OUR LORD WHO GIVES WARNING THROUGH HIS PROPHETS.

Ezekiel chapter 12 verses 12 -13 says this;

“The prince among them will put his things on his shoulder at dusk and leave, and a hole will be dug in the wall for him to go through. He will cover his face so that he cannot see the land. I will spread my net for him, and he will be caught in my snare; I will bring him to Babylonia, the land of the Chaldeans, but he will not see it, and there he will die.

This passage describes the meaning of the actions that the Lord told Ezekiel the prophet to take. Ezekiel was to pack his belongings in the sight of all the people to represent that he was going into exile. He was then to dig a hole in the perimeter wall with his hands and leave with his belongings through the hole in the wall with his face covered so that he could not see the land as he left.

This somber prophetic object lesson was to be a message to the prince of Jerusalem and all the Israelites who were in the city. The prince was going to have his things put on his shoulders and he would leave through a hole on the wall and he would not see the land as he left to go to Babylonia where he would die.

Ezekiel enacted the exile scene in the sight of all the people as a sign to them of what would happen to them. Surprisingly, the people of Israel were indifferent to what Ezekiel was doing and did not ask him what it meant.

The Lord, seeing that the people of Israel did not ask, told Ezekiel to say to the people that what he was doing would happen to them and that they would be going into captivity.

Ezekiel chapter 12 verse 11 reads like this; 

 Say to them, ‘I am a sign to you.’ “As I have done, so it will be done to them. They will go into exile as captives.

Even when the people ignored the warning message, the Lord instructed Ezekiel to explain to people what it meant so that they were adequately warned.

As it says in Amos chapter 3 verse 7; Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.

Amen.