Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 3:14
So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me.
14. in bitterness ] i. e. indignation, or anger, Jdg 18:25 (angry fellows), 2Sa 17:8. Similarly “heat of spirit” is fury or wrath. The prophet was lifted up into sympathy with God and shared his righteous indignation against Israel. Again Jeremiah is his model: “Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord; I am weary with holding in: Pour it out upon the children in the street and upon the assembly of young men together,” Jer 6:11. LXX. omits “bitterness.”
but the hand ] Rather: and (or, for) the hand. See on ch. Eze 1:3. Cf. Jer 15:17, “I sat not in the assembly of them that make merry, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand; for thou hast filled me with indignation.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Lifted me up – We are not to suppose that the prophet was miraculously transported from one place to another in the land of his captivity. Compare Mat 4:1; Act 8:39. He had been in an ecstatic vision Eze 1:1, and now guided by the Spirit he goes forth among his countrymen.
The heat of my spirit – Full of the righteous indignation, which God inspired, against the sin which he was to denounce.
But the hand – and the hand. The Lord strengthened him for his mission.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Eze 3:14-15
So the Spirit lifted me up.
In the uplifted life we are fitted to do the Lords work
Ezekiel was now strengthened to do a very difficult work. He was to go and speak to a people who had no sympathy with him,–who would not listen to him, as the old classic prophetess Cassandra was doomed forever to speak the truth and never to be believed. If he had been commissioned to break up new ground amongst people whose language he did not understand, he would have deserved some pity. But the actual case was worse than such a hypothetical one. Jeremiah had preached in Jerusalem for thirty-five years without success, and now Ezekiel was assured that his own prophesying in Babylon would fail of its immediate purpose. To expect defeat is one of the surest ways of incurring it. On the contrary, to have an unswerving confidence in the prosperous issue of any cause is most likely to ensure it. To have, as the only visible result of your efforts, your words flung back in your face, like shot rebounding from the adamant, must result in depressing your energies and paralysing your power. Ezekiel is now called to this terrible kind of service; and if he is not to falter and slacken in the strenuousness of his effort, he must have special preparation for it. The Spirit lifts him up, and then the hand of the Lord is strong upon him; and thus his natural weakness and timidity are reinforced. A Mr. Davis has written of the beneficial effects of high altitudes in certain kinds of diseases, more particularly in pulmonary troubles, and has summarised those advantages as, dryness of air and comparative freedom from microorganisms and atmospheric dust; profusion of sunlight; lowness of temperature, the heat of the sun being easily borne, while the violet rays of the spectrum act chemically on the blood, increasing the haemoglobin; diminished barometric pressure, facilitating chemical action in the blood and tissues, and favouring vaporisation of moist secretions in the lungs, while it aids pulmonary circulation and expansion; and the general stimulus of high levels, producing exhilaration and an increase of nutrition. Who would wish to live on low levels after reading that! Those who live in any low-lying places, such as the poor Swiss of the Valals, are languid and enfeebled. They can never be robust while they breathe the damp air, the miasma, the foggy, misty atmosphere. There are correspondences in the spiritual sphere to these literal facts. When Christians dwell in the marshy, malarial lowlands of doubt and unbelief, selfishness and worldliness, they are unequal to holy enterprise. To serve the Lord requires strength and vigour, and these qualities they lack. We can also see that by means of this lifting up Ezekiel was brought into sympathy with men. Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel-abib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar, and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days. Many have complained of such a method of expressing interest, and ridiculed it as strange friendship. But the action is full of true, deep sympathy. Job sat down among the ashes, a loathsome sufferer. Yet his friends sat with him, sharing in silence his sorrow and humiliation. Similarly Ezekiel does not appear to have spoken. Silence is often golden. Words would sometimes only bewilder or irritate or wound. It is in the uplifted life that we learn how to come near to people in their misery and degradation,–how to join ourselves in the truest sympathy with the masses in their sad weariness, their pain-stricken anxiety, their tempted, struggling, sinning condition. Observe that by being lifted up Ezekiel was brought into sympathy with God. So the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit. As you read these words you at first think they denote the very reverse of an advance towards the mind of God. What can bitterness of spirit signify? what but a spirit of rebellion against the will of God? But that is not the meaning. The prophet was now brought into deeper sympathy with the Divine will. He was, like Jeremiah, filled with the indignation of the Lord. In Bible parlance, the Lord was angry with the people, and so now was he. The roll which was spread before him was written with lamentations and mourning and woe. He was bidden to eat it. Surely a very bitter portion for him! But he says, It was in my mouth as honey for sweetness (chap. 3, verse 3). Why did the bitter become sweet? Because he was already in perfect accord with the will of God. The will of God should, we know, be the law of a Christians life. Henry Martyn remarked just before he reached Madras, I am going upon a work exactly according to the mind of Christ. At the height of 200 feet above the earth, to the listener on tower or crag, the varying sounds from below, harmonies and discords alike, are blent into one musical note–F natural–pure, sweet, distinct. So when we are lifted up to the Mount of the Lord the dissonant, discordant, jarring notes of our self-will are brought into unison with the will of God; our imperfect, inharmonious natures are reduced into full and complete accord with the Divine purpose. (A. W. Welch.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 14. I went in bitterness] Being filled with indignation at the wickedness and obstinacy of my people, I went, determining to speak the word of God without disguise, and to reprove them sharply for their rebellion; and yet I was greatly distressed because of the heavy message which I was commanded to deliver.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
So, Heb. And, or then, at that very time.
