Ezekiel 3

Ezekiel 1–3 forms the call narrative of the prophet Ezekiel. Chapter 3 picks up where Ezekiel 2 ends: the scroll held out to Ezekiel at the close of that chapter is now eaten.

Outline

• Verses 1–3 The One who addresses him as "Son of man" causes him to eat the scroll, and when Ezekiel eats it, it is as sweet as honey in his mouth.
• Verses 4–11 God sends him not to a people of a foreign tongue but to the house of Israel, who are hard of forehead and hardhearted. Because God has made Ezekiel's forehead like adamant, he is not to fear but is to speak, whether they hear or refuse to hear.
• Verses 12–15 The Spirit lifts Ezekiel up, and the sound of the living creatures' wings and of the wheels resounds loudly. He goes to the captives at Tel-abib by the river Chebar and sits among them astonished for seven days.
• Verses 16–21 God appoints him a watchman for Israel. If he fails to warn the wicked, or the righteous man who turns from his righteousness, God will require their blood at his hand.
• Verses 22–27 In the plain he again sees the glory he had seen by the river Chebar and falls on his face. He is commanded to go into his house and shut the door. People bind him with cords, and God makes his tongue cleave to the roof of his mouth. Yet when God speaks to him, God opens his mouth.

Key Verses

• Ezekiel 3:3 "And it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness" — portrays the prophet receiving the word and making it his own.
• Ezekiel 3:17 "I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel" — the best-known verse likening the prophet's responsibility to that of a watchman.
• Ezekiel 3:11 "Whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear" — summarizes the commission to proclaim regardless of the outcome.

Persons and Places

• Ezekiel — a prophet of priestly background who was taken into exile. God addresses him as son of man.
• Living creatures — the four living creatures that appear in Ezekiel 1. In Ezekiel 10 they are identified as cherubim.
• River Chebar and Tel-abib — the riverside where the Judeans exiled to Babylon lived, and the name of the settlement there.

Points for Reflection

• The scene of eating the scroll is echoed in Revelation 10, where John eats a little scroll that is sweet as honey in his mouth but bitter in his belly (Revelation 10:9–10).
• The watchman passage (vv. 17–21) is repeated almost verbatim at the beginning of Ezekiel 33.
• The statement in verse 20 that "a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness" and dies is frequently cited in discussions of whether salvation can be lost, and different traditions read it differently.
• The Calvinist tradition, which confesses the perseverance of the saints, tends to regard this person as only outwardly righteous, or to read the passage as a warning concerning temporal life and death.
• The Arminian and Wesleyan traditions tend to read it as a warning that one can actually fall from grace.
• Interpreters differ on the meaning of "dumb" in verse 26. Since verse 27 states that God opens his mouth when He speaks, some understand it not as total silence but as a restriction allowing him to speak only God's word. The opening of his mouth is recorded in Ezekiel 24 and Ezekiel 33:22.

In the Korean Church

The "watchman" passage (vv. 17–21) is frequently cited in sermons on the calling of pastors or the responsibility of evangelism.