He said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.” The Spirit entered into me when he spoke to me, and set me on my feet; and I heard him who spoke to me.
He said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the children of Israel, to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me even to this very day. The children are impudent and stiff-hearted. I am sending you to them, and you shall tell them, ‘This is what the Lord Yahweh says.’ They, whether they will hear, or whether they will refuse, for they are a rebellious house, yet they will know that there has been a prophet among them. You, son of man, don’t be afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you, and you dwell among scorpions. Don’t be afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house. You shall speak my words to them, whether they will hear, or whether they will refuse; for they are most rebellious. But you, son of man, hear what I tell you. Don’t be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth, and eat that which I give you.”
When I looked, behold, a hand was stretched out to me; and, behold, a scroll of a book was in it. He spread it before me. It was written within and without; and lamentations, mourning, and woe were written in it.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 Here the Prophet narrates that he was chosen by…
Here the Prophet narrates that he was chosen by the command of God. For God never prostrates his people so as to leave them lying upon the earth, but continually raises them afterwards. As to the reprobate, they are so frightened at the sight of God, that they utterly fall and never rise again. But it is different with the faithful, because the pride of the flesh is corrected in them; then God stretches forth his hand to them, and restores them, as it were, from death to life. And this difference we must mark diligently, because we see the impious often dread the voice of God. But if they disdainfully despise him when speaking, they are frightened by his hand when some signs of his wrath and vengeance appear: but yet they remain lifeless. In like manner the faithful dread the voice of God, but the result is altogether different, as we see here: because after God has humbled them, he commands them to be of good courage, and shows that he intended nothing else but to establish them by his power. At the same time the Prophet teaches that nothing was accomplished by this voice till the Spirit was added. God indeed works efficiently by his own words, but we must hold that this efficacy is not contained in the words themselves, but proceeds from the secret instinct of the Spirit. The Prophet therefore shows us both truths. On one side he says, I heard the voice of God, so that I stood on my feet: God thus wished to animate his confidence: but he adds that he was not raised up by the voice, until the Spirit placed him on his feet
This work of the Spirit, then, is joined with the word of God. But a distinction is made, that we may know that the external word is of no avail by itself, unless animated by the power of the Spirit. If any one should object, that the word was useless, because not efficacious by itself, the solution is at hand, that if God takes this method of acting there is no reason why we should object to it. But we have a still clearer reply: since God always works in the hearts of men by the Spirit, yet his word is not without fruit; because, as God enlightens us by the sun, and yet he alone is the Father of Lights, and the splendor of the sun is profitless except as God uses it as an instrument, so we must conclude concerning his word, because the Holy Spirit penetrates our hearts, and thus enlightens our minds. All power of action, then, resides in the Spirit himself, and thus all praise ought to be entirely referred to God alone. Meanwhile, what objection is there to the Spirit of God using instruments? We hold, therefore, that when God speaks, he adds the efficacy of his Spirit, since his word without it would be fruitless; and yet the word is effectual, because the instrument ought to be united with the author of the action. This doctrine, thus briefly expounded, may suffice to refute foolish objections, which are always in the mouths of many who fret about man’s free-will: they say, that we can either attend to the word which is offered to us or reject it: but we see what the Prophet says. If any of us is fit for rendering obedience to God, the Prophet certainly excelled in this disposition, and yet the word of God had no efficacy in his case, until the Spirit gave him strength to rise upon his feet Hence we collect, that it is not in our power to obey what God commands us, except this power proceeds from him. Now it follows —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10 That is, the Lord.
That is, the Lord.
Meaning, man which is but earth and ashes, which was to humble him, and cause him to consider his own state, and God’s grace.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–10 Eze 2:1 And he said unto me, Son of…
Eze 2:1 And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee.
Ver. 1. And he said unto me.] Christus solio sic insit ab alto. Christ from his lofty throne thus bespake me, who had now my mouth in the dust, and had no more to say but this, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth."
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Son of man.] So this prophet is called almost a hundred times in this book; four times in this short chapter. The reason hereof I take to be this, saith a judicious divine, {a} he had visions both more in number and more rare in kind revealed unto him than any other prophet had. Now lest he should be exalted out of measure, through the abundance of revelations, the Lord often putteth him in mind of his estate by nature, that he was but a "son of man," a mortal man, even a worm.
Stand upon thy feet.] God, for good ends, casteth down sometimes those that are dearest to himself; but then he comforteth the abject. {2Co 7:6}
“ Deiecit ut relevet, premit ut solaria praestet. ”
And I will speak unto thee.] So Dan 10:11. Oracles are for standers, not prostrate ones. They require utmost attention of body, intention of mind, and retention of memory. See Num 23:18 Jdg 3:20. {See Trapp on "Num 23:18"} {See Trapp on "Jdg 3:20"}
{a} Dr Gouge.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–10 And he that sat upon the throne, Jesus Christ,…
And he that sat upon the throne, Jesus Christ, whose messenger Ezekiel must be to the Jewish captives, now gone into captivity to Babylon.
Son of man; a phrase very familiar with Ezekiel in this prophecy, and he useth it for distinction, being now among angels, perhaps to keep him humble, who had such great revelations, which might occasion him to think of himself above what was meet, as prophecy. 2Co 12:7.
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Stand upon thy feet; arise, resume thy wonted strength of soul and body, which seem lost by thy fall to the ground. Fear not my coming to punish thee, I come to send thee forth a prophet; arise, therefore, and be as other prophets, ready to receive the Divine oracles, which usually came to prophets standing: and with this command God sent forth a power enabling him to arise and stand.
And I will speak unto thee; get thyself into a fit posture and readiness, and I will speak: what that was appears in what followeth, Eze 2:3.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 6 The title here given to Ezekiel, as often afterwards,…
The title here given to Ezekiel, as often afterwards, is very observable. God, when he speaks to him, calls him, Son of man (Eze 2:1, Eze 2:3), Son of Adam, Son of the earth. Daniel is once called so (Dan 8:17) and but once; the compellation is used to no other of the prophets but to Ezekiel all along. We may take it, 1. As a humble diminishing title. Lest Ezekiel should be lifted up with the abundance of the revelations, he is put in mind of this, that sill he is a son of man, a mean, weak, mortal creature. Among other things made known to him, it was necessary he should be made to know this, that he was a son of man, and therefore that it was wonderful condescension in God that he was pleased thus to manifest himself to him. Now he is among the living creatures, the angels; yet he must remember that he is himself a man, a dying creature. What is man, or the son of man, that he should be thus visited, thus dignified? Though God had here a splendid retinue of holy angles about his throne, who were ready to go on his errands, yet he passes them all by, and pitches on Ezekiel, a son of man, to be his messenger to the house of Israel; for we have this treasure in earthen vessels, and God's messages sent us by men like ourselves, whose terror shall not make us afraid nor their hand be heavy upon us. Ezekiel was a priest, but the priesthood was brought low and the honour of it laid in the dust. It therefore became him, and all of his order, to humble themselves, and to lie low, as sons of men, common men. he was now to be employed as a prophet, God's ambassador, and a ruler over the kingdoms (Jer 1:10), a post of great honour, but he must remember that he is a son of man, and, whatever good he did, it was not by any might of his own, for he was a son of man, but in the strength of divine grace, which must therefore have all the glory. Or, 2. We may take it as an honourable dignifying title; for it is one of the titles of the Messiah in the Old Testament (Dan 7:13, I saw one like the Son of man come with the clouds of heaven), whence Christ borrows the title he often calls himself by, The Son of man. The prophets were types of him, as they had near access to God and great authority among men; and therefore as David the king is called the Lord's anointed, or Christ, so Ezekiel the prophet is called son of man.
I. Ezekiel is here set up, and made to stand, that he might receive his commission, Eze 2:1, Eze 2:2. He is set up,
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1. By a divine command: Son of man, stand upon thy feet. His lying prostrate was a posture of greater reverence, but his standing up would be a posture of greater readiness and fitness for business. Our adorings of God must not hinder, but rather quicken and excite, our actings for God. He fell on his face in a holy fear and awe of God, but he was quickly raised up again; for those that humble themselves shall be exalted. God delights no in the dejections of his servants, but the same that brings them low will raise them up; the same that is a Spirit of bondage will be a Spirit of adoption. Stand, and I will speak to thee. Note, We may expect that God will speak to us when we stand ready to do what he commands us.
2. By a divine power going along with that command, Eze 2:2. God bade him stand up; but, 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. Note, 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. He observed that the Spirit entered into him when Christ spoke to him; for Christ conveys his Spirit by his word as the ordinary means and makes the word effectual by the Spirit. The Spirit set the prophet upon his feet, to raise him up from his dejections, for he is the Comforter. Thus, in a similar case, Daniel was strengthened by a divine touch (Dan 10:18) and John was raised by the right hand of Christ laid upon him, Rev 1:17. The Spirit set him upon his feet, made him willing and forward to do as he was bidden, and then he heard him that spoke to him. He heard the voice before (Eze 1:28), but now he heard it more distinctly and clearly, heard it and submitted to it. The Spirit sets us upon our feet by inclining our will to our duty, and thereby disposes the understanding to receive the knowledge of it.
II. Ezekiel is here sent, and made to go, with a message to the children of Israel (Eze 2:3): I send thee to the children of Israel. God had for many ages been sending to them his servants the prophets, rising up betimes and sending them, but to little purpose; they were now sent into captivity for abusing God's messengers, and yet even there God sends this prophet among them, to try if their ears were open to discipline, now that they were holden in the cords of affliction. As the supports of life, so the means of grace, are continued to us after they have been a thousand times forfeited. Now observe,
1. The rebellion of the people to whom this ambassador is sent; he is sent to reduce them to their allegiance, to bring back the children of Israel to the Lord their God. let the prophet know that there is occasion for his going on this errand, for they are a rebellious nation (Eze 2:3), a rebellious house, Eze 2:5. They are called children of Israel; they retain the name of their pious ancestors, but they have wretchedly degenerated, they have become Goim - nations, the word commonly used for the Gentiles. The children of Israel have become as the children of the Ethiopian (Amo 9:7), for they are rebellious; and rebels at home are much more provoking to a prince than enemies abroad. Their idolatries and false worships were the sins which, more than any thing, denominated them a rebellious nation; for thereby they set up another prince in opposition to their rightful Sovereign, and did homage and paid tribute to the usurper, which is the highest degree of rebellion that can be. (1.) They had been all along a rebellious generation and had persisted in their rebellion: They and their fathers have transgressed against me. Note, Those are not always in the right that have antiquity and the fathers on their side; for there are errors and corruptions of long standing: and it is so far from being an excuse for walking in a bad way that our fathers walked in it that it is really an aggravation, for it is justifying the sin of those that have gone before us. They have continued in their rebellion even unto this very day; notwithstanding the various means and methods that have been made use of to reclaim them, to this day, when they are under divine rebukes for their rebellion, they continue rebellious; many among them, like Ahaz, even in their distress, trespass yet more; they are not the better for all the changes that have befallen them, but still remain unchanged. (2.) They were now hardened in their rebellion. They are impudent children, brazen-faced, and cannot blush; they are still-hearted, self-willed, and cannot bend, cannot stoop, neither ashamed nor afraid to sin; they will not be wrought upon by the sense either of honour or duty. We are willing to hope this was not the character of all, but of many, and those perhaps the leading men. Observe, [1.] God knew this concerning them, how inflexible, how incorrigible, they were. Note, God is perfectly acquainted with every man's true character, whatever his pretensions and professions may be. [2.] He told the prophet this, that he might know the better how to deal with them and what handle to take them by. He must rebuke such men as those sharply, cuttingly, must deal plainly with them, though they call it dealing roughly. God tells him this, that it might be no surprise or stumbling-block to him if he found that his preaching should not make that impression upon them, which he had reason to think it would.
2. The dominion of the prince by whom this ambassador is sent. (1.) He has authority to command him whom he sends: "I do send thee unto them, and therefore thou shalt say thus and thus unto them," Eze 2:4. Note, it is the prerogative of Christ to send prophets and ministers and to enjoin them their work. St. Paul thanked Christ Jesus who put him into the ministry (Ti1 1:12); for, as he was sent of the Father, ministers are sent by him; and as he received the Spirit without measure he gives the Spirit by measure, saying, Receive you the Holy Ghost. They are impudent and rebellious, and yet I send thee unto them. Note, Christ gives the means of grace to many who he knows will not make a good use of those means, puts many a price into the hand of fools to get wisdom, who not only have no heart to it, but have their hearts turned against it. Thus he will magnify his own grace, justify his own judgment, leave them inexcusable, and make their condemnation more intolerable. (2.) He has authority by him to command those to whom he sends him: Thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God. All he said to them must be spoken in God's name, enforced by his authority, and delivered as from him. Christ delivered his doctrines as a Son - Verily, verily, I say unto you; the prophets as servants - Thus saith the Lord God, our Master and yours. Note, The writings of the prophets are the word of God, and so are to be regarded by every one of us. (3.) He has authority to call those to an account to whom he sends his ambassadors. Whether they will hear or whether they will forbear, whether they will attend to the word or turn their backs upon it, they shall know that there has been a prophet among them, shall know by experience. [1.] If they hear and obey, they will know by comfortable experience that the word which did them good was brought to them by one that had a commission from God and a divine power going along with him in the execution of it. Thus those who were converted by St. Paul's preaching are said to be the seals of his apostleship, Co1 9:2. When men's hearts are made to burn under the word, and their wills to bow to it, then they know and bear the witness in themselves that it is not the word of men, but of God. [2.] If they forbear, if they turn a deaf ear to the word (as it is to be feared they will, for they are a rebellious house), yet they shall be made to know that he whom they slighted was indeed a prophet, by the reproaches of their own consciences and the just judgments of God upon them for refusing him; they shall know it to their cost, know it to their confusion, know it by sad experience, what a pernicious dangerous thing it is to despise God's messengers. They shall know by the accomplishment of the threatenings that the prophet who denounced them was sent of God; thus the word will take hold of men, Zac 1:6. Note, First, Those to whom the word of God is sent are upon their trial whether they will hear or whether they will forbear, and accordingly will their doom be. Secondly, Whether we be edified by the word or no, it is certain that God will be glorified and his word magnified and made honourable. Whether it be a savour of life unto life or of death unto death, either way it will appear to be of divine original.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–10 And he said unto me,.... The glorious Person who…
And he said unto me,.... The glorious Person who sat upon the throne, whose appearance is described in the latter part of the preceding chapter:
son of man; as he was to be that spake unto him; and so it may denote relation, affection, and familiarity; or otherwise it is expressive of humiliation; of the frail, mean, and low estate of man, through the fall, Psa 8:4; wherefore some think Ezekiel is thus addressed, lest he should be lifted up, and think himself as one of the angels, because he had seen so great a vision; just as the Apostle Paul was humbled, lest he should be exalted above measure, through the visions and revelations he had, Co2 12:7. Kimchi mentions this, but assigns another reason; that because he saw the face of a man in the above vision, he let him know that he was right and good in the eye of God; and was the son of man, and not the son of a lion, &c. which is exceeding weak and trifling. Abendana, besides these, mentions some other reasons given; as that because he saw the "mercavah" or chariot, and ascended to the dignity of the angels on high, it is as if it was said, there is none born of a woman, as this; or because he was carried out of the holy land, as Adam was drove out of Eden; and therefore called the son of the first Adam, being drove out of Jerusalem, and out of the temple, where he was a priest. It may be observed, that this is a name which our Lord frequently took to himself in his state of humiliation; and that none but Ezekiel, excepting once the Prophet Daniel, is called by this name; and no doubt the reason of it is, because he was an eminent type of Christ; and particularly in his mission and commission, as a prophet, to the rebellious house of Israel:
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stand upon thy feet; for he was fallen upon his face, at the sight of the vision, Eze 1:28; when a divine Person speaks, men ought to stand and hear, and be in a readiness to do his pleasure:
and I will speak unto thee; which is said for his encouragement, being spoken by him who has the words of truth and grace, and of eternal life.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 Ezekiel is commissioned to prophesy to the Jewish captives,…
Ezekiel is commissioned to prophesy to the Jewish captives, ver. 1-5. Is cautioned not to be afraid of them, ver. 6. Has words put into his mouth, signified by the vision of a roll, which he is ordered to eat, ver. 7-10.