The spirit, the Spirit of God, as Eze 3:12, which see.
Lifted me up, either from that prostration which the terrible vision had caused when he fell to the ground; or rather, caught him, who before was on his legs and well come to himself, up into the air.
Took me away; carried me, (as was Philip when carried away from the eunuch,) and brought me to the place where I was to deliver my message, the place where the captive Jews were crowded together.
I went: hitherto nothing appears of the prophets concurrence, but the verse seems to speak constraint and force, but now you have his voluntary concurrence with the motion of the Spirit. He went when so moved and assisted.
In bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; Heb. bitter in the heat of my spirit; grieved, sad, and my spirit within me was as all in a heat of anger: either,
1. Enkindled within by the sympathy he had with his countrymen in their sufferings and calamities; or,
2. Because of those wickednesses he saw and reproved in them; or,
3. Because he must be the unwelcome messenger of such unwelcome news; or,
4. Because of the danger he was exposed to among enraged desperadoes: which way soever you explain it, Ezekiels weakness and distempered humour will appear in it; Jonas-like, he will be angry. But; for, as some others; and, as the Hebrew. The hand of the Lord was strong upon me; either in general the power of God, which cannot be resisted; or the Spirit of prophecy, which, as a fire shut up, will break forth, as in Jer 20:7-9; indeed both concur.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14. bitternesssadness onaccount of the impending calamities of which I was required to be theunwelcome messenger. But the “hand,” or powerful impulse ofJehovah, urged me forward.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away,…. Lifted him up from the earth, and carried him through the air:
and I went in bitterness; full of trouble and sorrow, that the Lord was departing from the temple; that his people had been guilty, of such crimes they had, and were such an impudent, and hardhearted people they were; and that such judgments were coming upon them he had seers written in the roll, full of lamentations, mourning, and woe:
in the heat of my spirit; the Targum and Vulgate Latin render it, “in the indignation of my spirit”; his spirit was hot and angry, he was froward and unwilling to go on the errand, to prophesy sad and dismal things to his people:
but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me; the Spirit of the Lord powerfully wrought upon him, and obliged him to go; and the hand of the Lord strengthened him, and removed his frowardness and perverseness of spirit. The Targum is,
“and prophecy from before the Lord was strong upon me;”
so Kimchi interprets it of the hand of prophecy; the Spirit of the Lord, as a spirit of prophecy, came upon him, with great impulse upon his spirit, and he could not refuse going to his people, to declare it to them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He confirms what we have formerly seen, namely, that he was acted upon by the Spirit of God, so that it was in some way without himself, and not as profane men have invented, enthusiastically: for their Prophets were deprived of self-control, and the devil so dealt with them, that they were not of sound mind. Hence the Prophet does not understand that he was deprived of self-control, because God’s Prophets were of a sedate and composed mind; but he understands that he was so governed by the Spirit of God, that he was unlike himself, and did not breathe a terrestrial air; lastly, he understands that visible marks were graven upon him, which obtained for his doctrine authority with all the people. And it was the more necessary that the Prophet should be adorned with his own proofs, on account of the dullness of the people, and also because his message was distasteful to them, and he had not previously discharged the duty of a teacher. It was needful, therefore, that he should be so renewed that the people should acknowledge him as inspired. He had lived familiarly among his friends, and was sufficiently known both by appearance and character. Meanwhile God, as I have said, separated him from common life, that he should represent something celestial; and the object of this was, as we have shown, to conciliate confidence and reverence towards his teaching. He felt indeed the agitation of the Spirit, and it is scarcely to be doubted that the people also knew it, otherwise they would scarcely have had confidence in him when speaking of himself.
