Ezekiel 1:3 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Ezekiel 1:3
The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him.
a word · noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD
יְ֠הוָהYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
Ezekiel
יְחֶזְקֵ֨אלye.chez.Kel
H3168
Jechezkel · proper noun, a man's name
priest
הַכֹּהֵ֛ןha.ko.Hen
H3548
literally one officiating · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
son
בֶּןben-
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine singular construct
Buzi
בּוּזִ֧יbu.Zi
H941
Buzi · proper noun, a man's name
land
בְּאֶ֥רֶץbe.'E.retz
H776
the earth (at large · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
Chaldeans
כַּשְׂדִּ֖יםkas.Dim
H3778
a Kasdite · proper noun, a place name
river
נְהַרne.har-
H5104
a stream (including the sea · noun, common masculine singular construct
Chebar
כְּבָ֑רke.Var
H3529
Kebar · proper noun, a place name
hand
יַדyad-
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · noun, common both genders singular construct
LORD
יְהוָֽהYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ezekiel 3:14 So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon m…
Ezekiel 3:22 And the hand of the LORD was there upon me; and he said unto me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with thee.
1 Kings 18:46 And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
2 Kings 3:15 But now bring me a minstrel. And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand of the LORD came upon him.
Ezekiel 8:1 And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sa…
Ezekiel 33:22 Now the hand of the LORD was upon me in the evening, afore he that was escaped came; and had opened my mouth, until he came to me in the mor…
Ezekiel 37:1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of…
Ezekiel 40:1 In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after t…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Ezekiel 1:2
Jehoiachin's captivity--In the third or fourth year of Jehoiakim, father of Jehoiachin, the first carrying away of Jewish captives to Babylon took place, and among them was Daniel. The second was under Jehoiachin, when Ezekiel was carried away. The third and final one was at the taking of Jerusalem under Zedekiah.
Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 1:3
The hand of the Lord - I was filled with his power, and with the influence of the prophetic spirit.
John Gill on Ezekiel 1:3
The word of the Lord came expressly,.... Or, "in being was" (d); which phrase denotes the reality, certainty, substantiality and evidence of the word of the Lord to him:
unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi; which Buzi, some say, was Jeremiah. Kimchi observes, that, in the Jerusalem Targum, the Prophet Ezekiel is called the son of Jeremiah the prophet: and Jeremiah was called Buzi because they despised him; this is rejected by Abarbinel; nor is there any reason to believe it, any more than what Nazianzen (e) says, that Ezekiel was a servant of Jeremiah:
in the land of the Chaldeans, by the river Chebar; See Gill on Ezekiel 1:1. The Chaldee paraphrase makes the word of the Lord to come…
Ezekiel 1:3
3. The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him.
3. Fuit sermo Iehovae ad Ezechielem filium Buzi sacerdotem, in terra Chaldaeorum, super fluvium Chebar: et fuit super eum illic manus Iehovae.
He does not repeat the copula which was placed at the beginning of the first verse, and we may perhaps wonder why the book should begin with a copula: for when he says, "and it came to pass," it seems to denote something going before it, and it seems out of place when nothing precedes it. But probably an oblique antithesis or comparison is intended between those p…
If you want to understand that this word is said about the Savior, do not hold back. The allegory has its own meaning as well, in this way: the Word of God comes to us as he who was born of the virgin, that is, man; as the Word who lives always in the Father.
"And the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the son of Buzi, the priest." The hand or arm of the Lord is called the Son, because through Him all things were made. Of whom the Psalmist also says: "Let Your hand be upon me to save me." For the hand of God, which through divinity was not made but begotten, was made through humanity, so that it might heal the wounds of the human race. Therefore the prophet recognized the incarnation of the Only-begotten there, where he saw the hand of the Lord made upon him.