And - He that sat upon the throne, Jesus Christ. Son of man - A phrase which is ninety-five times, at least, used in this prophecy to keep him humble who had such great Revelations. Stand - Arise, fear not. And with this command God sent forth a power enabling him to rise and stand.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1–10 The prophet, having been overwhelmed with the glorious vision…
CHAPTER II
The prophet, having been overwhelmed with the glorious vision in
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the preceding chapter, is here strengthened and comforted, 1, 2;
and then commissioned to declare to the rebellious house of
Israel the terrible judgments that would very shortly come upon
the whole land, if they repented not; with a gracious assurance
to Ezekiel that God would be constantly with him while executing
the duties of his office, 3-5.
The prophet is also commanded to be fearless, resolute, and
faithful in the discharge of it. 6-8,
as he must be the messenger of very unpleasing tidings, which
well expose him to great persecution, 9, 10.
NOTES ON CHAP. II
Verse 1. And he said unto me] In the last verse of the preceding chapter we find that the prophet was so penetrated with awe at the sight of the glory of God in the mystical chariot, that "he fell upon his face;" and, while he was in this posture of adoration, he heard the voice mentioned here. It is evident, therefore, that the present division of these chapters is wrong. Either the first should end with the words, "This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord," Eze 1:28; or the first verse of this chapter should be added to the preceding, and this begin with the second verse.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 6, 9 Eze 2:1-2. And he — Who sat upon the…
Eze 2:1-2. And he — Who sat upon the throne, the Son of God, whose messenger Ezekiel is here appointed to be to the Jewish captives now in Chaldea; said unto me, Son of man — A title ninety-five times, at least, given to Ezekiel, in this prophecy, in order, as most commentators suppose, to put him in mind of his frailty and mortality, and to keep him humble, amidst so many divine visions and revelations vouchsafed him from God: see Psa 8:4. Stand upon thy feet — Arise, fear not, and put thyself into a posture of attending to what I shall say to thee. And with this command God sent forth a power, enabling him to arise and stand. And the spirit entered into me — The same spirit which actuated the living creatures and the wheels; when he spake unto me — While he was speaking the words, or, as soon as they were spoken.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 5, 9 Son of man - This phrase (which occurs elsewhere…
Son of man - This phrase (which occurs elsewhere in Scripture) is applied especially to Ezekiel and Daniel, the prophets of the captivity. Ezekiel is thus reminded of his humanity, at the time when he is especially permitted to have contact with God.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9 Face, to adore God. (Menochius) --- Son of man.…
Face, to adore God. (Menochius) --- Son of man. Our Saviour, out of humility, takes this title, which no other gave him; as the angel does commonly to this prophet, who was his figure: few else have received it, (Daniel viii. 17.) but the reason is not known. (Worthington) --- God here teaches Ezechiel not to boast of the honour shewn to him, since he must always remember that he is but a feeble mortal. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 2. The Divine Commission to the Prophet (Eze_2:1 to…
2. The Divine Commission to the Prophet (Eze_2:1 to Eze_3:11)
Eze_2:1 And He said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak with thee. 2And the spirit entered into me as He spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, and I heard Him that spake unto me. 3And He said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the sons of Israel, to heathens, the rebels, who rebelled against me. They and their fathers have been revolters from me down to this 4very day. And the sons! stiff of face and hard of heart are they, I do send thee unto them [Eze_2:3]; and thou sayest unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah. 5And they, whether they hear or whether they forbear,—for they are a house of rebelliousness,—know then that a prophet was in their midst. 6And thou, son of man, thou art not to be afraid of them, neither of their words art thou to be afraid; for [although] prickles and thorns are with thee, and thou art dwelling among scorpions, of their words thou art not to be afraid, and at their face thou 7art not to be terrified, for they are a house of rebelliousness. And thou speakest my words unto them, whether they hear or whether they forbear; for they are 8rebelliousness. And thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee: Thou must not be rebelliousness, like the house of rebelliousness. Open thy mouth, and eat 9what I give unto thee. And I saw, and behold, an hand sent [stretched] unto me; and behold, in it a book-roll. 10And He spread it out before me; and it was written within and without, and on it were written lamentations, and groaning, and woe.
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Eze_3:1 And He said unto me, Son of man, that which thou shalt find eat; eat 2this roll, and go, speak unto the house of Israel. And I opened my mouth, and He caused me to eat this roll. 3And He said unto me, Son of man, thy belly shalt thou cause to eat, and thy bowels shalt thou fill with this roll which I give thee. And I did eat; and it became in my mouth as honey for sweetness. 4And He said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and thou 5speakest in my words unto them. For not to a people obscure of lip and difficult of tongue art thou sent,—to the house of Israel. 6Not to many nations obscure of lip and difficult of tongue, whose words thou canst not hear [understandest not],—7although I have not sent thee to them, they would hearken unto thee. Yet the house of Israel, they will not be willing to hearken unto thee, for they are not willing to hearken unto me; for all the house of Israel, hard of forehead and stiff of heart are they. 8Behold, I have made thy face hard against their face, and thy forehead hard against their forehead. 9As an adamant harder than stone have I made thy forehead: thou shalt not fear them, and thou shalt not be terrified at 10their face, for they are a house of rebelliousness. And He said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee, receive in thine heart and hear in thine ears. 11And go, get thee to the captivity, to the children of thy people, and thou speakest unto them, and sayest unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, whether they hear or whether they forbear.
Ch. 2. Eze_2:2. Sept.: ... ἐπʼ ἐμξ πνευμα κ. ἀνελαβεν με κ. ἐξηγειπεν με κ. ἐστησεν με—
Eze_2:3. ... τ. οἰκον τ. ̓Ισρ. τους παραπιχραινοντας με, οἱτινες—
Eze_2:5. ... ἠ πτωηθωσιν, διοτι—
Ch. 2. Eze_2:6. ... μηδε ἐκστης ἀπο προσωπου αὐτων, διοτι παροιστρησουσιν κ. ἐπισυστησονται ἐπι σε κυκλοι—
Eze_2:7. Anoth. read.: בית מרי (Sept., Syr., Arab., Chald.: עם).
Eze_2:10. γεγαμμενα ἠν τα ὀπισθεν κ. τα ἐμπροσθεν.
Ch. 3. Eze_2:1. ... ἀνθρωπου, καταφαγε τ. κεφαλιδα...υἱοις ʼΙσρ. (Anoth. read.: בני, Vulg., Syr., Arab.)
Eze_2:2. K. διηνοιξεν.
Eze_2:3. ... το στομα σου φαγεαι κ. ἡ χοιλια...της δεδομενης εἰς σε...μελι γλυκαζον.
Eze_2:5. βαθυχειλον χ....συ ἐξαποστελλη προς τ. οἰχ.
Eze_2:6. ... ἀλλογλωσους οῦδε στιβαρους τη γλωσση ὀντας... κ. εἰ προς τοιοτους...οὑτοι ἀν εἰςηκουσαν σου.
Eze_2:7. ... φιλονειχοι εἰσιν χ.—
Eze_2:9. Κ. ἐσται, διαπαντος κραταιοτερον πετρας...μηδε πτοηθης ἀπο—
Eze_2:10. ... οὑς λελαληκα μετα σου—
Ezekiel 2:11. ... ἐαν ἀρα ἐνδωσιν.
EXEGETICAL REMARKS
In accordance with the character of the vision of Ezekiel 1 as discussed at p. 31, the installation of Ezekiel to his sphere of labour must now take place, the vision must he realised as a mission (first of all in words). But before the mission conies to be expressed in words (it is said, first of all, merely, Eze_2:1, and I will speak with thee), the prophet is restored, so to speak, physically, i.e. as regards mind and body, to the status quo.
Eze_2:1-2.—The Divine Raising up of Ezekiel in order to the Divine Commission
Eze_2:1. And He spake. The “voice of one that spake” (Eze_1:28, comp. Ezekiel 2:25) must be that of Him who sits upon the throne (Ezekiel 2:26).—בן־אדם, man of men. By this expression Ezekiel is immediately contrasted with Him who is speaking to him; for of Him it is said at Eze_1:26 : “the likeness as the appearance of a man.” Jehovah merely appeared “as a man,” Ezekiel is a son of man. (Cocc. certainly & mi frater, Psa_22:22; Heb_2:11-12.) Hence the view that this form of address is meant to distinguish him from the angels—apart from such a conception of the chajoth in Ezekiel 1.—says too little. On the other hand, it would increase the distinction so as to produce a conflict with the raising up of the prophet which follows, if a humbling of him were meant to be signified by this expression (Raschi),—in order that he may not after such visions exalt himself as being only a man (2Co_12:7). It is perhaps meant to be said at the commencement,—but even more for those who have to hear him than for Ezekiel himself; and on this account it becomes a stereotyped (Häver.: more than 80 times) form of address to the prophet,—that he would not to be able to give such revelations from himself (comp. Introd. § 7). But this man of men is called: one whom God strengthens (comp. Introd. § 1). His legitimation for the Church lies as much in the one as in the other; in other words, in both together (1Co_15:10). The expression son of man is meant to say to Israel: “Thus saith the Lord Jehovah.”—As regards the divine raising up of Ezekiel which is intended, his falling down comes, first of all, to be considered: stand upon thy feet. This human element, which has come to be expressed, is established by the form of address on the part of Jehovah; yet without the design of humbling the prophet (e.g. as the Jews say, because driven out of Jerusalem, like Adam out of Eden!), rather with compassionate condescension (οb φιλανθρωπίαν—Polanus), a divine ecce homo. Then, farther, it corresponds with the stereotyping of this form of address to Ezekiel, and also with an exaltation of him, as respects his prophetic mission, when it is remembered in connection therewith that the vision of Ezekiel 1, with all its direct and special applicability to Israel of that time, had a general human character, and a horizon embracing the whole world: the likeness of a man predominated in the chajoth, the likeness as the appearance of a man was the description of Him who sat on the throne, the number four had the sway numerically over the whole. With this distinction from Ezekiel 9, 10, the mission of Ezekiel takes place, who at the same time is addressed as “son of man,” as prophet not merely of Israel, but of mankind generally. [Rosenm.: pro simplici אָדָם homo. Hävern.: a standing humiliation, corresponding with the time of the exile, and the strong, powerful nature of Ezekiel, and at the same time, a lesson for his hearers to look quite away from man. Hengst.: the form of address admits what lies before the eyes in looking at the frivolous objections of the multitude. Hitzig: a self-reflection of the prophet as to the distance between God and him. Klief.: because God speaks with him as man to man, as a man talks with his friend. Keil: the weakness and frailty of man, in contrast with God, which appears the more prominent in the case of Ezekiel, through the preponderance of vision, for the people as for him a sign of the power of God in weakness, who can raise Israel even up again, miserable as she is among the heathen. Umbr.: “The call of grace out of the mouth of Him who by the sight of His glory has cast man to the ground in the consciousness of his sin.”]—Ezekiel is to rise to his feet (comp. Dan_8:18; Mat_17:7; Act_26:16; Exo_33:21), primarily, a corporeal lifting up of the prophet, in order, however, that God may talk with him. אֹתָךְ, the accusative particle ֹאוֹת for the prep. את (Ew., Lehrb. § 264; Ges. § 101). Comp. Eze_3:22; Eze_3:24; Eze_3:27.
Eze_2:2. For the divine summons the divine preparation is not wanting, important for all coming time (Eze_3:24; comp. Rev_1:17). רוּחַ, coming in this way, by means of God’s word, is not “the consciousness, the thinking power” of the prophet, his “animal spirits” (Hitzig), comp. on Eze_1:28; for the spirit comes into him, does not so much return to him (how would he have been able, Eze_1:28, in a state of unconsciousness, to hear one speaking?); but also not the Holy Spirit for the purpose of inspiration, but: the spirit who was also in the chajoth and in the wheels, Ezekiel 1 (Hengstenberg); just as the context makes us think of that first. God gives him the spirit to set him on his feet, but also to catch His words; on account of the latter, this divine quickening is at the same time expressed as a coming of the “spirit” into him; it is a quickening of mind and body conjointly, which brings about the transition from the revelation in vision (מראה) to the revelation by word. (Hävern.: the Spirit of God, partly as power that overmasters, seizes him, partly as that victorious, divine power—in himself—of genuine courage and noble alacrity in his calling?) An interesting parallel in 1Ki_10:5.—מִדַּבֵּר (Eze_43:6) מִתְדַּבֵר= partic. Hithp.; in Eze_1:28, מְדַבֵּר partic. Piel. Raschi: “The Shechinah talked within itself in its glory.” In that case, אלי = of me. אֵת with the participle = Him who (Ewald, Lehr. p. 569 sqq.).
Eze_2:3 to Eze_3:11.—The Divine Commission to the Prophet
Eze_2:3-7. What Opposition he has to encounter from his Hearers, as well as the Divine Consolation thereanent
Eze_2:3. And He spake unto me—is continually repeated anew, characteristically, indicating the momentary character of the divine communications.—The mission is portrayed after the manner of the address. בני, for which the LXX. have read בֵּית. The sons (children) of Israel in general are brought down to the level of גוים (which expression is not used for the tribes and families, nor does it, as Hitzig, Klief., mean merely isolated portions of the people),—גּוֹי (from גָּוָה), that which is brought together, like ἔθνος, that which hangs together by means of ἔθος, custom, in distinction from λαός—(comp. Hos_1:9) which is farther explained by: the rebels, and may be illustrated by comparison with Psa_2:1. The article emphasizes them as such in a decided way, and the clause: which rebelled against me, impressively repeats what is applicable to them. (Hengst.: They are described first according to what they ought to have been, sons of him who wrestled and prevailed in faith with God and man; then according to what they really are, a microcosm, as it were, of the whole heathen world, whose religion and morals were reflected in them; the plural goes even beyond Isa_1:4. Polanus refers it to Judah and Israel.) How general the statements are is shown by what follows: they and their fathers—(Jer_3:25). The echo makes itself heard still in the speech of Stephen, Act_7:51-53.—עצם, a Pentateuchal word.
Eze_2:4. But since it is the sons to whom the divine mission directs the prophet, they are put forward, as it were pointed out with the finger, but by no means as “children of God,” as Hävern. will have it. Stiff is something thoroughly bad (Isa_48:4); it is otherwise with Lard (Heb_13:9), which may at all events be determined by cirstances (comp. Eze_3:8-9). Here the face determines the character of the heart, and of its hardness as one that is evil. This evil hardness of the heart explains the before-mentioned faithlessness “down to this very day.” The stiffness of the face excludes alike the emotion of shame and the tears of repentance.—Thee (thus to those who are חזְקֵי־לֵב, one of the חִזְקֵי־אֵל), to the hardhearted one who is hard (firm) in God, comp. Ezekiel’s name, Introd. § 1 (Eze_3:8-9).—Thus saith the Lord Jehovah. And here we are by no means, with J. H. Michaelis, to add in thought: etc. Just this short statement, without any addition, is of indescribable majesty as opposed to the rebels; in connection with it, Virgil’s quos ego may suggest itself to us. [Sept.: κύριος κύριος. Vulg.: Dominus deus. Philipps.: the Lord, the Eternal. Other Jewish translators: God the Lord.] It is a short form of Exo_20:2.—Because אֲדֹנָי, according to which יְהוָֹה is usually punctuated, immediately precedes, יֱהוִֹה gets the points of אֱלֹהִים.
Eze_2:5. And they strongly emphasizes those who have been mentioned. To supply out of Eze_2:7 : and speak my words unto them, or the like (Hengst.), is not necessary, is even unsuitable, inasmuch as “thus saith the Lord Jehovah” precedes (comp. Eze_3:11), and also confuses the meaning of the sentence, which finds its apodosis after the expressively resumed המה in וידאו: they know then, or: “they know, however,” etc. Nevertheless, היה preserves the meaning of was (not: is), although, as both cases are supposed: “hearing” and “forbearing,” i.e. neglecting to hear, המה וידעו׳ ought not to be so much as: they will then learn by experience, viz. by the fulfilment of the threatenings, which could certainly be applicable to the latter case only. Here the matter in hand is not yet so much hearing and being converted, or not, as is the case afterwards in Eze_3:17 sqq., but only the mere giving ear in general, or the refusing even that; and thus, even whether the prophet finds hearers or not, his “thus saith the Lord Jehovah” is a fact; they know by means of this testimony, which sounded among them, although they may hear nothing farther, that a prophet has been among them. God has by this given sufficient testimony to Himself (Joh_15:22). Thus the אם־ואם makes the very least supposition which can be made, and gives the reason for this lowest supposition, hearing as well as forbearing to hear, by means of the clause: for a house, etc., and hence also יֶחְדָּלוּ with full accentuation.—For נביא, comp. Lange’s Comment, on Deuteronomy, Doct. Reflect, on Ezekiel 13.
