Ezekiel 33:21-33

The Prophet, the Survivors, and the Exiles

In Ezekiel 24:27 it was announced to Ezekiel that the silence which began with his wife’s death and the siege of Jerusalem would be ended when fugitives from the captured cities should arrive in Babylonia. This took place a year and five months (but see on Ezekiel 33:21) after Jerusalem fell, and Ezekiel began once more to receive and proclaim messages from God. This passage contains two of these. The first was directed against the wicked survivors who remained in the land of Israel and boasted that it would still be theirs. They were destined to perish, and the land to be utterly desolated, in order that God’s wrath against their sin might be shown to the uttermost (Ezekiel 33:23-29). The second describes the changed attitude of the exiles towards Ezekiel. They were now interested in his words, discussing them in their gatherings, and listening eagerly to what he had to say. Yet their interest had more of curiosity than of earnestness. Not till the final punishment of the wicked survivors took place would they recognise Ezekiel as a prophet indeed (Ezekiel 33:30-33).

21. The twelfth year, the tenth month] December 585-January 584 b.c. The Syriac Bible reads ’the eleventh year.’ Five months seem more likely than a year and five months as the time to be allowed for a journey from Palestine to Babylonia.

22. Was] RV ’had been.’ Ezekiel had come under the power of divine inspiration the previous evening, when the truths in Ezekiel 33:1-20 had shaped themselves in his mind. The prophecy against the wicked survivors (Ezekiel 33:23-29) was probably called forth by information which the fugitives brought as to their attitude.

24. They that in habit, etc.] the surviving wicked remnant in the land of Israel. Their wickedness is described in Ezekiel 33:25, Ezekiel 33:26. For an historical account of the events in Palestine after the fall of Jerusalem see Jeremiah 40-43. The survivors to whom Ezekiel refera are probably the anti-Babylonian party, led by Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, who were responsible for the murder of Gedaliah: see Intro.

Abraham was one, etc.] These survivors reasoned—’If Abraham, who was only one man, obtained this land for his descendants, much more may we, who are many, hope to do so in spite of all that has happened.’ For a sounder use of the same argument see Isaiah 51:2.

28. From Jeremiah 52:30 we learn that there was a further deportation of 745 Jews to Babylonia five years after the fall of Jerusalem.

30. The children of thy people] the exiles of the first captivity. Still are talking against thee] RV ’talk of thee.’

32. The exiles listened to Ezekiel’s words as they would to music, which was entertaining but had no practical influence on their lives.

33. When this Cometh to pass] the utter desolation of Palestine foretold in Ezekiel 33:27, Ezekiel 33:28.