Ezekiel 24:1-27
1 Again in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, write thee the name of the day, even of this same day: the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem this same day.
3 And utter a parable unto the rebellious house, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Set on a pot, set it on, and also pour water into it:
4 Gather the pieces thereof into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones.
5 Take the choice of the flock, and burna also the bones under it, and make it boil well, and let them seethe the bones of it therein.
6 Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is therein, and whose scum is not gone out of it! bring it out piece by piece; let no lot fall upon it.
7 For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it upon the top of a rock; she poured it not upon the ground, to cover it with dust;
8 That it might cause fury to come up to take vengeance; I have set her blood upon the top of a rock, that it should not be covered.
9 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city! I will even make the pile for fire great.
10 Heap on wood, kindle the fire, consume the flesh, and spice it well, and let the bones be burned.
11 Then set it empty upon the coals thereof, that the brass of it may be hot, and may burn, and that the filthiness of it may be molten in it, that the scum of it may be consumed.
12 She hath wearied herself with lies, and her great scum went not forth out of her: her scum shall be in the fire.
13 In thy filthiness is lewdness: because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee.
14 I the LORD have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent; according to thy ways, and according to thy doings, shall they judge thee, saith the Lord GOD.
15 Also the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
16 Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke: yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down.b
17 Forbearc to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire of thine head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover not thy lips, and eat not the bread of men.
18 So I spake unto the people in the morning: and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded.
19 And the people said unto me, Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us, that thou doest so?
20 Then I answered them, The word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
21 Speak unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the excellency of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pitieth; and your sons and your daughters whom ye have left shall fall by the sword.
22 And ye shall do as I have done: ye shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men.
23 And your tires shall be upon your heads, and your shoes upon your feet: ye shall not mourn nor weep; but ye shall pine away for your iniquities, and mourn one toward another.
24 Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign: according to all that he hath done shall ye do: and when this cometh, ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
25 Also, thou son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their minds, their sons and their daughters,
26 That he that escapeth in that day shall come unto thee, to cause thee to hear it with thine ears?
27 In that day shall thy mouth be opened to him which is escaped, and thou shalt speak, and be no more dumb: and thou shalt be a sign unto them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
Now again, chapter 24,
In the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month (Ezekiel 24:1),
Now notice this. He's in Babylon and on this, in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month,
the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, write thee the name of the day, even of this same day (Ezekiel 24:1-2):
Write this day down, this date. It's the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month. Write this date down.
For on this same day: the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem (Ezekiel 24:2).
This is the day that the siege against Jerusalem started. Now he's over in Babylon and in front of the people he writes down this date. You go back to Second Kings, chapter 25, verse Ezekiel 24:1, "And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, and in the tenth day of the month that Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came, he and all of his host against Jerusalem and pitched against it. And they built the forts round about." How did Ezekiel know that? Without telegraph, or telephones, or any means of communicating that truth over that distance. Woke up this morning, wrote this date down. Said to the people, "This is the day the siege is started." Only by the knowledge of God could he have known these things. Only because God had revealed it to him. He's really putting himself out on a limb. "This is the day. The siege has started today." You know, it would take two weeks or so by fast express to get word back and forth in those days from Babylon to Israel. Another proof of the authorship, God, author of the book.
Now utter a parable unto the rebellious house, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Set on a pot, and pour water into it: and then gather together the pieces of the animal, every good piece, the thigh, the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones. Take the choice of the flock, and burn also the bones under it, and make it boil well, and let them seethe the bones of it therein. Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is therein, and whose scum is not gone out of it! bring it out piece by piece; let no lot fall upon it. For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it upon the top of a rock; she poured it not upon the ground, to cover it with dust; That it might cause fury to come up to take vengeance; I have set her blood upon the top of a rock, that it should not be covered. Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city! (Ezekiel 24:3-9)
And now here is another sign. He sets on this big ol' pot and he sets all of this flesh and bones and burns the bones underneath and gets this thing boiling. Everybody comes around saying, "What in the world? You're going to burn that. What are you doing boiling all that stuff away?" And he said, "This is what's happening to the inhabitants in Jerusalem. They're about to be devoured."
Now, earlier in the sixteenth chapter they were saying, you know, "We are the caldron, or we are in the caldron and the fire is not going to touch us." But boy, he keeps this fire going until the thing boils and they are devoured, they are consumed. And thus, he speaks to them of the judgment that is coming.
Verse Ezekiel 24:14 :
I the LORD have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I change; according to thy doings, shall they judge thee, saith the Lord GOD (Ezekiel 24:14).
I mean, that's pretty sure when God says, "Hey, I have spoken it. It shall come to pass. I will do it. I will not go back, neither will I change." I mean, when God gets that emphatic, you can be sure that it indeed will happen and indeed it did.
Now the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, behold, I'm going to take away the desire of your eyes with a stroke (Ezekiel 24:15-16):
I'm going to take your wife today. Your wife is going to die.
yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, nor cry when she dies. Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, don't take off your turban (Ezekiel 24:16-17),
Now that's what they would do when a person died, they remove their turban and they remove their shoes. They go around barefooted and their head bare.
but put on your shoes, and don't cover your lips (Ezekiel 24:17),
That is, don't let your beard grow. Now that's another thing they would do after a person, a relative had died. You'd let your beard grow for thirty days and then you'd shave the beard at the end of thirty days and you'd bring the hair and offer it in a burnt offering to God. But don't let your beard grow, don't cover your lips, that is, with your mustache and beard.
and eat not the bread of man (Ezekiel 24:17).
That is the traditional bread of mourning. They would eat this particular kind of bread as a sign of mourning. But he is not to do any sign of the traditional mourning for the dead which the people did when his wife died.
So I spake to the people in the morning: and in the evening my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded. The people said unto me, Won't you tell us what these things mean, and why you are doing this? Then I answered them, The word of the LORD came unto me saying, Speak to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will profane my sanctuary (Ezekiel 24:18-21),
That is, the temple is going to be destroyed.
the excellency of your strength, the desire of your eyes (Ezekiel 24:21),
Of course, every Jew, the temple was the thing that was... it was a thing of beauty. Solomon had built it and it was something of magnificent beauty, the desire of the eyes. But God said, "It's going to go."
that which your soul pities; and your sons and your daughters whom ye have left shall fall by the sword. And ye shall do as I have done: ye shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men (Ezekiel 24:21-22).
In other words, you're gonna get news soon that the temple is destroyed and your children have been killed. But you're not to enter into traditional mourning for them.
You're not to remove your turbans or your shoes: you're not to mourn nor weep; but ye shall pine away for your iniquities, and mourn one toward another (Ezekiel 24:23).
Rather than pining for the dead or mourning for the dead, you're to mourn for yourself and for your sins.
Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign: according to all that he hath done shall ye do: and when this comes, ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD. Also, thou son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their minds, their sons and their daughters, That he that escapeth in the day shall come unto thee, to cause thee to hear it with thine ears? In that day shall thy mouth be opened to him which is escaped, and thou shalt speak, and be no more dumb: and thou shalt be a sign unto them; and they shall know that I am the LORD (Ezekiel 24:24-27).
So he was to be silent, really, until the time that news came confirming what he had said, and then he would speak again. "