Ezekiel 3
v.3
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.
The sweetness in the mouth denoted that it was good to be a messenger of the Lord (compare the margin reference), but the bitterness which accompanied it, denoted that the commission brought with it much sorrow.
The words on the scroll must be internalized. They are also empowering in much the same way that God’s touching Jeremiah’s mouth empowered him to speak his prophecies (Jer 1:9).
Only the poor in spirit are willing to consume the bread of life without a preference of taste, for they are better off dead without having it.
Before beginning his ministry, Ezekiel was to symbolize his complete acceptance of the Lord’s message by eating the scroll. The nature of the message he would proclaim was written on the scroll: funeral dirges, mournings, and lamentations. Certainly not a joyous note on which to begin. But even when the ministry would seem difficult and distasteful, the Lord would cause his word to be as sweet as honey.
v.17
“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me.
See more in Spurgeon on Ezekiel 3 17 Ezekiel3 v 17.
v.18
When I say to a wicked man ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.
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.
This passage anticipates the great moral principle of divine government Ezekiel 18 that each man is individually responsible for his own actions, and will be judged according to these and these alone.
v.19
But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself.
v.20
“Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die. Since you did not warn him, he will die for his sin. The righteous things he did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.
It is true that God tempts no man in order to his destruction, but in the course of His Providence He permits men to be tried in order that their faith may be approved, and in this trial some who seem to be righteous fall.
v.26
I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be silent and unable to rebuke them, though they are a rebellious house.
See Barnes on Revelation 2 24 Revelation2 v 24.
v.27
But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you shall say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’ Whoever will listen let him listen, and whoever will refuse let him refuse; for they are a rebellious house.