Ezekiel 24

Ezekiel 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 ( 2 Kings 25:1 , Jeremiah 39:1 ).

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

3. pot--caldron. Alluding to the self-confident proverb used among the people, Ezekiel 11:3 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 Jeremiah 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 ( Ezekiel 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 ( 2 Samuel 8:2 , Joel 3:3 , Obadiah 1:11 , Nahum 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" ( Leviticus 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 ( Genesis 4:10 Genesis 4:11 ); much more blood shamelessly exposed on the bare rock.
set her blood--She shall be paid back in kind ( Matthew 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 ( Leviticus 14:34-45 ).