Ezekiel Eats the Scroll
1“Son of man,” He said to me, “eat what you find here. Eat this scroll, then go and speak to the house of Israel.”
Although the scroll looked bitter, Ezekiel found it...
Although the scroll looked bitter, Ezekiel found it as sweet as honey when he ate it. Adam’s disobedience turned bitter, but Ezekiel’s obedience became pleasant and satisfying. Psalm 119:103 also describes God’s words as “sweeter than honey.”
2So I opened my mouth, and He fed me the scroll.
3“Son of man,” He said to me, “eat and fill your stomach with this scroll I am giving you.” So I ate, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.
Ezekiel was sent to God’s people, the people...
Ezekiel was sent to God’s people, the people of Israel, whom one would expect to be eager to listen to the Lord. However, it would have been easier for the prophet if he had been sent to people with strange and difficult speech who could not understand him. This hard-hearted community refused to obey the Lord.
4Then He said to me, “Son of man, go now to the house of Israel and speak My words to them. 5For you are not being sent to a people of unfamiliar speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel— 6not to the many peoples of unfamiliar speech and difficult language whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you.
7But the house of Israel will be unwilling to listen to you, since they are unwilling to listen to Me. For the whole house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted.
God would make Ezekiel as thoroughly persistent in...
God would make Ezekiel as thoroughly persistent in presenting God’s message as the people were in rejecting it.
8Behold, I will make your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads. 9I will make your forehead like a diamond, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or dismayed at their presence, even though they are a rebellious house.”
10“Son of man,” He added, “listen carefully to all the words I speak to you, and take them to heart. 11Go to your people, the exiles; speak to them and tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says,’ whether they listen or refuse to listen.”
12Then the Spirit† lifted me up, and I heard a great rumbling sound behind me: “Blessed be the glory of the LORD in His dwelling place!”† 13It was the sound of the wings of the living creatures brushing against one another and the sound of the wheels beside them, a great rumbling sound.
The Spirit lifted me up: Ezekiel was brought...
- The Spirit lifted me up: Ezekiel was brought back from his visionary experience to the ordinary world of the exiles. Ezekiel regularly experienced the powerful impact of the Spirit’s transporting him to another location (see also 8:3; 11:1, 24; 40:1–3; 43:5).
- After the Spirit departed from him, Ezekiel experienced the conflicting emotions associated with his commission. As a prophet who spoke for God, he began to feel the bitterness and turmoil of God’s anger against the sins of his people.
14So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the LORD upon me. 15I came to the exiles at Tel-abib who dwelt by the River Kebar. And for seven days I sat where they sat and remained there among them, overwhelmed.
A Watchman for Israel
Ezekiel was called to be a watchman, a...
Ezekiel was called to be a watchman, a familiar image for Old Testament prophets (see Isa 56:10; Jer 6:17; Hos 9:8). The watchman was a lookout for the community. He was responsible for providing advance warning of approaching enemies so that the people could take refuge in time. In this case, the enemy they had to fear was not a human invader but God. As difficult as his task was, the blood of those he failed to warn would be on his head if he remained silent.
16At the end of seven days the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 17“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from My mouth, give them a warning from Me.
18If I say to the wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ but you do not warn him or speak out to warn him from his wicked way to save his life, that wicked man will die in his iniquity,† and I will hold you responsible for his blood. 19But if you warn a wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness and his wicked way, he will die in his iniquity, but you will have saved yourself.
The prophet spoke to two classes of people,...
The prophet spoke to two classes of people, the righteous and the wicked. Ezekiel was to express his message indiscriminately, for both the righteous and the wicked would be judged on the basis of their response to his words (cp. Matt 13:3–9, 18–23). Those who heeded him would receive life; those who rejected his message would receive death, even if they had previously been righteous. Faith in the Lord’s word through his prophet was the sole criterion that divided those who would live from those who would die.
20Now if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die. If you did not warn him, he will die in his sin,† and the righteous acts he did will not be remembered. And I will hold you responsible for his blood. 21But if you warn the righteous man not to sin, and he does not sin, he will indeed live because he heeded your warning, and you will have saved yourself.”
The Lord summoned Ezekiel out into the valley,...
- The Lord summoned Ezekiel out into the valley, into a wilderness that was away from other people.
- Although this was the second time he had seen the glory of the Lord, it was not something to which Ezekiel had grown accustomed. Its awesome magnificence prostrated him.
22And there the hand of the LORD was upon me, and He said to me, “Get up, go out to the plain, and there I will speak with you.”
23So I got up and went out to the plain, and behold, the glory of the LORD was present there, like the glory I had seen by the River Kebar, and I fell facedown.
Ezekiel was God’s prisoner, shut... in his house...
Ezekiel was God’s prisoner, shut . . . in his house and tied with ropes. It is not clear whether these were literal ropes used to express the hostility of his fellow exiles toward the prophet, or a vivid image of their opposition and his restricted mobility among them. His complete captivity was striking, including the limitation placed on his speech (3:26–27); it would be a sign to the people.
24Then the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet. He spoke with me and said, “Go, shut yourself inside your house. 25And you, son of man, they will tie with ropes, and you will be bound so that you cannot go out among the people.
Even Ezekiel’s tongue was under arrest, bound to...
Even Ezekiel’s tongue was under arrest, bound to the roof of his mouth except when God freed it to speak his words of judgment. He was not physiologically incapable of speaking, but his communication was so restricted by God that he could only deliver the message of disaster that God gave him; all other speech was prohibited. This made Ezekiel’s role more limited than that of most prophets, who were free to intercede for and mediate between God and his people. Ezekiel could not speak on their behalf because the time for dialogue between God and his people had passed. No further appeal was possible against the coming judgment. Ezekiel’s speech would be restricted until the news of Jerusalem’s fall arrived (24:27). At that point, with the completion of God’s judgment on his people, the prophet’s tongue would be freed to intercede for them again.
26I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth, and you will be silent and unable to rebuke them, though they are a rebellious house.
27But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you are to tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says.’ Whoever listens, let him listen; and whoever refuses, let him refuse, for they are a rebellious house.