Ezekiel 12:13

Eze 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.

Ver. 13. My net also will I spread upon him.] Princes usually love hunting and fowling. Lo, the Chaldees shall hunt him and overcatch him.

And he shall be taken in my snare.] Snares are set secretly, catch suddenly, hold certainly. A stronghold the Hebrew word here used doth also signify. {a}

Yet shall he not see it.] For his eyes were put out at Riblah. {2Ki 25:7} And yet, behold, a greater blindness that befell him than this. Josephus {b} testifieth that Zedekiah not understanding these words of Ezekiel, and thinking them to be contrary to Jeremiah’s words, he resolved to believe neither of them.

{a} Jun.

{b} Joseph. Ant., lib. vi. x., cap. 10.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

When the king shall think to escape by fleeing, I will take him in my net, as Ezek. 17:20 and 32:3.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

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).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 13. I will bring - him to Babylon - yet shall he not see it] Because Nebuchadnezzar caused him to have his eyes put out at Riblah. To Babylon he was carried in his blind state, and there he died. In saying, My net also will I spread upon him, there is probably a reference to an ancient manner of fighting. One, who was called the retiarius, had a small casting net, which if he could throw over his antagonist's head, he then despatched him with his sword; if he missed his throw, he was obliged to run in order to get his net once more adjusted for another throw. In the mean time the other pursued him with all his speed to prevent this, and to despatch him; hence he was called secutor: the first the netman, the second the pursuer.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

That was no slight slaughter, when Zedekiah at length, in his desperation, thought of flight, and thus descended into hidden trenches, as if seeking life in the tomb: thus was he reduced to extremities. But the Prophet now adds, that it would be useless, because notwithstanding this he should be taken by his enemies Besides, what God executed by means of the Chaldeans he properly transfers to himself. The Chaldeans laid their snares when advised of the king’s flight: they knew its direction, and hence they apprehended him. So God announces himself as the author: I, says he, will stretch out my net. This we know, that the Chaldeans did not leave their own country of their own accord, nor carry on the war in their own strength, nor take the king by their own counsel; but the whole affair was under the government of heaven. Men lent their aid, and seemed to carry’ on the work by their own labor; but unless God had provided for the event, all their endeavors had proved fruitless. Hence, as God had stirred up the Chaldeans to exact punishment from the king and the people, so he raised their minds to confidence, then he strengthened them to persist in the siege of the city, and afterwards opened their eyes, and sent persons to disclose the plans of the king, so that he might be seized in a cave, as it really happened. The whole of this was done by the secret providence of God. So diligently ought we to observe those places in which God shows that what seems to be the work of men is really his own. Even likeness does not want its weight; for we seem always to have some refuge in perplexity, and on whatever side we look around, some hope deceives us. But God announces that he has nets spread, by which we are surrounded on every side: hence when we seem to have a way of escape, God has hidden nets in which he encloses us. So that this place compares God to a hunter, and ourselves to wild beasts; for when a huntsman follows wild beasts, they seek for a way of escape and rush out there, but they are caught in nets: so also when we endeavor to elude God’s hands, we are entrapped and held by him: because when we wish to withdraw ourselves from his providence, we deserve that blindness which leads us to rush on our own destruction.

Hence I will spread my net for him, and he shall be taken in my snares, I will lead him away, says he, to Babylon The Prophet shows by degrees how formidably God’s vengeance should alight on Zedekiah and the whole people. It was already most miserable to be taken by the enemy and subjected to their lust and cruelty. If he had been slain, this would have been accomplished in a single moment, but God wished him to be drawn into exile; meanwhile he says that he should die at Babylon, without seeing the city, both of which were accomplished. Zedekiah then wasted away in exile, for he lay even to his death in filth and defilement. And although he was buried, as we saw in Jeremiah, yet this condition was most sorrowful — to fear through one’s whole lifetime some fresh wrath of an enemy. Then he was barbarously and inhumanly treated: his eyes were put out on the journey; and here it is said, he shall not see Babylon, and yet he shall arrive there and die there. Afterwards he saw his sons strangled in his sight: then his eyes were dug out — a spectacle more grievous than death. Now we may reflect on the kind of life a man must spend in exile, in prison, and in chains — since he was bound with chains, as the sacred narrative informs us — there to consume away by a slow death in a foul prison and in total darkness; yet all this happened to Zedekiah. We see then how God thunders against the Israelites, who thought themselves hardly treated in exile, since they might have remained safe at Jerusalem.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(13) Yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.—The prophet does not explain how this could be; but Jeremiah (Jer_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 Jer_52:11.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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; Hos_7:12, “when they go, I will spread my net upon them; I will bring them down as the fowls of heaven.” Cf. Eze_17:20; Eze_32:3.

yet shall he not see it] The eyes of Zedekiah were put out by Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah. 2Ki_25:5 seq.; Jer_52:8; Jer_52:11.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And they shall know that I am the Lord,.... God omniscient, and can and do foresee and foretell future events, when the above things shall come to pass; and omnipotent, able to do what he purposed and declared he would; and true and faithful to his word, and holy and righteous in all his ways and works:

when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries; of Egypt, Babylon, Media, and other places.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Compare Jer 52:9 ff

