1„Synu člověčí,“ řekl mi, „sněz, co máš před sebou. Sněz tento svitek. Potom jdi a mluv k domu Izraele.“ 2Otevřel jsem tedy ústa a on mi dal ten svitek sníst. 3„Synu člověčí,“ řekl mi, „tímhle svitkem, který ti dávám, si nasyť žaludek, naplň si jím břicho.“ Snědl jsem jej tedy a v ústech mi chutnal sladce jako med. 4„Synu člověčí,“ řekl mi, „jdi teď k domu Izraele a vyřiď jim má slova. 5Nejsi přece poslán k lidu podivné řeči a těžkého jazyka, ale k domu Izraele – 6ne k velikým národům podivné řeči a těžkého jazyka, jejichž slovům bys nerozuměl. Kdybych tě totiž poslal k takovým, poslechli by tě. 7Dům Izraele tě ale nebude chtít poslouchat, protože nechtějí poslouchat mě. Celý dům Izraele je tvrdohlavý a zarputilý. 8Hle, způsobím, že budeš právě tak neústupný a tvrdý jako oni. 9Dávám ti tvář tvrdou jako diamant, tvrdší než křemen. Neboj se jich a jejich pohledů se nelekej – vždyť je to banda vzbouřenců.“ 10„Synu člověčí,“ řekl mi ještě, „každé slovo, které ti řeknu, si vezmi k srdci a dobře je poslouchej. 11Jdi teď ke svým krajanům ve vyhnanství a mluv k nim. Ať už poslechnou nebo ne, řekni jim: ‚Tak praví Panovník Hospodin.‘“ 12Vtom se mě zmocnil Duch a uslyšel jsem za sebou obrovský hluk. To se Hospodinova sláva zvedala ze svého místa. 13Ozýval se šelest křídel oněch bytostí, jak se otírala jedno o druhé, a rachot kol, jež se vznášela spolu s nimi – obrovský hluk. 14Duch se mě zmocnil a vzal mě pryč. Šel jsem roztrpčen a rozhořčen v duchu, ale ruka Hospodinova na mně mocně spočívala. 15Přišel jsem k vyhnancům usazeným v osadě Tel-aviv u průplavu Kebar a sedm dní jsem tam zůstal sedět otřesen. 16Když těch sedm dní uplynulo, dostal jsem slovo Hospodinovo. 17„Synu člověčí,“ řekl, „ustanovil jsem tě strážcem domu Izraele. Jakmile uslyšíš slovo z mých úst, vyřiď jim mé varování. 18Když řeknu ničemovi: ‚Musíš zemřít,‘ a ty ho nevaruješ, nepromluvíš, abys tomu ničemovi zachránil život tím, že bys jej varoval před jeho zlou cestou – pak ten ničema zemře za své viny, ale za jeho krev budu volat k odpovědnosti tebe. 19Pokud jsi však ničemu varoval a on se neodvrátil od své ničemnosti ani od své zlé cesty – pak zemře za své viny, ale ty se zachráníš. 20Podobně když se spravedlivý odvrátí od své spravedlnosti a bude páchat bezpráví, položím mu do cesty překážku a zemře. Protožes ho nevaroval, zemře ve svém hříchu a jeho spravedlivé skutky nebudou ani vzpomenuty – za jeho krev ale budu volat k odpovědnosti tebe. 21Pokud jsi však toho spravedlivého varoval, aby nehřešil, a on hřešit přestane – pak zůstane živ, protože přijal varování, a i ty se zachráníš.“ 22Tehdy na mně spočinula ruka Hospodinova. „Vstaň a jdi na pláň,“ řekl mi. „Tam k tobě promluvím.“ 23Vstal jsem tedy a šel na pláň. A hle – stála tam Hospodinova sláva! Právě taková sláva, jakou jsem viděl u průplavu Kebar. Padl jsem na tvář. 24Vstoupil však do mě Duch a postavil mě na nohy. Tehdy ke mně promluvil. „Jdi a zavři se doma,“ řekl mi. 25„Synu člověčí, vezmou na tebe provazy a svážou tě jimi, takže nebudeš moci vyjít mezi ně. 26Jazyk ti přilepím na patro, takže budeš němý a nebudeš je už kárat – vždyť je to banda vzbouřenců. 27Až k tobě ale promluvím, otevřu ti ústa a řekneš jim: ‚Tak praví Panovník Hospodin.‘ Kdo chce poslouchat, ať slyší; kdo nechce, ať nechce – vždyť je to banda vzbouřenců.“
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 EZEKIEL EATS THE ROLL. IS COMMISSIONED TO GO TO THEM OF THE CAPTIVITY AND GOES TO TEL-ABIB BY THE CHEBAR: AGAIN BEHOLDS THE SHEKINAH GLORY: IS TOLD TO RETIRE TO HIS HOUSE, AND ONLY SPEAK WHEN GOD OPENS HIS MOUTH. (Eze. 3:1-27)
eat . . . and . . . speak--God's messenger must first inwardly appropriate God's truth himself, before he "speaks" it to others (see on
Ezek 2:8). Symbolic actions were, when possible and proper, performed outwardly; otherwise, internally and in spiritual vision, the action so narrated making the naked statement more intuitive and impressive by presenting the subject in a concentrated, embodied form.
