“Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! they say of me, Doth he not speak parables?”
My Notes
What Does Ezekiel 20:49 Mean?
Ezekiel's frustration erupts: "Ah Lord GOD! they say of me, Doth he not speak parables?" The prophet has been delivering God's word faithfully — and the people's response is dismissal. They reduce his prophecy to metaphor. They treat the warning as literature. And Ezekiel is exasperated.
The phrase "Doth he not speak parables" (mashal — a proverb, a comparison, a story) means the audience has categorized Ezekiel's prophecy as storytelling. Not urgent warning. Not divine communication. Parables. Stories that entertain or provoke thought but don't demand action. The prophet's word has been defused by reclassification.
Ezekiel's "Ah" (ahahh — an exclamation of distress, grief, frustration) is the sound of a prophet who can't get through. The word is accurate. The delivery is faithful. And the audience has found a way to neutralize it: he's just speaking parables. Don't worry. It's just a story.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Where are you reclassifying God's word as 'just a metaphor' to avoid the urgency of the message?
- 2.Does Ezekiel's frustration (they reduce prophecy to storytelling) describe how your culture handles prophetic truth?
- 3.How does appreciating the craft of a message while ignoring its content function as the most sophisticated form of dismissal?
- 4.Is there a 'parable' you've been treating as literature that God intended as warning?
Devotional
They say I just tell stories. That's Ezekiel's complaint. He speaks God's word and they file it under fiction.
The prophet's frustration is visceral: ahahh — Lord GOD! The exclamation isn't composed. It's distressed. Ezekiel has been faithfully delivering judgment prophecy — aimed, specific, urgent — and the people's response is to categorize it as literature. He speaks parables, they say. Stories. Metaphors. Nothing that requires action. Nothing that changes behavior. Just... parables.
The reclassification is the neutralization: when you call prophecy a parable, you've defused it. The word that demanded response becomes the story that stimulates discussion. The warning that required action becomes the tale that provokes thought. The fire is metaphorical. The forest is a symbol. Don't worry. He's just speaking parables.
This is the most sophisticated form of resistance to God's word: you don't reject it. You reclassify it. You don't say "this isn't from God." You say "this is a nice metaphor." The truth is acknowledged as interesting while being denied as urgent. The appreciation is the dismissal.
Ezekiel's frustration is every truth-teller's frustration: the audience appreciates the craft while ignoring the content. They admire the metaphor while dismissing the message. The forest fire is just a symbol. The judgment is just a literary device. The prophet is just a storyteller.
And the forest burns anyway. Regardless of the audience's literary classification.
God's response (chapter 21): He drops the metaphor. No more parables. The sword — plain, literal, unmetaphorical — is coming. The people wanted directness? They'll get it. But they had their chance with the parable. And they called it a story.
Don't dismiss the parable. The sword behind it is real.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
This paragraph is in the Hebrew text, Septuagint and Vulgate the beginning of Ezek. 21 to which it belongs, as it…
Ah Lord God - O my God, consider my situation; who will believe what I shall say? They put the evil day far from…
We have here a prophecy of wrath against Judah and Jerusalem, which would more fitly have begun the next chapter than…
speak parables or, similitudes with the suggested idea that there lies no reality behind them (Eze 12:21-28). The…