Ezekiel 24:18

_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._ No JFB commentary on this verse....

15-27 Though mourning for the dead is a duty, yet it must be kept under by religion and right reason: we must not sorrow as men that have no hope. Believers must not copy the language and expressions of those who know not God. The people asked the meaning of the sign. God takes from them all that was dearest to them. And as Ezekiel wept not for his affliction, so neither should they weep for theirs. Blessed be God, we need not pine away under our afflictions; for should all comforts fail, and all sorrows be united, yet the broken heart and the mourner's prayer are always acceptable before God....

Verse Ezekiel 24:18. _AT EVEN MY WIFE DIED_] The prophet's wife was a type of the city, which was to him exceedingly dear. The _death of his wife_ represented the _destruction of the city_ by the Chaldeans; see Ezekiel 24:21, where the _temple_ is represented to be the _desire of his eyes_, as his _wife_ was, Ezekiel 24:16....

The death of Ezekiel’s wife took place in the evening of the same day that he delivered the foregoing prophecy. This event was to signify to the people that the Lord would take from them all that was most dear to them; and - owing to the extraordinary nature of the times - quiet lamentation for the dead, according to the usual forms of mourning, would be impossible. Ezekiel 24:17 The priest in general was to mourn for his dead (Leviticus 21:1 ff); but Ezekiel was to be an exception to the rule. The “tire” was the priest’s mitre. EAT NOT THE BREAD OF MEN - Food supplied for the comfort of the mourners. Eze

EXPOSITION EZEKIEL 24:1 IN THE NINTH YEAR. We pass from the date of Ezekiel 20:1 to B.C. 590, and the very day is identified with that on which the army of Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem (Jeremiah 39:1; 2 Kings 25:1). To the prophet's vision all that was passing there was as plain as though he saw it with his own eyes. The siege lasted for about two years. The punishments threatened in Ezekiel 23:1, had at last come near. We may probably infer that a considerable interval of silence had follo

SO I SPAKE UNTO THE PEOPLE IN THE MORNING,.... Did the duty of his office as a prophet; exhorted and instructed the people, particularly informed them of what had been said to him by the Lord, the evening or night before, concerning the death of his wife, and how he was to behave under such a providence; which he told them of before hand, that, when it came to pass, they might have a further proof of his being a true prophet of the Lord: AND AT EVEN MY WIFE DIED; suddenly, as it was said she should; this shows who is meant by the desire of his eyes, and what by the taking it away; AND I DID IN THE MORNING AS I WAS COMMANDED; neither moaned, nor sighed, nor wept, nor shed a tear, nor used any of the common ceremonies of mourning, but dressed and ate as at other times, as he was ordered to do; this was the next morning after his wife died. So the Syriac version, "in the morning of the o...

Ezekiel 24:1. The exact date is given by the prophet. It was the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year. What happened also on that date we find recorded in 2 Kings 25:1: “And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, came, he and all his host, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it; and they built forts against it round about.” How did Ezekiel know about all this? It was the Lord who gave him this information and led him to record the date. This is the statement of the second verse: “Son of man, write thee the name of the day, even of this selfsame day, the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem this same day.” What does higher criticism have to say to this? We quote a recent commentator: “These verses

AS. according as....

The death of the prophet's wife was no doubt an actual occurrence. And there is nothing improbable in his demeanour after it, with the view of attracting the attention of his fellow-captives. At the same time his tendency to idealize occurrences precludes absolute certainty....

III. A SIGNIFICANT DATE 24:1-27 Chapter 24 begins with an important chronological note. According to verse one Nebuchadnezzar began his attack against Jerusalem in the ninth year (of Zedekiah), the tenth day of the tenth month.[363] The Jews commemorated this date for centuries by fasting (Zechariah 8:19). Ezekiel was told to write the name of the day of the week and the day of the month (_this very day)._ This written record was to be made so that later when the news filtered back to the captives in Babylon the genuine prophetic foresight of Ezekiel would be authenticated. Three things of importance happened in the ministry of Ezekiel at the same time the siege of Jerusalem was beginning several hundred miles away. Ezekiel delivered a proclamation in the form of a parable on that day (Ezekiel 24