Ezekiel 24:11

11 Then set the empty pot on the coals so that it gets hot and its copper glows. Its impurities will melt away, and its tarnish will burn off.

Ezekiel 24:11 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 24:11

Then set it empty upon the coals thereof
The city, when emptied of its inhabitants and substance, like a pot that is boiled over, and all in it boiled away, or taken out; burn it with fire, as the city of Jerusalem when taken and plundered was: that the brass of it may be hot, and burn;
as brass will when set on coals: or, "the bottom of it" ^F23; so Ben Melech observes, from the Misnah, that the lower part or bottom of a pot, cauldron, or furnace, is called the brass of it; and so the sense is, make the fire burn so fierce as to burn the bottom of the pot; or the canker and rust of it, which the following words explain: and that the filthiness of it may be molten in it, that the scum of it
may be consumed;
the abominable wickedness of this people; since they were not reformed and brought to repentance for it by the admonitions and instructions given them, and by the chastisements and corrections laid upon them, they with their sins should be consumed in this terrible manner. The Targum is,

``I will leave the land desolate, that they may become desolate; and that the gates of her city may be consumed; and that those that work uncleanness in the midst of her may melt away, and her sins be consumed.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F23 (htvxn) "fundum ejus", Pagninus, Vatablus.

Ezekiel 24:11 In-Context

9 "'This is what the Almighty LORD says: How horrible it will be for that city of murderers. I, too, will pile the wood high.

10 Pile it high, and light the fire. Cook the meat thoroughly, stir the mixture, and let the bones burn.

11 Then set the empty pot on the coals so that it gets hot and its copper glows. Its impurities will melt away, and its tarnish will burn off.

12 "'I have worn myself out trying to clean this pot. Even the fire can't take away its thick tarnish.

13 I tried to clean you of your filthy lust, but you wouldn't clean yourself from your filth. You will never be clean until I unleash my fury on you.