Bible Commentaries
Ezekiel 2

Verse 1

Eze 2:1. The voice which Ezekiel heard in the preceding chapter bade him stand upon his feet and it would speak to him. Son of m-an. We have no information in the Bible on why this term was used; especially why it. was restricted as it was. It was used at least 92 times for Ezekiel and once for Daniel (Dan, 8: 17). They were the only writing prophets who spent any time in Babylon, but whether that had anything to do with affect¬ing the forms of address I am not able to say.

Verse 2

Eze 2:2. Spirit entered into me means the spirit of encouragement not the Spirit of God. It is true, that Spirit was communicating with the prophet, but it was when He (the Spirit of God) spoke to Ezekiel that his spirit came back to him. This shows the passage to mean that when God spoke to the prophet it en-couraged him to “take heart" so that he felt able to stand up. This is similar to the experiences that Daniel had in chapter 8: 17, 18 and 10: 9, 10.

Verse 3

Eze 2:3. To avoid confusion I shall again explain that Ezekiel was in Babylon, having been carried there with the bulk of the people of Judah at the overthrow of Jehoiachin. Hence many of the predictions of the captiv-ity had been fulfilled, while others were still to come since the “3rd cap¬tivity" in the 11th year of Zedekiah was yet pending. Another thing, God wished the captivity to work certain reforms in the lives of His people, and hence they were to be offered many admonitions and warnings. The Lord did not wish Ezekiel to be dis¬couraged if his admonitions were re¬jected in most instances and therefore he told him that the people to whom he was sending him were a rebellious nation.

Verse 4

Eze 2:4. The Lord continued his description of the nation to whom he sent Ezekiel as a prophet. They were stiffhearted which means they were stubborn. But Ezekiel was to tell them he was approaching them with the word of the Lord.

Verse 5

Eze 2:5. A man's standing before the Lord does not depend on his success as a speaker of the (ruth. If he says that which is in harmony with the divine law he will be blessed regard-less of whether bis teaching is ac¬cepted or not. This principle was made known to Ezekiel in this verse. God knew that Israel as a people would not give heed to the admoni-tions of the prophet but wished him to give them the truth anyhow. But one thing would be accomplished re¬gardless of their attitude and that would be to show them there was a prophet among them.

Verse 6

Eze 2:6. Briers, thorns and scor¬pions are used figuratively, and refer to the bitter persecutions the prophet would have to face by reason of his unwelcome warnings, The Lord gave Ezekiel the encouragement that he need not he afraid of the people.

Verse 7

Eze 2:7. The prophet was again told to speak the words of the Lord to the people regardless of their attitude to¬ward his teaching. Timothy was given a like instruction concerning the Gos¬pel (2 Timothy 4; 2 Timothy 2, 3.)

Verse 8

Eze 2:8, The particular rebellion meant is that of rejecting the word of the Lord. Ezekiel was about to he offered something and he was warned not to rebel against it and thus be iike the rebellious nation. The last clause is figurative and refers to some kind of spiritual food.

Verse 9

Eze 2:9. Roll of a book means a piece of writing material was rolled up and was in the hand that appeared. In ancient times books were not bound as they are today, but were written on long strips of the material and then rolled up.

Verse 10

Eze 2:10. The hand unrolled the book before the prophet and he saw that it was written on both sides. This was unusual because ihe rule was for the sheets to he written on one side only as it is done today in “regulation" correspondence. Yet in cases of special importance where space is limited and where much 19 to be said it is permissible to write on both sides. In the present case there was an urgent need for much space for the subject pertained to lamentations and warn¬ings over the wretched state of God's people.