NOTES for Eze 2:1-3:27
Ezekiel is sent to prophesy not to a people of obscure speech and an incomprehensible language; yet, in essence, the house of Israel is likened here to pagans who are unable and unwilling to hear the prophet. He must prophesy, but why speak to those who are certain to refuse to listen, much less act on what they hear? Here we encounter the mystery of human freedom. Each of us decides for ourselves how to act, but we will have to answer for our actions. A person deprived of the opportunity to learn God's will is not free and cannot make a conscious decision. Therefore, a prophet who fails to communicate what has been entrusted to him becomes an accomplice to deeds that he did not even want to prevent. Once he has warned of the consequences, he is no longer responsible for the choice that the person warned does or does not make.
The scroll must be eaten. This strange action emphasises that it is not enough simply to read and memorise what is written; one must become inwardly united, in the depths of one's own person, with the essence of the truth entrusted to one. A person may, for example, study long and hard, yet theoretical knowledge will exist on its own and life on its own. Such theorising is unacceptable in general, and all the more so when it concerns living according to the commandments.