seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Ezekiel 3:1
And he said to me, “Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel.” 2 So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat.
3 Then he said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.
4 He then said to me: “Son of man, go now to the people of Israel and speak my words to them. 5 You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and strange language, but to the people of Israel— 6 not to many peoples of obscure speech and strange language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you. 7 But the people of Israel are not willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to me, for all the Israelites are hardened and obstinate. 8 But I will make you as unyielding and hardened as they are. 9 I will make your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people.”
10 And he said to me, “Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart all the words I speak to you. 11 Go now to your people in exile and speak to them. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says,’ whether they listen or fail to listen.”
12 Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a loud rumbling sound as the glory of the Lord rose from the place where it was standing.[a] 13 It was the sound of the wings of the living creatures brushing against each other and the sound of the wheels beside them, a loud rumbling sound. 14 The Spirit then lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the Lord on me. 15 I came to the exiles who lived at Tel Aviv near the Kebar River. And there, where they were living, I sat among them for seven days—deeply distressed.
16 At the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me: 17 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. 18 When I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for[b] their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. 19 But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn from their wickedness or from their evil ways, they will die for their sin; but you will have saved yourself.
20 “Again, when a righteous person turns from their righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before them, they will die. Since you did not warn them, they will die for their sin. The righteous things that person did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. 21 But if you do warn the righteous person not to sin and they do not sin, they will surely live because they took warning, and you will have saved yourself.”
22 The hand of the Lord was on me there, and he said to me, “Get up and go out to the plain, and there I will speak to you.” 23 So I got up and went out to the plain. And the glory of the Lord was standing there, like the glory I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown.
24 Then the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet. He spoke to me and said: “Go, shut yourself inside your house. 25 And you, son of man, they will tie with ropes; you will be bound so that you cannot go out among the people. 26 I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be silent and unable to rebuke them, for they are a rebellious people. 27 But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you shall say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’ Whoever will listen let them listen, and whoever will refuse let them refuse; for they are a rebellious people.
a. Ezekiel 3:12 Probable reading of the original Hebrew text; Masoretic Text sound—may the glory of the Lord be praised from his place
b. Ezekiel 3:18 Or in; also in verses 19 and 20
Well.... God is still on His hovercraft..... I was thinking.... since Ezekiel doesn't describe looking God in the face.... sitting on His hovercraft.... couldn't this be a drone? Drones could have speakers..... God created the universe..... surely a drone is not out of His realm.... right?
Back to the story..... This is from the easy English site.
The Lord now sends Ezekiel to speak to the Israelites. If the Lord had sent Ezekiel to foreigners, they would have listened to him. Ezekiel would not understand them but they would still accept (believe) God’s message. But God’s own people would not listen to Ezekiel. They were too stubborn. They would not listen to God because they had turned away from him. This situation was awful. God’s people were even worse than the nations round them.
It would seem that Ezekiel had failed in his task. But this is not true. His task was to speak the words of God. He was not responsible for the results of it.
The people were strong in mind. They were stubborn. They had closed their minds; in other words, they would not even listen. And they would oppose Ezekiel and refuse his message. So, God promised to make Ezekiel stronger in mind. Ezekiel would be strong and he would not fail. Ezekiel would declare God’s message by the strength of the Lord. The people would not be able to stop Ezekiel.
Ezekiel must tell the people the message that God had given to him. The message was about God’s judgement against the Israelites. They would suffer a terrible punishment because of their evil deeds. Ezekiel did not want to do what God had told him. But he knew that he must do it. This upset him and he was angry. He was unhappy with what he had heard. He knew that the people would not listen to him. They would not accept what he had to say.
God was with Ezekiel. He felt that the power of God was holding him. He knew that he must go to the people. Now he could not avoid the task.
Ezekiel had come back to Tel-Abib town where he lived with the exiles. There it took him a whole week to think about the vision. It took all that time for him to recover after that experience. The vision that he had seen worried him. The terror of the message was almost too much for him. He sat there unable to say anything.
Ezekiel must listen to the Lord and then warn the people. He was responsible for the task that God gave to him. If he did not warn the people then God would blame him for the results. If he did warn the people then he was without blame.
