Sefer Yechezkel, chapter 12. "And the word of Hashem came to me, saying. Son of man, you dwell in the midst of the rebellious house, who have eyes to see and do not see, ears to hear and do not hear, for they are a rebellious house." "And the word of Hashem came to me, saying, son of man, you dwell in the midst of the rebellious house." The Holy One, blessed be He, tells him: you dwell among people who are people of rebellion. "Meri" means people who rebel. "Who have eyes to see and do not see, ears to hear and do not hear." See here: eyes they have to see but they did not see. They see that they have been exiled and it is as though they did not see. As if he did not notice that trouble had come upon him. "And they did not hear": you rebuke them with reproof and it is as though they did not hear your reproof. They still continue in their evil way. And here he speaks of those who dwell in Bavel, who strengthen the hands of those remaining in Yerushalayim and tell them, you have nothing to fear. They would send them prophets and diviners to tell them: do not worry, you will not be exiled. Do you understand what a rebellious house this is? Do you understand what rebelliousness there is in their hearts? You have already been struck, you rebelled and you paid the price, and now you send messengers to tell them there, do not worry. To tell them, through diviners and prophets, not to be concerned. Among them there was also Shemayahu HaNechelami, who sent letters to all the people in Yerushalayim to promise them false promises and to calm them and tell them that nothing would happen. So he says: these are the rebellious house, in the midst of the rebellious house you dwell.
The Malbim says: anyone who was not prepared by his nature to recognize Hashem's miracles and wonders through His deeds, who does not have the roots of faith, is not called a rebel; this person is called only a fool and a simpleton. And why? Because by his nature he is unable to see. By his nature he does not have the roots of faith. This person cannot be called a rebel. A rebel is someone who knows and yet rebels. This person is simply a fool and a simpleton. Who is called a rebel? Those who have eyes to see and nevertheless do not see, ears to hear and nevertheless do not hear. As it is written: "The deaf hear, the blind look to see." We once brought an example of this: a certain man who was a heretic, and he heard that there was a certain Yankele the Heretic who lived in some other city, and he heard that he was a big name. He decided to go meet him. He arrives at his home and asks, where does Yankele the Heretic live? They tell him, here. He says, can I speak with him? They tell him, he is not at home. Fine, where can I reach him? They tell him, go to the beit midrash. The beit midrash? Once again, this is Yankele the Heretic? They tell him, yes, yes, at the beit midrash. Fine. He arrives at the beit midrash, looks for Yankele the Heretic, and they point out someone sitting there in a corner beside some large Gemara, sitting with a cap on his head and learning. He comes over to him and says, shalom aleichem? He answers, yes, shalom. Is your honor Yankele the Heretic? He says, yes. He says to him, I too am a heretic. Wonderful, to your health. All right, so what is it? He says, I wanted to speak with your honor and so on, but first of all I do not understand: what kind of heretic are you? You sit here in the beit midrash and open a Gemara and learn? He says, you are a heretic? He turns the question back on him. He says, yes. He says, tell me, have you ever learned Gemara? Have you learned Bavli? Have you learned Yerushalmi? Have you learned Shulchan Aruch? Have you learned Beit Yosef? Have you learned... he begins questioning him. He says, no, none of these things has he learned. So he says to him: you are not a heretic, you are just an ignoramus.
To be a heretic, you need to know what it is you are denying. If you do not know what you are denying, what are you denying? "I am a heretic": nonsense. You know, I could say I deny quantum theory. I do not believe in it. Can you explain to me what quantum theory is? I have no idea at all, but I do not believe in it. That is laughable. About something you do not know, do not speak. So one who calls himself a heretic must know what he is denying. The Malbim says: one who does not have the knowledge to recognize Hashem's miracles and wonders and who has no roots of faith is not called a heretic and is not called a rebel; he is called a fool and a simpleton. Who is called a heretic? Those who have eyes to see and did not see, ears to hear and did not hear, for they are a rebellious house. About them He tells you: they are a rebellious house. It is not out of foolishness, but because they rebel against the word of Hashem.
