Ezekiel – 3:1-27
3:1 “Eat what you nd; eat this scroll” — The title of the scroll (2:10) suggests that the contents correspond to Ezekiel’s preaching through chapter 32. Yahweh gives to Ezekiel the divine message he is to proclaim, and Yahweh will protect his prophet from the erce opposition to God’s Word that he will have to face. The scroll is God’s Word in a external, physical (“sacramental”) form. (Compare to the Sacrament of the Altar in 1 Cor 10:16-17.) God performs a comparable sign with the mouth with the prophets. Moses is given the divine name (Ex 3-4, esp. 4:15). Yahweh’s hand touches Jeremiah’s mouth (Jer 1:9). 3:2-3 “Son of man, feed your belly, and ll your stomach with this scroll that I give you” Ezekiel’s entire body is to be lled with God’s Word, not only his “head” (intellect) or “heart” (spiritual disposition) but both. The sweet taste of the scroll isn’t the content of the preaching, but the spiritual joy of the ministry. Honey’s sweetness is also a metaphor generally in Ps 19:10 and 119:103 and speci cally to true wisdom or its results in Prov 16:24 and 24:13. Also, there is the echo of the book that makes the stomach bitter but tastes sweet as honey in Rev. 10:8-10. The pervasiveness of God’s Word into every ber of our being is thematically asserted in our hymns: “What God Ordains Is Always Good,” “God’s Time Is the Best Time,” and others. 3:4-11 – As a unit, this basically repeats 2:3-7. Ezekiel is not a foreign missionary or involved in a cross-cultural ministry, but a minister to his own people. They will understand him clearly but will refuse to listen due to their rebellious sinful nature. Other nations are subject to God’s judgment because they have not obeyed “natural law,” the law written in their hearts (Amos 1-2; c.f. Rom 2:12-15). And as Jesus’ ministry bears witness, this contrary-to-fact assertion bears true (e.g. Tyre and Sidon; Mt. 11:20-24). “But the house of Israel will not listen to you, because they will not listen to Me” – The dismal forecast is intended to comfort Ezekiel. “The whole house of Israel” includes past and present generations. The rejection of the Word is the rejection of Christ Jesus (1 Sam 8:7; Lk 10:16)! Their adamancy in unbelief is met with an equally hardened prophet (3:8-9), a play on Ezekiel’s name:…
Handout: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pDXqgixZnrcjkA4bi7cTA67mzHbcqkKL/view?usp=sharing