Ezekiel 24:10

10 Heap up the logs, kindle the fire; boil the meat well, mix in the spices, let the bones be burned.

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 placed the blood she shed on a bare rock, so that it may not be covered.
9 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Woe to the bloody city! I will even make the pile great.
10 Heap up the logs, kindle the fire; boil the meat well, mix in the spices, let the bones be burned.
11 Stand it empty upon the coals, so that it may become hot, its copper glow, its filth melt in it, its rust be consumed.
12 In vain I have wearied myself; its thick rust does not depart. To the fire with its rust!
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.