And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak with thee.
Ezekiel is face down in exile, far from home, flattened by the vision of God's glory he has just described. Then a voice speaks and names him. The first word God gives him is not a message but a posture. The name attached to it, "son of man," will follow him through the whole book.
The prophet had not collapsed out of guilt over a particular failure. Something deeper was at work: the glory showed up what the man was.
He has no sense of any right to stand. He falls down on his face. He cannot stand. There is no place for him to stand on. So his falling on his face only shows his moral condition… Each of these servants of God — Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel — declared their own unfitness, and felt it, in the presence of the glory of God. With each and all of them, it is never for a moment a question of what they had done, but of what they were, and this as told out to themselves by the glory of God.
The command to stand is not a rebuke of reverence. It is God refusing to leave His servant in the dust. And God supplies the power to obey.
God takes account of how weak His instrument is, and that weakness calls out Jehovah's might to sustain it… And not only that: the Spirit enters into him to make him stand. He cannot even listen to the message while lying face down. That posture may truly express how the creature is nothing in the presence of God. But it cannot express God's grace towards him… God cannot speak His thoughts to someone lying in the dust before Him. This does not suit the blessed Speaker.
"Son of man" is the address God uses here and keeps using. Who else bore that name gives it its weight.
God gives a title to the prophet fallen on his face, in chapter 2 and from then on. When the voice spoke from the likeness of the glory of Jehovah, the words were, "Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you." Daniel was called this once (Dan. 8:17), and Ezekiel more than a hundred times. It is the title Jesus took as the rejected Messiah who would suffer, be exalted, and return in glory as the Son of man.
Both men who carry this name prophesied far from home, under foreign rule. That setting is the point.
Jehovah applies it to two of His prophets, Daniel and Ezekiel (Dan. 8:17; Ezek. 2:1). Both men stood as witnesses at a time when the nation was under foreign rule, because it had turned away from the worship of Jehovah… So the Lord, in describing Himself as the Son of man, took up a title carried until then only by prophets in exile. Even then it was a title of reproach.
Commentators read that reproach as opening a door rather than closing one. They also read the name as a mark of lowliness that only magnifies grace.
The title given him is itself proof that the people he goes to have lost their special place with God. At the same time it proves that if Israel will not hear, grace will not be stopped from reaching its goal. The message will only go out more widely, and with a deeper, sweeter, fuller word, as we fully prove today… With Ezekiel the term speaks simply of his identification with men. He is not the Son of man Himself. He is reminded of the lowliness of his condition, and this only magnifies the grace which has taken him up. So he is well fitted to carry the message he is charged with — not an angel, but a man with human sympathies and a human understanding gained among human conditions.
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The man on his feet now stands on God's side of a broken relationship. His commission does not depend on results.
God is rejected. His prophet takes this place, with the throne, to judge the whole nation, and Jerusalem above all. At the same time he announces (to faith) their re-establishment in grace. Jehovah sends him to a rebellious people, to say, Jehovah has spoken, whether they would hear or not… His first testimony is made up of lamentations, mourning and woe. Still, God's giving of His word is always full of sweetness, seen as a revelation from Him.
The call has a plain application to anyone God intends to speak to.
"Son of man, stand upon your feet and I will speak to you," was the word spoken to Ezekiel by the river Chebar. Why? Because a man standing up feels quite different from one lying down. He is in a posture of alertness, attention, and to such a one God can communicate His will.
- Floored. Ezekiel lies face down not over what he had done but over what he was, shown up by the glory of God.
- Lifted. God will not speak to a man in the dust; the command to stand comes with the Spirit entering him to make it possible.
- Named. The name marks his lowliness as a man. God used it of Daniel once and of Ezekiel over a hundred times. Jesus later took it as the rejected Messiah who would suffer, be exalted, and return in glory.
- Widened. The name also marks a nation that has lost its special place. Grace does not stop there; the message only travels further.
- Sent. The prophet stands with God against a rebellious people. He speaks whether they listen or not, and even a message of mourning is sweet as a word from Him.
And the Spirit entered into me when he spoke unto me, and set me upon my feet; and I heard him that spoke unto me.
Ezekiel lies flat on his face by the river Chebar, undone by the vision of God's glory, and a voice tells him to get up. Then the Spirit comes into him and sets him upright. Commentators ask why God would not speak to a man in the dust, and what standing on your feet has to do with carrying a message.
A voice speaks, and then the Spirit acts. One writer treats this pairing as a settled pattern.
The Spirit followed the Word that spoke — "and the Spirit entered into me when He spoke to me." So the Word and the Spirit are always connected. Then Ezekiel received his commission. He is sent to a defiant, hard-hearted people. His message is to begin with: "Thus says Jehovah-God." The sender is the Lord; the message is from Him.
The command to stand is not a rebuke of Ezekiel's reverence. It is the answer to it. Lying face down says something true about a creature before God, but it cannot say everything God wants said.
God recognizes how weak His instrument is, and that weakness calls out Jehovah's might to sustain it. We see this at the very start here: "Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you." And not only that, but the Spirit enters into him to make him stand. He cannot even listen to the message while lying face down. That posture may truly express the nothingness of the creature in the presence of God, but it cannot express God's grace towards him. We see this all through the history of the prophets — in Daniel, and again with John the beloved. God cannot utter His thoughts to one lying face down in the dust before Him. This does not suit the blessed Speaker.
The same writer takes the moment further.
This is already a foretaste of what lets us say we have not received the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" That cry has not yet come in Ezekiel's case, since he belongs to an earlier time. Still, the spirit of fear is told to depart, so that God's words may have their fitting character.
One writer gives a plain, practical reason for the change of position.
"Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you," was the word spoken to Ezekiel by the river Chebar. Why? Because a man standing up feels quite different from one lying down. He is in a posture of alertness, attention, and to such a one God can communicate His will.
He is set on his feet to hear a title, and it is not a comfortable one. It marks God as now speaking from outside Israel, and it points beyond Ezekiel to Jesus.
God shows this new attitude in another way too — by the title He gives the prophet who has fallen on his face, here in chapter 2 and from then on. The voice spoke from the likeness of the glory of Jehovah, and the words were, "Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you." God called Daniel this once (Dan. 8:17), and Ezekiel more than a hundred times. It is the title Jesus took as the rejected Messiah who should suffer, be exalted, and return in glory as the Son of Man. His servants carry the same title, because they are tied to the glory of God — the God who now declares Himself outside Israel, and even judges Israel by the Gentiles.
Being set upright is not a promise of an easy errand. It is what makes fear of people out of place.
Among such a people the prophet lives, as briars and thorns wound and entangle those who touch them, as scorpions are poisonous in their sting; yet he who has been allowed to see the glory of Jehovah need not be afraid among them. How unfitting any fear of man would be in such a person, and what a poor picture he would give of the majesty of Him with whom they had to do!
- Word. God speaks first; the Spirit follows the speaking. The two are always connected, and Ezekiel must begin his message with "Thus says Jehovah-God."
- Spirit. The command "stand" carries its own power. Ezekiel does not lift himself; the Spirit enters and makes him stand.
- Feet. God will not talk to a man lying in the dust. Awe is right, but grace wants a listener upright and alert. It is an early taste of the Spirit who makes sons cry "Abba! Father!"
- Name. The first title he hears standing is "Son of man." Ezekiel bears it over a hundred times; Jesus later took it as the rejected One.
- Errand. God raises him to send him, not to make him comfortable. The man who has seen the glory of God has no business fearing briars, thorns and scorpions.