And however retirement, meditation, and communion with God may be sweet, the servant of the
Lord must prepare to serve his generation. The Lord told the prophet he had appointed him a
watchman to the house of Israel. If we warn the wicked, we are not chargeable with their ruin.
Though such passages refer to the national covenant made with Israel, they are equally to be applied
to the final state of all men under every dispensation. We are not only to encourage and comfort
those who appear to be righteous, but they are to be warned, for many have grown high-minded
and secure, have fallen, and even died in their sins. Surely then the hearers of the gospel should
desire warnings, and even reproofs.
Ezek. 3:22-27 Let us own ourselves for ever indebted to the mediation of Christ, for the blessed
intercourse between God and man; and a true believer will say, I am never less alone than when
thus alone. When the Lord opened Ezekiel's mouth, he was to deliver his message boldly, to place
life and death, the blessing and the curse, before the people, and leave them to their choice.
Chapter 4
The siege of Jerusalem. (Ezek. 4:1-8) The famine the inhabitants would suffer. (Ezek. 4:9-17)Ezek. 4:1-8 The prophet was to represent the siege of Jerusalem by signs. He was to lie on his
left side for a number of days, supposed to be equal to the years from the establishment of idolatry.
All that the prophet sets before the children of his people, about the destruction of Jerusalem, is to
show that sin is the provoking cause of the ruin of that once flourishing city.
Ezek. 4:9-17 The bread which was Ezekiel's support, was to be made of coarse grain and pulse
mixed together, seldom used except in times of urgent scarcity, and of this he was only to take a
small quantity. Thus was figured the extremity to which the Jews were to be reduced during the
siege and captivity. Ezekiel does not plead, Lord, from my youth I have been brought up delicately,
and never used to any thing like this; but that he had been brought up conscientiously, and never
had eaten any thing forbidden by the law. It will be comfortable when we are brought to suffer
hardships, if our hearts can witness that we have always been careful to keep even from the
appearance of evil. See what woful work sin makes, and acknowledge the righteousness of God
herein. Their plenty having been abused to luxury and excess, they were justly punished by famine.
When men serve not God with cheerfulness in the abundance of all things, God will make them
serve their enemies in the want of all things.
Chapter 5
A type of hair, showing the judgments about to come upon the Jews. (Ezek. 5:1-4) These awful
judgments are declared. (Ezek. 5:5-17)