Ezekiel 2:1 to Ezekiel 3:15. The Call. Ezekiel 2:1-7. The awful silence is broken by a voice from the Almighty upon His throne, bidding the prostrate prophet rise and accept his commission for service; for it is a work and not an inactive prostration that God and the world need. Into the phrase son of man, which occurs nearly 100 times in the book, Ezekiel throws his sense of his own frailty in contrast with the majesty of God as illustrated by the vision of the previous chapter. The service which he feels himself Divinely summoned to render is to declare the message of God in the first instance a message of doom (Ezekiel 2:10) to his people: a doom justified by the infidelity which they had shown from the beginning of their national history up to that very moment, and which had already swept into exile those whom he was immediately addressing. The prophet is under no illusions: they are a rebellious house, hard-faced and stubborn-hearted, and it is more than likely that they will not listen, though they are free to hear or forbear, as they please: they will be as briers and thorns, symbols of the opposition and persecution the prophet may expect to encounter (some emend these words in Ezekiel 2:6 to mean, they will resist and despise thee). There will be every temptation to refuse to embark upon so perilous a course, to rebel in one way as the people had rebelled in another: but he is to go on without flinching or fear to speak the word that would be given him, and the sequel would show them that he had been a true prophet, Divinely inspired.
Ezekiel 2:1-7
1 And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee.
2 And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me.
3 And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nationa that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day.
4 For they are impudentb children and stiffhearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD.
5 And 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.
6 And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briersc 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.
7 And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious.