Ezekiel 12 Study Notes
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12:1-2 Blindness (unseeing eyes) and deafness (unhearing ears) often indicate disobedience or disbelief (Dt 29:1-4; Is 6:9-10; 43:8; Jr 5:21; Mt 13:13-15; Mk 8:18; Jn 12:39-40; Ac 28:26-27). The phrase rebellious house occurs in the prophetic commissioning of Ezekiel (2:5-8; 3:9), but it also occurs in 3:26-27.
12:3-6 Ezekiel’s readers understood that breaking through a wall indicated exile, since the conquering armies would dig through the wall at strategic points in order to enter the city (Am 4:3).
12:7 The exile’s bags symbolize the remnant that will be led out of the homeland as captives.
12:8-11 Since they are a rebellious house and willfully deaf, they need an explanation of the prophet’s actions.
12:12 The covering of King Zedekiah’s face was Ezekiel’s symbolic prophecy of the blinding of the king of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar and his exile to Babylon (2Kg 25:7).
12:13 The phrase I will spread my net over him uses the image of a bird hunter (Hs 7:12) or animal hunter (Ezk 19:8). The words yet he will not see it refer to the ancient Near Eastern custom of gouging out the eyes of captives.
’adam
| Hebrew pronunciation | [ah DAHM] |
| CSB translation | man, mankind, person |
| Uses in Ezekiel | 132 |
| Uses in the OT | 561 |
| Focus passage | Ezekiel 12:2-3,9,18,22,27 |
’Adam, which never occurs in the plural, broadly signifies man (Gn 1:27), encompassing male and female as mankind (Gn 6:1), humanity (Is 5:15), or human being (Ps 39:5). It is a collective indicating individuals (Jb 34:29), mankind (Ps 22:6), or people (Jr 47:2), here translated as the noun humans (Ex 4:11). But it specifies the man (Gn 4:1), a single man in contrast to a woman (Ec 7:28). It denotes one, someone, anyone, or everyone (Pr 17:18; Neh 2:10,12; Zch 11:6) and means person (Lv 6:3). “Son of man” is synonymous with other words for “man” (’iysh, Nm 23:19; ’enosh, Is 51:12; geber, Jb 16:21). “Sons of man” appears as human race (Dt 32:8), men (Ps 45:2), people (Ps 36:7), and descendants of Adam (Ps 90:3). ’Adam often contrasts with animals (Nm 31:26) or God (Is 31:3). “Sons of ’adam” opposes “sons of ’iysh” as low versus high (Ps 49:2).
12:14-15 Some of the people would escape to other countries.
12:16 The statement I will spare a few of them refers to a remnant that will be preserved by the Lord. They will realize their guilt and turn to the Lord in heathen lands (6:8-10). God promised that there would always be a few people who remained loyal to him (Lv 26:42-45; cp. Ex 32:10; Dt 4:30-31).
12:17-20 The phrase because of the violence reflects the rationale for the judgment of the earth by the flood (Gn 6:11,13).
12:21-22 The expression the days keep passing by, and every vision fails reflects the test of true prophecy (Dt 18:20-22). If a prophecy did not come true, the person who made the prediction was a false prophet.
12:23-28 Even King Hezekiah succumbed to the influential reassurances of false prophets (2Kg 20:19). In Ezekiel’s day false prophets opposed the claims of God’s true messengers in Jerusalem (Jr 28:1-4) and Babylon (Jr 29:1,8-9).