Ezekiel 3
3
God Feeds Ezekiel a Scroll
1He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you see in front of you; eat this scroll, then go and speak to the people of Israel.” 2So I opened my mouth, and he fed me the scroll, 3saying, “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving to you and fill your belly with it.” # 3:3 By eating the scroll, Ezekiel was accepting, absorbing, and digesting its contents as God’s message for the people. This was a symbolic way of placing Yahweh’s message inside his prophet (see Jer. 15:16; Rev. 10:9). Eating the scroll would mean Ezekiel would become the message, not just deliver it. Isaiah’s lips were touched with the burning coal (see Isa. 6:6–7), God’s hand placed his words in Jeremiah’s mouth (see Jer. 1:9), and Ezekiel ate the revelation-scroll. The prophets were to embody the message they preached. So I began to chew it, and it tasted as sweet as honey. # 3:3 See Pss. 19:10; 119:103.
4Then he said, “Son of man, now go to the people of Israel and speak my words # 3:4 Or literally “speak with my words,” that is, “speak my words with my authority.” to them. 5I am not sending you to a nation that speaks a difficult foreign language but to the people of Israel—6not to nations whose complex languages you could not understand and who speak words you cannot even pronounce. Surely, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you, 7but the people of Israel will refuse to listen to you because they refuse to listen to me. The whole family of Israel has a hard heart and is stubbornly defiant. 8But now, I will make you as stubborn and defiant as they are! # 3:8 Or “I will make your face hard against their faces.” 9I will make your resolve # 3:9 Or “your forehead.” as hard as the hardest stone, even harder than flint. So do not fear them or be afraid because of their angry stares, for they are a tribe of rebels.”
10Then he said, “Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart everything I say to you, 11then go to the Jews in exile and say to them, ‘Listen to what Lord Yahweh says,’ whether they listen or not.”
Ezekiel’s Second Vision of the Glory of God
12Then the Spirit lifted me up, and behind me # 3:12 See Isa. 30:21; Rev. 1:10. I heard a loud, thunderous voice: # 3:12 Or “sound.” It is possible that the expression of praise for the glory of God was the sound of the voices of the living creatures in the vision—a declaration that may be understood here as an interpretive insertion of heavenly praise as the prophet is in the process of a Spirit-enabled transport. Verse 13 would then begin as a continuation of the experience of this remarkable sound of the living creatures’ wings. “Blessed be the glory of Yahweh in his sanctuary!” # 3:12 Or “from his place.” 13I heard the sound of the living creatures as their wings kissed each other and the sound of the rumbling wheels beside them, like the sound of a great earthquake. 14The Spirit lifted me up and took me away. # 3:14 Ezekiel became the embodiment of the chariot. As the Spirit directed the chariot, so now he directed Ezekiel. Ezekiel flew as did the chariot. As the chariot appeared at the River Chebar, so now Ezekiel appeared before the exiles at Tel Abib (see v. 15; not to be confused with modern Tel Aviv). I went in the heat of my spirit, # 3:14 Or “I went bitterly in the anger of my spirit” or “in bitterness and the anger of my spirit.” Some commentators say that Ezekiel was angry over the message he was given to preach, others state that he was annoyed because he was being taken forcefully by the hand of God, and yet others believe he was angry with the righteous anger of God because of the sins of his people. and the hand of Yahweh rested powerfully upon me. 15The Spirit took me to Tel Abib, the very place where the Jewish exiles were living beside the River Chebar. I remained there with them for a week, # 3:15 This was a part of the ordination of Ezekiel. After a priest received his ordination, he was to withdraw from the public and stand watch at the doorway of the tabernacle for seven days as a test. Afterward, the priest would receive his ministry instruction and be assigned to his tasks. See Lev. 8:34–35. This same pattern is seen with Ezekiel, as he first received his ordination (1:1–3:11), and then God told him the essence of his task (3:16–7:27). dumbfounded and overwhelmed # 3:15 Ezekiel was devastated by the vision of glory he witnessed. The word overwhelmed is used in a physical sense of the destruction and devastation of a city. Clearly, Ezekiel was in a state of shock or in a stupor. by what I had seen and heard.