The object of this remarkable government of the Spirit was, that the Israelites, if only awake and attentive to the miracle, might know the Prophet to be in some manner renovated. But what follows seems opposed to the former sentence; for he says (Eze 3:3) the volume was sweet as honey, but now that he departed in the bitterness of his spirit;. but as I briefly explained yesterday, this is easily reconciled; for the Prophet was not deprived of all sensation. Although he was entirely consecrated to God, and in no degree remitted his diligence and alacrity, yet he retained some human feelings: hence the spirit of bitterness of which he speaks, which he calls his own spirit Whence we perceive an implied contrast between that motion by which he was caught up and that feeling, which, although not sinful, was in some way different from the grace of the Spirit, because the Prophet so burnt with zeal that he performed the commands of God almost in forgetfulness of self: yet, at the same time, he felt within him something human, since the power of the Spirit had not extinguished all sorrow. We hold, therefore, that the Prophet was in some degree inspired by the Spirit, and yet that his own spirit was bitter He adds, and the hand of Jehovah was strong upon me By “hand,” some understand prophecy, but in my opinion ignorantly: I do not doubt that its meaning is power or authority. He says, the hand of God was strong, because he ought to obey God, although the bitterness of which he spoke should draw him in a contrary direction. As Paul says, (2Co 5:14, and Phi 1:23,) that he was constrained by a zeal of God, so also the Prophet signifies that he was constrained by the secret instinct of the Spirit, so that he did not act from human motives, nor yet obey the wishes of his own mind, nor follow his own individual will, but was only intent on rendering obedience to God. In this sense, then, he says, that the hand of God was strong upon him Otherwise it might be objected — why did he not fall away when he was so oppressed with grief, and anxiety so overwhelmed his spirit? he replies, the hand of God was strong and prevailed, since otherwise he would have failed a hundred times, had he not been supported by the power of God. And thus we see that there was some repugnance in the Prophet, since as man he was affected with sorrow, but the power of the Holy Spirit ruled over him, so that he denied himself and all his human affections.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(14) I went in bitterness, in the heat of my prophet now begins to realise the sorrow and the trial of the task laid upon him. The command of the Lord was sweet (Eze. 3:3), its performance is bitter. But the hand of the Lord was strong upon him, and he could not forbear. Compare the similar experience of Jeremiah (Jer. 20:8-9; see also Amo. 3:8), when in his discouragement he had almost resolved to refuse to declare God s message, but the word of the Lord was as a burning fire within, and he could not refrainan experience which every faithful teacher in Gods name is obliged, more or less fully, to pass through.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
14. I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit The taste that was at first sweet (Eze 3:3) is now bitter. (Compare Rev 10:9-10; Mat 26:41.) The bitterness is an angry bitterness (Jdg 18:25; 2Sa 17:8), and the heat of spirit is the hotness of wrath. (See notes Eze 2:8; Eze 3:10-11.) Almost all expositors believe this to have been fury against the sins which he was about to condemn (compare Jer 6:11); but his spirit toward his countrymen in other passages, taken in connection with all the circumstances of his call and his refusal to speak until again and again God had appeared to him and warned him not to rebel, declaring that if he did not warn the people their blood would be upon his own head (Eze 3:20), added to the repeated statement that he only succeeded finally in doing as he was commanded because the hand of the Lord was heavy upon him, leads us to the conclusion that this bitterness and heat of spirit was caused by the prophet’s unwillingness to enter upon the work to which God called him. (Compare Jon 1:3; Jon 4:1.) The utter inadequacy of the usual explanation is illustrated in the Expositor’s Bible, where this “bitterness” and “heat” is declared to be due to the “mental prostration” produced by the vision, or, as Bertholet more bluntly puts it, “it was a psychological reaction from his cataleptic state.”(!) Rather see our notes Eze 2:8; Eze 3:10-11; Eze 3:15-21; Eze 16:44.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit, and the hand of Yahweh was strong upon me.’
Ezekiel repeats and amplifies his reference to the Spirit in Eze 3:12. He was lifted up and carried away by the Spirit (see also Eze 8:3; Eze 11:1; Eze 11:24; Eze 43:5), his first experience of this type of travel. This was thought of as a ‘normal’ method of transport for prophets (1Ki 18:12; 2Ki 2:16), possibly because they tended to suddenly appear and disappear, although no actual example is known for earlier prophets, unless we count 2Ki 2:11. But compare Philip in Act 8:39 -note there the Old Testament ring of ‘the Spirit of the Lord’.
This was his first experience of the Spirit acting in such a way, and along with the vision he had seen must have shaken him to the core. No wonder he went ‘in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit’. He was greatly disturbed both spiritually and emotionally.
