14 So the spirit H7307 lifted me up, H5375 and took me away, H3947 and I went H3212 in bitterness, H4751 in the heat H2534 of my spirit; H7307 but the hand H3027 of the LORD H3068 was strong H2388 upon me.
The hand H3027 of the LORD H3068 was upon me, and carried me out H3318 in the spirit H7307 of the LORD, H3068 and set me down H5117 in the midst H8432 of the valley H1237 which was full H4392 of bones, H6106
And he put forth H7971 the form H8403 of an hand, H3027 and took H3947 me by a lock H6734 of mine head; H7218 and the spirit H7307 lifted me up H5375 between the earth H776 and the heaven, H8064 and brought H935 me in the visions H4759 of God H430 to Jerusalem, H3389 to the door H6607 of the inner H6442 gate H8179 that looketh H6437 toward the north; H6828 where was the seat H4186 of the image H5566 of jealousy, H7068 which provoketh to jealousy. H7069
And Moses H4872 said H559 unto the LORD, H3068 Wherefore hast thou afflicted H7489 thy servant? H5650 and wherefore have I not found H4672 favour H2580 in thy sight, H5869 that thou layest H7760 the burden H4853 of all this people H5971 upon me? Have I conceived H2029 all this people? H5971 have I begotten H3205 them, that thou shouldest say H559 unto me, Carry H5375 them in thy bosom, H2436 as a nursing father H539 beareth H5375 the sucking child, H3243 unto the land H127 which thou swarest H7650 unto their fathers? H1 Whence H370 should I have flesh H1320 to give H5414 unto all this people? H5971 for they weep H1058 unto me, saying, H559 Give H5414 us flesh, H1320 that we may eat. H398 I am not able H3201 to bear H5375 all this people H5971 alone, H905 because it is too heavy H3515 for me. And if thou deal H6213 thus with me, kill H2026 me, I pray thee, out of hand, H2026 if I have found H4672 favour H2580 in thy sight; H5869 and let me not see H7200 my wretchedness. H7451 And the LORD H3068 said H559 unto Moses, H4872 Gather H622 unto me seventy H7657 men H376 of the elders H2205 of Israel, H3478 whom thou knowest H3045 to be the elders H2205 of the people, H5971 and officers H7860 over them; and bring H3947 them unto the tabernacle H168 of the congregation, H4150 that they may stand H3320 there with thee. And I will come down H3381 and talk H1696 with thee there: and I will take H680 of the spirit H7307 which is upon thee, and will put H7760 it upon them; and they shall bear H5375 the burden H4853 of the people H5971 with thee, that thou bear H5375 it not thyself alone. And say H559 thou unto the people, H5971 Sanctify H6942 yourselves against to morrow, H4279 and ye shall eat H398 flesh: H1320 for ye have wept H1058 in the ears H241 of the LORD, H3068 saying, H559 Who shall give us flesh H1320 to eat? H398 for it was well H2895 with us in Egypt: H4714 therefore the LORD H3068 will give H5414 you flesh, H1320 and ye shall eat. H398 Ye shall not eat H398 one H259 day, H3117 nor two days, H3117 nor five H2568 days, H3117 neither ten H6235 days, H3117 nor twenty H6242 days; H3117
And they said H559 unto him, Behold now, there be H3426 with thy servants H5650 fifty H2572 strong H2428 men; H1121 H582 let them go, H3212 we pray thee, and seek H1245 thy master: H113 lest peradventure the Spirit H7307 of the LORD H3068 hath taken him up, H5375 and cast H7993 him upon some H259 mountain, H2022 or into some H259 valley. H1516 And he said, H559 Ye shall not send. H7971
Therefore I am full H4392 of the fury H2534 of the LORD; H3068 I am weary H3811 with holding in: H3557 I will pour it out H8210 upon the children H5768 abroad, H2351 and upon the assembly H5475 of young men H970 together: H3162 for even the husband H376 with the wife H802 shall be taken, H3920 the aged H2205 with him that is full H4390 of days. H3117
O LORD, H3068 thou hast deceived H6601 me, and I was deceived: H6601 thou art stronger H2388 than I, and hast prevailed: H3201 I am in derision H7814 daily, H3117 every one mocketh H3932 me. For since H1767 I spake, H1696 I cried out, H2199 I cried H7121 violence H2555 and spoil; H7701 because the word H1697 of the LORD H3068 was made a reproach H2781 unto me, and a derision, H7047 daily. H3117 Then I said, H559 I will not make mention H2142 of him, nor speak H1696 any more in his name. H8034 But his word was in mine heart H3820 as a burning H1197 fire H784 shut up H6113 in my bones, H6106 and I was weary H3811 with forbearing, H3557 and I could H3201 not stay.