"And you, son of man, prepare for yourself vessels of exile, and go into exile by day before their eyes, and you shall exile yourself from your place to another place before their eyes; perhaps they will see, for they are a rebellious house." Now Hashem sends Yechezkel to perform some physical act in order to bring the people to understand their mistake. Therefore He tells him: son of man, prepare for yourself vessels of exile and go into exile by day before their eyes. What are vessels of exile? What a person takes with him into exile. A vessel to drink from, a kneading trough to knead the dough he wishes to bake, and a satchel, a staff: all of these are vessels of exile. And this is a sign to Bnei Yisrael in Yerushalayim that there they will need all these vessels. And if they do not prepare such vessels for themselves, they will have to knead their dough in the ground. And when you knead the dough in the ground, Rashi says, it picks up gravel. You have no vessel to knead in, it sticks to gravel, it sticks to dirt. But they did not listen to him; they did not prepare vessels of exile. So let us see what is written in Eicha: "And He has broken my teeth with gravel." That is, they truly reached a state in which you had no vessels of exile, so when you had to bake something you had to do it in a pit in the ground and then grind gravel. They did not heed the prophet who warned them and rebuked them: you are about to be exiled. They did not believe they were about to be exiled.
And then the Holy One, blessed be He, also tells him: "and go into exile by day before their eyes." Hashem says, go into exile by day before their eyes. What does it mean to go into exile by day before their eyes? The intent is: perform an act in which you go into exile, and the people of the exile will see you as you go into exile, and tell them, this is a sign that Tzidkiyahu will be exiled. Just as you see me now going into exile from my house, so it is a sign for Tzidkiyahu that he will be exiled. And then those who are there in Bavel will send their messengers to inform Eretz Yisrael of what they see here in your acts, Yechezkel, and through this those in Yerushalayim will accept the rebuke. And not as is happening now, that they send the false prophets and send them words strengthening their corrupt way. And then through this perhaps, perhaps they will see, for they are a rebellious house. Perhaps they will see, perhaps these things will influence them, perhaps they will understand. And it is only "perhaps," because they are a rebellious house. They are rebels, and since they are rebels there is a strong chance that even against these things they will scoff, and against these things they will calm themselves and say there is nothing to worry about, as we will see further on: this will come only after a long time, it is nothing near, you have nothing to fear. They are a rebellious house. And since this is so, it is not at all certain that they will accept these things.
The Malbim explains that the prophet is asked here to enact things concerning what is destined to befall them, and the prophet is asked to interpret them and explain them. And the Malbim says that three things are included here. First, He tells them that he should make vessels of exile and go into exile "yomam" (by day). What is "yomam"? The Malbim explains it means he should go into exile a single day's journey before their eyes. This means he will go into exile to a nearby place. For example, he will go into exile to a forest. The second thing He tells him: "and you shall exile yourself from your place to another place before their eyes." From the place where he is, from this city, now he will go into exile to another city. Therefore the Malbim says that exile is mentioned twice. "Son of man, prepare for yourself vessels of exile and go into exile by day before their eyes, and you shall exile yourself from your place to another place." The first time, you will leave the house to some nearby forest; the second time, you will leave from there, from the city entirely, to another city. And this will be a sign for two exiles that have already occurred. We know that they went into exile three times. Sancheriv came twice, and afterward the third exile was by Nevuchadnetzar, and that was the final exile. Three times they were exiled. The first exile was when the two and a half tribes went into exile, those who are on the eastern side of the Yarden. The second exile was when Shomron was exiled. And the third exile was when Yerushalayim was exiled. In fact, what emerges from the words of the Malbim here is that he is not speaking of these exiles, but rather of the exiles of Yerushalayim itself, because Yerushalayim too was exiled three times. There was the exile of the craftsmen and the smiths, then a second exile, and afterward the final exile of the remnant that was left, in the days of Gedalyahu ben Achikam. So in fact Yerushalayim too was exiled three times. It appears more likely that he is speaking of this exile. And then He tells him, I want you to exile yourself from your place, the second exile, hinting at the second exile that Yerushalayim underwent, and this is what Chazal say: they were exiled in the eighth, they were exiled in the ninth. In the eighth year and in the ninth year, these were two exiles. He tells them: through this, perhaps they will see, for they are a rebellious house. Perhaps they will remember the exiles they underwent and then they will understand that the third exile awaiting them will surely come. The prophet is not speaking here into the air, he is speaking of facts that have already occurred, so, if so, understand that this is about to happen and it will not be very long before these things actually happen.
