III. The division between this and the preceding chapter is unfortunate; both should be read as one continuous passage. What is symbolically described in the last verses of Ezekiel 2 and the first of Ezekiel 3 is expressed plainly in Ezekiel 3:10. EXCURSUS A (AT END OF EZEKIEL 3): ON THE FIGURATIV... [ Continue Reading ]
IT WAS IN MY MOUTH AS HONEY FOR SWEETNESS. — That is, the first impression made upon him by his prophetic call was one of delight. Such it must always be to those whose high privilege it is to bear God’s message to their fellows. He does not expressly add, as St. John does (Revelation 10:10) after a... [ Continue Reading ]
TO A PEOPLE OF A STRANGE SPEECH. — In Ezekiel 3:4 it is emphasised that Ezekiel’s immediate mission is to be, like that of his great Antitype, to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel; “and yet that they would not give the heed to him which men far below them in spiritual privilege would have gladl... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL — Means, of course, the people generally, as the word _all_ is often used in Scripture and elsewhere. There were even then among them such saints as Jeremiah and Daniel.... [ Continue Reading ]
THY FACE STRONG AGAINST THEIR FACES. — The word _strong_ is the same here as that rendered _impudent_ (marg. _stiff_) in Ezekiel 3:7. Of course it must have a different shade of meaning in its application to the rebellious people and to the prophet; but the main thought is taken from the figure of h... [ Continue Reading ]
AN ADAMANT HARDER THAN FLINT. — _Adamant_ is the diamond, as it is translated (Jeremiah 17:1). The people were as hard as flint, but as the diamond cuts flint, so Ezekiel’s words should be made by the Divine power to cut through all their resistance. Armed with this strength, he need not fear their... [ Continue Reading ]
GET THEE TO THEM OF THE CAPTIVITY. — Ezekiel’s mission is now made more definite. In Ezekiel 3:10 he has been told in plain terms what had already been symbolically conveyed under the figure of the roll, and now he is further informed that his immediate mission to the house of Israel is limited to t... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THE SPIRIT TOOK ME UP. — This also is to be understood as done in vision, as in Ezekiel 8:3; Ezekiel 11:1; Ezekiel 11:24. (Comp. Acts 8:39.) In the last case the “taking up” is expressly said to have been in vision. This closes one act, so to speak, of the prophet’s consecration, and now the vi... [ Continue Reading ]
I WENT IN BITTERNESS, IN THE HEAT OF MY prophet now begins to realise the sorrow and the trial of the task laid upon him. The command of the Lord was sweet (Ezekiel 3:3), its performance is bitter. “But the hand of the Lord was strong_”_ upon him, and he could not forbear. Compare the similar experi... [ Continue Reading ]
I CAME TO THEM OF THE CAPTIVITY AT TELABIB. — Ezekiel now leaves the place where he had been, and comes to Tel-abib, which is described as still by the same “river of Chebar,” and which signifies the “mound of ears (of grain),” and was probably a place of especial fruitfulness, but which cannot be f... [ Continue Reading ]
AT THE END OF SEVEN DAYS. — A fresh Divine communication comes to the prophet, designed especially to impress upon him the responsibility of his office (Ezekiel 3:16). In Ezekiel 33:1 the same charge is repeated with some amplification, and there Ezekiel 3:2 are taken up with describing the duties o... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN A RIGHTEOUS MAN DOTH TURN FROM HIS righteousness. — Quite independently of any theological question, it is undeniable that the Scripture here, as often elsewhere, represents the upright man as exposed to temptation, and in danger of falling into sin. The duty of the prophet, therefore, is not o... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HAND OF THE LORD WAS THERE UPON ME. — The prophet’s week of silent meditation being past, and the charge of responsibility given, the constraining power of God again comes upon him, and sends him forth to the final act of preparation for his work.... [ Continue Reading ]
WENT FORTH INTO THE PLAIN. — As he was now again to see the same vision as at the first, it was fitting that he should leave the thickly-peopled Tel-abib and seek a place of solitude, and in that solitude God promises him, “I will there talk with thee.” The vision reappeared; again the prophet fell... [ Continue Reading ]
GO, SHUT THYSELF WITHIN THINE HOUSE. — The prophet’s consecration being now complete, he is to enter upon his actual work; yet, in view of the disposition of the people, he is to begin his prophecies in a private way, shut up in his house. Or it may be that this should be understood of a period of a... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SHALL PUT BANDS UPON THEE. — Ezekiel’s contemporary prophet, Jeremiah, was actually thrown into prison in Judæa, and even into a foul dungeon (Jeremiah 37:21; Jeremiah 38:6); but nothing of this kind is to be understood here. There is no trace of such treatment throughout the book, nor is it li... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL MAKE THY TONGUE CLEAVE TO THE ROOF OF THY MOUTH. — Here, under another figure, this enforced silence is attributed, not to “the rebellious house,” by whom it was immediately brought about, but to God Himself, whose providence was the ultimate cause by which the prophet was placed in such circ... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN I SPEAK WITH THEE, I WILL OPEN THY MOUTH. — To this Ezekiel evidently refers in Ezekiel 24:27; Ezekiel 33:22, when, after the destruction of Jerusalem, his mouth should no longer be shut. But until then, although he should be greatly restrained in his ordinary utterances by the opposition of th... [ Continue Reading ]