Ezekiel 3 · The Lantern

And He saith unto me, `Son of man, that which thou findest eat, eat this roll, and go, speak unto the house of Israel.'

And I open my mouth, and He causeth me to eat this roll.

And He saith unto me, `Son of man, thy belly thou dost feed, and thy bowels thou dost fill with this roll that I am giving unto thee;' and I eat it, and it is in my mouth as honey for sweetness.

(Verse 3.) Your stomach will eat; and your bowels will be filled with that volume which I give to you. LXX: Your mouth will eat, and your stomach will be filled with that chapter given to you. The beginning of the reading, and of a simple story, is the essence of this volume.

Honey can be understood as the explicit teaching of wisdom, whereas the comb can represent that known to be stored in the depth, as it were, of the cells. Undoubtedly both are found in the divine Scriptures. They added "to my mouth," for they were indeed proclaiming with their mouths the wisdom that they had swallowed with their throats.

Let us consider, my dearest brothers, how gracious is that promise by which it is said: "Your belly shall eat, and your bowels shall be filled with this scroll which I give you." For many read, and from that very reading they remain hungry. Many hear the voice of preaching, but after the voice they depart empty.

And He saith unto me, `Son of man, go, enter in unto the house of Israel, and thou hast spoken with My words unto them.

(Verse 5, 6.) For you are not being sent to the people of deep and difficult language, to the house of Israel, nor to many people of unknown language, whose language you cannot understand. And if I were to send you to them, they would listen to you. Because they do not want to come to you, you go to them.

Here he clearly shows the distinction between apostolic and prophetic labors. Prophets have committed to them the responsibility of only one race, from which they were to have arisen and whose native language they knew. Apostles … have all the nations and peoples of the world entrusted to them, according to the command of the Lord.

"And he said to me: Son of man, go to the house of Israel, and you shall speak my words to them." In that the Lord says to the prophet, "You shall speak my words to them," what else does He do but place a bridle of restraint upon his mouth, lest he presume to speak outwardly what he has not first heard inwardly?

For, not unto a people deep of lip and heavy of tongue art thou sent--unto the house of Israel;

not unto many peoples, deep of lip and heavy of tongue, whose words thou dost not understand. If I had not sent thee unto them--they, they do hearken unto thee,

but the house of Israel are not willing to hearken unto thee, for they are not willing to hearken unto Me, for all the house of Israel are brazen-faced and strong-hearted.

`Lo, I have made thy face strong against their face, and thy forehead strong against their forehead.

As an adamant harder than a rock I have made thy forehead; thou dost not fear them, nor art thou affrighted before them, for a rebellious house are they.'

And He saith unto me, `Son of man, all My words, that I speak unto thee, receive with thy heart, and with thine ears hear;

and go, enter in unto the Removed, unto the sons of thy people, and thou hast spoken unto them, and hast said unto them: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: whether they hear, or whether they forbear.'

And lift me up doth a spirit, and I hear behind me a noise, a great rushing--`Blessed is the honour of Jehovah from His place!' --

Did you see how great is the holy dread in heaven and how great the arrogant presumption here below? The angels in heaven give him glory; these heretics on earth carry on meddlesome investigations. In heaven they honor and praise him; on earth we find curious busybodies.

And concerning the Cherubim it is written that they were yoked unto a chariot, and while their faces looked downwards, the motions of their spiritual natures were directed whither was the Most High, and they likewise were crying out, "Blessed be the honour of the Lord from His country." And spiritual beings stand in this service, and the hosts and ranks of heaven are obedient u…

But why do we linger on these matters, we who are able, by the Lord's bounty, to understand these words of the prophet through another and more subtle sense, and to speak more clearly?

even a noise of the wings of the living creatures touching one another, and a noise of the wheels over-against them, even a noise of a great rushing.

And a spirit hath lifted me up, and doth take me away, and I go bitterly, in the heat of my spirit, and the hand of Jehovah on me is strong.

And I come in unto the Removed, at Tel-Ahib, who are dwelling at the river Chebar, and where they are dwelling I also dwell seven days, causing astonishment in their midst.

And it cometh to pass, at the end of seven days,

that there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying, `Son of man, a watchman I have given thee to the house of Israel, and thou hast heard from My mouth a word, and hast warned them from Me.

Therefore we are most anxious that you be persuaded not to be misled by such persons, since we know that every one who can speak the truth, and yet speaks it not, shall be judged by God, as God testified by Ezekiel, when He said, "I have made thee a watchman to the house of Judah.

