The prophet Ezekiel was taken into captivity during King Nebuchadnezzar’s first deportation of Jews to Babylon (2 Kings 24:10-17). Eleven years passed from the time of the first deportation of Jews until the fall and captivity of Judah (2 Kings 25:1-2), Ezekiel’s prophetic call took place in the fifth year of the Jews captivity. Ezekiel wrote, “…as I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God” (Ezekiel 1:1). God warned Ezekiel that he must say everything the Lord told him to even if the Jews didn’t listen. God said:

“Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. The descendants also are impudent and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them.” (Ezekiel 2:3-5)

God referred to the Jews as a nation of rebels, who had rebelled against him. The Hebrew word that is translated rebellious in Ezekiel 2:5 is mᵉriy (mer-eeˊ). “A masculine noun meaning obstinacy, stubbornness, rebelliousness. The term consistently stays within the tight semantic  range and most often describes the Israelites’ determined refusal to obey the precepts laid down by the Lord in His Law or Torah. This characteristic attitude was a visible manifestation of their hard hearts” (H4805).

The Lord focused on the condition of the Jews’ hearts when he explained to Ezekiel why the people were not going to listen to him. God said if he sent Ezekiel to foreigners, they would listen to him, “But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me: because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart” (Ezekiel 3:6-7). The heart is the seat of one’s inner nature and it encompasses things like the mind, the will, and a person’s emotions. A person with a stubborn heart is someone who is harsh and cruel, violent or fierce in their behavior toward others (H3820/H7186).

God told Ezekiel that all of the house of Israel had a stubborn heart (Ezekiel 3:7). There was no one who was godly left among the people of Judah and Jerusalem. In spite of this, God told Ezekiel, “’Fear them not, nor be dismayed at their looks for they are a rebellious house.’ Moreover, he said to me, ‘Son of man, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears. And go to the exiles, to your people, and speak to them and say to them, “Thus says the Lord God,” whether they hear or refuse to hear” (Ezekiel 3:9-11).

Ezekiel was overwhelmed by the task that God had given him, but the filling of the Holy Spirit (Ezekiel 2:2) enabled Ezekiel to do what God wanted him to. Ezekiel said, “The Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, the hand of the LORD being strong upon me. And I came to the exiles at Tel-abib, who were dwelling by the Chebar canal, and I sat where they were dwelling. And I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days” (Ezekiel 3:14-15). Ezekiel was angry and resistant to doing God’s will. It took him seven days to recover from the shock of being transported against his will to the location where God intended his ministry to be launched.

Ezekiel was assigned the role of a watchman for Israel. God explained to Ezekiel that he was being made responsible for the lives of everyone he was commanded to speak to. God said, “Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul” (Ezekiel 3:17-19). As a watchman for Israel, Ezekiel didn’t have a choice about who he spoke to or what message he delivered. It was Ezekiel’s responsibility to warn the Jews of their impending doom, but that was all. If the people did not heed Ezekiel’s warning, he would not be held accountable for their death.