Bible Study: Ezekiel 2:1-10

Continuing Ezekiel’s first vision from chapter one, chapter two covers God’s commission towards Ezekiel. 

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Ezekiel Chapter 2

Lessons from the text

Dwelling Among Scorpions Is No Excuse to Being Silent
God encouraged Ezekiel to not be afraid of the Jews to which he was prophesying.  God said that even though they were rebellious, Ezekiel should preach without fear.  It did not matter if the people would listen or not; Ezekiel had to preach to them.

God wants His word to be spread abroad.  Even in a culture that is rebellious, God still wants His word proclaimed.  Being rebellious, people may choose to ignore or fight against God’s word, but such is irrelevant to the calling of God’s people to proclaim the Gospel; the Christian is to proclaim the truth regardless of whether or not someone may or may not obey it.

In the parable of the sower, Jesus makes it clear that the Gospel is to be spread abroad; some may fall on stony hearts, some may accept it, but every person has the opportunity to hear the truth (Mt. 13:18-23).  Instead of being concerned about how people will receive the Gospel, the Christian is to simply speak truth when and how the Holy Spirit commands that person to speak, even if that person is speaking to people who have become so rebellious that they are scorpions ready to retaliate against the truth of God’s word.

Verse by Verse Commentary

1-2  After recognizing that he was seeing the glory of God, Ezekiel fell to his face.  God sends His spirit inside of Ezekiel to give him the ability to stand in His presence.  A person cannot stand before a holy, righteous God because of the flesh and its sin nature (nothing unrighteous can stand in His presence).  Such is why it takes divine help to connect man and God.

3a  God consistently refers to Ezekiel as the “son of man.”  This phrase is found 210 times in the Bible (93 of which are in Ezekiel) and is also the same title that Jesus gives to Himself (Mt. 8:20).  Most commonly, it refers to a son of Adam, or simply a human.  However, in Daniel 7:13, the phrase is used to identify an exalted person who will be given an everlasting dominion.  It has, therefore, two meanings; the first being humanity in general and the second an honorific title of importance.

3b-5  God commissions Ezekiel.  He is told that he is to go to Israel to speak God’s word to them.  They are rebellious and need correction.  God lets Ezekiel know that the people may not believe what he has to say, but they will nonetheless have to recognize that Ezekiel is a prophet.  The world may not believe what the Christian has to say, but the Christian should conduct himself in such a way that, like it or not, others are forced to admit that God is with him.

6-8  God encourages Ezekiel.  He knows that Ezekiel will face adversity due to the rebellious heart of the people.  God tells Ezekiel to not pay attention to their reactions to God’s words; Ezekiel is to ensure that he is receiving and believing God’s message.  While the believer may be worried over another’s soul condition, he cannot bring anyone else to salvation; ultimately each person must work out his own salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12).

9-10  God anointed Jeremiah to speak His words by touching his lips to put God’s words in his mouth (Jer. 1:9).  For Ezekiel, God literally gives him all the words that he will speak rolled into one scroll that Ezekiel is to put inside of his body (God basically fills up Ezekiel with His word so that Ezekiel will be able to draw it out of himself whenever he must prophesy).  While the effect may be the same, preaching God’s word, God calls each person uniquely.

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