Ezekiel 2King James Version
God speaks to Ezekiel. 'Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation.' He is told not to be afraid of their words or their looks. A hand stretches out to him holding a scroll, written on both sides with lamentations, mourning, and woe.
God addresses Ezekiel as 'son of man' and sends him to a rebellious nation that has defied God for generations. He is not promised a receptive audience. God hands him a scroll covered in laments, mourning, and woe, and commands him to eat it before going to speak to Israel. The call is unconditional: speak whether they listen or refuse.
A prophet's job is not to succeed but to show up: Ezekiel is sent to a people who may not hear him, and faithfulness means speaking anyway.
5: "Whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them." Results are not the measure of obedience.
593 BC, by the Chebar canal. The elders of Judah still sit before Ezekiel, waiting to hear what God will say about Jerusalem's fate. They want reassurance. What Ezekiel will bring them instead is a scroll full of lament.
The LORD who commissions; Ezekiel, called 'son of man' throughout the book; the house of Israel described as impudent, stiffhearted, and serially rebellious.
The phrase 'son of man' appears over 90 times in Ezekiel, always as God's address to the prophet. It underlines the gap between the divine speaker and the human receiver. The commissioning pattern here echoes Isaiah and Jeremiah but is starker: no promise of success, only the command to speak.
For when you have said the true thing and no one received it. The chapter names that dynamic from the start and says: speak it anyway. Your job is not the outcome.
1And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee.
2And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me.
3And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day.
4For they are impudent children and stiffhearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD.
5And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them.
6And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.
7And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious.
8But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee.
9And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein;
10And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.