3 honey for sweetness--Compare
Ps 19:10;
Ps 119:103;
Rev 10:9, where, as here in
Ezek 3:14, the "sweetness" is followed by "bitterness." The former being due to the painful nature of the message; the latter because it was the Lord's service which he was engaged in; and his eating the roll and finding it sweet, implied that, divesting himself of carnal feeling, he made God's will his will, however painful the message that God might require him to announce. The fact that God would be glorified was his greatest pleasure.
5 See Margin, Hebrew, "deep of lip, and heavy of tongue," that is, men speaking an obscure and unintelligible tongue. Even they would have listened to the prophet; but the Jews, though addressed in their own tongue, will not hear him.
6 many people--It would have increased the difficulty had he been sent, not merely to one, but to "many people" differing in tongues, so that the missionary would have needed to acquire a new tongue for addressing each. The after mission of the apostles to many peoples, and the gift of tongues for that end, are foreshadowed (compare
1Cor 14:21 with
Isa 28:11).
had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened-- (
Matt 11:21,
Matt 11:23).
7 will not hearken unto thee: for . . . not . . . me-- (
John 15:20). Take patiently their rejection of thee, for I thy Lord bear it along with thee.
8 Ezekiel means one "strengthened by God." Such he was in godly firmness, in spite of his people's opposition, according to the divine command to the priest tribe to which he belonged (
Deut 33:9).
9 As . . . flint--so Messiah the antitype (
Isa 50:7; compare
Jer 1:8,
Jer 1:17).
10 receive in . . . heart . . . ears--The transposition from the natural order, namely, first receiving with the ears, then in the heart, is designed. The preparation of the heart for God's message should precede the reception of it with the ears (compare
Pro 16:1;
Ps 10:17).
11 thy people--who ought to be better disposed to hearken to thee, their fellow countryman, than hadst thou been a foreigner (
Ezek 3:5-
Ezek 3:6).
12 (
Acts 8:39). Ezekiel's abode heretofore had not been the most suitable for his work. He, therefore, is guided by the Spirit to Tel-Abib, the chief town of the Jewish colony of captives: there he sat on the ground, "the throne of the miserable" (
Ezra 9:3;
Lam 1:1-
Lam 1:3), seven days, the usual period for manifesting deep grief (
Job 2:13; see
Ps 137:1), thus winning their confidence by sympathy in their sorrow. He is accompanied by the cherubim which had been manifested at Chebar (
Ezek 1:3-
Ezek 1:4), after their departure from Jerusalem. They now are heard moving with the "voice of a great rushing (compare
Acts 2:2), saying, Blessed be the glory of the Lord from His place," that is, moving from the place in which it had been at Chebar, to accompany Ezekiel to his new destination (
Ezek 9:3); or, "from His place" may rather mean, in His place and manifested "from" it. Though God may seem to have forsaken His temple, He is still in it and will restore His people to it. His glory is "blessed," in opposition to those Jews who spoke evil of Him, as if He had been unjustly rigorous towards their nation [CALVIN].
13 touched--literally, "kissed," that is, closely embraced.
noise of a great rushing--typical of great disasters impending over the Jews.
14 bitterness--sadness on account of the impending calamities of which I was required to be the unwelcome messenger. But the "hand," or powerful impulse of Jehovah, urged me forward.
15 Tel-Abib--Tel means an "elevation." It is identified by MICHAELIS with Thallaba on the Chabor. Perhaps the name expressed the Jew's hopes of restoration, or else the fertility of the region. Abib means the green ears of corn which appeared in the month Nisan, the pledge of the harvest.
I sat, &c.--This is the Hebrew Margin reading. The text is rather, "I beheld them sitting there" [GESENIUS]; or, "And those that were settled there," namely, the older settlers, as distinguished from the more recent ones alluded to in the previous clause. The ten tribes had been long since settled on the Chabor or Habor (
2Kgs 17:6) [HAVERNICK].
