Context No. 2665 of 4322 · Ezekiel

Ezekiel 12:1-6: in context

1The LORD’s word also came to me, saying, 2“Son of man, you dwell in the middle of the rebellious house, who have eyes to see, and don’t see, who have ears to hear, and don’t hear; for they are a rebellious house. 3“Therefore, you son of man, prepare your baggage for moving, and move by day in their sight. You shall move from your place to another place in their sight. It may be they will consider, though they are a rebellious house. 4You shall bring out your baggage by day in their sight, as baggage for moving. You shall go out yourself at evening in their sight, as when men go out into exile. 5Dig through the wall in their sight, and carry your baggage out that way. 6In their sight you shall bear it on your shoulder, and carry it out in the dark. You shall cover your face, so that you don’t see the land, for I have set you for a sign to the house of Israel.”

God tells Ezekiel that he lives among a rebellious people who have eyes to see but do not see, ears to hear but do not hear. To reach them, God has him perform a strange piece of street theater: pack an exile's bag in broad daylight, dig through the wall of his house, and carry his belongings out on his shoulder at dusk with his face covered, acting out the coming exile before their eyes. I have made you a sign, God says.

The willful blindness is the problem, and the acted sign is God's answer to it. These people had every faculty to perceive, eyes, ears, prophets, and used none of them; seeing, they did not see. So God resorts to a visual parable, a prophet dragging his baggage through a hole in the wall, to get past eyes that look and do not register. It is striking how far God will go to reach the willingly blind, and sobering to consider that having every means to perceive is no guarantee of perceiving. The question the passage presses is whether I am looking straight at what God is showing me and somehow still not seeing it.

Do I have eyes that see and ears that hear yet fail to perceive what God is plainly showing me, looking straight at his sign and missing it?

Sources

Ezekiel 12:2: you dwell in the middle of the rebellious house, who have eyes to see, and don't see, who have ears to hear, and don't hear.
Ezekiel 12:6: In their sight you shall bear it on your shoulder... for I have set you for a sign to the house of Israel.
Matthew 13:15: for this people's heart has grown callous... and they have closed their eyes.