Ezekiel 24

Eze 24:1-27.

VISION OF THE

BOILING

CALDRON, AND OF THE

DEATH OF

EZEKIEL'S

WIFE.

1, 2. Ezekiel proves his divine mission by announcing the very day,

("this same day") of the beginning of the investment of the city by

Nebuchadnezzar; "the ninth year," namely, of Jehoiachin's captivity,

"the tenth day of the tenth month"; though he was three hundred miles

away from Jerusalem among the captives at the Chebar

(2Ki 25:1;

Jer 39:1).

2. set himself--laid siege; "lay against."

3. pot--caldron. Alluding to the self-confident proverb used among

the people,

Eze 11:3

(see on

Eze 11:3),

"This city is the caldron and we be the flesh"; your proverb shall

prove awfully true, but in a different sense from what you intend. So

far from the city proving an iron, caldron-like defense from the fire,

it shall be as a caldron set on the fire, and the people as so many

pieces of meat subjected to boiling heat. See

Jer 1:13.

4. pieces thereof--those which properly belong to it, as its

own.

every good piece . . . choice bones--that is, the most

distinguished of the people. The "choice bones" in the pot have

flesh adhering to them. The bones under the pot

(Eze 24:5)

are those having no flesh and used as fuel, answering to the poorest

who suffer first, and are put out of pain sooner than the rich who

endure what answers to the slower process of boiling.

5. burn . . . bones--rather, "pile the bones." Literally, "Let

there be a round pile of the bones."

therein--literally, "in the midst of it."

6. scum--not ordinary, but poisonous scum, that is, the people's

all-pervading wickedness.

bring it out piece by piece--"it," the contents of the pot; its flesh,

that is, "I will destroy the people of the city, not all at the same

time, but by a series of successive attacks." Not as

FAIRBAIRN, "on its

every piece let it (the poisonous scum) go forth."

let no lot fall upon it--that is, no lot, such as is sometimes cast,

to decide who are to be destroyed and who saved

(2Sa 8:2;

Joe 3:3;

Ob 11;

Na 3:10).

In former carryings away of captives, lots were cast to settle who were

to go, and who to stay, but now all alike are to be cast out without

distinction of rank, age, or sex.

7. upon the top of a rock--or, "the dry, bare, exposed rock," so as

to be conspicuous to all. Blood poured on a rock is not so soon absorbed

as blood poured on the earth. The law ordered the blood even of a beast

or fowl to be "covered with the dust"

(Le 17:13);

but Jerusalem was so shameless as to be at no pains to cover up the

blood of innocent men slain in her. Blood, as the consummation

of all sin, presupposes every other form of guilt.

8. That it might cause--God purposely let her so shamelessly pour

the blood on the bare rock, "that it might" the more loudly and

openly cry for vengeance from on high; and that the connection between

the guilt and the punishment might be the more palpable. The blood of

Abel, though the ground received it, still cries to heaven for vengeance

(Ge 4:10, 11);

much more blood shamelessly exposed on the bare rock.

set her blood--She shall be paid back in kind

(Mt 7:2).

She openly shed blood, and her blood shall openly be shed.

9. the pile for fire--the hostile materials for the city's destruction.

10. spice it well--that the meat may be the more palatable, that is,

I will make the foe delight in its destruction as much as one delights

in well-seasoned, savory meat. GROTIUS, needlessly departing from the

obvious sense, translates, "Let it be boiled down to a compound."

11. set it empty . . . that . . . brass . . . may burn, . . . that

. . . scum . . . may be consumed--Even the consumption of the contents

is not enough; the caldron itself which is infected by the poisonous

scum must be destroyed, that is, the city itself must be destroyed, not

merely the inhabitants, just as the very house infected with leprosy was

to be destroyed

(Le 14:34-45).

12. herself--rather, "she hath wearied Me out with lies"; or

rather, "with vain labors" on My part to purify her without being

obliged to have recourse to judgments (compare

Isa 43:24;

Mal 2:17)

[MAURER]. However, English Version gives a

good sense (compare

Isa 47:13; 57:10).

13. lewdness--determined, deliberate wickedness; from a Hebrew root, "to purpose."

I have purged thee--that is, I have left nothing untried which would

tend towards purging thee, by sending prophets to invite thee to

repentance, by giving thee the law with all its promises, privileges,

and threats.

thou shalt not be purged . . . any more--that is, by My gracious

interpositions; thou shalt be left to thine own course to take its fatal

consequences.

14. go back--desist; relax [FAIRBAIRN].

15. Second part of the vision; announcement of the death of Ezekiel's

wife, and prohibition of the usual signs of mourning.

