‘And when I looked, behold, a hand was put forth to me, and lo, a roll of a book was in it. And he spread it before me, and it was written on both sides (‘within and without'), and there was written in it lamentations, and mourning, and woe.'
The scroll was handed over by a mysterious hand, possibly one of the hands of the living creatures (Ezekiel 1:8), or even the hand of the One Whose appearance was like that of a man (Ezekiel 1:26). Normally a scroll would be made of papyrus or leather, but this was a heavenly scroll in vision. We do not know what it was made of. ‘And he spread it before me.' A decisive and demanding action that required it to be read at once.
‘And it was written on both sides.' Normally a scroll would only have writing on one side. This was to indicate that it was overfull and that what was contained in it would be of overflowing measure.
‘And there was written in it lamentations, and mourning, and woe.' The message it contained was an unpalatable one. It presaged misery to come. And indeed for Ezekiel the next few years would be full of that message. Before building up hope he was first to proclaim the certainty of overflowing judgment. This would result in cries and groaning, weeping, and disasters and judgments. It was only after that that he would be able to offer hope.