Wednesday Bible Study: The Complete Idiots Guide

Well, we have another tough one this week.  But it isn't really the verse in question that's tough;  it's the one BEFORE it.  We go this week to Ezekiel 3:16:

Eze 3:16  And at the end of seven days, the word of the LORD came to me: 

Now that seems easy:  Over and over we are taught to wait on the Lord.  Those that can do it are blessed; those that fail, like Saul, lose out.  So where are we with Ezekiel?  Well, we have to do quite a bit of backtracking to figure that out.

So the Book of Ezekiel starts out with him being with a certain group of the Babylonic exiles.  He is with the group at the Chebar canal, which if you are a history nut, is near the ancient sacred city of Nippur.  It is basically the main waterway of the area, or was, and I would guess this is like living in "a van under a bridge down by the river", if you catch the old Chris Farley reference.  Suddenly, he sees the glory of the Lord, and is transported by the Spirit into Heaven.  Now, here I might add that it is debated whether this was a physical transportation or a vision.  I'll let Paul handle that, in his description of his OWN trip.  From 2 Corinthians 12:

2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know--God knows.

Anyway he gets a commission from God, to preach to the exiles, and gets sent back to them, at which point he waits the seven days.  But that doesn't tell us enough; to learn from this verse, we have to look at the 2 preceding it:

Eze 3:14  The Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, the hand of the LORD being strong upon me. 

Eze 3:15  And I came to the exiles at Tel-abib, who were dwelling by the Chebar canal, and I sat where they were dwelling. And I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days. 

So there are two things to examine here.  What means, I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit?  Well, the commentators actually had two ways of looking at this- but to get to them, I'm going to backtrack again.  You see, in the instructions God gives Ezekiel in the vision/visitation, He makes two things clear to him.  The first is- most of these people are NOT going to listen to him.  He would have an easier time going to the gentiles, who don't even speak the same language, than to these people.  If you ever wonder why WE can read the prophets and see Jesus and the Jews CAN'T, well, this is why.  The second thing God makes clear is, He's going to make Ezekiel just as hard and stubborn in delivering the message as the Jews are in not listening.  It will be a contest of who breaks first.

So now, he is sent back to the people, and he's angry.  Most of the commentators believe this is the righteous indignation aroused by God's anger at their sins, and he's ready to really let them have it in God's name.  But one lone commentator takes another tack, and that was John Gill:

and I went in bitterness; full of trouble and sorrow, that the Lord was departing from the temple; that his people had been guilty, of such crimes they had, and were such an impudent, and hardhearted people they were; and that such judgments were coming upon them he had seers written in the roll, full of lamentations, mourning, and woe: 

in the heat of my spirit; the Targum and Vulgate Latin render it, "in the indignation of my spirit"; his spirit was hot and angry, he was froward and unwilling to go on the errand, to prophesy sad and dismal things to his people: 

I think, though, that Gill was mistaken here.  His description sounds more like Jonah- and Jonah hitched a ride on a ship out of town when he was in that state of mind.  No, I think Ezekiel was "loaded for bear" and was ready to let loose both barrels, when he got put back there in v 15.

The second thing, which I believe kinda answers the first, is what means And I sat there overwhelmed?  I looked up this word in two spots, the Hebrew and the Greek.  And the Greek gave me a different insight.  You see, this is another one that different Bibles translated different ways.  From benign translations such as "Behaving in their midst" (Apostolic) and "conversant in the midst of them" (Brenton's Septuagint), to the amazed such as "full of wonder" (1965 Basic English) and "shocked" (multiple examples), to "mourning", "astonished", "overwhelmed", and even "appalled".  But if you look at what that Septuagint version actually says in Greek, you get a pair of words that basically are "up" and "twisted"

I think this means that, when he returned to them, ready to just chew them out, he looked around and saw their sorry state- and became confused.  They were back to being what they were before he left- suffering, orphans without a Father and a home.  They were sympathetic figures, and he had a message of wrath to give them.

For me, that sounds familiar.  One gets on SM, and is ready to chew out the first idiot that crosses one's path.  But then you stop and remember- they might be heading for hell, and you might be the first "Jesus" they meet.  And when Ezekiel hit this, he gave him seven days to get his mind wrapped around it.  And that leads us to the next part in understanding all this, a few verses farther down the way:

Eze 3:24  But the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and he spoke with me and said to me, "Go, shut yourself within your house. 

Eze 3:25  And you, O son of man, behold, cords will be placed upon you, and you shall be bound with them, so that you cannot go out among the people. 

Eze 3:26  And I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be mute and unable to reprove them, for they are a rebellious house. 

Eze 3:27  But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD.' He who will hear, let him hear; and he who will refuse to hear, let him refuse, for they are a rebellious house. 

So now let's backtrack this as well.  When the seven days were up, God explained another depth to the assignment, one he needed now that he was seeing them both as objects of wrath AND human beings needing saved.  That was the concept of responsibility.  If you speak to them and they listen, they will be saved.  If you speak to them and they reject you, they will be liable for their own souls, but you are off the hook.  And if you REFUSE to speak to them, you are just as blood-guilty as they are.  The Great Commission in 6th Century BC Babylon.

Realizing this was all a bit rough to take in, God led Ezekiel into a nearby valley, where he saw the Glory of the Lord just as he had at the beginning.  But this time, the message he got was vv24-27 above.  Much of the commentator's discussion on these verses were whether they were literal or not.  I believe, from reading them and looking at the situation, we need to see them this way, looking at the 4 parts I boldfaced.

1-  If he is going to be successful, he cannot keep himself in his heart with them.  He has to "shut himself up" with God, and bring them in.  Having sympathy for them does no good if it keeps you from preaching that message of wrath.

2- The things they do, you can't be joining in with.  This ties into Sunday Message from a few days back.  If you are "with" them, you will compromise your message.

3- This is the part of the "SM" I mentioned before.  You don't GET to go out and tell them they are a bunch of idiots, even when everything inside you is screaming, "IDIOT IDIOT IDIOT!!!"

4- When it is time to make your statement, it needs to be GOD'S statement.  The complete idiots guide to witnessing, 6th Century BC Babylon edition.

So basically, the whole story is about God COMPLETELY equipping Ezekiel to be his "Watchman"- from the exact message, the way it would be received, the difference between his way and God's way, how to deal with the emotions of the thing, to the manner of delivery, right through to what happens if you refuse the assignment.

And believe me, this was NOTHING close to what I was thinking this was going to be when I started.  If I have ever had an example of, "But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth", you have just read it.