Study 8 From the Book of
Ezekiel is: Ezekiel 12 and 13
1.
12:1-20
declares by two vivid symbolic actions on the part of the prophet the doom that
was in store both for the people of Jerusalem (verses 3, 4, 18, 19) and for the
king (verses 5, 6, 10-16). Having grasped the significance of the prophecy,
turn to 2 Ki. 25:1-7 to see how exactly it was fulfilled.
2.
Note
the two scoffing remarks in 12:22 and 27.
What do these signify? How are they paralleled in modern attitudes to
the second coming of Christ? Cf. 2 Pet. 3:8-10.
3.
Chapter
13. Condemnation of false prophets. By what two vivid images are they described
(see 4 and 10, 11), and what is the effect of their prophesying (verse 6, 10a,
22)? What phrase differentiating them from true prophets occurs twice in the
chapter?
Note. 13:18-21. The magic
armbands and veils were devices used by soothsayers and clairvoyants to deceive
gullible victims. A useful section on the interpretation of this passage is to
be found in NBD (article ‘Magic and Sorcery’, p.767). The handfuls of barley and pieces of bread
were probably used in forms of divination, forecasting life or death to
inquirers.