in their sight, as baggage for exile. Then you will go out at evening in their sight, as those going into exile."

The instructions are repeated for emphasis. The packing and preparation are a daytime activity, for maximum visibility. But the actual departure is at evening. This detail is significant. Evening, or twilight, is a time of shadow and shame. Law-abiding citizens do not move house in the dark. Fugitives do. Refugees do. This is a picture of a shameful, hurried departure. It is the action of those who are being driven out, not those who are leaving on their own terms.

5 "In their sight, dig a hole through the wall and go out through it."

This is where the drama intensifies. You do not leave your home by digging a hole in the wall. You use the door. Digging through the wall is an act of desperation. It is what you do when the main gates are blocked by a besieging army. This is a direct prophecy of how King Zedekiah and his men would attempt to flee the Babylonians when Jerusalem was surrounded (2 Kings 25:4). The walls they trusted for protection would become a prison from which they had to desperately burrow their way out.

6 "In their sight, carry the baggage on your shoulder and bring it out in the dark. You shall cover your face so that you cannot see the land, for I have set you as a wondrous sign to the house of Israel."

Again, "in their sight." God wants no one to miss this. He is to carry his meager belongings on his own shoulder, like a common refugee. He is to do this in the dark, adding to the sense of shame and haste. And then, the most poignant detail: "You shall cover your face so that you cannot see the land." This speaks of profound grief and loss. It is the action of a man so ashamed and heartbroken that he cannot bear to look upon the land he is being forced to leave. It is a picture of finality. And again, this detail is a direct prophecy of Zedekiah's fate; his sons were killed before his eyes, and then his own eyes were put out before he was taken to Babylon (2 Kings 25:7). Ezekiel is made a "wondrous sign," a portent, a living, breathing symbol of the coming disaster. His life has become the sermon.

7 "I did so, as I had been commanded. By day I brought out my baggage like the baggage of an exile. Then in the evening I dug through the wall with my hands; I went out in the dark and carried the baggage on my shoulder in their sight."

Here is the beautiful, simple response of a faithful man. "I did so, as I had been commanded." There is no record of Ezekiel arguing. No, "Lord, this is embarrassing. What will the neighbors think?" He simply obeyed. He followed every strange, humiliating detail to the letter. He packed by day. He dug with his own hands in the evening. He hauled his stuff on his shoulder in the dark, right where everyone could see him. In a chapter about the rebellion of Israel, Ezekiel's quiet obedience shines like a star. He is the true Israelite, the one who hears the word of the Lord and does it. This is the model of faithful ministry. The servant of God does not get to choose his methods. He is simply called to obey the Word he has been given, no matter how peculiar the instructions might seem.

Application

The first and most obvious application is that God takes rebellion seriously. The people Ezekiel preached to were covenant people. They were God's people. But their hearts had grown hard, and their worship had become a sham. They presumed upon God's grace, thinking that the presence of the Temple in Jerusalem was a talisman that would protect them no matter how they lived. We must guard against this same attitude. We must not mistake our presence in the church building for a genuine walk with Christ. God is not mocked. A rebellious house will eventually face judgment.

Second, we must recognize our own capacity for spiritual blindness. These people had eyes and ears, but they would not see or hear. It is easy for us to read this and cluck our tongues, but the human heart is the same in every generation. We can sit under the faithful preaching of the Word week after week and remain completely unchanged, because we have decided beforehand what we are willing to hear. We must pray for God to give us soft hearts, eyes that see, and ears that hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

Finally, we see the pattern of faithful service in Ezekiel. He was called to a difficult task, a seemingly foolish task. He was called to look like a fool for God. But he obeyed without question. The Christian life, and particularly the work of the ministry, often requires us to do things that the world considers strange or undignified. Our calling is not to be respectable in the eyes of the world, but to be obedient to the Word of God. Ezekiel's simple, faithful obedience in the face of a rebellious people is a model for us all. We are to be living signs, pointing to the reality of God's kingdom, whether the world chooses to see or not.