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 12:20
the cities--left in Judea after the destruction of Jerusalem.
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 12:20
And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste,.... Not only the city of Jerusalem, but the other cities of Judea; as they were by the Chaldeans, which were then full of inhabitants:
and the land shall be desolate; the whole land of Judea be destitute of men and cattle, and lie uncultivated, and become barren and unfruitful:
and ye shall know that I am the Lord; who were then captives in Babylon, as well as those who should be dispersed among the nations would; see Ezekiel 12:15.
John Calvin on Ezekiel 12:20
Ezekiel 12:20
20. And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
20. Et urbes habitatae redigentur in solitudinem, et terra vasta erit, [262] et cognoscetis quod ego Iehovah.
He pursues the same sentiment. He had threatened destruction to Jerusalem and its citizens: he now adds the other cities of Judah which were still inhabited. Lastly, he speaks of the whole land, as if he said that no single corner should suppose itself free from slaughter, since God's vengeance should attack it as well as the cruelty of enemies through all regions. Jerusalem was the head of the whole nation; Ezekiel predicts its siege, and…