Alternately many see his bitterness and heat of spirit as referring to his feelings about his own people in the light of what God had told him (compare Jer 6:11). This is supported by the word ‘bitterness’, which is very strong, and would directly tie in with the hand of Yahweh being strong upon him, as he went to carry out his mission. He was still under the influence of his vision.
For ‘the hand of Yahweh was strong upon me’ compare Eze 1:3 which resulted in his vision, and Eze 3:22 where he again has a vision. See also Eze 8:1; Eze 33:22; Eze 37:1; Eze 40:1. All refer to remarkable experiences.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eze 3:14. I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit I went with a bitter and uneasy mind. See the note on Eze 3:3.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 3:14 So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me.
Ver. 14. So the spirit lifted me up. ] As it did afterwards also Philip, Act 8:39-40 not visionally, but really.
And took me away.
And I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit.
The hand of the Lord was strong upon me.
a Hic ecce pillula voluminis in ore dulcis, in ventre dissoluta, ventrem torquet et lancinat. – A Lapide.
lifted me up, &c, Compare Act 8:39, Act 8:40. 2Co 12:4. Rev 1:10. Compare Obadiah’s fear (1Ki 18:12).
the spirit: Eze 3:12, Eze 8:3, Eze 37:1
in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit: Heb. bitter in hot anger, Num 11:11-19, Jer 6:11, Jer 20:14-18, Joh 4:1, Joh 4:3, Joh 4:9
but: Eze 1:3, Eze 8:1, Eze 37:1, 1Ki 18:46, 2Ki 2:16, 2Ki 3:15, Jer 20:7-9
Reciprocal: Exo 4:1 – General Exo 4:13 – send Exo 11:8 – a great anger 1Ch 28:19 – by his hand upon me Job 32:18 – the spirit Psa 39:3 – General Pro 14:10 – heart Ecc 2:17 – work Isa 8:11 – with a strong hand Jer 1:17 – confound thee Jer 17:16 – I have Jer 20:9 – was in Eze 2:2 – General Eze 3:22 – the hand Eze 11:1 – the spirit Eze 40:1 – hand Jon 1:3 – to flee Mic 3:8 – I am Hab 3:16 – my belly Mat 4:1 – of the spirit Luk 4:1 – and was Act 4:20 – we cannot Act 9:13 – Lord Act 18:5 – was Act 26:19 – I was not 1Co 9:17 – against Rev 10:9 – Take Rev 10:10 – my belly Rev 21:10 – he carried
Eze 3:14. Spirit lifted me up has the same meaning as spirit took me up in verse 12. These sentiments which the prophet expressed were because of the unfortunate situation of his people. The bitterness would be increased by the knowledge that their own stubbornness had brought these misfortunes upon them, and he had to be the bearer of the unwelcome message from the Lord.
Eze 3:14. So the spirit lifted me up and took me away Caught me up into the air, and carried me, (as Philip was carried away from the eunuch,) and brought me to the place where I was to deliver my message, the place where the captive Jews were settled in great numbers: compare 1Ki 18:12; 2Ki 2:16; Act 8:39. I went in bitterness, &c. I went in grief and anguish of mind, on account of the grievous things I was to declare to them, and the offence I foresaw I should give, and the opposition and ill treatment I should meet with. But the hand of the Lord was strong upon me Urging and impelling, as well as empowering me to execute my commission.
3:14 So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I {e} went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me.
(e) This shows that there is always an infirmity of the flesh which can never be ready to render full obedience to God, and also God’s grace who ever assists his, and overcomes their rebellious affections.
The Spirit lifted Ezekiel up and took him away from where he had been in his vision. He did not want to go and carry out the ministry that God had given him. His would not be a "successful" ministry in the eyes of people. But the Lord influenced him so strongly that he felt he had to obey (cf. Jer 20:9; Jonah 1).
"The prophet was lifted up into sympathy with God and shared his righteous indignation against Israel." [Note: Davidson, p. 21.]
Scholars of a more liberal persuasion often believe that references to the Spirit in the Old Testament indicate the power or influence of God, not the third person of the Trinity. Some conservative scholars believe that, though the Spirit was really the third person of the Trinity, people living during the Old Testament period did not associate the Spirit with God Himself. They thought of the Spirit as a power or influence of God. However there are several indications in the Old Testament that informed Israelites identified the Spirit with God (cf. Gen 1:2; 2Ki 2:9; Psa 104:30; Eze 3:12-14; Eze 11:1; Zec 4:6). [Note: See Leon J. Wood, The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament, and idem, The Prophets . . ., pp. 85-87.]
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)