Ezekiel 24 commentary

The pot on the fire represented Jerusalem besieged by the Chaldeans: all orders and ranks were within the walls, prepared as a prey for the enemy. They ought to have put away their transgressions, as the scum, which rises by the heat of the fire, is taken from the top of the pot. But they grew worse, and their miseries increased. Jerusalem was to be levelled with the ground. The time appointed for the punishment of wicked men may seem to come slowly, but it will come surely. It is sad to think how many there are, on whom ordinances and providences are all lost.

Though mourning for the dead is a duty, yet it must be kept under by religion and right reason: we must not sorrow as men that have no hope. Believers must not copy the language and expressions of those who know not God. The people asked the meaning of the sign. God takes from them all that was dearest to them. And as Ezekiel wept not for his affliction, so neither should they weep for theirs. Blessed be God, we need not pine away under our afflictions; for should all comforts fail, and all sorrows be united, yet the broken heart and the mourner's prayer are always acceptable before God.

CHAPTER 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; Jr 39:1).

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 Jr 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 Is 43:24; Mal 2:17) [Maurer]. However, English Version gives a good sense (compare Is 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" (Jr 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; Mi 3:7).

bread of men--the bread usually brought to mourners by friends in token of sympathy. So the "cup of consolation" brought (Jr 16:7). "Of men" means such as is usually furnished by men. So Is 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 (Jr 7:4, 10, 14).

desire of ... eyes--(Psa 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. (Jr 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 (Is 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" (Jr 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).

The ninth year - This prophecy was given in the ninth year of Zedekiah, about Thursday, the thirtieth of January, A.M. 3414; the very day in which the king of Babylon commenced the siege of Jerusalem.

Set on a pot - The pot was Jerusalem; the flesh, the inhabitants in general; every good piece, the thigh and the shoulder, King Zedekiah and his family; the bones, the soldiers; and the setting on the pot, the commencement of the siege. The prophet was then in Mesopotamia; and he was told particularly to mark the day, etc., that it might be seen how precisely the spirit of prophecy had shown the very day in which the siege took place. Under the same image of a boiling pot, Jeremiah had represented the siege of Jerusalem, Jer 1:13. Ezekiel was a priest; the action of boiling pots was familiar to him, as these things were much in use in the temple service.

Make it boil well - Let it boil over, that its own scum may augment the fire, that the bones - the soldiers, may be seethed therein. Let its contentions, divided counsels, and disunion be the means of increasing its miseries, רתח רתחיה rattach rethacheyha, let it bubble its bubbling; something like that of the poet: - "Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble:

Fire burn, and cauldron bubble."

Very like the noise made by ebullition, when a pot of thick broth, "sleek and slab," is set over a fierce fire. Such was that here represented in which all the flesh, the fat and the bones were to be boiled, and generally dissolved together.

Let no lot fall upon it - Pull out the flesh indiscriminately; let no piece be chosen for king or priest; thus showing that all should be involved in one indiscriminate ruin.

For her blood is in the midst of her - She gloried in her idol sacrifices; she offered them upon a rock, where the blood should remain evident; and she poured none upon the ground to cover it with dust, in horror of that moral evil that required the blood of an innocent creature to be shed, in order to the atonement of the offender's guilt. To "cover the blood of the victim," was a command of the law, Lev 17:13; Deu 12:24.

That it might cause fury - This very blood shall be against them, as the blood of Abel was against Cain.

Heap or wood - Let the siege be severe, the carnage great, and the ruin and catastrophe complete.

In thy filthiness is lewdness - זמה zimmah, a word that denominates the worst kinds of impurity; adultery, incest, etc., and the purpose, wish, design, and ardent desire to do these things. Hers were not accidental sins, they were abominations by design, and they were the worse in her, because God had cleansed her, had separated the Israelites from idolatry and idolatrous nations, and by his institutions removed from them all idolatrous incentives. But they formed alliances with the heathen, and adopted all their abominations; therefore God would not spare them. See Eze 24:14.

Behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes - Here is an intimation that the stroke he was to suffer was to be above all grief; that it would be so great as to prevent the relief of tears.

Curae leves loquuntur, graviores silent, is a well-accredited maxim in such cases. Superficial griefs affect the more easily moved passions; great ones affect the soul itself, in its powers of reasoning, reflecting, comparing, recollecting, etc., when the sufferer feels all the weight of wo.

Neither shall thy tears run down - Τουτο γαρ ιδιον των οφθαλμων εν τοις μεγαλοις κακοις· εν μεν γαρ ταις μετριαις συμφοραις αφθονως τα δακρυα καταρῥει, - εν δε τοις ὑπερβαλλουσι δεινοις φευγει και τα δακρυα και προδιδωσι και τους αφθαλμους· Achill. Tat. lib. 3. c. 11. For this is the case with the eyes in great calamities: in light misfortunes tears flow freely, but in heavy afflictions tears fly away, and betray the eyes.

Make no mourning - As a priest, he could make no public mourning, Lev 21:1, etc.

Bind the tire of thine head - This seems to refer to the high priest's bonnet; or perhaps, one worn by the ordinary priests: it might have been a black veil to cover the head.

Put on thy shoes upon thy feet - Walking barefoot was a sign of grief.

Cover not thy lips - Mourners covered the under part of the face, from the nose to the bottom of the chin.

Eat not the bread of men - לחם אנשים lechem anashim, "the bread of miserable men," i.e., mourners; probably, the funeral banquet.

At even my wife died - The prophet's wife was a type of the city, which was to him exceedingly dear. The death of his wife represented the destruction of the city by the Chaldeans; see Eze 24:21, where the temple is represented to be the desire of his eyes, as his wife was, Eze 24:16.

Wilt thou not tell us - In the following verses he explains and applies the whole of what he had done and said.

In that day shall thy mouth be opened - What is, When some one who shall have escaped from Jerusalem, having arrived among the captives, shall inform them of the destruction of the city, the temple, the royal family, and the people at large; till then he might suppress his tears and lamentations. And we find from Eze 33:21, that one did actually escape from the city, and informed the prophet and his brethren in captivity that the city was smitten.

Thus he was not only a prophet to foretell such things, but he was also a sign or portent, shadowing them out by circumstances in his own person and family; and thus the prediction, agreeing so perfectly with the event, proved that the previous information was from the Lord.

In the ninth year - Of Zedekiah's reign. Came unto me - The prophet was now in Babylon.

Set himself - Sat down to besiege.

Every good piece - All the chief of the inhabitants of the land, the wealthiest, who will fly from their country - houses to live in safety in Jerusalem: the most war - like, who will betake themselves to Jerusalem for its defence. Fill it - With those pieces that are biggest, fullest of marrow, and which are divided according to the bones; these are the principal members of the state, the king, princes, priests, magistrates, and the most wealthy citizens.

The bones - Not of the pieces to be boiled, but of the many innocents murdered in Jerusalem; for their blood crieth for vengeance, and their bones scattered on the face of the earth, will both make and maintain this fire.

The bloody city - Jerusalem. Whose scum - Her wickedness is still within her. Piece by piece - One piece after another 'till all be consumed. No lot - Lots are for saving some, but here shall be no sparing any.

The blood - Innocent blood which she hath shed. The top of a rock - Where it might be long seen. To cover it - These butchers of innocent ones leave their blood uncovered.

I have set - I will openly punish, and in such a manner as shall not be soon forgotten.

And spice it well - To express this justice, that is acceptable to God and men. The bones - The greatest, strongest, and firmest of the Jews shall perish in this fiery indignation.

The filthiness - A type of the unreformed sinfulness of the city. Molten - That their wickedness may be taken away with their persons, and city.

She - Jerusalem. With lies - Her allies, their promises, their forces, and their idols, all prove a lie to the house of Judah. Her scum - Her unrepented sins shall be punished in the fire that burns their city.

Lewdness - Or obstinacy and boldness. Purged thee - Used all means to purge thee.

With a stroke - A sudden stroke, by my own immediate hand. We know not how soon the desire of our eyes may be removed from us. Death is a stroke, which the most pious, the most useful, the most amiable are not exempted from.

Bind the tire - Adorn thy head, as thou wast used to do; go not bare - headed as a mourner. Thy shoes - ln great mournings the Jews went bare - footed. Cover not thy lips - It was a custom among them to cover the upper lip. Eat not - Of thy neighbours and friends, who were wont to visit their mourning friends, and send in choice provision to their houses.

I spake - Told them what I expected would be.

Profane - Cast off, and put into the hands of Heathens. The excellency of your strength - So it was while God's presence was there. The desire - As much your desire, as my wife was mine; most dear to you.

Ye shall do - When you are in captivity, where you may not use your own customs.

Pine away - You shall languish with secret sorrow, when you shall not dare to shew it openly.

Their strength - Their walls and fortifications. The joy - All their public and private joys and hopes shall be destroyed in the destruction of the kingdom, and their children.

To hear it - To give thee a narrative of all he had seen.

No more dumb - From this prophecy for eighteen months during the siege, he does not prophesy of Israel, but of other nations. Thou shalt be a sign - Until the event shall convince the Jews, thou shalt by sign, signify to them, what is coming.

1 AGain in the ninth year , in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

Of the Captivity of Iechoniah and those that were carried away with him, it falls in also with the year of Zedekiah's Reign, though the Prophet, and the Captives now in Babylon reckon not by this, but by the former.

Which answers to part of December, and Ianuary.

About our 29th of December, when the Winter was well over with them.

The Prophet was now in Babylon many Leagues from Jerusalem.

2 Son of man, write thee the name of the day, even of this same day: the King of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem this same day.

Set it down, and in such manner with such witness, that it may be proved.

Most punctually, set it down.

Nebuchadnezzar who in person, 'tis like was there at first to encourage, direct, and settle the Siege, though he withdrew from it for his delights, when he perceived 'twould be a long siege; as on chap. 11.11. let. d. the issue whereof he expected at Antioch on the Banks of Orontes.

Sate down to besiege.

Marginal references: Jer. 52 [illegible: 2 letters]

3 And utter a parable to the rebellious house, and say unto them, thus saith the Lord GOD; Set on a pot, set it on, and also pour water into it.

In somewhat a dark yet apt similitude, or in an Allegory declare what they should know, and consider.

Chap. 2. verse 3.6.

Set upon the fire a Pot, or Cauldron.

Do it quickly, be sure to do it; this Pot▪ is Ierusalem.

Fill it with water; for as the Pot full of Water, on the fire till the water be throughly heated, so shall Ierusalem be filled with the Judgments of God.

Marginal references: Jer. 1.[illegible: 2 letters] chap. 11.[illegible: 1 letter] ▪

4 Gather the pieces thereof into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder , fill it with the choice bones .

Which are to put into this pot.

i. e. All the chief of the Inhabitants of the Land, the wealthiest, who in the time of this Invasion will fly from their Country Houses to live in safety in Ierusalem. The most warlike, who will betake themselves to Ierusalem for its defence.