Cursed H779 be the day H3117 wherein I was born: H3205 let not the day H3117 wherein my mother H517 bare H3205 me be blessed. H1288 Cursed H779 be the man H376 who brought tidings H1319 to my father, H1 saying, H559 A man H2145 child H1121 is born H3205 unto thee; making him very H8055 glad. H8055 And let that man H376 be as the cities H5892 which the LORD H3068 overthrew, H2015 and repented H5162 not: and let him hear H8085 the cry H2201 in the morning, H1242 and the shouting H8643 at noontide; H6256 H6672 Because he slew H4191 me not from the womb; H7358 or that my mother H517 might have been my grave, H6913 and her womb H7358 to be always H5769 great H2030 with me. Wherefore came I forth H3318 out of the womb H7358 to see H7200 labour H5999 and sorrow, H3015 that my days H3117 should be consumed H3615 with shame? H1322
Then the spirit H7307 took me up, H5375 and I heard H8085 behind H310 me a voice H6963 of a great H1419 rushing, H7494 saying, Blessed H1288 be the glory H3519 of the LORD H3068 from his place. H4725
And it came to pass in the sixth H8345 year, H8141 in the sixth H8345 month, in the fifth H2568 day of the month, H2320 as I sat H3427 in mine house, H1004 and the elders H2205 of Judah H3063 sat H3427 before H6440 me, that the hand H3027 of the Lord H136 GOD H3069 fell H5307 there upon me.
When G5613 therefore G3767 the Lord G2962 knew G1097 how G3754 the Pharisees G5330 had heard G191 that G3754 Jesus G2424 made G4160 and G2532 baptized G907 more G4119 disciples G3101 than G2228 John, G2491
He left G863 Judaea, G2449 and G2532 departed G565 again G3825 into G1519 Galilee. G1056
Then G3767 saith G3004 the woman G1135 of Samaria G4542 unto him, G846 How is it that G4459 thou, G4771 being G5607 a Jew, G2453 askest G154 drink G4095 of G3844 me, G1700 which am G5607 a woman G1135 of Samaria? G4542 for G1063 the Jews G2453 have G4798 no G3756 dealings G4798 with the Samaritans. G4541
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Ezekiel 3
Commentary on Ezekiel 3 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 3
Eze 3:1-27. Ezekiel Eats the Roll. Is Commissioned to Go to Them of the Captivity and Goes to Tel-abib by the Chebar: Again Beholds the Shekinah Glory: Is Told to Retire to His House, and Only Speak when God Opens His Mouth.
1. eat … and … speak—God's messenger must first inwardly appropriate God's truth himself, before he "speaks" it to others (see on Eze 2:8). Symbolic actions were, when possible and proper, performed outwardly; otherwise, internally and in spiritual vision, the action so narrated making the naked statement more intuitive and impressive by presenting the subject in a concentrated, embodied form.
