Ezekiel 3:4

"And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them. For thou art not sent to a people of strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel; not to many peoples of a strange speech and of a hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, if I sent thee to them, they would hearken unto thee. But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are of a hard forehead and of a stiff heart. Behold, I have made thy face hard against their faces, and thy forehead hard against their foreheads. As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house."

GOD'S PROMISE OF POWER TO EZEKIEL

As our study of Ezekiel moves forward, we are impressed by the right of this prophet to be called a type of Jesus Christ: (1) The name alone (Son of man) suggests it; (2) In this passage Ezekiel is sent "only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matthew 15:24); and again in this passage, (3) Ezekiel was told that Israel would not hear him, because they would not hear God (Ezekiel 3:7); and the exact duplicate of this was promised the apostles by Jesus Christ (John 15:20).

Still another fundamental element of Jesus' teaching is in Ezekiel 3:6.

"Surely, if I sent thee to them, they would hearken unto thee ..." (Ezekiel 3:6). "The thought here finds its analogue in our Lord's reference to Sodom and Gomorrah (Matthew 11:21-24)."[4]

This paragraph repeats much that was stated in Ezekiel 2 regarding the rebellious house of Israel and their attitude toward God; but, as Taylor noted, the previous mention of such qualities in Israel were a description of Ezekiel's commission; "But these later verses represent the equipping of the prophet with the qualities which he will need in order to fulfill his commission."[5]

As Keil noted, the concluding clause in Ezekiel 3:6 has no primary application to the Gentiles, other than the truth that was demonstrated by the spread of Christianity into "all nations." "Here, the words emphasize the contrast between the excusable inability of people to understand a foreign language and the quite inexcusable stubbornness of Ezekiel's Israelite hearers."[6]; "Strange speech ... and hard language ..." (Ezekiel 3:6). In the Hebrew here, the literal words are, "of deep lip and heavy tongue."[7] This passage also suggests the words of Isaiah 28:11, where "tongues" appear as a curse to God's people and not as a blessing.