As these are the principal parts for support, motion, defence, and strength, so those Citizens, Souldiers, Rulers, that are strength, defence, and glory of this people are here signified by those parts▪

Fill the Pot, Ierusalem, let no place be empty.

With those pieces, that are biggest, fattest, fullest of marrow, and which are divided according to the Bones; these are the principal Members of this Jewish State, King, Princes, Priests, Magistrates, and wealthy Citizens.

5 Take 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.

Pick out the very best in the flock, that is, the greatest, richest, most powerful for Authority, and Interest in the Nation, and City,

Or, heap together, in order to burn, to make a fire with.

The Bones, not of the pieces to be boiled, but the bones of the many Innocents murthered in Ierusalem, and in the Land, for their blood cryeth for vengeance, and their bones scattered on the face of the Earth, will both make, and maintain this fire.

Let the Fire be so great, and the Pot so long over, till all within it be boiled thoroughly, till boiled that all the strength and marrow be wasted, and the very flesh drop to pieces, so shall this people be wasted by this Judgment.

See ver. 4. let. s. this is doubled to assure us, however the meaner sort did, the more considerable part of the Iews should not scape; in this Allegory there may lie coucht an exact correspondence between the sins, and punishments of this people; Their sin was the slaying the best, or by oppressing them, broke their bones, boiled out the marrow, suckt them dry, and now God will retaliate to these men.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1 word].

6 Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Wo 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.

All this Allegory contains woful, and heavy tydings, misery and desolation to them that are represented by it.

Chap. 22.2, 3. Ierusalem, which is this Pot.

Filthiness, her abominations, all her lewdness are still within her, they have not been punisht, restrain'd, or cast out by the Execution of just, and good Laws; but the Citizens have with obstinacy, impenitence, and with impudence continued in them.

The same thing repeated for confirming what was said.

Let them know, it shall be a lingring destruction to them, yet a total, one piece after another, till all be consumed.

Lots are for saving some, and determining who they shall be, but here shall no such discrimination be made, no sparing any, and slaying others by lot, who do not dye, shall go into Captivity.

7 For 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:

Innocent blood which she hath shed.

Openly, and publickly without fear, or shame, or reluctancy.

Where it might be long seen cared not to hide her Murthers as the next words clear it.

With cruelty, and inhumanity they did murther, for when the Law directed, that the Blood of Beast or Fowl kill'd should be poured on the Earth, and covered with dust, Lev. 17.13. these Butchers of Innocent ones leave their blood uncovered, whether in boasting manner, or for terrour, I will not say, but this aggravates the sin.

8 That 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 .

This provoked the Anger of the Lord, and raised his fury against them.

Into the face of God, (after the manner o[illegible: 1 letter] man) as Ezek. 38.18.

To God it appertains to take vengeance, to punish such sinners according to the nature of their sin.

God will openly punish, and in such manner, as shall not be soon forgotten, they set it on a rock, when they shed it with cruelty, God will set it on a rock, when he punisheth it with severity.

That it be not forgotten or go unpunished.

Nor yet punisht in a corner; All this Inquisition, and Execution shall be publick in the sight of many Nations.

9 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD ; Wo to the bloody city: I will even make the pile for fire great.

Verse 6. let. a.

God's hand shall be seen inflicting all those sore Afflictions on them.

Judgements are a fire, the Fuel whereof is to be great; for 'tis a fire to consume the wicked, and God will make it sufficiently great to do this, I will bring the mighty Army of the Chaldaeans which as a pile of wood set on fire, shall burn them up.

Marginal references: Nah. 3.1. [illegible: 1 word]. 2.12.

10 Heap on wood ; kindle the fire, consume the flesh, and spice it well, and let the bones be burnt .

Either God's word, what he will do pursuant of the 8th verse, or his word to the Prophet to typifie to the people what should be done, or to the Chaldaean Army to hasten what they were to do in destroying the City.

Make full preparations.

Begin the Execution of Judgment.

'Tis a fire, not gently to dress or prepare Meat, but to destroy, and burn up.

Either to take away the noisom smell, or to express the pleasing savour of this Justice to God, and men whom he appointed to this work.

In such fires the bones hold out longest, but this fire shall at last consume these also, that the destruction may be universal, the greatest, strongest, and firmest of these Jews shall perish in this fiery indignation.

11 Then set it empty upon the coales thereof, that the brass of it may be hot , and may burn , and that the filthiness of it maybe molten in it, that the scum of it may be consumed.

The Hieroglyphick Pot.

The Water, Flesh▪ Bones all consumed, i. e. the Citizens all wasted with Sword. Famine, or Pestilence, the City left as an empty overboil'd Pot.

Signifying the burning of the City it self, after the emptying of its Inhabitants.

Perhaps he alludes to the impudence of their sins, in that the City is likened to a Pot of Brass.

God's Judgments would increase upon them, as heat doth in a Pot set on Coals.

Which is the highest Degree, so should these miseries increase.

Type of the sinfulness, the unreformed sinfulness of the City.

That their wickedness may be taken away with their Persons, and Citie, they should have been purged by gentler meltings, which God used since they were not, nor would be purified, now they shall be melted to the utter destruction of them.

Vide verse 6. let. c.

12 She hath wearied her self with lies , and her great scum went not forth out of her: her scum shall be in the fire.

The Nation of the Jews, and the City Ierusalem.

Either her So the French Transl. God by her repeated sins, and pertinacy in them as elsewhere. Isa. 1.14. and 7.13. and 43.24. or wearied others by injuries done against them; or, as we read it, her self, spent much time, and taken great pains, laid out much treasure in making alliances for her security.

Her Allies, their Promises, their Forces, and their Idols, on which these unhappy Jews relyed, all prove a lie to the house of Iudah.

She repented not, nor did she reform her wayes.

Her unrepented sins,

shall be punisht in the fire that burns their City.

Marginal references: So the French Transl.

13 In thy filthiness is lewdness : because I have purged thee, and tho wast not purged , thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee.

In thy sinning.

Deliberate resolution grown up to obstinacy, and boldness, with impudence that will not be corrected.

Used all sorts of proper means to purge, advice, reproof, chastisements, threats of sorer sufferings, by Prophets, by the Rod, sometimes gentler, sometimes rougher, 2 Chron. 36.15. Ier. 18.11, 12.

Wouldst not part from thy sins, and purifie thy heart, and waies. Ier. 25.3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

All farther use of means shall be forborn; I'le preach no more by Prophets to call thee to Repentance, but to condemn thee for not repenting; God will from henceforth refer them to his sore destroying Judgments, which are his fury, and which shall cease, when this sinful Kingdom destroyed can no longer provoke God, as they had done formerly.

See chap. 5.13. and chap. 16.42. and 21.17. and chap. 6.12.

14 I the LORD have spoken it; it shall come to passe, and I will do it; I will not go back , neither will I spare , neither will I repent. According to thy wayes , and according to thy doings shall they judge thee, saith the Lord GOD.

This is Ezekiel's saying, Nay, 'tis the Lord that hath spoken it.

But perhaps it may not be, ye[illegible: 1 letter], but it shall; for I will do it, who have spoken it.

But God hath relaxed, as in Nineveh's case, but he will not go back from this word.

But he will be merciful in the midst of Judgment; Nay, but God, will not spare, or mitigate his wrath.

Yet e're all are consumed, will he not as Amos 7.3? No, he will not repent, your burnt Flesh and City shall be a spiced Sacrifice pleasing to his Justice.

Finally, as thou deservest, God will use thee, but then we shall be in his hand.

Finally, as thou deservest, God will use thee, but then we shall be in his hand.

Nay they, thy inveterate Enemies shall judge thee.

This Verse scarce hath its like I think in the Book of God; so fully doth it ratifie and confirm all, and prevents all their evasions.

Marginal references: chap. 5.11.

16 Son of man, behold , I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke : yet neither shalt thou mourn , nor weep , neither shall thy tears run down.

Consider what I tell, and will do.

By Death I take from thee, but 'tis I the Lord, and I take her to my self, though from thee.

Whether it refer to the beauty of her person, or no, it certainly refers to the amiableness of her disposition, and the agreeablene[illegible: 1 letter] of her to the Prophet.

A sudden stroke, whether Pestilence, or what else is not so much as hinted at, I think it was God's own immediate hand.

Make no solemn mourning for her, though it will look only in the sight of thy people.

Let no lamenting voice be heard from thee, cry not out in bewailing thy loss.

Neither let thy eyes pay any tribute to her, forbear even tears also, at least, let them not run down, if one chance to drop, check the rest.

Marginal references: Heb. g[illegible: 1 letter] ▪

17 Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire of thine head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet , and cover not thy lips , and eat not the bread of men .

Refrain, and curb thy sorrows, neither sigh, or lament.

When thou carriest her out to Burial, make no mourning for her.

Adorn, and trim up thy head, as thou wast used to do; go not bare-headed, as Lev. 10.6. and 21.10. a Mourner.

In great Mournings the Jews went bare-footed, 2 Sam. 15.30. and Isa. 47.2. but do not thou so, put on thy shoes.

'Twas a custom among them to cover, either the upper lip, or mustac[illegible: 1 letter]ce, as Lev. 13.45. the Leper did, and Mich. 3.7. and this also is forbidden the Prophet.

Either of Mourners, or, rather of thy Neighbours, and Friends who were wont to visit, and feast their mourning Friends, and sent in both choice, and, abundance of provision to their Houses, Ier. 16.7. and this was a custom with Scythians, Graecians, Athenians, and Romans. Eat thou thine own, as if no mourning occasion in thy Family.

Marginal references: Heb. be silent.; Heb. upper lip.; Or, sorrowful men.

18 So I spake unto the people in the morning: and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded.

Told them what God had told me▪ and which I expected would be.

'Tis likely he had this Revelation in the night, or evening before, and he tells them betimes in the morning, what God would do in taking away his Wife, and what he must not do when she is dead, and to be buried.

The next morning after her death he observed God's Command, and without any sign of sorrow, or mourning for his great loss.

19 And the people said unto me, Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us, that thou doest so?

Some of the ordinary sort, the People, not Rulers, or Priests.

Explain, and declare whether there be not, and what it is that we are to learn by this: These are Types, but what do they mean?

21 Speak unto the house of Israel , Thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold I will prophane my sanctuary, the excellency of your strength , the desire of your eyes , and that which your soul pitieth; and your sons and your daughters whom ye have left shall fall by the sword.

Now he is commission'd to declare the meaning of that he did.

To them at Babylon by word of mouth, but to them at Ierusalem by Letter, or Messenger.

Cast off, and put into the hands of Heathens, who will regard it no more, than any other common Building, though 'tis, and hath been long my Sanctuary, but you, O Jews! first profaned it with your sins, and now in my just displeasure against you, I will suffer it to be prophaned by the Cha[illegible: 1 letter]daeans.