He had to tell the wicked man to change how he lived. The wicked man would die if he did not change. The death of the wicked man would be the result of that man’s own sin. But if that man did change then he would live. However, if Ezekiel did not warn him, that man would die. But God would blame Ezekiel for that death.
All people are responsible for what they do. They are responsible for their own deeds, whether those deeds are good or bad. But Ezekiel’s responsibility was to declare God’s message. When God sent him, Ezekiel had to warn the people. If Ezekiel did not do so, God would blame him also.
A good person may change and do evil deeds. That person will die because of those evil deeds. The good deeds of the past will not save that person. That person will die. If Ezekiel had not warned that person then he (Ezekiel) is to blame for that death.
Perhaps the person would not act when Ezekiel warned him. Then Ezekiel was not to blame. But God did not want that person to suffer. So, God was sending Ezekiel in order to give that person another opportunity. If that person *turned from *sin, then that person would live.
Ezekiel knew that God was there because he felt God’s power. He heard God speak. So, Ezekiel went out to the plain. There the glory of God appeared to him as it had done before at the river Chebar. This time he did not see the vision come toward him. But, as before, he fell down with his face to the ground. Although he had seen it before, the effect was as great. He fell down in fear at the sight of the glory of God.
The Spirit of God came to Ezekiel. The Spirit lifted Ezekiel to his feet and then the Spirit spoke to him. He told Ezekiel what to do and what would happen. He told Ezekiel to shut himself in his own house. He must not go out. He could not continue with his daily duties.
The Spirit told him that the exiles would bind him. He would not be able to move about. He would not be able to leave his house. His house would be like a prison for him.
God would only allow Ezekiel to speak what God told him. He could say nothing else since God would make him dumb. He would not be able to have a conversation with people. He would not be able to discuss or to argue.
When Ezekiel did speak, the results were not his problem. He was just the agent of the Lord. All that he said was the messages of the Lord. The people were responsible for their own actions. They could choose to listen or they could refuse to listen.
God made Ezekiel dumb for 7 years. That period continued until the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem. But during that period, Ezekiel had to speak many messages from God. He would remain in his home except as God led him.
During the day.... these Bible studies pop up in my mind. Yesterday I told the girls at my Mexican Train game that I started Ezekiel. I described the hovercraft..... and told them my version of what was really going on. Now one of these ladies is active in her church.... she expressed joy that I was finally out of that mean book of Jeremiah.... and then she said... "that's a spacecraft!" Another lady at the table was silent.... she use to be active in her church.... she still attends.... but she's more "New Testament". The other lady.... well she didn't say anything.... but she looked a tad confused. I can understand why.... spacecraft.... in the Bible.....
The hovercraft..... or the drone..... the falling down and the lifting up of Ezekiel.... none of these are really important..... the point is that Ezekiel was charged with a task. God made Ezekiel into a loud speaker.... a megaphone.....
When it says God made Ezekiel dumb for seven years.... does it mean that Ezekiel couldn't even order a pizza? I don't think so.... I think what was going on was that the only thing on Ezekiel's mind was telling people what God told him to say. If God wanted Ezekiel to order a pizza.... he would put those words in Ezekiel's mouth. If God wanted Ezekiel to tell someone that they were doomed if they didn't straighten up and fly right.... that was what Ezekiel would have to say.... God controlled Ezekiel totally......
Now some will have a problem with God totally taking over a human...... some would say... what about "free will". Back in Genesis 22:28 God made a donkey talk..... so it makes sense that God could use Ezekiel in the same way. On top of that.... God made Ezekiel's forehead hard..... that means Ezekiel became hardheaded for God! In plain english.... to me that says....
Ezekiel knew God wanted a specific message to go to the people. Ezekiel could have twisted God's message.... but if Ezekiel twisted that message in any way.... Ezekiel would die just like those who was sinning. That's what I think this whole chapter is about. Ezekiel knew every stupid human in the area was responsible for their own sins..... but it was Ezekiel's job to point those sins out to them..... to do otherwise.... would be a death sentence.
Ezekiel didn't want to die for another stupid human's sins..... so Ezekiel was very willing to let God take control.....
