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Ezekiel Eats the Scroll
Ezekiel 3:1–15 shows God preparing Ezekiel to speak a hard message. The passage moves from eating the scroll, to being sent to Israel, to being strengthened for resistance, and finally to arriving among the exiles in silence.
Understanding the passage
The setting of this message
In this passage, Ezekiel is addressed as “son of man” and told to eat a scroll, receive God’s words, and speak them to the house of Israel. The people are described as obstinate and hard-hearted. The Spirit then lifts Ezekiel and brings him to the captives at Tel Aviv by the river Chebar.
Ezekiel 3:1–15Main takeaway
God gives Ezekiel his words to receive deeply and to speak faithfully, even when people may refuse to listen.
Explore the message
01Ezekiel must take in God’s messageGod tells Ezekiel to eat the scroll and then go speak to Israel. Ezekiel opens his mouth, receives the scroll, and eats it fully.
Explanation
God tells Ezekiel to eat the scroll and then go speak to Israel. Ezekiel opens his mouth, receives the scroll, and eats it fully. It is sweet as honey in his mouth. The picture shows that God’s message must first be received by the messenger before it is spoken to others.
02He is sent to his own peopleEzekiel is sent to the house of Israel to speak God’s words. He is not being sent to people whose language he cannot understand.
Explanation
Ezekiel is sent to the house of Israel to speak God’s words. He is not being sent to people whose language he cannot understand. Yet the passage says Israel will not listen to Ezekiel because they will not listen to God. Their problem is not language but an obstinate, hard-hearted response.
03God makes Ezekiel firmBecause the people are resistant, God makes Ezekiel’s face hard against their faces and his forehead hard against theirs.
Explanation
Because the people are resistant, God makes Ezekiel’s face hard against their faces and his forehead hard against theirs. His forehead is described as like a diamond, harder than flint. This is not about harshness in his own message, but courage so he will not be afraid or dismayed before a rebellious house.
04Receive, speak, and goEzekiel is told to receive God’s words in his heart and hear them with his ears. Then he must go to the captives, his own people, and say, “This is what the Lord Yahweh says,” whether they hear or refuse.
Explanation
Ezekiel is told to receive God’s words in his heart and hear them with his ears. Then he must go to the captives, his own people, and say, “This is what the Lord Yahweh says,” whether they hear or refuse. The prophet’s task is faithful speaking, not controlling the response.
05The Spirit carries Ezekiel to the exilesThe Spirit lifts Ezekiel up as he hears a great rushing, the sound of the living creatures’ wings and the wheels.
Explanation
The Spirit lifts Ezekiel up as he hears a great rushing, the sound of the living creatures’ wings and the wheels. He goes in bitterness and with the heat of his spirit, while Yahweh’s hand is strong on him. Reaching the captives at Tel Aviv by the Chebar, he sits overwhelmed among them for seven days.
Questions to explore
01What might the sweet scroll show about Ezekiel’s relationship to God’s message before he speaks it?
Notice that Ezekiel must eat the scroll and fill himself with it before he is told again to go and speak God’s words.
02Why does the passage say Israel’s difficulty is deeper than simply understanding words?
Compare the references to strange speech with the reason given for why Israel will not listen.
03What does Ezekiel’s arrival and seven days of silence add to the weight of his calling?
Look at the Spirit carrying him, his bitterness, Yahweh’s strong hand, and his being overwhelmed among the captives.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Ezekiel 3:1–15
1He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.”
2So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat the scroll.
3He said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll that I give you and fill your belly and your bowels with it.” Then I ate it. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth.
4He said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel, and speak my words to them.
5For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel—
6not to many peoples of a strange speech and of a hard language, whose words you can’t understand. Surely, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you.
7But the house of Israel will not listen to you, for they will not listen to me; for all the house of Israel are obstinate and hard-hearted.
8Behold, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads.
9I have made your forehead as a diamond, harder than flint. Don’t be afraid of them, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.”
10Moreover he said to me, “Son of man, receive in your heart and hear with your ears all my words that I speak to you.
11Go to them of the captivity, to the children of your people, and speak to them, and tell them, ‘This is what the Lord Yahweh says,’ whether they will hear, or whether they will refuse.”
12Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great rushing, saying, “Blessed be Yahweh’s glory from his place.”
13I heard the noise of the wings of the living creatures as they touched one another, and the noise of the wheels beside them, even the noise of a great rushing.
14So the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away; and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; and Yahweh’s hand was strong on me.
15Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel Aviv who lived by the river Chebar, and to where they lived; and I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days.