So 'twas whilst God's presence was there, and whilst the Iews kept it undefiled, it was their confidence, and they, trusted in it, though they were fallen from God, Ier. 7.8.

As much your desire, as my Wife was mine, saith the Prophet, most dear to you, as she to me, but this shall be burnt.

The Children, which survive to you after these grievous Calamities, and in whom you hoped for comfort, and posterity shall die by the Conquerors Sword too. chap. 23.47.

Marginal references: Heb. the pity of your soul.

22 And ye shall do as I have done: ye shall not cover your lips , nor eat the bread of men .

When you are in Captivity, where you cannot, may not use your own Customs, and Rites on these, or any other occasions.

See verse 17. let. k.

See verse 17. let. n.

Marginal references: Jer. 16.6, 7.

23 And your tires shall be upon your heads , and your shoes upon your feet : ye shall not mourn , nor weep ; but ye shall pine away for your iniquities , and mourn one towards another.

Verse 17. let. r.

Verse 17. let. s.

Vide verse 16. let. m.

Vide 16. let. n.

You shall languish with grief, and secret sorrow, when you shall not dare to shew it openly, lest you irritate your Tyrannical Masters, who will expect that nothing grieve you, that reioyceth them.

The Punishment of your Iniquities, which have made your Land, City, Temple, and Families desolate, and miserable.

In secret, Jew with Jew you shall bewail, what you durst not openly.

Marginal references: Lev. 26.39. chap. 33.10.

24 Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign ; according to all that he hath done, shall ye do: and when this cometh , ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

In what he doth you may see what you shall do, se chap. 4. ver. 3, and 12, chap. 6. And so was Isa. chap. 8.18.

When your Necessities, and Enemies shall force you to do as I have done, make you write after this Copy.

Confess the Justice, Power, Wisdom, and Truth of God in all threatned, and executed against you.

25 Also thou 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;

The question is to be resolved affirmatively, it shall be.

In the day of the taking the City of Ierusalem.

Though Nebuchadnezzar was the means, or instrument God did act by him, who did God's work more than his own.

The Kingdom dissolved, the King taken, City sack't, the Temple burnt, which is by the following characters described, as the only thing they valued. Though those particulars may be applyed to Sons, and Daughters in the close of the verse: However, it amounts to this in that Day, wherein all their publick and private joys and hopes shall be destroyed in the destruction of the Kingdom, and their Children, one that escapeth shall bring the News to the Prophet.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 span] soul.

26 That he that escapeth in that day, shall come unto thee, to cause thee to hear it with thine ears?

So few escape, that the Prophet seems to confine it to one.

The common destruction when Ier[illegible: 1 letter]salem was sackt.

Purposely to declare how God ha[illegible: 1 letter]h made good his threats.

To give thee a Narrative of all he had seen, and observed; and this particular prediction, which I doubt not Ezekiel imparted to many, who might see it fulfilled, was accomplished in the twelfth year, tenth month, and fifth day of the month, Ezek. 33.21. with Ier. 52.6. after the City was taken, (which happened in the eleventh year, and fourth moneth, ninth day of Zedekiah's Reign, and Ieconiah's Captivity) one whole year, five months, and twenty four dayes.

27 In that day shall thy mouth be opened to him which is escaped, and thou shalt speak, and be no more dumb : and thou shalt be a sign unto them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

To speak freely to him, that brings the news, and to the Jews afterward.

From this prophesie for eighteen months during the siege he doth not prophesie of Israel, but of other Nations.

Until the event, confirmed by eye-witness, shall convince the Iews, thou shalt by sign signifie to them, what is coming, and when 'tis come, to pass according to thy word, they shall confess thou wert a true Prophet sent of me, and they shall see that I am the Lord.

Eze 24:1-2

On the day on which the king of Babylon commenced the siege and blockade of Jerusalem, this event was revealed by God to Ezekiel on the Chaboras (Eze 24:1 and Eze 24:2); and he was commanded to predict to the people through the medium of a parable the fate of the city and its inhabitants (Eze 24:3-14). God then foretold to him the death of his own wife, and commanded him to show no sign of mourning on account of it. His wife died the following evening, and he did as he was commanded. When he was asked by the people the reason of this, he explained to them, that what he was doing was symbolical of the way in which they were to act when Jerusalem fell (Eze 24:15-24). The fall would be announced to the prophet by a fugitive, and then he would no longer remain mute, but would speak to the people again (Eze 24:25-27). - Apart, therefore, from the last three verses, this chapter contains two words of God, the first of which unfolds in a parable the approaching calamities, and the result of the siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans (Eze 24:1-14); whilst the second typifies by means of a sign the pain and mourning of Israel, namely, of the exiles at the destruction of the city with its sanctuary and its inhabitants. These two words of God, being connected together by their contents, were addressed to the prophet on the same day, and that, as the introduction (Eze 24:1 and Eze 24:2) expressly observes, the day on which the siege of Jerusalem by the king of Babylon began.And the word of Jehovah came to me in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, saying, Eze 24:2. Son of man, write for thyself the name of the day, this same day! The king of Babylon has fallen upon Jerusalem this same day. - The date given, namely, the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year after the carrying away of Jehoiachin (Eze 1:2), or what is the same thing, of the reign of Zedekiah, who was appointed king in his stead, is mentioned in Jer 52:4; Jer 39:1, and 2Ki 25:1, as the day on which Nebuchadnezzar blockaded the city of Jerusalem by throwing up a rampart; and after the captivity this day was still kept as a fast-day in consequence (Zec 8:19). What was thus taking place at Jerusalem was revealed to Ezekiel on the Chaboras the very same day; and he was instructed to announce it to the exiles, “that they and the besieged might learn both from the time and the result, that the destruction of the city was not to be ascribed to chance or to the power of the Babylonians, but to the will of Him who had long ago foretold that, on account of the wickedness of the inhabitants, the city would be burned with fire; and that Ezekiel was a true prophet, because even when in Babylon, which was at so great a distance, he had known and had publicly announced the state of Jerusalem.” The definite character of this prediction cannot be changed into a vaticinium post eventum, either by arbitrary explanations of the words, or by the unfounded hypothesis proposed by Hitzig, that the day was not set down in this definite form till after the event. - Writing the name of the day is equivalent to making a note of the day. The reason for this is given in Eze 24:2, namely, because Nebuchadnezzar had fallen upon Jerusalem on that very day. סמך signifies to support, hold up (his hand); and hence both here and in Psa 88:8 the meaning to press violently upon anything. The rendering “to draw near,” which has been forced upon the word from the Syriac (Ges., Winer, and others), cannot be sustained.

Eze 24:3-14

Parable of the Pot with the Boiling Pieces

Eze 24:3. And relate a parable to the rebellious house, and say to them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Set on the pot, set on and also pour water into it. Eze 24:4. Gather its pieces of flesh into it, all the good pieces, haunch and shoulder, fill it with choice bones. Eze 24:5. Take the choice of the flock, and also a pile of wood underneath for the bones; make it boil well, also cook its bones therein. Eze 24:6. Therefore, thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Woe! O city of murders! O pot in which is rust, and whose rust doth not depart from it; piece by piece fetch it out, the lot hath not fallen upon it. Eze 24:7. For her blood is in the midst of her; she hath placed it upon the naked rock; she hath not poured it upon the ground, that they might cover it with dust. Eze 24:8. To bring up fury, to take vengeance, I have made her blood come upon the naked rock, that it might not be covered. Eze 24:9. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Woe to the city of murders! I also will make the pile of wood great. Eze 24:10. Heap up the wood, stir the fire, do the flesh thoroughly, make the broth boil, that the bones may also be cooked away. Eze 24:11. And set it empty upon the coals thereof, that its brass may become hot and glowing, that the uncleanness thereof may melt within it, its rust pass away. Eze 24:12. He hath exhausted the pains, and her great rust doth not go from her; into the fire with her rust! Eze 24:13. In thine uncleanness is abomination; because I have cleansed thee, and thou hast not become clean, thou wilt no more become clean from thy uncleanness, till I quiet my fury upon thee. Eze 24:14. I Jehovah have spoken it; it cometh, and I will do it; I will not cease, nor spare, nor let it repent me. According to thy ways, and according to thy deeds, shall they judge thee, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah.

The contents of these verses are called משׁל, a proverb or parable; and Ezekiel is to communicate them to the refractory generation. It follows from this that the ensuing act, which the prophet is commanded to perform, is not to be regarded as a symbolical act which he really carried out, but that the act forms the substance of the mâshâl, in other words, belongs to the parable itself. Consequently the interpretation of the parable in vv. 10ff. is clothed in the form of a thing actually done. The pot with the pieces of flesh and the bones, which are to be boiled in it and boiled away, represents Jerusalem with its inhabitants. The fire, with which they are boiled, is the fire of war, and the setting of the pot upon the fire is the commencement of the siege, by which the population of the city is to be boiled away like the flesh and bones in a pot. שׁפת is used, as in 2Ki 4:38, to signify the setting of a pot by or upon the fire. 'אסף וגו: put in its pieces all together. נתחיה, its pieces of flesh, i.e., the pieces belonging to the cooking-pot. These are defined still more minutely as the best of the pieces of flesh, and of these the thigh (haunch) and shoulder are mentioned as the most important pieces, to which the choicest of the bones are to be added. This is rendered still more emphatic by the further instruction to take the choice of the flock in addition to these. The choicest pieces of flesh and the pieces of bone denote the strongest and ablest portion of the population of the city. To boil these pieces away, more especially the bones, a large fire is requisite. This is indicated by the words, “and also a pile of wood underneath for the bones.” דּוּר in Eze 24:5, for which מדוּרה is substituted in Eze 24:9, signifies a pile of wood, and occurs in this sense in Isa 30:33, from דּוּר, to lay round, to arrange, pile up. דּוּר  cannot mean a heap of bones, on account of the article, but simply a pile of wood for the (previously mentioned) bones, namely, for the purpose of boiling them away. If we pay attention to the article, we shall see that the supposition that Ezekiel was to place a heap of bones under the pot, and the alteration proposed by Böttcher, Ewald, and Hitzig of העצמים into `eeעצים צים, are alike untenable. Even if דּוּר in itself does not mean a pile of wood, but simply strues, an irregular heap, the fact that it is wood which is piled up is apparent enough from the context. If העצמים had grown out of עצים  through a corruption of the text, under the influence of the preceding עצמים, it would not have had an article prefixed. Hitzig also proposes to alter רתחיה into נתחיה, though without any necessity. The fact that רתחים does not occur again proves nothing at all. The noun is added to the verb to intensify its force, and is plurale tant. in the sense of boiling. גּם־בּשׁלוּ וגו' is dependent upon the previous clause גּם taking the place of the copulative ו. בּשׁל, to be cooked, thoroughly done, see the comm. on Exo 12:9.

