Ezekiel 2

2:1 AND he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak with thee. 2 And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet; and I 3 heard him that spake unto me. And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to nations that are rebellious, which have rebelled against me: they and 4 their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day. And the children are impudent and stiff-hearted; I do send thee unto them: and thou shalt say unto them, Thus 5 saith the Lord God. And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them. 6 And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, 7 nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are 8 most rebellious. But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; be not thou rebellious 9 like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee. And when I looked, 10 behold, an hand was put forth unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein; and he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein 3:1 lamentations, and mourning, and woe. And he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou 2 findest; eat this roll, and go, speak unto the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and 3 he caused me to eat the roll. And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. 4 And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with 5 my words unto them. For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard 6 language, but to the house of Israel; not to many peoples of a strange speech and of an hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, if I sent thee to them, they 7 would hearken unto thee. But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are of an hard forehead and of a stiff heart. 8 Behold, I have made thy face hard against their faces, and thy forehead hard against their 9 foreheads. As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither 10 be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with 11 thine ears. And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord God; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear. 12 Then the spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great rushing, saying, 13 Blessed be the glory of the LORD from his place. And I heard the noise of the wings of the living creatures as they touched one another, and the noise of the wheels beside them, even 14 the noise of a great rushing. So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away: and I went in 15 bitterness, in the heat of my spirit, and the hand of the LORD was strong upon me. Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel-ahib, that dwelt by the river Chebar, and to where they dwelt; and I sat there astonished among them seven days. 16 And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the LORD came unto me, 17 saying, Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear 18 the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his 19 blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered 20 thy soul. Again, when a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he hath done shall not be

21 remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning; and thou hast delivered thy soul.

22. And the hand of the LORD was there upon me; and he said unto me, Arise, go forth into

23 the plain, and I will there talk with thee. Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and, behold, the glory of the LORD stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river Chebar:

24 and I fell on my face. Then the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet; and he

25 spake with me, and said unto me, Go, shut thyself within thine house. But thou, son of man, behold, they shall lay bands upon thee, and shall bind thee with them, and thou shalt

26 not go out among them: and I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to them a reprover: for they are a rebellious house.

27. But when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God: He that heareth, let him hear; and he that forbeareth, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.

Chaps. 2, 3. In these two chapters is contained the direct commission conveyed to Ezekiel in connection with the vision just recorded. The commission was repeated more than once, at what intervals of time we are not told. We have first the direct commission (2:1-8), next the vision of the roll (2:9-3:3), followed by fresh instructions to the same effect, and partly in the same words; then a second appearance of the great vision (3:12), and the sadness which it occasioned (3:14); then the prophet’s visit to Tel-Abib, his mourning there and fresh instructions (3:15-21); and lastly, a third appearance of the vision, and a communication showing that the seer is dependent on the Spirit of God for every utterance which he is enabled to make (3:24-27). We have here recorded visions and words of God. Whether these visions were seen by the natural eye, and the words heard with the natural ear, the prophet probably knew not. The senses are not the only means of conveying images to the soul, and it may have pleased the Almighty to impress these images without the intervention of the senses. In any case the communication is equally from without, the vision and the words are from God.

2:1. Son of man. This phrase (which occurs elsewhere in Scripture) is applied especially to Ezekiel and Daniel, the prophets of the Captivity. In Eastern language son of man is simply equivalent to man. In Syriac Adam is called the first son of man (1 Cor. 15:45). Ezekiel is thus reminded of his humanity, at the time when he is especially permitted to have intercourse with God. B. C.

2. Because he had not strength of his own to recover his feet, nor courage to face the vision, the Spirit entered into him and set him upon his feet. God is graciously pleased to work that in us which He requires of us, and raises those whom He bids rise. We must stir up ourselves, and then God will put strength into us; we must work out our salvation, and then God will work in us. H.

6,7. The general sense is clear. Though they are hostile, malign, severe, and even savage toward thee, yet be thou firm and fearless before them, and do thy duty. The Lord would have him anticipate stern opposition and a painfully trying life, and gird his soul to meet it. So evermore, he who will live godly in Christ Jesus and for Christ Jesus must suffer more or less persecution. Let him expect it and seek grace to meet it with Christian fortitude. H. C.

7. It is not merely as a subtle and diffused influence that the Gospel establishes a permanent effect upon us. It is presented to each of us here individually, in the definite form of an actual offer of salvation for each, and of an actual demand of trust from each. The words pass into our souls, and thenceforward it can never be the same as if they had not been there. The Gospel once heard is always the Gospel which has been heard. Nothing can alter that. Once heard, it is henceforward a perpetual element in the whole condition, character, and destiny of the hearer. A. M.

8-10. This eating was in vision, and not done in the actual world. As a thing of vision, it was admirably significant, implying that he must take the messages of God to his heart and shrink not from any service for God which they might involve. This roll, like the ancient book, was a long strip of parchment, fitted to roll up, which was written upon both sides (“within and without”). Its contents, the matters therein written, were wholly of “lamentation, and mourning, and woe”—all mournful exposures of guilt and crime; messages of swift judgment and of awful doom! How sad to Ezekiel must have been this pre-intimation of his painfully trying work! Must his messages to his own people testify only to their guilt and shame; speak but rarely of promise and hope, and mainly of judgment without mercy and of woe “too wide to see beyond!” H. C.

