In the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, a fugitive from Jerusalem came to me and said, “The city has been struck down.”
A single survivor of the siege reached Ezekiel in exile with the news: Jerusalem had fallen. The verse is short, but it settles two things. Were the prophet's warnings true? And does God still have anything to say to a people whose city is now rubble?
The Hinge of the Book
Before this moment, the book looks forward to disaster. After it, the book looks past the disaster to restoration. One commentator treats the arrival of the survivor as the line that splits the whole book in two.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThe prophecies before the fall of Jerusalem announce judgment on the city and on the Gentile nations, the enemies of Israel. The prophecies Ezekiel received after the city fell announce future blessing and glory for Israel and Jerusalem... In chapter 33:21, after the prophet had received a renewed call as watchman, we read that "a fugitive from Jerusalem came to me and said, 'The city has been struck down.'" This determines the two parts.
A Promise Kept to the Day
Years earlier God had set the terms: on the day a fugitive arrived, the prophet's long silence would end. One commentator explains how limited that silence really was.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinIn chapter 24:27, Ezekiel was promised that when the man who escaped the fall of Jerusalem arrived, the prophet would no longer be mute. This muteness clearly does not mean he was always silent, never saying a word, for he prophesied chapters 25-32. He was to be silent about Israel; the chapters in between, before the messenger came, concern other nations. And now that promised messenger arrived and his mouth was opened again to prophesy about Israel.
Why the Silence Had to Last
The timing mattered. The silence ran until no one could pretend any longer, and the reopened mouth would speak a different kind of word than before.
Numerical Bible NotesFor nearly a year and a half the siege lasted, and then came the message that the city was taken. In that day, when all was over at last, no one could hold on to false hope any longer. Then the prophet's mouth would be opened. He would speak, and be silent no longer... When judgment has had its way, and God's holiness is fully vindicated, the prophet's mouth is to be opened. He speaks not in judgment again, but announcing blessing to come. God's goodness never takes back what it has promised, so that blessing is still kept for them, however much their persistent sin has delayed it.
The Date and the Long Delay
The dating raises a real difficulty: the fugitive shows up far later than we would expect. One writer weighs the old copies — including the Septuagint, the ancient Greek version of the Old Testament — instead of smoothing the problem away.
Numerical Bible NotesStrangely, the date given here for the arrival of the man who escaped is more than sixteen months after the city was taken. So people have naturally thought there must be a mistake in the text, and the common manuscripts of the Septuagint do look altered to fit. The well-known Alexandrian manuscript, however, agrees with the Hebrew... No doubt the report of the capture reached them long before the refugee himself arrived, since he was surely delayed by the conditions he had to travel through.
Confirmed Word, Unchanged Hearts
You might expect the fall of the city to break the people. Instead the message that follows exposes religious talk running ahead of any real change.
William KellyIf the reading is correct (some copies vary, perhaps to shorten the interval), the news of Jerusalem's fall was long in reaching the prophet. Then he opened his mouth, long closed, and gave a solemn warning of further judgment. He warned them all the more because they pretended to speak the language of faith while their heart was far from the Lord. Grace is enough for anyone and for every circumstance. But it never comes apart from the faith that gives glory to God, as in Abraham.
Claiming a Land by Arithmetic
Those left among the ruins reasoned that if one man inherited the land, a crowd of survivors had an even stronger claim. The claim was not refused because the promise had failed, but because of who was making it.
Numerical Bible NotesIf this had been the boldness of faith, it would still have been admirable. The people might lose possession of the inheritance for long years, but it could never be taken away for good from the children of the man God promised it to. This was something else, though, as the character of the speakers showed. They were mere outlaws, and their works declared them to be anything but Abraham's children.
Summary
- Word spoken. Ezekiel warned for years; the fugitive's report proves the warnings were God's and not his own.
- Word silenced. The prophet's silence was aimed only at Israel. He still spoke to the nations, and it ended the day the escaped man came.
- Word timed. The silence held until no false hope could survive. Then the reopened mouth spoke blessing, not fresh judgment.
- Word dated. The sixteen-month gap troubled copyists. But the Hebrew and the Alexandrian manuscript agree, and a refugee's hard journey explains the delay.
- Word resisted. Ruins did not produce faith. Survivors claimed the land by their numbers, but such a claim is tested by conduct, not by counting.