In Eze 24:6-8 the interpretation of the parable is given, and that in two trains of thought introduced by לכן (Eze 24:6 and Eze 24:9). The reason for commencing with לכן, therefore, may be found in the fact that in the parable contained in Eze 24:3., or more correctly in the blockade of Jerusalem, which furnished the occasion for the parable, the judgment about to burst upon Jerusalem is plainly indicated. The train of thought is the following: - Because the judgment upon Jerusalem is now about to commence, therefore woe to her, for her blood-guiltiness is so great that she must be destroyed. But the punishment answering to the magnitude of the guilt is so distributed in the two strophes, Eze 24:6-8 and Eze 24:9-13, that the first strophe treats of the punishment of the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the second, of the punishment of the city itself. To account for the latter feature, there is a circumstance introduced which is not mentioned in the parable itself, namely, the rust upon the pot, and the figure of the pot is thereby appropriately extended. Moreover, in the explanation of the parable the figure and the fact pass repeatedly the one into the other. Because Jerusalem is a city of murders, it resembles a pot on which there are spots of rust that cannot be removed. Eze 24:6 is difficult, and has been expounded in various ways. The ל before the twofold נתחיה is, no doubt, to be taken distributively: according to its several pieces, i.e., piece by piece, bring it out. But the suffix attached to  הוציאהּ cannot be taken as referring to סיר, as Kliefoth proposes, for this does not yield a suitable meaning. One would not say: bring out the pot by its pieces of flesh, when nothing more is meant than the bringing of the pieces of flesh out of the pot. And this difficulty is not removed by giving to הוציא the meaning to reach hither. For, apart from the fact that there is nothing in the usage of the language to sustain the meaning, reach it hither for the purpose of setting it upon the fire, one would not say: reach hither the pot according to its several pieces of flesh, piece by piece, when all that was meant was, bring hither the pot filled with pieces of flesh. The suffix to הוציאהּ refers to the city (עיר), i.e., to its population, “to which the blood-guiltiness really adhered, and not to its collection of houses” (Hitzig). It is only in appearance also that the suffix to נתחיה refers to the pot; actually it refers to the city, i.e., to the whole of its population, the different individuals in which are the separate pieces of flesh. The meaning of the instructions therefore is by no means doubtful: the whole of the population to be found in Jerusalem is to be brought out, and that without any exception, inasmuch as the lot, which would fall upon one and not upon another, will not be cast upon her. There is no necessity to seek for any causal connection between the reference to the rust upon the pot and the bringing out of the pieces of flesh that are cooking within it, and to take the words as signifying that all the pieces, which had been rendered useless by the rust upon the pot, were to be taken out and thrown away (Hävernick); but through the allusion to the rust the interpretation already passes beyond the limits of the figure. The pieces of the flesh are to be brought out, after they have been thoroughly boiled, to empty the pot, that it may then be set upon the fire again, to burn out the rust adhering to it (Eze 24:11). There is no force in Kliefoth’s objection, that this exposition does not agree with the context, inasmuch as, “according to the last clause of Eze 24:5 and Eze 24:10 and Eze 24:11, the pieces of flesh and even the bones are not to be taken out, but to be boiled away by a strong fire; and the pot is to become empty not by the fact that the pieces of flesh are taken out and thrown away, but by the pieces being thoroughly boiled away, first to broth and then to nothing.” For “boiling away to nothing” is not found in the text, but simply that even the bones are to be thoroughly done, so as to turn into the softness of jelly. - So far as the fact is concerned, we cannot follow the majority of commentators, who suppose that the reference is simply to the carrying away of the inhabitants into exile. Bringing the pieces of flesh out of the pot, denotes the sweeping away of the inhabitants from the city, whether by death (vid., Eze 11:7) or by their being carried away captive. The city is to be emptied of men in consequence of its being blockaded by the king of Babylon. The reason of this is given in Eze 24:7 and Eze 24:8, where the guilt of Jerusalem is depicted. The city has shed blood, which is not covered with earth, but has been left uncovered, like blood poured out upon a hard rock, which the stone cannot absorb, and which cries to God for vengeance, because it is uncovered (cf. Gen 4:10; Job 16:18; and Isa 26:21). The thought is this: she has sinned in an insolent and shameless manner, and has done nothing to cover her sin, has shown no sign of repentance or atonement, by which she might have got rid of her sin. This has all been ordered by God. He has caused the blood that was shed to fall upon a bare rock, that it might lie uncovered, and He might be able to execute vengeance for the crime.

The second turn in the address (Eze 24:9) commences in just the same manner as the first in Eze 24:6, and proceeds with a further picture of the execution of punishment. To avenge the guilt, God will make the pile of wood large, and stir up a fierce fire. The development of this thought is given in Eze 24:10 in the form of a command addressed to the prophet, to put much wood underneath, and to kindle a fire, so that both flesh and bones may boil away. התם, from תּמם, to finish, complete; with בּשׂר, to cook thoroughly. There are differences of opinion as to the true meaning of הרקח ; but the rendering sometimes given to רקח, namely, to spice, is at all events unsuitable, and cannot be sustained by the usage of the language. It is true that in Exo 30:25. the verb רקח is used for the preparation of the anointing oil, but it is not the mixing of the different ingredients that is referred to, but in all probability the thorough boiling of the spices, for the purpose of extracting their essence, so that “thorough boiling” is no doubt the true meaning of the word. In Job 41:23 (31), מרקחה is the boiling unguent-pot. יחרוּ is a cohortative Hiphil, from חרר, to become red-hot, to be consumed. - Eze 24:11. When the flesh and bones have thus been thoroughly boiled, the pot is to be placed upon the coals empty, that the rust upon it may be burned away by the heat. The emptying of the pot or kettle by pouring out the flesh, which has been boiled to broth, is passed over as self-evident. The uncleanness of the pot is the rust upon it. תּתּם is an Aramaean form for תּתּם = תּתּם. Michaelis has given the true explanation of the words: “civibus caesis etiam urbs consumetur” (when the inhabitants are slain, the city itself will be destroyed).Hitzig discovers a Hysteronproteron in this description, because the cleaning of the pot ought to have preceded the cooking of the flesh in it, and not to have come afterwards, and also because, so far as the actual fact is concerned, the rust of sin adhered to the people of the city, and not to the city itself as a collection of houses. But neither of these objections is sufficient to prove what Hitzig wants to establish, namely, that the untenable character of the description shows that it is not really a prophecy; nor is there any force in them. It is true that if one intended to boil flesh in a pot for the purpose if eating, the first thing to be done would be to clean the pot itself. But this is not the object in the present instance. The flesh was simply to be thoroughly boiled, that it might be destroyed and thrown away, and there was no necessity to clean the pot for this purpose. And so far as the second objection is concerned, the defilement of sin does no doubt adhere to man, though not, as Hitzig assumes, to man alone. According to the Old Testament view, it extends to things as well (vid., Lev 18:25; Lev 27:28). Thus leprosy, for example, did not pollute men only, but clothes and houses also. And for the same reason judgments were not restricted to men, but also fell upon cities and lands.

In Eze 24:12. the reason is given, which rendered it necessary to inflict this exterminating judgment. In Eze 24:12 the address still keeps to the figure, but in Eze 24:13 it passes over to the actual fact. It (the pot) has exhausted the pains (תּאנים, ἁπ λεγ.., namely, as Eze 24:13 clearly shows, the pains, or wearisome exertions, to make it clean by milder means, and not (as Hitzig erroneously infers from the following clause) to eat away the rust by such extreme heat. הלאת, third pers. Hiphil of לאה fo lih, is the earlier form, which fell into almost entire disuse in later times (vid., Ges. §75, Anm. 1). The last words of Eze 24:11, I agree with Hitzig, Hävernick, and others, in taking as an exclamation. Because the pot has exhausted all the efforts made to cleanse it, its rust is to go into the fire. In Eze 24:13 Jerusalem is addressed, and זמּה is not a genitive belonging to בּטמאתך, “on account of thy licentious uncleanness” (Ewald and Hitzig), but a predicate, “in thine uncleanness is (there lies) זמּה, i.e., an abomination deserving of death” (see Lev 18:17 and Lev 20:14, where the fleshly sins, which are designated as zimmâh, are ordered to be punished with death). The cleansings which God had attempted, but without Jerusalem becoming clean, consisted in the endeavour, which preceded the Chaldean judgment of destruction, to convert the people from their sinful ways, partly by threats and promises communicated through the prophets (vid., 2Ch 36:15), and partly by means of chastisements. For הניח חמה, see Eze 5:13. In Eze 24:14 there is a summary of the whole, which brings the threat to a close.

Eze 24:15-24

The Sign of Silent Sorrow Concerning the Destruction of Jerusalem

Eze 24:14. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Eze 24:16. Son of man, behold, I take from thee thine eyes’ delight by a stroke, and thou shalt not mourn nor weep, and no tear shall come from thee. Eze 24:17. Sigh in silence; lamentation for the dead thou shalt not make; bind thy head-attire upon thee, and put thy shoes upon thy feet, and do not cover thy beard, and eat not the bread of men. Eze 24:18. And I spake to the people in the morning, and in the evening my wife died, and I did in the morning as I was commanded. Eze 24:19. Then the people said to me, Wilt thou not show us what this signifies to us that thou doest so? Eze 24:20. And I said to them, The word of Jehovah has come to me, saying, Eze 24:21. Say to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your strength, the delight of your eyes, and the desire of your soul; and your sons and your daughters, whom ye have left, will fall by the sword. Eze 24:22. Then will ye do as I have done, ye will not cover the beard, nor eat the bread of men; Eze 24:23. And ye will have your head-attired upon your heads, and your shoes upon your feet; ye will not mourn nor weep, but will pine away in your iniquity, and sigh one towards another. Eze 24:24. Thus will Ezekiel be a sign to you; as he hath done will ye do; when it cometh, ye will know that I the Lord am Jehovah. - From the statements in Eze 24:18, to the effect that the prophet spoke to the people in the morning, and then in the evening his wife died, and then again in the (following) morning, according to the command of God, he manifested no grief, and in answer to the inquiry of the people explained to them the meaning of what he did, it is evident that the word of God contained in this section came to him on the same day as the preceding one, namely, on the day of the blockade of Jerusalem; for what he said to the people on the morning of this day (Eze 24:18) is the prophecy contained in Eze 24:3-14. Immediately after He had made this revelation to him, God also announced to him the approaching death of his wife, together with the significance which this event would have to the people generally. The delight of the eyes (Eze 24:16) is his wife (Eze 24:18) בּמגּפה by a stroke, i.e., by a sudden death inflicted by God (vid., Num 14:37; Num 17:13). On the occurrence of her death, he is neither to allow of any loud lamentings, nor to manifest any sign of grief, but simply to sigh in silence. מתים אבל does not stand for אבל מתים, but the words are both accusatives. The literal rendering would be: the dead shalt thou not make an object of mourning, i.e., thou shalt not have any mourning for the dead, as Storr (observv. p. 19) has correctly explained the words. On occasions of mourning it was customary to uncover the head and strew ashes upon it (Isa 61:3), to go barefoot (2Sa 15:30; Isa 20:2), and to cover the beard, that is to say, the lower part of the face as far as the nose (Mic 3:7). Ezekiel is not to do any of these things, but to arrange his head-attire (פּאר, the head-attire generally, or turban, vid., Eze 24:23 and Isa 61:3, and not specially that of the priests, which is called פּארי in Exo 39:28), and to put on his shoes, and also to eat no mourning bread. לחם אנשׁים does not mean panis miseroroum, cibus lugentium, in which case אנשׁים would be equivalent to אנשׁים, but bread of men, i.e., of the people, that is to say, according to the context, bread which the people were accustomed to send to the house of mourning in cases of death, to manifest their sympathy and to console and refresh the mourners - a custom which gave rise in the course of time to that of formal funeral meals. These are not mentioned in the Old Testament; but the sending of bread or food to the house of mourning is clearly referred to in Deu 26:14; Hos 9:4, and Jer 16:7 (see also 2Sa 3:35). - When Ezekiel thus abstained from all lamentation and outward sign of mourning on the death of his dearest one, the people conjectured that such striking conduct must have some significance, and asked him what it was that he intended to show thereby. He then announced to them the word of God (Eze 24:20-24). As his dearest one, his wife, had been taken from him, so should it dearest object, the holy temple, be taken from the nation by destruction, and their children by the sword. When this occurred, then would they act as he was doing now; they would not mourn and weep, but simply in their gloomy sorrow sigh in silence on account of their sins, and groan one toward another.

