*H And he said to me: Son of man, eat all that thou shalt find: eat this book, and go speak to the children of Israel.
Ver. 1. Eat this book, and go speak to the children of Israel. By this eating of the book, was signified the diligent attention and affection with which we are to receive and embrace the word of God; and to let it as it were, sink into our interior by devout meditation. Ch. — The revelation came from God. v. 10. W.
*H And I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that book:
Ver. 2. Book, in spirit; (C.) or in reality, he chewed the volume. H.
*H And he said to me: Son of man, thy belly shall eat, and thy bowels shall be filled with this book, which I give thee, and I did eat it: and it was sweet as honey in my mouth.
Ver. 3. Mouth. I readily accepted the commission, but soon found the difficulties to which it would expose me. v. 12. Jer. xv. 16. Apoc. x. 10.
* Footnote * Apocalypse 10 : 9
And I went to the angel, saying unto him that he should give me the book. And he said to me: Take the book and eat it up. And it shall make thy belly bitter: but in thy mouth it shall be sweet as honey.* Footnote * Apocalypse 10 : 10
And I took the book from the hand of the angel and ate it up: and it was in my mouth, sweet as honey. And when I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.*H Nor to many nations of a strange speech, and of an unknown tongue, whose words thou canst not understand: and if thou wert sent to them, they would hearken to thee.
Ver. 6. Unknown. Heb. "heavy." C. — Prot. "hard." H. — It is not above thy strength. Deut. xxx. 12. — To thee. He insinuates that the Gentiles would obey the apostles. S. Jer. — But the time was not yet come. C. — From this text and Mat. xi. 21. it appears that "the same grace" is accepted by some and rejected by others, as "more grace is added to the former, which was sufficient before, and by this...is made effectual" through God's mercy. Rom. ix. W. — Those who reject the first grace, can blame only themselves, if they receive no more. The same grace falling on a heat better prepared by God, like seed on good soil, is more fruitful.
*H But the house of Israel will not hearken to thee: because they will not hearken to me: for all the house of Israel are of a hard forehead and an obstinate heart.
Ver. 7. Hard. Lit. "rubbed" like a stone, or brass; attritâ. H. — God's ambassadors (Eph. vi. 20. C.) must do their utmost. H. — The success must not puff them up, nor the failure too much depressed them, as all regards God, (Mat. x. 40.) who will know how to make things conduce to his own glory. They must only bewail the blindness of sinners. C. — The care of them, and not the cure, will be required at their hands. v. 19. H.
*H Behold I have made thy face stronger than their faces: and thy forehead harder than their foreheads.
Ver. 8. Harder. If they will not blush, thou shalt not be ashamed to lay their disorders before their eyes, though they be such as ought not to be mentioned, as becomes saints. H. See C. xvi. and xxii. C.
*H And the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great commotion, saying: Blessed be the glory of the Lord, from his place.
Ver. 12. Spirit; wind (Hugo) or angel, took me through the air; (Prado.) or, I went willingly. S. Jer. — Commotion, like an earthquake, (Heb. Sept.) occasioned by the motion of the chariot, or the voice of the cherubim. v. 13.
*H The spirit also lifted me, and took me up: and I went away in bitterness in the indignation of my spirit: for the hand of the Lord was with me, strengthening me.
Ver. 14. Spirit, resolved to rebuke (C.) sinners. Sept. "the spirit of the Lord also lifted me...and I went aloft (like a meteor; μετεωρος ) by the impulse of my spirit; for the hand of the Lord upon me was strong; and I went loft, to the captivity, and passed through them...conversing in the midst of them." H.
*H And I came to them of the captivity, to the heap of new corn, to them that dwelt by the river Chobar, and I sat where they sat: and I remained there seven days mourning in the midst of them.
Ver. 15. The heap of new corn. It was the name of a place; in Hebrew, Telabib, (Ch.) as the Chal. leaves it (M.) with the three Greek interpreters. C. — Tel means "a heap," and abib "new corn." H. — There was no new wheat in the fourth month, but rather in May or June. C. i. 1. Ptolemy places Thelda near the Chaboras. — Mourning; or Prot. "astonished," like Job's friends, for people dead in sin. H. — Many suppose that he never spoke. Yet this is not certain, (v. 11. C.) though probable from v. 16. H.
*H Son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel: and thou shalt hear the word out of my mouth, and shalt tell it them from me.
Ver. 17. Watchman: the usual title of those placed over others. C. xxxiii. 2. Is. xxi. 6. Let none perish through thy neglect. C. — "He (the pastor) kills the man whom he delivers up to death by silence." S. Greg. hom. xi. 9.
*H Moreover if the just man shall turn away from his justice, and shall commit iniquity: I will lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die, because thou hast not given him warning: he shall die in his sin, and his justices which he hath done, shall not be remembered: but I will require his blood at thy hand.
Ver. 20. Iniquity, for want of thy instruction; (H.) or, if thou neglect to reclaim him, (C.) and he perish, or owe his conversion to another, when duty requires thee to take care of him, thou shalt answer for the possible bad consequences. Thy sin is great, whatever become of him. But if he be damned, though he must blame himself chiefly, yet the blood of his soul shall cry for vengeance more than Abel's. H. — Before him, taking away my grace in punishment of his revolt. W. — If thou neglect to attempt reclaiming him, thou shalt perish with him; (S. Greg.) or if he be exposed to trial, and thou abandon him, (Vat.) or if thou neglect to husband well the precious moments, when I open his eyes, and fill him with apprehensions of his dangerous state, I will require, &c. Orig. S. Jer. — Remembered. Ingratitude causes the fruits of virtue to decay, and former crimes to revive, in some sense. S. Tho. iii. p. q. 88. a. 1. Mat. v. 26. C.
*H But if thou warn the just man, that the just may not sin, and he doth not sin: living he shall live, because thou hast warned him, and thou hast delivered thy soul.
Ver. 21. Warn. It is the duty of a pastor to warn the just as well as sinners. W. — It will not suffice to do this publicly: sometimes we must go from house to house, like S. Paul, and compel those who are in the hedges to enter the marriage feast, by the most persuasive arguments. H.
*H And thou, O son of man, behold they shall put bands upon thee, and they shall bind thee with them: and thou shalt not go forth from the midst of them.
Ver. 25. Bands. It is uncertain whether by his order, or they supposed he was deranged, as our Saviour's brethren meant to treat him. Mar. iii. 21. The Chal. explains it figuratively of God's order, attaching the prophet to his service. C. — But real chains would more forcibly shew the future captivity of Juda (H.) which the prophet declared both by words and actions. C.
*H And I will make thy tongue stick fast to the roof of thy mouth, and thou shalt be dumb, and not as a man that reproveth: because they are a provoking house.
Ver. 26. House. "When there is a multitude of sins, (or sinners; peccatorum) the offenders are unworthy of being corrected by the Lord." S. Jer. — The prophet's silence might suffice to admonish them. C. — He heard the Lord's commands to C. xi. 24. before he spoke to the people. M.
*H But when I shall speak to thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: He that heareth, let him hear: and he that forbeareth, let him forbear: for they are a provoking house.
Ver. 27. Forbeareth. Sept. "disbelieveth, let him disbelieve." So we read, He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; (Apoc. xxii. 11.) which denotes the most desperate condition. H. — Aquila (2 edit.) has, "he who abandons, shall be abandoned." S. Jer. — The man who makes good use of grace shall receive more; but he who despises the offers of God, shall be justly deprived of them in his greatest need. C.