Eze_2:6. But whatever opposition the prophet may have to encounter as regards those to whom he is sent, in reference to his own person (hence the subjective negation אל)—so runs now the divine consolation—he has nothing to fear (Jer_1:8; Jer_1:17; Mat_10:26; Mat_10:28), either from themselves or from their words, which with men usually look worse than themselves, and frequently also are worse, since one pulls down another by such means: slander behind backs creates prejudice, and renders abortive the labours of the preacher. “Thou art not to be afraid” impressively repeated, thus: no, not at all. סרבים, only here, is taken by some literally, as an adjective (Gesen.): rebellious; by some figuratively, as a substantive (Meier): straggling briars, or something hard, that injures: prickles, possibly also something for beating: a whip, scourge. Keil: stinging nettles, thorns. סַלּוֹן, here like םִלּוֹן, Eze_28:24. Elsewhere also a figurative and non-figurative expression are combined (Psa_27:1).—בי, according to Keil: if, but better: although. It gives the reason for the charge.—אוֹתָךְ is explained by what follows as being the with of association (Eze_3:15; Deu_8:15; 1Ki_12:11; 1Ki_12:14). A gradation: briars, thorns, scorpions! חתת Niphal: to be broken, to pass away, to despair (Eze_3:9).—Face, because it is stiff (Eze_2:4).—House (Eze_2:5), here again with special reference to his “dwelling.” Eze_2:7 : Eze_3:4; Eze_2:5. מוי at the close, but with heightened meaning, as it were the incarnation of it. Eze_44:6.
Eze_2:8 to Eze_3:11. What Opposition he might have to encounter in himself, and the Divine Strengthening against it.
Eze_2:8. Hitherto it was the commission as such, viz. a divine one, now it is the same commission as respects what it will contain את אשר־. Inasmuch as Ezekiel belongs to that house, מרי (as hitherto always in pause-form) is attributed to him also. It has been understood as an adjective, or elliptically (supply אִישׁ, Eze_2:7 : אַנְשֵׁי). Comp. Jonah; Exo_4:13; Jer_1:6. The divine commission is symbolized by means of the following demand, with which every objection is cut off. (Illustrating, at the same time, the form of expression in John 6.) With appetite, hunger, we have here nothing to do.
Eze_2:9 : ואראה, comp, Eze_1:1 : consequently in vision. בו, because יד is of the common gender; others make the suffix neuter, alleging that יד is always feminine.—מגלת־, written after the manner of the Pentateuch on the skin of an animal, Psa_40:7; Heb_10:7 (Rev_10:2). J. D. Michaelis makes the remark here: such a book rolled about a rounded piece of wood looks not unlike a baker’s roll (!).
Eze_2:10. God spreads out this roll before him, so that he can ascertain what follows, the contents of the divine commission, can become acquainted with his mission. It was a so-called opisthograph (Lucian: Vit. Auct. ix.), Pliny, Ep. 49. Written over inside, and on the back (comp. Rev_5:1), not merely, as usual, the inside alone; within and without, indicating a writing of great size, whose fulness of contents is also clear at once to every one, by which writing we are to understand the book of our prophet, whose character, as will immediately appear, is to be specified as קינה (wailing, mourning, lamentation, 19:1), הגה(from the low sound), and הי(according to Gesen., for נְהי; Ew.: a sound of wailing הוֹי). Comp. therewith, Exo_31:18; Zec_5:1; Jer_36:18; Dan_5:25.
Eze_3:1. What he finds before him (Eze_2:8-9); he would certainly not seek it for himself. After the acceptance without objection (symbolized by the eating), the speaking to the house of Israel is to take place: ולך דבר, ἀσυνδέτως, without ו between them, one idea. Only what God imparts to him he is to preach, and that immediately: and therefore nothing of his own, and no delay in accordance with his own judgment (2Ti_4:2). The objectivity and sovereignty of the divine word are strongly emphasized. Comp. Deu_18:18; Jer_1:9 (Mat_10:20).
Eze_3:2. A symbolical transaction, and also taking place in vision (Deu_8:3; Psa_119:130-131).
Eze_3:3. An intensification of the thought to the highest degree, so that the prophet is not merely to be willing to accept (to “eat”), but what he has accepted is to be his food, on which he lives, and that which fills his inner man, which determines his activity outwardly. Comp. Psa_40:8; Joh_4:31-34 (1Ti_4:6; Luk_6:45). Double accusative—ואבלה, with emphasis (Gesen. Gramm. § 126), neut.: as respects sweetness, as sweet as honey. A frequent comparison as applied to the fear of God, His word and the like (comp. Jer_15:16). The bitter element (Rev_10:9-10) is perhaps presupposed in what he saw written on the roll (Eze_2:10; comp. Rom_9:2). In this way the bitter element would come first, and so much the greater an act of obedience would the prophet’s eating appear. And so Klief. might legitimately emphasize the sweet after-taste, and also point to this, that Ezekiel, after and during all the misery which he has to announce, will have also something sweet in his mouth in saying it, or even in merely knowing it respecting Israel. Comp. Introd. § 5; comp. however, Eze_3:14 also.
Eze_3:4. לד־בא; comp. the imperative in Eze_3:1; Eze_3:11. A more expressive repetition of the command in the mission. Hence the sweet taste which the prophet experienced in Eze_3:3 symbolizes, first of all, his alacrity; thus the divine preparation, the strengthening experienced in respect of that which would possibly otter resistance in himself; so that there may be a retrospective reference to the main hindrance, namely, that which lay with Israel (Eze_2:3-7).
Eze_3:5. It seems like a relief that Ezekiel is not sent to עמקי־, which certainly stands for those speaking a language foreign to a Jew (comp. Isa_33:19), as is also explained in so many words in Eze_3:6, and which, in parallelism here with heavy tongue, will mean not so much “deep” of sound, as rather, in accordance with the cognate idea of deep, viz. obscure as regards the interpretation,—is there a reference to the widely-opened lips of the stammering tongue? The plural, because of the collective םע. So already Calvin.—אתה שלוח, standing in the middle, refers alike to the positive and to the negative part of the sentence; we may supply: but.—The house of Israel is the prophet’s own house (Eze_3:11), in whose case, therefore, lip and tongue have not the stamp of strangeness for him.
Eze_3:6. This more general thought in Eze_3:5 receives in Eze_3:6 a peculiar colouring, inasmuch as, on the one hand, the many nations are made prominent by the side of Israel,—Ezekiel’s sphere of labour is small and contracted in comparison,—and inasmuch as, on the other hand, stress is laid upon the circumstance: “whose words (if they had to speak to thee) thou wouldst not understand”—thus the hindrance as regards their lip and tongue would lie with the prophet. But in the latter respect, it is rather that he has to speak (“and speakest in my words,” Eze_3:4; Eze_3:11), and not so much to hear. The subject in hand is the power of comprehension which the prophet is to meet with. Now, this is a contrast which lies in thought between the lines. But another connected therewith (just as it is hinted by the contrast drawn between Israel and the heathen, to whom Israel was compared above in Eze_2:3) is expressed in so many words: אם לא אליהם, where ובית יש־ Eze_3:7 is to be understood as the principal clause, and המה־ as in parenthesis, so that the sense is: Ezekiel is sent not to those whom he ought to understand, and cannot understand, but to Israel, who ought to hear him, and will not hearken to him. Those to whom God does not send him would throw no hindrance in his way; although he might not be able to understand them, they would hearken unto him—שמע with אל, contrasted indeed with the inability to understand on his part, as well as, of course, on their part also; but only the former reference comes to be considered when the question is as to the right accomplishment of his task, that of speaking God’s words; it does not indeed signify “assent” (Hengst.), but a giving heed, and therefore what presupposes interest at least, if not desire, and what might possibly lead to more, perhaps, as Kimchi remarks: they would seek after an interpreter of thy words. But although the prophet is sent not to such, but rather to Israel, yet (Eze_3:7) the house of Israel does not manifest even the interest which heathens would show, for they will not even pay any attention to Ezekiel, not to speak of becoming obedient to his words. The relief is thus only seeming. Comp. Mat_23:37. [Similar and different explanations: For the most part אם־לא is understood as a formula of swearing, or as an asseveration (verily), and the sentence hypothetically (if I sent thee): comp: on the other hand Hitzig, Keil. For אם־לא, Ew. reads אם־לאֻ instead of לוּ, just as a Lap. does, instead of לוּא! The old translations omit לא without hesitation, while the Masoretes, on the other hand, mark the verse because of its threefold לא. Hitzig, Keil: =אם־לא “but,” referring אליהם and המה to Israel, and =ישמעו אליך= they are able, ought to understand thee. The latter expression, however, does not mean the same thing as “to hearken to any one.” Cocc.: If I had not sent thee to them (Israel), those others (the heathen) would hearken to thee. The words have also been understood interrogatively: if I had not sent thee to them, would not those others hearken to thee?] The meaning we have given harmonizes with the history of Naaman the Syrian, of the book of Jonah, of the woman of Canaan, of the heathen centurion (Matthew 8). Comp. also Mat_11:21 sqq., 12:41.—Not unto thee, because not unto me: what a strengthening of Ezekiel! That must have changed his wrath into the sorrow of love, Eze_20:8; comp. Mat_10:24-25; Joh_15:20.—בל־בית considered as a whole, so that the exceptions do not come into consideration. The wicked hardness of the heart (comp. on Eze_2:4) is here attributed to the forehead, because it finds expression there; that the stiffness of the “heart” is here expressed, proves the correctness of the explanation given on Eze_2:4 of the hardness as applied to the heart (Isa_48:4; Jer_3:3; Exo_32:9; Mat_19:8).
Eze_3:8. The divine strengthening of Ezekiel, now quite clearly expressed, while his labours have become more difficult, and not, as it appeared, more easy, offers itself as the explanation of his name (comp. on Eze_2:4). It is also not without design that the word used in reference to him is not “stiff,” but hard, which we find repeatedly. A divine confronting. Comp. Jer_1:18; Jer_15:20.
Eze_3:9. The thought is still further intensified by means of the comparison. שָׁמִיר (from שָׁמַר, to hold fast; hence: to keep) means something hard; hence a thorn; here the hardest of precious stones. Harder than stone, a proverbial expression of the diamond. Bochart, comparing the σμύρις, emery, understands a substance for grinding and polishing. Comp. also P. Cassel on “Schemir.” According to the Jewish Hagada and Turkish legend: a wonderful worm, whose blood is said to have cut through the stones without noise at the building of Solomon’s temple. לא־, the admonition sounds like a prohibition and promise in one. Comp. Eze_2:6; Eze_2:5.
Eze_3:10. The conclusion and return to the prophet himself, in view of the possible resisting element in him (Eze_2:8 sqq.). An allusion at the same time to the symbolic transaction in Eze_3:1 sqq.—All the words, but those which God will first speak to him.—The heart first, because otherwise the ears are of little use (Act_16:14).
Eze_3:11 (Eze_3:15). Comp. Eze_3:4. The “house of Israel” there is the “golah” (captivity) here, as a community, a society, which lies nearer to the prophet, because of its being his own people. Thy, not: My (Exo_32:7), Eze_33:2; Eze_33:12; Eze_33:17. As often דִּבֶּר and אמר together, the words to be spoken following the latter (Eze_2:4). At the same time, a setting forth clearly of the position that he has to speak. Comp. Eze_2:5; Eze_2:7; Eze_3:27.
DOCTRINAL
1. “A deeper meaning lies in this awakening word. First, the creature falls down in silence before the infinitude of the Creator; this is humility, the basis and root of all religious conduct. But he whom the Creator has permitted to come but little short of being himself God, whom He has crowned with glory and honour (Psa_8:5), is not to remain lying in half-conscious, silent adoration; he is to rise to his feet, that he may hear the word of God. But certainly he cannot set himself upon his feet; the Spirit must raise him up as a spirit, if he is to understand what God says. Lo, this is the holy psychology of Holy Scripture, this is the freedom of the highest thinking about God, which comes through God and from God” (Umbreit).
2. The overmastering divine factor in the prophets does not, however, suffer them to appear by any means unconscious. Ezekiel falling down upon the earth, becomes, even in the midst of the divine revelation, and under the impression of it, thoroughly conscious of what is earthly and human in his own self as contrasted with it [i.e. the revelation]. If this self of the prophet stands in a receptive attitude in that part of the revelation made to him which is pure vision, yet plastic fancy gives symbolic form to the expression, so as to be understood by men, in similitudes drawn from the earthly world, and memory is able to reproduce for us what has been seen. But still farther, where, as in Ezekiel 2, what has been inwardly received and experienced is expressed in words as idea and thought, Ezekiel must first rise to his feet, and become capable in spirit of understanding the divine commission. Besides, a vast elevation of the mere natural life is the unmistakable characteristic of our section; comp. Eze_2:5-6; Eze_3:8-9.
3. John also, although he had lain on the Lord’s breast, at sight of Him (Revelation 1) fell at His feet as one dead. And by this as a standard, that very great familiarity which proclaims itself in so many prayers of far lesser saints ought to learn to measure and to moderate itself. There is, however, in our prayers more fancy and sham feeling than real intercourse with the Lord.
4. “An image of the new birth. When God bids us rise from the death in which we are lying (Eph_2:1; Eph_2:5; Eph_5:14), He at the same time imparts to us His Spirit, who quickens us and raises us up. Similarly is it with our strengthening in all that is good. We are to do our duty; and He brings it about that we are able to do it, Php_2:13” (Cocc.).
5. “God does not cast down His own in order to leave them lying on the ground; but He lifts them up immediately afterwards. In believers, in other words, the haughtiness of the flesh is in this way corrected. If, therefore, we often see the ungodly terrified at the voice of God, yet they are not, like believers, after the humiliation, told to be of good courage,” etc. (Calv.)
6. “It was only when the Spirit was added that some effect was produced by the voice of God. God works, indeed, effectually by means of His word; but the effectiveness is not bound up with the sound, but proceeds from the secret impulse of the Spirit. The working of the Spirit is here connected with the word of God, yet in such a way, that we may see how the external word is of no consequence unless it is animated by the power of the Spirit. But when God speaks, He at the same time adds the effectual working of His Spirit” (Calv.).
7. “Signs without the word are in vain. What fruit would there have been if the prophet had merely seen the vision, but no word of God had followed it? And this may be applied to the sacraments also, if they were mere signs before our eyes; it is the word of God only that makes the sacraments in some measure living, just as is the case with the visions” (Calv.).
8. By means of the repeated וַיֹּאמֶר the divine revelation in word is identified with the revelation of glory in Ezekiel 1, which was to appear as the “Shechinah” in the Messiah, according to the Targums falling back upon the older tradition. One of the steps towards the Logos in John 1.
9. “In Jehovah and His covenant-relation to Israel lies the necessity of His revelation; His testimony, the tidings from Him, must be heard in the midst of Israel. Thus Jehovah Himself wills not merely the conversion, but also the hardening of the people (Isa_6:9 sqq.), in so far as, first of all, He merely wills the preaching of Himself. Hence, if on the one hand the prophetic preaching must be traced back strictly to the will of God, is to be looked upon as an out-come and transcript of it, not less is this the case as regards its effects; the hearing and not hearing of the same is likewise God’s will, since otherwise He would be under the necessity of withholding His word itself” (Häv.).
10. The symbolical procedure with the book-roll belongs manifestly to the vision, is of the nature of vision, however much, as narrated, it resembles an external occurrence. Bordering, according to Tholuck, on “the rhetorical domain of metaphor,” the representation teaches, at all events, how cautiously the exposition of Ezekiel will have to proceed in this respect.