Sometimes when we preach, our sermons seem rather harsh to many, and what we speak about as a rule is taken by some as if it were produced from a hard attitude. For they say, "how severely and bitterly the bishop has preached!" not knowing that for bishops speaking is more a matter of obligation than of desire.

It should be noted that He whom the Lord sends to preach, He declares to be a watchman. For he to whom the care of others is committed is called a watchman, so that he may sit in the height of the mind and draw the meaning of his name from the power of his action. For he is not a watchman who is in the lowest place.

In My saying to the wicked: Thou dost surely die; and thou hast not warned him, nor hast spoken to warn the wicked from his wicked way, so that he doth live; he--the wicked--in his iniquity dieth, and his blood from thy hand I require.

It is of the greatest importance that the superior [in a religious community] be convinced that if he fails to offer his brother the proper guidance, he will draw on himself heavy and inescapable wrath, for his blood will be required at his hands.

You have frequently heard in the holy Scriptures in what great danger bishops are placed, if they are unwilling to carry out what the apostle urges on them.… But when we reprove someone, if the person we reprove is bad, he fixes his attention on the one he is being reproved by and happily and more readily acknowledges what has to be put right in his reprover than in himself.

In these words, what should we note, what should we carefully consider, except that the subject does not die because of the fault of the superior, nor is the superior without fault when, not hearing the words of life, the subject dies by his own fault?

And thou, because thou hast warned the wicked, and he hath not turned back from his wickedness, and from his wicked way, he in his iniquity dieth, and thou thy soul hast delivered.

For even though the soil which we cultivate bring forth no fruit, if we have shown all industry, the Lord of it and of us will not suffer us to depart with disappointed hopes, but will give us a recompense; for, says St. Paul, "Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor," not according to the event of things.

If he does this, he goes out from there, not by physical withdrawal but defended by his behavior; he has done what he had to do, even if the other person did not heed the warning he should have heeded.

For then your subject dies without you, when in the cause of death he has endured you as one who does not speak against it. For you are joined to the death which you do not oppose. And it should be noted what things ought to be preached by the watchman, namely faith and works.

`And in the turning back of the righteous from his righteousness, and he hath done perversity, and I have put a stumbling-block before him, he dieth; because thou hast not warned him, in his sin he dieth, and not remembered is his righteousness that he hath done, and his blood from thy hand I require.

(Verse 20, 21.) But even if a righteous person turns away from their righteousness and commits iniquity, I will set a stumbling block before them. They shall die because you did not warn them; in their sin they shall die, and their righteous deeds shall not be remembered; but I will require their blood from your hand.

Thus it happens that all things are changed, pass away and perish. No one considers anyone more base than himself or more lowly than God. If there is a time at which anyone can legally place God second to his blood and marriage relatives, there is no time in which God must lawfully be placed ahead of them.

Because the preacher remained silent toward the just man who fell into sin, he is held guilty of his blood. And he who did not strive to be diligent in preaching has become a participant in damnation.

And thou, because thou hast warned him--the righteous--that the righteous sin not, and he hath not sinned, he surely liveth, because he hath been warned; and thou thy soul hast delivered.'

And there is on me there a hand of Jehovah, and He saith to me, `Rise, go forth to the valley, and there I do speak with thee.'

And I rise and go forth unto the valley, and lo, there the honour of Jehovah is standing as the honour that I had seen by the river Chebar, and I fall on my face.

And come into me doth a spirit, and causeth me to stand on my feet, and He speaketh with me, and saith unto me, `Go in, be shut up in the midst of thy house.

`And thou, son of man, lo, they have put on thee thick bands, and have bound thee with them, and thou goest not forth in their midst;

"And look, they will bind you with chains and fetters." That is, the chains that will bind him, so that he might not go out and walk among them, are the Babylonians who encircle Jerusalem and its inhabitants and prevent them from going out and coming in.

(Verse 25, 26.) And you, son of man: behold, chains have been placed upon you, and they will bind you with them, and you shall not go out from among them, and I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth (or throat), and you shall be mute, not speaking as a man who reproaches them: for the house is rebellious.

"And you, son of man, behold, chains have been placed upon you, and they shall bind you with them, and you shall not go out into their midst." If we follow these words through the order of typological exposition, the prophet receives bonds in his house and is bound, because in the last days, when Judea shall have believed, she will experience the most grievous persecutions in t…

and thy tongue I cause to cleave unto thy palate, and thou hast been dumb, and art not to them for a reprover, for a rebellious house are they.

And in My speaking with thee, I do open thy mouth, and thou hast said unto them: Thus said the Lord Jehovah; the hearer doth hear, and the forbearer doth forbear; for a rebellious house are they.

Ezekiel3