But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say unto them, Thus says the LORD GOD; He that hears, let him hear; and he that forbears, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.

But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say unto them, Thus says the LORD GOD; He that hears, let him hear; and he that forbears, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.

The above is the LORD speaking to Ezekiel, recorded in Ezekiel 3:27. The chapter begins by describing how Ezekiel is given his hearing and sight, by eating the “roll.” We know from previous studies, the word “roll” is translated from the Hebrew word mgillah, meaning a volume. It is speaking of the written word of God, from origins in the Hebrew word galal, meaning to roll, as into heap together.

By this above understanding, we see what Ezekiel is told in Ezekiel 4:12 & 15, after he is told to lay siege against the rebellious house referred to in the above final verse of the previous chapter. In these latter verses, the roll, the word of God, is contrasted with the bread Ezekiel is told to cook using “dung,” as a sign to these same rebels. The word “dung” is from the Hebrew word gelel, meaning dung that is rolled, heaped, together: which is from the same word galal.

These patterns are contrasting the word of God, which produces hearing, sight, and obedient life, against the words of men, producing the opposite. Ezekiel, the son of man, realizes, by understanding, what he is hearing is the voice of God calling him to lay siege against this condition using the same word of God, to give understanding as he has been given.

The word gelel only appears two other times, both in describing the effects of men’s words, and those who attempt to elevate them above the truth of God’s word. The first of these uses is in Job 20:7 and the other is in Zephaniah 1:17.

Job 20
4 Know you not this of old, since man was placed upon earth,
5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?
6 Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds [though they elevate themselves, by their ideas, above God];
7 Yet he shall perish forever like his own dung [gelel]: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?
8 He shall fly away [‘uwph] as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.

Zephaniah 1
14 The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hastens greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.
15 That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,
16 A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.
17 And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung [gelel].
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

We understand the effect of the words of men, when they replace the word of God, is what Zechariah is speaking of when he sees the flying roll, meaning he understands it as the word of God being removed from men’s minds. This appears in Zechariah 5:1 & 2, which is followed by telling of the effect of the blindness, ignorance that brings in wickedness by corrupt, unbalanced judgment.

Zechariah 5
1 Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll [‘uwph mgillah].
2 And he said unto me, What seest you? And I answered, I see a flying roll [‘uwph mgillah]; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits.
3 Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goes forth over the face of the whole earth [because the word God has flown, vanished, from their minds]: for every one that steals shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that swears shall be cut off as on that side according to it.
4 I will bring it forth, says the LORD of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that swears falsely by my name [the modern church and their false prophets, who say God says, while their words are their own dung]: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume [kalah – Hosea 11: 6 And the sword shall abide on his cities, and shall consume {kalah} his branches, and devour them, because of their own counsels. 7 And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt him.] it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof.
5 Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now your eyes, and see what is this that goes forth [it is the counsel of the blind, wicked judgment that opposes God].
6 And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah [the weight that is used to balance judgment] that goes forth. He said moreover, This is their resemblance through all the earth.
7 And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman [those who have unfaithfully left the LORD’s ideas – His word] that sits in the midst of the ephah.
8 And he said, This is wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth [peh – the words] thereof.
9 Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven.
10 Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah?
11 And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.

The ephah, the weight, the burden of good judgment lost by the loss of understanding God’s word, is carried into Shinar, which is a place in Babylon, the name telling of the cause of the confusion that now rules over all the world. Shinar appears to be derived from the Hebrew words yashen and yashar, the first meaning sleep, and the other meaning to be made right. It is speaking of this time, and the event we are in the midst of, when the LORD is awakening the sleeping, by returning understanding through His correcting those who receive it and become His children.

Shinar is only used eight times, the two most noteworthy are in Joshua 7:21, where it is rendered Babylonish garments, the other in Daniel 1:2, telling of when came, “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it. 2 And the LORD gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god.”

As we know from many previous discussions, Nebuchadnezzar translates into telling of the lies of the false prophets that cause the desolation of God’s people. Here it is the king over the confusion [Babylon] that rules over the world, and besieged Jerusalem, which we also know means, taught and founded on the ideas and ways that flow from God, which are the only foundation of peace and security. These ideas and ways are what were carried into a state of sleep, and which are now restored to any who will receive them. Jehoiakim’s name speaks of the king the LORD will raise up out of this captivity, and with him restore the vessels of the house (family) of God.

