Ezekiel 3:9

Eze 3:9 As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they [be] a rebellious house.

Ver. 9. As an adamant, harder than flint.] Heb., Strong above a rock. Instar rupis quae in mari vadoso horridi Iovis, et irati, ut ita dicam, Neptuni fervidis assultibus undique verberata, non cedit, aut minuitur; sed obtendit assuetum fluctibus latus, et firma duritis, tumentis undae impetum sustinet ac frangit. This {a} invincible courage and constance in God’s ministers the mad world calleth and counteth pride and pertinace; but these know not the power of the Spirit, nor the privy armour of proof that such have about their hearts. {b}

Fear them not, &c.] See Eze 2:6.

{a} John Wower, Polymath.

{b} Durus ut his animus solido ex adamante creatus. - Hesiod.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eze_3:9

As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead.

The adamant

(Zec_7:12):--A great and good man who served and suffered for Christ in North Africa seventeen centuries ago won for himself a noble name by which he is still known, Origen the Adamantine. There isnt a boy nor, in her own quiet way, a girl who does not feel some glow of heart or flush of face at the magic of this name, the Unsubduable, the Invincible. But he was not the first who bore the name. It was given long before by God Himself to His captive prophet in Babylon, whose forehead, as he faced the people, whose hearts were cold and hard as stones, might well be firm as adamant, since, in his very name, Ezekiel, he carried the great power of God. Now, what is adamant? Look at a ladys finger ring, and find among the precious stones set in its golden circle one that is quite clear and lustrous, and that throws off from every facet whatever rays of light are falling upon it. We call this sparkling gem, as you know, a diamond. But that is just another form of the word adamant, which we owe to the old Greeks, who naturally called the precious stone which could not be broken, adamas or the unsubduable.

1. The diamond now flashing on your mothers finger was not always the hardest of stones. It was once a bit of soft, vegetable matter. For the diamond is not really different from the coal which makes our winter fires, and which, long, long ages ago, was a thick, steaming forest. Hence it is quite true that the sunbeams are driving our railway trains. And the exiles in Babylon, who had grown so adamantine in evil that the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God made no more impression on their hearts than your penknife on the angles of a diamond, were once boys and girls playing in the streets of Jerusalem, singing the songs of Zion, and dreaming their day dreams of ministering to the Lord like Samuel, or fighting with Goliaths like David, or leading the dance of triumph like Miriam. This terrible process of heart petrifying, or turning to stone, comes about by the action of the wise and good, though solemn and awful, law of habit. The oftener, the easier. How woeful to reach at last the state when, as regards all that is highest and best, one is past feeling, as though the conscience had been burned with a hot iron, or the heart made as hard as an adamant stone! From which may the good Lord deliver us!

2. We may find a promise of better things even in Zechariahs awful image of disobedience. The exquisite diamonds, or carbon crystals, are combustible, and, if subjected to a sufficient degree of heat, will pass off in carbonic acid gas. Fine ladies need not be so proud of their diamonds, since they may all be dissipated by fire; and poorer folks need not so greatly covet their possession, since they are breathing out diamond essence with every exhalation! And if we were so foolishly greedy as to want our diamond breaths back again, they would poison us. However this may be, it is certain that hearts as hard as an adamant stone are every day being softened, melted, transformed, by the fire of Gods holy love, which saves the sinner by consuming his sins.

3. But the broken heart, though it may seem strange to say so, is the stoutest and bravest of hearts. The true hero has always a tender conscience. He who fears God has no other fear. If Christ is your Master, and you are learning in His school, you may well appropriate the sturdy words over the gate of Marischal College, Aberdeen: They say: what say they? let them say. God has His diamonds as well as the devil. Against the whole House of Disobedience stood up the son of Buzi, the prophet of the exile, in the strength of God. If the people were hard as flint in their own evil ways, he was firm as the adamant, which is harder than flint in the service of God. They did well to call Origen, the Adamantine, the Invincible, for when, at the age of sixteen, his father was thrown into prison for his confession of Christ, he wanted to go and suffer with him; and when it was shown him that this was not his duty, he wrote to his father not to falter in his faith for their sakes, for he would undertake the support of his mother and his six younger brothers. And nobly did he fulfil his promise, selling his books, working early and late as a teacher in Alexandria, and inspiring his pupils with such devotion that they called his college a school for martyrs. (A. N. Mackray, M. A.)

Weakness made strong

What is more unstable than water, yet, when frozen, what is more immovable? It becomes hard as a rock when God touches it. What He does in nature tie also does in grace. Peter was weak as water, but the Lord changed his nature as well as his name, and Simon, son of Jonas, became Peter, son of Jehovah. The Lord did the same for Ezekiel. Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads. As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house (Eze_3:9). The worlds hardening is death: Gods hardening is strength; the yielding became unyielding, and those rippled with every breath became immovable. Yes, it is wonderful what God can enable us to bear! (Footsteps of Truth.)