The Malbim asks: what is the point of doing these things by way of demonstration, doing this before their eyes? The Malbim says: sometimes Hashem commanded the prophet to perform acts in their own right, to give force to the prophecy. And sometimes the aim is to arouse the people, so that they will ask. For example, when the Holy One, blessed be He, tells the prophet to put a linen girdle on Yirmiyahu, that is to give force to the prophecy. Here, by contrast, it was not to give force to the prophecy but to arouse the people so that they would ask: why are you going into exile? What are the vessels of exile? What is the purpose? And this very much reminds us of what happens today, that today in advertising, in order to give resonance to a certain thing, you need, in quotation marks, a "gimmick." You need to do some act that will create attention, because if not, who really looks at signs and looks at advertisements if it is not something that catches the eye? Then truly not many take interest. So what do they do as a result? So you have some advertisement about, I don't know, soup, and behind the sign there is a device that emits steam. Suddenly you look and you see a sign of a pot of soup with steam coming out of it. Right? That already draws the eye, that is already interesting. Someone does something with a propeller that spins, with a balloon, in short you need something so that people's eyes are drawn. Understand that in their time, all the more so: when the prophet would repeat his words again and again, he needed to do something so that the people would ask, what happened? What, why has the prophet now left? Why is the prophet taking such vessels for himself? And in a little while we will see stranger things that the prophet does. And all these things are meant to arouse the people so that the people will contemplate and give their heart to the prophet's act, and through this they will clarify his deeds, and thus he will be able to influence them to accept the word of Hashem. Therefore the emphasis, here He tells him six times, "before their eyes, before their eyes, before their eyes." I want them to see, I want them to ask, I want them to be aroused by this.
"And you shall bring out your vessels like vessels of exile by day before their eyes, and you shall go out in the evening before their eyes like those who go out into exile." He tells him, and you shall bring out your vessels like vessels of exile by day before their eyes. He commands him now a third time, and this is against the third exile that is to come. As we said, two exiles have already occurred; against the third time, which will be the permanent exile, He tells him: take out your vessels like vessels of exile, and this is the sign of the third exile, that you are actually already taking out the vessels. When does one take out the vessels? When people leave the house. There is nothing left anymore. "And you shall bring out your vessels like vessels of exile." Like a man who goes into exile with all he has so as never to return again. "And you shall go out in the evening before their eyes like those who go out into exile." What does "like those who go out into exile" mean? As we explained just now, the intent is like a man who goes into exile who leaves with all his vessels. But the Radak explains "like those who go out into exile" that you shall go out sullen and morose, like a man who goes into exile. A man who goes into exile does not go out smiling; he goes out as a downcast man. So you shall go out in this manner so that these things will be before their eyes, and through them they will understand that this will be an unpleasant exile, an exile in which the exiles are sullen and morose.
The Malbim says: "and you shall go out in the evening before their eyes like those who go out into exile." The Malbim says that He is essentially commanding him, in this third exile, that he should make himself, as it were, like one who is trying to flee from the exile. Like one who is trying to evade this decree. From which exile? From the exile of the enemy. Like one trying to flee from it. Therefore He tells him: go out in the evening, in hiding. Why in the evening? Because when the enemy comes he takes you by day. But when you want to flee from the exile of the enemy, then you exile yourself in a different direction. You are fleeing. And then you go out in the evening, in hiding, so that it will not be seen that you are fleeing, because then they would catch you. And this thing resembles "like those who go out into exile." Like a man who goes out into exile willingly, to a different exile. Not to an exile that the enemy forces upon him, but like one who flees. To what do these things refer? We will see them more explicitly further on, that this is a parable about what Tzidkiyahu did. It is written concerning Tzidkiyahu that when the enemies arrived, we will read this shortly within the text, when the enemies arrived, Tzidkiyahu tried to flee through a tunnel that he had beneath the palace that led out of the city. But the Holy One, blessed be He, arranged that there be a certain deer wandering there, and the men of Nevuchadnetzar chased after the deer and suddenly Tzidkiyahu, like a ripe fruit, fell right beside them. That is to say, all that plan to flee in hiding did not in the end succeed. This is what He tells him: "and you shall go out in the evening before their eyes." That is to say, I want you to go out in hiding in the evening, and this will be a parable for Tzidkiyahu, that Tzidkiyahu too will go out in the evening, in hiding.
And with this too He commands him to make three signs. First, that he go out in the evening, which is in darkness, that he not go out by day. Second, that he not go out through the city gate, but rather that he go out by way of a tunnel. And this we now see: "before their eyes dig through the wall and bring out through it." This is a sign for Tzidkiyahu that he will go out through a tunnel: dig through the wall for yourself and bring out through it. You shall go out through there. Just as there they went out through the gate between the two walls. And a further thing He tells him: "before their eyes bear upon your shoulder, bring out in the darkness; cover your face and do not see the land, for I have made you a sign to the house of Yisrael." He tells him: you shall carry all your vessels at once on your shoulders, "before their eyes bear upon your shoulder," like a man fleeing who takes everything in the darkness before they catch him. And He further commands him, "cover your face and do not see the land." After he does all these signs indicating that Tzidkiyahu will flee, including those expressing flight through a tunnel, He tells him: cover your face, which is a sign that Tzidkiyahu's face will be covered. As it were, he covered his face, hid himself so that the matter would not be seen when he flees. And about this He tells him "for I have made you a sign": this will be a sign for what will happen to the people of Yisrael and for what will happen to their king, Tzidkiyahu.
