Ezequiel 1:3

Came expressly. — Or, came certainly, with the fullest proof of reality. In the original there is simply the ordinary form of the repetition of the verb for the sake of emphasis. The prophet mentions his own name only here and in Ezequiel 24:24.

The hand of the Lord was there upon him. — A form of expression to indicate that special power and influence which the Spirit exercised over the prophets at times when they were called to become the means of the Divine communications. (Comp. 1 Reis 18:46, and Ezequiel 3:22; Ezequiel 37:1; see also Daniel 8:18; Daniel 10:10; Apocalipse 1:17.) It is noticeable that Ezekiel here speaks of himself in the third person, while in Ezequiel 1:1, and always after this, he uses the first person. It had been suggested that this, together with the mention of his own name, may indicate the insertion of these two verses on a revision of his work by the prophet.

In entering upon the vision of the glory of the Lord, which fills the rest of this chapter, it is to be remembered that Ezekiel is struggling to portray that which necessarily exceeds the power of human language; it is not therefore surprising that there should be something of repetition and of obscurity in the detail. All similar descriptions of Divine manifestations are marked more or less strongly by the same characteristics. (See Êxodo 24:9; Isaías 6:1; Daniel 7:9; Apocalipse 1:12; Apocalipse 4:2, &c.) It is also to be borne in mind that what the prophet saw was not the eternal Father in His own absolute essence, who dwells in unapproachable light, and whom “no man hath seen, nor can see” (1 Timóteo 6:16); and had it been possible that Ezekiel should have been so transported out of the body as to behold this, it would then have been impossible for him to describe it. But what he saw in vision was such manifestation as man could bear, in which God hides His face, and allows to be seen only His uttermost parts (Êxodo 33:22). In the description that follows may be recognised a mingling of the symbols of the Divine manifestation at Sinai with the “patterns of heavenly things” in the most holy place of the Temple, the whole modified to suit the present occasion, and possibly somewhat coloured by the now familiar symbolic art of Babylonia.