11. Umbreit remarks on Eze_3:1 sqq.: “Here we have the right expression for enabling us to form a judgment and estimate of true inspiration. The divine does not remain as a strange element in the man; it becomes his own feeling thoroughly, penetrates him entirely, just as food becomes a part of his bodily frame.” “And the written book of the seer,” he says in conclusion, “bears quite the stamp of something thoroughly pervaded alike by the divine and human.”
12. A parallel to the symbolical transaction in Ezekiel, of which Hävernick remarks that it “is the reality of an inner state, of the highest spiritual excitement, of the true and higher entering into the divine will,” is presented by the second book of Esdras 14:38 sqq. Comp. the difference of this “dead, apocryphal imitation,” by means of which the thought of pure, divine inspiration is meant to be expressed.
13. The unintelligibility of the language of the heathen world for the prophet is to be taken in a purely formal sense; for as respects the material element, the substance, the manner of the thinking, and not of the mere speaking, there is nothing at all said. For the prophet this inner side of the heathen languages would, it is true, present equal difficulty, if not even more, than that outer one. But emphasis is laid on the willingness of the heathen in spite of both, their pricking up their ears in order to understand, which was wanting in Israel. And therefore, what hinders the understanding lies in the case of the heathen merely in the language; in the case of Israel, on the other hand, in this very circumstance. That the language of Israel was the holy language in which God had spoken from the beginning to them, must as regards the import also have lightened the labours of Ezekiel, and consequently have produced a relief in this respect, where, in the case of the heathen, the language brought with it an additional difficulty. It is sometimes easier to exert an influence upon men of the world than upon men who are familiar with the “language of Canaan” (Isa_19:18) from childhood up. Just because Israel at once understood what the topic was in Ezekiel’s mouth (“he spake, of course, merely what Moses and the other prophets had spoken,” Coco.), their disgust and repugnance towards God’s word as soon as possible turned aside out of his way. The alleviation through the disposition of heart on the part of the heathen became in this case the reverse through the disposition of heart on the part of Israel.
14. “The distinction which Greeks and Romans made between their language and that of the barbarians, reduces itself to that of culture. It is otherwise with the distinction between the language of Israel and that of the heathen nations. Israel’s language is formed by means of God’s word, while the languages of the heathen nations were formed from purely human developments” (Klief.).
15. There is thus in Ezekiel the same hopeful (although, in reference to Israel, mournful) outlook into the heathen world, which in the Old Covenant already announces the days of the New. “It follows from the stress laid on the receptivity of the heathen, that salvation will yet at some future time be offered to them in an effectual way” (Häv.).
HOMILETIC HINTS
Eze_2:1. The name Son of man belongs above all to Him who did not fall to the ground before the vision of the divine glory, but descended from the midst of the enjoyment of this glory to our earth.—Ezekiel and Christ, type and antitype.—Daniel also is so addressed (Eze_8:17); and if Ezekiel saw God as a man, Daniel saw the Lord of an everlasting dominion as a son of man (Ezekiel 7). Thus they bore upon them the stamp of the future, of the fulness of the times.—“I know thy weakness, that thou art a man, and canst not bear the splendour of the divine majesty” (B. B.).—“Although preachers are compared to angels, yet they continue men, and ought to keep this always in mind” (Stck.).—“Even the most pious and most gifted teachers are subject to human infirmities, Gal_2:11” (St.).—“Because teachers are men, hearers ought also to learn to bear patiently with their infirmities, 2Co_12:13” (St.).—“We ought not to remain lying on the ground, either in sin, or from laziness of the flesh, or with slavish fear, when God calls us” (Stck.).—“So long as man still lies on the ground, God cannot use him for His service” (St.).
Eze_2:2. “Let visions be ever so great, yet they are not so useful as the word” (B. B.).—God’s glory is not meant to kill, but rather to make alive.—“It is the Lord Himself, who fills His children with dismay, that also comforts them again, Hos_6:1” (O.).—“The world smiles, in order to rage; flatters, in order to deceive; allures, in order to kill; lifts up, in order to bring low” (Cyprian).—“A herald of God ought to stand high above the world, with his spirit in heaven” (a. L.).—“The man whom God sends, He also qualifies for it, and furnishes with the necessary powers, giving him also His Spirit, as is ever still the experience of the servants of God” (Stck.).—The real prophetic anointing: “the spirit came into me.”—To whomsoever God gives an office, He gives understanding also. The fact that so many void of understanding are in office, may easily arise from this circumstance, that they have their office from men. For it is the Spirit of God, and not the clerical band, that makes the prophet.—“If God’s Spirit does not uphold, teach, guide, rule, strengthen, keep us, we are nothing” (Stck.).—There is a difference between our setting ourselves on our feet, and God’s Spirit setting us on our feet. The feet indeed remain our own, but the way along which they run is, like the power by which they are able to do so, God’s, and the steps are also sure steps.—“O that we were at all times disposed to hear Him who speaks to us!” (Stck.)
Eze_2:1-2. At the installation of a preacher in his office: (1) What the congregation ought to consider: that the preacher is only a man, but one whom God sets on his feet by His Spirit; (2) What the preacher ought to consider: all this, as well as in particular that God wishes to speak with him, and that he also ought to have been a hearer ere he comes before his hearers.
Eze_2:3. “When God demands obedience from us, He does not always promise a happy issue of our labour; but we ought to allow ourselves to be satisfied with His command, even if our labour should appear ridiculous in the eyes of men: our labour is nevertheless well-pleasing before God” (Calvin).—“Hence the true prophet does not go of his own accord, just as he does not force himself upon the people, and does not come to seek honour and good days with them” (Stck.).—“So God stretches out His hand to sinners” (St.).—“Even at worldly courts ambassadors of princes are a token of friendship” (Stck.).—Every sinner is a rebel against God.—It is a noticeable feature of the Jews of the present day in general, that they make heathens of themselves, and also take part in revolution against Church and State.—The apple does not fall far from the tree.—There is also a hereditary sin of nations: e.g. French vanity, German cosmopolitanism (want of a fixed centre, Zerfahrenheit), English selfishness (egoism).
Eze_2:4. “Through the habit of sinning the countenance becomes stiff, just as the heart becomes hard in sinning” (Stck.).—“And yet the countenance is the noblest, as the heart is the best part of man, Pro_23:26; Mat_15:19” (Stck.).—“Judas Iscariot, e.g., had a stiff countenance: his question Mat_26:25, his kiss” (L.).—“Thus saith the Lord” is the watchword of God against all opposition of men, the right war-cry.
Eze_2:5. “Ezekiel may, of course, have thought with himself as Moses did, Exo_4:1” (St.).—Preachers ought not to look to, to reckon upon hearers, but to listen to the Lord alone.—To preach God’s word compensates even in the case of empty churches.—A full church, therefore, is not always a testimony for the preacher, 2Ti_4:3.—“It serves, at all events, as a testimony, although no other result is attained by the preaching” (L.).
Eze_2:6. Fear is a word which does not belong to any vocation of a preacher; but as little also does man-pleasing, which is often merely a form of fear.—“The comparison with thorns has reference in general to their unfruitfulness, in particular to their tendency to wound, to injure, their being interlaced together, their seeming bloom, their ultimate burning. As regards the expression scorpions, we are to think of the poison, the secret sting, the cunning. And what a wilderness must the house of Israel be! Ezekiel does not go to strayed sheep, but dwells with scorpions” (Stck.).—“In none of the prophetic books is the rigorous spirit of Moses more perceptible than in the case of Ezekiel” (Roos). Because God knows our fear, therefore He speaks so repeatedly against it.
Eze_2:7. Rebelliousness may well grieve the servant of God, may even rouse him to anger, but ought never to degrade him to the level of a dumb dog.—Spiritual dignitaries are those who carry the word of God high above themselves, even when it meets with nothing but contradiction.—“And fathers of families also are to be like preachers” (L.).
Eze_2:8. The enemies of a preacher are not what is worst for him; his friends are often worse than his worst enemies, and his worst enemy of all by far may be his own self. Therefore, know thyself.—“Preachers ought to be patterns, not imitators and followers of the flock” (St.).—“What an influence the surroundings of a preacher have upon him! And Ezekiel belonged to the same people” (L.).—Many a strange thing happens to one when he is with God. On the other hand, the demand: “Open thy mouth, and eat,” is what we should naturally expect; for what does not man eat, and how many useless books are devoured with the greatest eagerness!—“By the mere looking at food no one gets his hunger satisfied, but it must be taken and eaten: and so also the mere hearing and reading of the word of God does not save, but it must be appropriated, and afterwards lived upon” (St.).
Eze_2:9. “The word of God is very tender and delicate,—a sweet and deep invitation” (B. B.).—“The hand which presents the Scripture, is the same which also presents to believers the crown, 2Ti_4:7-8” (Stck.).
Eze_2:10. “Such unfolding takes place with prayer on the part of believers, Ephesians 1; Psa_119:18 (with burning heart, Luk_24:32; just as in the future with praise and jubilant acclamation, Rev_5:9), with searching (Joh_5:39; Mat_7:8), and not without manifold temptations” (Fessel).—“This book-roll may also be applied to the bad conscience of the sinner, as well as to the condition of a soul under assault from outward oppression, likewise to the book of the law, to the misery of the damned, as well as used in the sense of a reward-book for the ungodly,” etc. (Stck.)—So man finds in his life first the lamentations over the vanity of all things, then there wakes up the sighing over himself, and the last is the woe of dying.
Eze_2:8—3:3. The wonderful food of Ezekiel in general (Mat_4:4) and in particular (Joh_4:34).—It served him: for protection, for instruction, for strengthening, for quickening.
Eze_3:1. “Ezekiel is no prophet of his own heart. Instead of murmuring against the poor instrument who has received so weighty a commission, let them repent” (H.).—“Comede et pasce, saturare et eructa, accipe et sparge, confortare et labora” (Jer.).—“A teacher must have the word of God not merely on his lips and in his mouth, but in his heart, and converted into nourishment and strength” (St.).—“The maxim: ‘Eat what is set before you’ (Luk_10:8), applies also to the divine revelation. The position of a chooser, which, instead of the motto, ‘what I find,’ puts ‘what I like,’ belongs to what is evil” (H.).—“Without having eaten this roll, no one ought to go and preach” (B. B.).—As against resistance from without we are comforted; as against opposition from within, from ourselves, we are strengthened. In the first case there is suffering, in the second it may come to sin.
Eze_3:2. “The word of God is the right food of souls” (St.).
Eze_3:3. “By our taste our life is determined” (Plato).—“The sweet taste means Ezekiel’s approbation of God’s judgment and commands” (Calv.).—“It is infinitely sweet and lovely to be the organ and spokesman of the Most High” (H.).—“In the case of those who eagerly hear the word of God, it goes into their heart, and as it were into their bowels; it becomes a treasure within them, out of which they bring forth, in overflowing abundance, necessary and wholesome instruction for others” (B. B., St.).—“Even a difficult office ought to be undertaken and discharged with joy; for God can sweeten even what is bitter in it” (St.).—“Even the most painful divine truths have for the spiritually-minded man a gladdening and quickening side” (H.).—“It is in general the quiet secret of all who suffer in true faith, that in their inmost being wormwood turns to honey” (Umbr.).
Eze_3:4 sqq. “It was not yet the time of the heathen; it was still Israel’s time, to whom also the Lord Himself would come, whose forerunners the prophets were” (Cocc).
Eze_3:7. Forehead and heart in their psychological correspondence.—Where there is the fear of God in the heart, shame still sits upon the forehead.
Eze_3:8. “For hard people hard ministers also are suitable, Pro_20:30” (W.). For the rough block a rough wedge.—“God gives His prophet merely a firm countenance and forehead, but not a hard heart. In order to encounter a hard heart, a firm forehead indeed is necessary, but never a hard heart. The heart is to be full of love, and from love the firm forehead even is to be gained” (A L.).
Eze_3:8-9. “He who has to contend with the popular spirit is lost, unless he has a firm hold of Omnipotence. He who has not God decidedly with him, must come to terms with the majority” (H.).—“Firm preachers of this stamp were Nathan against David, Elijah, John the Baptist, Stephen” (a L.). Comp. Mat_16:18. Nevertheless, the diamond does not occur either in Exo_28:17 sqq. or in Rev_21:19 sqq. Christ will rather be a magnet, Joh_12:32.—“God imparts to such a strength which far surpasses the strength of the learned. For God never yields to man. Not that the spirit referred to is a stiff-necked spirit, but God gives them words so powerful and mighty, that no one can gainsay them, Luk_21:15” (B. B.).—“This is that ‘holy to the Lord’ which shone forth on the forehead of the high priest, just as it belongs to all the servants of God” (Stck.).—“Carnal men stumble thereat, all who wish to be flattered or spared; for what is to the one class a stone for building, is to the other a stone of offence” (B. B.).
Eze_3:10. “Whoever is to hear, must have confidence in him who speaks, and longing to hear, in order that he may lend his ear to the word. The heart, above everything, must be present, else the man does not hear, Act_16:14” (Cocc).
Eze_3:11. “The fact, that it is his own people to whom he had to go, at the same time laid Ezekiel under a solemn obligation” (Stck.).—“We must first hear, then we are to speak” (Cocc).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2–10 spirit entered . . . when he spake--The divine…
spirit entered . . . when he spake--The divine word is ever accompanied by the Spirit (Gen 1:2-3).
set . . . upon . . . feet--He had been "upon his face" (Eze 1:28). Humiliation on our part is followed by exaltation on God's part (Eze 3:23-24; Job 22:29; Jam 4:6; Pe1 5:5). "On the feet" was the fitting attitude when he was called on to walk and work for God (Eph 5:8; Eph 6:15).
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that I heard--rather, "then I heard."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1–9 EZEKIEL RECEIVES HIS COMMISSION FROM JEHOVAH, Eze_2:1-8.
EZEKIEL RECEIVES HIS COMMISSION FROM JEHOVAH, Eze_2:1-8.
The circumstances are the most solemn possible. The man whom Jehovah honors thus with a private interview must be about to receive no ordinary commission. Beyond any other in Scripture this might be called the preacher’s chapter.
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1. Son of man — This was a form of address which was very common in Chaldea, especially when the gods were supposed to speak. (Compare Lightfoot.) It vividly calls attention to the contrast between human mortality and weakness and divine eternity and majesty. Yet let it be noticed that when Jehovah — in the likeness of a man upon a throne (Eze_1:26) — wants a messenger to speak to mankind he searches for one who is pre-eminently human. The whole prophecy shows how powerfully Jehovah can use a man to display his glory when he speaks and acts not according to his own will, but Jehovah’s.
I will speak unto thee — “The Hebrew here indicates confidential conversation with the prophets although he may only take part as a listener.” — Orelli.
Stand upon thy feet — The man of flint (Eze_3:9) must rise up and receive his commission standing (Eze_1:28). He must at once be taught obedience and courage, and stand ready to run at the conclusion of the message.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 1–7. The rebellious people to whom the prophet is…
1–7. The rebellious people to whom the prophet is sent
1. Son of man] Better, child of man. The phrase is used over ninety times, and expresses the contrast between the prophet, as one of mankind, and the majesty of God, whose glory he had just seen.
