Ezekiel 3:8

8 [But] look, I have made your face hard {against} their faces and your forehead hard {against} their forehead.

Ezekiel 3:8 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 3:8

Behold, I have made the, face strong against their faces
Not that the prophet should have the same sort of impudence and confidence they had; but that God would "give" ^F14 him such a face, as it is in the Hebrew text, such spirit and courage, that he should neither be ashamed of the words of the Lord, nor afraid to speak them to this people; so that he should be a match for them; they should not be able to outface him, or look him out of countenance; he should behave with an undaunted spirit, and with great intrepidity, amidst all opposition made to him: the Lord fits his ministers for the people he sends them to, and gives them courage and strength proportionate to the opposition they meet with; as their day is, their strength is; and all that invincible courage, boldness, and strength, with which they are endowed, it is all from the Lord, and a gift of his: and thy forehead strong against their foreheads;
which is the same thing in different words.

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FOOTNOTES:

F14 (Kynp ta yttn) "dedi faciem tuam", V. L. Vatablus, Cocceius, Starckius.

Ezekiel 3:8 In-Context

6 [and] not to many nations {of obscure speech} and {a difficult language} {whose words} you do not understand, [for] if I had sent you to them they would have listened to you.

7 And the house of Israel, they are not willing to listen to you, for they [are] not willing to listen to me, for all of the house of Israel is hard of forehead, and they [are] hard of heart.

8 [But] look, I have made your face hard {against} their faces and your forehead hard {against} their forehead.

9 Like a diamond {harder than flint} I have made your forehead; you must not fear them, and you must not be dismayed {on account of them}, for they {are a rebellious house}.

10 And he said to me, "Son of man, all of my words that I shall speak to you, receive into your heart and hear with your ears.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "set"
• [b]. Literally "to correspond [to]"
• [c]. Literally "to correspond [to]"