John Calvin Commentary Ezekiel 2:9-10

"And when I looked, behold, a hand was put forth unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein; And he spread it before me: and it was written within and without; and there were written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe." — Ezekiel 2:9-10 (ASV)

Now the Prophet more fully explains what we have just dwelt upon. He narrates how a volume of a book was offered to him: that is, a book in the form of a roll was offered to him. For the noun which he uses, מגלת, megleth, comes from גלל, gelel, to roll, as the word volume among the Latins.

For they were formerly accustomed to write on rolls; that is, they did not have the compact and well-arranged form of books that we now use, but they had volumes, which other nations call rolls. Ancient documents were written in this way, for there is nothing ancient in the archives of princes which is not written on rolls. Hence the phrase, In the volume of the book it is written of me, etc. (Psalms 40:8; Hebrews 10:7).

Now the Prophet says, such a volume was offered to me that I might eat it; and he adds, it was offered to me by a hand sent forth. By this symbol, God more clearly shows that the volume was not merely formed in the air, nor was it produced from anywhere but heaven. For if the Prophet had only seen a volume presented to him, he might doubt whether it was sent by God. But when the hand that offers the volume appears, and is truly sent from God, nothing is lacking for full and complete certainty.

He adds, after the volume was unrolled, that he saw it written on each side. By these words, he understands that no brief command was given to him, but rather that a lengthy and extensive message was conveyed. For if he had only spoken concerning the roll, the Jews might have contemptuously rejected him after three or four days, as if he had come to an end. “A roll was indeed offered to you,” [they might say,] “but now you have spoken three or four times; is not this sufficient?” Hence, as the Prophet might meet with neglect, he says, the roll was written before and behind. He now says—for this was his argument—that lamentations only were written there. הגה, hegeh, sometimes signifies meditation and speech simply, but here, because it is connected with lamentations, there is no doubt that it is to be understood as a mournful strain.

Finally, the particle הי, hei, is added in the sense of grieving. On the whole then, the Prophet teaches that the instruction contained in the book was not sweet or pleasant, but full of sorrow, since God here truly showed proofs of His anger, and this anger cannot be understood unless it causes grief and lamentations.

Now, therefore, we understand that the Israelites were more and more exasperated when the Prophet said that he came like a herald who denounced war in the name of God and, at the same time, had no message of peace. Regarding the rest of the people, we shall see later in many places that he was a messenger of God’s mercy. However, his duty was to rouse the Jews so that they might feel God was their adversary; thus, the Prophet was sent with no other purpose than that of going as an armed man into their midst and uttering threats in the name of God.

I cannot proceed further now, although what follows is connected to this subject.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, since you have this day graciously chosen to invite us to yourself with the testimony of your paternal favor, that we may not be as the beasts of the forest, but submit ourselves calmly to you, and so follow where you call us, that we may in reality feel you to be our Father; and thus may we live under the protection of your hand as long as we are pilgrims in this world, so that at last, being gathered into your heavenly kingdom, we may cleave entirely to you and your only-begotten Son, who is our joy and glory. — Amen.