Hardened for endurance

Loose-braced, easy souls, that lie open to all the pleasurable influences of ordinary life, are no more fit for Gods weapons than a reed for a lance, or a bit of flexible lead for a spear point. The wood must be tough and compact, the metal hard and close-grained, out of which God makes His shafts. The brand that is to guide men through the darkness to their Fathers home must glow with a pallor of consuming flame that purges its whole substance into light. (A. Maclaren.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

As . . . flint--so Messiah the antitype (Isa 50:7; compare Jer 1:8, Jer 1:17).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Lastly, we gather from this passage that although the whole world should rise up against the servants of God, yet his strength would be superior, as we saw it was with Jeremiah: They shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail. (Jeremiah 1:19; Jeremiah 15:20.) Hence there is no reason why we should be afraid of the violent attack of any enemy, and although the whole world should be in a tumult, yet we need not tremble, because God’s strength in us will always be more powerful. Therefore it is added, as an adamant, harder than flint, have I placed thee; therefore do not fear them. God says I have placed the forehead of the Prophet like adamant; not that he strove with the people by either injustice or audacity, but because God opposed the confidence with which Ezekiel was endowed to the furious impudence of the people. In this sense then the forehead of the Prophet is said to be adamant Now he adds — do not fear, then, and do not be broken by their face or presence These phrases, that the Prophet be not broken, and yet fear not, seem to be opposed to each other, since he excels in unconquered fortitude. But God so tempers his favor, that the faithful always have need of excitements, even when he animates them, and supplies them with strength. God, therefore, so works within his servants, that they do nothing except as they are ruled by his Spirit; and yet they have need of his teaching, since his exhortations to them are never superfluous. Profane men think that there is no use in teaching, and that all exhortations are frivolous, if God, when he acts upon us by his Spirit, not only begins, but continues and perfects his own work. But the Scripture shows that these two things mutually agree; for while God strengthens us and renders us unconquerable by his Spirit, at the same time he breathes virtue into his exhortations, and causes them to flourish within us, and to bring forth fruit In this way God on his part confirms his Prophet, by giving him an adamantine forehead and more than stony, and by giving him an unconquered spirit, and yet he exhorts him to fear not. We see, then, how God governs his own people within them, and yet adds teaching as an instrument of his Spirit. Then he adds, because they are a rebellious house, or although they are; for the particle כי, ki, is often put adversatively, as we have said elsewhere. If we take it in its proper sense, it will suit very well, because they are a rebellious house; as if it had been said, the Prophet has no cause for fear, because he was carefully admonished beforehand, and nothing new could happen; for we are accustomed to be very much frightened by novelty; but when we have meditated on what happens, we are not disturbed, neither do we stand still nor hesitate; for although the Prophet had already learnt that the house of Israel was rebellious, yet he perseveres, because he experiences nothing new or unusual. It follows —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(9) An adamant harder than flint.—Adamant is the diamond, as it is translated (Jer_17:1). The people were as hard as flint, but as the diamond cuts flint, so Ezekiel’s words should be made by the Divine power to cut through all their resistance. Armed with this strength, he need not fear their obduracy, however great.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9. harder than flint] Cf. Jer_5:3, “they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.”

though they be a rebellious] Rather: for they are. See ch. Eze_2:6. What gave the prophet invincible courage in the face of the opposition of the people was in the main the assurance that he was sent of God, that God was with him, and that his word was given him to speak. Comp. Isa_50:7, “For the Lord Jehovah will help me, therefore shall I not be confounded; therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead,.... Or, "than a rock" (o); the "adamant" has its name in Greek, because it cannot be conquered or subdued, neither by the hammer, nor by fire; the one cannot break, nor this other consume it; land it is called "shamir" in Hebrew, from its preserving itself from both; it will cut iron in pieces, which is harder than stone, and therefore must be harder than that. Bochart takes it to be the same with "smiris", a hard stone, which jewellers use to polish their gems with; see Jer 17:1. The design of the simile is to set forth the courage and fortitude of mind the prophet was endowed with, in order to face an impudent and hardhearted people;

fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house; See Gill on Eze 2:6.

(o) "rupe", Junius & Tremellius, Polanus, Piscator; "prae rupe", Cocceius; "ex rupe", Starckius; "prae petra", Montanus.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Adamant - Or, diamond Jer 17:1, which was employed to cut flint. Ezekiel’s firmness being that of a diamond, he should cut a stroke home to the hardened hearts of a rebellious people. For “though” read “for.”

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

CHAPTER III.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

If their foreheads be hard and cutting as the flint, if they wound the soft and tender, if they sparkle with fire against those of harder metal; yet be not afraid, I have made thee as the adamant, harder than flint, able to cut and to break it. But what if there should be allusion to the Talmudic rabbinical tradition about their supposed worm

shamir, the word here used; if the tradition be as old as Ezekiel’s time, it will carry some probability with it. This

schamir they say was a worm, which by secret virtue would, when applied, cut or form hard stones, and divide the greatest; that Moses used it to prepare the precious stones for the breastplate, and Solomon, they say, used it to fit the stones without hammer for the temple. Well then, Ezekiel, fear not, thou shalt be a

schamir to the Jews in captivity, and fit some of them to be either rich ornaments in the breastplate, or beautiful stones in the temple; go about thy work, it shall not be, though it seem, successless.