"And I did so as I was commanded; I brought out my vessels like vessels of exile by day, and in the evening I dug for myself through the wall by hand; in the darkness I brought out, upon my shoulder I bore before their eyes." He tells them: I did as Hashem commanded me, I brought out my vessels. This is essentially what we said, that Hashem commanded him, indicating the third exile: not to leave vessels in the house, I brought out my vessels. And regarding the first two exiles we saw that He hinted to him "and go into exile by day" and "you shall exile yourself from your place": these are exiles that already occurred. Now he essentially comes to show the coming exile. "And in the evening," after he went into exile by day from the city, he as it were returns, like one who sneaks into the city and flees to another place through a tunnel. Why? Because the first exiles expressed what already occurred, so he went out. But now he comes, there is a third exile. Therefore he needs to return to his house and this time go into exile in another direction, toward the tunnel. And then he made this tunnel, "I dug for myself through the wall by hand." He did not dig it, how does one dig a tunnel? You take a hammer, you take a chisel to dig through the wall. He says, no, I did it by hand, in the darkness. And why in fact did he dig the tunnel by hand? Because he did not want the sound of hammers and iron tools to be heard, for if he struck it would be heard from afar, as though he feared no one. But on the contrary, the parable he wants to show is that Tzidkiyahu fled in hiding and in silence. So how could you make a sound of noise? That is the opposite of the lesson. Therefore he did not make a sound of noise when he fled. And the Radak explains that this matter of digging by hand comes to show that they had no iron tools to dig with, because they left in haste. They would not have time to bring and take iron tools with them, but rather they left in haste and then, to dig, they would be forced to dig with their hands. The Radak says: and if you ask, it is not written there that they dug through the wall? So where do we see that this thing was fulfilled? So first the Radak says, here it is written that "they will dig through the wall," that is to say, so it will be. So even if there he does not go into the details and describe how they dug through the wall, you have here a description that it truly was so. And beyond that he says, it also appears so according to reason, for they went out by way of the king's garden. They entered through the garden's opening and dug through the wall opposite it and went out from there. And I will also explain the logic: for if you have some secret tunnel through which you flee, would it occur to you that it is open? Certainly that cannot be. Surely there is some wall, some thing covering that secret tunnel, for if it were open then it would no longer be secret. Right? And since its whole point was secrecy, therefore they had some wall or some thing covering it in order to ensure that no one would know there was a tunnel here, and then at the appointed time he would dig through the wall and flee through there and no one would know at all about this whole plan. Therefore the Radak says it is very reasonable that they had a wall there which they dug through and through which they went out, even though you do not see these things explicitly in the verses.
"And the word of Hashem came to me in the morning, saying. Son of man, did not the house of Yisrael, the rebellious house, say to you, what are you doing?" Hashem reveals Himself to him in the morning, after he had shown them all this before their eyes; He left them the night, as it were, to sleep on it. He left them the night so that they would contemplate and think about the message they received here. And He tells him: they asked you, what exactly are you doing? That is to say, the plan worked as intended. It is written "ears they have to hear and they did not hear"; they were not deaf. So when they see something, they understand that there is a message here. So they are curious, they ask: tell us, Yechezkel, what, what do you want to show with this? The Holy One, blessed be He, tells him: their question must be answered. Say to them, thus says Hashem Elokim: "This burden concerns the prince in Yerushalayim and all the house of Yisrael who are among them." He says, thus says Hashem Elokim, this burden concerns the prince in Yerushalayim. That is, the subject to which this burden alludes is the prince. The prince is what is called the object of the whole parable. He is the one about whom we are speaking. And the place where this thing will occur is Yerushalayim. And there he will go out in the evening, as we said, like those who go out into exile, and there he will cover his face. And the rest of those hinted at here are all the house of Yisrael who are among them. The intent: in every place where they dwell in Eretz Yisrael, they too will be exiled in that same exile I am now describing to you.
