C. Ezekiel’s Call and Commissioning (2:1-3:27)

It was immediately clear that God was in charge of the situation. By referring to Ezekiel here and throughout the book as “son of man” (Heb. ben 'adam; see introduction), God clearly indicated his sovereignty, not only over Ezekiel but over all humanity. Here was no room for a buddytype relationship with God as is so common in Christian circles today. When God said, “Stand up,” Ezekiel could not debate or refuse. All he could do was obey.

Continuing with the same commanding voice, God carefully laid out the task before Ezekiel. There was no glossing over of the difficulty of the commission laid on Ezekiel. The difficult, indeed, the virtually impossible task was bluntly described in detail. The people may have been rebellious and stubborn, but still God said, “You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen” (2:7). God calls and sends not because it is easy or because he promises success, but because there is a message to share, a job to be done. Even the scroll that was handed to Ezekiel reflected the difficulty of his mission. While scrolls normally were written on one side only, this scroll was written on both sides, so many and terrible were the words of God’s judgment that Ezekiel was to proclaim.

The command to eat the scroll means that Ezekiel was to make God’s message of judgment his own. The honey taste was not a literal sensation to his mouth but was “only a typically emblematic and allegorical affirmation of the objective ‘sweetness’ of that most precious commodity, obedience to the divine imperative” (Rosenberg, 197, italics mine). He had come to know, in the words of the song, “the sweet will of God.”

In 3:4-11 God not only restated Ezekiel’s commission but also specified that the message of divine judgment was only for the house of Israel and not for Babylon (v.5). While he was to go to his countrymen in exile and speak to them (v.11), one may assume that any word of warning and judgment he would give would apply to the people still back in Judah. Again, Ezekiel was reminded that he had no option whether the people listened or not. They may be hard-hearted, but he was to be even more stubborn and hardheaded (v.9).

In five places in his writing Ezekiel says, “The Spirit lifted me up” (3:12, 14; 8:3; 11:1, 24; 43:5), but only here in vv.12, 14 was there a mixture of physical movement to a place and vision. The other four are movement within a vision. He was taken from the site of the great vision of ch. 1 and came to the exiles who lived at Tel Aviv. The name is a Babylonian term meaning “Mound of the Flood.” He sat among them overwhelmed (“dumbfounded,” neb) for a period of seven days. What a model for us who cannot sit quietly for an hour in ordinary times, to say nothing of times of crisis. No wonder God cannot get through to us.

At the end of the seven days of silence, God laid on Ezekiel the awesome responsibility of being a watchman for the house of Israel (3:17). Every ancient city had its sentries who were responsible for the safety and protection of its people. Ezekiel was to be responsible for both the wicked and the righteous, to persuade the wicked to turn to righteousness and to warn the righteous of the dangers of wickedness. Each Christian also stands in that unenviable and often difficult circle of influence within which friends and family may be turned from sin or patiently warned of falling into sin.

By means of another vision (33:23) similar to that in ch. 1, God concluded his commissioning of Ezekiel. He was to shut himself in his house as one bound and silenced by the rejection and repulsion of the people who stubbornly resisted his message. In God’s good timing, however, he would release Ezekiel to speak the divine word of judgment. What a difference between God’s timing and ours and the success of any enterprise.