This chapter contains a further account of the prophet’s call and mission; of his preparation of him for is work; of, the persons to whom he was sent; of what happened to him upon this; of the nature of his office, and the work of it; and of what followed upon the renewal of his call.

Moreover he said unto me The same glorious Person who had been speaking all along in the preceding chapter; and who was seen by the prophet on a sapphire throne, and described in ; the first fifteen verses of this chapter are by Junius and Tremellius made a part of the second: son of man, eat that…

So I opened my mouth To take in the roll, and eat it; he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision; he did all that he could towards eating it, but was not sufficient of himself; and therefore it follows: and he caused me to eat that roll; he, the Lord, put it into his mouth, caused him to eat it,…

And he said unto me, son of man, cause thy belly to eat Or “devour” [[5]], and consume; that is, concoct and digest; do not cast it out of thy mouth, as soon as thou hast tasted of it; but let it go down into the stomach, and there digest it; and from thence into the belly, that so, upon the whole,…

And he said unto me, son of man, go After he had eaten the roll; for then was he qualified to prophesy: get thee unto the house of Israel; to whom he was to prophesy: and speak with my words unto them: not with his own words; nor with the words of men, the enticing words of man’s wisdom; but with…

For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech “Deep of lip” [[6]], or “speech”; difficult to be got at and understood: and of a hard language: or “heavy of tongue” [[7]] of a barbarous and unknown language, whom he could not understand, nor they him; and so would have been barbarians to one…

Not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language The prophet was sent, not to different nations, of different languages; but to one nation of the same language; indeed several of his prophecies concern other nations, as the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, Tyrians, Philistines,…

But the house of Israel would not hearken unto thee “They are not willing” [[10]]; they have no desire, no inclination, to hear and hearken; but the reverse; they were capable of hearing and understanding his speech and language, and though he was sent unto them by the Lord: and indeed the reason…

Behold, I have made the, face strong against their faces Not that the prophet should have the same sort of impudence and confidence they had; but that God would “give” [[12]] him such a face, as it is in the Hebrew text, such spirit and courage, that he should neither be ashamed of the words of the…

As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead Or, “than a rock” [[13]]; the “adamant” has its name in Greek, because it cannot be conquered or subdued, neither by the hammer, nor by fire; the one cannot break, nor this other consume it; land it is called “shamir” in Hebrew, from its…

Moreover he said unto me, son of man The same glorious Person as before continued speaking to him, and added, as follows: all my words that I shall speak unto thee; not only what he had spoken to him, but what he should hereafter; for he did not tell all at once what he should say, but gradually,…

And go, get thee to them of the captivity Not in the times of Hoshea king of Israel, by Shalmaneser king of Assyria, for these were placed in the cities of the Medes, ; but in the times of Jeconiah king of Judah, ; unto the children of thy people; the Jews, which were in the land of Chaldea: and…

Then the spirit took me up Not the wind, nor an angel, but the Spirit of God; who took up the prophet from the ground, from the place where he was, among the captives by the river Chebar, and had seen the glorious vision described in the first chapter; and had had his call and mission, as expressed…

I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures, &c.] Which they clapped, when they uttered the preceding words; (See Gill on Ezek. 1:24); that touched one another; or “kissed, a woman her sister” [[16]]; denoting their affection and agreement in the doxology or ascription of glory to…

So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away Lifted him up from the earth, and carried him through the air: and I went in bitterness; full of trouble and sorrow, that the Lord was departing from the temple; that his people had been guilty, of such crimes they had, and were such an impudent, and…

Then I came to them of the captivity at Telabib For it seems the captive Jews were disposed of at different places, and there were some at this place; for this was the name of a place, as Jarchi and Kimchi observe; as were Telmelah, and Telharsa, ; it signifies “a heap of new fruit”, and so the…

And it came to pass at the end of seven days Some think it was on the sabbath day he had the following declaration made to him, and instructions given him; but this is not certain; nor does it follow, or to be concluded, from such a way of speaking: that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying;…

Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel Not in a civil sense, a watchman of a town or city, or of the whole country, but in an ecclesiastical sense.

When I say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely die Not only a corporeal but an eternal death for this is what the law threatens with, and there the Lord says this; and this is the wages, end, and issue of sin, if grace prevent not: and thou givest him not warning; of the evil nature of sin, and of…

Yet if thou warn the wicked Of his sin and danger; lay before him his evil, and show him the sad consequences of going on in a course of sin, and warn him to flee from wrath to come: and he turn not from his wickedness, and from his wicked way; does not repent of it, nor abstain from it: he shall…

Again, when a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness This is to be understood not of one that is truly righteous, or is justified by the righteousness of Christ; for such can never turn from that righteousness, or be in an unjustified state; seeing that is the righteousness of God, and an…

Nevertheless, if thou warn the righteous man Every righteous man, that is so in a judgment of charity, whether truly righteous or not, which the event shows; who should be warned not to trust in their own righteousness, but to depend on the righteousness of Christ; that they be careful to maintain…

And the hand of the Lord was there upon me At Telabib, . The Targum interprets “the hand of the Lord” of the spirit of prophecy, which remained upon him there; but it seems to design a fresh impulse of the Spirit, a powerful emotion of the split upon his spirit, stirring up to attention to what…

Then I arose and went forth into the plain He was obedient to the heavenly vision, which was owing to the hand of the Lord being upon him; the power of the Spirit and grace of God influences and engages to obedience; he went forth where he was ordered, though he knew not what would be said to him,…

Then the spirit entered into me Again; the Spirit of God, that was in the wheels and living creatures: see ; and set me upon my feet; as he had done before, when in the same prostrate condition, ; and spake with me; either the Spirit that entered into him, and set him upright; or rather the Lord…

But thou, O son of man, behold, they shall put bands upon thee Or, “bands shall be put upon thee”; either visionally, or really; not by angels, but by the Jews, who, taking the prophet for a madman by his motions and gestures; would bind him, and keep him within doors: or figuratively this may be…

And I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shall be dumb Which is to be understood not literally, as if he was really struck dumb, as Zechariah was; see (Ezek. 4:9, Ezek.

But when I speak with thee Either when I have made an end of speaking to thee, when I have told thee all my mind, and have given thee all the instructions and prophecies thou art to deliver out; or when I shall speak to thee again, and give thee orders to speak: I will open thy mouth; loose thy…