Ezekiel 24

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 Isaiah 43:24 , Malachi 2:17 ) [MAURER]. However, English Version gives a good sense (compare Isaiah 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 ( Ezekiel 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 ( Ezekiel 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" ( Jeremiah 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 ( 2 Samuel 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 ( Leviticus 21:2 Leviticus 21:3 Leviticus 21:10 ). They then put on inferior attire, sprinkling also on their heads dust and ashes (compare Leviticus 10:6 Leviticus 10:7 ).
shoes upon thy feet--whereas mourners went "barefoot" ( 2 Samuel 15:30 ).
cover not . . . lips--rather, the "upper lip," with the moustache ( Leviticus 13:45 , Micah 3:7 ).
bread of men--the bread usually brought to mourners by friends in token of sympathy. So the "cup of consolation" brought ( Jeremiah 16:7 ). "Of men" means such as is usually furnished by men. So Isaiah 8:1 , "a man's pen"; Revelation 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 Amos 6:8 ). The object of your pride and confidence ( Jeremiah 7:4 Jeremiah 7:10 Jeremiah 7:14 ).
desire of . . . eyes--( Psalms 27:4 ). The antitype to Ezekiel's wife ( Ezekiel 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. ( Jeremiah 16:6 Jeremiah 16:7 ). 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 Leviticus 26:39 , Lamentations 3:39 ). The fullest fulfilment is still future ( Zechariah 12:10-14 ).

24. sign--a typical representative in his own person of what was to befall them ( Isaiah 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" ( Jeremiah 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 ( John 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 Ezekiel 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" ( Ezekiel 3:26 Ezekiel 3:27 ; compare Ezekiel 24:27 , Ezekiel 33:21 Ezekiel 33:22 ).