Ezekiel 24:10

10 Heap on the logs, kindle the fire, boil the meat well, mix in the spices,[a] and let the bones be burned up.

Ezekiel 24:10 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 24:10

Heap on wood, kindle the fire
This is said either to the prophet, to do this in an emblematic way; or to the Chaldean army, to prepare for the siege, encompass the city, begin their attacks, and throw in their stones out of their slings and engines, and arrows from their bows: consume the flesh;
not entirely, since it is afterwards to be spiced; but thoroughly boil it; denoting the severe sufferings the inhabitants should undergo before their utter ruin: spice it well;
pepper them off; batter their walls, beat down their houses, distress them by all manner of ways and means; signifying that this would be grateful to the Lord, as his justice would be glorified in the destruction of this people; and as the plunder of them would be like a spiced and sweet morsel to the enemy; whose appetites would hereby be sharpened and become keen, and to whom the sacking and plundering the city would be as agreeable as well seasoned meat to a hungry man: and let the bones be burnt;
either under it, or rather in it; even the strongest and most powerful among the people destroyed, who should hold out the longest in the siege. The Targum of the whole is,

``multiply kings; gather an army; order the auxiliaries, and prepare against her warriors, and let her mighty ones be confounded.''

Ezekiel 24:10 In-Context

8 To rouse my wrath, to take vengeance, I have set on the bare rock the blood she has shed, that it may not be covered.
9 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the bloody city! I also will make the pile great.
10 Heap on the logs, kindle the fire, boil the meat well, mix in the spices, and let the bones be burned up.
11 Then set it empty upon the coals, that it may become hot, and its copper may burn, that its uncleanness may be melted in it, its corrosion consumed.
12 She has wearied herself with toil; its abundant corrosion does not go out of it. Into the fire with its corrosion!

Footnotes 1

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.