The profanation (חלּל) of the sanctuary is effected through its destruction (cf. Eze 7:24). To show the magnitude of the loss, the worth of the temple in the eyes of the nation is dwelt upon in the following clauses. גּאון עזּכם is taken from Lev 26:19. The temple is called the pride of your strength, because Israel based its might and strength upon it as the scene of the gracious presence of God, living in the hope that the Lord would not give up His sanctuary to the heathen to be destroyed, but would defend the temple, and therewith Jerusalem and its inhabitants also (cf. Jer 7:4). מהמל נפùׁכם , the desire or longing of the soul (from המל, in Arabic, desiderio ferri ad aliquam rem). The sons and daughters of the people are the relatives and countrymen whom the exiles had been obliged to leave behind in Canaan. - The explanation of this lamentation and mourning on account of the destruction of the sanctuary and death of their relations, is to be found in the antithesis: 'וּנמקּתם בעו, ye will pine or languish away in your iniquities (compare Eze 4:17 and Lev 26:39). Consequently we have not to imagine either “stolid indifference” (Eichhorn and Hitzig), or “stolid impenitence” (Ewald), but overwhelming grief, for which there were no tears, no lamentation, but only deep inward sighing on account of the sins which had occasioned so terrible a calamity. נהם, lit., to utter a deep growl, like the bears (Isa 59:11); here to sigh or utter a deep groan. “One toward another,” i.e., manifesting the grief to one another by deep sighs; not “full of murmuring and seeking the sin which occasioned the calamity in others rather than in themselves,” as Hitzig supposes. The latter exposition is entirely at variance with the context. This grief, which consumes the bodily strength, leads to a clear perception of the sin, and also to true repentance, and through penitence and atonement to regeneration and newness of life. And thus will they attain to a knowledge of the Lord through the catastrophe which bursts upon them (cf. Lev 26:40.). For מופת, a sign, see the comm. on Exo 4:21.

Eze 24:25-27

Sequel of the Destruction of Jerusalem to the Prophet Himself

Eze 24:25. And thou, son of man, behold, in the day when I take from them their might, their glorious joy, the delight of their eyes and the desire of their soul, their sons and their daughters, Eze 24:26. In that day will a fugitive come to thee, to tell it to thine ears. Eze 24:27. In that day will thy mouth be opened with the fugitive, and thou wilt speak, and no longer be mute; and thus shalt thou be a sign to them that they may know that I am Jehovah. - As the destruction of Jerusalem would exert a powerful influence upon the future history of the exiles on the Chaboras, and be followed by most important results, so was it also to be a turning-point for the prophet himself in the execution of his calling. Hävernick has thus correctly explained the connection between these closing verses and what precedes, as indicated by ואתּה in Eze 24:25. As Ezekiel up to this time was to speak to the people only when the Lord gave him a word for them, and at other times was to remain silent and dumb (Eze 3:26 and Eze 3:27); from the day on which a messenger should come to bring him the tidings of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, he was to open his mouth, and not continue dumb any longer. The execution of this word of God is related in Eze 33:21-22. The words, “when I take from them their strength,” etc., are to be understood in accordance with Eze 24:21. Consequently מעזּם is the sanctuary, which was taken from the Israelites through the destruction of Jerusalem. The predicates which follow down to משּׂא refer to the temple (cf. Eze 24:21). משּׂא נפשׁ, an object toward which the soul lifts itself up (נשׂא), i.e., for which it cherishes a desire or longing; hence synonymous with מחמל נפשׁ htiw suomynon in Eze 24:21. The sons and daughters are attached ἀσυνδετῶς. בּיּום  (in that day), in Eze 24:26, which resumes the words 'בּיום ק (in the day when I take, etc.) in Eze 24:25, is not the day of the destruction of the temple, but generally the time of this event, or more precisely, the day on which the tidings would reach the prophet. הפּליט, with the generic article, a fugitive (vid., Gen 14:13). להשׁמעוּת אזנים, to cause the ears to hear (it), i.e., to relate it, namely to the bodily ears of the prophet, whereas he had already heard it in spirit from God. השׁמעוּת, a verbal noun, used instead of the infinitive Hiphil. את־הפּליט, with the escaped one, i.e., at the same time “with the mouth of the fugitive” (Hitzig). את expresses association, or so far as the fact is concerned, simultaneousness. The words,”then wilt thou speak, and no longer be dumb,” do not imply that it was only from that time forward that Ezekiel was to keep silence, but point back to Eze 3:26 and Eze 3:27, where silence is imposed upon him, with the exceptions mentioned there, from the very commencement of his ministry; and in comparison with that passage, simply involve implicite the thought that the silence imposed upon him then was to be observed in the strictest manner from the present time until the reception of the intelligence of the fall of Jerusalem, when his mouth would be opened once more. Through the “words of God” that were given to His prophet (Ezekiel 4-24), the Lord had now said to the people of Israel all that He had to say concerning the approaching catastrophe for them to consider and lay to heart, that they might be brought to acknowledge their sin, and turn with sorrow and repentance to their God. Therefore was Ezekiel from this time forward to keep perfect silence toward Israel, and to let God the Lord speak by His acts and the execution of His threatening words. It was not till after the judgment had commenced that his mouth was to be opened again for still further announcements (vid., Eze 33:22). - Ezekiel was thereby to become a sign to the Israelites. These words have a somewhat different meaning in Eze 24:27 from that which they have in Eze 24:24. There, Ezekiel, by the way in which he behaved at the death of his wife, was to be a sign to the people of the manner in which they were to act when the judgment should fall upon Jerusalem; whereas here (Eze 24:27), למופת refers to the whole of the ministry of the prophet, his silence hitherto, and that which he was still to observe, as well as his future words. Through both of these he was to exhibit himself to his countrymen as a man whose silence, speech, and action were alike marvellous and full of meaning to them, and all designed to lead them to the knowledge of the Lord, the God of their salvation.

The Parable of the Boiling Pot; The Explanation of the Parable. (b. c. 590.)

1 Again in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, write thee the name of the day, even of this same day: the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem this same day. 3 And utter a parable unto the rebellious house, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God ; Set on a pot, set it on, and also pour water into it: 4 Gather the pieces thereof into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones. 5 Take 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. 6 Wherefore thus saith 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. 7 For 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; 8 That 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. 9 Therefore thus saith the Lord God ; Woe to the bloody city! I will even make the pile for fire great. 10 Heap on wood, kindle the fire, consume the flesh, and spice it well, and let the bones be burned. 11 Then 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. 12 She hath wearied herself with lies, and her great scum went not forth out of her: her scum shall be in the fire. 13 In thy filthiness is lewdness: because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee. 14 I 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 thy ways, and according to thy doings, shall they judge thee, saith the Lord God .

We have here,

I. The notice God gives to Ezekiel in Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar's laying siege to Jerusalem, just at the time when he was doing it (v. 2): "Son of man, take notice, the king of Babylon, who is now abroad with his army, thou knowest not where, set himself against Jerusalem this same day." It was many miles, it was many days' journey, from Jerusalem to Babylon. Perhaps the last intelligence they had from the army was that the design was upon Rabbath of the children of Ammon and that the campaign was to be opened with the siege of that city. But God knew, and could tell the prophet, "This day, at this time, Jerusalem is invested, and the Chaldean army has sat down before it." Note, As all times, so all places, even the most remote, are present with God and under his view. He tells the prophet, that the prophet might tell the people, that so when it proved to be punctually true, as they would find by the public intelligence in a little time, it might be a confirmation of the prophet's mission, and they might infer that, since he was right in his news, he was so in his predictions, for he owed both to the same correspondence he had with Heaven.

II. The notice which he orders him to take of it. He must enter it in his book, memorandum, that in the ninth year of Jehoiachin's captivity (for thence Ezekiel dated, ch. i. 2, which was also the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, for he began to reign when Jehoiachin was carried off), in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, the king of Babylon laid siege to Jerusalem; and the date here agrees exactly with the date in the history, 2 Kings xxv. 1. See how God reveals things to his servants the prophets, especially those things which serve to confirm their word, and so to confirm their own faith. Note, It is good to keep an exact account of the date of remarkable occurrences, which may sometimes contribute to the manifesting of God's glory so much the more in them, and the explaining and confirming of scripture prophecies. Known unto God are all his works.

III. The notice which he orders him to give to the people thereupon, the purport of which is that this siege of Jerusalem, now begun, will infallibly end in the ruin of it. This he must say to the rebellious house, to those of them that were in Babylon, to be by them communicated to those that were yet in their own land. A rebellious house will soon be a ruinous house.