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Net, as was done in war, and to catch wild beasts, Jeremias xvi. 16. (Calmet) --- Not see it, because his eyes shall be put out by Nabuchodonosor. (Challoner) --- The false prophets thought they perceived a contradiction here; (Worthington) and Sedecias, confronting it with Jeremias xxxviii. 18., disregarded both. (Josephus, Antiquities x. 10.) --- This was more pardonable than for Paine to object this as an inconsistency, after the event has so clearly verified the predictions of both, and shewed their consent. (Haydock) --- The unhappy prince saw too late the true meaning. (Calmet) --- He was put in a cage, like a wild beast, and conveyed blind to Babylon. (St. Jerome)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

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, 2Ki 25:6; Jer 39:5.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

13. My net also will I spread upon him — The attempt to escape shall be a failure. The Babylonian king shall capture the fugitives and carry them to Chaldea, but the net in which they are taken is not Nebuchadnezzar’s, but Jehovah’s. These shrewd “captains” might have outwitted Nebuzaradan, but they could not evade the Almighty (Jer_39:4-7; Hos_7:12; Eze_17:20; Eze_32:3).

Yet shall he not see it — This explicit prophecy, that his eyes should be put out, was literally fulfilled — though Ezekiel himself does not record its fulfillment (2Ki_25:7; Jer_39:7; Jer_52:11). “Ezekiel had no solicitude to make out the truth of his own predictions.” — Cowles.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

My net also will I spread, etc. Compare the same image in Lam_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 thatZedekiah, finding an apparent discrepancy in the words that he should not see Babylon, and those of Jeremiah, (Jer_32:4 Jer_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.

God"s net.

I GOD SPREADS A NET.

1. God will not leave guilty men free. They have a time of liberty, but there will be a limit to this. Though they have a long tether, some day its end will be reached. Freedom is given to allow scope for choice. If the power of choice is abused, the freedom will be withdrawn.

2. God employs means for restraining the liberty of bad men. He does not lay hold of them with his hand; he uses a net. In the present instance the net was Nebuchadnezzar. That heathen monarch did not know that he was a mere instrument in the hand of God; yet did God so completely hold him in this respect that he called the man "my servant Nebuchadnezzar". (Jer_25:9) Thus God overrules the movements of kings.

3. These means may not be perceived by the unhappy victims. The net is a snare, and "in vain is a snare spread in the sight of any bind." We must not suppose that God really deceives his children. The Jews had been warned. But their eyes were blind and their ears deaf (ver. 2). The danger is not the less because men do not perceive it. Just when a man boasts of his greatest triumph the meshes of a Divine judgment may be drawing together about his doomed life.

II GOD ENSNARES IN HIS NET WHOMSOEVER HE WILL.

1. He designs the net for particular persons. In the verse before us it is spread for one man. There is no element of chance in the judgments of Heaven. God considers the case of each soul, and acts accordingly.

2. All the men caught in Gods net are sinners. He has no terrors for the good. He is not like the tempter, who ensnares men into evil. Every man who is caught in God"s net of judgment has been first ensnared in the devil"s net of sin.

3. The greatest are not beyond the reach of this net. In the present instance the net is spread expressly to catch no less a person than Zedekiah, the King of Jerusalem. Massive battlements and the serried ranks of a mighty army cannot keep off the invisible entanglement of the net of judgment.

III THERE IS NO EARTHLY MEANS OF ESCAPING FROM GOD"S NET. Its threads may be fine as gossamer, but they are strong as steel. Zedekiah was to be taken in the snare, and brought to Babylon in so helpless a state that he would not even see the place, for, as the event proved, his eyes were to be put out. The king fled by night from Jerusalem, but was caught by the Chaldeans near Jericho. As "the stars in their courses fought against Sisera," the course of armies and nations turned against the guilty Jews and their wicked king. There is no hope for the impenitent.

IV CHRIST HAS SPREAD A NEW NET OF SALVATION. He told his apostles that they should be fishers of men, (Mat_4:19) and he compared the kingdom of heaven to a dragnet. (Mat_13:47) The only way of escaping from the awful net of judgment is to permit one"s self to be taken in the saving net of the gospel.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

It - Neither the land nor the city; for his eyes will be put out at Riblah.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

And I shall spread my net over him There was a cave [extending] from his house to the plains of Jericho, and he went out through the cave. What did the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He brought before the army of the Chaldeans a deer which was walking before them on the roof of the cave, and they [began] chasing it. And when Zedekiah emerged from the cave in the plains of Jericho, they saw him emerging and caught him.

but he will not see it because in Riblah in the land of Hamath, he [Nebuchadnezzar] called him to account and blinded his eyes. Afterwards, they brought him to Babylon, as is stated in the Book of (II) Kings (25:7 and in Jer. 39:7).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.