Eze 3:4 | KD | STEP | This consists in God's promise to give him power to overcome the difficulties of his vocation (vers. 4-9); in next transporting him to the place where he is to labour (vers. 10-15; and lastly, in laying upon him the responsibility of the souls entrusted to his charge (vers. 16-21). After Ezekiel had testified, by eating the roll which had been given him, his willingness to announce the word of the Lord, the Lord acquaints him with the peculiar difficulties of his vocation, and promises to bestow upon him strength to overcome them. — Ver. 4. And He said to me, Son of man, go away to the house of Israel, and speak with my words to them. Ver. 5. For not to a people of hollow lips and heavy tongue art thou sent, (but) to the house of Israel. Ver. 6. Not to many nations of hollow lips and heavy tongue, whose words thou dost not understand ; but to them have I sent thee, they can understand thee. Ver. 7. But the house of Israel will not hear thee, because they will not hear me ; for the whole house of Israel, of hard brow and hardened heart are they. Ver. 8. Lo, I make thy countenance hard like their countenances, and thy brow hard like their brow. Ver. 9. hike to adamant, horde)- than rock, do I make thy brow : fear not, and tremble not before them, for they are a stiff-necked race. — The contents of this section present a great similarity to those in ch. ii. 3-7, inasmuch as here as well as there the obduracy and stiff-neckedness of Israel is stated as a hindrance which opposes the success of Ezekiel's work. This is done here, however, in a different relation than there, so that there is no tautology. Here, where the Lord is sending the prophet, He first brings prominently forward what lightens the performance of his mission ; and next, the obduracy of Israel, which surrounds it with difficulty for him, in order at the same time to promise him strength for the vanquishing of these difficulties. Ezekiel is to speak, in the words communicated to him by God, to the house (people) of Israel. This he can do, because Israel is not a foreign nation with an unintelligible language, but possesses the capacity of understanding the words of the prophet (vers. 5-7), עַ֣ם שָׂפָה֙ עַמִּ֣ים, “a people of deep lips,” i.e. of a style of speech hollow, and hard to be understood ; cf. Isa 33:19. עִמְקֵ֤י שָׂ is not genitive, and עַ֣ם is not the status constructus , but an adjective belonging to עַ֣ם, and used in the plural, because עַ֣ם contains a collective conception. “And of heavy tongue,” i.e. with a language the understanding of which is attended with great difficulty. Both epithets denote a barbarously sounding, unintelligible, foreign tongue. The unintelligibility of a language, however, does not alone consist in unacquaintance with the meaning of its words and sounds, but also in the peculiarities of each nation's style of thought, of which language is only the expression in sounds. In this respect we may, with Coccejus and Kliefoth, refer the prophet's inability to understand the language of the heathen to this, that their manner of thinking and speaking was not formed according to the word of God, but was developed out of purely earthly, and even God-resisting factors. Only the exclusive prominence given by Kliefoth to this side of the subject is incorrect, because irreconcilable with the words, “many nations, whose words (discourse) thou dost not understand” (ver. 6). These words show that the unintelligibility of the language lies in not understanding the sounds of its words. Before אֶל־בֵּ֖ית יִשְׂ, in ver. 5, the adversative particle sed is omitted (cf. Ewald, § 354a) ; the omission here is perhaps caused by this, that אַתָּ֣ה שָׁל֑וּחַ, in consequence of its position between both sentences, can be referred to both. In ver. 6 the thought of ver. 5 is expanded by the addition of עַמִּ֣ים רַבִּ֗ים “many nations” with different languages, in order to show that it is not in the ability, but in the willingness, to hear the word of the Lord that the Israelites are wanting. It is not to many nations with unintelligible languages that God is