Ezekiel 3:22 - Meaning and Application

After all the great and glorious revelation God had given the prophet, along with the full instructions for his mission, we would expect Ezekiel to begin preaching to a large crowd of Israel right away. But the story goes in a very different direction. At first, his work seems much smaller than the greatness of his calling.

First, we find him withdrawn for more teaching. His reluctance to go suggests that he was not fully persuaded of how well God could support him in the task. So, to strengthen him for the hardships ahead, God gives him another vision of his glory. That vision, if anything could, would put life into him and stir him up for his work. God calls him out to the plain (Ezekiel 3:22), and there he will speak with him. Notice and admire God’s kindness in talking so freely with a man, a mere son of man, a poor captive, and even a sinful man who had gone out in bitterness and was, at that moment, unhappy with his work. We should also remember that we owe this blessed fellowship between God and people, between heaven and earth, to the mediation of Christ, that is, Christ’s role as the one who brings us to God.

This also shows the value of being alone with God. Solitude helps serious thought. It is a great comfort to be alone with God, away from the world, to hear from him and speak to him. A good person can truly say he is never less alone than when he is with God like this. Ezekiel went into the plain more willingly than he had gone among the captives (Ezekiel 3:15), because those who know God’s nearness will naturally prefer it to ordinary talk with the world, especially the kind most people offer. There, in the plain, he saw the same vision he had seen by the river Chebar, because God is not limited to one place. Those who follow God will meet his comforts wherever they go.

God called Ezekiel out to speak with him, but he did more than that. He showed him his glory (Ezekiel 3:23). We are not to expect such visions now, but we still receive no lesser favor if, by faith, we behold the glory of the Lord and are changed into the same image by the Spirit of the Lord. This honor belongs to all his people (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Second, we see him held back from more public teaching for the time being. When Ezekiel saw this glory, he fell on his face, struck with awe at God’s majesty and fear of his displeasure. But the Spirit entered into him, raised him up, and he stood on his feet to hear what the Spirit would say to him. This is surprising. We might have expected God to send him at once to the main gathering place, win him favor with his fellow captives, and make both him and his message welcome. We might have expected a wider door of opportunity and boldness in speaking. Instead, God says the opposite.

Rather than sending him to a public assembly, God tells him to stay at home: “Go, shut yourself inside your house” (Ezekiel 3:24). He had not wanted to appear in public, and when he did appear, the people did not honor him as they should. So God’s command serves as a fitting rebuke both to him and to them, to him for being withdrawn from them, and to them for their coldness toward him. Our own choice often becomes our punishment. It is right for God to remove teachers to the side when they, or their people, or both, become careless about solemn gatherings.

Some think Ezekiel was to shut himself in as a sign that Jerusalem would also be shut in during the siege, which he describes in the next chapter. He was also to stay in his house so he could receive further knowledge from God and gather more to say when he went back out. Later, the elders of Judah visited him and sat before him in his house at times (Ezekiel 8:1), but he did not speak to the captives all that the Lord had shown him until later (Ezekiel 11:25). Those called to preach must make time for study, and plenty of it. They often need to shut themselves in, so they can give themselves to reading and meditation, and so their progress may be seen by all.

Instead of gaining favor with those to whom he was sent, God tells him they will put ropes on him and bind him (Ezekiel 3:25). This may mean they would treat him as a criminal, fastening him so they could punish him further as a troublemaker. They were already in Babylon because they had persecuted the prophets, yet even there they kept on persecuting them. More likely, they would treat him as a madman, since they took his intense actions during his visions as signs of insanity. Jehu was once asked, “Why did this madman come to you?” Festus told Paul, “You are out of your mind,” and the Jews said the same of the Lord Jesus (Mark 3:21). This may be why Ezekiel had to remain indoors, because otherwise they would bind him on the excuse that he was crazy.

Instead of opening his mouth to praise God, God makes him silent, and his tongue sticks to the roof of his mouth, so that he is mute for a time (Ezekiel 3:26). The faithful captives in Babylon had used this as a curse on themselves, saying that if they ever forgot Jerusalem, their tongue should cling to the roof of their mouth (Psalm 137:6). Ezekiel remembers Jerusalem better than any of them, and yet his tongue is made still. The one who could speak best is forbidden to speak at all. The reason is that they are a rebellious house, and they are not worthy to have him as a rebuker. He is not to keep giving them warnings and instruction, because all such words are lost on them.

He had already been told to speak boldly because they were so rebellious (Ezekiel 2:7). But since that would do no good, he is now told to be silent for the same reason. People whose hearts are hardened against correction justly lose the help that might correct them. Why should the reprover keep speaking if, after many attempts, the people only grow more deaf? If Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone. If Ezekiel must be dumb, it means he would otherwise be reproving them. If he could speak at all, he would still bear witness against wickedness. But when God speaks with him, and when God chooses to speak through him, then God will open his mouth (Ezekiel 3:27).

Note this: though God may keep his prophets silent for a while, there will come a time when he gives them speech again. And when God speaks to his ministers, he does more than open their ears so they can hear what he says. He also opens their mouths so they can give an answer.

Moses, who wore a veil over his face when he came down to the people, took it off when he went back up to God (Exodus 34:34). In the same way, God’s servant may be shut up for a time, then given freedom to speak again.

God does not promise Ezekiel success every time he speaks to the people. Instead, he leaves that matter uncertain. Ezekiel must not trouble himself over what the outcome will be. Whether people listen or refuse, the message must be delivered.

Let the one who hears, hear, and enjoy the good of it, for his soul will live. But the one who refuses, let him refuse at his own risk and bear the result. If you scorn the warning, you alone will suffer for it. Neither God nor his prophet will lose by it. The prophet will still be rewarded for faithfully warning the sinner, and God will show the rightness of his justice in judging the one who will not take the warning.