Ezekiel 24

REVIEW QUESTIONS

Why does Ezekiel refer to Jerusalem as a bloody city?

How would the Jews come to be defiled of name?

What examples of lewdness in Jerusalem does Ezekiel cite?

What was the fundamental or root sin of Jerusalem?

Why is God said to smite His hand? (Ezekiel 22:13)

What positive effect would the exile have on the sinful nation?

How were Jerusalem’s prophets conspiring against God?

What charges does Ezekiel bring against the priests of his day?

What does it mean to stand in the breach?

Who were Oholah and Oholibah?

How was Oholibah more corrupt than her elder sister?

With what foreign powers did the two sisters commit harlotry?

Explain the parable of the cooking pot.

Why was Ezekiel forbidden to engage in public mourning at the death of his wife?

How does chapter 24 indicate the great love which Jews had for their Temple?

In what sense was Ezekiel’s dumbness terminated when the news of Jerusalem’s fall arrived?

Ezekiel 24:1-14

A. The Parable of the Cooking Pot 24:1-14

TRANSLATION

(1) And the word of the LORD came unto me in the ninth year, the tenth month, the tenth day of the month, saying, (2) Son of man, write for yourself the name of the day, this very day; this very day the king of Babylon has leaned upon Jerusalem. (3) Utter a parable against this rebellious house, and say unto them; Thus says the Lord GOD: Set on the pot, set it on, and pour water into it. (4) Gather into it the pieces belonging to it, every good piece the thigh and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones. (5) Take the choice of the flock, and also pile the bones under it; boil it well, that its bones may boil in the midst of it. (6) Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose filth is in it, and whose filth has not gone out of it! Bring it out piece by piece; no lot is fallen upon it. (7) For her blood is in the midst of her; upon the bare rock she set it; she did not pour it out upon the ground to cover it with dust; (8) to cause fury to go up, that vengeance might be taken, I have set the blood upon a bare rock, that it should not be covered. (9) Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the bloody city; I also will make the pile great, (10) heaping on the wood, kindling the fire that the flesh may be consumed; and preparing the mixture that the bones may be burned; (11) then I will set it empty upon its coals, that it may be hot, and the bottom of it burn, that its impurity may be melted in it, that its filth may be consumed. (12) She has wearied (Me) with toil; yet its great filth shall not go out from it; its filth shall be in the fire, (13) Because of your filthy lewdness, because I purged you, and you were not purged from your uncleanness, you shall not be purged from your uncleanness anymore until I have satisfied My wrath on You. (14) I the LORD have spoken it; it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back, nor will I have pity, nor will I repent; according to your ways and according to your deeds they shall judge you (oracle of the Lord GOD).

COMMENTS

On that fateful day Ezekiel set forth a parable concerning Jerusalem. The inhabitants of Jerusalem had previously used the image of a caldron to support their delusion of invincibility (cf. Ezekiel 11:3). Now Ezekiel gives the true interpretation to that image. A pot is filled with water and placed on the stove. This symbolizes the first stage of the siege of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 24:3).

The chunks of meat placed in the pot symbolize the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the fugitives from other towns who sought refuge there. The good pieces of meat and choice bones represent the civil and military leaders (Ezekiel 24:4) who come from the choice of the flock, i.e., the upper classes. Bones as well as meat the total population were to be placed in that pot, with the bones under the meat. Ezekiel is then to bring the pot to a boil until even the bones the toughest members of society are brought to a boil (Ezekiel 24:5). The boiling water points to the destructive turbulence of the Babylonian siege.

The prophet drops the symbolism in verse six and sets his message in plain prose. He pronounces a woe on the bloody city of Jerusalem, the pot whose filth had never been removed. The reference is to the bloodstains of the innocent who had been murdered in Jerusalem. Piece by piece the chunks of meat in that pot would be removed. By this the prophet means that the destruction of the city and the deportation of the inhabitants would take place in stages. No lot is fallen on the content of that pot, i.e., the deportation would be indiscriminate (Ezekiel 24:6).

