CHAPTER 24

(590 B.C.)

PARABLE OF THE BOILING POT

¹Again in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, the Word of the LORD came unto me, saying (Again in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, refers to the very day that Nebuchadnezzar came against Jerusalem to destroy it completely. The siege lasted about 18 months before the fall of the city),

²Son of man, write you the name of the day, even of this same day: the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem this same day. (For some 38 years, Jeremiah had been prophesying of this time, and Ezekiel about 4 years. Tragically, even with Nebuchadnezzar at their door, and no one allowed to go in or come out of the city, the people still would not repent. Their hopes were on Egypt to come to their rescue, and not the Lord. Such shows the incurable disposition of their wicked hearts, in that they would rebel against the Lord unto the very last.)

³And utter a parable unto the rebellious house, and say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD; Set on a pot, set it on, and also pour water into it (Jerusalem was the pot, and the fire under it represented the Babylonians, who were besieging the city):

⁴Gather the pieces thereof into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones. (The expressions, every good piece and choice bones, represented the Nobles and chief men of the people. The intent of the statement is that these would suffer the same fate as the common people.)

⁵Take the choice of the flock, and burn also the bones under it, and make it boil well, and let them seethe the bones of it therein. (And make it boil well, refers to the agony of this time not being short, but instead protracted and exceedingly painful.)

⁶Wherefore thus says the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is therein, and whose scum is not gone out of it! Bring it out piece by piece; let no lot fall upon it. (The phrase, And whose scum is not gone out of it, refers to the entirety of the pot being scum, which is how the Lord characterized Jerusalem.)

⁷For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it upon the top of a rock; she poured it not upon the ground, to cover it with dust (this refers to the Law as commanded in Lev. 17:13. It stated that blood should be hidden in the earth. Jerusalems guilt was visible and open, and cried as loudly for Judgment as blood exposed on the top of a rock. God, therefore, dealt with her as a blood-stained city);

⁸That it might cause fury to come up to take vengeance; I have set her blood upon the top of a rock, that it should not be covered. (I have set her blood upon the top of a rock, that it should not be covered, in its simplest form means that if they would not allow Christ to cover their sins, their sins and the resultant Judgment would be open to all.)

⁹Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city! I will even make the pile for fire great. (Once again, and about Jerusalem, we have the words which Nahum had used of Nineveh because of its terrible cruelty.)

¹⁰Heap on wood, kindle the fire, consume the flesh, and spice it well, and let the bones be burned. (This Verse expresses the severity of the Judgment that has already begun.)

¹¹Then set it empty upon the coals thereof, that the brass of it may be hot, and may burn, and that the filthiness of it may be molten in it, that the scum of it may be consumed. (Scum pictures idolatry, as the people had become like that which they worshipped; they were, therefore, to be consumed.)

¹²She has wearied herself with lies, and her great scum went not forth out of her: her scum shall be in the fire. (She has wearied herself with lies, refers to all that which was not the Word of God. Jerusalem chose to believe the lie instead of believing the truth.)

¹³In your filthiness is lewdness: because I have purged you, and you were not purged, you shall not be purged from your filthiness any more, till I have caused My Fury to rest upon you. (Filthiness must be purged by Calvary, or else it will be purged by Judgment, but purged it shall be!)

¹⁴I the LORD have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent; according to your ways, and according to your doings, shall they judge you, says the Lord GOD. (The gist of this Verse is that Judah had gone so far down the road of wickedness that even Repentance would not spare the nation, although it would save their souls.)

THE DEATH OF EZEKIELS WIFE; A SIGN NO MOURNING, SIGNIFYING JUDGMENT

¹⁵Also the Word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

¹⁶Son of man, behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke: yet neither shall you mourn nor weep, neither shall your tears run down. (By the words, The desire of your eyes, we know that the relationship of this husband and wife was very close. His love for her was excelled only by his love for God. The death of the Prophets wife was to be a sign to the Exiles.)

¹⁷Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire of your head upon you, and put on your shoes upon your feet, and cover not your lips, and eat not the bread of men. (A son of Aaron, as Ezekiel was, was permitted to remove his turban as a sign of grief [Lev. 10:6; 13:45; 21:10]. Ezekiel was denied this privilege. He was to show no sign of mourning whatsoever!)

¹⁸So I spoke unto the people in the morning: and at evening my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded. (Ezekiel, knowing that his wife had but hours left to live, yet obeyed the Lord in conducting a service in the morning. The Text simply says: And at evening my wife died. When she expired, he, no doubt, was by her side. His hand must have held hers and caressed her so tenderly and gently, but then the deadly stroke came, and she was gone.)

¹⁹And the people said unto me, Will you not tell us what these things are to us, that you do so? (There is no way that one can know the sorrow that filled Ezekiels heart that eventful night. And yet, his strange demeanor, which the Lord demanded of him, had the effect it was meant to have. It aroused these Exiles to ask questions.)

²⁰Then I answered them, The Word of the LORD came unto me, saying (it seems that the Lord had given Ezekiel little reason as to why his wife was to be taken. But now, almost immediately after her death, the explanation will be given),

²¹Speak unto the House of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I will profane My Sanctuary, the excellency of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pities; and your sons and your daughters whom you have left shall fall by the sword. (Ezekiels wife was a symbol of the Temple, the desire of the eyes of Israel. As his wife died, so the Temple would die. And there is no way that one could properly explain what the loss of the Temple meant to Israel, and for the entirety of the world, for that matter! This was where God dwelt, between the Mercy Seat and the Cherubim. It was His Building and, in fact, the only building on Earth that had been designed and occupied by Him, at least at that time. From there He governed His People, with His Presence constantly hovering over them.)

²²And you shall do as I have done: you shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men. (As a sign to these hapless Exiles, Ezekiel had not been allowed by the Lord to weep or mourn over the passing of his wife. Likewise, the Exiles were not to weep over the plight of their loved ones back home.)

²³And your tires shall be upon your heads, and your shoes upon your feet: you shall not mourn nor weep; but you shall pine away for your iniquities, and mourn one toward another. (The idea, as presented by the Lord, is that national calamity is going to be so severe that personal grief would be swallowed up in that sorrow. As well, the people were to understand that this calamity had come upon them because of your iniquities.)

²⁴Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign: according to all that he has done shall you do: and when this comes, you shall know that I am the Lord GOD. (And when this comes, refers to the destruction of Jerusalem being yet future, but only months away.)

²⁵Also, you son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their minds, their sons and their daughters (when I take from them their strength, refers to the Temple, which will be destroyed, and which is their strength; in fact, they had ceased to understand what the Temple really represented),

²⁶That he who escapes in that day shall come unto you, to cause you to hear it with your ears? (All that Jeremiah and Ezekiel had prophesied, which the people had refused to believe, now they would hear it with their ears.)

²⁷In that day shall your mouth be opened to him which is escaped, and you shall speak, and be no more dumb: and you shall be a sign unto them; and they shall know that I Am the LORD. (After this message, it seems that the Prophet was to speak no more to his people, but was instead to be dumb until the arrival some months later of the messengers announcing the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple.)