Visions of the Kingdom: Week 4

Ezekiel 3:15-27: The Duties of the Prophet

• 3:18 God holds Ezekiel reponsible for delivering the warnings he is given - not for the people's response.
• 3:20 "turns from his righteousness" - McGee sees a dispensation prior to the age of Grace. I see people falling away today, as does the writer of Hebrews. Hebrews 3:7-19
  "stumbling block" - God does not tempt us to evil James 1:13, but He does give us over to our sin to expose it.
• 3:23 "the glory of the LORD" - this is now the second appearance, and the appearance is now recognizable.
• 3:25 "tied with ropes" - while the usual interpretation is literal: his fellow captives tried to drag him out of the house, this doesn't fit with "so that you cannot go out".

  I think it is likely figurative as in 4:8. The message of Ezekiel and Jeremiah was very politically incorrect. Jeremiah was actually imprisoned under Jewish authority, but the captives did not have such autonomy under Babylonian rule. The social pressure would feel like ropes, and Ezekiel was unable to go out among them until the Spirit came upon him.

• 3:27 "whoever listens" - Jeremiah 6:17