3. honey for sweetness—Compare Ps 19:10; 119:103; Re 10:9, where, as here in Eze 3:14, the "sweetness" is followed by "bitterness." The former being due to the painful nature of the message; the latter because it was the Lord's service which he was engaged in; and his eating the roll and finding it sweet, implied that, divesting himself of carnal feeling, he made God's will his will, however painful the message that God might require him to announce. The fact that God would be glorified was his greatest pleasure.
5. See Margin, Hebrew, "deep of lip, and heavy of tongue," that is, men speaking an obscure and unintelligible tongue. Even they would have listened to the prophet; but the Jews, though addressed in their own tongue, will not hear him.
6. many people—It would have increased the difficulty had he been sent, not merely to one, but to "many people" differing in tongues, so that the missionary would have needed to acquire a new tongue for addressing each. The after mission of the apostles to many peoples, and the gift of tongues for that end, are foreshadowed (compare 1Co 14:21 with Isa 28:11).
had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened—(Mt 11:21, 23).
7. will not hearken unto thee: for … not … me—(Joh 15:20). Take patiently their rejection of thee, for I thy Lord bear it along with thee.
8. Ezekiel means one "strengthened by God." Such he was in godly firmness, in spite of his people's opposition, according to the divine command to the priest tribe to which he belonged (De 33:9).
9. As … flint—so Messiah the antitype (Isa 50:7; compare Jer 1:8, 17).
10. receive in … heart … ears—The transposition from the natural order, namely, first receiving with the ears, then in the heart, is designed. The preparation of the heart for God's message should precede the reception of it with the ears (compare Pr 16:1; Ps 10:17).
11. thy people—who ought to be better disposed to hearken to thee, their fellow countryman, than hadst thou been a foreigner (Eze 3:5, 6).
12. (Ac 8:39). Ezekiel's abode heretofore had not been the most suitable for his work. He, therefore, is guided by the Spirit to Tel-Abib, the chief town of the Jewish colony of captives: there he sat on the ground, "the throne of the miserable" (Ezr 9:3; La 1:1-3), seven days, the usual period for manifesting deep grief (Job 2:13; see Ps 137:1), thus winning their confidence by sympathy in their sorrow. He is accompanied by the cherubim which had been manifested at Chebar (Eze 1:3, 4), after their departure from Jerusalem. They now are heard moving with the "voice of a great rushing (compare Ac 2:2), saying, Blessed be the glory of the Lord from His place," that is, moving from the place in which it had been at Chebar, to accompany Ezekiel to his new destination (Eze 9:3); or, "from His place" may rather mean, in His place and manifested "from" it. Though God may seem to have forsaken His temple, He is still in it and will restore His people to it. His glory is "blessed," in opposition to those Jews who spoke evil of Him, as if He had been unjustly rigorous towards their nation [Calvin].
13. touched—literally, "kissed," that is, closely embraced.
noise of a great rushing—typical of great disasters impending over the Jews.
14. bitterness—sadness on account of the impending calamities of which I was required to be the unwelcome messenger. But the "hand," or powerful impulse of Jehovah, urged me forward.
15. Tel-Abib—Tel means an "elevation." It is identified by Michaelis with Thallaba on the Chabor. Perhaps the name expressed the Jews' hopes of restoration, or else the fertility of the region. Abib means the green ears of corn which appeared in the month Nisan, the pledge of the harvest.
I sat, &c.—This is the Hebrew Margin reading. The text is rather, "I beheld them sitting there" [Gesenius]; or, "And those that were settled there," namely, the older settlers, as distinguished from the more recent ones alluded to in the previous clause. The ten tribes had been long since settled on the Chabor or Habor (2Ki 17:6) [Havernick].
17. watchman—Ezekiel alone, among the prophets, is called a "watchman," not merely to sympathize, but to give timely warning of danger to his people where none was suspected. Habakkuk (Hab 2:1) speaks of standing upon his "watch," but it was only in order to be on the lookout for the manifestation of God's power (so Isa 52:8; 62:6); not as Ezekiel, to act as a watchman to others.