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stand upon thy feet] At the sight of the great glory of God the prophet had fallen to the ground (ch. Eze_1:28). He is bidden stand on his feet. Not paralysis before him is desired by God, but reasonable service. The prophet’s falling down was natural, yet a condition unfit for God’s purposes, and not desired by him to continue. Those whom he calls to his service are his fellow-workers, who may look upon his face. It is man erect, man in his manhood, with whom God will have fellowship and with whom he will speak—stand upon thy feet “that I may speak with thee.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 (1) Son of man.—The voice that now came to…
(1) Son of man.—The voice that now came to Ezekiel was articulate, and spoke to him in words which he could understand. It is not said who it was that spoke, but the “He” in connection with the vision before him could be none other than the Most High, whose glory that vision was given to reveal. The phrase “son of man” is common enough throughout the Scriptures, as meaning simply man, but is never used in an address to a prophet, except to Ezekiel and Daniel. To Daniel it is used only once (Dan_8:17), while to Ezekiel it is used above ninety times. The reason is, doubtless, that since he was the prophet of the captivity he was addressed in the common terms of the language where he lived. “Son of man” for “man” is so common in the Aramaic languages that it is even used of Adam himself in the Syriac version of 1Co_15:45-47. The address to Ezekiel here as “man,” just as under similar circumstances to Daniel when he had fallen upon his face through awe of the supernatural presence (Dan_8:17), is doubtless in compassion to his weakness. And then comes the strengthening command, “Stand upon thy feet,” that he may be able to receive the communication God is about to make to him.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–10 Son of man, etc. It is noticeable that the…
Son of man, etc. It is noticeable that the phrase (ben adam), as addressed to a prophet, occurs only in Ezekiel, in whom we find it not less than eighty times, and in Dan_8:17. As used elsewhere, e.g. in Num_23:19; Psa_8:4; Job_25:6; Isa_51:12 Isa_56:2, and in Ezekiel"s use of it, it is probably connected with the history of Adam, as created from the ground (adamah) in Gen_2:7 Gen_3:19. The prophet is reminded, in the very moment of his highest inspiration, of his Adam nature with all its infirmity and limitations. In the use of a like phrase (bar enosh, instead of ben adam) in Dan_7:13 we have the same truth implied. There one like unto man in all things is called to share the sovereignty of the "Ancient of Days," the Eternal One. Here the prophet, nothing in himself, is called to be the messenger of God to other sons of men. It is in many ways suggestive that our Lord should have chosen the same formula for constant use when speaking of himself. (Mat_8:20, and passim in the Gospels) Stand upon thy feet. The attitude of adoration is changed, by the Divine command, into that of expectant service, that of awe and dread for the courage of a soldier of the Lord of hosts. (compare the parallels of Eze_3:24 Eze_43:3, Eze_43:5; Dan_8:18)
Ver. 1. God speaking, and man listening.
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This second chapter of the prophecies of Ezekiel introduces us to the personal call and commission of the prophet. The first chapter was engaged with preliminary and preparatory visions. Now the prepared soul receives the direct word from God.
I GOD SPEAKING. God speaks to Ezekiel:
1. In words. Previously the prophet"s attention had been arrested by visions glorious, awful, soul-stirring visions visions that not only roused hisfeelings, but that must also have awakened in his mind many strange thoughts by their profound suggestiveness; still only visions, and therefore mysterious revelations shrouded in a measure of uncertainty. Now God proceeds from the vague vision to definite speech. It matters not whether we consider that the speech came in physical sound, in real air waves, that any other listener, had he been present, might have understood, or whether the words were impressed on the mind of the prophet. In any case, he heard them, and thus he received a clear, definite, unmistakable message. We are not left to uncertain visions, nor even to the difficult hieroglyphics of nature. We have a revelation in language, a written Bible.
2. In direct address. God spoke immediately to Ezekiel. Here is the contrast between the prophet and the ordinary bearer of a Divine message. We receive our messages at second hand from God"s inspired teachers. They held direct communications with Heaven. But may not we do something similar, not indeed in new prophecies or gospels, but at least in the illumination of soul which makes the old truth stand out in a new light, or helps us to make a fresh application of it to new circumstances? By his Spirit God does thus speak directly to every listening soul, though the words are those of familiar truth.
II MAN LISTENING. Speech is useless without a hearer. For ages the "silent proclamation" of nature has been spread before the gaze of heedless witnesses. The difference between the seer and the man who beholds only material facts may lie in the natures of the men more than in the external facts that are presented to them. The one is a seer because he has eyes to behold what is equally present to the other, though unperceived for lack of sight to discover it. So the prophet must have "ears to hear" the message of God. And all who would receive God"s message in their souls must have the heating ear. The manner of the delivery of the Divine message to Ezekiel suggests the way in which it should be received.
1. In a certain human simplicity. Ezekiel is addressed as "son of man." When nearest to Heaven he must not forget his human nature. The prophet is our fellow man. The knowledge of heavenly truth does not kilt human nature, nor destroy the kinship between the enlightened and the ignorant.
(1) Here all pride is rebuked. The prophet must not suppose that he is anything more than a man.
(2) Human interests are to be considered. The message is given to one man for the sake of his fellows.
2. In manly obedience. Ezekiel is to stand up. He had fallen in fear before the vision of glory. To hear the word of revelation he must arise. God does not delight in the humiliation of his children. We are exhorted to "come boldly unto the throne of grace". (Heb_4:16) Religion does not destroy manliness. Yet God expects the attention shown by a servant to his master. Ezekiel is not to sit. He who receives a word from God is to be awake, listening, attentive, and ready to obey, like the servant who stands by his master"s side.
HOMILIES BY J.R. THOMSON Ver. 1. Son of man.
This expression is so constantly used with reference to Ezekiel that it cannot be considered a mere Oriental idiom with no peculiar significance. There were special reasons why Ezekiel, as the prophet chosen to communicate God"s will to Israel, should be thus designated.
I TRUE HUMANITY IN THE PROPHET ENABLED HIM TO HOLD COMMUNION WITH THE FATHER OF SPIRITS. Man is God"s chosen vehicle for communicating with man. The ministry of angels is a reality, but such ministry is subordinate to that which is strictly human. Man is made in the likeness of God, and shares in the Divine reason. His highest thinking, it was grandly said by Kepler, is thinking over again the thoughts of God. It is in virtue of this prerogative that human beings are able to enter into the counsels of the Eternal Wisdom. The inferior inhabitants of this globe may indeed express in their structure the designs of the Creator. But man is more than the creature; he is the child of the heavenly Father, who calls his children to share in the revelation of his own character and will. And certain selected individuals, notably those designated "prophets," are admitted into special relations with the Infinite Spirit, that they may be made the medium of carrying out his purposes of wisdom and of love.
II THE PROPHET"S TRUE HUMANITY ENABLED HIM TO ENTER INTO THE CIRCUMSTANCES AND NEEDS OF THOSE TO WHOM HE MINISTERED. The prophets sprang from the people, and knew them from familiar intercourse and intimacy; they knew their sins and weaknesses, their temptations and struggles. Some, like Elijah and John the Baptist, led a life secluded and ascetic only now and again coming forth from their retirement and mingling with their countrymen for some special purpose. But others lived amongst those whom they had known in childhood and youth, and made themselves acquainted with their temporal condition and their spiritual wants. It seems to have been so with Ezekiel. And as participation in common sorrows and sufferings often draws men closer together, it is reasonable to believe that comrades in exile were upon terms of closest fellowship and correspondence. The prophet knew well, in virtue of a common nature and a common lot, the people amongst whom he dwelt, and to whom he was called to minister.
III THE PROPHET"S TRUE HUMANITY RENDERED HIS MINISTRY SYMPATHETIC, AUTHORITATIVE, AND EFFECTIVE. Men may see much of one another, may be brought frequently into contact with one another, and yet may have little mutual knowledge, and even feel little interest in one another"s experiences. But this was not the case with Ezekiel, who did not harden his heart against even the disobedient, rebellious, and unresponsive, but, on the contrary, cultivated, as a man, a spirit of true brotherhood with his fellow men. He was deeply pained when it was his duty to threaten or to denounce; he was sincerely glad when it was given him to speak words of kindness and encouragement. There was, in consequence of this human sympathy, an especial authoritativeness in his prophetic ministrations. What he said and did went home, in many cases, to the hearts of those whom he addressed; because they interpreted his words and deeds in the light of his spirit and character.
IV THE PROPHET WAS THUS A TYPE OF CHRIST HIMSELF, WHO WAS WONT TO DESIGNATE HIMSELF THE SON OF MAN. Perfect Man as well as perfect God, the Lord Christ entered into the position of those whom he came to save. Like Ezekiel, the Lord Jesus came to a captive people; like Ezekiel, he addressed to them words of reproach, words of warning, words of consolation, words of hope. He did more than this: he bore their sins, and carried their sorrows. And thus he brought deliverance to the bondmen, opened the prison doors, and bade the oppressed go free. T.
HOMILIES BY J.D. DAVIES Vers. 1, 2. The interlacing of Divine command and Divine strength.
The commands of God are acts of kindness. If he had abandoned us, he would give us no indications of his will. He is not so unreasonable as to give commands without also proffering help. If he says "This is the way," he also says, "I will be with thee." Hence, with Augustine, we may say to God, "Give what thou requirest, and require what thou pleasest.
I COMMAND. "Stand upon thy feet." The form of address, "son of man," was intended to encourage the prophet. The vision of God"s kingdom, and of his royal state, bad oppressed the mind of Ezekiel, and he had prostrated himself before such majestic splendour. But now the voice of the supreme Monarch assures him that he may also find a place among the honoured servants of Jehovah. Though but a frail man, a descendant of erring progenitors, he was yet a man, and therefore capable of high attainment and noble service. There was no hardship implied in this command to stand upon his feet. It chimed in with his own predisposition. Duty taken step by step, in easy gradations, becomes a delight. The requirement was honourable. There had been occasion for prostrate humility in the presence of the holy God. But humility is the way to honour. Now he is required to lift himself up to the full stature of his manhood, and to be ready for active and willing service. Use thy feet! Look heavenward! Be a man! Equip thyself for service!
II PROMISE. "I will speak unto thee." This is a stupendous act of Divine condescension to hold intercourse with fallen, fickle men. It is a mark of special favour if an earthly monarch calls a commoner into his presence, discloses to him royal counsels, and engages his services for the throne. Much greater token of good will is it, if that commoner had been heretofore a detected criminal, a dangerous rebel. But the similitude serves very poorly to illustrate the immeasurable grace of the heavenly King, who stoops to converse with the children of men. Human monarchs have set times, which they set apart to give audience to the noblest of their subjects. But God permits us to approach him at all times, and, if we will but speak to him, he will also speak unto us. "His delights are with the sons of men." He loves to employ men in his service. Yea! he has determined to employ none but men in proclaiming to their brethren the royal purposes of redemption.
III INDWELLING POWER While Jehovah spake to his servant, "the Spirit entered into him." Finding in Ezekiel a readiness to obey, God immediately imparted to him the needed strength. If the will be present with us, the power to perform will not long be absent. When humility opens the door of the human heart, God will enter and abide there. It was not so much Ezekiel who put forth his strength and rose erect, as the indwelling Spirit, "who set him on his feet." Verily, "in God we live, and move, and exist." "I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." Ezekiel"s name was no misnomer. In very deed, God was his Strength. And the result of the Spirit"s entrance, further, was "that I heard him that spake unto me." The very power to hear, whether by the organ of sense, or by the finer aptitude of the spirit, comes alone from God. "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. D.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 6, 7, 8 And the Spirit entered into me.
Eze_2:2
And the Spirit entered into me.
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God helping His ministers
Mark the course of a river like the Thames; how it winds and twists according to its own sweet will. Yet there is a reason for every bend and curve; the geologist, studying the soil and marking the conformation of the rock, sees a reason why the rivers bed diverges to the right or to the left; and so, though the Spirit of God blesses one preacher more than another, and the reason cannot be such that any man could congratulate himself upon his own goodness, yet there are certain things about Christian ministers which God blesses, and certain other things which hinder success. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The power behind the preacher
The Rev. F.B. Meyer has a firewood factory in connection with his church, where employment is provided for men and boys. A circular saw is used for cutting through beams of solid timber. Until recently, this saw was worked by a crank, turned by twelve or fifteen men. But it was slow, hard, and expensive work. At last, says Mr. Meyer, we were driven to something more expeditious, and bought a gas engine. And now, the saw, driven by this engine, does in two or three hours as much work as it did formerly in a day, and at less than a tenth of the cost. It is the same saw; but the difference lies in the power that drives it. It used to be driven by hand power, now it is driven by an equivalent for steam, and the only thing we need to do is to keep the connecting band tight. It is not a question, continues Mr. Meyer, as to our abilities or qualifications, but of the power behind us. If that is nothing more than human, it is not surprising that the results are miserably poor. But if we link ourselves to the eternal power of God, nothing will be impossible to us. All things are possible to him that believeth.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Ezekiel 2, 3
EZEKIELS PROPHETIC COMMISSION
Ezekiel 2, 3
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THE call of a prophet and the vision of God which sometimes accompanied it are the two sides of one complex experience. The man who has truly seen God necessarily has a message to men. Not only are his spiritual perceptions quickened and all the powers of his being stirred to the highest activity, but there is laid on his conscience the burden of a sacred duty and a lifelong vocation to the service of God and man. The true prophet therefore is one who can say with Paul, "I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision," for that cannot be a real vision of God which does not demand obedience. And of the two elements the call is the one that is indispensable to the idea of a prophet. We can conceive a prophet without an ecstatic vision, but not without a consciousness of being chosen by God for a special work or a sense of moral responsibility for the faithful declaration of His truth. Whether, as with Isaiah and Ezekiel, the call springs out of the vision of God, or whether, as with Jeremiah, the call comes first and is supplemented by experiences of a visionary kind, the essential fact in the prophets initiation always is the conviction that from a certain period in his life the word of Jehovah came to him, and along with it the feeling of personal obligation to God for the discharge of a mission entrusted to him. While the vision merely serves to impress on the imagination by means of symbols a certain conception of Gods being, and may be dispensed with when symbols are no longer the necessary vehicle of spiritual truth, the call, as conveying a sense of ones true place in the kingdom of God, can never be wanting to any man who has a prophetic work to do for God amongst his fellow men.
It has been already hinted that in the case of Ezekiel the connection between the call and the vision is less obvious than in that of Isaiah. The character of the narrative undergoes, a change at the beginning of chapter 2. The first part is moulded, as we have seen, very largely on the inaugural vision of Isaiah; the second betrays with equal clearness the influence of Jeremiah. The appearance of a break between the first chapter and the second is partly due to the prophets laborious manner of describing what he had passed through. It is altogether unfair to represent him as having first curiously inspected the mechanism of the merkaba, and then bethought himself that it was a fitting thing to fall on his face before it. The experience of an ecstasy is one thing, the relating of it is another. In much less time than it takes us to master the details of the picture, Ezekiel had seen and been overpowered by the glory of Jehovah, and had become aware of the purpose for which it had been revealed to him. He knew that God had come to him in order to send him as a prophet to his fellow-exiles. And just as the description of the vision draws out in detail those features which were significant of Gods nature and attributes, so in what follows he becomes conscious step by step of certain aspects of the work to which he is called. In the form of a series of addresses of the Almighty there are presented to his mind the outlines of his prophetic career-its conditions, its hardships, its encouragements, and above all its binding and peremptory obligation. Some of the facts now set before him, such as the spiritual condition of his audience, had long been familiar to his thoughts-others were new; but now they all take their proper place in the scheme of his life; he is made to know their bearing on his work, and what attitude he is to adopt in face of them. All this takes place in the prophetic trance; but the ideas remain with him as the sustaining principles of his subsequent work.
1. Of the truths thus presented to the mind of Ezekiel the first, and the one that directly arises out of the impression which the vision made on him, is his personal insignificance. As he lies prostrate before the glory of Jehovah he hears for the first time the name which ever afterwards signalises his relation to the God who speaks through him. It hardly needs to be said that the term "son of man" in the Book of Ezekiel is no title of honour or of distinction. It is precisely the opposite of this. It denotes the absence of distinction in the person of the prophet. It signifies no more than "member of the human race"; its sense might almost be conveyed if we were to render it by the word "mortal." It expresses the infinite contrast between the heavenly and the earthly, between the glorious Being who speaks from the throne and the frail creature who needs to be supernaturally strengthened before he can stand upright in the attitude of service. {Eze_2:1} He felt that there was no reason in himself for the choice which God made of him to be a prophet. He is conscious only of the attributes which he has in common with the race-of human weakness and insignificance; all that distinguishes him from other men belongs to his office, and. is conferred on him by God in the act of his consecration. There is no trace of the generous impulse that prompted Isaiah to offer himself as a servant of the great King as soon as he realised that there was work to be done. He is equally a stranger to the shrinking of Jeremiahs sensitive spirit from the responsibilities of the prophets charge. To Ezekiel the Divine Presence is so overpowering, the command is so definite and exacting, that no room is left for the play of personal feeling; the hand of the Lord is heavy on him, and he can do nothing but stand still and hear.
