Ezekiel 12:12

And the prince that is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby: he shall cover his face, that he see not the ground with his eyes.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(12) They shall dig through the wall.—This circumstance is not mentioned in the history of Zedekiah’s flight; yet it is not necessary to understand it figuratively, since such a breach in the walls at a place unwatched by the enemy might easily be arranged to secure secrecy, and as easily be passed over in the brevity of the historical account. (See Note on Ezekiel 12:6.)

Shall cover his face,—This he would naturally do to avoid recognition; but the words were doubtless meant also as an intimation of what is more plainly hinted in the following verse.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

12:1-16 By the preparation for removal, and his breaking through the wall of his house at evening, as one desirous to escape from the enemy, the prophet signified the conduct and fate of Zedekiah. When God has delivered us, we must glorify him and edify others, by acknowledging our sins. Those who by afflictions are brought to this, are made to know that God is the Lord, and may help to bring others to know him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Burden - A word used to indicate a prediction of woe to be borne by some individual or people (Isaiah 13:1 note). Ezekiel, bearing his "stuff" on his shoulder was a sign of the weight of calamity coming upon king and people.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

12. prince … among them—literally, "that is in the midst of them," that is, on whom the eyes of all are cast, and "under whose shadow" they hope to live (La 4:20).

shall bear—namely, his "stuff for removing"; his equipments for his journey.

cover his face, that he see not the ground—See on [1033]Eze 12:6; the symbol in Eze 12:6 is explained in this verse. He shall muffle his face so as not to be recognized: a humiliation for a king!

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The prince; Zedekiah.

Among them; in Jerusalem.

Shall bear upon his shoulder; disguised no doubt as a common ordinary servant, in hope so to escape; but to conceal himself he flees in a disguise, and chooseth the twilight as the time that would best favour his design; so 2 Kings 25:4.

They shall dig through the wall; fulfilled when they broke down the wall to flee, as Jeremiah 39:4: probably they had built up some slight wall to blind the enemy, which now they break to flee through.

He shall cover his face; partly out of grief, partly out of shame, partly prefiguring Zedekiah’s future loss of his eyes, and his blindness which the insolency of Nebuchadnezzar afflicted him with; but Zedekiah did by this chiefly aim at concealing himself in disguise and covering his face.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the prince that is among them,.... Zedekiah their king that reigned over them, in whom they trusted, and under whose government they thought themselves safe and secure:

shall bear upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth; out of Jerusalem, where his palace and throne were, leaving the main of his riches behind him; only should carry away what he could on his shoulder, a bundle of his most valuable effects, or provisions for his flight: or, as Kimchi and Ben Melech think, his clothes, for lighter march, and more speedy haste:

they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby; it seems by this, that when the king, and his nobles and servants, made their escape, they not only went forth between two walls, but broke through one, in order to get away; which was done, not by the king himself, but by his servants; so the Targum,

"in a wall shall they dig to bring him out by it;''

and therefore the number is changed, not "he", but "they, shall dig", &c. though in the following words the singular is again used:

he shall cover his face, that he see not the ground with his eyes; either through shame at leaving the city, his palace, and all his grandeur. The Targum is,

"he shall cover his face because he hath sinned:''

or that he might not be known and be discovered who he was; and so it was through fear of being betrayed by a false friend, or taken by the enemy: or else this may respect his having his eyes put out at Riblah, so that he could not see with them the land he was carried into; though it rather seems to refer to his first escape out of Jerusalem with a mask or vizor on him, which might hinder his seeing the ground he went upon; and which, in his fright, he could not attend to, looking out here and there, not being able to keep his eye long upon any place. The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions, render it, "that he may not be seen with the eye, and he shall not see the land".

Geneva Study Bible

And the prince that is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby: he shall cover his face, that he see not the ground with his eyes.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

12. shoulder in the twilight, and shall] The balance of clauses requires: shall bear upon his shoulder; in the darkness shall he go forth (or, carry forth—a slight change of reading, which obviates the unnatural and).

that he see not the ground] Rather as R.V., because he shall not see the land.

with his eyes] Lit. by eyesight himself. The language is unnatural. LXX. “that he may not be seen by eye, and he himself shall not see the land.” Whether original or not this rendering combines the two ideas expressed by “covering the face,” viz. that of disguise (Job 24:15), and that of inability to see (Job 9:24). The prophet clearly foresaw the fall of the city and the captivity of the king, and he may have threatened the king with a chastisement for his rebellion which, though barbarous, was not unusual in that age. If he did so it is still probable that afterwards when composing his Book he made the references to the putting out of the king’s eyes more distinct (Ezekiel 12:13).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 12. - For that he see not, read, with the Revised Version, because be shall not see. Ezekiel 12:12

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Explanation of the Symbolical Action