The life of God’s Word must be felt, otherwise it cannot be proved, and we know nothing of it. The grand high priests of truth in all ages have been those who have received the truth from God, and according to His own direction for the prophet Ezekiel, have caten it. They have fed upon it, as the Bread of Life, and have grown thereby. They have gathered it for themselves, as the Israelites of old had to gather their manna daily, every morning, for themselves, in their own vessels. Cheever.

Chap. 3. This chapter continues and completes what pertains properly to Ezekiel’s introduction to his prophetic work. The Lord explains and defines his commission; warns him of the opposition he has to encounter, and girds him with the requisite firmness and energy to meet it; discloses the great responsibilities of his work as bearing on the life or death of souls; and finally signifies to him that he is not to speak on his own motion, but only as the Lord shall give him a message from Himself for the people.

1-3. As already indicated, the eating of this roll, done only in vision, signified that he should take the messages of God home to his very heart, give them his most solemn attention, make himself thoroughly master of their contents, and hold himself at God’s command to deliver them faithfully as directed. That they were in his mouth as honey for sweetness, implied his joy in accepting his prophetic mission, showing that at least his first impressions in receiving this honor were those of willing and cheerful obedience. H. C.

John has the same vision, Rev. 10:8, but there that is expressed which is here left to be inferred—that as soon as he had eaten it his belly was bitter. The sweetness in the mouth denoted that it was good to be a messenger of the Lord (cf. Ps. 19:10), but the bitterness which accompanied it denoted that the commission brought with it much sorrow, for the tidings were sad and evil. B. C.

4-7. “Strange,” as usual, means foreign. The Lord says to His prophet, “I send thee only to the house of Israel; not to a foreign nation of an unknown language; not to many tribes or people of unknown tongue. If I had sent thee to such a people, they would have hearkened to thee, for such perverseness and obduracy of heart could be found nowhere among the heathen.” Underneath this statement lies a great law of human sinning. It is only by the long abuse of great light and of rich mercies that men reach such a degree of moral hardihood and such depths of intense depravity. It is appalling to think of the influence of resisted light, of mercies abused, of obligations seen yet repelled and finally scorned!

8,9. These are bold figures, but are readily understood. The Lord was preparing His servant to confront the most brazen-faced sinners with firm, unflinching heart. This is said with a double purpose—to forewarn and to forearm; to signify to him what he must expect, and to gird his soul to meet it.

10,11. Verse 10 seems to express without a figure what the act of eating the roll implies. The expressive clause, “whether they will hear or not hear” (“will forbear”), seems to be not merely a part of the Lord’s instructions to His prophet, but a part also of His message to the people. The prophet must give them to understand that God lays on them the fearful responsibility of deciding whether they would hear or would not. They must determine this question for themselves, and bear its consequences. H. C.

14. Lifted me up. It is the same word as is rendered took me up in verse 12 and carry in 1 K. 18:12. We are not, however, to suppose that the prophet was miraculously transported from one place to another in the land of his captivity. He went and came. (Cf. verse 22, also 11:1, 24; Matt. 4:1; Acts 8:39.) He had been in ecstatic vision (1:1), and now, guided by the Spirit, he goes forth among his countrymen. B. C.

15. Here we pass from scenes of prophetic vision to scenes not visionary, but purely in the actual world. He comes to the exiles, and soon begins to speak to them from the Lord his God. As they were in the real world only, and not at all in prophetic vision, so must his words and acts, relating to them, be understood as in the actual and not the ideal world. H. C.

16. The priests and ministers of the Lord were often called watchmen. Habakkuk speaks of standing upon his watch (Hab. 2:1). Ezekiel is especially distinguished by this title (32:7). The duties of a watchman are twofold: to wait and watch what God will order, to watch over and superintend the people. Isaiah describes and censures unfaithful watchmen (Isa. 56:10). B. C.—The duties of a watchman are to take notice and to give notice. H.

16-21. These words were specially addressed by the Lord to His prophet. They may or may not have been announced by the

prophet to the people. Essentially the same ideas are drawn out somewhat more fully in chap. 33. There they are rehearsed to the people. Their intensely solemn import is plain. The watchman or sentinel stands guard in war to give notice of impending danger. If he does his duty faithfully, and the people disregard his warnings, his hands are clear of their blood; they perish in their own folly. If he neglects his duty, and the people perish unwarned, they perish indeed but their blood is required at his hand. So of the prophet. So of all Christian ministers, and indeed of all Christians in every sphere in their relations to the people among whom the Lord in His providence may place them. They must admonish those who are in their sins of their danger, as they would free themselves from blood-guiltiness in the death of unwarned souls. The case of a righteous man apostatizing from a pious life falls under the same law. Every good and true servant of God is bound to admonish him of his peril, else his blood may be required of those who have neglected to give him such warning. The “stumbling-block” spoken of here (verse 20) is not a temptation to sin, but a means of destruction, an agency employed of God to destroy the sinner. H. C.