"Say, I am your sign; as I have done, so shall it be done to them; into exile, into captivity they shall go." Say, I am your sign. "I am your sign" means everything I did to you is as a sign and a portent for what will be with you. So I am a sign for you. "Mofet" means a sign and an example. Against what the prophet went into exile three times, this is the sign that they will be exiled a third time. As we saw, two exiles already occurred, right? The third time is the exile that will be, that he goes out with his vessels, and this is in the days of Tzidkiyahu. And note, captivity is harsher than exile. He tells them: so shall it be done to them; into exile, into captivity they shall go. What is the emphasis of "into exile, into captivity they shall go"? The Malbim says: there is exile even though it is not captivity. That is, if they exile you from here to France, and you can wander freely there in France, then you are in exile but not in captivity. But if they exile you to France and put you into a labor camp from which you have no way to leave, then you are in exile and in captivity. It emerges, then, that captivity is worse than exile. Therefore He tells them: into exile, into captivity they shall go. It will not be merely exile; it will be an exile in which they will also be captives.
"And the prince who is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the darkness and go out; they shall dig through the wall to bring out through it; he shall cover his face so that he himself shall not see the land with his eye." What He told me, "and you shall go out in the evening like those who go out into exile," this alludes to the prince who will try to flee at night. And "upon his shoulder shall he bear" all he has: he will take all his vessels on his shoulder, and this will be in the darkness, in the gloom, and they will dig through the wall between the two walls in order to go out. And against what He told him "you shall cover your face," He tells them: so too will it be with the prince, with Tzidkiyahu who will flee: he will cover his face so that "he himself shall not see the land with his eye," the intent being so that he not see the land with his eye. What does He want to say with this? What, what does the covering of the face of the fleeing king come to hint at? He wants to tell them: just as the prophet covers his face willingly, so too the king until now covered his face willingly. That is, had the king cared, the king would have taken care of the welfare of the people. The king would have taken care to bring them to repentance. And since he did not do so, what is this called? That he wrapped his face in his cloak and preferred not to look. Exactly as the prophet covered his face willingly, so too the king placed a covering over his face; he does not see all that is happening with the people. And this is what He says: "he himself shall not see the land with his eye." Do you hear? This turns back upon him himself, upon the king himself. The king himself will not see the land with his eye. Until now, instead of watching over his people and seeing what is happening here and understanding that Hashem's decree will surely come, and since this is so one must heed the prophet and be prepared for exile, instead they took actions on how to resist the exile, how to flee from the exile, not that it helped them. But the king was forbidden to take such actions against the divine command. And if so, what did he in fact do? He put some mask over his face so as not to see what was happening with the people, and through this he did not correct their ways. A further thing this covering comes to hint at: just as, when he covers his face, he cannot see the land, so too the king now, who covers his face, this will lead to his not seeing now the correct way. He will not see what is the correct way by which he must flee, as we will shortly see that he fled like a ripe fruit beside the enemies. Now the Malbim essentially explains to us in these two interpretations that there is here a certain punishment for the king. And the Malbim says: on what basis do I build this interpretation? Because it is written here in the verse "ya'an" (because). The Malbim says: "ya'an" always indicates something caused by a prior cause. Recompense. Recompense for what came before. So if you say "ya'an" (because) he himself will not see the land with his eye, that is to say I am telling you, do you know why this happened? "Ya'an," because of what he did, "ya'an" (for this reason) he will now receive what he receives. Therefore, according to the Malbim, it emerges that there is here a punishment for his previous conduct. The Radak explains: what is the matter of "he shall cover his face"? Because he wanted to conceal his face so that it would not be seen that he was fleeing, for it is a disgrace to the king that the king flees. Especially it is a disgrace to the king that he flees and lets the ship sink. The people remain there in Yerushalayim and the king is set: he has some tunnel through which he goes out and goes and saves himself. So this is a disgrace. Whoever sees this could, God forbid, either harm him or speak harshly against him, or it is a disgrace to him and the very sight of them looking at him. Therefore he will wrap his face, he will cover his face so as to lessen his disgrace by this. Targum Yonatan has here a different interpretation. He says "because he himself will not see the land with his eye": Targum Yonatan says that here they already speak of the punishment. We will see further on that Tzidkiyahu was punished by having his eyes gouged out. And this is what he says: "because he was guilty they will gouge out his eyes." Since he was guilty, meaning punishment is due him, they will gouge out his eyes, so it emerges that already here "he himself will not see the land" is a consequence of the gouging out of the eyes. We will see this more explicitly further on.