Ezekiel 12:8. And the word of Jehovah came to me in the morning, saying, Ezekiel 12:9. Son of man, have they not said to thee, the house of Israel, the refractory generation, What art thou doing? Ezekiel 12:10. Say to them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, This burden applies to the prince in Jerusalem, and to all the house of Israel to whom they belong. Ezekiel 12:11. Say, I am your sign: as I have done, so shall it happen to them; into exile, into captivity, will they go. Ezekiel 12:12. And the prince who is in the midst of them he will lift it upon his shoulder in the dark, and will go out: they will break through the wall, and carry it out thereby: he will cover his face, that he may not see the land with eyes. Ezekiel 12:13. And I will spread my net over him, so that he will be caught in my snare: and I will take him to Babel, into the land of the Chaldeans; but he will not see it, and will die there. Ezekiel 12:14. And all that is about him, his help and all his troops, I will scatter into all winds, and draw out the sword behind them. Ezekiel 12:15. And they shall learn that I am Jehovah, when I scatter them among the nations, and winnow them in the lands. Ezekiel 12:16. Yet I will leave of them a small number of men from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may relate all their abominations among the nations whither they have come; and learn that I am Jehovah. - As queries introduced with הלא have, as a rule, an affirmative sense, the words "have they not asked," etc., imply that the Israelites had asked the prophet what he was doing, though not in a proper state of mind, not in a penitential manner, as the epithet בּית plainly shows. The prophet is therefore to interpret the action which he had just been performing, and all its different stages. The words הנּשׂיא המּשּׂא הזּה, to which very different renderings have been given, are to be translated simply "the prince is this burden," i.e., the object of this burden. Hammassâ does not mean the carrying, but the burden, i.e., the threatening prophecy, the prophetic action of the prophet, as in the headings to the oracles (see the comm. on Nahum 1:1). The "prince" is the king, as in Ezekiel 21:30, though not Jehoiachin, who had been carried into exile, but Zedekiah. This is stated in the apposition "in Jerusalem," which belongs to "the prince," though it is not introduced till after the predicate, as in Genesis 24:24. To this there is appended the further definition, "the whole house of Israel," which, being co-ordinated with הנּשׂיא, affirms that all Israel (the covenant nation) will share the fate of the prince. In the last clause of Ezekiel 12:10 בּתוכם does not stand for בּתוכהּ, so that the suffix would refer to Jerusalem, "in the midst of which they (the house of Israel) are." אשׁר cannot be a nominative, because in that case המּה to be understood as referring to the persons addressed, i.e., to the Israelites in exile (Hitzig, Kliefoth): in the midst of whom they are, i.e., to whom they belong. The sentence explains the reason why the prophet was to announce to those in exile the fat of the prince and people in Jerusalem; namely, because the exiles formed a portion of the nation, and would be affected by the judgment which was about to burst upon the king and people in Jerusalem. In this sense Ezekiel was also able to say to the exiles (in Ezekiel 12:11), "I am your sign;" inasmuch as his sign was also of importance for them, as those who were already banished would be so far affected by the departure of the king and people which Ezekiel depicted, that it would deprive them of all hope of a speedy return to their native land.

להם, in Ezekiel 12:11, refers to the king and the house of Israel in Jerusalem. בּגולה is rendered more forcible by the addition of בּשּׁבי. The announcement that both king and people must go into exile, is carried out still further in Ezekiel 12:12 and Ezekiel 12:13 with reference to the king, and in Ezekiel 12:14 with regard to the people. The king will experience all that Ezekiel has described. The literal occurrence of what is predicted here is related in Jeremiah 39:1., Jeremiah 52:4.; 2 Kings 25:4. When the Chaldeans forced their way into the city after a two years' siege, Zedekiah and his men of war fled by night out of the city through the gate between the two walls. It is not expressly stated, indeed, in the historical accounts that a breach was made in the wall; but the expression "through the gate between the two walls" (Jeremiah 39:4; Jeremiah 52:7; 2 Kings 25:4) renders this very probable, whether the gate had been walled up during the siege, or it was necessary to break through the wall at one particular spot in order to reach the gate. The king's attendants would naturally take care that a breach was made in the wall, to secure for him a way of escape; hence the expression, "they will break through." The covering of the face, also, is not mentioned in the historical accounts; but in itself it is by no means improbable, as a sign of the shame and grief with which Zedekiah left the city. The words, "that he may not see the land with eyes," do not appear to indicate anything more than the necessary consequence of covering the face, and refer primarily to the simple fact that the king fled in the deepest sorrow, and did not want to see the land; but, as Ezekiel 12:13 clearly intimates, they were fulfilled in another way, namely, by the fact that Zedekiah did not see with his eyes the land of the Chaldeans into which he was led, because he had been blinded at Riblah (Jeremiah 39:5; Jeremiah 52:11; 2 Kings 25:7). לעין, by eye equals with his eyes, is added to give prominence to the idea of seeing. For the same purpose, the subject, which is already implied in the verb, is rendered more emphatic by הוּא; and this הוּא is placed after the verb, so that it stands in contrast with הארץ. The capture of the king was not depicted by Ezekiel; so that in this respect the announcement (Ezekiel 12:13) goes further than the symbolical action, and removes all doubt as to the credibility of the prophet's word, by a distinct prediction of the fate awaiting him. At the same time, his not seeing the land of Babylon is left so indefinite, that it cannot be regarded as a vaticinium post eventum. Zedekiah died in prison at Babylon (Jeremiah 52:11). Along with the king, the whole of his military force will be scattered in all directions (Ezekiel 12:14). עזרה, his help, i.e., the troops that break through with him. כּל־אגפּיו, all his wings (the wings of his army), i.e., all the rest of his forces. The word is peculiar to Ezekiel, and is rendered "wings" by Jos. Kimchi, like kenâphaim in Isaiah 8:8. For the rest of the verse compare Ezekiel 5:2; and for the fulfilment, Jeremiah 52:8; Jeremiah 40:7, Jeremiah 40:12. The greater part of the people will perish, and only a small number remain, that they may relate among the heathen, wherever they are led, all the abominations of Israel, in order that the heathen may learn that it is not from weakness, but simply to punish idolatry, that God has given up His people to them (cf. Jeremiah 22:8).