Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Ezekiel
Book: Ezekiel
Chapter: 3
Overview:
The preparation of the
Prophet for his work.
(1-11) His
office, as that of a watchman.
(12-2) The restraining and
restoring his speech.
(22-27)
1-11 Ezekiel was to receive the truths of
God as the
Food for
his soul, and to feed upon them
By Faith, and he would be
strengthened. Gracious souls can receive those truths of
God
with delight, which speak terror to the wicked. He must speak
all that, and that only, which
God spake to him. How can we
better speak
God's mind than with his words? If disappointed as
to his people, he must not be offended. The Ninevites were
wrought upon
By Jonah's preaching, when
Israel was unhumbled and
unreformed. We must leave this unto the Divine
Sovereignty, and
say,
Lord, thy judgments are a great
Deep. They will not regard
the
Word of the
Prophet, for they will not regard the rod of
God.
Christ promises to strengthen him. He must continue
Earnest
in preaching, whatever the success might be.
12-21 This mission made the holy angels rejoice. All this was
to convince
Ezekiel, that the
God who sent him had power to
Bear
him out in his work. He was overwhelmed with grief for the sins
and miseries of his people, and overpowered
By the
Glory of the
Vision he had seen. And however retirement, meditation, and
Communion with
God may be sweet, the servant of the
Lord must
prepare to serve his
Generation. The
Lord told the
Prophet he
had appointed him a watchman to the
House of
Israel. If we warn
the wicked, we are not chargeable with their ruin. Though such
passages refer to the national
Covenant made with
Israel, they
are equally to be applied to the final state of all men under
every
Dispensation. We are not only to encourage and comfort
those who appear to be righteous, but they are to be warned, for
many have grown high-minded and secure, have fallen, and even
died in their sins. Surely then the hearers of the
Gospel should
desire warnings, and even reproofs.
22-27 Let us own ourselves for ever indebted to the mediation
of
Christ, for the blessed intercourse between
God and
Man; and
a true believer will say, I am never less alone than when thus
alone. When the
Lord opened
Ezekiel's mouth, he was to deliver
his message boldly, to place
Life and
Death, the blessing and
the
Curse, before the people, and leave them to their choice.