Ezekielchapter 2
10 verses · Ezekiel · 593 to 571 BC · The Prophets
Then I looked and saw a hand reaching out to me, and in it was a scroll,
Introduction
Ezekiel, The Prophets, Ezekiel Overview.
Ezekiel wrote this as the first words spoken to him after the vision had put him on his face. The hearers were deportees who thought of their exile as bad fortune, and this chapter gives the prophet God's own name for them. It is a commission, the charge given to a messenger before he is sent. Listen for the name God uses for the prophet, which keeps the distance between heaven and a mortal man in plain view. Watch also for the scroll, and for what is written on both sides of it.
Context
- Who
- A settlement of deported Judeans who thought of themselves as unlucky, not guilty
- What
- The commission of Ezekiel as a prophet to a rebellious house, sealed by a written scroll held out to him.
- Where
- The bank of the Kebar canal at Tel Abib, where the prophet lay before the throne.
- When
- The fifth year of Jehoiachin's exile, about 593 BC, the same day as the vision of chapter 1.
- Why
- To send a messenger who will speak whether his hearers listen or refuse, so that they know a prophet has been among them.
Historical context
Every prophet's call in the Old Testament follows a recognizable shape: a confrontation, a commission, an objection, and a sign. Ezekiel gets the confrontation and the commission, and he is not given room for the objection. He is stood on his feet by a force outside himself and told to go.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
The title God uses for him, son of man, simply means human being, a mortal man. Set against the blazing throne of chapter one, it is a way of keeping the distance clear. It appears more than ninety times in this book and almost never elsewhere in that way, so it becomes Ezekiel's name for the whole of his ministry.
The scroll is a physical object with a physical cost. Writing surfaces were expensive: papyrus imported from Egypt, or leather sheets sewn end to end and rolled on a rod. Scribes normally wrote on one side only, the side with horizontal fibres, because the back was awkward. A scroll written front and back meant the message had overrun the material, there was more bad news than the page could hold.
Briers, thorns and scorpions were not poetry to men who farmed that plain. Thorn scrub took over any neglected field, and scorpions lived under stones and in wall cracks in every village. God is telling him what the audience will feel like to live among.
Significance
The exiles had a story about themselves: Babylon was a disaster that happened to them. God's first instruction to their prophet calls them a rebellious nation, and says so twice before He says anything else.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
But notice the measure of success He gives. Ezekiel is not told to get results. He is told to speak whether they listen or not, so that they will know a prophet has been among them. That standard would carry him through twenty-two years.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
The site's table of synagogue readings ties no weekly portion and no Haftarah to this chapter. Probed for this lane, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts printed parashot 0 and haftarah uses 0 for Ezekiel 2, and no festival reading for the book. The table holds the Haftarah of each weekly portion and the six books read whole on a feast or a fast. Across chapters 1 to 24 of Ezekiel the same probe found a Haftarah only in chapters 20 and 22.
How it is read
Rashi is the main commentator on this chapter in the corpus. He is quoted here from The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, which Sefaria reports as CC-BY. The translation is modern, so every quotation from it is fifty words or fewer.
The corpus holds two readings of the name "son of man", and they part. Metzudat David is quoted from the Sefaria Community Translation, reported CC0. He says God used it "so that he would not become proud and think of himself as one of the angels, given that he saw this great vision" (Metzudat David on Ezekiel 2:1:1). Rashi reads it the other way. Ezekiel moved among the heavenly heights like the angels, and the name marks him out as the one man of woman born who was there (Rashi on Ezekiel 2:1:1).
The "rebellious nations" of the third verse are the two tribes of Judah, for "Two tribes are called two nations" (Rashi on Ezekiel 2:3:1). The prophet is sent whether they listen or not. God says, "I want them to know at the time of their retribution that a prophet had been in their midst who reproved them, and they did not heed" (Rashi on Ezekiel 2:5:2).
At the word for the briers of the sixth verse Rashi records a dispute between the two early grammarians. Menachem reads it as disobedience, and Dunash reads it as a second word for thorns (Rashi on Ezekiel 2:6:1). The scroll written front and back holds "That which existed from the beginning and that which is destined to be in the end" (Rashi on Ezekiel 2:10:1). Its lamentations are "The retribution of the righteous in this world" (Rashi on Ezekiel 2:10:2).
The corpus carries 10 notes on this chapter without an English text, marked linked. Radak's notes stand at 2:1:1, 2:2:1, 2:3:1, 2:4:1, 2:7:1 and 2:9:1. Metzudat David's notes stand at 2:2:1, 2:3:1, 2:4:1 and 2:7:1. Each stands cited and unquoted, because Sefaria holds no English version of the ref.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries 19 rabbinic locators on the verses of this chapter, 5 filed under the Talmud and 14 under the Midrash. It carries the text of none, so each is cited by ref here and never quoted or paraphrased. The verse numbers are the Hebrew ones the corpus prints.
