1He said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.” 2The Spirit entered into me when he spoke to me, and set me on my feet; and I heard him who spoke to me.
3He said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the children of Israel, to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me even to this very day. 4The children are impudent and stiff-hearted. I am sending you to them, and you shall tell them, ‘This is what the Lord Yahweh says.’ 5They, whether they will hear, or whether they will refuse—for they are a rebellious house—yet they will know that there has been a prophet among them. 6You, son of man, don’t be afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you, and you dwell among scorpions. Don’t be afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house. 7You shall speak my words to them, whether they will hear or whether they will refuse; for they are most rebellious. 8But you, son of man, hear what I tell you. Don’t be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth, and eat that which I give you.”
9When I looked, behold, a hand was stretched out to me; and behold, a scroll of a book was in it. 10He spread it before me. It was written within and without; and lamentations, mourning, and woe were written in it.
Word Study: Rebellious (Heb. מְרִי, meri). (24:3; Deut 31:27; 1 Sam 15:23; Job 23:2; Prov 17:11; Isa 30:9; Ezek 2:5–8)
Meri means “rebellion” and is almost always used in the sense of rebellion toward God. The word is most often used to describe the rebellion of the nation Israel. When Saul was rejected by God as king of Israel, Samuel explained to him that the sin of rebellion is just as bad as the sin of divination (1 Sam 15:23). In Ezekiel 24:3, the word is used to describe the inhabitants of the city of Jerusalem. On the very day that Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem, Ezekiel informed the Jewish remnant that their beloved city would eventually fall to the Babylonians. To confirm the validity of the prophecy, the prophet’s wife died that same evening.