Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 12:1-16
Perhaps Ezekiel reflected with so much pleasure upon the vision he had had of the glory of God that often, since it went up from him, he was wishing it might come down to him again, and, having seen it once and a second time, he was willing to hope he might be a third time so favoured; but we do not find that he ever saw it any more, and yet the word of the Lord comes to him; for God did in divers manners speak to the fathers (Heb 1:1) and they often heard the words of God when they did not see the visions of the Almighty. Faith comes by hearing that word of prophecy which is more sure than vision. We may keep up our communion with God without raptures and ecstasies. In these verses the prop…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Ezekiel 12:5
Dig--as Zedekiah was to escape like one digging through a wall, furtively to effect an escape (Eze 12:12).
carry out--namely, "thy stuff" (Eze 12:4).
thereby--by the opening in the wall. Zedekiah escaped "by the gate betwixt the two walls" (Jer 39:4).
Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 12:5
Dig thou through the wall - This refers to the manner in which Zedekiah and his family would escape from the city. They escaped by night through a breach in the wall. See Jer 39:2-4; and Kg2 25:4.
John Gill on Ezekiel 12:5
Dig thou through the wall in their sight,.... The wall of the house where he was, as an emblem of the city of Jerusalem closely besieged, from whence there was no escape but by digging through the wall this showed the manner in which Zedekiah made his escape, by the way of the gate, between the two walls which was by the king's garden, Jeremiah 52:7;
and carry out thereby; not his stuff, as before; but provisions for himself, necessary for his journey or flight; as no doubt Zedekiah and those with him did.
John Calvin on Ezekiel 12:5-6
Ezekiel 12:5-6
5. Dig thou through the wall in their sight, and carry out thereby.
5. In oculis ipsorum perfodies tibi parietem, et educes per ipsum.
6. In their sight shalt thou bear it upon thy shoulders, and carry it forth in the twilight: thou shalt cover thy face, that thou see not the ground: for I have set thee for a sign unto the house of Israel.
6. In oculis ipsorum super humerum gestabis, in tenebris egredieris; faciem tuam occultabis et non aspicies terram, quia portentum constitui to domui Israel.
Ezekiel is verbose in this narration. But in the beginning of the book we said, that because the teacher was sent to men very slow and stupid, he therefore used a rough style. We a…
