Son of man, hath not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said unto thee, What doest thou?
Ezekiel prophesied in captivity among sinful Israelites, and the verse belongs to his messages of warning and reproof to them. It stands within a section beginning with Ezekiel 10 that largely repeats the vision of Ezekiel 1 to show that the great God has a care over His work and over His people, as part of searching moral instruction continuing to Ezekiel 27, much of which predicts the last days. The chapter sets forth the moving out and captivity through a dramatized acted scene, a miniature realism. In that sign Ezekiel was to prepare for a hasty departure and carry his belongings away secretly.
The verse records the question of the rebellious house of Israel asking what he is doing, showing that his prophetic actions and messages confronted them and drew their challenge. God's revealed majesty equipped him not to fear facing them. Their asking was intended so that, when they sought an explanation of his strange actions, his actions would point to the coming judgment and exile. The prophecy in Ezekiel 12:8-13 to which the verse belongs was fulfilled in the days of Zedekiah about B.C. 590, when God permitted the Babylonians to deprive the kingdom of Israel of its king. The throne that God had given and passed from king to king after David had become so corrupt that it basely misrepresented its true King and failed to present a holy nation to the world, so God took the kingdom away.
Ezekiel prophesied in captivity among sinful Israelites, and the verse belongs to his messages of warning and reproof to them. It stands within a section beginning with Ezekiel 10 that largely repeats the vision of Ezekiel 1 to show that the great God has a care over His work and over His people, as part of searching moral instruction continuing to Ezekiel 27, much of which predicts the last days. The chapter sets forth the moving out and captivity through a dramatized acted scene, a miniature realism. In that sign Ezekiel was to prepare for a hasty departure and carry his belongings away secretly.
The verse records the question of the rebellious house of Israel asking what he is doing, showing that his prophetic actions and messages confronted them and drew their challenge. God's revealed majesty equipped him not to fear facing them. Their asking was intended so that, when they sought an explanation of his strange actions, his actions would point to the coming judgment and exile. The prophecy in Ezekiel 12:8-13 to which the verse belongs was fulfilled in the days of Zedekiah about B.C. 590, when God permitted the Babylonians to deprive the kingdom of Israel of its king. The throne that God had given and passed from king to king after David had become so corrupt that it basely misrepresented its true King and failed to present a holy nation to the world, so God took the kingdom away.