Ezekiel 2:8

But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee. EAT THAT I GIVE THEE - (, note; Revelation 10:9). The idea is to possess himself fully of the message, and digest it in the mind; not literal eating, but such an appropriation of its unsavoury contents that they should become as it were part of himself, so as to impart them the more vividly to his hearers....

God continues to confirm his servant, but he advises him of a cause of stumbling which might break his spirit; for when he perceived the great obstinacy of the house of Israel, he might refuse the office of their teacher a hundred times over. God, however, adds incentives and exhortations to perseverance, although he experiences the abandoned obstinacy of the house of Israel: _do thou hear, _says he, _what I shall say to thee _Here we see that no one can discharge the teacher’s office, unless he be a proficient in God’s school. It behoves, therefore, those who wish to be thought disciples of God to be teachers of truth, and for this purpose first to listen to God’s instructions. Then he takes away a stumblingblock, as we have said, _be not thou, rebellious like the house of Israel _For we know that a multitude has much influence over us to disturb us: for the consent of a whole people is...

6-10 Those who will do any thing to purpose in the service of God, must not fear men. Wicked men are as briers and thorns; but they are nigh unto cursing, and their end is to be burned. The prophet must be faithful to the souls of those to whom he was sent. All who speak from God to others, must obey his voice. The discoveries of sin, and the warnings of wrath, should be matter of lamentation. And those acquainted with the word of God, will clearly perceive it is filled with woe to impenitent sinners; and that all the precious promises of the gospel are for the repenting, believing servants of the Lord....

Verse Ezekiel 2:8. _OPEN THY MOUTH AND EAT THAT I GIVE THEE._] Take my word as thou wouldst take thy _proper food_; receive it into thy heart; ponder it there, that it may be the means of _strengthening_ and _preserving thy soul_, as proper nourishment will strengthen the body, and preserve from death. And the people to whom such messages of God may come should so hear it read, mark, learn, and _inwardly digest_ it, that it may become efficient nourishment to their souls....

EXPOSITION EZEKIEL 2:1 SON OF MAN, etc. It is noticeable that the phrase (_ben adam_)_, _as addressed to a prophet, occurs only in Ezekiel, in whom we find it not less than eighty times, and in Daniel 8:17. As used elsewhere, _e.g._ in Numbers 23:19; Psalms 8:4; Job 25:6; Isaiah 51:12; Isaiah 56:2, and in Ezekiel's use of it, it is p

BUT THOU, SON OF MAN, HEAR WHAT I SAY UNTO THEE,.... Which was necessary because he was to speak not his own words, but the Lord's, and therefore ought to hear before he spoke; and indeed those that speak in a public way, for the instruction of others, ought to hear and learn of Christ first: BE NOT THOU REBELLIOUS, LIKE THAT REBELLIOUS HOUSE; who would not hear what was said unto them; but they were not to be imitated no, not in a lesser degree: the prophet was to avoid everything that looked like rebellion; as in, attention to what was said to him hesitation about it, or backwardness to publish it; OPEN THY MOUTH; be ready to receive what should be given, as a symbol of the prophecy he was to deliver. The Targum is, "incline thy soul, and receive what I give thee.'' Jarchi's note is incline thine ear and hear and let it be sweet to thee, as if thou didst eat food for hunger; and Ki...

Ezekiel 2:1. We see Ezekiel prostrate upon his face. Then a voice spoke, not the voice of a cherubim; while in Revelation the cherubim speak, in Ezekiel they are silent, Jehovah addressed Ezekiel as son of man; the title which is found exactly one hundred times in this book. Daniel only besides Ezekiel is called by this name. Our Lord called Himself by that name and used it in connection with His suffering, exaltation, glory, and coming again. Ezekiel, too, passed through much suffering, passing symbolically through sufferings which the nation at large was to undergo. He is, therefore, in a measure a type of the Messiah, who took Israel's sin and shame upon Himself. The Word which spoke was followed by the Spirit--”and the Spirit entered into me when He spoke unto me.” Thus the Word and the Spirit are always connected. Then Ezekiel received his commission. He is sent to an impudent and h...

EZEKIEL 2:8 TO EZEKIEL 3:15. His inspiration is suggestively described by the symbolical swallowing of a book-roll. In Jer. (Jeremiah 1:9) it is more immediately conceived as due to the touch of the Divine Hand upon the prophet's lips: but by the publication of Dt. thirty years before (621 B.C.) the book had begun to hold a place in the religion of Israel which it had never held before (p. 90), and it is significant, not to say ominous, that Ezekiel is represented as owing his message and his inspiration to a book. The lamentations, mourning, and woe (Ezekiel 2:10) inscribed in the visionary book do, in point of fact, faithfully describe the gene

EAT. See Ezekiel 3:1. Compare Revelation 10:9; Revelation 10:10....

_be not rebellious_ In addition to the positive command, "hear what I say unto thee," the prophet is warned not to refuse and be rebellious like the house of Israel. There was need for this double peremptoriness of the command. The instinctive act of men before any great undertaking of the kind set before the prophet is to shrink from it. Jonah fled that he might escape from the task laid on him; Moses and Jeremiah both entreated that they might be relieved of it. The work was both arduous and painful: painful because it was against his own people that the prophet had to speak; and arduous because leading to opposition and persecution. There is no easy situation in God's service. Had the prophet refused the great commission he would have rebelled like Israel. And no doubt Israel's rebellion was also from an arduous and painful commission, whether we regard its task to have been to walk b...