Ezekiel3
New American Standard
1Then He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.”
2So I opened my mouth, and He fed me this scroll.
3And He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your body with this scroll which I am giving you.” Then I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.
4Then He said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them.
5For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel,
6nor to many peoples of unintelligible speech or difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. But I have sent you to the people who understand you;
7yet the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, since they are not willing to listen to Me. The entire house of Israel certainly is stubborn and obstinate.
8Behold, I have made your face just as hard as their faces, and your forehead just as hard as their foreheads.
9Like emery harder than flint I have made your forehead. Do not be afraid of them or be dismayed before them, since they are a rebellious house.”
10Moreover, He said to me, “Son of man, take into your heart all My words which I will speak to you and listen closely.
11Go to the exiles, to the sons of your people, and speak to them and tell them, whether they listen or not, ‘This is what the Lord God says.’”
12Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard a great rumbling sound behind me: “Blessed be the glory of the Lord from His place!”
13And I heard the sound of the wings of the living beings touching one another and the sound of the wheels beside them, even a great rumbling sound.
14So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away; and I went embittered in the rage of my spirit, and the hand of the Lord was strong on me.
15Then I came to the exiles who lived beside the river Chebar at Tel-abib, and I sat there for seven days where they were living, causing consternation among them.
16Now at the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
17“Son of man, I have appointed you as a watchman for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, warn them from Me.
18When I say to the wicked, ‘You will certainly die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way so that he may live, that wicked person shall die for wrongdoing, but his blood I will require from your hand.
19However if you have warned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die for wrongdoing, but you have saved yourself.
20Again, when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and commits sin, and I place an obstacle before him, he will die; since you have not warned him, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require from your hand.
21However, if you have warned the righteous person that the righteous is not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall certainly live because he took warning; and you have saved yourself.”
22Now the hand of the Lord was on me there, and He said to me, “Get up, go out to the plain, and there I will speak to you.”
23So I got up and went out to the plain; and behold, the glory of the Lord was standing there, like the glory that I saw by the river Chebar, and I fell on my face.
24But the Spirit entered me and set me up on my feet; and He spoke with me and said to me, “Go, shut yourself inside your house.
25And as for you, son of man, they will put ropes around you and bind you with them so that you do not go out among them.
26Moreover, I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be unable to speak and will not be a man who reprimands them, since they are a rebellious house.
27But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you will say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says:’ The one who hears, let him hear; and the one who refuses, let him refuse; for they are a rebellious house.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Ezekiel 3.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The preparation of the prophet for his work. (1-11). His office, as that of a watchman. (12-21). The restraining and restoring his speech. (22-27).
vv1-11
Ezekiel was to receive the truths of God as the food for his soul, and to feed upon them by faith, and he would be strengthened. Gracious souls can receive those truths of God with delight, which speak terror to the wicked. He must speak all that, and that only, which God spake to him. How can we better speak God's mind than with his words? If disappointed as to his people, he must not be offended. The Ninevites were wrought upon by Jonah's preaching, when Israel was unhumbled and unreformed. We must leave this unto the Divine sovereignty, and say, Lord, thy judgments are a great deep. They will not regard the word of the prophet, for they will not regard the rod of God. Christ promises to strengthen him. He must continue earnest in preaching, whatever the success might be.
vv12-21
This mission made the holy angels rejoice. All this was to convince Ezekiel, that the God who sent him had power to bear him out in his work. He was overwhelmed with grief for the sins and miseries of his people, and overpowered by the glory of the vision he had seen. And however retirement, meditation, and communion with God may be sweet, the servant of the Lord must prepare to serve his generation. The Lord told the prophet he had appointed him a watchman to the house of Israel. If we warn the wicked, we are not chargeable with their ruin. Though such passages refer to the national covenant made with Israel, they are equally to be applied to the final state of all men under every dispensation. We are not only to encourage and comfort those who appear to be righteous, but they are to be warned, for many have grown high-minded and secure, have fallen, and even died in their sins. Surely then the hearers of the gospel should desire warnings, and even reproofs.
vv22-27
Let us own ourselves for ever indebted to the mediation of Christ, for the blessed intercourse between God and man; and a true believer will say, I am never less alone than when thus alone. When the Lord opened Ezekiel's mouth, he was to deliver his message boldly, to place life and death, the blessing and the curse, before the people, and leave them to their choice.
Key Words
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
בֵּן: a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)
אָדָם: ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species, mankind, etc.)
אָכַל: to eat (literally or figuratively)
אֲשֶׁר: who, which, what, that; also (as an adverb and a conjunction) when, where, how, because, in order that, etc.
מָצָא: properly, to come forth to, i.e. appear or exist; transitively, to attain, i.e. find or acquire; figuratively, to occur, meet or be present
זֶה: the masculine demonstrative pronoun, this or that
מְגִלָּה: a roll
יָלַךְ: to walk (literally or figuratively); causatively, to carry (in various senses)
דָבַר: perhaps properly, to arrange; but used figuratively (of words), to speak; rarely (in a destructive sense) to subdue
Cross References
Ezekiel 3John's consumption of the book roll, tasting sweet then bitter, mirrors Ezekiel's visionary experience.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Jeremiah also speaks of finding and eating God's words as his joy and delight.
Supported by Matthew Poole, John Calvin
Jesus highlights that foreign cities like Tyre and Sidon would have repented, unlike obstinate Israel.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Messianic parallel of setting one's face like a flint against opposition and rejection.
Supported by JFB
The formal restatement of Ezekiel's solemn appointment and duty as a watchman to Israel.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Jesus warns that the world rejects His servants because it has already rejected Him.
Supported by JFB
God makes Jeremiah an iron pillar and bronze wall against the rebellious house.
Supported by JFB
Paul declares he is innocent of the blood of all men because he did not shrink from warning.
Supported by JFB
Expounds on the righteous man turning from his righteousness and dying in his sins.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Parallel instance of the Holy Spirit physically snatching or carrying away a prophet.
Supported by JFB
Seven days of silent, astonished sitting as a traditional period of deep mourning and sympathy.
Supported by JFB
The direct return of the Shekinah glory of Jehovah, which Ezekiel first saw by the Chebar.
Supported by JFB
The temporal fulfillment where God physically opens Ezekiel's mouth to speak to the refugees.
Supported by JFB
The symbolic laying of bands or cords upon Ezekiel, restricting his physical movement.
Supported by JFB