This seems a new discourse, or, if it be not, it is only as a postscript to a letter. The former was delivered concerning the Church in Babylon, and this is directed concerning the people at Jerusalem, which, of course, lay south of Babylon. Awful is the message: but it seems the Prophet himself entertained no hope, from the delivery of it, of any good. It was like the first account of the Lord Jesus's resurrection; the words seemed to them that heard it as idle tales, for they believed them, not. Alas! it is but too general a complaint with faithful ministers in all ages. Isaiah 53:1; Luke 24:11.
Ezekiel 20:45-49
45 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
46 Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field;
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
48 And all flesh shall see that I the LORD have kindled it: it shall not be quenched.
49 Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! they say of me, Doth he not speak parables?