©1997 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
6. Against Egypt (29:1) 10 10/12 January 7 587 7. Against Tyre, Egypt (29:17) 27 1/1 April 26 571 8. Against Pharaoh (30:20) 11 1/7 April 29 587 9. Against Pharaoh (31:1) 11 3/1 June 21 587 10. Lament for Pharaoh (32:1) 12 12/1 March 3 585 11. Pharaoh to Sheol (32:17) 12 ?/15 ? 586/585 12. Refugee report on Fall of Jerusalem (33:21) 12 10/5 January 8 585 13. Vision of Future Temple Begins (40:1) 25 1/10 April 28 573 ©1997 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
EZEKIEL—NOTE ON 2:5 The people cannot plead ignorance.
EZEKIEL—NOTE ON 2:6 briers and thorns . . . scorpions. Cf. 3:7, 9; 22:29. These are figures of speech God used to describe the people of Judah whose obstinate rejection of his word was like the barbs of thorns and stings of scorpions to Ezekiel. The wicked were often so called (cf. 2 Sam. 23:6; Song 2:2; Isa. 9:18).
EZEKIEL—NOTE ON 2:8 open your mouth and eat. Ezekiel was to obey the command, not literally eating a scroll (vv. 9–10), but in a spiritual sense by receiving God's message so that it became an inward passion. Cf. also 3:1–3, 10 and Jer. 15:16.
EZEKIEL—NOTE ON 2:10 writing on the front and on the back. Scrolls were normally written on one side only, but this judgment message was so full it required all the available space (cf. Zech. 5:3; Rev. 5:1) to chronicle the suffering and sorrow that sin had brought, as recorded in Ezek. 2–32.
EZEKIEL—NOTE ON 3:1–3 Eat this scroll . . . Then I ate. God's messenger must first internalize God's truth for himself, then preach it.
EZEKIEL—NOTE ON 3:3 as honey. Even though the message was judgment on Israel, the scroll was sweet because it was God's word (cf. Ps. 19:10; 119:103) and because it vindicated God in holiness, righteousness, glory, and faithfulness, in which Jeremiah also delighted (Jer. 15:16). Bitterness also was experienced by the prophet (Ezek. 3:14) in this message of judgment confronting Judah's rebellion (v. 9). The apostle John records a similar bittersweet experience with the word of God in Rev. 10:9–10.
EZEKIEL—NOTE ON 3:7 Cf. John 15:20.