Ezekiel Chapter 3 verse 12 Holy Bible

Ezekiel 3 : 12 Bible Verse Songs

• Come Like a Rushing Wind by William Mcdowell

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 12. - Then the Spirit took me up, etc. The words are to be interpreted as in Ezekiel 2:2. Luther, however, gives "a wind lifted me up." The parallels of Ezekiel 8:3 (where, however, we have the addition, "in the visions of God") and Ezekiel 11:1 suggest the conclusion that this was a purely subjective sensation, that it was one of the phenomena of the ecstatic state, and that there was no actual change of place. On the other hand, the use of like language in the cases of Elijah (1 Kings 18:12; 2 Kings 2:16), of our Lord (Mark 1:12), of Philip (Acts 8:39), would justify the inference that the prophet actually passed from one locality to the other. The language of 1 Kings 18:46 probably points to the true solution of the problem. The ecstatic state continued, and in it Ezekiel went from the banks of Chebar to the dwellings of the exiles at Tel-Abib (see note on ch. 1.), at some distance from it. I heard behind me, etc. The words imply that the prophet, either in his vision or in very deed. had turned from the glory of the living creatures and of the wheels, and set his face in the direction in which he was told to go. As he does so, he hears the sounds of a great rushing (LXX., σείσμος; Luther, "earthquake"), followed by words which, though in the form of a doxology, uttered, it may be presumed, by the living creatures, were also a message of encouragement. His readiness to do his work as a preacher of repentance calls forth the praise of God from those in whose presence there is "joy over one sinner that repenteth." We are reminded of the earthquake in the Mount of Purification and the Gloria, in excelsis of Dante ('Purg.,' 20:127-141; 21:53-60). The words, from his place (belonging, probably, to the narrative rather than the doxology), point, not to the sanctuary at Jerusalem, which Jehovah had forsaken, but to the region thought of as in the north (see note on Ezekiel 1:4), to which he had withdrawn himself.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(12) Then the spirit took me up.--This also is to be understood as done in vision, as in Ezekiel 8:3; Ezekiel 11:1; Ezekiel 11:24. (Comp. Acts 8:39.) In the last case the "taking up" is expressly said to have been in vision. This closes one act, so to speak, of the prophet's consecration, and now the vision which he has been seeing all along leaves him for a time. He hears the great voice of ascription of praise, without definite mention of its source, but doubtless, as in Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4, from all that surround the throne; and he hears the noise of the moving wings of the cherubim, and of the wheels. He has seen the representation of the glory of Him who sends him, and has heard the character of his message. He must now, in the light of this knowledge, see those to whom he is sent. The Hebrew for "wings that touched one another" is beautifully figurative: "wings that kissed each one its sister."