1. He must show them this by a sign; for that stupid people needed to be taught as children are. The comparison made use of is that of a boiling pot. This agrees with Jeremiah's vision many years before, when he first began to be a prophet, and probably was designed to put them in mind of that (Jer. i. 13, I see a seething pot, with the face towards the north; and the explanation of it, v. 15, makes it to signify the besieging of Jerusalem by the northern nations); and, as this comparison is intended to confirm Jeremiah's vision, so also to confront the vain confidence of the princes of Jerusalem, who had said (ch. xi. 3), This city is the caldron and we are the flesh, meaning, "We are as safe here as if we were surrounded with walls of brass." "Well," says God, "it shall be so; you shall be boiled in Jerusalem, as the flesh in the caldron, boiled to pieces; let the pot be set on with water in it (v. 4); let it be filled with the flesh of the choice of the flock (v. 5), with the choice pieces (v. 4), and the marrow-bones, and let the other bones serve for fuel, that, one way or other, either in the pot or under it, the whole beast may be made use of." A fire of bones, though it be a slow fire (for the siege was to be long), is yet a sure and lasting fire; such was God's wrath against them, and not like the crackling of thorns under a pot, which has noise and blaze, but no intense heat. Those that from all parts of the country fled into Jerusalem for safety would be sadly disappointed when the siege laid to it would soon make the place too hot for them; and yet there was not getting out of it, but they must be forced to abide by it, as the flesh in a boiling pot.

2. He must give them a comment upon this sign. It is to be construed as a woe to the bloody city, v. 6. And again (v. 9), being bloody, let it go to pot, to be boiled; that is the fittest place for it. Let us here see,

(1.) What is the course God takes with it. Jerusalem, during the siege, is like a pot boiling over the fire, all in a heat, all in a hurry. [1.] Care is taken to keep a good fire under the pot, which signifies the closeness of the siege, and the many vigorous attacks made upon the city by the besiegers, and especially the continued wrath of God burning against them (v. 9): I will make the pile for fire great. Commission is given to the Chaldeans (v. 10) to heap on wood, and kindle the fire, to make Jerusalem more and more hot to the inhabitants. Note, The fire which God kindles for the consuming of impenitent sinners shall never abate, much less go out, for want of fuel. Tophet has fire and much wood, Isa. xxx. 33. [2.] The meat, as it is boiled, is taken out, and given to the Chaldeans for them to feast upon. "Consume the flesh; let it be thoroughly boiled, boiled to rags. Spice it well, and make it savoury, for those that will feast sweetly upon it. Let the bones be burnt." either the bones under the pot ("let them be consumed with the other fuel") or, as some think, the bones in the pot—"let it boil so furiously that not only the flesh may be sodden, but even the bones softened; let all the inhabitants of Jerusalem be by sickness, sword, and famine, reduced to the extremity of misery." And then (v. 6), "Bring it out piece by piece; let every man be delivered into the enemy's hand, to be either put to the sword or made a prisoner. Let them be an easy prey to them, and let the Chaldeans fall upon them as eagerly as a hungry man does upon a good dish of meat when it is set before him. Let no lot fall upon it; every piece in the pot shall be fetched out and devoured, first or last, and therefore it is no matter for casting lots which shall be fetched out first." It was a very severe military execution when David measured Joab with two lines to put to death and one full line to keep alive, 2 Sam. viii. 2. But here is no line, no lot of mercy, made use of; all goes one way, and that is to destruction. [3.] When all the broth is boiled away the pot is set empty upon the coals, that it may burn too, which signifies the setting of the city on fire, v. 11. The scum of the meat, or (as some translate it) the rust of the meat, has so got into the pot that there is no making it clean by washing or scouring it, and therefore it must be done by fire; so let the filthiness be burnt out of it, or, rather, melted in it and burnt with it. Let the vipers and their nest be consumed together.

(2.) What is the quarrel God has with it. He would not take these severe methods with Jerusalem but that he is provoked to it; she deserves to be thus dealt with, for, [1.] It is a bloody city (v. 7, 8): Her blood is in the midst of her. Many a barbarous murder has been committed in the very heart of the city; nay, and they have a disposition to cruelty in their hearts; they inwardly delight in blood-shed, and so it is in the midst of them. Nay, they commit their murders in the face of the sun, and openly and impudently avow them, in defiance of the justice both of God and man. She did not pour out the blood she shed upon the ground, to cover it with dust, as being ashamed of the sin or afraid of the punishment. She did not look upon it as a filthy thing, proper to be concealed (Deut. xxiii. 13), much less dangerous. Nay, she poured out the innocent blood she shed upon a rock, where it would not soak in, upon the top of a rock, in despite of divine views and vengeance. They shed innocent blood under colour of justice; so that they gloried in it, as if they had done God and the country good service, so put it, as it were, on the top of a rock. Or it may refer to the sacrificing of their children on their high places, perhaps on the top of rocks. Now thus they caused fury to come up and take vengeance, v. 8. It could not be avoided but that God must in anger visit for these things; his soul must be avenged on such a nation as this. It is absolutely necessary that such a bloody city as this should have blood given her to drink, for she is worthy, for the vindicating of the honour of divine justice. And, the crime having been public and notorious, it is fit that the punishment should be so too: I have set her blood on the top of a rock. Jerusalem was to be made an example, and therefore was made a spectacle, to the world; God dealt with her according to the law of retaliation. It is fit that those who sin before all should be rebuked before all; and that the reputation of those should not be consulted by the concealment of their punishment who were so impudent as not to desire the concealment of their sin. [2.] It is a filthy city. Great notice is taken, in this explanation of the comparison, of the scum of this pot, which signifies the sin of Jerusalem, working up and appearing when the judgments of God were upon her. It is the pot whose scum is therein and has not gone out of it, v. 6. The great scum that went not forth out of her (v. 12), that stuck to the pot when all was boiled away, and was molten in it (v. 11), some of this runs over into the fire (v. 12), inflames that, and makes it burn the more furiously, but it shall all be consumed at last, v. 11. When the hand of God had gone out against them, instead of humbling themselves under it, repenting and reforming, and accepting the punishment of their iniquity, they grew more impudent and outrageous in sin, quarrelled with God, persecuted his prophets, were fierce to one another, enraged to the last degree against the Chaldeans, snarled at the stone, gnawed their chain, and were like a wild bull in a net. This as their scum; in their distress they trespassed yet more against the Lord, like that king Ahaz, 2 Chron. xxviii. 22. There is little hope of those who are made worse by that which should make them better, whose corruptions are excited an exasperated by those rebukes both of the word and of the providence of God which were designed for the suppressing and subduing of them, or of those whose scum boiled up once in convictions, and confessions of sin, as if it would be taken off by reformation, but afterwards returned again, in a revolt from their good overtures; and the heart that seemed softened is hardened again. This was Jerusalem's case: She has wearied with lies, wearied her God with purposes and promises of amendment, which she never stood to, wearied herself with her carnal confidences, which have all deceived her, v. 12. Note, Those that follow after lying vanities weary themselves with the pursuit. Now see her doom, v. 13, 14. Because she is incurably wicked she is abandoned to ruin, without remedy. First, Methods and means of reformation had been tried in vain (v. 13): "In thy filthiness is lewdness; thou hast become obstinate and impudent in it; thou hast got a habit of it, which is confirmed by frequent acts. In thy filthiness there is a rooted lewdness; as appears by this, I have purged thee and thou wast not purged. I have given thee medicine, but it has done thee no good. I have used the means of cleansing thee, but they have been ineffectual; the intention of them has not been answered." Note, It is sad to think how many there are on whom ordinances and providences are all lost. Secondly, It is therefore resolved that no more such methods shall be used: Thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more. The fire shall no longer be a refining fire, but a consuming fire, and therefore shall not be mitigated and shortened, as it has been, but shall be continued in extremity, till it has done its destroying work. Note, Those that will not be healed are justly given up and their case adjudged desperate. There is a day coming when it will be said, He that is filthy, let him be filthy still. Thirdly, Nothing remains then but to bring them to utter ruin: I will cause my fury to rest upon thee. This is the same with what is said of the later Jews, that wrath has come upon them to the uttermost, 1 Thess. ii. 16. They deserve it: According to thy doings they shall judge thee, v. 14. And God will do it. The sentence is bound on with repeated ratifications, that they might be awakened to see how certain their ruin was: "I the Lord have spoken it, who am able to make good what I have spoken; it shall come to pass, nothing shall prevent it, for I will do it myself, I will not go back upon any entreaties; the decree has gone forth, and I will not spare in compassion to them, neither will I repent." He will neither change his mind nor his way. Hereby the prophet was forbidden to interceded for them, and they were forbidden to flatter themselves with hopes of an escape. God hath said it, and he will do it. Note, The declarations of God's wrath against sinners are as inviolable as the assurances he has given of favour to his people; and the case of such is sad indeed, who have brought it to this issue, that either God must be false or they must be damned.

The Death of the Prophet's Wife; A Sign of Jerusalem's Ruin. (b. c. 590.)

15 Also the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 16 Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke: yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down. 17 Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire of thine head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover not thy lips, and eat not the bread of men. 18 So I spake unto the people in the morning: and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded. 19 And the people said unto me, Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us, that thou doest so? 20 Then I answered them, The word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 21 Speak unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God ; Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the excellency of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pitieth; and your sons and your daughters whom ye have left shall fall by the sword. 22 And ye shall do as I have done: ye shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men. 23 And your tires shall be upon your heads, and your shoes upon your feet: ye shall not mourn nor weep; but ye shall pine away for your iniquities, and mourn one toward another. 24 Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign: according to all that he hath done shall ye do: and when this cometh, ye shall know that I am the Lord God . 25 Also, thou 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, 26 That he that escapeth in that day shall come unto thee, to cause thee to hear it with thine ears? 27 In that day shall thy mouth be opened to him which is escaped, and thou shalt speak, and be no more dumb: and thou shalt be a sign unto them; and they shall know that I am the Lord .

These verses conclude what we have been upon all along from the beginning of this book, to wit, Ezekiel's prophecies of the destruction of Jerusalem; for after this, though he prophesied much concerning other nations, he said no more concerning Jerusalem, till he heard of the destruction of it, almost three years after, ch. xxxiii. 21. He had assured them, in the former part of this chapter, that there was no hope at all of the preventing of the trouble; here he assures them that they should not have the ease of weeping for it. Observe here,

I. The sign by which this was represented to them, and it was a sign that cost the prophet very dear; the more shame for them that when he, by a divine appointment, was at such an expense to affect them with what he had to deliver, yet they were not affected by it.

