Ezekiel 12:13

My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(13) Yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.—The prophet does not explain how this could be; but Jeremiah (Jeremiah 52:11) makes it plain by recording that Zedekiah’s eyes were put out in Riblah, before he was carried to Babylon. Josephus has a curious story (Antiq. x. 7, § 2), that Zedekiah was inclined to believe the warnings of Jeremiah that he should be carried captive to Babylon; but when Ezekiel sent this prophecy to Jerusalem, saying that he should not see the land, he conceived the two prophecies to be contradictory, and so disbelieved them both. Zedekiah’s death in Babylon is mentioned in Jeremiah 52:11.

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

Compare Jeremiah 52:9 ff

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

13. My net—the Chaldean army. He shall be inextricably entangled in it, as in the meshes of a net. It is God's net (Job 19:6). Babylon was God's instrument (Isa 10:5). Called "a net" (Hab 1:14-16).

bring him to Babylon … ; yet shall he not see it—because he should be deprived of sight before he arrived there (Jer 52:11).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

In the disguise this fugitive might possibly escape from the net of Nebuchadnezzar, and of his captains. But, poor Zedekiah, dost thou not at last see that the Babylonians are employed of God, and that God will bring thee into his own and into Nebuchadnezzar’s net.

Will I spread upon him; in allusion to those that take birds or fish in nets, they spread it to its full extent, so will God spread his net that it shall cover Zedekiah and his followers.

He shall be taken; mentioned as the principal, though he was not taken alone, many were taken with him.

I will bring him; the Chaldeans carried him, and God brought him to Babylon, so second causes co-work with the first.

To Babylon; which was the metropolis of the kingdom.

The land of the Chaldeans; that strange land where they were captives whom God sent before, and whither obstinate Jerusalemites must now go.

Yet shall he not see it; neither the land nor the city, though he shall spend the rest of his days there, and there die, but the Babylonish tyrant will put out his eyes at Riblah, 2 Kings 25:6 Jeremiah 39:5.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

My net also will I spread upon him,.... Meaning the Chaldean army, which the Lord raised up, and brought against him, and gave success unto:

and he shall be taken in my snare; as a bird is taken in the snare of the fowler; or a wild beast by the hunter. The Jews have a tradition, which is mentioned both by Jarchi, Kimchi, and Abendana on the place, that there was a cave which reached from Zedekiah's house to the plains of Jericho, by the way of which he fled; and that God prepared a deer, which went upon the top of the cave; and the Chaldeans pursued it; and when it came to the mouth of the cave, Zedekiah was coming out, and they took him:

and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it; his eyes being put out at Riblah, Jeremiah 39:7. The Prophet Jeremiah says that his eyes should behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, Jeremiah 34:3; and yet here Ezekiel says that he should not see the land of the Chaldeans. Josephus (u) observes, that Zedekiah thought these two prophecies contradicted each other, and therefore gave credit to neither; but they both proved true; he saw the king of Babylon at Riblah; but his eyes being there put out, he saw not Babylon, whither he was carried captive:

though he shall die there; as he did, Jeremiah 52:11.

(u) Joseph. Antiqu. l. 10. c. 7. sect. 2. and c. 8. sect. 2.

Geneva Study Bible

My net also will I spread upon {d} him, and he shall be taken in my snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.

(d) When the king will think to escape by fleeing, I will take him into my net, as in Eze 32:3.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

13. The king’s flight shall be unavailing; he shall be captured and brought blinded to Babylon, where he shall die. As the Lord fought against Jerusalem in the siege, so it is he that ensures the capture of the king. It is in his net that he is ensnared and taken; Hosea 7:12, “when they go, I will spread my net upon them; I will bring them down as the fowls of heaven.” Cf. Ezekiel 17:20; Ezekiel 32:3.

yet shall he not see it] The eyes of Zedekiah were put out by Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah. 2 Kings 25:5 seq.; Jeremiah 52:8; Jeremiah 52:11.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 13. - My net also will I spread, etc. Compare the same image in Lamentations 1:13. The prediction of ver. 12 is reiterated with emphasis. Zedekiah shall be in Babylon, yet shall not see. Josephus ('Ant.,' 10. 7:2; 8:2) relates that Ezekiel sent this prophecy to Jerusalem, and that Zedekiah, finding an apparent discrepancy in the words that he should not see Babylon, and those of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 32:4; Jeremiah 34:3), hardened himself in his unbelief. There is no reason, however, for supposing that Josephus had access to any other records than the books of the two prophets, and his narrative looks rather like an imagined history of what might have been. Ezekiel 12:13

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).