Ezekiel Appointed as a Watchman
16Afterward, Yahweh spoke the following words to me: 17“Son of man, I am appointing you as a watchman # 3:17 Or “a lookout,” which in the Hebrew means “one who leans forward to peer into the distance.” The primary purpose of the watchman was to look for the dawning day, not the dark night. for the people of Israel. When you hear me speak to you, give them my warning. # 3:17 The Hebrew word for “warning” means “to gleam,” “to shine upon,” or “to enlighten [by caution].” 18If I say to wicked people, ‘You are headed toward certain death,’ and you fail to give them warning by not speaking up to warn the evil ones against their evil courses so as to keep them alive, then the wicked ones will die for their sinful deeds. But I will hold you responsible for their deaths. # 3:18 Or “the blood I will require at your hand,” a figure of speech denoting responsibility for the person’s death. See v. 20; 18:13; 33:6–8; 34:10; Acts 18:6; 20:26. 19But if you do warn the wicked and they keep sinning anyway, they’ll most certainly die for their sin, but you won’t die. You’ll have saved your life. 20And if righteous people turn away from righteous living and pursue a life of sin, # 3:20 Or “commit iniquity [injustice].” I will set calamities # 3:20 Although the Hebrew is “stumbling blocks,” its meaning is better conveyed as “calamities.” God does not set stumbling blocks in order to lead one into sin but calamities that will cause a person’s downfall. Calamity expresses the meaning more accurately in the context of Jer. 6:21 as well. God will put the sinner in a dangerous situation to cause them to repent. before them, and they will die. Because you did not give them warning, they will die for their sinful deeds, and all the righteous deeds done earlier in life will not be remembered. But I will hold you responsible for their deaths. 21If, however, you do warn a righteous person not to sin and he responds to your warning, that person will live, and you will have also saved your life.”
Ezekiel’s Third Vision of Yahweh’s Glory
22While I was there, Yahweh seized me with his power, # 3:22 Or “the hand of Yahweh came upon me.” Yahweh’s power completely took control of Ezekiel. God’s hand can be a symbol for God’s powerful presence, authority, or supernatural influence. Ezekiel uses this symbolic language seven times in association with God speaking with him or giving Ezekiel a vision. See 1:1–3; 3:14; 8:1; 33:22; 37:1; 40:1. and he said to me, “Stand up, go out into the valley, and I will speak with you there.” 23So I got up and went down into the valley and behold, the awesome glory of Yahweh manifested in front of me! It was like the vision of glory I had seen by the River Chebar, and I fell facedown. 24Then the Spirit # 3:24 That is, “the Spirit of prophecy.” flowed into me and set me on my feet. And I heard him say to me: “Go home and shut the door behind you. 25Behold! Son of man, you are about to be tied up with ropes # 3:25 The early Aramaic translation, the Targum, understood this as a metaphor, “I impose my word upon you, as restraining as a prisoner’s chains.” However, scholarly opinion is divided on whether Ezekiel’s binding here is literal or figurative. It is very significant to note that in chs. 4–5, Ezekiel is given a number of vivid, graphic actions to perform in public, with a powerful spiritual message accompanying them. Given this context, it is much more likely than not that Ezekiel’s binding with ropes toward the end of ch. 3 was a literal experience. and confined to your house and unable to mingle among the people. 26And I am going to make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth; # 3:26 That is, God was going to bind Ezekiel’s tongue. Once again, Ezekiel became a prophetic sign to his people. The only message he could give would be the message God gave him. you will be mute and unable to speak to rebuke # 3:26 Or “unable to be a reprover [a man of reproof].” this rebellious people. 27But whenever I want to speak through you, I will give you back the power of speech. And then you will say to them, ‘This is what Lord Yahweh says: If you have a heart to hear, then hear! If you refuse to listen, then so be it!’—for they are a tribe of rebels.”
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Ezekiel 3: TPT
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