Ezekiel 2:9 - Exposition

An hand was sent ( put forth, Revised Version) unto me, etc. Apparently the hand was not that of the human form seated on the throne ( Ezekiel 1:26 ), nor of one of the four living creatures ( Ezekiel 1:8 ), but one appearing mysteriously by itself, as in the history of Belshazzar's feast ( Daniel 5:5 ). The words connect themselves with the use of the hand stretched out of a cloud as the symbols of the Divine energy both in Jewish and Christian art. The writer has in his possession a Jewish brass tablet, probably of the sixteenth century, commemorating the legend of the miraculous supply of oil at the Feast of the Dedication, in which such a hand appears as pouring oil into the seven-branched candlestick, or lamp, of the temple. Lo, a roll of a book, etc. The words remind us of the volume, or roll, in Psalms 40:7 ; Jeremiah 36:2 ; Zechariah 5:1 ; like those which are still used in Jewish synagogues.