On verse 1 it holds Chagigah 13a:9, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Khagigah 2:12, Ein Yaakov, Khagigah 2:6 and Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 15:9. It also holds Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Shirah 7:1 and Midrash Sekhel Tov, Shemot 9:10:1. On verse 3 it holds Jerusalem Talmud Sanhedrin 10:5:5. On verse 6 it holds Esther Rabbah 7:11, Midrash Lekach Tov on Esther 3:7:22 and Otzar Midrashim, Midrashim on Megilat Esther, Midrash on the Book of Esther 5. It also holds Sifrei Aggadah on Esther, Midrash Abba Guryon 3:10.
On verse 8 it holds Midrash Sekhel Tov, Shemot 4:15:5. On verse 10 it holds Avot DeRabbi Natan 25:1, Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Bereshit 57, Ein Yaakov, Eiruvin 2:7, Eruvin 21a:15, Eruvin 21a:17 and Midrash Lekach Tov, Numbers 12:6:2. It also holds Sifrei Bamidbar 103:1.
The corpus files 2 more locators under this chapter on a verse it does not have. Bereshit Rabbah 96:5 is filed on Ezekiel 2:17. Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sotah 9:16 is filed on Ezekiel 2:63. They are left out of the list above rather than cited on a verse that is not there. This chapter has 10 verses.
What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Metzudat David, Metzudat David on Ezekiel 2:1:1, Sefaria Community Translation, reported CC0; Rashi, Rashi on Ezekiel 2:1:1 to 2:10:2, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Radak, Radak on Ezekiel 2:1:1 to 2:9:1, cited by ref only: Sefaria holds no English version of the ref; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on Ezekiel 2:2:1 to 2:7:1, cited by ref only: Sefaria holds no English version of the ref; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/ezekiel/2.json, the 19 Talmud and Midrash locators on the verses of this chapter; The site's own files, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, probed for Ezekiel 2: parashot 0, haftarah uses 0, no festival reading for the book.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Stand on your feet, son of man
Ezekiel 2:1-2
The address “Son of man” opens the commission and names the prophet as a mortal man before the glory of chapter 1. He is told to “stand up on your feet.” The prophet who fell facedown in Ezekiel 1:28 is raised by the Spirit to hear the word.
Ezekiel 2:1
“Son of man - This phrase (which occurs elsewhere in Scripture) is applied especially to Ezekiel and Daniel, the prophets of the captivity. Ezekiel is thus reminded of his humanity, at the time when he is especially permitted to have contact with God.”
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Ezekiel 2:1
“And - He that sat upon the throne, Jesus Christ. Son of man - A phrase which is ninety-five times, at least, used in this prophecy to keep him humble who had such great Revelations.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet: The Spirit entered Ezekiel as God spoke and set him on his feet. Matthew Henry joins the two: the Spirit comes with the word and makes it work. The prophet who fell facedown in 1:28 now stands to hear.
Ezekiel 2:2
“And the spirit entered into me - This spirit was different to that mentioned above, by which the wheels, etc., were moved. The spirit of prophecy is here intended; whose office was not merely to enable him to foresee and foretell future events, but to purify and refine his heart, and qualify him to be a successful preacher of the word of life. He who is sent by the God of all grace to convert sinners must be influenced by the Holy Ghost; otherwise he can neither be saved himself, nor become the instrument of salvation to others.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 2:3-5
a rebellious nation that has rebelled: The Lord names the audience before the message: “a rebellious nation that has rebelled against Me,” and “they and their fathers have rebelled against Me.” No hearing is promised, only this outcome: “whether they listen or refuse to listen,” “they will know that a prophet has been among them.”
Ezekiel 2:3
Nation - literally, as in the margin - the word which usually distinguishes the pagan from God’s people. Here it expresses that Israel is cast off by God; and the plural is used to denote that the children of Israel are not even “one nation,” but scattered and disunited. Translate: “I send thee to the children of Israel, the rebellious nation that have rebelled against Me (they and their fathers have transgressed against Me, even to this very day), and the children impudent and stiff-hearted: I do send thee unto them.”
obstinate and stubborn children: God calls the people obstinate and stubborn children. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown give the first word as hard-faced, as in Ezekiel 3:7 and 9, and see the children walking in their fathers' steps. The prophet is sent to them all the same.
Ezekiel 2:4
"Their fathers have transgressed my covenant unto this day, and the sons are of hard face and indomitable heart, to whom I send you." Behold, there is one fault of pride, because they have transgressed the covenant. Behold, another of obstinacy, because even unto this day. Behold, in the iniquity of the sons there is the grave fault of imprudence, because they are of a hard face, since they no longer blush at the evils they do, and never return to repentance even after their faults, because they are of an untamable heart.
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 9patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Ezekiel 2:4
“Thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord - Let them know that what thou hast to declare is the message of the Lord, that they may receive it with reverence. Every preacher of God’s word should take heed that it is God’s message he delivers to the people. Let him not suppose, because it is according to his own creed or confession of faith, that therefore it is God’s word. False doctrines and fallacies without end are foisted on the world in this way.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 2:4
“Note, Christ gives the means of grace to many who he knows will not make a good use of those means, puts many a price into the hand of fools to get wisdom, who not only have no heart to it, but have their hearts turned against it. Thus he will magnify his own grace, justify his own judgment, leave them inexcusable, and make their condemnation more intolerable.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The outcome is set before Ezekiel speaks a word. Whether the people listen or refuse, they will learn a prophet was among them. Adam Clarke draws two points from this: God gave them due warning, and they had no excuse for ignoring it.
