Ezekiel 2:1-3:15 - Ezekiel Commissioned

Introduction

Succinct Summation

Outline

Ezekiel 1-24 - Oracles against God’s People

Ezekiel 1:1-3 - Ezekiel the Priest

Ezekiel 1:4-28 - The Glory of the Lord

Ezekiel 2:1-3:15 - Ezekiel Commissioned

Ezekiel 2:1-7 - Ezekiel Sent to a Rebellious Nation

Ezekiel 2:8-3:3 - The Scroll

Ezekiel 3:4-11 - Ezekiel Sent to the House of Israel

Ezekiel 3:12-15 - The Hand of the Lord

Purpose of Book

The purpose of Ezekiel is Yahweh rebukes His people for their sinfulness and He promises to restore His glory so all nations will know He is the one true Lord. In short, the purpose of Ezekiel is the glory of God.

Main Point

Ezekiel is commissioned by Yahweh to go to the rebellious and stubborn house of Israel. God will harden Ezekiel so he can withstand the hardness of Israel. Israel will reject Ezekiel, but they will know that God has sent them a prophet.

Ezekiel 2:1-7 - Ezekiel Sent to a Rebellious Nation

1 And he said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.”

Recall the previous verse - Ezekiel falls on his face

Here, the Lord commands Ezekiel to get on his feet - but why? Ezekiel is not under judgment - ISRAEL IS

2 And as he spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.

Notice that Ezekiel is unable to stand on his own - the heavenly beings can stand in God’s presence but a mere mortal crumbles

God’s Spirit enables Him to do what God commands which is fitting for Ezekiel because his ministry will be so difficult

3 And he said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me.

Here we see the one who is sending (Yahweh), the messenger (Ezekiel), and the recipients (Israel - the exiles of Judah more specifically)

Israel is mentioned as THE people of Israel, not MY people

They are a nation of rebels who have entirely rebelled against God refusing to accept Him as their sovereign king

The word for nation here categorizes them as just another heathen nation in the world - there is nothing special about them as a nation at this point and time

The covenantal breach is deep because they have revolted against the sovereign kingship of Yahweh

They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day.

Notice who is responsible for this rebellion? Previous generations and the current generation

This rebellion begins prior to when Israel was an established nation - The Exodus

Psalm 95:7–11 ESV

7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, 9 when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. 10 For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.” 11 Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.”

4 The descendants also are impudent and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’

Impudent and stubborn - hard of face and strong of heart - inwardly they heart of stone needs to be replaced with a heart of flesh

Ezekiel 36:26 ESV

26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

5 And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them.

Regardless of their response they will know a prophet has visited them

However, we know that they will not listen because the word for rebellious is also insubordinate

6 And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions.

The prophet is not to be afraid of them or their words when he is ministering

Briers and thorns are metaphors of hostility and sitting on scorpions a sense of shock

Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.

Regardless of their responses Ezekiel should not be dismayed or afraid because of their hard hearts against God

7 And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house.

Ezekiel does not get a choice in what he wants to say to his audience, nor his actual audience - God has sent Ezekiel to a rebellious house/nation and he will speak what God determines

Ezekiel 2:8-3:3 - The Scroll

8 “But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Be not rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you.”

Ezekiel is also told NOT to become like the rebellious house of Israel - do not revolt against the covenant of Yahweh

The Lord puts His message into Ezekiel’s mouth - nothing more and nothing less

9 And when I looked, behold, a hand was stretched out to me, and behold, a scroll of a book was in it.

10 And he spread it before me.

And it had writing on the front and on the back, and there were written on it words of lamentation and mourning and woe.

The scroll holds what Ezekiel will speak - words of lamentation and mourning and woe (judgment)

Ezekiel’s ministry would be a message of covenantal judgment and this perfectly sums up 1-24

1 And he said to me, “Son of man, eat whatever you find here. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.”

Eat, Eat, Go, and Speak are all commands

2 So I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat.

Unlike the house of Israel, Ezekiel is obedient to Yahweh - His life is radically different than that of the people of Israel

3 And he said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it.”

Feed your belly reveals Ezekiel’s apprehension to eat the scroll

Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey.

Ezekiel’s ministry is infused with the very Word of God

The scroll though filled with lamentation, mourning, and woe is sweet for Ezekiel

Ezekiel 3:4-11 - Ezekiel Sent to the House of Israel

*** This passage echoes Ezekiel 2:3-7 ***

4 And he said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them.

Yahweh reiterates that Ezekiel is to speak His words only (verbatim) - no additions or subtractions - his voice must be silenced

5 For you are not sent to a people of foreign speech and a hard language, but to the house of Israel— 6 not to many peoples of foreign speech and a hard language, whose words you cannot understand.

The audience of Ezekiel’s ministry is stated again

Ezekiel’s calling is not to the Babylonian empire, but to the house of Israel

Surely, if I sent you to such, they would listen to you.

If Ezekiel would have been sent to a foreign nation, any of them, there would have been a harvest

Nineveh and Jonah

7 But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me: because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart.

Ezekiel’s rejection is not personal, the house of Israel is rejecting Yahweh Himself

The people of Israel’s heart is stubborn - they will not listen to the Lord until a heart transplant occurs

Ezekiel 36:26 ESV

26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

Those who are not covenantal people would have responded to God’s leading, but those who have the covenants willingly disobey - hard foreheads and stubborn hearts

8 Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads.

Ezekiel’s name “God hardens” becomes a welcomed reality for him - He is hardened to withstand the hostility

9 Like emery harder than flint have I made your forehead. Fear them not, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.”

Though Ezekiel’s ministry will be hard and unwelcomed he is called not to be fearful of them

10 Moreover, he said to me, “Son of man, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears.

Receive in your heart and hear with your ears is the equivalent of eating the scroll - Ezekiel is to accept the Lord’s calling for His life/ministry

11 And go to the exiles, to your people, and speak to them and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ whether they hear or refuse to hear.”

The target audience is specifically mentioned as a command - go to the exiles

Ezekiel 3:12-15 - The Hand of the Lord

12 Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great earthquake: “Blessed be the glory of the Lord from its place!”

The Holy Spirit lifts Ezekiel like a paper picked up by wind

Behind him a doxology/benediction is heard

13 It was the sound of the wings of the living creatures as they touched one another, and the sound of the wheels beside them, and the sound of a great earthquake.

14 The Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, the hand of the Lord being strong upon me.

During the vision Ezekiel enjoys the sweetness of the scroll, but coming out of the vision his spirit is bitter and angry

15 And I came to the exiles at Tel-abib, who were dwelling by the Chebar canal, and I sat where they were dwelling. And I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days.

As a result of the vision, Ezekiel is disturbed and overwhelmed unable to speak

How Should we Live in Light of Ezekiel 2:1-3:15?

Ezekiel here is portrayed as the son of man and God-consumed prophet. Yet, there is a greater son of man and prophet to come. Jesus is the perfect prophet who identifies with us and takes our sin, not simply alerting us of sin.

Main Point

Ezekiel is commissioned by Yahweh to go to the rebellious and stubborn house of Israel. God will harden Ezekiel so he can withstand the hardness of Israel. Israel will reject Ezekiel, but they will know that God has sent them a prophet.