Ezekiel 12:18

Eze 12:18 Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and with carefulness;

Ver. 18. Eat thy bread with quaking.] With tumult and trepidation, as a frightened and perplexed person that eateth his bread in peril of his life.

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.

Symbolical representation of the famine and fear with which they should eat their scanty morsel, in their exile, and especially at the siege.

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 18. Eat thy bread with quaking] Assume the manner of a person who is every moment afraid of his life, who has nothing but a morsel of bread to eat, and a little water to drink. Thus signifying the siege, and the straits to which they should be reduced. See this explained, Eze 12:19.

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

(18) Eat thy bread with quaking.—This is another symbolical action, the meaning of which is immediately explained. The prophet is to eat and drink as men in the terror and distress of a siege.

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

18. It is obvious that this symbol could not have been actually performed. Cf. ch. Eze_4:16.

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 the word of the Lord came unto me, saying. After he had been a sign unto the people, in the two instances above mentioned; and they had hardened themselves against the belief of the things signified by them, because the time of their accomplishment was not yet.

And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying. After he had been a sign unto the people, in the two instances above mentioned; and they had hardened themselves against the belief of the things signified by them, because the time of their accomplishment was not yet.

Ezekiel 12:22

eze 12:22

eze 12:22

eze 12:22Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in the land of Israel,.... Which question is put, as ignorant of it, but as filled with indignation at the impiety and boldness of those that used it, and in order to expose the wickedness and folly of it:

saying, the days are prolonged; the days of affliction and distress; the time of Jerusalem's destruction, and of the Babylonish captivity, these were not to be of a long time; and therefore they were ready to flatter themselves they would never be, at least in their days; and hence, because judgment was not immediately executed, their hearts were set in them to do evil; and thus they abused the patience and long suffering of God, and they used this and the following expression so often, and so long, that they became proverbial to them:

and every vision faileth? or "perishes" (b); every prophecy comes to nothing; no one is fulfilled; at least because not at, once, therefore they concluded it never would, or, however, hoped it never would; and so pleased themselves, and continued in their impenitence and unbelief, and contempt of prophecy.

(b) "peribit", Munster, Montanus, Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Polanus, Piscator; "periit", Starckius.

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

Here the sign is the exhibition of such terror as the danger of a siege creates.

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

Sorrow. Act like one under great anxiety and distress. (Calmet)

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).

With quaking; with commotion or shakings, as one whose apprehension of danger brings as it were an earthquake upon him; and this trembling is the same thing, but in other words. Thy water: here is no mention of delicious and generous wines, but water; so low should they be reduced, and yet not enjoy this very little, because of the great inward fears that shake them.

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

Eat thy bread with quaking, etc. No special stress is to be laid on the fact that only bread and water are named. The prophet is not dwelling now on the scarcity of food in the besieged city, as he had done in Eze_4:9-17, but on the fear and terror which should haunt the lives of the besieged. Here again we can scarcely doubt that, as in ver. 11, Ezekiel was a sign to those among whom he lived. Outwardly and visibly he was seen after his strange flitting, cowering in a corner, as one hunted down and dreading pursuit, with every look and gesture of extremest terror. This was to be the portion of those who escaped and whose life was "given them for a prey." The strange act was to be explained to "the people of the land," i.e. the exiles among whom Ezekiel lived. The short prediction ends with the usual formula. There is another interval, and then another inspiration.

Fear.

Ezekiel, in conformity with his new, desperate method of rousing the heedless Jews, is now to dramatize Fear in his own person and action, as a sign of the terror that will seize upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the days of its overthrow.

I FEAR ARISES FROM EVIL CAUSES. The sound and innocent soul in healthy circumstances should not know fear. Observe some of the causes of fear.

1. Ignorance. "Fear always springs from ignorance," says Emerson. There is a sense of the mysterious and uncertain about it. When we perceive an approaching calamity, we may shrink from it and feel the keenest distress; but the peculiar agony of fear ties in the darkness of futurity. This, of course, implies nothing morally defective, for we are necessarily limited. Childish fears naturally haunt childish ignorance. But though not morally wrong, except in the careless and wilful, ignorance is an evil circumstance to be conquered.

2. Weakness. There is a weakness of nerve which belongs to one"s bodily condition, and so some are constitutionally timorous. But the worst fear springs from cowardice, i.e. from a culpable laxity of moral fibre.

3. Guilt. Fear followed the Fall. "The wicked flee when no man pursueth." We know that we deserve ill; therefore we cannot be surprised if we are to receive it. This is an intellectual conception; but the moral effect of sin is stronger. The man who is conscious of his sin feels ashamed, smitten with helplessness; and the heavens gather up black thunderclouds over his head.