Openly and unashamedly crimes had been committed in Jerusalem. Evidence of bloodshed could be seen throughout the place. It was as though Jerusalem had smeared blood on a bare rock which was in plain view. The Law required animal blood to be poured to the ground and covered with dust (cf. Leviticus 17:13). However no similar effort had been made to conceal the blood of humankind unjustly slain (Ezekiel 24:7). God would preserve those bloodstains in plain view that He might execute divine wrath on those responsible (Ezekiel 24:8).

A second time the sentence against Jerusalem is pronounced, They had piled one sin on top of another. God would now make the pile great, i.e., He would heap up the fuel for their punishment (Ezekiel 24:9). He would gather the wood, kindle the fire, and prepare the mixture of spices to be added when the meat had been sufficiently cooked. It was God’s purpose to consume the meat (population of Jerusalem) and burn the bones (leaders, especially military leaders) in that pot (Ezekiel 24:10). After the contents of that pot (Jerusalem) had been consumed God would see to it that the pot itself was melted down and the filth thus removed (Ezekiel 24:11). Thus Jerusalem would be purified by the conflagration. Efforts had been made from time to time to purge Jerusalem, but to no avail. God had become weary with these half-hearted and ineffective efforts. The uncleanness of the city could only be removed by the drastic process of melting down the caldron, i.e., destroying Jerusalem (Ezekiel 24:12). All efforts to reform the nation through prophetic admonition had failed. No further effort in that direction would be attempted. All that remained was for God to pour out His wrath and purge the place by total destruction (Ezekiel 24:13). Such is the irrevocable divine decree.[364] The Lord would hand them over to the Chaldeans who would execute a judgment upon Jerusalem which was appropriate to her sins (Ezekiel 24:14).

[364] The Hebrew uses the prophetic perfect, viewing the action as so certain it could be described as already completed.

Ezekiel 24:1-27

III. A SIGNIFICANT DATE 24:1-27

Chapter 24 begins with an important chronological note. According to verse one Nebuchadnezzar began his attack against Jerusalem in the ninth year (of Zedekiah), the tenth day of the tenth month.[363] The Jews commemorated this date for centuries by fasting (Zechariah 8:19). Ezekiel was told to write the name of the day of the week and the day of the month (this very day). This written record was to be made so that later when the news filtered back to the captives in Babylon the genuine prophetic foresight of Ezekiel would be authenticated. Three things of importance happened in the ministry of Ezekiel at the same time the siege of Jerusalem was beginning several hundred miles away. Ezekiel delivered a proclamation in the form of a parable on that day (Ezekiel 24:1-14). On that very day Ezekiel lost his beloved wife (Ezekiel 24:15-24). Finally, the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem marked the end of Ezekiel’s divinely imposed dumbness (Ezekiel 24:25-27).

[363] The same date IS given in 2 Kings 25:1, and Jeremiah 52:4

Ezekiel 24:15-24

B. The Death of Ezekiel’s Wife 24:15-24

TRANSLATION

(15) And the word of the LORD came unto me saying, (16) Son of man, behold, I am about to take from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke; yet you shall not lament or weep, nor shall your tears come down. (17) Sigh silently; make no mourning for the dead, your headdress bind upon you, and your sandals put upon your feet, and do not cover your lip, and do not eat the bread of men. (18) So I spoke unto the people in the morning, and my wife died in the evening; and I did in the morning as I was commanded. (19) And the people said unto me: Will you not declare to us what these things are to us that you are doing? (20) And I said unto them, The word of the LORD came unto me, saying, (21) Say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold I am about to profane My sanctuary, the pride of your power, the desire of your eyes, and the longing of your soul; and your sons and your daughters whom you have left behind shall fall by the sword. (22) And you shall do as I have done; you shall not cover your lip, and you shall not eat the bread of men; (23) and your headdress shall be upon your heads, and your sandals upon your feet; you shall not lament nor weep; but you shall waste away in your iniquities, and moan one to another. (24) And Ezekiel shall be to you a sign; according to all which he has done you shall do; when it comes to pass you shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