16. desire of . . . eyes--his wife: representing the

sanctuary

(Eze 24:21)

in which the Jews so much gloried. The energy and subordination of

Ezekiel's whole life to his prophetic office is strikingly displayed in

this narrative of his wife's death. It is the only memorable event of

his personal history which he records, and this only in reference to

his soul-absorbing work. His natural tenderness is shown by that

graphic touch, "the desire of thine eyes." What amazing subjection,

then, of his individual feeling to his prophetic duty is manifested in

the simple statement

(Eze 24:18),

"So I spake . . . in the morning; and at even my wife died;

and I did in the morning as I was commanded."

stroke--a sudden visitation. The suddenness of it enhances the

self-control of Ezekiel in so entirely merging individual feeling, which

must have been especially acute under such trying circumstances, in the

higher claims of duty to God.

17. Forbear to cry--or, "Lament in silence"; not forbidding sorrow,

but the loud expression of it [GROTIUS].

no mourning--typical of the universality of the ruin of Jerusalem,

which would preclude mourning, such as is usual where calamity is but

partial. "The dead" is purposely put in the plural, as referring

ultimately to the dead who should perish at the taking of Jerusalem;

though the singular might have been expected, as Ezekiel's wife was

the immediate subject referred to: "make no mourning,"

such as is usual, "for the dead, and such as shall be hereafter in

Jerusalem"

(Jer 16:5-7).

tire of thine head--thy headdress [FAIRBAIRN]. JEROME explains, "Thou

shalt retain the hair which is usually cut in mourning." The fillet,

binding the hair about the temples like a chaplet, was laid aside at

such times. Uncovering the head was an ordinary sign of mourning in

priests; whereas others covered their heads in mourning

(2Sa 15:30).

The reason was, the priests had their headdress of fine twined linen

given them for ornament, and as a badge of office. The high priest, as

having on his head the holy anointing oil, was forbidden in any case

to lay aside his headdress. But the priests might do so in the case of

the death of the nearest relatives

(Le 21:2, 3, 10).

They then put on inferior attire, sprinkling also on their heads dust

and ashes (compare

Le 10:6, 7).

shoes upon thy feet--whereas mourners went "barefoot"

(2Sa 15:30).

cover not . . . lips--rather, the "upper lip," with the moustache

(Le 13:45;

Mic 3:7).

bread of men--the bread usually brought to mourners by friends in

token of sympathy. So the "cup of consolation" brought

(Jer 16:7).

"Of men" means such as is usually furnished by men. So

Isa 8:1,

"a man's pen";

Re 21:17,

"the measure of a man."

19. what these things are to us--The people perceive that Ezekiel's

strange conduct has a symbolical meaning as to themselves; they ask,

"What is that meaning?"

21. excellency of your strength--(compare

Am 6:8).

The object of your pride and confidence

(Jer 7:4, 10, 14).

desire of . . . eyes--

(Ps 27:4).

The antitype to Ezekiel's wife

(Eze 24:16).

pitieth--loveth, as pity is akin to love: "yearned over."

Profane--an appropriate word. They had profaned the temple with

idolatry; God, in just retribution, will profane it with the Chaldean

sword, that is, lay it in the dust, as Ezekiel's wife.

sons . . . daughters . . . left--the children left behind in Judea,

when the parents were carried away.

22.

(Jer 16:6, 7).

So general shall be the calamity, that all ordinary usages of mourning

shall be suspended.

23. ye shall not mourn . . . but . . . pine away for your iniquities--The Jews' not mourning was to be not the result of insensibility, any

more than Ezekiel's not mourning for his wife was not from want of

feeling. They could not in their exile manifest publicly their

lamentation, but they would privately "mourn one to another." Their

"iniquities" would then be their chief sorrow ("pining away"), as

feeling that these were the cause of their sufferings (compare

Le 26:39;

La 3:39).

The fullest fulfilment is still future

(Zec 12:10-14).

24. sign--a typical representative in his own person of what was to

befall them

(Isa 20:3).

when this cometh--alluding probably to their taunt, as if God's word

spoken by His prophets would never come to pass. "Where is the word of

the Lord? Let it come now"

(Jer 17:15).

When the prophecy is fulfilled, "ye shall know (to your cost) that I am

the Lord," who thereby show My power and fulfil My word spoken by My

prophet

(Joh 13:19; 14:29).

25, 26. "The day" referred to in these verses is the day of the

overthrow of the temple, when the fugitive "escapes." But "that day," in

Eze 24:27,

is the day on which the fugitive brings the sad news to Ezekiel, at the

Chebar. In the interval the prophet suspended his prophecies as to

the Jews, as was foretold. Afterwards his mouth was "opened," and

no more "dumb"

(Eze 3:26, 27;

compare

Eze 24:27; 33:21, 22).