II FEAR IS HURTFUL.

1. It is one of the most painful elements of punishment. The murderer suffers infinitely more agony in the condemned cell than he can ever feel on the gallows. "There is but one thing of which I am afraid," says Montaigne, "and that is fear.

2. Fear is a cause of disaster. "The direst foe of courage," says George Macdonald, "is the fear itself, not the object of it; and the man who can overcome his own terror is a hero and more." We are paralyzed by fear. As in dreams the limbs are heavy, like lead, when a terror is approaching, so in waking life we find that the terror which threatens fascinates us into helplessness.

3. Worse than all this, fear is morally degrading. "Fear is cruel and mean," says Emerson. It is a selfish passion, and it lowers our whole tone and character.

III FEAR MAY BE CONQUERED BY FAITH. Constitutional bravery will exclude the possibility of fear. "Fear!" exclaimed the hero Nelson, when only a boy, to his grandmother, who had asked if he had not met fear when he had lost his way, "what is it like? I have never seen it." Such incapacity for fear is a splendid natural endowment, but it has not the moral character of victory over fear in those who are capable of its pangs. The true antidote to fear is faith. We cannot know everything, and so dispel the ignorance out of which fear springs; nor can we create in ourselves the strength of a hero by a sheer act of will; nor can we deny or repudiate our guilt. But we may trust God"s protection in the darkness, lean upon his strength in the hour of need, and rely upon his pardon when we repent of sin and turn to the grace of Christ. So the feeblest can say, "When I am weak, then am I strong;" "I will go in the strength of the Lord God." Moreover, the work of faith will be completed by love, for "perfect love casteth out fear.

Trembling anticipations.

Frequently was the ministry of Ezekiel a ministry of symbolism as well as of language. Very pictorial and effective must some of the prescribed actions of the prophet have appeared to those who witnessed them. On the occasion referred to in this passage he ate his bread and drank his water with trembling, carefulness, and astonishment. Now, in ordinary cases, the daily meals are partaken by good men with cheerfulness and gratitude. The change from Ezekiel"s usual demeanour to that evident upon this occasion must certainly have awakened on the part of his companions not a little curiosity and inquiry. There was a typical signification in it, which he himself was ready to explain. There are times when anticipation of evil is justified, when its absence is unreasonable. The terrors, privations, and sufferings of the approaching siege of Jerusalem were pictured beforehand by the figurative, symbolical actium of the prophet.

I THE OCCASION OF THESE TREMBLING FOREBODINGS. It was the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the land of Israel who were about to suffer. And their sufferings were the just reward of their unfaithfulness and rebelliousness. Threats and warnings had not been spared. The prophet at least believed that these threats were not empty and vain, that the day was approaching when they should be fulfilled. The siege of the rebellious city was at hand.

II THE SYMPATHETIC CHARACTER OF THESE TREMBLING FOREBODINGS. lake a true minister of God, Ezekiel thought and felt less for himself than for his people. He had personally no special reason for alarm. So far as his own safety was concerned, there was no reason why he should cherish anticipations of evil. But in his own mind he identified himself with Jerusalem, with Israel. He could not separate and isolate himself from those to whom he was bound by ties of kindred and of common indebtedness to the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. If his people suffered, he would suffer with them. Even if they showed a sinful indifference to their state and prospects, he would cherish a just sensitiveness. If disaster were approaching, he would not be content to secure his own safety and to regard their fate with heartless unconcern.

III THE INTENTION OF THESE TREMBLING FOREBODINGS. Ezekiel was no mere prophet of evil. He did not conceive himself to have accomplished his mission in predicting the coming evil, and then abandoning the people to the consequences of their sin. He warned them in the hope that they would profit by his warning, turn from their evil ways, and seek that national disaster might be averted, or, at all events, in the hope that individuals might repent and flee from the wrath to come. His mission was one of benevolence.

IV THE JUSTIFICATION FOR THESE TREMBLING FOREBODINGS. The siege which Ezekiel foretold came to pass; the people, in the famine which ensued, ate their bread with carefulness, and drank their water with astonishment; the cities were laid waste, and the land became a desolation. All the predictions of the Lord"s prophet were verified. The false security of the people was proved to be false and baseless; their hope of immunity from judgment was frustrated. The righteous judgment of God was vindicated, and that in a most awful manner.

V THE ULTIMATE ISSUE OF THESE TREMBLING FOREBODINGS. The fear of the prophet, the calamity and terror which overtook the people, had a moral, a religious end, which in large measure was secured. The authority of the God of Israel was asserted. The vanity of rebellion against him was demonstrate. The attention of all concerned was directed to the principles of true religion as the foundation alike of national and of individual well being. "Ye shall know that I am the Lord. T.

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