sending the prophet, but to such men as are able to hear him, i.e. can understand his language. The second hemistich of ver. 6 is rendered by the old translators as if they had not read לֹ֤א after אִם, “if I sent thee to them (the heathen), they would hear thee.” Modern expositors have endeavoured to extract this meaning, either by taking אִם לֹ֤א as a particle of adjuration, profecto , “verily” (Rosenmüller, Hävernick, and others), or reading אם לֹ֤א as Ewald does, after Gen 23:13. But the one is as untenable as the other : against אִם־לֹ֤א stands the fact that לו is written with ו, not with א; against the view that it is a particle of adjuration, stands partly the position of the words before אֲלֵיהֶם֙ שְׁלַ, which, according to the sense, must belong to הטהישמ׳, partly the impossibility of taking שְׁלַחְתִּ֔יךָ conditionally after the preceding אִם־לֹ֤א. “If such were the case, Ezekiel would have really done all he could to conceal his meaning” (Hitzig), for אִם־לֹ֤א, after a negative sentence preceding, signifies “but;” cf. Gen. 24:38. Consequently neither the one view nor the other yields an appropriate sense. "If I had sent thee to the heathen," involves a repenting of the act, which is not beseeming in God. Against the meaning “profecto” is the consideration that the idea, “Had I sent thee to the heathen, verily they would hear thee,” is in contradiction with the designation of the heathen as those whose language the prophet does not understand. If the heathen spoke a language unintelligible to the prophet, they consequently did not understand his speech, and could not therefore comprehend his preaching. It only remains, then, to apply the sentence simply to the Israelites, “not to heathen nations, but to the Israelites have I sent thee,” and to take שׁמ֖עד as potential, “they are able to fear thee,” “they can understand thy words.” This in ver. 7 is closed by the antithesis “But the house of Israel will not hear tliee, because they will not hear me (Jehovah), as they are morally hardened.” With 7b, cf. , The Lord, however, will provide His prophet with power to resist this obduracy ; will lend him unbending courage and unshaken firmness, ver. 8 ; cf. Jer. 15:20. He will make his brow hard as adamant (cf. Zech 7:12), which is harder than rock ; therefore he shall not fear before the obduracy of Israel. צ֗ר, as in , =צ֗רך. As parallel passages in regard of the subject-matter, cf. and Jer 1:18.

‏ Ezekiel 3:4

Eze 3:4-21. The Sending op the Prophet. —

This consists in God's promise to give him power to overcome the difficulties of his vocation (vers. 4-9); in next transporting him to the place where he is to labour (vers. 10-15; and lastly, in laying upon him the responsibility of the souls entrusted to his charge (vers. 16-21). After Ezekiel had testified, by eating the roll which had been given him, his willingness to announce the word of the Lord, the Lord acquaints him with the peculiar difficulties of his vocation, and promises to bestow upon him strength to overcome them. — Ver. 4. And He said to me, Son of man, go away to the house of Israel, and speak with my words to them. Ver. 5. For not to a people of hollow lips and heavy tongue art thou sent, (but) to the house of Israel. Ver. 6. Not to many nations of hollow lips and heavy tongue, whose words thou dost not understand ; but to them have I sent thee, they can understand thee. Ver. 7. But the house of Israel will not hear thee, because they will not hear me ; for the whole house of Israel, of hard brow and hardened heart are they. Ver. 8. Lo, I make thy countenance hard like their countenances, and thy brow hard like their brow. Ver. 9. hike to adamant, horde)- than rock, do I make thy brow : fear not, and tremble not before them, for they are a stiff-necked race. — The contents of this section present a great similarity to those in ch. ii. 3-7, inasmuch as here as well as there the obduracy and stiff-neckedness of Israel is stated as a hindrance which opposes the success of Ezekiel's work. This is done here, however, in a different relation than there, so that there is no tautology.

