Ezequiel 3:11

Get thee to them of the captivity. — Ezekiel’s mission is now made more definite. In Ezequiel 3:10 he has been told in plain terms what had already been symbolically conveyed under the figure of the roll, and now he is further informed that his immediate mission to the house of Israel is limited to that part of it which, like himself, was already in captivity. At this time, and for several years to come, this was a comparatively small part of the whole nation; but before Ezekiel’s ministrations were finished it embraced the mass of them. (See Introd., III.) It is noticeable that God directs him to go, not to My, but to thy people; just as in Ezequiel 2:3 He speaks of them as heathen, so here He refuses to recognise them in their present state as really His people. (Comp. Êxodo 32:7; Ezequiel 33:2; Ezequiel 33:12; Ezequiel 33:17; Daniel 9:24; Daniel 10:14.) At the same time, there is thus indirectly suggested to the prophet a reminder that he is himself one of the same people, and needs therefore to be on his guard against the sin and obduracy which characterise them.