1. He must lose a good wife, that should suddenly be taken from him by death. God gave him notice of it before, that it might be the less surprise to him (v. 16): Behold, I take away from thee the desire of thy eyes with a stroke. Note, (1.) A married state may very well agree with the prophetical office; it is honourable in all, and therefore not sinful in ministers. (2.) Much of the comfort of human life lies in agreeable relations. No doubt Ezekiel found a prudent tender yoke-fellow, that shared with him in his griefs and cares, to be a happy companion in his captivity. (3.) Those in the conjugal relation must be to each other not only a covering of the eyes (Gen. xx. 16), to restrain wandering looks after others; but a desire of the eyes, to engage pleasing looks on one another. A beloved wife is the desire of the eyes, which find not any object more grateful. (4.) That is least safe which is most dear; we know not how soon the desire of our eyes may be removed from us and may become the sorrow of our hearts, which is a good reason why those that have wives should be as though they had none, and those who rejoice in them as though they rejoiced not, 1 Cor. vii. 29, 30. Death is a stroke which the most pious, the most useful, the most amiable, are not exempted from. (5.) When the desire of our eyes is taken away with a stroke we must see and own the hand of God in it: I take away the desire of thy eyes. He takes our creature-comforts from us when and how he pleases; he gave them to us, but reserved to himself a property in them; and may he not do what he will with his own? (6.) Under afflictions of this kind it is good for us to remember that we are sons of men; for so God calls the prophet here. If thou art a son of Adam, thy wife is a daughter of Eve, and therefore a dying creature. It is an affliction which the children of men are liable to; and shall the earth be forsaken for us? According to this prediction, he tells us (v. 18), I spoke unto the people in the morning; for God sent his prophets, rising up early and sending them; then he thought, if ever, they would be disposed to hearken to him. Observe, [1.] Though God had given Ezekiel a certain prospect of this affliction coming upon him, yet it did not take him off from his work, but he resolved to go on in that. [2.] We may the more easily bear an affliction if it find us in the way of our duty; for nothing can hurt us, nothing come amiss to us, while we keep ourselves in the love of God.

2. He must deny himself the satisfaction of mourning for his wife, which would have been both an honour to her and an ease to the oppression of his own spirit. He must not use the natural expressions of sorrow, v. 16. He must not give vent to his passion by weeping, or letting his tears run down, though tears are a tribute due to the dead, and, when the body is sown, it is fit that it should thus be watered. But Ezekiel is not allowed to do this, though he thought he had as much reason to do it as any man and would perhaps be ill thought of by the people if he did it not. Much less might he use the customary formalities of mourners. He must dress himself in his usual attire, must bind his turban on him, here called the tire of his head, must put on his shoes, and not go barefoot, as was usual in such cases; he must not cover his lips, not throw a veil over his face (as mourners were wont to do, Lev. xiii. 45), must not be of a sorrowful countenance, appearing unto men to fast, Matt. vi. 18. He must not eat the bread of men, nor expect that his neighbours and friends should send him in provisions, as usually they did in such cases, presuming the mourners had no heart to provide meat for themselves; but, if it were sent, he must not eat of it, but go on in his business as at other times. It could not but be greatly against the grain to flesh and blood not to lament the death of one he loved so dearly, but so God commands; and I did in the morning as I was commanded. He appeared in public, in his usual habit, and looked as he used to do, without any signs of mourning. (1.) Here there was something peculiar, and Ezekiel, to make himself a sign to the people, must put a force upon himself and exercise an extraordinary piece of self-denial. Note, Our dispositions must always submit to God's directions, and his command must be obeyed even in that which is most difficult and displeasing to us. (2.) Though mourning for the dead be a duty, yet it must always be kept under the government of religion and right reason, and we must not sorrow as those that have no hope, nor lament the loss of any creature, even the most valuable, and that which we could worst spare, as if we had lost our God, or as if all our happiness were gone with it; and, of this moderation in mourning, ministers, when it is their case, ought to be examples. We must at such a time study to improve the affliction, to accommodate ourselves to it, and to get our acquaintance with the other world increased, by the removal of our dear relations, and learn with holy Job to bless the name of the Lord even when he takes as well as when he gives.

II. The explication and application of this sign. The people enquired the meaning of it (v. 19): Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us that thou doest so? They knew that Ezekiel was an affectionate husband, that the death of his wife was a great affliction to him, and that he would not appear so unconcerned at it but for some good reason and for instruction to them; and perhaps they were in hopes that it had a favourable signification, and gave them an intimation that God would now comfort them again according to the time he had afflicted them, and make them look pleasant again. Note, When we are enquiring concerning the things of God our enquiry must be, "What are those thing to us? What are we concerned in them? What conviction, what counsel, what comfort, do they speak to us? Wherein do they reach our case?" Ezekiel gives them an answer verbatim—word for word as he had received it from the Lord, who had told him what he must speak to the house of Israel.

1. Let them know that as Ezekiel's wife was taken from him by a stroke so would God take from them all that which was dearest to them, v. 21. If this was done to the green tree, what shall be done to the dry? If a faithful servant of God was thus afflicted only for his trial, shall such a generation of rebels against God go unpunished? By this awakening providence God showed that he was in earnest in his threatenings, and inexorable. We may suppose that Ezekiel prayed that, if it were the will of God, his wife might be spared to him, but God would not hear him; and should he be heard then in his intercessions for this provoking people? No, it is determined: God will take away the desire of your eyes. Note, The removal of the comforts of others should awaken us to think of parting with ours too; for are we better than they? We know not how soon the same cup, or a more bitter one, may be put into our hands, and should therefore weep with those that weep, as being ourselves also in the body. God will take away that which their soul pities, that is, of which they say, What a pity is it that it should be cut off and destroyed! That for which your souls are afraid (so some read it); you shall lose that which you most dread the loss of. And what is that? (1.) That which was their public pride, the temple: "I will profane my sanctuary, by giving that into the enemy's hand, to be plundered and burnt." This was signified by the death of a wife, a dear wife, to teach us that God's sanctuary should be dearer to us, and more the desire of our eyes, than any creature-comfort whatsoever. Christ's church, that is his spouse, should be ours too. Though this people were very corrupt, and had themselves profaned the sanctuary, yet it is called the desire of their eyes. Note, Many that are destitute of the power of godliness are yet very fond of the form of it; and it is just with God to punish them for their hypocrisy by depriving them of that too. The sanctuary is here called the excellency of their strength; they had many strong-holds and places of defence, but the temple excelled them all. It was the pride of their strength; they prided in it as their strength that they were the temple of the Lord, Jer. vii. 4. Note, The church-privileges that men are proud of are profaned by their sins, and it is just with God to profane them by his judgments. And with these God will take away, (2.) That which was their family-pleasure, which they looked upon with delight: "Your sons and your daughters (which are the dearer to you because they are but few left of many, the rest having perished by famine and pestilence) shall fall by the sword of the Chaldeans." What a dreadful spectacle would it be to see their own children, pieces, pictures, of themselves, whom they had taken such care and pains to bring up, and whom they loved as their own souls, sacrificed to the rage of the merciless conquerors! This, this, was the punishment of sin.

2. Let them know that as Ezekiel wept not for his affliction so neither should they weep for theirs. He must say, You shall do as I have done, v. 22. You shall not mourn nor weep, v. 23. Jeremiah had told them the same, that men shall not lament for the dead nor cut themselves (Jer. xvi. 6); not that there shall be any such merciful circumstance without, or any such degrees of wisdom and grace within, as shall mitigate and moderate the sorrow; but they shall not mourn, for, (1.) Their grief shall be so great that they shall be quite overwhelmed with it; their passions shall stifle them, and they shall have no power to ease themselves by giving vent to it. (2.) Their calamities shall come so fast upon them, one upon the neck of another, that by long custom they shall be hardened in their sorrows (Job vi. 10) and perfectly stupefied, and moped (as we say), with them. (3.) They shall not dare to express their grief, for fear of being deemed disaffected to the conquerors, who would take their lamentations as an affront and disturbance to their triumphs. (4.) They shall not have hearts, nor time, nor money, wherewith to put themselves in mourning, and accommodate themselves with the ceremonies of grief: "You will be so entirely taken up with solid substantial grief that you will have no room for the shadow of it." (5.) Particular mourners shall not need to distinguish themselves by covering their lips, and laying aside their ornaments, and going barefoot; for it is well known that every body is a mourner. (6.) There shall be none of that sense of their affliction and sorrow for it which would help to bring them to repentance, but that only which shall drive them to despair; so it follows: "You shall pine away for your iniquities, with seared consciences and reprobate minds, and you shall mourn, not to God in prayer and confession of sin, but one towards another," murmuring, and fretting, and complaining of God, thus making their burden heavier and their wound more grievous, as impatient people do under their afflictions by mingling their own passions with them.

III. An appeal to the event, for the confirmation of all this (v. 24): "When this comes, as it is foretold, when Jerusalem, which is this day besieged, is quite destroyed and laid waste, which now you cannot believe will ever be, then you shall know that I am the Lord God, who have given you this fair warning of it. Then you will remember that Ezekiel was to you a sign." Note, Those who regard not the threatenings of the word when they are preached will be made to remember them when they are executed. Observe,

1. The great desolation which the siege of Jerusalem should end in (v. 25): In that day, that terrible day, when the city shall be broken up, I will take from them, (1.) That which they depended on—their strength, their walls, their treasures, their fortifications, their men of war; none shall stand them in stead. (2.) That which they boasted of—the joy of their glory, that which they looked upon as most their glory, and which they most rejoiced in, the temple of their God and the palaces of their princes. (3.) That which they delighted in, which was the desire of their eyes, and on which they set their minds. Note, Carnal people set their minds upon that on which they can set their eyes; they look at, and dote upon, the things that are seen; and it is their folly to set their minds upon that which they have no assurance of and which may be taken from them in a moment, Prov. xxiii. 5. Their sons and their daughters were all this—their strength, and joy, and glory; and these shall go into captivity.

2. The notice that should be brought to the prophet, not be revelation, as the notice of the siege was brought to him (v. 2), but in an ordinary way (v. 26): "He that escapes in that day shall, by a special direction of Providence, come to thee, to bring thee intelligence of it," which we find was done, ch. xxxiii. 21. The ill-news came slowly, and yet to Ezekiel and his fellow-captives it came too soon.

3. The divine impression which he should be under upon receiving that notice, v. 27. Whereas, from this time to that, Ezekiel was thus far dumb that he prophesied no more against the land of Israel, but against the neighbouring nations, as we shall find in the following chapters, then he shall have orders given him to speak again to the children of his people (ch. xxxiii. 2, 22); then his mouth shall be opened. He was suspended from prophesying against them in the mean time, because, Jerusalem being besieged, his prophecies could not be sent into the city,—because, when God was speaking so loudly by the rod, there was the less need of speaking by the word,—and because then the accomplishment of his prophecies would be the full confirmation of his mission, and would the more effectually clear the way for him to begin again. It being referred to that issue, that issue must be waited for. Thus Christ forbade his disciples to preach openly that he was Christ till after his resurrection, because that was to be the full proof of it. "But then thou shalt speak with the greater assurance, and the more effectually, either to their conviction or to their confusion." Note, God's prophets are never silenced but for wise and holy ends. And when God gives them the opening of the mouth again (as he will in due time, for even the witnesses that are slain shall arise) it shall appear to have been for his glory that they were for a while silent, that people may the more certainly and fully know that God is the Lord.

CHAP. XXIIII.

Ver. 1. AGain in the ninth year] Of Jehoiakims captivity, chap. 1.2. three years before the deſtruction of Jeruſalem by Nebuchadnezzar.

