Ezek 2:8

“"But you, son of man, hear whatever I speak to you, and do not be provoking, as the provoking house is." That is, do not yourself do the evil things which you see being done, lest you yourself commit what you were sent to prohibit. For every preacher must always consider with attentive mind, lest he who was sent to raise up the fallen should himself fall into wickedness of deed along with the fallen, and lest the sentence of Paul strike him who says: "In what you judge another, you condemn yourself." Whence Balaam, filled with the Spirit of God for speaking, yet still held in carnal life by his own spirit, speaks of himself, saying: "The hearer of the words of God has spoken, who knows the doctrine of the Most High, and sees the visions of the Almighty, who falling has his eyes open." He had his eyes open while falling, who saw the right thing that he should say, but despised living rightly. Falling, that is, in perverse work, and having his eyes open in holy preaching.”

“There is, however, another thing that can be understood as to why blessed Ezekiel, who is sent to preach, is forbidden to be rebellious. For unless he obeyed when he was sent to speak words, he would have provoked the almighty Lord—just as the people provoked Him by their perverse deeds, so the prophet would have provoked Him by his silence. For just as the wicked provoke God because they speak or do evil things, so sometimes the good provoke Him because they remain silent about good things. Therefore, for the former it is a fault to do perverse things; for the latter, to remain silent about right things. In this respect, then, even the good provoke God along with the wicked, because when they do not rebuke perverse things, they grant them license to continue through their silence.”

“"Open your mouth and eat whatever I give you." We open our mouth when we speak rightly; and we eat what we receive from God, because the food of life is both granted and increased in our understanding when we begin to preach. Hence another prophet says: I opened my mouth and drew in the spirit. For he would not have drawn in the spirit unless he had opened his mouth, because unless he had devoted himself to preaching to his neighbors, the grace of spiritual teaching would not have grown in him.”

“After the Lord had pointed out to the prophet the difficulties of the call laid upon him, He prepared him for the performance of his office, by inspiring him with the divine word which he is to announce. - Eze 2:8. And thou, son of man, hear what I say to thee, Be not stiff-necked like the stiff-necked race; open thy mouth, and eat what I give unto thee. Eze 2:9. Then I saw, and, lo, a hand outstretched towards me; and, lo, in the same a roll of a book. Eze 2:10. And He spread it out before me; the same was written upon the front and back: and there were written upon it lamentations, and sighing, and woe. Eze 3:1. And He said to me: Son of man, what thou findest eat; eat the roll, and go and speak to the house of Israel. Eze 3:2. Then opened I my mouth, and He gave me this roll to eat. Eze 3:3. And said to me: Son of man, feed thy belly, and fill thy body with this roll which I give thee. And I ate it, and it was in my mouth as honey and sweetness. - The prophet is to announce to the people of Israel only that which the Lord inspires him to announce. This thought is embodied in symbol, in such a way that an outstretched hand reaches to him a book, which he is to swallow, and which also, at God's command, he does swallow; cf. Rev 10:9. This roll was inscribed on both sides with lamentations, sighing, and woe (הי is either abbreviated from נהי, not = אי, or as Ewald, 101c, thinks, is only a more distinct form of הוי or הו). The meaning is not, that upon the roll was inscribed a multitude of mournful expressions of every kind, but that there was written upon it all that the prophet was to announce, and what we now read in his book. These contents were of a mournful nature, for they related to the destruction of the kingdom, the destruction of Jerusalem and of the temple. That Ezekiel may look over the contents, the roll is spread out before his eyes, and then handed to him to be eaten, with the words, "Go and speak to the children of Israel," i.e., announce to the children of Israel what you have received into yourself, or as it is termed in Eze 3:4, דּברי, "my words." The words in Eze 3:3 were spoken by God while handing to the prophet the roll to be eaten. He is not merely to eat, i.e., take it into his mouth, but he is to fill his body and belly therewith, i.e., he is to receive into his innermost being the word of God presented to him, to change it, as it were, into sap and blood. Whilst eating it, it was sweet in his mouth. The sweet taste must not, with Kliefoth, be explained away into a sweet "after-taste," and made to bear this reference, that the destruction of Jerusalem would be followed by a more glorious restoration. The roll, inscribed with lamentation, sorrow, and woe, tasted to him sweetly, because its contents was God's word, which sufficed for the joy and gladness of his heart (Jer 15:16); for it is "infinitely sweet and lovely to be the organ and spokesman of the Omnipotent," and even the most painful of divine truths possess to a spiritually-minded man a joyful and quickening side (Hengstenberg on Rev 10:9). To this it is added, that the divine penal judgments reveal not only the holiness and righteousness of God, but also prepare the way for the revelation of salvation, and minister to the saving of the soul.”