The Bible

 

Ezekiel 2

Study

   

1 And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak with thee.

2 And the Spirit entered into me when he spoke unto me, and set me upon my feet; and I heard him that spoke unto me.

3 And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to nations that are rebellious, which have rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me unto this very day;

4 and these children are impudent and hard-hearted: I am sending thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah.

5 And they, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear -- for they are a rebellious house -- yet shall they know that there hath been a prophet among them.

6 And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, and be not afraid of their words; for briars and thorns are with thee, and thou dwellest among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, and be not dismayed at their faces; for they are a rebellious house.

7 And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear; for they are rebellious.

8 And thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee.

9 And I looked, and behold, a hand was put forth toward me; and behold, a roll of a book therein.

10 And he spread it out before me; and it was written within and without; and there were written in it lamentations, and mourning, and woe.

   

Commentary

 

Much

  
You do so much for me, thank you

Intellectual things -- ideas, knowledge, facts, even insight and understanding -- are more separate and free-standing than emotional things, and it's easier to imagine numbering them as individual things. Our loves and affections tend to be more amorphous -- they can certainly be powerful, but would be harder to measure. Using words like “much,” “many,” myriad” and “multitude” to describe a collection of things gives the sense that there is an exact number, even if we don't know what it is and don't want to bother trying to count. These words, then, are used in the Bible in reference to intellectual things -- our thoughts, knowledge and concepts. Words that indicate largeness without the idea of number -- “great” is a common one -- generally refer to loves, affections and the desire for good. Here's one way to think about this: Say you want to take some food to a friend who just had a baby. That's a desire for good (assuming you're doing it from genuinely good motives). To actually do it, though, takes dozens of thoughts, ideas, facts and knowledges. What does she like to eat? What do you have to cook? What do you cook well? Can you keep it hot getting to her house? Is it nutritious? Does she have any allergies? So one good desire can bring a multitude of ideas into play.