(2) A rebellious house.--Comp. Deuteronomy 1:26; Romans 10:21. The seeing not and hearing not is that perverse refusing to see and to hear so often spoken of in Scripture. (See Deuteronomy 29:4; Isaiah 6:9; Jeremiah 5:21; Matthew 13:14-15.) It was because of this disposition that the prophet was to give them a sign to which they could not shut their eyes.
Verse 2. - Which have eyes to see, etc. We note the words in their relation both to like utterances in the past (Isaiah 6:9; Isaiah 42:20), and by Ezekiel's contemporary (Jeremiah 5:21), and in the future by our Lord (Matthew 13:13), by St. John (John 12:40), and lastly by St. Paul (Acts 28:27). The thought and phrase were naturally as ever-recurring as the fact.
12:1-16 By the preparation for removal, and his breaking through the wall of his house at evening, as one desirous to escape from the enemy, the prophet signified the conduct and fate of Zedekiah. When God has delivered us, we must glorify him and edify others, by acknowledging our sins. Those who by afflictions are brought to this, are made to know that God is the Lord, and may help to bring others to know him.
Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house,.... The captives in Babylon, who murmured at their present condition and circumstances, and looked upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem to be in happy ones, and believed they would continue in them, as the false prophets persuaded them; not believing the prophets of the Lord; and encouraged them to stand out against the king of Babylon, repenting that they had surrendered to him, and hoped they should by their means be delivered see the same character of them, Ezekiel 2:3;
which have eyes to see, and see not: they have ears to hear, and hear not; they had natural sense and understanding, and means and opportunities of being better informed, and of knowing the true state of things, and how they were, and would be; but they wilfully shut their eyes against all light and evidence, and stopped their ears, and would not hearken to the words of the prophets:
for they are a rebellious house; stubborn, obstinate, and self-willed: or, "a house of rebellion" (r).
which have eyes to see, and see not: they have ears to hear, and hear not; they had natural sense and understanding, and means and opportunities of being better informed, and of knowing the true state of things, and how they were, and would be; but they wilfully shut their eyes against all light and evidence, and stopped their ears, and would not hearken to the words of the prophets:
for they are a rebellious house; stubborn, obstinate, and self-willed: or, "a house of rebellion" (r).
(r) "domus rebellionis", Montanus, Vatablus, Starckius; "domus inobedientiae", Cocceius.