8 “But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Be not rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you.” 9 And when I looked, behold, a hand was stretched out to me, and behold, a scroll of a book was in it. 10 And he spread it before me. And it had writing on the front and on the back, and there were written on it words of lamentation and mourning and woe.
3 And he said to me, “Son of man, eat whatever you find here. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” 2 So I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat. 3 And he said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it.” Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey.
The last words of the divine commission to Ezekiel were to open his mouth and eat what God gave him. This is amplified in the verses which follow: the hand of God held out to him a roll of a book written within and without with lamentations, mourning and woe. Ezekiel did as he was commanded, and it was in his mouth as honey for sweetness. This is not indicative of a perverse delight on Ezekiel's part in the word of judgment that he was commissioned to proclaim, but rather of the fact that the doing of God's will in obedience, speaking His word to the people however painful the message, is the sweetest thing on earth. This is something that is proved by the servants of God again and again (cf Jeremiah 15:16) and it speaks of the ineffable sweetness of being identified with the sufferings of the Lord. There is another lesson also, however: it is that a true servant of God receives God's word for himself first of all, before it becomes a word for others, and Ezekiel surely took to himself the impact of this stern and devastating word, and felt it in his own heart of hearts before he could be qualified to speak it and administer it to the people. This is a very important consideration: we read later on in this chapter (3:15) that Ezekiel sat where the exiles sat, that is to say, he was identified with them in their woe; and in the same way he was identified with the Lord in His message.