Text: Ezekiel 3:5-6
OT Text Referred to: Exodus 4:10
Subject: prophetic commissioning despite audience resistance
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): None
Significance: Ezekiel 3:5-6 develops the ironic contrast God introduced in the Mosaic commissioning of Exodus 4:10. Where Moses protested his own speech limitations, God now tells Ezekiel that his audience's problem is not comprehension but rebellion. The phrase "deep of lip and heavy of tongue" (עִמְקֵי שָׂפָה וְכִבְדֵי לָשׁוֹן, imqey safah vekhivdey lashon) inverts Moses's self-description, applying it hypothetically to foreign nations who would actually have listened. This escalation reveals that Israel is more resistant to God's word than pagans who have never heard it.