The commissioning continues. Ezekiel had to eat the scroll. The message he had to give was not to be mere words, but was to be a part of him. When we listen to someone preach we can usually tell the difference between someone who is just giving information, and someone who is preaching about what God has put inside them. The word tasted sweet to Ezekiel.
Ezekiel was being sent to a people who really ought to have been ready listen and respond to the word, for they understood the language. More importantly they had been created by God and brought up in His ways for centuries. Yet this was not to be the case. Ezekiel would have had an easier job going to speak to a foreign nation. Jesus experienced the same, and indeed the gospel did find a readier audience among the Gentiles.
The problem was not the upbringing or cultural background of the people, but the condition of their hearts. We do well to remember this, for our natural inclination is always to look at the outside, to judge be appearances, but this rarely tells the whole truth.
Ezekiel would find the people obstinate, God's response to this was to make Ezekiel even more unyielding. He did the same when commissioning Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1). God can equip us to be able to handle anything. Ezekiel had to ensure that he continued to pay close attention to God's words.
The vision then seems to come to an end, and there is a rumbling as the vision departs. Ezekiel went in the bitterness and anger of his spirit. This probably refers to him empathising with God at the state of the people.
The Tel Aviv of verse 15 is a place in Babylon, not the modern Israeli city. Ezekiel sat among the people observing, and was distressed at what he saw. So we see that Ezekiel identifies with the heart of God, and sees what the people are really like.
Ezekiel was being sent to a people who really ought to have been ready listen and respond to the word, for they understood the language. More importantly they had been created by God and brought up in His ways for centuries. Yet this was not to be the case. Ezekiel would have had an easier job going to speak to a foreign nation. Jesus experienced the same, and indeed the gospel did find a readier audience among the Gentiles.
The problem was not the upbringing or cultural background of the people, but the condition of their hearts. We do well to remember this, for our natural inclination is always to look at the outside, to judge be appearances, but this rarely tells the whole truth.
Ezekiel would find the people obstinate, God's response to this was to make Ezekiel even more unyielding. He did the same when commissioning Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1). God can equip us to be able to handle anything. Ezekiel had to ensure that he continued to pay close attention to God's words.
The vision then seems to come to an end, and there is a rumbling as the vision departs. Ezekiel went in the bitterness and anger of his spirit. This probably refers to him empathising with God at the state of the people.
The Tel Aviv of verse 15 is a place in Babylon, not the modern Israeli city. Ezekiel sat among the people observing, and was distressed at what he saw. So we see that Ezekiel identifies with the heart of God, and sees what the people are really like.
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