12:10. Say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; This burden concerneth the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel that are among them.—The import of the answer concerns the exalted class (prince, exalted one), the lords in Christendom, the clergy, and all professing Christians that are with them.
12:11. Say, I am your sign, like as I have done, so shall it be done unto them: they shall remove and go into captivity.—What has been, is a lesson for them; as the Royal Priesthood has done, so shall it be done unto them; they shall move down from their exalted place and go into captivity to the laborite and revolutionary elements. The Jews were literally to go into captivity into ancient Babylon, which they did.
12:12. And the prince that is among them shell bear upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby; he shall cover his face, that he see not the ground with his eyes.—As to the Jews, their ruler Zedekiah was by night to try to escape from Jerusalem, but he should not see the way. Regarding Christendom's clergy, they shall at the close of their day, abandon Christendom in the time of revolution, to save what they can for themselves, and “get out of her.” They shall find a still more worldly way out of their creed walls and shall be self-blinded to the real condition of society (the earth).
12:13. My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in My snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.—Like a snare shall revolution, in the guise of freedom for all, come upon them; and, utterly blind to the significance of world events, they shall be forced into revolution and anarchy, and there shall this lordly class come to its end. (Hos. 7:12.) The literal application upon King Zedekiah is of course understood; for he went to Babylon, but never saw it, because his eyes were put out.
12:14. And I will scatter toward every wind all that are about him to help him, and all his bands; and I will draw out the sword after them.—God will scatter in war, tumult and confusion and in error; all that adhere to the clergy class, and all their congregations (bands); and against them shall He direct weapons of war and the Word of God, the Sword of the Spirit.
12:15. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries.—And they shall appreciate that Jehovah is God, when this has come.
12:16. But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen whither they come: and they shall know that I am the Lord.—From among them God will leave a few manly believers, who shall escape the sword, the famine, literal and of the Word, and from the pestilential errors; that they, as then faithful members of the Great Company, may explain to the revolutionists and anarchists the Truth about the Divinely forbidden doctrines and deeds of the clergy, and their following.
12:17, 18. Moreover the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and with carefulness.—The Lord's people were to eat, drink and live with great economy.
12:19. And say unto the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord God of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with carefulness, and drink their water with astonishment, that her land may be desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein.—They were to say to the people of Christendom: “God says to the clergy and people of nominal Spiritual Israel, the churches: You shall eat your food by measure, and with economy—on the food-ticket plan—and drink your Truth with amazement at the famine; for Christendom is to be desolated of its people, because of the violent wars, and the revolutions and anarchy of the people.”
12:20. And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.—The governments (cities) shall be destroyed and the social order desolated in anarchy; and they shall feel the outworkings of Jehovah's purposes upon them.