Ezekiel 2
COMMENTARY:
: 2 And the Spirit entered into me when HE spoke to me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard HIM that spoke to me. (935 “entered” [bow] means come in, to come upon, to come or go into whether literally or figuratively, gather in, or lead in.)
DEVOTION: Here we find Ezekiel under the influence of the Holy Spirit listening to HIM as HE spoke to him. The Holy Spirit was active in both the Old Testament and the New Testament in the lives of believers.
Ezekiel was a servant of the LORD that was used of the LORD to communicate the truth from the LORD to the children of Israel. All of the servants of the LORD are supposed to be available to listen to the Holy Spirit to learn the truth from the LORD about their given situations.
Today we have the Bible and as we study the it we can come under the influence of the teaching of the Bible and learn what our actions should be in any given situation.
Our prayer life is involved as well as our study of the Bible. So as we learn to come under the influence of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit we can live a life that is pleasing to the LORD.
If we receive a message from the LORD through the ministry of the Holy Spirit we can move forward in our growth toward a walk with the LORD that is pleasing in HIS sight. If we are living in this type of life we will make good decisions that will be pleasing to the LORD.
The children of Israel listened to the Holy Spirit at time and at other times they didn’t listen and those where the times when things didn’t go well with them. It even happens today when we are not listening to the teaching of the Word of God.
CHALLENGE: Are we listening to the Holy Spirit as we study the Word of God? The only one who knows this fact is you as an individual. Many times, the children of Israel didn’t listen and sad to say many times today’s believers are not listening as well.
: 4 For they are impudent children and stiffhearted. I do send you to them; and you shall say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD. (7186 “impudent” [qasah] means unyielding, stubbornness, strong resistance, harden, stiffnecked, obstinate, hard of face, pertaining to being obdurant (stubborn) and not changing an attitude or behavior.)
DEVOTION: Here we find Ezekiel getting the message of his calling to be a prophet in the midst of the children of Israel who are in captivity because of sin. Chapter one introduces his first vision of God.
Now this message is given with a warning that he was speaking to a very rebellious people. They were stubborn. They were hardhearted. They didn’t want to hear what the LORD had to say to them.
Ezekiel was to not water down his message. He was not to be afraid of their faces. He was not to be concerned about how they looked at him. He was just to give them the message that the LORD had given him.
He was warned not to be rebellious himself. He was given a roll to eat that had lamentations, mourning and woes written on it. That was his message to them.
We are to eat the Word of God up in our daily meditations. Meditation means to “chew the cud” like a cow does with its food. Once we have chewed on the Word of God for our own personal life, then we are to share what we have learned with others.
Some will listen but most will not. Our responsibility is to learn and share. Their responsibility is to listen to what the LORD has given us to say to them.
We are learners who need to teach others. HE feeds us, so that, we can feed others. Each of us is maturing in our understanding of the Word of God. Some mature faster than others. Those who mature faster are held accountable for what they have learned.
Let us share what we have learned with others. Let us not worry about what they might think of us. Let us not be afraid to share the truths of the Word of God with our world. Each person we have in our world needs to know more about the Word of God.
CHALLENGE: Once we become a believer, we are to share the message of the LORD with all we come in contact with on a daily basis. The LORD doesn’t want us to rebel against HIS teachings. Share your faith.
: 6 And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thrones be with you, and you do dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. (6440 “looks” [paniym] means face, presence, countenance, person, or surface.)
DEVOTION: Ezekiel is given a message from the LORD to give to the people who are in captivity in Babylon. The people are disheartened. The people might even be angry with the LORD for sending them into captivity even though HE warned them it was coming. They just didn’t want to stop what they were doing and repent and follow the LORD.
Now they are in captivity and the LORD still wants to show them that HE cares. HE gives a warning to Ezekiel that these people are going to try to frighten him away from the message he has from the LORD. They are not only going to not listen to him but they are going to say bad things about Ezekiel because he is trying to bring the true words of God to the people. There are still false prophets in captivity that will give all those who are faithful to the LORD a hard time.
It will seem to Ezekiel that everyone wants a piece of his flesh. The LORD conveys in HIS message that it will seem like he is working among plants that have thorns or briers. It will seem like everyone around him wants to sting him to get him away from them.
Finally, he is not to be afraid of their face. Most of us like individuals to give us a good facial expression when we are talking with them. Here we find that the faces of the people are going to express their desire for him to go away.
Most of us know how to read faces. We know if someone wants to listen to us or if they are distracted by other things or individuals. It is hard to carry on a conversation with someone who is disinterested in what we are saying. Their face shows their attitude and emotions. Some are able to hide it for a while but it comes out eventually.
Our ministry is to people who don’t want to hear what we have to say because we are giving them the message of the Word of God. We only want to convey the truth that is found in HIS Word.
Like the children of Israel in Ezekiel’s day didn’t want to hear his message from the LORD, those people around us don’t want to hear the message of salvation through Christ alone.
CHALLENGE: Remember that the LORD has not given us the spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind. Memorize II Timothy 1: 7 in your translation of the Bible and put it into practice daily.
: 8 But you, son of man, hear what I say to you; Be not you rebellious like that rebellious house: open your mouth, and eat that I give you. (398 “eat” [’akal] means devour, consume, to take in solid food, dine or have sensation of taste.)
DEVOTION: The LORD is giving Ezekiel a warning. HE is warning Ezekiel that he was not to be like the rest of the nation. He was to be different. He was to not be rebellious. He was to open his mouth and state what the LORD had told him to say.
When the cows eat their food they can put it in compartments and chew on their food for a long time. We are to do the same thing with the Word of God. The LORD wants us to consume the Word of God. Food takes a long time to go through our system. Each day we can consume more food and let our system digest it.
People who want to pretend to read the Word of God to understand but just do it to say they have read the Bible then they are lying to themselves. They are acting like those who lived around Ezekiel. They thought they were willing to study the Word of God but when it came down to it they really didn’t want to allow the Word of God to change them.
God wants HIS Word to energize us each day. Just like eating breakfast, lunch and dinner throughout a day we need to chew on the Word of God each day and allow it to feed us in our understanding regarding how we are to act for God that day.
Our memory might not be good but with a good diet of the Word of God we can allow the words to come to a point where we can repeat it in our daily life.
The warning to Ezekiel and us is the same. We are not to be rebellious like the Israelites. We are not to allow ourselves to stop obeying the commands of the LORD. If we do we will not grow in the LORD. We will have to be disciplined by the LORD for our actions. The children of Israel were and many others have had to be disciplined because of their lack of following the LORD.
CHALLENGE: Are we having a good meal in the Word of God daily? Is it giving us strength to face the challenges the LORD allows in our lives?
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