Eat this scroll

Ezekiel 2:8-3:11 TNIV

But you, son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not rebel like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you.”

Then I looked, and I saw a hand stretched out to me. In it was a scroll, which he unrolled before me. On both sides of it were written words of lament and mourning and woe.

And he said to me, “Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the house of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat.

Then he said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.

He then said to me: “Son of man, go now to the house of Israel and speak my words to them. You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and strange language, but to the house of Israel— not to many peoples of obscure speech and strange language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you. But the house of Israel is not willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to me, for the whole house of Israel is hardened and obstinate. But I will make you as unyielding and hardened as they are. I will make your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious house.”

And he said to me, “Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart all the words I speak to you. Go now to your people in exile and speak to them. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says,’ whether they listen or fail to listen.”


My thoughts -

Do we consume the words of God? Do we eat them up? Do they taste sweet like honey to us?

A couple of other things: Ezekiel was being sent, with this word, to a people with whom it should have been a common text. He was given the word of God for the people of God. This was not a message for their captors, this was a message for the people of Israel.

We like to use God's word as a weapon against non-believers. In this instance the word is for believers, or at least for those who should be believers, God's chosen people. Ezekiel has consumed the word. He has taken it on as a part of himself. He is that intimately familiar with it. And he has an obligation to obey it, even to absurd lengths (see later in Ezekiel - the Lord asks him to do some rather interesting things).

After Ezekiel has consumed the word and obeyed God then it can be used to reprimand and to exhort God's people to return to God and to follow the ways of the Lord. And Ezekiel is obligated to speak God's word whether the people listen or not.

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