COMMENTS

A shocking announcement was made to the prophet on that day when Jerusalem came under siege. It was an announcement which caused Ezekiel no little grief. The desire of your eyes your wife would die with a stroke, i.e., she would die suddenly without having been previously sick. The prophet was commanded to refrain from any lamentation or mourning rites (Ezekiel 24:16). He was to sigh in silence, i.e., to internalize his agony, and he was not to resort to the customary loud cries of lamentation. He was not to loosen his headgear to let his hair hang down covering his upper lip. He was not to remove his sandals nor eat the bread of men, i.e., the mourner’s meal supplied by friends and relatives (Ezekiel 24:17). What a difficult burden the Lord laid on His prophet. Ezekiel’s silent grief was to symbolize the stupefying effect which the fall of Jerusalem would have on the Jews at home and abroad. They would be too stunned for customary expressions of grief.

Even though he knew his wife would die at any moment, Ezekiel continued his ministry of preaching. That evening his wife died. The next morning Ezekiel carried out the Lord’s command to sigh in silence (Ezekiel 24:18). The people, perplexed by his strange behavior, sensed that the prophet was trying to convey some symbolic meaning to them. Thus they inquired concerning his conduct (Ezekiel 24:19).

In response to the inquiry of his fellow exiles, Ezekiel first indicated that what he had been doing and what he was about to say came from God (Ezekiel 24:20). He had just suffered the loss of the desire of his eyes, the one he held most precious. The Jews were about to lose their Temple. The loss thus incurred is indicated in the text by three expressions which underscore the prominent place that sacred structure occupied in the hearts of the Jews. The Temple was (1) the pride of your power, i.e., that which guaranteed, so they thought, the invincibility of Jerusalem and permanence of their national existence; (2) the desire of your eyes, i.e., that which they held to be most precious; and (3) the longing of your soul, i.e., that which they most missed by being exiled to Babylon. That sacred spot was about to be profaned being delivered into the hands of heathen men. Along with the loss of that Temple the exiles would lose their sons and daughters who had been left behind in the doomed city (Ezekiel 24:21). When the exiles would hear of the destruction of the Temple and the loss of their children, they would be thrown into shock, unable to observe the conventional mourning customs (Ezekiel 24:22). Added to the news of the unthinkable disaster in Jerusalem would be the pangs of guilty conscience. During that period of grief the once proud exiles would waste away in their iniquities. In almost inaudible expressions they would moan one to another (Ezekiel 24:23). In this way the Lord had appointed Ezekiel as a sign to the exiles. As the prophet had abstained from outward display of mourning, so also would the exiles. When all this came to pass the news that Jerusalem had fallen and the Temple had been destroyed they would know that the event had been decreed by the Lord (Ezekiel 24:24).

Ezekiel 24:25-27

C. The Termination of Ezekiel’s Dumbness 24:25-27

TRANSLATION

(25) And as for you, son of man, shall it not be in the day I take from them their stronghold, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, the longing of their soul, their sons and their daughters, (26) that the one who escapes in that day shall come unto you to cause you to hear it with your ears? (27) In that day your mouth shall be open, together with the one who escaped, and you shall speak, and shall no more be dumb; and you shall be a sign to them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

COMMENTS

It is hard to understand the love that a Jew had for the Temple. It was their stronghold upon which they based their confidence of national permanence. It was the joy of their glory, the magnificent edifice of which they were so proud. It was the desire of their eyes,[365] that which they loved dearly. It was the yearning of their soul, that which above all they longed to see again. When that structure fell, and along with it their sons and daughters (Ezekiel 24:25), a fugitive of the slaughter would hasten to Babylon to bear the sad tidings (Ezekiel 24:26). In the day the news of Jerusalem’s fall was announced, Ezekiel would no longer be dumb.[366] The message he had been preaching for so many years would thus be authenticated. His mission as a messenger of God would then be accepted by his fellow exiles (Ezekiel 24:27).

[365] Some commentators take the phrase desire of their eyes to refer to the sons and daughters rather than the Temple.

[366] The previous discussion of the dumbness of Ezekiel in Ezekiel 3:25-27 should be reviewed at this point.