6 `And thou, son of man, thou art not afraid of them, yea, of their words thou art not afraid, for briers and thorns are with thee, and near scorpions thou art dwelling, of their words thou art not afraid, and of their faces thou art not affrighted, for they `are' a rebellious house,
Their best one `is' as a brier, The upright one -- than a thorn-hedge, The day of thy watchmen -- Thy visitation -- hath come. Now is their perplexity.
`And thou, thou dost gird up thy loins, and hast arisen, and spoken unto them all that I command thee: be not affrighted because of them, lest I affright thee before them.
lo, I give to you the authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and on all the power of the enemy, and nothing by any means shall hurt you;
I -- I `am' He -- your comforter, Who `art' thou -- and thou art afraid of man? he dieth! And of the son of man -- grass he is made!
As to the worthless -- As a thorn driven away `are' all of them, For -- not by hand are they taken; And the man who cometh against them Is filled with iron and the staff of a spear, And with fire they are utterly burnt In the cessation.'
`And now, Lord, look upon their threatenings, and grant to Thy servants with all freedom to speak Thy word,
And out of the smoke came forth locusts to the earth, and there was given to them authority, as scorpions of the earth have authority, and it was said to them that they may not injure the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but -- the men only who have not the seal of God upon their foreheads, and it was given to them that they may not kill them, but that they may be tormented five months, and their torment `is' as the torment of a scorpion, when it may strike a man; and in those days shall men seek the death, and they shall not find it, and they shall desire to die, and the death shall flee from them.
but if ye also should suffer because of righteousness, happy `are ye'! and of their fear be not afraid, nor be troubled,
by faith he left Egypt behind, not having been afraid of the wrath of the king, for, as seeing the Invisible One -- he endured;
and not terrified in anything by those opposing, which to them indeed is a token of destruction, and to you of salvation, and that from God;
and in behalf of me, that to me may be given a word in the opening of my mouth, in freedom, to make known the secret of the good news,
and Peter and John answering unto them said, `Whether it is righteous before God to hearken to you rather than to God, judge ye;
And beholding the openness of Peter and John, and having perceived that they are men unlettered and plebeian, they were wondering -- they were taking knowledge also of them that with Jesus they had been --
`And be not afraid of those killing the body, and are not able to kill the soul, but fear rather Him who is able both soul and body to destroy in gehenna.
And yet I have been full of power by the Spirit of Jehovah, And of judgment, and of might, To declare to Jacob his transgression, And to Israel his sin.
And Amaziah priest of Beth-El sendeth unto Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, `Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words, for thus said Amos: By sword die doth Jeroboam, And Israel certainly removeth from off its land.' And Amaziah saith unto Amos, `Seer, go flee for thee unto the land of Judah, and eat there bread, and there thou dost prophesy; and `at' Beth-El do not add to prophesy any more, for it `is' the king's sanctuary, and it `is' the royal house.' And Amos answereth and saith unto Amaziah, `I `am' no prophet, nor a prophet's son `am' I, but a herdsman I `am', and a cultivator of sycamores, and Jehovah taketh me from after the flock, and Jehovah saith unto me, Go, prophesy unto My people Israel. And now, hear a word of Jehovah: thou art saying, Do not prophesy against Israel, nor drop `any thing' against the house of Isaac, therefore thus said Jehovah: Thy wife in the city doth go a-whoring, And thy sons and thy daughters by sword do fall, And thy land by line is apportioned, And thou on an unclean land diest, And Israel certainly removeth from off its land.'
And there is no more to the house of Israel A pricking brier, and paining thorn, Of all round about them -- despising them, And they have known that I `am' the Lord Jehovah.
and thy tongue I cause to cleave unto thy palate, and thou hast been dumb, and art not to them for a reprover, for a rebellious house `are' they. And in My speaking with thee, I do open thy mouth, and thou hast said unto them: Thus said the Lord Jehovah; the hearer doth hear, and the forbearer doth forbear; for a rebellious house `are' they.
`Lo, I have made thy face strong against their face, and thy forehead strong against their forehead. As an adamant harder than a rock I have made thy forehead; thou dost not fear them, nor art thou affrighted before them, for a rebellious house `are' they.'
And they say, Come, And we devise against Jeremiah devices, For law doth not perish from the priest, Nor counsel from the wise, Nor the word from the prophet, Come, and we smite him with the tongue, And we do not attend to any of his words.