2. The next thought that occupies the attention of the prophet is the painful spiritual condition of those to whom he is sent. It is to be noted that his mission presents itself to him from the outset in two aspects. In the first place, he is a prophet to the whole house of Israel, including the lost kingdom of the ten tribes, as well as the two sections of the kingdom of Judah, those now in exile and those still remaining in their own land. This is his ideal audience; the sweep of his prophecy is to embrace the destinies of the nation as a whole, although but a small part be within the reach of his spoken words. But in literal fact he is to be the prophet of the exiles; {Eze_3:2} that is the sphere in which he has to make proof of his ministry. These two audiences are for the most part not distinguished in the mind of Ezekiel; he sees the ideal in the real, regarding the little colony in which he lives as an epitome of the national life. But in both aspects of his work the outlook is equally dispiriting. If he looks forward to an active career amongst his fellow-captives, he is given to know that "thorns and thistles" are with him and that his dwelling is among scorpions. {Eze_2:6} Petty persecution and rancorous opposition are the inevitable lot of a prophet there. And if he extends his thoughts to the idealised nation he has to think of a people whose character is revealed in a long history of rebellion and apostasy: they are "the rebels who have rebelled against Me, they and their fathers to this very day". {Eze_2:3} The greatest difficulty he will have to contend with is the impenetrability of the minds of his hearers to the truths of his message. The barrier of a strange language suggests an illustration of the impossibility of communicating spiritual ideas to such men as he is sent to. But it is a far more hopeless barrier that separates him from his people. "Not to a people of deep speech and heavy tongue art thou sent; and not to many peoples whose language thou canst not understand: if I had sent thee to them, they would hear thee. But the house of Israel will refuse to hear thee; for they refuse to hear Me: for the whole house of Israel are hard of forehead and stout of heart". {Eze_3:5-7} The meaning is that the incapacity of the people is not intellectual, but moral and spiritual. They can understand the prophets words, but they will not hear them because they dislike the truth which he utters and have rebelled against the God who sent him. The hardening of the national conscience which Isaiah foresaw as the inevitable result of his own ministry is already accomplished, and Ezekiel traces it to its source in a defect of the will, an aversion to the truths which express the character of Jehovah.
This fixed judgment on his contemporaries with which Ezekiel enters on his work is condensed into one of those stereotyped expressions which abound in his writings: "house of disobedience"-a phrase which is afterwards amplified in more than one elaborate review of the nations past. It no doubt sums up the result of much previous meditation on the state of Israel and the possibility of a national reformation. If any hope had hitherto lingered in Ezekiels mind that the exiles might now respond to a true word from Jehovah, it disappears in the clear insight which he obtains into the state of their hearts. He sees that the time has not yet come to win the people back to God by assurances of His compassion and the nearness of His salvation. The breach between Jehovah and Israel was not begun to be healed, and the prophet who stands on the side of God must look for no sympathy from men. In the very act of his consecration his mind is thus set in the attitude of uncompromising severity towards the obdurate house of Israel: "Behold, I make thy face hard like their faces, and thy forehead hard like theirs, like adamant harder than flint. Thou shalt not fear them nor be dismayed at their countenance, for a disobedient house are they." {Eze_3:8-9}
3. The significance of the transaction in which he takes part is still further impressed on the mind of the prophet by a symbolic act in which he is made to signify his acceptance of the commission entrusted to him. {Eze_2:8-10; Eze_3:1-3} He sees a hand extended to him holding the roll of a book, and when the roll is spread out before him it is found to be written on both sides with "lamentations and mourning and woe." In obedience to the Divine command he opens his mouth and eats the scroll, and finds to his surprise that in spite of its contents its taste is "like honey for sweetness."
The meaning of this strange symbol appears to include two things. In the first place it denotes the removal of the inward hindrance of which every man must be conscious when he receives the call to be a prophet. Something similar occurs in the inaugural vision of Isaiah and Jeremiah. The impediment of which Isaiah was conscious was the uncleanness of his lips; and this being removed by the touch of the hot coal from the altar, he is filled with a new feeling of freedom and eagerness to engage in the service of God. In the case of Jeremiah the hindrance was a sense of his own weakness and unfitness for the arduous duties which were imposed on him; and this again was taken away by the consecrating touch of Jehovahs hand on his lips. The part of Ezekiels experience with which we are dealing is obviously parallel to these, although it is not possible to say what feeling of incapacity was uppermost in his mind. Perhaps it was the dread lest in him there should lurk something of that rebellious spirit which was the characteristic of the race to which he belonged. He who had been led to form so hard a judgment of his people could not but look with a jealous eye on his own heart, and could not forget that he shared the same sinful nature which made their rebellion possible. Accordingly the book is presented to him in the first instance as a test of his obedience. "But thou, son of man, hear what I say to thee; Be not disobedient like the disobedient house: open thy mouth, and eat what I give thee". {Eze_2:8} When the book proves sweet to his taste, he has the assurance that he has been endowed with such sympathy with the thoughts of God that things which to the natural mind are unwelcome become the source of a spiritual satisfaction. Jeremiah had expressed the same strange delight in his work in a striking passage which was doubtless familiar to Ezekiel: "When Thy words were found I did eat them; and Thy word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart: for I was called by Thy name, O Jehovah God of hosts". {Jer_15:16} We have a still higher illustration of the same fact in the life of our Lord, to whom it was meat and drink to do the will of His Father, and who experienced a joy in the doing of it which was peculiarly His own. It is the reward of the true service of God that amidst all the hardships and discouragements which have to be endured the heart is sustained by an inward joy springing from the consciousness of working in fellowship with God.
But in the second place the eating of the book undoubtedly signifies the bestowal on the prophet of the gift of inspiration-that is, the power to speak the words of Jehovah. "Son of man, eat this roll, and go speak to the children of Israel Go, get thee to the house of Israel, and speak with My words to them". {Eze_3:1; Eze_3:4} Now the call of a prophet does not mean that his mind is charged with a certain body of doctrine, which he is to deliver from time to time as circumstances require. All that can safely be said about the prophetic inspiration is that it implies the faculty of distinguishing the truth of God from the thoughts that naturally arise in the prophets own mind. Nor is there anything in Ezekiels experience which necessarily goes beyond this conception; although the incident of the book has been interpreted in ways that burden him with a very crude and mechanical theory of inspiration. Some critics have believed that the book which he swallowed is the book he was afterwards to write, as if he had reproduced in instalments what was delivered to him at this time. Others, without going so far as this, find it at least significant that one who was to be pre-eminently a literary prophet should conceive of the word of the Lord as communicated to him in the form of a book. When one writer speaks of "eigenthumliche Empfindungen im Schlunde" as the basis of the figure, he seems to come perilously near to resolving inspiration into a nervous disease. All these representations go beyond a fair construction of the prophets meaning. The act is purely symbolic. The book has nothing to do with the subject-matter of his prophecy, nor does the eating of it mean anything more than the self-surrender of the prophet to his vocation as a vehicle of the word of Jehovah. The idea that the word of God becomes a living power in the inner being of the prophet is also expressed by Jeremiah when he speaks of it as a "burning fire shut up in his bones"; {Jer_20:9} and Ezekiels conception is similar. Although he speaks as if he had once for all assimilated the word of God, although he was conscious of a new power working within him. there is no proof that he thought of the word of the Lord as dwelling in him otherwise than as a spiritual impulse to utter the truth revealed to him from time to time. That is the inspiration which all the prophets possess: "Jehovah God hath spoken, who can but prophesy?". {Amo_3:8}
4. It was not to be expected that a prophet so practical in his aims as Ezekiel should be left altogether without some indication of the end to be accomplished by his work. The ordinary incentives to an arduous public career have indeed been denied to him. He knows that his mission contains no promise of a striking or an immediate success, that he will be misjudged and opposed by nearly all who hear him, and that he will have to pursue his course without appreciation or sympathy. It has been impressed on him that to declare Gods message is an end in itself, a duty to be discharged with no regard to its issues, "whether men hear or whether they forbear." Like Paul he recognises that "necessity is laid upon him" to preach the word of God. But there is one word which reveals to him the way in which his ministry is to be made effective in the working out of Jehovahs purpose with Israel. "Whether they hear or whether they forbear, they shall know that a prophet hath been among them". {Eze_2:5} The reference is mainly to the destruction of the nation which Ezekiel well knew must form the chief burden of any true prophetic message delivered at that time. He will be approved as a prophet, and recognised as what he is, when his words are verified by the event. Does it seem a poor reward for years of incessant contention with prejudice and unbelief? It was at all events the only reward that was possible, but it was also to be the beginning of better days. For these words have a wider significance than their bearing on the prophets personal position.
It has been truly said that the preservation of the true religion after the downfall of the nation depended on the fact that the event had been clearly foretold. Two religions and two conceptions of God were then struggling for the mastery in Israel. One was the religion of the prophets, who set the moral holiness of Jehovah above every other consideration, and affirmed that His righteousness must be vindicated even at the cost of His peoples destruction. The other was the popular religion which clung to the belief that Jehovah could not for any reason abandon His people without ceasing to be God. This conflict of principles reached its climax in the time of Ezekiel, and it also found its solution. The destruction of Jerusalem cleared the issues. It was then seen that the teaching of the prophets afforded the only possible explanation of the course of events. The Jehovah of the opposite religion was proved to be a figment of the popular imagination; and there was no alternative between accepting the prophetic interpretation of history and resigning all faith in the destiny of Israel. Hence the recognition of Ezekiel, the last of the old order of prophets, who had carried their threatenings on to the eve of their accomplishment, was really a great crisis of religion. It meant the triumph of the only conception of God on which the hope of a better future could be built. Although the people might still be far from the state of heart in which Jehovah could remove His chastening hand, the first condition of national repentance was given as soon as it was perceived that there had been prophets among them who had declared the purpose of Jehovah. The foundation was also laid for a more fruitful development of Ezekiels activity. The word of the Lord had been in his hands a power "to pluck up and to break down and to destroy" the old Israel that would not know Jehovah; henceforward it was destined to "build and plant" a new Israel inspired by a new ideal of holiness and a whole-hearted repugnance to every form of idolatry.
5. These then are the chief elements which enter into the remarkable experience that made Ezekiel a prophet. Further disclosures of the nature of his office were, however, necessary before he could translate his vocation into a conscious plan of work. The departure of the theophany appears to have left him in a state of mental prostration. In "bitterness and heat of spirit" he resumes his place amongst his fellow-captives at Telabib, and sits among them like a man bewildered for seven days. At the end of that time the effects of the ecstasy seem to pass away, and more light breaks on him with regard to his mission. He realises that it is to be largely a mission to individuals. He is appointed as a watchman to the house of Israel, to warn the wicked from his way; and as such he is held accountable for the fate of any soul that might miss the way of life through failure of duty on his part.
It has been supposed that this passage {Eze_3:16-21} describes the character of a short period of public activity, in which Ezekiel endeavoured to act the part of a "reprover" (Eze_3:26) among the exiles. This is considered to have been his first attempt to act on his commission, and to have been continued until the prophet was convinced of its hopelessness and in obedience to the divine command shut himself up in his own house. But this view does not seem to be sufficiently borne out by the terms of the narrative The words rather represent a point of view from which his whole ministry is surveyed, or an aspect of it which possessed peculiar importance from the circumstances in which he was placed. The idea of his position as a watchman responsible for individuals may have been present to the prophets mind from the time of his call; but the practical development of that idea was not possible until the destruction of Jerusalem had prepared mens minds to give heed to his admonitions. Accordingly the second period of Ezekiels work opens with a fuller statement of the principles indicated in this section (chapter 33). We shall therefore defer the consideration of these principles till we reach the stage of the prophets ministry at which their practical significance emerges.
6. The last six verses-of the third chapter (Eze_3:22-27) may be regarded either as closing the account of Ezekiels consecration or as the introduction to the first part of his ministry, that which preceded the fall of Jerusalem. They contain the description of a second trance, which appears to have happened seven days after the first. The prophet seemed to himself to be carried out in spirit to a certain plain near his residence in Tel-abib. There the glory of Jehovah appears to him precisely as he had seen it in his former vision by the river Kebar. He then receives the command to shut himself up within his house. He is to be like a man bound with ropes, unable to move about among his fellow-exiles. Moreover, the free use of speech is to be interdicted; his tongue will be made to cleave to his palate, so that he is as one "dumb." But as often as he receives a message from Jehovah his mouth will be opened that he may declare it to the rebellious house of Israel.
Now if we compare Eze_3:26 with Eze_24:27 and Eze_33:22, we find that this state of intermittent dumbness continued till the day when the siege of Jerusalem began, and was not finally removed till tidings were brought of the capture of the city. The verses before us therefore throw light on the prophets demeanour during the first half of his ministry. What they signify is his almost entire withdrawal from public life. Instead of being like his great predecessors, a man living full in the public view, and thrusting himself on mens notice when they least desired him, he is to lead an isolated and a solitary life, a sign to the people rather than a living voice. From the sequel we gather that he excited sufficient interest to induce the elders and others to visit him in his house to inquire of Jehovah. We must also suppose that from time to time he emerged from his retirement with a message for the whole community. It cannot, indeed, be assumed that the chapters 4-24 contain an exact reproduction of the addresses delivered on these occasions. Few of them profess to have been uttered in public, and for the most part they give the impression of having been intended for patient study on the written page rather than for immediate oratorical effect. There is no reason to doubt that in the main they embody the results of Ezekiels prophetic experiences during the period to which they are referred, although it may be impossible to determine how far they were actually spoken at the time, and how far they are merely written for the instruction of a wider audience.
The strong figures used here to describe this state of seclusion appear to reflect the prophets consciousness of the restraints providentially imposed on the exercise of his office. These restraints, however, were moral, and not, as has sometimes been maintained, physical. The chief element was the pronounced hostility and incredulity of the people. This, combined with the sense of doom hanging over the nation, seems to have weighed on the spirit of Ezekiel, and in the ecstatic state the incubus lying upon him and paralysing his activity presents itself to his imagination as if he were bound with ropes and afflicted with dumbness. The representation finds a partial parallel in a later passage in the prophets history. From Eze_29:21 (which is the latest prophecy in the whole book) we learn that the apparent non-fulfilment of his predictions against Tyre had caused a similar hindrance to his public work, depriving him of the boldness of speech characteristic of a prophet. And the opening of the mouth given to him on that occasion by the vindication of his words is clearly analogous to the removal of his silence by the news that Jerusalem had fallen.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv1, 8 (1.) REQUISITES FOR EXECUTING THE COMMISSION (Eze_2:1-8)
HOMILETICS
(1.) REQUISITES FOR EXECUTING THE COMMISSION (Eze_2:1-8)
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I. Lively attention. Ezekiel must no longer lie upon his face; he must stand upon his feet if he is rightly to hear the voice of him that speaks. The call of God demands of our human faculties a readiness for action. They may be dead in sins or stunned by some masterful emotion, and the first thing needed is that they should be raised from such a state; then they will be fitted to hear and to obey. To be in a condition to do the work of the Lord, so far as that condition is dependent on a man himself, is to be in an attentive attitude regarding Him. Are we watching so that the moment in which the Master of the house comes we will open to Him?
II. Impulses to secure apprehension. The Lord acts in nature. He pledged Himself of old that the seasons should not cease while the earth remaineth, and He sends forth His Spirit in spring and reneweth the face of the earth. He works thus on man. Spiritual power, understanding, and love are wrought in their hearts by Him. Supplies suited to all the duties He may impose are forthcoming. He will bring persons who may be unconscious into consciousness, in darkness into light, and the hardest position in His kingdom can be occupied when the Spirit of the living God has entered into the occupant and the words of the Almighty Speaker are heard. Until he is fitted by the Spirit to hear the voice, words would be spoken in vain, however adapted to the sins, or weakness, or ignorance of his soul. But he is quickened. The Spirit enters into him, and the words which follow profit him. So two factors develop our apprehension of God’s will—His Spirit in us and His words to us. The efficacy of the words proceeds from the Spirit; the words are the means by which the Spirit energises us. Read the Word of the Lord, preach it, spread it, but never be forgetful that the grasping it by the understanding and obeying it with the will come from the Spirit whom Christ sends from the Father.
III. A clear defining of the evil to be engaged with. God practises no concealment to His servant. He urges him to count the cost, and look, by His light, on the materials he has to deal with. He is to regard them as God directs. He is to submerge any tendency to make excuses for his people, and also his wishes for peace, comfort, honour, remuneration, and hold up to view the solemn and deep-searching decisions of the Lord.
