God's Servants are Told What to Expect
W. Greenhill, M. A. Ezekiel 3:25 But you, O son of man, behold, they shall put bands on you, and shall bind you with them, and you shall not go out among them: 1. Christ deals fairly, not fraudulently with His; He tells them at first what they must expect; not gold and silver, but bands and chains "They shall bind thee." He told Jeremiah, they shall fight against him (Jeremiah 1:19). So Paul no sooner is called to preaching, but he hears of suffering (Acts 9:16). Christ tells all the apostles that they must be afflicted, hated, killed (John 16:2). 2. No excellency exempts a prophet from the malice of men's tongues and hands. 3. The generality of people are enemies to their own good, and active to their own ruin. The house of Israel, they are against the prophet; they fetter and chain him up, and think they have done well, to make him secure from coming amongst them. And alas, what have they done! thrust away the physician that should cure them; shut out mercy by shutting up a prophet; put out the light. Christ the great Prophet, the people, after all His precious sermons and glorious miracles, cry (Luke 23:18, 21). 4. Wicked ones deal severely, cruelly with the prophets when they fall into their hands. 5. Afflictive conditions seldom better men's spirits. In the case of the Jews here, their wronging of the prophets was the cause of their suffering, and yet all their sufferings did not subdue their spirits, and work them to entertain the truth. The plough breaks the earth in many places, but doth not better it, but leaves it as it was; nothing is put in by the plough. 6. It is no new thing for prophets and ministers to be roughly entreated, and laid by as useless things (1 Peter 5:9). (W. Greenhill, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: But thou, O son of man, behold, they shall put bands upon thee, and shall bind thee with them, and thou shalt not go out among them: WEB: But you, son of man, behold, they shall lay bands on you, and shall bind you with them, and you shall not go out among them: