Post by Lee on Sept 8, 2014 0:53:58 GMT
H. R.—The explanation of Ezek. 33:22 (which speaks of the prophet being on a particular day “no more dumb”) is to be found in the earlier part of Ezekiel’s prophecy. God, in calling him to be a prophet, informed him he was sending him to a rebellious nation, who would not listen to him (see chapters 2. and 3.), and that as a way of giving emphasis to the messages he would have to deliver, he must “go shut himself up in his house,” and not speak, except when the Spirit should speak to him. This would have been very difficult for Ezekiel by merely natural power. Therefore God would enable him. “I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth that thou shalt be dumb and shalt not be to them a reprover: for they are a rebellious house. But when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God” (3:24–27). This state of things was to last till the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. Ezekiel was thus to be a sign—a striking sign certainly—a man subject to supernatural dumbness from which he was released only during the temporary intervals of inspiration. When Jerusalem should fall, Ezekiel would return to the normal state (24:27). Ezekiel was not a resident of Jerusalem, but a dweller among the captives who had been removed at an earlier period to the river of Chebar (1:1). Consequently, he was indebted to report for information of the fall of the city. This information he received on the fifth day of the tenth month of the twelfth year of the Chebar captivity, by the arrival of one that had escaped from the doomed city. But the Spirit of God marked the event before the arrival of the fugitive: “The hand of the Lord was upon me in the evening before he that was escaped came, and had opened my mouth . . . that I was no more dumb.”
. Vol. 35: The Christadelphian: Volume 35. 2001 (electronic ed.) (295). Birmingham: Christadelphian Magazine & Publishing Association.
H. R.—The explanation of Ezek. 33:22 (which speaks of the prophet being on a particular day “no more dumb”) is to be found in the earlier part of Ezekiel’s prophecy. God, in calling him to be a prophet, informed him he was sending him to a rebellious nation, who would not listen to him (see chapters 2. and 3.), and that as a way of giving emphasis to the messages he would have to deliver, he must “go shut himself up in his house,” and not speak, except when the Spirit should speak to him. This would have been very difficult for Ezekiel by merely natural power. Therefore God would enable him. “I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth that thou shalt be dumb and shalt not be to them a reprover: for they are a rebellious house. But when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God” (3:24–27). This state of things was to last till the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. Ezekiel was thus to be a sign—a striking sign certainly—a man subject to supernatural dumbness from which he was released only during the temporary intervals of inspiration. When Jerusalem should fall, Ezekiel would return to the normal state (24:27). Ezekiel was not a resident of Jerusalem, but a dweller among the captives who had been removed at an earlier period to the river of Chebar (1:1). Consequently, he was indebted to report for information of the fall of the city. This information he received on the fifth day of the tenth month of the twelfth year of the Chebar captivity, by the arrival of one that had escaped from the doomed city. But the Spirit of God marked the event before the arrival of the fugitive: “The hand of the Lord was upon me in the evening before he that was escaped came, and had opened my mouth . . . that I was no more dumb.”
. Vol. 35: The Christadelphian: Volume 35. 2001 (electronic ed.) (295). Birmingham: Christadelphian Magazine & Publishing Association.