1. The evil is contrariety to God. Israel had forsaken Him to serve idols. To leave Him, to pervert His ordinances, or the mixing up devices of their own with these is a renunciation of His authority—is rebellion. Departing from the Lord was the root which sent its sap into each branch, twig, leaf of their conduct before His sight, and gave character to every false, unjust, selfish, impure thought, word, or action, with which they were chargeable. In dealing with men on God’s behalf, His servants must never blink the fact that it is not mere mistakes, mere misfortune, they have to contend with; but it is with “the minding of the flesh, which is enmity against God.” Yet they will not refrain from urging His claims to implicit submission, and will desire to execute their service in the knowledge that they are “earthen vessels,” and “the excellency of the power” is with God alone.
2. The evil is hereditary. It does not die out when a generation is dead. It was operative in the Israel who dwelt in Canaan, and it is operative in the Israel captive in Babylon. As the fathers resisted the Holy Ghost so did the descendants. Parents should learn not to continue in sin against God for their children’s sake, and children learn that a father’s example is not a binding rule as to what to worship. Not from parentage, not from ancestors, not from mere antiquity must we learn our duty, but always try our procedure by the revealed will of God.
3. The evil affects both the inner and the outer life. The heart is at one with the conduct. No chasm, no rotted bridge lies between them and prevents them from uniting their forces against God. No regrets within hamper the words and deeds which offend Him, and the sinning men go with unblushing faces in their own ways. Such is the evil to be dealt with, and “who is sufficient for these things?” It is not merely perplexing to human strength and wisdom; it is impossible for men to encounter it effectively, except the Spirit is given them from above to know what God is, and what God purposes for salvation.
IV. Support from the authority of God. Any attempts to destroy such rooted impiety could bring nothing but reproaches, repulses, and defeats, if not under the authorisation of the Lord the Spirit. That is provided—
1. By positive appointment: “I send thee.” Ezekiel has good ground for the stand he is required to take. He is an ambassador of the great king—sufficient warrant for any message of woe or of comfort, and a pledge that all needs will be supplied. The secret place for receiving true power, knowledge, wisdom, and adaptation to a service is here. I do not go to it of myself. I do not seek my own things but the things which are Jesus Christ’s. I have behind me all forces, for He is with me who has “all power in heaven and in earth.”
2. By a full title to use His name. He deputes Ezekiel to stand in His stead. All that he is to say, so standing, will express the true state of the relations between God and the people, and will all hold good. His servants are prompted to learn thoroughly and to utter plainly that which God has revealed. If they are not able to appeal to any special vision or ordination of the Lord, they can lie open to His Spirit, be led into all the truth, and declare it with no hesitancy of accent. They “preach not themselves but Christ Jesus the Lord.” “Their word is with power.”
V. Persevered in through all circumstances.
1. Because fitted for men. A divine message is not dependent for its truth on any earthly position in which it may be uttered, or on any treatment which it may receive. Accepted or rejected, it retains its authority and adaptation. Farmers must prosecute operations in their fields whatever the appearance of the clouds may be, sure that vivifying rays of the sun will act. So they who are sent with the truth of God must affirm its declarations, even if to do so be both arduous and unproductive. Their encouragement and their constancy are to be taken from God, not from the results which might gratify the mind of the flesh.
2. Because it will not be altogether vain. Should no success, such as teachers are eager to see, ever come, and people maintain their attitude of disobedience to God, some end, which He has proposed, shall be sure of accomplishment. He will vindicate His righteousness and love somehow, and present the way of truth so that men will not be able to plead ignorance of His appeal to them. They shall know, even though they persist in stubbornness and rebellion, that a prophet—a man with words of rebuke and impulse—has been among them. “The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light.”
3. Because obstacles are not bound to paralyse efforts. Men who have God on their side are stronger than all that can be against them. His kingdom never has attempted an advance except in face of chiding, and adverse reports, and sullen looks. His servants are not to count such trials as strange things, but set their faces as a flint and urge His warnings and entreaties unwaveringly. When the Lord is on their side they need not fear men’s procedure. Like their perfect Exampler, they should be warranted to say, “When I would have gathered you, ye would not.”
VI. Demands implicit submission. To stand before the Lord of hosts, like Elijah, and be empowered to bear His messages, what stronger force can there be than that to constrain men, who are loyal to God, to do whatsoever He wishes? What if their preaching and teaching seem to be addressed as to a blank wall? That will not prompt them to falter, to blunt the edge of the sword of the Spirit, or to compromise the claims of any truth. “It is required of stewards that a man be found faithful.” They are not so to the interests of the kingdom of God, they who are unwilling to meet evil reports or good reports; to stand in the midst of calumnies, threats, oppressions; to find in the very obstinacy of their hearers that which develops a deepening regard for God and a deepening sympathy for men. For all true-hearted men will be anxious not to be rebellious as others whom they see to be rebellious, being sure of this, nobody but himself can make him a rebel. Above all, should preachers and teachers hear the voice of Jesus, so that they shall speak what He bids them, and never be disheartened by the indifference, the levity, the contempt, the resistance shown by those who do not take heed how they hear.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 I. In the very Book in which humility and…
Eze 2:1
I. In the very Book in which humility and lowliness of mind are constantly inculcated; in which we are always meeting with injunctions to bend and bow, if we would be divinely visited; here are instances of men summoned to get up from the dust of conscious littleness and unworthiness, that they might be divinely spoken with; of men, prone upon their faces in the presence of God, who were requested to place themselves upon their feet before He could say anything to them, or make any use of them. Yet we may be quite sure that their prior prostration was equally indispensable. Once and again Ezekiel fell upon his face, and if he had not so fallen he would never have accomplished what he did. But it is quite true, on the other hand, that no one ever does any great thing in the service of truth and humanity, unless he has superb confidence in himself—unless he can feel that he is divinely called and qualified. If he be not self-satisfied and self-reliant, he will be no servant of the Lord—no polished shaft in His quiver. This is what we may find for ourselves in the angel’s address to the prophet of Chebar—the importance of self-respect; an importance which is frequently implied, and much recognised in the Scriptures.
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II. When are we not self-respecting? (1) He is not for one who craves and courts the approbation of others, and sets himself to gain it; who wants it, wants it to comfort and uphold him, who can be strong and happy enough while others are praising or smiling on him, but when they are not waxes feeble and melancholy. (2) Again, he is wanting in self-reverence, who gives himself at all to imitate another, who, in any work which may be laid upon him, tries to repeat the greatness of another, to copy his distinctions rather than to evoke and cultivate his own, to strain after his dimensions, rather than to be as perfect as he can within his own. (3) He is not self-respecting who hesitates at all to go with his convictions, who fears to trust and follow the light within him, when the many are moving in the opposite direction. (4) Beware of losing self-respect through living dramatically—with a daily appearance put on which is not true to the reality—with the frequent assumption before spectators of that which does not belong to you. Beware of losing it, especially, through for ever failing to obey your higher promptings, and for ever regretting and bemoaning the future, while never seriously endeavouring to improve.
S. A. Tipple, Sunday Mornings at Upper Norwood, p. 178.
When God raised Ezekiel and set him on his feet before He spoke to him, was it not a declaration of the truth that man might lose the words of God because of a low and grovelling estimate of himself, as well as because of a conceited one? The best understanding of God could come to man only when man was upright and self-reverent in his privilege as the child of God.
I. There is much today of thoughtless and foolish depreciation of man and his conditions. I want to denounce this as the very spirit of ignorance, shutting men’s ears hopelessly against the hearing of all the highest truths. In large circles of life, there is an habitual disparagement of human life, its joys and its prospects. Man is on his face. He must hear God’s voice calling him to another attitude, or he is hopeless.
II. Many men own the possibility of good which is open to them, while still they are despairing or cynical about the world itself, about the cause of human life in general. This is not merely a speculative opinion. It is an influence which must reach a man’s character. A man can have no high respect for himself unless he has a high respect for his human kind. He can have no strong hope for himself unless he has a strong hope for his human kind. And so, whatever be his pure tastes and lofty principles, one trembles for any man whom he hears hopelessly decrying human life in general, or the special condition of his own time.
III. If a man believes in the misery of human life and does not believe in God, he is dragged down among the brutes. If a man believes in the misery of human life and does believe in God, he is carried up to higher notions of God’s government, which have loftier purposes than mere happiness or pain. The one great question about all the kind of temper of which I have spoken, is whether it still believes in God. For all belief in God is, must be, belief in ultimate good. No view of the universe can be despairing which keeps Him still in sight.
This was the optimism of Jesus. He saw beyond the sin salvation. He never upbraided the sin except to save men from it. "Not to condemn the world, but to save the world," was His story of His mission. And at His cross the shame and hope of humankind joined hands.
Phillips Brooks, The Candle of the Lord, p. 147.
References: Eze 2:1.—Preachers Monthly, vol. vi., p. 159; S. Macnaughton, Real Religion and Real Life, p. 195.
Eze 2:6
What is here implied, as the trial of the prophet Ezekiel, was fulfilled more or less in the case of all the prophets. They were not teachers merely, but confessors. They came not merely to unfold the law, or to foretell the Gospel, but to warn and rebuke; not to rebuke only, but to suffer. This world is a scene of conflict between good and evil. The evil not only avoids, but persecutes, the good; the good cannot conquer, except by suffering.
I. The case seems to be this:—Those who do not serve God with a single heart know they ought to do so, and they do not like to be reminded that they ought. And when they fall in with any one who does live to God, he serves to remind them of it, and that is unpleasant to them, and that is the first reason why they are angry with a religious man; the sight of him disturbs them, and makes them uneasy. Accordingly, as far as they have power to do it, they persecute him, either, as the text implies, with cruel untrue words, or with cold, or fierce, or jealous looks, or in some worse ways. A good man is an offence to a bad man. The sight of him is a sort of insult, and he is irritated at him, and does him what harm he can.
II. Religious persons are protected in this day from all great persecutions, and they cannot sufficiently be thankful for it. And yet, nevertheless, most true is it, that even now, no one can give his mind to God, and show by his actions that he fears God, but he will incur the dislike and opposition of the world, and it is important that he should be aware of this and be prepared for it. (1) Do not be too eager to suppose you are ill-treated for your religion’s sake. Make as light of matters as you can. This is the true Christian spirit, to be meek and gentle under ill-usage, cheerful under slander, forgiving towards enemies, and silent in the midst of angry tongues. (2) Recollect you cannot do any one thing of these duties without God’s help. Therefore you must pray to Him for the power. (3) None of us, even the best, have resisted the world as we ought to have done. Let us search our consciences; let us look back on our past lives. Let us try to live more like Christians, more like children of God. Let us beg Him to teach us how to confess Him before men, lest if we deny Him now, He may deny us before the angels of God hereafter.
Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Tunes," vol. v., p. 259; see also J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. viii., p. 141.
References: Eze 2:6.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iv., p. 225. Eze 2:7.—D. Moore, Penny Pulpit, No. 3432. 2—G. W. McCree, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxii., p. 140. Eze 3:5, Eze 3:7.—E. Mason, A Pastor’s Legacy, p. 451; H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 1812. Eze 3:7.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxiv., No. 1431; Ibid., Evening by Evening, p. 119.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain On v1 Section 2 (Eze 2:1-10; Eze 3:1-11.)
Section 2 (Eze 2:1-10; Eze 3:1-11.)
God’s words to be spoken to those who would not hear.
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We have now the charge given to the prophet, which, as we see at once, is to speak to a people who will not hear, of whom it can only be hoped that here and there ears may be open to receive it. There is no encouraging hope with regard to the success of the message; yet, whether they would hear or whether they would forbear, they should know that there had been a prophet among them. All the more if there is not to be the encouragement of conscious success, is he to find it in the consciousness of the Lord with him, whom Israel would reject in rejecting His messenger.
He is addressed at once by the title which we have already seen to be characteristic of his prophecy: "Son of man," says the Voice, "stand upon thy feet, and I will speak with thee." The title given him is itself a proof that the people to whom he goes have lost their special distinctive place with God, but at the same time that if Israel will not hear, grace will not be thwarted in its object. The message will only go out the more widely, and indeed, with a deeper, sweeter, fuller message, as we abundantly prove today. This title is in itself the foreshadow of One who when standing in the midst of Israel in a day which was then future, would adopt it for His own. The Son of Man would be the Seeker of men, and Himself a man in all the conditions of humanity -Himself the perfect, because unfallen, Man. The Lord’s adoption of this title is, however, distinct in its significance from the use of it by God in His address to the prophet. God never addresses Christ as the Son of Man, but as His own Son; man indeed, but as it is said in Zechariah: "The Man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts" (Zec 13:7). But the Lord’s adoption of it for Himself is peculiar, and characteristic of the uniqueness of His personality. Who but Himself could say, "I the Son of man?" No mere man could claim distinctively to be what all men are. Man indeed He is thoroughly, nor only man, but Son of man, entering into manhood by the door ordained, by its lowliness, to hide pride from man. To the weakness of infancy He is no stranger. He grows and learns as other men, His kinship with whom this name discloses; yet while it discloses this, it distinguishes Him none the less from all else among men -distinctive even because of its universality; for who could distinguish himself by a title that was not distinctive? He was thus Son of man in some sense peculiar to Himself -Son of man, while much more than this. With Ezekiel the term speaks, on the other hand, simply of his identification with men. He is not the son of man, but reminded of the lowliness of his condition, while at the same time this only magnifies the grace which has taken him up; and thus also there is in him a peculiar suitability to convey the message with which he is charged -not an angel, but with human sympathies, and a human intelligence acquired and exercised amid human conditions; himself thus the proof of the heart of God behind the hand of Him who is love and cannot change His nature, even when He is executing judgment.
The feebleness of the instrument is recognized, and thus calls forth Jehovah’s might to sustain it. We see this at the outset here: "Son of man, stand upon thy feet and I will speak with thee." And not only so, but the Spirit enters into him to make him stand. He cannot even listen to the message in that prostrate condition which, while it may rightly express the nothingness of the creature in the presence of God, at the same time cannot suitably express the divine grace towards him. We see this everywhere in the history of the prophets, as notably in the prophet Daniel, and as again also in the case of John the beloved. God cannot utter His thoughts to one prostrate in the dust before Him. This does not suit the blessed Speaker; and this is already the foretaste of that which enables us to say we have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry, "Abba, Father." That cry is not yet come in Ezekiel’s case, belonging as he does to a previous dispensation, but none the less the spirit of fear is bidden to depart, in order that the divine communications may have their suited character; for if God is enwrapping Himself in the cloud of judgment, nevertheless there is, as we have seen, the manifestation of One to whom judgment is a strange work, and those iris hues of promise are about the cloud. The messenger must in his spirit reflect this, that he may be fit as a messenger; and whether they hear or whether they forbear, the prophet must be witness in his own person that if "justice and judgment are the habitation of His throne," "mercy and truth" yet "go before His face."
But Israel have, in fact, already thoroughly proved themselves, and are no other (except in the privileges which they have perverted) than the nations around. Thus the divine Speaker marks them here: "I send thee to the children of Israel," He says -to Gentiles -for they are none other than these. They are but "the rebellious who have rebelled against Me. They and their fathers have transgressed against Me unto this very day." Thus they are children as "impudent of face" as "hard of heart." Their heart spoke in their faces in such a way that there could be no more concealment, and God sends to them in the full recognition of this, putting against their blasphemous words the speech of the Unchangeable whom they have refused. Thus they shall know, if it be learned by the judgment executed, that there has been a prophet among them. Among such a people does the prophet dwell as briars and thorns wound and entangle those who come in contact with them, as scorpions poisonous in their sting yet he who has been admitted to see the glory of Jehovah need not be afraid among them. How unseemly indeed would be any fear of man on the part of such an one, and how ill would he represent the majesty of Him with whom they had to do! How ill, alas, do we represent Him if in any wise we manifest this, into whose mouths God has put a sweeter message, and to whom the glory of the Lord has been more wondrously revealed than even as Ezekiel saw it here!
