John Gill Commentary Ezekiel 3:7

"But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are of hard forehead and of a stiff heart." — Ezekiel 3:7 (ASV)

But the house of Israel would not hearken to you
"They are not willing" ^F12 ; they have no desire, no inclination, to hear and hearken; but the reverse; they were capable of hearing and understanding his speech and language, and though he was sent unto them by the Lord: and indeed the reason why they did not hearken to him was not because they rejected him and his words, but because they rejected the Lord and his words; they were the words of the Lord, and his reproofs; and therefore they would not hearken to them as follows:

for they will not hearken to me ;
and which is an argument why the prophet should bear with patience their disregard to him and his words, and their neglect and contempt of them; for, seeing they would not hear the Lord, how could he expect them to hear him? and therefore he should not be uneasy at it; see (John 15:20) ; for all the house of Israel [are] impudent and hardhearted ;
or, "strong of front, and hard of heart" ^F13 ; they had a whore's forehead, an impudent face, that could not blush and be ashamed; and hearts of stone, like a rock, and harder than the nether millstone, on which no impressions, could be made by all the admonitions and reproofs given them; see (Ezekiel 2:4) ; and this was the case of all of them in general, excepting some very few; which shows the sad degeneracy of this people.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F12: (wbay al) "non cupient", Montanus; "non volunt", Cocceius; "non illi volentes", Starckius.
• F13: (bl yvqw xum yqzx) "obfirmati fronte et duri corde", Polanus, Starckius; "obfirmati frontis et duri cordis", Piscator.