18. warning … speakest to warn—The repetition implies that it is not enough to warn once in passing, but that the warning is to be inculcated continually (2Ti 4:2, "in season, out of season"; Ac 20:31, "night and day with tears").
save—Eze 2:5 had seemingly taken away all hope of salvation; but the reference there was to the mass of the people whose case was hopeless; a few individuals, however, were reclaimable.
die in … iniquity—(Joh 8:21, 24). Men are not to flatter themselves that their ignorance, owing to the negligence of their teachers, will save them (Ro 2:12, "As many as have sinned without law, shall also perish without law").
19. wickedness … wicked way—internal wickedness of heart, and external of the life, respectively.
delivered thy soul—(Isa 49:4, 5; Ac 20:26).
20. righteous … turn from … righteousness—not one "righteous" as to the root and spirit of regeneration (Ps 89:33; 138:8; Isa 26:12; 27:3; Joh 10:28; Php 1:6), but as to its outward appearance and performances. So the "righteous" (Pr 18:17; Mt 9:13). As in Eze 3:19 the minister is required to lead the wicked to good, so in Eze 3:20 he is to confirm the well-disposed in their duty.
commit iniquity—that is, give himself up wholly to it (1Jo 3:8, 9), for even the best often fall, but not wilfully and habitually.
I lay a stumbling-block—not that God tempts to sin (Jas 1:13, 14), but God gives men over to judicial blindness, and to their own corruptions (Ps 9:16, 17; 94:23) when they "like not to retain God in their knowledge" (Ro 1:24, 26); just as, on the contrary, God makes "the way of the righteous plain" (Pr 4:11, 12; 15:19), so that they do "not stumble." Calvin refers "stumbling-block" not to the guilt, but to its punishment; "I bring ruin on him." The former is best. Ahab, after a kind of righteousness (1Ki 21:27-29), relapsed and consulted lying spirits in false prophets; so God permitted one of these to be his "stumbling-block," both to sin and its corresponding punishment (1Ki 22:21-23).
his blood will I require—(Heb 13:17).
22. hand of the Lord—(Eze 1:3).
go … into the plain—in order that he might there, in a place secluded from unbelieving men, receive a fresh manifestation of the divine glory, to inspirit him for his trying work.
23. glory of the Lord—(Eze 1:28).
24. set me upon my feet—having been previously prostrate and unable to rise until raised by the divine power.
shut thyself within … house—implying that in the work he had to do, he must look for no sympathy from man but must be often alone with God and draw his strength from Him [Fairbairn]. "Do not go out of thy house till I reveal the future to thee by signs and words," which God does in the following chapters, down to the eleventh. Thus a representation was given of the city shut up by siege [Grotius]. Thereby God proved the obedience of His servant, and Ezekiel showed the reality of His call by proceeding, not through rash impulse, but by the directions of God [Calvin].
25. put bands upon thee—not literally, but spiritually, the binding, depressing influence which their rebellious conduct would exert on his spirit. Their perversity, like bands, would repress his freedom in preaching; as in 2Co 6:12, Paul calls himself "straitened" because his teaching did not find easy access to them. Or else, it is said to console the prophet for being shut up; if thou wert now at once to announce God's message, they would rush on thee and bind them with "bands" [Calvin].
26. I will make my tongue … dumb—Israel had rejected the prophets; therefore God deprives Israel of the prophets and of His word—God's sorest judgment (1Sa 7:2; Am 8:11, 12).
27. when I speak … I will open thy mouth—opposed to the silence imposed on the prophet, to punish the people (Eze 3:26). After the interval of silence has awakened their attention to the cause of it, namely, their sins, they may then hearken to the prophecies which they would not do before.
He that heareth, let him hear … forbear—that is, thou hast done thy part, whether they hear or forbear. He who shall forbear to hear, it shall be at his own peril; he who hears, it shall be to his own eternal good (compare Re 22:11).