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CHAPTER 2
Ezekiel is called to take the word of the Lord to Israel—He sees a book in which lamentations and mourning are written. |
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1 AND he said unto me,
aSon of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto
thee.
2 And the aspirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me. |
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3 And he said unto me, Son of man, I
asend thee to the children of Israel, to a
brebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: they and
their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very
day.
4 For they are impudent children and astiffhearted. I do bsend thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD. 5 And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a arebellious house,) byet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them. |
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6 ¶ And thou, son of man,
abe not bafraid of them, neither be
afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou
dost cdwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their
words, nor be dismayed at their
looksa, though they be a rebellious house.
7 And thou shalt aspeak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious. 8 But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and aeat that I give thee. |
6a be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks The fear of man is real. We are so affected by what others may say or how others may react to us. This interactive response between people is natural. It is what causes some to do things that they would not do on their own. It is the peer presure that a group has upon an individual. King Zedekiah was so affected by the rulers, elders, princes of Israel that though he knew Jeremiah to be a prophet and spoke the true word of God, that he would forebear and do as the peer presure of the princes of Israle, its elders would so direct and influence him to do. It is the natural fear one has to stand and speak before people and even speak the word of God before men, fearing their reaction to what you would say, that they may reject you, verbally criticize and even as simply as to think ill toward you. In bearing a true witness before the would relative to God such is that fear that comes upon us which more often than not makes us not to speak. Fear not man, but fear God ought to be our moto which guides our actions and very word but we are weak beings of the flesh and such does effect us that we do not speak up though we may be in the right and upon the side of God. God help us all that we may be so strengthened to so speak and stand for him. | |
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9 ¶ And when I looked, behold, an hand
was sent unto me; and, lo, a aroll of a
bbook was therein;
10 And he spread it before me; and it was written awithin and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe. |
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