What is the context?
The next morning, the Lord supplies the explanation. The sign concerns the prince in Jerusalem and the people still there: they too will go into exile. The prince will try to leave at dusk, carrying belongings through a wall with his face covered.
His escape will fail. The Lord pictures His capture as a net spread over him. He will be taken to Babylon and die there, yet he will not see it.
Second Kings 25:1–12 explains how those details fit Zedekiah’s fate. After Jerusalem is breached, the king flees by night. He is captured near Jericho and brought to Riblah, where his sons are killed before him and his eyes are put out. He is then taken to Babylon in shackles.
The warning also reaches his attendants and troops, who will be scattered. A few people will be spared from sword, famine and plague so that they can recount their wrongdoing among the nations. Survival is joined to acknowledgment of what brought them there, and to recognition of the Lord.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Henry and Wesley identify the prince as Zedekiah and connect the prediction with his capture and blinding. Being brought to Babylon without seeing it is therefore no contradiction: he arrives after losing his sight.
Both also emphasize the survivors’ testimony. They are to acknowledge the sins behind the judgment, rather than treating their survival as proof that nothing was wrong. Wesley sees their scattering becoming an opportunity to honor God among other peoples.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.