Here, where the Lord is sending the prophet, He first brings prominently forward what lightens the performance of his mission ; and next, the obduracy of Israel, which surrounds it with difficulty for him, in order at the same time to promise him strength for the vanquishing of these difficulties. Ezekiel is to speak, in the words communicated to him by God, to the house (people) of Israel. This he can do, because Israel is not a foreign nation with an unintelligible language, but possesses the capacity of understanding the words of the prophet (vers. 5-7), עַ֣ם שָׂפָה֙ עַמִּ֣ים, “a people of deep lips,” i.e. of a style of speech hollow, and hard to be understood ; cf. Isa 33:19. עִמְקֵ֤י שָׂ is not genitive, and עַ֣ם is not the status constructus, but an adjective belonging to עַ֣ם, and used in the plural, because עַ֣ם contains a collective conception. “And of heavy tongue,” i.e. with a language the understanding of which is attended with great difficulty. Both epithets denote a barbarously sounding, unintelligible, foreign tongue. The unintelligibility of a language, however, does not alone consist in unacquaintance with the meaning of its words and sounds, but also in the peculiarities of each nation's style of thought, of which language is only the expression in sounds. In this respect we may, with Coccejus and Kliefoth, refer the prophet's inability to understand the language of the heathen to this, that their manner of thinking and speaking was not formed according to the word of God, but was developed out of purely earthly, and even God-resisting factors. Only the exclusive prominence given by Kliefoth to this side of the subject is incorrect, because irreconcilable with the words, “many nations, whose words (discourse) thou dost not understand” (ver. 6). These words show that the unintelligibility of the language lies in not understanding the sounds of its words. Before אֶל־בֵּ֖ית יִשְׂ, in ver. 5, the adversative particle sed is omitted (cf. Ewald, § 354a) ; the omission here is perhaps caused by this, that אַתָּ֣ה שָׁל֑וּחַ, in consequence of its position between both sentences, can be referred to both. In ver. 6 the thought of ver. 5 is expanded by the addition of עַמִּ֣ים רַבִּ֗ים “many nations” with different languages, in order to show that it is not in the ability, but in the willingness, to hear the word of the Lord that the Israelites are wanting. It is not to many nations with unintelligible languages that God is sending the prophet, but to such men as are able to hear him, i.e. can understand his language. The second hemistich of ver. 6 is rendered by the old translators as if they had not read לֹ֤א after אִם, “if I sent thee to them (the heathen), they would hear thee.” Modern expositors have endeavoured to extract this meaning, either by taking אִם לֹ֤א as a particle of adjuration, profecto, “verily” (Rosenmüller, Hävernick, and others), or reading אם לֹ֤א as Ewald does, after Gen 23:13. But the one is as untenable as the other : against אִם־לֹ֤א stands the fact that לו is written with ו, not with א; against the view that it is a particle of adjuration, stands partly the position of the words before אֲלֵיהֶם֙ שְׁלַ, which, according to the sense, must belong to הטהישמ׳, partly the impossibility of taking שְׁלַחְתִּ֔יךָ conditionally after the preceding אִם־לֹ֤א. “If such were the case, Ezekiel would have really done all he could to conceal his meaning” (Hitzig), for אִם־לֹ֤א, after a negative sentence preceding, signifies “but;” cf. Gen. 24:38. Consequently neither the one view nor the other yields an appropriate sense. "If I had sent thee to the heathen," involves a repenting of the act, which is not beseeming in God. Against the meaning “profecto” is the consideration that the idea, “Had I sent thee to the heathen, verily they would hear thee,” is in contradiction with the designation of the heathen as those whose language the prophet does not understand. If the heathen spoke a language unintelligible to the prophet, they consequently did not understand his speech, and could not therefore comprehend his preaching. It only remains, then, to apply the sentence simply to the Israelites, “not to heathen nations, but to the Israelites have I sent thee,” and to take שׁמ֖עד as potential, “they are able to fear thee,” “they can understand thy words.” This in ver. 7 is closed by the antithesis “But the house of Israel will not hear tliee, because they will not hear me (Jehovah), as they are morally hardened.” With 7b, cf. Jer 2:4, The Lord, however, will provide His prophet with power to resist this obduracy ; will lend him unbending courage and unshaken firmness, ver. 8 ; cf. Jer. 15:20. He will make his brow hard as adamant (cf. Zech 7:12), which is harder than rock ; therefore he shall not fear before the obduracy of Israel. צ֗ר, as in Ex 4:25, =צ֗רך. As parallel passages in regard of the subject-matter, cf. Isa 1:7 and Jer 1:18.