Ezekiel 24:11

11 Then set it empty on the coals of it, that it may be hot, and the brass of it may burn, and that the filthiness of it may be molten in it, that the rust of it may be consumed.

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 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Woe to the bloody city! I also will make the pile great.

10 Heap on the wood, make the fire hot, boil well the flesh, and make thick the broth, and let the bones be burned.

11 Then set it empty on the coals of it, that it may be hot, and the brass of it may burn, and that the filthiness of it may be molten in it, that the rust of it may be consumed.

12 She has wearied [herself] with toil; yet her great rust doesn't go forth out of her; her rust doesn't [go forth] by fire.

13 In your filthiness is lewdness: because I have cleansed you and you weren't cleansed, you shall not be cleansed from your filthiness any more, until I have caused my wrath toward you to rest.