seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Ezekiel 2:1 He said to me, “Son of man,[a] stand up on your feet and I will speak to you.” 2 As he spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.
3 He said: “Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have been in revolt against me to this very day. 4 The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’ 5 And whether they listen or fail to listen—for they are a rebellious people—they will know that a prophet has been among them. 6 And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or be terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people. 7 You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious. 8 But you, son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not rebel like that rebellious people; open your mouth and eat what I give you.”
9 Then I looked, and I saw a hand stretched out to me. In it was a scroll, 10 which he unrolled before me. On both sides of it were written words of lament and mourning and woe.
a. Ezekiel 2:1 The Hebrew phrase ben adam means human being. The phrase son of man is retained as a form of address here and throughout Ezekiel because of its possible association with “Son of Man” in the New Testament.
When I first saw this chapter.... I thought.... boy that's short! After all the hovercraft descriptions in the first chapter.... I expected Ezekiel to be a long winded guy. But as I read it.... I noticed it has two parts.... God stood Ezekiel up.... and Ezekiel ate a scroll. This is from the easy English site.
God told Ezekiel that he (Ezekiel) would have to obey him (God) completely. The people were already opposing God. So, they would oppose Ezekiel when he told them God’s message. But Ezekiel still had a duty to declare God’s message. God was giving the people one more opportunity to obey him.
Ezekiel was face down on the ground. The vision that he saw was too wonderful for him. It filled him with terror and fear. No human person could continue to stand when the glory of God was shining all round.
The voice told him to get up on his feet. But he did not have the strength to do so. The Spirit of God came into him. The Spirit took hold of him and lifted him up. He stood in front of the vision of God’s glory. Then he was ready to hear what the voice would say to him.
The voice was the voice of him who sat on the throne. That is, the Lord God spoke to Ezekiel. God called him ‘son of man’ and this title appears 90 times in this book. This title would remind Ezekiel that he was a mere man. He would be so aware of his weakness as the Lord God spoke to him. He would have to depend on the Spirit to make him strong. Only then could he do what God told him to do.
Ezekiel had to go and speak to the people on behalf of God. It did not matter whether they listened or not. He still had to speak the words of God to them. This would be hard since the people had turned away from God. But Ezekiel was to speak to them with God’s authority.
When Ezekiel speaks, some of the people will be angry. They may reply with cruel words. They may be fierce and do awful things. But Ezekiel must not be afraid of them.
Thorns cut into the skin. Scorpions sting and their sting contains poison. The cuts and stings are pictures in words of things that hurt. Even if he suffers pain, Ezekiel must not be afraid. He must not be afraid, whatever the people may do. This is a command of God to Ezekiel.
The people may oppose him. They may refuse to listen. They may attack him. But Ezekiel must obey God and speak his words to them.
Ezekiel had to hear what God said to him. He had to understand the message that God gave to him. God told Ezekiel to eat what he gave to him. This action had a special meaning. When we eat, the food becomes part of us. God’s words were to become part of Ezekiel’s life.
The Lord gave Ezekiel the Scroll, which he had to eat. He saw the hand come towards him. We do not know whether this was the hand of God or the hand of a cherub. But the hand held out the scroll to Ezekiel.
In those days, people wrote books on skins of animals. They rolled up the book and it was a scroll. Usually they would only write on one side of the skins. But here there were words on both sides of the scroll.
The hand spread out the scroll. Ezekiel could see what was in it. He may not have read the scroll. But he saw that in it there were funeral songs, sad words and words about troubles. The first 32 chapters of this book are full of these. But the later chapters show a brighter (happier) future for the Israelites.
I was the oldest of five. Sometimes I had to "go tell". My mom would say something like.... "Now... you go in there and tell them to quiet down or I'm coming in there with the belt." I didn't want to be the one that had to "go tell"..... but I had to go in there.... I knew there was no way to get around it. Either I told them or I got it..... that's just the way it was.Now Ezekiel had just seen a four headed creature with wings, legs and wheels..... that hovered in the sky. So God got Ezekiel's attention [and ours]. This had to be a pretty important message for God to go to all that trouble, to allow Ezekiel see something that would confuse the fire out of future generations for centuries to come.
The spirit came over Ezekiel and Ezekiel stood up. Oh man.... I bet there have been a lot of sermons about that..... I bet some pastors wished they had some of Houdini's magic so they could hover a body to it's feet on Sunday..... but..... that's not what I see here...... God got Ezekiel's attention and then God spoke to him..... and it was important.... and Ezekiel was involved.... and he got up..... God needed him..... and he stood up. That's what I see.... this chapter has no hovercraft..... or hovering stupid humans.
Now the scroll..... I remember a Bible story from either Vacation Bible School or Sunday School at some very fancy church.... where I learned about scrolls. Only I learned that scrolls were a paper product.... papyrus..... but the commentary above says the scroll was an animal skin. I remember burning the edges of long pieces of parchment paper [to represent papyrus] and rolling them on a dowel I had decorated. This commentary, however, says that the scroll was generally made from animal skin. Now I myself cannot see God killing an animal to send a message..... but wait.... God had to kill an animal when Adam and Eve did their thing. God had to kill a lot of animals when Noah's boat floated. God had to allow His own Son to be murdered on the cross..... so I guess it could have been an animal skin..... but that's not what is important......
Please.... don't get all bogged down with the four headed creature, the number of wings, the wheels with eyes, how Ezekiel got to his feet, or what material God used for His Scroll...... it's the message that is important.
What's important [in this chapter] is Ezekiel took the whole scripture in..... it became part of him. Just like Ezekiel felt himself getting to his feet..... Ezekiel felt the words filling him up. What's important here is Ezekiel is on his feet and full of the message. A new Prophet is going to talk to the descendants of Jacob [Israel].
