THE Jerusalem-Jews were not alone in an evil course, for in verse 1, Ezekiel is reminded that he dwelt in the midst of a rebellious house (the captive Jews). Having eyes, they saw not; having ears, they heard not, being insubject to God. Nothing can be compared to the patience He has shown toward His creature, man, and we have fresh evidence of it here in His regard for Israel.
Altogether marvelous is the patience of God in our own times, when an enlightened but unbelieving world ignores, even treats with contempt, the gospel of His grace. Eyes to see, but seeing not; ears to hear, but hearing not, are the rule today in the countries commonly called Christian, where the Word of God is known. How long will the patience of God. Continue? In the time of Ezekiel’s prophecy it was soon to end in the judgment of the last of unrepentant Israel, and many things in these days point to an early end of the day of grace for the Gentiles, when the Jews also will pass under the rod of God’s wrath far more than hitherto.
The captives among whom Ezekiel lived, cherished flue delusion that Jerusalem would never be destroyed, nor the last of Israel be removed from the land of their forefathers. Similarly, in these times, scoffers abound, walking after their own lusts, and in effect saying, “Where is the promise of Christ’s coming?” See 2 Peter 3, verses 3 and 4 which present a true picture of the world today, for the willing ignorance of God and His Word so evident in our times assures us that judgment, long pronounced, is soon to be executed.
The Jews desired signs (1 Corinthians 1:22-2422For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: 23But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; 24But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:22‑24); Matthew 12:38, 3938Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. 39But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: (Matthew 12:38‑39)), and God graciously showed them, in the actions of Ezekiel, what was shortly to occur at Jerusalem (verses 3-7). The prophet was directed to portray scenes in a besieged city; in turn to prepare a captive’s, or exile’s baggage, to bring it forth in the evening as though going into exile, to dig a passage by which to go out through the wall in the dark of night (“twilight” it is called, but darkness is meant—the time when the king and his soldiers were to seek to escape from the doomed city. Jeremiah 39:11In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem, and they besieged it. (Jeremiah 39:1)).
Another sign, not understood at the time, we may suppose, foreshadowed the blindness to be inflicted upon king Zedekiah: “Thou shalt cover thy face that thou see not the ground” (verse 6). (Jeremiah 39:77Moreover he put out Zedekiah's eyes, and bound him with chains, to carry him to Babylon. (Jeremiah 39:7)).
By these signs, explained in due course by Ezekiel, the captives where he dwelt were assured that all hope was gone of averting the removal of the last of their countrymen, together with their king, from Jerusalem into captivity.
While the city remained, and a king of Judah sat on his throne, the glory of Israel was not entirely gone, and hope remained that the kingdom might be strengthened. This was not to be, for all God’s offers of mercy had been refused; the last opportunity had passed, and only the execution of the sentence of judgment remained to be carried out.
Verses 17 to 20: Further tokens of the last days of the siege of Jerusalem were given Ezekiel. There would be fear and trembling because of foes without, and the growing shortage of food within, and this the prophet was to illustrate before his fellow-captives in Chaldea, by eating his bread with quaking, and drinking his water with trembling and with anxiety.
Verses 21 to 25; Idol serving, God forsaking Israel had a proverb of unbelief, but like every other deceit of the natural heart, its folly becomes apparent in God’s own time. He purposes will infallibly be done, and they who heard were soon to see it performed.
Verses 20-28 carried a message for those who were not so hold as others in open unbelief. To them the day of God’s judgment might be a sure prospect, but it would riot come for a long while; not in their time, surely, these slighters of the prophetic word thought and said, would the vials of Jehovah’s wrath be poured out. Yet mercy’s day was nearly over; the clouds of judgment already covered the sky, we may say, and soon the storm from which there would be no escape, would descend on guilty Jerusalem.
And what of the prospect for this careless, pleasure-bent world in which it is ours to live?
ML-09/01/1935