We must consider what order of expression there is in the words of the prophet. For he who had said above concerning himself, "The heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God," afterward adds as if narrating about another: "And the hand of the Lord was upon him there." And then he returns as it were to himself and says: "And I saw, and behold a whirlwind came from the North." What is this, that now Ezekiel speaks, now about Ezekiel? If he had spoken about himself throughout, there would be no question. If he had spoken throughout as if about another, there would likewise have been no question. What then is this, that the prophetic discourse is so varied that now the Prophet speaks about himself, but now another seems to speak about him? But we must know that those who are filled with the spirit of prophecy, by the fact that they sometimes speak openly about themselves, and sometimes utter words about themselves as if about others, indicate that it is not the prophet but the Holy Spirit who speaks through the prophet. For inasmuch as the word is made through them, they themselves speak about themselves; and inasmuch as they speak by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit speaks through them about them, as the Truth attests who says: "For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you." Hence Moses also says: "Moses was the meekest man above all men who dwelt on the earth." For he who does not say "I was" but "he was" plainly indicates that he who was speaking through him about him was another. Hence John says: "He saw that disciple whom Jesus loved." Whence Paul also, to show that it was not he who was speaking, said: "Do you seek proof of Christ who speaks in me?" Therefore, since in prophetic speech one is he who presides, another he who serves, when the prophet speaks about himself it is the person of the one serving, but when the Holy Spirit speaks through the prophet about the prophet, the sublimity of the one presiding is shown.
Dictionary and topics
Buzi — The father of the prophet Ezekiel (1:3).
Chebar — Length, a river in the “land of the Chaldeans” (Ezek. 1:3), on the banks of which were located some of the Jews of the Captivity (Ezek. 1:1; 3:15, 23; 10:15, 20, 22). It has been supposed to be…
Ezekiel — God will strengthen. (1.) 1 Chr. 24:16, “Jehezekel.” (2.) One of the great prophets, the son of Buzi the priest (Ezek. 1:3). He was one of the Jewish exiles who settled at Tel-Abib, on the banks of…
Buzzi · Father of Ezekiel — Father of Ezekiel
Chebar · A river of Me — A river of Me
Ezekiel · Time of his prophecy — Time of his prophecy
Prophets · Mentioned in scripture: Ezekiel — Mentioned in scripture: Ezekiel
Rivers · Mentioned in scripture: Chebar — Mentioned in scripture: Chebar
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Keil & Delitzsch on Ezekiel 1:1-3
The Appearance of the Glory of the Lord. - Eze 1:1-3. Time and place of the same. - Eze 1:1. Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth (month), on the fifth (day) of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. Eze 1:2. On the fifth day of the month, it was the fifth year of King Jehoiachin's captivity, Eze 1:3. The word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Busi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the Lord was there upon him.
Regarding ויהי at the beginning of a book, as e.g., in Jon 1:1, cf. the note on Jos 1:1. The two notices of the year in Eze 1:1 and Eze…
Ezekiel was a priest by descent and a prophet because the hand of the Lord was upon him. Priests offered sacrifices in the Temple and explained God’s law. Prophets delivered God’s words of blessing or curse to the people and interceded with God for them. Ezekiel’s ministry included aspects of both priestly and prophetic mediation between God and the Israelites.
Rashi on Ezekiel 1:3
The word of the Lord was [revealed] Heb. הָיֹה הָיָה [lit. being was.] Our Sages said (Mechilta to Exod. 12:1): “[It] had already come,” because the Shechinah does not rest upon a prophet outside the [Holy] Land, except by having first rested upon him in the Land. We learned in a Baraitha of the Mechilta (Exod. 15:9): [The verse 2:1,] “Son of man, stand on your feet,” was the [actual] beginning of the Book, only there is no chronological order [in Scripture]. Others say that (12:1f.) “Son of man, compose a riddle,” is the [true] beginning of the Book. [Mechilta ends here.] I say that this prophecy was told to him before they were exiled, because it is appropriate to be said to him in the Lan…