Ezekiel 3:15

Ezekiel physically traveled to the Jewish exiles who were living by the Chebar River at the Tel-abib settlement (lit. "hill of ears"). Since "Tel" can mean "ruined mound," it is possible that the Jewish exiles lived at the site of a destroyed or abandoned city. The Babylonians may have situated them there to rebuild and repopulate the site and to reclaim its land. [Note: Stuart, p. 29.]

When Ezekiel arrived, he sat for seven days among the exiles, and his presence disturbed them. Seven days was the length of time that the Jews usually mourned for their dead (Genesis 50:10; Numbers 19:11; Job 2:13), and it was the time it took to consecrate a priest (Leviticus 8:33).

"Ezekiel was being consecrated for the priesthood on his thirtieth birthday and commissioned to proclaim Judah’s funeral dirge." [Note: Alexander, "Ezekiel," p. 764.]

"For a week he struggles inwardly with Yahweh, with his calling, and with the message he is charged to proclaim. Whatever the prophet’s relationship to the rest of the exiles in the past, when he finally submits, he is a man set apart, under orders from God. Hereafter his people could expect no more idle or mundane chatter from him. His call to prophetic ministry was not only an invitation to be the spokesman for the glorious God of Israel; it also involved a sentence to a life of loneliness, alienation, and desolation. Physically he lived among his own people, but spiritually he would operate in another realm, a zone governed by divine realities." [Note: Block, The Book . . ., p. 138.]