The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 322

Ver. 4.-The office of the prophet. The angel who was appointed to show to Ezekiel the temple of vision, and to take its measurements in his presence, and to explain its details and its various purposes, prefaced his special mission by ail ex.hortation in which he expressed, in a very complete and instructive manner, the vocation and functions of a true prophet. J. JN 0BDEB THAT THERE MAY BE PROPHECY, THERE MUST BE A REVELATION. In the case before us there was a temple to be seen, and there was an angel to exhibit and to explain it. In every case where a man has been called upon to fulfil the office of a prophet, there has been a special manifestation of the Divine mind and will. '!'he prophet may be gifted, original, luminous ; but he does not, so far as he is a pro- phet, utter forth his own thoughts, deal with any matter according to the light of his own reason. There must be a communication from the Being who is the Source of all good for men. Otherwise the vocation of the prophet is endued with no peculiar, Divine authority. II. 1N ORDER TH.AT TREBE MAY BE PROPHECY, THERE MUST BE THF. ATTENTIVE A.ND onsEevANT INTELLIGENCE. "Behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears." Such was the admonition of the angel to Ezekiel. A prophet must be a man gifted with powers of observation and understanding. He is not a passive medium, but an active aaent. He ex.ercises his human faculties, thinks and feels in a truly human way. Eve'; if they had not received the prophetic commission, the seers of Israel would have been "men of light and leading," men "discerning the signs of the times." In a word, to be a prophet, one must be a man. !II. IN ORDER TH.AT THERE MAY BE PROPHECY, THERE MUST BE A RECEPTIVE SPIBITUAL NATURE. "Set thine heart upon all that I shall show thee." Such was the further admonition addressed to the prophet. His was not a work to be discharged in a perfunctory, official, uninterested manner. Not only was it required that the intel- lect should be alert, the spiritual nature needed to be receptive and responsive, Intelligence is sufficient for some services; but for a spiritual ministry there is needed a spiritual susceptibility, a spiritual energy. The message of God needs to be assimi- lated and appropriated, to enter into the prophet's very nature-to become, so to speak, part of himself. The evidence is abundant that such was the case with Ezekiel. He felt deeply what he received and what he had to communicate. It was to him " the burden of the Lord," by which he was oppressed as well as laden, yet which, for hie country's eake he was willing to bear. IV. 1N ORDER THAT THERE MAY BE PROPHE0Y, THERE MUST BE THE COMMUNICATION OF THE TlDINGll,_THE THREAT OB THE PBCMIBE, TO THOSE TO WHOM THE PBOPUT cm. XL. 1-40.J 'fHE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. M3