And the people said unto me, Wilt thou not tell us what these things
are to us, that thou doest so? Then I answered them, The word of the
Lord came unto me, saying, Speak unto the house of Israel, Thus
saith the Lord God; Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the
excellency of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and that which
your soul pitieth; and your sons and your daughters whom ye have
left shall fall by the sword. And ye shall do as I have done; ye
shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men. And your tires
shall be upon your heads, and your shoes upon your feet: ye shall
not mourn nor weep; but ye shall pine away for your iniquities, and
mourn one toward another. Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign; according
to all that he hath done shall ye do; and when this cometh, ye shall
know that I am the Lord God. Also, thou son of man, shall it not be,
in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their
glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their
minds, their sons and their daughters. That he that escapeth in
that day shall come unto thee, to cause thee to hear it with thine
ears? In that day shall thy mouth be opened to him which is escaped,
and thou shalt speak, and be no more dumb; and thou shalt be a sign
unto them; and they shall know that I am the Lord (verses 19-27).
The people then inquired of Ezekiel about the meaning of his actions.
They wanted to know about the caldron and about his strange behaviour in
not mourning over the death of his wife. The answer is again given by
the Word of the Lord. The captives on the river Chebar, who surrounded
the Prophet, hear now that the Lord is going to profane His own
sanctuary. It was the object in which they boasted, the excellency of
their strength and the desire of their eyes. Their sons and daughters
who had been left behind by them were now to fall by the sword. As
suddenly as the stroke bereft him of his wife, so should they lose their
loved ones and they also were not to lament. Ezekiel was unto them a
sign. As previously so now again he foreshadowed in his experience what
was the common lot of the people. But more than that should come upon
them. They were to pine away on account of their iniquities and moan one
toward another; their grief would be manifested in groans and moans of
deepest anguish. In all they were to know that He whom they rejected is
the Lord. And so the world will make the same discovery before long,
perhaps even now this solemn fact is being demonstrated before our eyes.
Nations have forgotten God. They have rejected His Word. They trampled
under foot His truth and the best the Lord has given. The measure of
wickedness is rapidly being filled up and God, a holy, righteous God,
must act in judgment and deal with man according to his ways and
according to his works. The moans and the groans are on the earth.
And when all the prophet announced was accomplished, when Jerusalem had
fallen, then one that escaped should come to Ezekiel and tell him about
it. Even so it happened. "And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our
captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that one
that had escaped out of Jerusalem came into me, saying, The city is
smitten" (xxxiii:21). It was also announced to the Prophet that when
this messenger came he should no more be dumb, but his mouth should be
opened, and he would speak. Of this we read in chapter xxxiii:22; then
he would resume his public activities.