Ezekiel 2:1-3:3 - The Call of the Prophet and the Scroll

Summary

God calls and commissions Ezekiel with a divine word for Israel. As a part of this, in a vision God gives the prophet a scroll to eat.

Analysis

The passage actually begins with 1:28. The prophet hears a voice calling him and is filled with the Holy Spirit. God sends Ezekiel to the people in exile, and he must speak the words that God gives him. The Lord tells him not to be afraid, but to prophesy "whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house" (v. 7). In a vision, Ezekiel sees God hand him a scroll filled with words of doom: "lamentation and mourning and woe." These words which God puts inside of the prophet he must deliver to Israel. The scroll tastes sweet, because this is the word of the Lord (compare Psalm 119:103).