Ver. 2. This ſame day] Ezekiel in Meſopotamia is told by God, and telleth others the very day that Nebuchadnezzar laid ſeige to Jeruſalem. 2 King. 25.1. Jer. 39.1. and 52.4. Heathen hiſtorians tell us of Apollonius Tyanaeus, that in the ſelf-ſame day and hour wherein Domitian the Emperour was ſlain at Rome, he got up into a high place at Epheſus in Aſia; and calling together a great multitude of men, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Dio. Domit. he ſpake theſe words [non-Latin text not transcribed], well done Stephen, ſtrike the murtherer home, pay him ſoundly: Thou haſt ſtruck him, thou haſt wounded him to the heart, thou haſt ſlain him outright; I commend thee for it. This (if it were ſo) was brought to him by the devil doubtleſſe. Our Prophet had a betrer intelligencer.

Ver. 3. Set on a pot] Deus cum prophet[illegible: 1 letter] lequitur tanquam cum coquo: any thing to make them ſenſible of their danger, and the deſtruction of their City now fully determined.Repraſentat Tartarum, & ollam Vulcaniam inferni. This pot is Jeruſalem (and a lively repreſentation of hell, ſaith à Lapide) the pouring of water into it a long ſiege: the fleſh the Citizens, the fat the rich ones, lauti & laſcivi: the bones, the ſtouteſt and beſt warriours, &c. Theſe ſcurrilous Jewes had jeared at Jeremyes caldron or pot, Jer. 1.13. See on chap. 11.3. now they are caſt into the pot, and their jear driven back down their very throats.

Ver. 4. Gather the peices thereof into it] Let people of all ſorts flock into the City for ſafety-ſake; that there, as in a pot, they may be boyled by a long ſiege, and have ſorrow enough.

Ver. 5. Take the choyce of the flock] The King and his Peers.

And burn alſo the bones] The dry bones (the common people) for theſe will burn like wood.

And let him ſeeth the bones] The choice bones, ver. 4.

Ver. 6. Wo to the bloody City] i. e. Blood-guilty, and full of crimes capital that call for blood.

To the pot whoſe ſcum is in it] Who are hardened in their wickedneſſe, which is evident to all men, and are not amended by puniſhments.

Let no let fall upon it] i. e. Let none eſcape unpuniſhed. In warres oft-times they caſt lots to ſave ſome and ſlay ſome.

Ver. 7. For her blood is in the midſt of her] She careth not who knows of her murthers and oppreſſions. He ſeemeth to allude to that law, that blood being let out of a beaſt ſhould be covered in the ground.

She ſet it upon the top of a rock] Super limpidiſſimam petram, ſaith the Vulgar, as glorying in it. So Abimelech ſlew all his brethren upon one ſtone, Judg. 9.5. the Jews crucified our Saviour on Mount Calvary.

She poured it not] Pudet non eſſe impudentem.

Agit cum illa ex lege talionis. Pol. Ver. 8. I have ſet her blood upon the top of a rock] Where it will be ſeen afar off and for along time. As her ſin was in propatulo in open view; ſo (to cry quittance with her) ſhall her puniſhment likewiſe be: my viſible vengeance ſhall follow her cloſe at heels as a blood-hound.

Ver. 9. Woe to the bloody City] See Nah. 3.1. Hab. 2.12.

I will even make the pile for fire great] They ſhall undergoe a long and ſore ſiege.

Ver. 10. Heap on wood, &c.] See on ver. 3.

And ſpice it well] Vulg. coquatur tota compoſitio, let the whole compoſition be boiled, till all the virtue be boiled out. A Metaphor from Apothecaries.

Ver. 11. That the braſſe of it may be hot and may burn] This,J am vaecua ardet Romae: jam enim & ipſa olla conſumitur, in quae prius carnes & oſſa conſumebantur. Hom. 18. in Ezek. Gregory fitly applyeth to Rome taken and waſted by the Lombards: this City ever ſince it was Papal (and then it firſt began to be ſo) was never beſieged but it was taken by the enemy.

Ver. 12. She hath wearied her ſelf with lyes] With ſeeking and truſting to lying vanities, creature comforts. Others render it, ſhe hath wearied me with lyes, i. e. with falſe promiſes of amendment. Others, Fruſtrà ſudatum eſt, pains is taken with them to no purpoſe.

And her great ſcum went not forth out of her] But is ſodden into her partly, and partly ſodden over into the fire. A godly man cleareth himſelf of ſin, as ſpring-water worketh it ſelf clean: as the Sea will endure no poiſonful thing, but caſteth it upon the ſhore: as the ſweet water, made brackiſh by the coming in of the ſalt-water, gets to be ſweet again: ſo do Gods people work out brackiſh and ſinful diſpoſitions, &c. The good heart admitteth not the mixture of any ſin, though ſin may cleave to it as droſſe doth to ſilver, yet like right wine or hony, as the ſcum ariſeth, ſtill it caſteth it out: ſo here.

Ver. 13, In thy filthineſſe is leudneſſe] i. e. Thou art deſperately ſtiffe and ſtubborn: thy diſeaſe is complicate, and threateneth death.

Becauſe I have purged thee] i. e. Called upon thee by my Prophets to cleanſe thy ſelf of all filthineſſe of fleſh and ſpirit, ſought alſo to purge thee by the ſope of afflictions, and by the cudgel of calamities, Iſa. 1.16. & 27.9. with Iſa. 1.5, 6, 7.

And thou waſt not purged] From thy ſin, which had gotten into thy very frame and conſtitution, was weaved into the texture of thine heart.

Thou ſhalt not be purged] But ſhalt periſh in thy ſins (which is worſe then to aye in a ditch) and pine away in thine iniquities, ver. 23. He who is filthy ſhall be filthy ſtill: a fearful ſentence.

Till I have cauſed my fury to reſt upon thee] Till I have purged thee in hell-fire; which will be ever doing, but never be done; donec omnia tela vindictae meae in te exhauſero, till I have emptied my quiver, ſpent my wrath upon thee.

Ver. 14. I the Lord have ſpoken it] And you may write upon it, Sententia haec ſtabit. Think not that theſe are only big words, bug-bear terms, deviſed on purpoſe to affright ſilly people: for do it I will; yea that I will.

Ver. 15. Alſo the Word of the Lord] See chap. 18.1.

Ver. 16. Behold I take from thee the deſire of thine eyes] i. e. Thy wife who is impendiò dilecta & viſu pergratioſa, thy dearly beloved and greatly delighted in.

With a ſtroke] With peſtilence, palſy, or ſome like ſudden death: This was no ſmal trial of the Prophets patience and obedience. Let us learn to hang looſe to all outward comforts.

Yet neither ſhalt thou mourn or weep] Which might he have done,Eſt quaedam flere voluptas. Ovid. l. 4. ed Triſt. Fletus aerumnas len[illegible: 1 letter]t. Sen. Juſta [non-Latin text not transcribed]. would have been ſome eaſe to him: for Expletur lacrymis, egeriturque dolor. As hindes by calving, ſo do men by weeping caſt out their ſorrows, Job 39.3.

Ver. 17. For hear to cry] Heb. be ſilent, and ſo ſuffocate thy ſorrows: ne plangas, ne plores. Not as if the dead were not to be lamented (tears are the dues of the dead, Mors mea ne careat lachrymis) or that it were unbeſeeming a Prophet to bewail his dead Conſort: but to ſet forth by this figure, the greatneſſe of their enſuing ſorrow, bigger then any tears: for Curae leves loquuntur, ingentes ſtupent.

Bind the tire of thy head upon thee] Mourners, it ſeems, uſed to go bare-headed, and bare-footed, to cover their Muſtachoes, to eat what their friends ſent them in at ſuch a ſad time to chear up their ſpirits, Jer. 16.5, 7. The Prophet muſt do none of all this,Singultus devorat. but keep his ſorrows to himſelf.

Ver. 18. And at even my wife dyed] Though a good woman probably, and to the Prophet a great comfort, the ſweet companion of his life and miſeries: yet ſhe dyed ſuddenly, and by ſome extraordinary diſeaſe. All things come alike to all.

And I did in the morning as I was commanded] Grievous though it were, and went much againſt the hair with me, yet I did it. Ʋxorem poſthabuit praecepto Dei. Obedience muſt be yielded to God even in the moſt difficult duties: and conjugal love muſt give place to our love to him.

Ver. 19. Wilt thou not tell us] They well knew that there was ſomething in it more then ordinary: for the Prophet was no Stoike, but ſenſible enough of what he ſuffered.

Ver. 20. Then I anſwered them] The Prophet was ready to tell them the true meaning of all: ſo ſhould Miniſters be: See Job 33.23. with the Note.

Ver. 21. Behold I will profane my Sanctuary] I will put it into the hands of profane perſons to be ſpoiled and polluted, for a puniſhment of your manifold pollutions of it.

The excellency of your ſtrength] The Jewes had too high a conceit of, and did put too much confidence in their Temple, which therefore they called as here the excellency of their ſtrength, the deſire of their eyes, and that which their ſoul pittied, animarum indulgentiam. The Temple of the Lord they cryed, but the Lord of the Temple they cared not for, Jer. 7.

Ver. 22. And ye ſhall do as I have done] Your grief ſhall be above teares, you ſhall be ſo over gone with it: beſides you ſhall have neither leiſure nor leave of your enemies to bewaile your loſſes, &c.

Ye ſhall not cover] See on ver. 17. Antonius Margarita a Chriſtian Jew hath written a book of the Jewiſh rites of ſuperſtitions, at the burial of the dead, and otherwiſe: ſo hath Leo Modena, another Jew, but no Chriſtian.

Ver. 23. But ye ſhall pine away for your iniquities] Non tam ſtupidi prae moeſtitia, quam prae malitia ſtipites. Oecol. This was long ſince threatened, Levit. 26. and it is reſerved to the laſt, as not the leaſt of thoſe diſmal judgements.

Ver. 24. Thus Ezekiel is unto you a ſign] Portentum, portending no good to you: whether he were made dumb, till theſe things were fulfilled, as ſome gather from ver. 27. I have not to ſay.

Ver. 25. When I take from them their ſtrength] their Kingdom, Temple, all.

And that whereupon they ſet their minds] Heb. the lifting up of the ſoul, or the burthen of their ſouls, that whereof they are moſt ſollicitous.

Ver. 26. To cauſe thee to hear it] Viz. The performance of that which now thou foretelleſt, but canſt not be believed, till Experience (the miſtriſſe of fools) hath better taugth it them.

Ver. 27. In that day ſhall thy mouth be open[illegible: 1 letter]d] Mean-while make uſe of a ſacred ſilence, wait till a new Prophecy concerning this peope, ſhall be committed unto thee (as was done, chap. 33.) Till then, prophecy againſt forreiners, Ammonites, Tyrians, Egyptians.