17 watchman--Ezekiel alone, among the prophets, is called a "watchman," not merely to sympathize, but to give timely warning of danger to his people where none was suspected. Habakkuk (
Hab 2:1) speaks of standing upon his "watch," but it was only in order to be on the lookout for the manifestation of God's power (so
Isa 52:8;
Isa 62:6); not as Ezekiel, to act as a watchman to others.
18 warning . . . speakest to warn--The repetition implies that it is not enough to warn once in passing, but that the warning is to be inculcated continually (
2Tim 4:2, "in season, out of season";
Acts 20:31, "night and day with tears").
save--
Ezek 2:5 had seemingly taken away all hope of salvation; but the reference there was to the mass of the people whose case was hopeless; a few individuals, however, were reclaimable.
die in . . . iniquity-- (
John 8:21,
John 8:24). Men are not to flatter themselves that their ignorance, owing to the negligence of their teachers, will save them (
Rom 2:12, "As many as have sinned without law, shall also perish without law").
19 wickedness . . . wicked way--internal wickedness of heart, and external of the life, respectively.
delivered thy soul-- (
Isa 49:4-
Isa 49:5;
Acts 20:26).
20 righteous . . . turn from . . . righteousness--not one "righteous" as to the root and spirit of regeneration (
Ps 89:33;
Ps 138:8;
Isa 26:12;
Isa 27:3;
John 10:28;
Phil 1:6), but as to its outward appearance and performances. So the "righteous" (
Pro 18:17;
Matt 9:13). As in
Ezek 3:19 the minister is required to lead the wicked to good, so in
Ezek 3:20 he is to confirm the well-disposed in their duty.
commit iniquity--that is, give himself up wholly to it (
1John 3:8-9), for even the best often fall, but not wilfully and habitually.
I lay a stumbling-block--not that God tempts to sin (
Jas 1:13-
Jas 1:14), but God gives men over to judicial blindness, and to their own corruptions (
Ps 9:16-
Ps 9:17;
Ps 94:23) when they "like not to retain God in their knowledge" (
Rom 1:24,
Rom 1:26); just as, on the contrary, God makes "the way of the righteous plain" (
Pro 4:11-
Pro 4:12;
Pro 15:19), so that they do "not stumble." CALVIN refers "stumbling-block" not to the guilt, but to its punishment; "I bring ruin on him." The former is best. Ahab, after a kind of righteousness (
1Kgs 21:27-29), relapsed and consulted lying spirits in false prophets; so God permitted one of these to be his "stumbling-block," both to sin and its corresponding punishment (
1Kgs 22:21-23).
his blood will I require-- (
Heb 13:17).
22 hand of the Lord-- (
Ezek 1:3).
go . . . into the plain--in order that he might there, in a place secluded from unbelieving men, receive a fresh manifestation of the divine glory, to inspirit him for his trying work.
23 glory of the Lord-- (
Ezek 1:28).
24 set me upon my feet--having been previously prostrate and unable to rise until raised by the divine power.
shut thyself within . . . house--implying that in the work he had to do, he must look for no sympathy from man but must be often alone with God and draw his strength from Him [FAIRBAIRN]. "Do not go out of thy house till I reveal the future to thee by signs and words," which God does in the following chapters, down to the eleventh. Thus a representation was given of the city shut up by siege [GROTIUS]. Thereby God proved the obedience of His servant, and Ezekiel showed the reality of His call by proceeding, not through rash impulse, but by the directions of God [CALVIN].
25 put bands upon thee--not literally, but spiritually, the binding, depressing influence which their rebellious conduct would exert on his spirit. Their perversity, like bands, would repress his freedom in preaching; as in
2Cor 6:12, Paul calls himself "straitened" because his teaching did not find easy access to them. Or else, it is said to console the prophet for being shut up; if thou wert now at once to announce God's message, they would rush on thee and bind them with "bands" [CALVIN].
26 I will make my tongue . . . dumb--Israel had rejected the prophets; therefore God deprives Israel of the prophets and of His word--God's sorest judgment (
1Sam 7:2;
Amos 8:11-
Amos 8:12).
27 when I speak . . . I will open thy mouth--opposed to the silence imposed on the prophet, to punish the people (
Ezek 3:26). After the interval of silence has awakened their attention to the cause of it, namely, their sins, they may then hearken to the prophecies which they would not do before.
He that heareth, let him hear . . . forbear--that is, thou hast done thy part, whether they hear or forbear. He who shall forbear to hear, it shall be at his own peril; he who hears, it shall be to his own eternal good (compare
Rev 22:11).