And now the prophet is instructed to make thoroughly his own that which he is commissioned to proclaim amongst them. The vision character of what is here, one would think, ought to be plain to us, and an indication of the character of much that is to follow in the prophecy. "I looked," he says, "and behold a hand was put forth toward me, and lo a roll of a book therein: and he spread it before me, and it was written within and without, and there were written in it lamentations and mournings and woe. And he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest. Eat this roll, and go, speak unto the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat this roll." The meaning is perfectly clear, which any literal construction would rather obscure than add any force to. Again we are reminded of the visions of the Apocalypse. The roll of the book is written within and without, which does not simply speak of the fulness of its contents, as it is taken, but rather, one would say, speaks of things outward and manifest as well as of things of a deeper and more hidden nature. That which is manifest is needed by a condition of soul that can see nothing except that which is external while, on the other hand, there are things within, which for those who have hearts to realize, are beyond all this. Even so for the prophet himself there is something that answers to this; for while what was manifest was simply matter for "lamentations and mournings and woe," yet in the mouth of the prophet there was as the taste of honey for sweetness, and this corresponds with what we have already seen throughout the vision, where the judgment does not stand alone, but the glory of the Lord is revealed in it, and in result, the accomplishment of counsels which are in His heart and which display His heart. Alas, the message might seem such as if it must be addressed to peoples of obscure language and difficult speech, to men of foreign tongues, strangers such as those among whom they were already being scattered. No, these were strangers in heart alone, all the more terrible in their enmity and misconception of the words of God, which above all should have been familiar. The difficulty of foreign speech might have been overcome, but here was a difficulty which no words that the prophet could utter would overcome. "But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee, for none of them will hearken unto Me." There was the stubbornness of a condition upon which mercy itself could wait no longer, and the prophet’s brow must be made hard against their brazen front, and his face against their faces. Already, the wrath to be poured out was foreshown in their condition, captives as they were to the heathen around them, who were themselves more capable of hearing the words of God, had they been addressed to them, than those who had been nursed up with them. It is the solemn lesson which we are constantly receiving, that not the lack of opportunity condemns men to judgment, but the fearful mystery of hearts that depart from the living God, who themselves invite the unwilling judgment, and can be constrained by nothing but the doom which in their case is the last touch of mercy which they are capable of receiving.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Ezekiel's Commission to be a Prophet
Ezekiel's Commission to be a Prophet
Ezekiel's commission came to him by three stages, and on three distinct occasions. The first and principal occasion was the immediate sequel of the vision described in Ezekiel 1. The account of it occupies the whole of Ezekiel 2, and Eze_3:1-13. The second was seven days later, among the exiles at Tel-abib (Eze_3:14-21). The third was connected with a repetition of the vision, apparently in the neighbourhood of Tel-abib (Eze_3:22-27).
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The First Commission (Eze_2:1 to Eze_3:13)
This consisted of two series of instructions (Eze_2:1-7 and Eze_3:4-11) separated by a visionary symbol of prophetic inspiration (Eze_2:8 to Eze_3:3), and was followed by the withdrawal of the vision for a time (Eze_3:12-13). As Ezekiel's opening vision recalls that of Isaiah, so his first commission has much in common with that of Jeremiah, and indeed the contents of the two are closely parallel in order as well as in substance.
(a) First Instructions (Eze_2:1-7)
The voice which addresses Ezekiel bids him stand on his feet, and when he has been raised from the ground by an unseen force he is told that God has given him a mission as a prophet to the children of Israel. He is warned of their rebelliousness and hardness of heart, and encouraged to deliver his message fearlessly no matter how they receive it. This exhortation corresponds to that in Jer_1:8.
1. Son of man] a term reminding Ezekiel of his human weakness, like the word 'mortal.' It occurs nearly 100 times in the book.
Stand, etc.] God's call does not suppress human powers, but reinforces them and, makes use of them at their best.
3. Nation] RV 'nations,' the whole Hebrew people, both Judah and Israel. Rebellious] a frequently recurring description of Israel's character found very often in the phrase a 'rebellious house,' as in Eze_2:5.
5. Hear, or.. forbear] The latter is chiefly expected. They.. yet shall know, etc.] the result which will keep the prophet's work from being in vain. His warnings may be fruitless at the time, but they will be fulfilled, and he will be recognised in the end as God's messenger. This will be very far from utter failure. The result thus indicated is the first of an ascending series which runs through the whole book. They are all introduced by the phrase 'they shall know,' and they describe the production in Israel's mind of convictions which increase in depth, and solemnity, and blessedness. The final conviction, which itself has various stages of growing significance, is 'they shall know that I am the Lord.'
6. Briers.. thorns.. scorpions] figures for the opposition of the Israelites to Ezekiel and his divine message.
(b) A Symbol of Inspiration (Eze_2:8 to Eze_3:3)
In Jeremiah's commission God says to him, 'Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth' (Jer_1:9), and Jeremiah himself says afterwards, 'Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and thy words were unto me a joy and the rejoicing of mine heart' (Jer_15:16 RV). The experience thus described metaphorically came to Ezekiel in his trance in a concrete, material way. God's words seemed to be set before him in the form of a book, which he ate at God's command, and found to be as sweet as honey. The truth underlying this visionary symbol was that Ezekiel was divinely inspired, in other words, that God had communicated to him a message which he was called to proclaim to men. This passage is the basis of Rev_10:9, Rev_10:10.
9. A hand] This hand is not said to be that of the Figure on the throne. The vague expression is another instance of Ezekiel's reverent reserve. A roll] the usual form of Eastern books: see Jer_36:2.
10. Spread it before me] Ezekiel had a view from the first of the whole nature of his message. Within and without] indicating the abundance of calamity which Ezekiel had to proclaim. Book rolls were usually written on the inner side alone: see Rev_5:1. Lamentations, etc.] the character of EzeMel's message.
Eze_3:3. As honey for sweetness] The privilege of being God's messenger brought a great joy, though the message itself was of the saddest.
(c) Further Instructions (Eze_3:4-11)
Having thus received his message Ezekiel is again told to speak it to his countrymen. He is warned in fresh terms of their indifference and obstinacy, and encouraged further by the assurance that he will be strengthened to withstand their utmost opposition. These vv. should be compared with Jer_1:17-19.
4. With my words] an advance upon the general instruction of Eze_2:7, following the symbolical act just described.
6. People] RV 'peoples.' Israel will be less responsive to Ezekiel's words than a foreign nation to whom his speech would be unintelligible.
7. Impudent] RV 'of a stiff forehead.' This rendering gives greater point to 'thy forehead' in Eze_3:8, Eze_3:9.
9. Adamant] diamond: see Jer_17:1.
11. Them of the captivity] a closer definition than in Eze_2:3 of Ezekiel's immediate audience: see Intro.
(d) The Vision withdrawn (Eze_3:12-13)
The voice that has been speaking to Ezekiel has proceeded from the Figure enthroned above the living chariot of Ezekiel 1, which has therefore been present during all these instructions. Ezekiel now hears the sound of its movement as it departs.
12. Behind me] Ezekiel's face is now turned away from the visionary chariot. As it appeared from the N. he is probably looking S., and Tel-abib may have lain in the latter direction from the Chebar. Blessed be the glory, etc.] A change of one letter in the Hebrew gives the much better sense, 'When the glory of the Lord went up from its place,' i.e. when the vision was withdrawn.
13. Noise of the wheels] in addition to the noise of the wings of the living creatures. The latter sound alone is mentioned in Eze_1:24.
The Second Commission (Eze_3:14-21)
Ezekiel, still under a strong, divinely produced excitement, came to the community of exiles at Tel-abib, near the Chebar, and after seven days of stupefaction he received a further commission from God. It was unaccompanied by any vision, and the manner in which he received it is undescribed, as is so often the case with the prophets. The new element in this second commission was the thought of Ezekiel's responsibility for the fate of his people, and it was set forth in the title of 'watchman,' now given to him for the first time. This responsibility was exhausted when he had warned them of their danger and duty. Only if he failed to do so would he be held accountable for their sin and doom.
14. The spirit lifted me] to be taken along with I went. Ezekiel was not miraculously transported to Tel-abib, but in his movement thither he was under the influence of God's Spirit, like Elijah in 1Ki_18:46.
15. Tel-abib] a place near the Chebar, where a colony of Jewish exiles lived. The exact site is unknown. The name is usually explained to mean 'Hill of cornears' or 'Corn-hill,' but some recent editors suggest that it is rather the same as til-abûbi, 'Hill of the deluge,' the Assyrian name for the numerous heaps of sand and débris formed by floods in Babylonia. Astonished] RV 'astonied,' in a stupor of reaction after the vision.
18. Die.. 21. Live] not to be understood in the highest NT. sense. To die was to be cut off from the restored kingdom of God, foretold in the latter part of this book. To live was to survive and enjoy its blessedness.
20. I lay a stumblingblock before him] This difficult phrase does not mean that God seelrs to make the righteous fall, but that the temptations of the righteous are under God's providential control. Where there is a temptation He also sends a warning, and the two constitute a discipline by which the righteous man is tested, and under which he has an opportunity of moral growth. The case of a righteous man sinning and perishing in spite of warning is not contemplated at all.
The Third Commission (Eze_3:22-27)
In a plain or valley near Tel-abib the great vision of God's glory formerly seen by the Chebar again appeared to Ezekiel. The divine voice further explained the nature of his commission. His prophetic activity would be subject to a double limitation. He would be restrained from public speech by the opposition of the people, and God would impose silence upon him except when a divine message should be given him from time to time. This intermittent silence became permanent from Eze_24:27 (January, 587 b.c.) onward, till the restraint on his speech was removed altogether three years later (Eze_33:21-22).
22. Plain] RM 'valley.'
25. They] Ezekiel's fellow exiles. Bands] not literal but figurative.
26. Dumb] as far as prophetic speech is concerned, as the following words not.. a reprover show.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v1 Son of man
Son of man
"Son of man," used by our Lord of Himself seventy-nine times, is used by Jehovah ninety one times when addressing Ezekiel.
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(1) In the case of our Lord the meaning is clear: it is His racial name as the representative Man in the sense of 1Co 15:45-47. The same thought, implying transcendence of mere Judaism, is involved in the phrase when applied to Ezekiel. Israel had forgotten her mission. (See Scofield "Gen 11:10") Eze 5:5-8. Now, in her captivity, Jehovah will not forsake His people, but He will remind them that they are but a small part of the race for whom He also cares. Hence the emphasis upon the word "man." The Cherubim "had the likeness of a man" Eze 1:5 and when the prophet beheld the throne of God, he saw "the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it" Eze 1:26. See Scofield "Mat 8:20" Rev 1:12; Rev 1:13.
(2) As used of Ezekiel, the expression indicates, not what the prophet is in himself, but what he is to God; a son of man
(a) chosen,
(b) endued with the Spirit, and
(c) sent of God.
All this is true also of Christ who was, furthermore, the representative man--the head of regenerate humanity.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On vv1, 10 Eze 2:1-8. We see Ezekiel prostrate upon his face.…
Eze 2:1-8. We see Ezekiel prostrate upon his face. Then a voice spoke, not the voice of a cherubim; while in Revelation the cherubim speak, in Ezekiel they are silent, Jehovah addressed Ezekiel as son of man; the title which is found exactly one hundred times in this book. Daniel only besides Ezekiel is called by this name. Our Lord called Himself by that name and used it in connection with His suffering, exaltation, glory, and coming again. Ezekiel, too, passed through much suffering, passing symbolically through sufferings which the nation at large was to undergo. He is, therefore, in a measure a type of the Messiah, who took Israel’s sin and shame upon Himself.
The Word which spoke was followed by the Spirit--”and the Spirit entered into me when He spoke unto me.” Thus the Word and the Spirit are always connected. Then Ezekiel received his commission. He is sent to an impudent and hard-hearted people. His message is to begin with: “Thus saith Jehovah-God.” The sender is the Lord; the message is from Him. Then the sender gives also assurance and encouragement.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 The Commission of Ezekiel to Be the Lord’s Prophet.
The Commission of Ezekiel to Be the Lord’s Prophet.
The Lord, having revealed Himself to His servant in the fullness of His divine power and majesty, now issued to him the formal call, extended to him the formal commission to be His prophet to the rebellious Jews.
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v. 1. And He said unto me, Son of man, the name reminding him of the frailty of the human race, but also of the fact that the Lord here addressed him as a man speaks to his friends, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee.
v. 2. And the spirit entered into me when He spake unto me, with divine power enabling him to stand before the face of God and to receive his commission, and set me upon my feet, that I heard Him that spake unto me, ready to heed and to carry out His commands.
v. 3. And He said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, the expression here referring to Israel as a nation, not as the Lord’s people, to a rebellious nation, on a level with the heathen nations, that hath rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me, even unto this very day. Those who should have been true sons of him who wrestled and prevailed in faith with God and man had sunk to the level of the heathen world, with its rebellious attitude over against all that was right and good.
v. 4. For they are impudent children, with hard faces, devoid of all shame, and stiff-hearted, without the slightest inclination toward repentance. I do send thee unto them, in spite of this condition of their understanding and of their heart; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Jehovah, the God of the covenant, who here delegated and commissioned Ezekiel to be His personal representative, giving him the very words of the message to the rebellious people.
v. 5. And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, no matter what their attitude toward the Lord’s proclamation would be, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them, this admission being forced from them in spite of their rebellious and insolent behavior.
v. 6. And thou, son of man, a minister of the Lord in spite of his natural frailty, be not afraid of them, with a timidity caused by the insulting impudence of his hearers, neither be afraid of their words, with which they would challenge his authority and ridicule his testimony, though briers and thorns be with thee, namely, in the persons of these refractory, hostile people, and thou dost dwell among scorpions, arachnids, with poisonous stings in their tails, this name being fitly applied to such dangerous persons as would oppose the prophet’s labors; be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. The proof of Ezekiel’s divine commission would be exhibited in the fulfillment of his prophecies, and the enemies would thereby be confounded.
v. 7. And thou shalt speak My words unto them, the fact of the divine inspiration of Ezekiel’s prophecies being repeated thus with special emphasis, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear; for they are most rebellious.
v. 8. But thou, son of man, by birth and descent a member of this rebellious nation, hear what I say unto thee, Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house, thereby to become guilty of the same insolent behavior; open thy mouth and eat that I give thee, in a symbolical action which explains itself.
v. 9. And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me, extended toward the prophet; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein, as books were written in those days, the characters inscribed on long strips of parchment, which were then usually rolled up;
v. 10. and He spread it before me, unrolling the parchment strip before his astonished eyes; and it was written within and without, on both sides of the parchment, indicating also a writing of great size; and there was written therein lamentations and mourning and woe, this being the message which the prophet was to set forth, as included in this his book of prophecy. It is doubly hard for a believer to maintain his faith if in the very church-body of which he is a member things occur which have a tendency to offend him deeply; but it is in just such circumstances that faith will be tested.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 4, 6, 7, 9 General Information:
General Information:
Ezekiel continues to tell about the vision that he saw.
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He said to me
If your language has to identify the one speaking, it would be best to identify the speaker as the "one who looked like a man" (Ezekiel 1:26). It was not "the Spirit."
Son of man
"Son of a human being" or "Son of humanity." God calls Ezekiel this to emphasize that Ezekiel is only a human being. God is eternal and powerful, but humans are not. AT: "Mortal person" or "Human"
the Spirit
Other possible meanings are 1) "a spirit" or 2) "a wind."
to the people of Israel, to rebellious nations that have rebelled against me
"to the Israelites, to rebellious peoples who have rebelled against me." The two phrases "people of Israel" and "rebellious nations" refer to the same people. AT: "to the people of Israel, a people who has rebelled against me" (See: Doublet)
up to this very day
"even now" or "even today." This means that the people of Israel were continuing to disobey God.
translationWords
Son of Man
Holy Spirit
send
people of God
Israel
rebel
nation
ancestor
sin
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 2:1-10 Being a prophet was neither a career choice…
2:1-10 Being a prophet was neither a career choice nor an occupation passed down from father to son like the priesthood. God called prophets to their task, and the story of their call is often included in their writings (see, e.g., Isa 6; Jer 1:4-19; Jon 1:1-2).
2:1-2 Stand up: God empowered Ezekiel by the Spirit so that he was able to obey this command as God set him on his feet. What God would later do for the people as a whole (cp. 37:4-10), he did first for the prophet.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.