Ezekiel 2

Eze 2:1-10.

EZEKIEL'S

COMMISSION.

1. Son of man--often applied to Ezekiel; once only to Daniel

(Da 8:17),

and not to any other prophet. The phrase was no doubt taken from

Chaldean usage during the sojourn of Daniel and Ezekiel in Chaldea. But

the spirit who sanctioned the words of the prophet implied by it the

lowliness and frailty of the prophet as man "lower than the

angels," though now admitted to the vision of angels and of God

Himself, "lest he should be exalted through the abundance of the

revelations"

(2Co 12:7).

He is appropriately so called as being type of the divine "Son of man"

here revealed as "man" (see on

Eze 1:26).

That title, as applied to Messiah, implies at once His lowliness

and His exaltation, in His manifestations as the

Representative man, at His first and second comings respectively

(Ps 8:4-8;

Mt 16:13; 20:18;

and on the other hand,

Da 7:13, 14;

Mt 26:64;

Joh 5:27).

2. spirit entered . . . when he spake--The divine word is ever

accompanied by the Spirit

(Ge 1:2, 3).

set . . . upon . . . feet--He had been "upon his face"

(Eze 1:28).

Humiliation on our part is followed by exaltation on God's part

(Eze 3:23, 24;

Job 22:29;

Jas 4:6;

1Pe 5:5).

"On the feet" was the fitting attitude when he was called on to walk

and work for God

(Eph 5:8; 6:15).

that I heard--rather, "then I heard."

3. nation--rather, "nations"; the word usually applied to the

heathen or Gentiles; here to the Jews, as being altogether

heathenized with idolatries. So in

Isa 1:10,

they are named "Sodom" and "Gomorrah." They were now become "Lo-ammi,"

not the people of God

(Ho 1:9).

4. impudent--literally, "hard-faced"

(Eze 3:7, 9).

children--resumptive of "they"

(Eze 2:3);

the "children" walk in their "fathers'" steps.

I . . . send thee--God opposes His command to all obstacles. Duties

are ours; events are God's.

Thus saith the Lord God--God opposes His name to the obstinacy of

the people.

5. forbear--namely, to hear.

yet shall know--Even if they will not hear, at least they will not

have ignorance to plead as the cause of their perversity

(Eze 33:33).

6. briers--not as the Margin and

GESENIUS, "rebels," which would

not correspond so well to "thorns." The Hebrew is from a root meaning

"to sting" as nettles do. The wicked are often so called

(2Sa 23:6;

So 2:2;

Isa 9:18).

scorpions--a reptile about six inches long with a deadly sting at the

end of the tail.

be not afraid--

(Lu 12:4;

1Pe 3:14).

7. most rebellious--literally, "rebellion" itself: its very essence.

8. eat--(See on

Jer 15:16;

Re 10:9, 10).

The idea is to possess himself fully of the message and digest it in

the mind; not literal eating, but such an appropriation

of its unsavory contents that they should become, as it were, part of

himself, so as to impart them the more vividly to his hearers.

9. roll--the form in which ancient books were made.

10. within and without--on the face and the back. Usually the parchment

was written only on its inside when rolled up; but so full was God's

message of impending woes that it was written also on the back.