Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 12:17-20
Here again the prophet is made a sign to them of the desolations that were coming on Judah and Jerusalem. 1. He must himself eat and drink in care and fear, especially when he was in company, Eze 12:17, Eze 12:18. Though he was under no apprehension of danger to himself, but lived in safety and plenty, yet he must eat his bread with quaking (the bread of sorrows, Psa 127:2) and drink his water with trembling and with carefulness, that he might express the calamitous condition of those that should be in Jerusalem during the siege; not that he must dissemble and pretend to be in fear and care when really he was not; but having to foretel this judgment, to show that he firmly believed it himsel…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Ezekiel 12:19
people of the land--the Jews "in the land" of Chaldea who thought themselves miserable as being exiles and envied the Jews left in Jerusalem as fortunate.
land of Israel--contrasted with "the people in the land" of Chaldea. So far from being fortunate as the exiles in Chaldea regarded them, the Jews in Jerusalem are truly miserable, for the worst is before them, whereas the exiles have escaped the miseries of the coming siege.
land . . . desolate from all that is therein--literally "that the land (namely, Judea) may be despoiled of the fulness thereof"; emptied of the inhabitants and abundance of flocks and corn with which it was filled.
because of . . . violence-- (Psa 107:34).
Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 12:18
Eat thy bread with quaking - Assume the manner of a person who is every moment afraid of his life, who has nothing but a morsel of bread to eat, and a little water to drink. Thus signifying the siege, and the straits to which they should be reduced. See this explained, Eze 12:19 (note).
John Gill on Ezekiel 12:19
And say unto the people of the land,.... Of Chaldea, where the prophet now was; not the natives of the land, but the Israelites, who were captives in it; who were ready to murmur and repine at their own case, as miserable; and at that of the Jews at Jerusalem, as happy; and therefore they are taught by this sign, as well as by the following prophecy, that they were mistaken:
thus saith the Lord God of the inhabitants of Jerusalem; or to them, or "concerning" them (y); whom the captives in Chaldea thought lived so happily, and would continue so:
and of the land of Israel; or, "upon the land of Israel" (z); inhabitants on it; to this sense the Targum and Septuagint Version interpret it, and…