2 Corinthians 4
1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;
2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
4 In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the LORD; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.
6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the LORD Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
11 For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

The return of the LORD is our awakening again to see Him, the LORD who has never left. The only time the word mgillah is rendered “volume” is in Psalms 40:7 in telling of the LORD opening our eyes. It tells us what we see as He comes in the volume of the book, in the prophecies that went before Him (see 1 Timothy 1:18), to do the will of God.

We know, when this is quoted in Hebrews 10:5 the writer alters the line in Psalms 40:6 that says “mine ears have You opened,” to instead say, “but a body have You prepared Me.” In this, we understand the preparation is to open our ears so we are again able to hear Him, and hearing Him we see Him. We have discussed this point many times, as it appears in 1 Thessalonians 2:12 & 13, where Paul tells of hearing the LORD calling us into His kingdom. He then describes the calling as hearing God speaking through Him, as it is in truth, and as it is here and now. We know, Paul then in verse 19, asks if they truly understand that by hearing the word as God’s calling them to Him, they are in the presence of the LORD at His coming.

1 Thessalonians 2
11 As you know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father does his children,
12 That you would walk worthy of God, who has called you unto his kingdom and glory.
13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when you received the word of God which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually works also in you that believe.

Hebrews 10 goes on to tell us in verse 9, that when we see the LORD coming, by hearing Him in the clear understanding of His word, realizing He is calling us to be yoked with Him, to do the will of the Father, it is the only sacrifice that is now acceptable to God. The chapter goes on, in verses 16 & 17, to quote from Jeremiah 31:33 & 34, where it tells of this sacrifice as the LORD coming to put His law in our hearts, and to write them in our minds. The verses in Jeremiah tell us more precisely that we will no longer be taught who the LORD is, but we will each know Him personally. We understand this is what the LORD Jesus tells us in John 14. There He also told us He would manifest Himself to those who loved and kept His word – and not to the world that chooses to remain in its self-inflicted blindness.

Jeremiah 31
33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, says the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, says the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
35 Thus says the LORD, which gives the sun [church] for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon [the order of civilization – civil government] and of the stars [His people of understanding] for a light by night, which divides [shows their language to be without understanding] the sea [the masses – humanity in total] when the waves thereof roar [when they exalt themselves and their ideas above God’s]; The LORD of hosts is his name:
36 If those ordinances depart from before me, says the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me forever.

John 14
19 Yet a little while, and the world sees me no more [because they have all been blinded by the gods of this world]; but you see me: because I live, you shall live also.
20 At that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
21 He that has my commandments, and keeps them [protects and preserves them in their pure form], he it is that loves me: and he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
22 Judas [Judah] said unto him, not Iscariot, LORD, how is it that you will manifest yourself unto us, and not unto the world?
23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him [live in him].
24 He that loves me not keeps not my sayings: and the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.
25 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.
26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
28 You have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If you loved me, you would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.
29 And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, you might believe.

