Ezekiel 2:6 - Meaning and Application

The prophet has now received his commission, and with it comes a charge. His calling is an honor, but it is also a task of service and hard work. He must carry it out with steady courage and firm resolve, and not be pushed away from his duty or slowed down by the trouble he will meet. “Son of man, do not be afraid of them” (Ezekiel 2:6). Those who want to serve God well must not live in fear of people, because fear of man becomes a trap and makes God’s work hard to carry out.

God first tells Ezekiel what kind of people he is being sent to. They are like briers and thorns, painful and troublesome in every direction. They scratch, tear, and wear down God’s servants, and they keep troubling them with their talk, just as the Pharisees did to Jesus with their questions (Matthew 22:15). Even the best among them is like a brier, and the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge (Micah 7:4). Thorns and briers came with sin and the curse, and they picture the hostility between the serpent’s seed and the woman’s seed. Wicked people, especially those who oppose God’s prophets and people, are like thorns because they hinder good work, choke good seed, and cause harm. Yet God can sometimes use them to correct and teach his people, as Gideon did with the men of Succoth (Judges 8:16). But their deeper character is worse still, they are like scorpions, venomous and harmful. Their sting is far worse than a thorn’s scratch.

What makes Ezekiel’s case even harder is that he lives among these scorpions. They are always around him, so he cannot feel safe or at ease in his own house. These bad people are his neighbors, and that gives them many chances to hurt him. God notices this, just as Christ told the angel of one church, “I know where you live, where Satan’s throne is” (Revelation 2:13). Ezekiel had been speaking with angels in vision, but when he came back to ordinary life, he found himself living among scorpions.

God also tells him how they will act toward him. They will try to frighten him with their looks and their words. They will threaten him, stare at him with scorn, and do all they can to shame him and push him aside. Their aim is to drive him away from being a prophet, or at least keep him from warning them about their sins and God’s judgments. If they cannot stop him, they will try to upset him and rob him of peace. They were already under judgment and had lost power, so they could only persecute him with looks and words. Still, they did persecute him. “You have spoken and done evil things as much as you could” (Jeremiah 3:5). If they had had more power, they would have done more harm. They were already in captivity and suffering for their rebellion, especially for the way they had treated God’s prophets, yet they were still unchanged. Even if a fool is crushed in a mortar, his foolishness does not leave him. Hard experiences alone do not humble or reform people unless God’s grace works with them. So, however cruel they may be, Ezekiel must not be afraid or discouraged. He must keep doing his work with confidence and cheer, trusting in God’s protection.

He must also be faithful. He is to speak God’s words to them. That is the honor of prophets, that they are trusted with God’s message. It is also their duty to hold tightly to that message and say nothing that does not agree with it. Ministers must always speak by that rule. He must be faithful not only to God who sent him, but also to the people to whom he is sent. Whether they listen or refuse, he must deliver the message exactly as he received it. He is not to shape the word to fit their likes or moods. They are deeply rebellious, but still he must speak God’s words to them, whether they welcome them or not. The stubbornness and unprofitableness of hearers is no good reason for ministers to stop preaching. We should not turn away from any opportunity to do good, even when we expect little response.

He must also pay close attention to his instructions. The book unrolled before him shows, in general, what he has been given to say. It was written on both sides, inside and outside, like a page covered all over. One side held the people’s sins, and the other held God’s judgments against those sins. God has much to say to a people when they have turned from him and become rebellious. The message was a sad one. It was full of lamentation, mourning, and woe. It would lead thoughtful hearers to cry out in grief, “Woe!” and “Alas!” Both the exposure of sin and the announcement of judgment are grounds for sorrow. Nothing could be more tragic than to see a holy and happy people sink into the kind of sin and misery shown in this book’s prophecy. Ezekiel’s message echoes Jeremiah’s lamentations. Even though God is rich in mercy, unrepentant sinners will find that some of his words are words of mourning and woe.

At last, the prophet is told plainly to listen carefully to what God says. “Son of man, hear what I say to you” (Ezekiel 2:8). Those who speak for God must first listen to God themselves and obey his voice. He must not be rebellious, meaning he must not refuse the assignment or avoid delivering the message. He must not turn aside, as Jonah did, out of fear of offending his countrymen.

"They are a rebellious house, among whom you live, but do not be like them. Do not join with them in anything evil." If ministers, who are appointed to correct sin, ignore it and give sinners comfort instead of warning them, they become partakers in the same guilt. They do this when they hide sin from people or fail to show them its deadly result, out of fear of angering them or losing favor. Even when people refuse to do what is right, ministers must still do their duty and rebuke sin. Then they can take comfort in having obeyed God, whatever the result, as that prophet said, "The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious" (Isaiah 50:5).

Even the best people, when they live in bad times and places, need to be warned against the worst sins. Ezekiel also had to take this message into his own heart by feeling its truth and power. So the Lord said, "Do not just listen to what I say. Open your mouth and eat what I give you." In other words, be ready to receive it, and receive it gladly and eagerly. All God’s children are willing to live from their heavenly Father’s hand and to accept whatever he gives them.

What God’s hand gave Ezekiel was a scroll, a written roll of a book, fully written and then rolled up. Divine revelation, God’s message to people, comes to us through Christ. He gave it to the prophets (Revelation 1:1). When we look at the scroll of God’s book, we must remember the hand that sent it to us. The one who brought it to the prophet unrolled it before him, so Ezekiel could take it in with full faith, understand what it said, and then make it his own. Christ says, "Do not be rebellious, but eat what I give you." If we do not receive what Christ appoints for us in his ordinances and providences, his appointed ways and his guiding acts in our lives, if we do not submit to his word and his discipline, and accept both, then we will be counted rebellious.