diff --git a/content/bible_journal/ezekiel_3:1-15.md b/content/bible_journal/ezekiel_3:1-15.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6b3f663 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/bible_journal/ezekiel_3:1-15.md @@ -0,0 +1,43 @@ ++++ +title = "Ezekiel 3:1–15" +date = "2023-03-07" ++++ + +### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Ezekiel3.1-15) + +As we learned last time, the Lord expects Ezekiel to eat this scroll of +judgement. Since this is in a vision, he probably didn't physically eat +anything, especially as doing so allowed him to speak the words on the scroll +to the people. However, I am a little curious what it looked and felt like to +him. Did it shrink so he could fit it all in one bite, or did he have to chew +it? Once he does eat it, he tells us that it tasted as sweet as honey. This is +clearly a similar passage to Revelation 10, where John also receives a scroll +to eat, which gives him the authority to speak prophecy to the world. John's +scroll is also sweet in his mouth, but is bitter in his stomach. I believe the +sweetness represents the ease with which he can speak the words. It feels good +to obey the Lord, and though the words are of lamentation and woe, Ezekiel is +rewarded for saying them. + +Again the Lord reiterates that Ezekiel is to speak the words to Israel, his own +people. He already knows the language and the culture, but if he was sent to a +different people, they would listen more easily than the stubborn Israelites. +He then makes a play on Ezekiel's name by saying that Ezekiel's face and +forehead will be stronger and harder than Israel's. In Hebrew, Ezekiel means +"God makes strong, hardens". Therefore, he is to be more stubborn than they in +preaching God's word to them, whether they listen or not. + +With this, Ezekiel is dismissed, but before the vision ends, he hears the +mighty voice of God's throne and the beings that make it up blessing God's +glory. Get this: the sound of the wings of the living creatures brushing +against each other formed the words, as did the sound of the wheels. God's +glory is so majestic that incidental sounds praise Him. + +Ezekiel is carried away by the Spirit back to the Chebar canal, in "bitterness +in the heat of my spirit". That's probably the same bittereness John felt after +he ate his scroll. He is so overwhelmed by his experience that he sits and +processes it for seven days. + +* * * + +Worthy are You to be praised by all that You have created, in heaven, on earth, +and under the earth.