Ezekiel 2:5
“A rebellious house - A phrase employed continually by Ezekiel in bitter irony, in the place of house of Israel, as much as to say, “House no longer of Israel, but of rebellion.” Compare Isa 30:9.”
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 2:5
“And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear,.... Or "cease" (y); that is, from hearing, as Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it; or from sinning, as the Targum.”
Do not fear the briers and the scorpions
Ezekiel 2:6-7
briers and thorns surround you: The command “do not be afraid” comes three times in one verse, set against “briers and thorns” and a dwelling “among scorpions.” The danger is named as the people themselves, their words and their presence. The duty is then narrowed to one charge, “But speak My words to them.”
Ezekiel 2:6
“Verse 6: Therefore, son of man, do not fear them, nor be afraid of their words, because they are unbelievers and destroyers with you. LXX: And you, son of man, do not fear them, nor be afraid of their presence: because they are insane, and they will gather against you in a circle. Though they may have hard necks and stubborn hearts, my commandments are stronger. And do not think yourself deceived if you are sent to those who do not listen to you.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Commentary on Ezekielpatristic
speak My words to them: The prophet is to speak God's own words to the people. The charge holds whether they listen or refuse to listen. Matthew Henry calls it the honour of prophets to be trusted with God's words, and their duty to keep close to them.
Ezekiel 2:7
“And thou shall speak my words unto them,.... Not his own words, but those the Lord should put into his mouth. The Targum is, "and thou shall prophesy the words of my prophecy unto them:'' whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear; See Gill on Eze 2:5; for they are most rebellious; or "rebellion" (c) itself; as the carnal mind is said to be "enmity" itself against God, Rom 8:7; which aggravates their character and state. (c) מרי המה "rebellio ipsi", Montanus, Polanus, Starckius; "inobedientia sunt", Cocceius.”
A scroll of lamentation handed over
Ezekiel 2:8-10
Open your mouth and eat: The prophet sent to a rebellious people is first warned himself: “Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house.” A hand holds out “a scroll” written “on the front and back” with “words of lamentation, mourning, and woe.” Its contents are named before he eats it in Ezekiel 3:1.
Ezekiel 2:8
“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 unsavory contents that they should become, as it were, part of himself, so as to impart them the more vividly to his hearers.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
a hand reaching out to me: Ezekiel now sees a hand reaching out to him, holding a scroll. Gregory the Dialogist reads the scroll as the pages of Scripture given to the preacher. Chapter 3 shows what the prophet must do with it: eat it.
Ezekiel 2:9
“Was sent - Rather, was put forth. A roll of a book - The book was one of the ancient kind written on skins rolled up together. Hence, our English volume Psa 40:7. The writing was usually on one side, but in this case it was written within and without, on both sides, the writing as it were running over, to express the abundance of the calamities in store for the devoted people. To eat the book signifies to be thoroughly possessed with its contents (compare Eze 3:10; Jer 15:16).”
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 2:9
“Roll - Their books were not like ours, but written in parchment and in the length of it, and so one piece fastened to another, 'till the whole would contain what was to be written, and then it was wrapped or rolled about a round piece of wood, fashioned for that purpose.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
words of lamentation, mourning, and woe: The hand unrolled the scroll, which had writing on the front and the back. The words were lamentation, mourning and woe. Origen of Alexandria reads the three as the woe of those who perish, the mourning of those being saved, and the lamentation of those between.
Ezekiel 2:10
“I take it to be similar in the case of the book mentioned by Ezekiel, in which had been written lamentation, mourning and woe. The whole book contains the "woe" of those perishing, and the "mourning" of those being saved and the "lamentation" of those in between. John, too, who eats one roll on which there is writing on the back and the front, considered the whole Scripture as one book, which is thought to be sweet at the start, when one chews it, but bitter in the perception of each of those who come to know it.”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Commentary on the Gospel of John 5:7patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Ezekiel 2:10
“What could be more lamentable, more mournful, more woeful, than to see a holy happy people sunk into such a state of sin and misery as it appears by the prophecy of this book the Jews were at this time? Ezekiel echoes to Jeremiah's lamentations. Note, Though God is rich in mercy, yet impenitent sinners will find there are even among his words lamentations and woe.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Ezekiel 2:10
“It was written within and without - Contrary to the state of rolls in general, which are written on the inside only. The Hebrew rolls are generally written in this way. There are several of such Hebrew rolls before me, all written on the inside only, consisting of skins of vellum, or parchment, or basil, a sort of half-tanned sheep or goat skin, sewed together, extending to several yards in length. Other Asiatic books were written in the same way.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Keep studying
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Gregory the Dialogist, Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 9; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 5:7.