יחזקאל, פרק כ״א, פסוק ה׳

A cry of deep frustration rises from the prophet as he feels his mission hitting a wall of indifference. He lets out a painful wail, turning to God to complain about how the people are reacting to his warnings [מצודת ציון]. Delivering divine messages through riddles and metaphors—such as a forest catching fire—is completely missing the mark [רש״י, מלבי״ם]. These are not simple stories. They are deeply obscure and layered, almost requiring a second parable just to decode the first [מלבי״ם].

This heavy reliance on metaphor leads to a variety of troubling reactions from the audience. Because the warnings are not entirely clear, some people take advantage of the uncertainty, twisting the meaning into something positive and convenient for themselves [מצודת דוד]. Others understand the true message perfectly well, yet they brush it off as nothing more than beautiful poetry, refusing to take the actual threat seriously [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. An even more severe reaction comes from those who completely deny that the message comes from God. They accuse the prophet of inventing these stories from his own imagination merely to show off his storytelling skills [רד״ק, אברבנאל].

Overwhelmed by this distress, the prophet asks God to stop speaking in riddles. God listens and immediately changes His approach. The poetic imagery is abandoned for harsh, undeniable reality: the south is explicitly identified as Jerusalem, the forest is revealed to be the Temple, and the consuming fire becomes a drawn, deadly sword [רד״ק, אברבנאל].