All of them are turned aside by apostates, Walking slanderously -- brass and iron, All of them are corrupters.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Ezekiel 2
Commentary on Ezekiel 2 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Call of Ezekiel to the Prophetic Office - Ezekiel 2:1 and Ezekiel 2:2. Upon the manifestation of the Lord follows the word of vocation. Having, in the feeling of his weakness and sinfulness, fallen to the ground before the terrible revelation of Jehovah's glory, Ezekiel is first of all raised up again by the voice of God, to hear the word which calls him to the prophetic function. - Ezekiel 2:1. And He said to me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, I will speak with thee. Ezekiel 2:2 . Then came spirit unto me as He spake unto me, and it placed me on my feet, and I heard Him speaking unto me. - The address בּן־אדם occurs so frequently in Ezekiel, that it must be regarded as one of the peculiarities of his prophecies. Elsewhere it occurs only once, Daniel 8:17. That it is significant, is generally recognised, although its meaning is variously given. Most expositors take it as a reminder of the weakness and frailness of human nature; Coccejus and Kliefoth, on the contrary, connect it with the circumstance that God appears to Ezekiel in human form, and find in it a τεκμήριον amicitiae , that God speaks in him as man to man, converses with him as a man with his friend. This last interpretation, however, has against it the usus loquendi . As בּן־אדם denotes man according to his natural condition, it is used throughout as a synonym with אנושׁ , denoting the weakness and fragility of man in opposition to God; cf. Psalms 8:5; Job 25:6; Isaiah 51:12; Isaiah 56:2; and Numbers 23:19. This is the meaning also of בּן־אדם in the address, as may be distinctly seen from the various addresses in Daniel. Daniel is addressed, where comfort is to be imparted to him, as אישׁׁ חמדות , “man greatly beloved,” Daniel 10:11, Daniel 10:19, cf. Daniel 9:23; but, on the contrary, in Ezekiel 8:17, where he has fallen on his face in terror before the appearance of Gabriel, with the words, “Understand, O son of man,” in order to remind him of his human weakness. This is also the case in our verse, where Ezekiel, too, had fallen upon his face, and by God's word spoken to him, is again raised to his feet. It is only in Ezekiel that this address is constantly employed to mark the distance between the human weakness of his nature and the divine power which gives him the capacity and the impulse to speak. Not, however, with the design, mentioned by Jerome on Daniel 8:17, “that he may not be elated on account of his high calling,” because, as Hävernick subjoins, Ezekiel's extremely powerful and forcible nature may have needed to be perpetually reminded of what it is in reality before God. If this were the meaning and object of this address, it would also probably occur in the writings of several of the other prophets, as the supposition that the nature of Ezekiel was more powerful and forcible than that of the other prophets is altogether without foundation. The constant use of this form of address in Ezekiel is connected rather with the manner and fashion in which most of the revelations were imparted to him, that is, with the prevalence of “vision,” in which the distinction between God and man comes out more prominently than in ordinary inspiration or revelation, effected by means of an impression upon the inner faculties of man. The bringing prominently forward, however, of the distance between God and men is to remind the prophet, as well as the people to whom he communicated his revelations, not merely of the weakness of humanity, but to show them, at the same time, how powerfully the word of God operates in feeble man, and also that God, who has selected the prophet as the organ of His will, possesses also the power to redeem the people, that were lying powerless under the oppression of the heathen, from their misery, and to raise them up again. - At the word of the Lord, “ Stand upon thy feet ,” came רוּח into the prophet, which raised him to his feet. רוּח here is not “life consciousness” (Hitzig), but the spirit-power which proceeds from God, and which is conveyed through the word which imparted to him the strength to stand before the face of God, and to undertake His command. מדּבּר , partic. Hithpa ., properly “ collocutor ,” occurs here and in Ezekiel 43:6, and in Numbers 7:89; elsewhere, only in 2 Samuel 14:13.
The calling of the prophet begins with the Lord describing to Ezekiel the people to whom He is sending him, in order to make him acquainted with the difficulties of his vocation, and to encourage him for the discharge of the same. Ezekiel 2:3 . And He said to me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to the rebels who have rebelled against me: they and their fathers have fallen away from me, even until this very day. Ezekiel 2:4 . And the children are of hard face, and hardened heart. To them I send thee; and to them shalt thou speak: Thus says the Lord Jehovah. Ezekiel 2:5 . And they - they may hear thee or fail (to do so); for they are a stiff-necked race - they shall experience that a prophet has been in their midst. Ezekiel 2:6 . But thou, son of man, fear not before them, and be not afraid of their words, if thistles and thorns are found about thee, and thou sittest upon scorpions; fear not before their words, and tremble not before their face; for they are a stiff-necked race. Ezekiel 2:7 . And speak my words to them, whether they may hear or fail (to do so); for they are stiff-necked.