Ezekiel 1:3

3 the word of Yahweh {came}^[a] clearly^[b] to Ezekiel the son of Buzi, the priest, in the land of [the] Chaldeans at the {Kebar River},^[c] and the hand of Yahweh was on him there.

Ezekiel 1:3 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 1:3

The word of the Lord came expressly
Or, "in being was" {d}; which phrase denotes the reality, certainty, substantiality and evidence of the word of the Lord to him:

unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi;
which Buzi, some say, was Jeremiah. Kimchi observes, that, in the Jerusalem Targum, the Prophet Ezekiel is called the son of Jeremiah the prophet: and Jeremiah was called Buzi because they despised him; this is rejected by Abarbinel; nor is there any reason to believe it, any more than what Nazianzen ^F5 says, that Ezekiel was a servant of Jeremiah:

in the land of the Chaldeans, by the river Chebar;
(See Gill on Ezekiel 1:1). The Chaldee paraphrase makes the word of the Lord to come to him at two distinct times and places;

``the word of prophecy from before the Lord was with Ezekiel the son of Buzi the priest in the land of Israel: it returned a second time, and spoke with him in the province, the land of the Chaldeans, by the river Chebar:''

and the hand of the Lord was there upon him;
by which is meant the gift and word of prophecy, which came with power and efficacy, clearness and evidence; so the Targum, and the

``spirit of prophecy from before the Lord there abode by him;''

by which he saw all later visions, and delivered out the following prophecies; see ( 2 Peter 1:21 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 (hyh hyh) "essendo fuit", Pagninus, Montanus. Heb. ; "existendo exstitit", Polanus.
F5 Orat. 47. vol. 1. p. 724.

Ezekiel 1:3 In-Context

1 And it was in [the] thirtieth year, in the fourth [month], on the fifth [day] of the month, and I [was] in the midst of the exiles by the {Kebar River}. The heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.

2 On the fifth [day] of the month--it was the fifth year of the exile of the king Jehoiachin--

3 the word of Yahweh {came} clearly to Ezekiel the son of Buzi, the priest, in the land of [the] Chaldeans at the {Kebar River}, and the hand of Yahweh was on him there.

4 And I looked, and look! A storm wind [was] coming from the north, a great cloud, and fire flashing back and forth, and brightness around [and] {within it}, and from its midst [it was] like [the] outward appearance of amber stone from the midst of the fire.

5 And from its midst [was] the likeness of four living creatures, and this [was] their appearance: {a human form},

Footnotes

• [a] Literally "was"
• [b] Or "certainly"
• [c] Literally "river of Kebar"