an extremity · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
seven
שִׁבְעַ֣תshiv.'At
H7651
seven (as the sacred full one) · cardinal number, both genders singular construct
days
יָמִ֑יםya.Mim
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
word
דְבַרde.var-
H1697
a word · noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָ֖הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
saying
לֵאמֹֽרle.Mor
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
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
Jeremiah 42:7 And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 3:16-21
These further instructions God gave to the prophet at the end of seven days, that is, on the seventh day after the vision he had; and it is very probably that both that and this were on the sabbath day, which the house of Israel, even in their captivity, observed as well as they could in those circumstances. We do not find that their conquerors and oppressors tied them to any constant service, as their Egyptian task-masters had formerly done, but that they might observe the sabbath-rest for a sign to distinguish between them and their neighbours; but for the sabbath-work they had not the convenience of temple or synagogue, only it should seem they had a place by the river side where prayer w…
Tel-Abib--Tel means an "elevation." It is identified by MICHAELIS with Thallaba on the Chabor. Perhaps the name expressed the Jew's hopes of restoration, or else the fertility of the region. Abib means the green ears of corn which appeared in the month Nisan, the pledge of the harvest.
I sat, &c.--This is the Hebrew Margin reading. The text is rather, "I beheld them sitting there" [GESENIUS]; or, "And those that were settled there," namely, the older settlers, as distinguished from the more recent ones alluded to in the previous clause. The ten tribes had been long since settled on the Chabor or Habor (Kg2 17:6) [HAVERNICK].
Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 3:15
I came to them of the captivity - Because the hand of the Lord was strong upon him and supported him, he soon reached the place.
Tel-abib - תל אביב "a heap of corn." So the Vulgate: acervum novarum frugum, "a heap of new fruits." letola chib, "to the hill Chib," or the hill of grief. - Syriac.
Seven days - Perhaps God kept him all this time without an immediate revelation, that the bitterness and heat of spirit of which he speaks above might be subdued, and that he might speak God's words in God's own Spirit. Had he gone in a better spirit he had probably been employed in his work as soon as he had gained the place of labor.
John Gill on Ezekiel 3:16
The Church Fathers
(Verse 16, 17.) But after seven days, the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel, and you will hear a word from my mouth and will declare it to them from me. The watchman, who is to be the messenger of God's words to the people, must rest for a long time and be sorrowful for the things he sees. And he must have no personal guilt for the sins he will rebuke in others.
In that he sat mourning for seven days, and after the seventh day received the words of the Lord's command that he ought to speak, he clearly indicates that during those same days he had been silent while mourning. Now he had been sent to preach, and yet sitting for seven days he was silent. What is it that the holy prophet suggests to us in this silence of his, except that he truly knows how to speak who has first learned how to be silent well? For the discipline of silence is, as it were, a kind of nourishment for speech. And rightly does he receive the gift of speaking through increasing grace, who first keeps silent in an orderly manner through humility. Hence it is said through Solomon: "A time to be silent, and a time to speak." For he did not say, "A time to speak, and a time to be silent," but he puts the time for silence first, and afterwards adds that for speaking, because we ought to learn to speak not by speaking but by being silent. If therefore the holy prophet who had been sent to speak was first silent for a long time, so that afterwards he might speak rightly, we must consider how great a fault it is for him not to be silent whom no necessity compels to speak.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Telabib — (cornhill) was probably a city of Chaldaea or Babylonia, not of upper Mesopotamia as generally supposed. (Ezekiel 3:16) The whole scene of Ezekiel’s preaching and visions seems to have been Chaldaea…
Prophecy · .Ezekiel — .Ezekiel
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).
And it came to pass at the end of seven days,.... Some think it was on the sabbath day he had the following declaration made to him, and instructions given him; but this is not certain; nor does it follow, or to be concluded, from such a way of speaking:
that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying; the Targum is,
"the word of prophecy from before the Lord.''
John Calvin on Ezekiel 3:16-17
Ezekiel 3:16-17
16. And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
16. Et accidit a fine septem dierum [76] factus [77] sermo Iehovae ad me, dicendo.
17. Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.
17. Fili hominis, speculatorem posui [78] to domui Israel: audies ergo ex ore meo sermones, et admonebis illos ex me.
Now the Prophet shows more clearly why he continued in silence for seven days, because, indeed, he had been appointed a teacher, but the time had not fully arrived in which he was to utter the commands of God. He waited, therefore until he sh…
After the Lord had pointed out to the prophet the difficulties of the call laid upon him, He prepared him for the performance of his office, by inspiring him with the divine word which he is to announce. - Eze 2:8. And thou, son of man, hear what I say to thee, Be not stiff-necked like the stiff-necked race; open thy mouth, and eat what I give unto thee. Eze 2:9. Then I saw, and, lo, a hand outstretched towards me; and, lo, in the same a roll of a book. Eze 2:10. And He spread it out before me; the same was written upon the front and back: and there were written upon it lamentations, and sighing, and woe. Eze 3:1. And He said to me: Son of man, what thou findest eat; eat the roll, and go and…
Ezekiel was called to be a watchman, a familiar image for Old Testament prophets (see Isa 56:10; Jer 6:17; Hos 9:8). The watchman was a lookout for the community. He was responsible for providing advance warning of approaching enemies so that the people could take refuge in time. In this case, the enemy they had to fear was not a human invader but God. As difficult as his task was, the blood of those he failed to warn would be on his head if he remained silent.
Rashi on Ezekiel 3:15
Tel Aviv To Tel Aviv, a place name.
bewildered Heb. מַשְּׁמִים, bewildered, a man silenced and unable to speak.