Hebrews 10
5 Wherefore when he comes into the world, he says, Sacrifice and offering you would not, but a body have you prepared me:
6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you have had no pleasure.
7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do your will, O God.
8 Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin you would not, neither had pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;
9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do your will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11 And every priest stands daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:
12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
14 For by one offering he has perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
15 Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,
16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
20 By a new and living way, which he has consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
21 And having a high priest over the house of God;
22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as you see the day approaching.
26 For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins,
27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
28 He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:
29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose you, shall he be thought worthy, who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and has done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
30 For we know him that has said, Vengeance belongs unto me, I will recompense, says the LORD. And again, The LORD shall judge his people.
31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Ezekiel 3
1 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that you find; eat this roll [mgillah], and go speak unto the house of Israel.
2 So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll [migillah].
3 And he said unto me, Son of man, cause your belly to eat, and fill your bowels with this roll [mgillah] that I give you. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.
4 And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get you unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them.
5 For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel;
6 Not to many people of a strange speech and of a hard language, whose words you can not understand. Surely, had I sent you to them, they would have hearkened unto you.
7 But the house of Israel will not hearken unto you; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.
8 Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead [the thought in your mind] strong against their foreheads [thoughts].
9 As an adamant harder than flint have I made your forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.
10 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears.
11 And go, get you to them of the captivity, unto the children of your people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus says the LORD God; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.
12 Then the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing [the sound of the Holy Spirit moving – see John 3:8 and Acts 2:2], saying, Blessed be the glory of the LORD from his place. [His presence manifested in His word spoken through the son of man]
13 I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels over against them, and a noise of a great rushing. [This is telling of understanding that is given, wherein the word is seen describing events and ideas of past moves of the spirit, to bring understanding and life to us in understanding the present time.]
14 So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me.
15 Then I came to them of the captivity at Telabib [the time when we are raised in the new birth – resurrection], that dwelt by the river of Chebar [the river that flows through eternity – the word of God], and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days.
16 And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
17 Son of man, I have made you a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.
18 When I say unto the wicked, You shall surely die; and you [forbear and] give him not warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at your hand.
19 Yet if you [hear and do God’s will] warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul. [this is that same point made above – some will hear and some will forbear]
20 Again, When a righteous man does turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die: because you have not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but [if you forbear] his blood will I require at your hand.
21 Nevertheless if you [hear a do God’s will, which is to] warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also you have delivered your soul. [See 1 Timothy 4:10 thru 16]
22 And the hand of the LORD was there upon me; and he said unto me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with you.
23 Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and, behold, the glory of the LORD stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river of Chebar: and I fell on my face. [This is his seeing, understanding, the work, the mission of the son of man, the presence of God in him working]
24 Then the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and spoke with me, and said unto me, Go, shut yourself within your house.
25 But you, O son of man, behold, they shall put bands upon you, and shall bind you with them, and you shall not go out among them:
26 And I will make your tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth, that you shall be dumb, and shall not be to them a reprover: for they are a rebellious house. [the silence until this time.]
27 But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say unto them, Thus says the LORD God; He that hears, let him hear; and he that forbears, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.

Ezekiel 4
1 You also, son of man, take you a tile, and lay it before you, and portray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:
2 And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.
3 Moreover take you unto you an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between you and the city: and set your face against it, and it shall be besieged, and you shall lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel. [As it has been]
4 Lie you also upon your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that you shall lie upon it you shall bear their iniquity.
5 For I have laid upon you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shall you bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
6 And when you have accomplished them, lie again on your right side, and you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed you each day for a year.
7 Therefore you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and your arm shall be uncovered, and you shall prophesy against it.
8 And, behold, I will lay bands upon you, and you shall not turn you from one side to another, till you have ended the days of your siege. [this is the end spoken of in the prior post – when the word of God has been fully given, as it now has, and men have made their decision – to hear or to forbear hearing.]
9 Take you also unto you wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make you bread thereof, according to the number of the days that you shall lie upon your side, three hundred and ninety days shall you eat thereof.
10 And your meat which you shall eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shall you eat it.
11 You shall drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shall you drink.
12 And you shall eat it as barley cakes, and you shall bake it with dung [gelel – the ideas of men] that comes out of man, in their sight.
13 And the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them.
14 Then said I, Ah LORD God! behold, my soul has not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dies of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.
15 Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given you cow’s dung [tsphuwa’] for man’s dung [gelel – the ideas of men], and you shall prepare your bread therewith.
16 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:
17 That they may want bread and water, and be astonished one with another, and consume away for their iniquity.

Friends, again I tell you, these men who control God’s people by preaching and teaching dung, have no faith in God, nor do they have any understanding of who He is. They have been putting on a charade, preaching the corrupted ideas of those before them, or what they have created recently from their own imaginations. These men turn the truth of God into a lie, and then fake faith to make their lies seem true (with guile). They are unable to hear God speaking His correction because they aren’t His children, and they hate His truth and His children who speak it.

1 John 4
1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
2 Hereby know you the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
3 And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof you have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he [Jesus Christ] that is in you, than he [the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience] that is in the world.
5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world hears them.
6 We are of God: he that knows God hears [Him in] us; he that is not of God hear not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

Psalms 111
1 Praise you the LORD. I will praise the LORD with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation.
2 The works of the LORD are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.
3 His work is honorable and glorious: and his righteousness endures forever.
4 He has made his wonderful works to be remembered: the LORD is gracious and full of compassion.
5 He has given meat [deep understanding] unto them that fear him: he will ever be mindful of his covenant.
6 He has shewed his people the power of his works, that he may give them the heritage of the heathen.
7 The works of his hands are verity and judgment; all his commandments are sure.
8 They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.
9 He sent redemption unto his people: he has commanded his covenant forever: holy and reverend is his name.
10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endures forever.