Fear them not; let no prevailing fear take thee quite off from thy work; let not any lesser surprises and sudden discomposures of mind, when thou appearest before them, unfit thee for this work I set thee about.

A rebellious house; as a house that is rebellion itself.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Adamant. The Hebrew word shemir is used in Jer_17:1. (where the Authorized Version gives "diamond" for a stone used inengraving on gems in Zec_7:12) it appears, as it does here, as a type of exceeding hardness. It is not found elsewhere in the Old Testament. It is commonly identified with the stone known as corundum, which appears in some of its forms as the sapphire and the Oriental ruby, and also as the stone the powder of which is used as emery. The special point of the comparison is, of course, that the adamant was actually used to cut either flint itself or stones as hard as flint. Neither be dismayed at their looks. The words indicate the extreme sensitiveness of the prophet"s natural temperament. He had shrunk not only from the threats and revilings of the rebellious house, but even from their scowls of hatred.

Adamant.

I WHAT IT IS FOR THE FOREHEAD TO BE OF ADAMANT.

1. It is external hardness. Zechariah writes of those who "made their hearts as an adamant stone". (Zec_7:12) Ezekiel is not to do this; he only has his forehead made as adamant. The adamantine heart is a sign of sin. It is sure to fail in all attempts at spiritual work. We must feel sympathy with those whom we would help. But it is possible to have a "tough skin with a tender heart." Unfortunately, those people who are pachydermatous are also too often tough hearted. Yet the forehead of adamant does not imply want of sensitiveness to the finer feelings. It only means a certain callousness in regard to external criticism.

2. It is hardness against hindrances to progress. The adamant is to be in the forehead, in the front. It is like Christian"s armour, with a good breastplate, but no protection for his back. We want most strength and security in advancing.

3. It is hardiness before the seat of thought. The forehead guards the brain. Much may move our hearts, but no human considerations should shake our convictions.

4. It is hardness before a vital organ. The brain must be sheltered, or the life will be forfeited. We may bear attacks on the outworks of our religious life. The crowning citadel of faith must not be touched.

II WHY THE FOREHEAD SHOULD BE OF ADAMANT.

1. It is required by the opposition of men. Ezekiel had to face fierce opponents. The servant of truth must often encounter unpopularity. If men always speak well of a Divine messenger, there is a suspicion of weakness in following the popular whims. There must be unpleasant truths for the faithful preacher to declare.

2. It is necessary for success. The prophet must guide, mould, influence men. If he is but a weather cock, his mission has failed. Often he must set himself like a rock in the middle of a raging torrent. Decision and firmness are essential in the work of a leader of men. The Christian minister who is afraid of his congregation has forfeited all right to be their teacher.

3. It is demanded by loyalty to God. The prophet is God"s messenger. The Christian minister is Christ"s servant. To his own Master he stands or falls. Obsequiousness before men means a betrayal of the duty owed to God.

III HOW THE FOREHEAD MAY BECOME OF ADAMANT. Many of the truest servants of God are naturally so sensitive and timorous that they well need some such assurance as that given to Ezekiel. Now, God had made his prophet"s forehead as adamant. It is a Divine work. But there are human ideas through which he works.

1. God is to be feared more than man. We must remember that "the fear of man bringeth a snare." While shrinking from man"s petty anger we risk the awful thunders of the wrath of God.

2. Trust is to be put in the protection of God. He wilt not desert his own agents at the post of peril. When men do their worst, Almighty aid is at hand. If death is to be encountered, there is the martyr"s crown beyond.

3. There must be a deep conviction of the truth of our message. A wavering mind will not support a countenance of adamant. We must first be sure ourselves. Then we can dare to face the world. Truth is the adamant that hardens the forehead against unbelief, misrepresentation, opposition. It has been well said, "Those men are strongest who stake most on a deep and worthy conviction.

4. An honest kindness of intention will create the firmness of adamant. Selfishness wavers; sympathy is strong. The murderer"s hand trembles; the surgeon"s hand is steady, though his patient shrieks under the knife. When we earnestly desire to benefit people, we can afford to have them misunderstand us, and perhaps even smile when they cry out against our unkindness. Mixed motives weaken the front we present to the world. A pure, unselfish devotion will be brave, strong, firm as adamant.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

As shamir It is a kind of worm, to which they show a stone, and it [the stone] splits in front of it. [Gloss: Another explanation: Shumir is a term for a strong rock, and in Targum Yerushalmi it is used as the translation of צוּר, rock, and so too is the Targum of מִצוּר הָחֲלָמִישּׂ as מִשְּׂמִיר טִנָרָא “out of the flinty rock” (Deut. 8:15). Shamir also means the strongest iron. For just as the strongest rock is called shamir, so is the [element] iron called shamir because of its strength. [This does not appear in all editions.]

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.