Ezekiel 24:5

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. BURN ALSO THE BONES - rather, 'pile [ duwr (H1754)] the bones; 'let there be a round combustible pile of the bones.' LET THEM SEETHE THE BONES OF IT THEREIN - literally, 'in the midst of it.'...

1-14 The pot on the fire represented Jerusalem besieged by the Chaldeans: all orders and ranks were within the walls, prepared as a prey for the enemy. They ought to have put away their transgressions, as the scum, which rises by the heat of the fire, is taken from the top of the pot. But they grew worse, and their miseries increased. Jerusalem was to be levelled with the ground. The time appointed for the punishment of wicked men may seem to come slowly, but it will come surely. It is sad to think how many there are, on whom ordinances and providences are all lost....

Verse Ezekiel 24:5. _MAKE IT BOIL WELL_] Let it boil over, that its own scum may augment the fire, that the _bones_ - the soldiers, may be _seethed_ _therein_. Let its contentions, divided counsels, and disunion be the means of increasing its miseries, רתח רתחיה _rattach_ _rethacheyha_, let it bubble its bubbling; something like that of the poet: - "Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble: Fire burn, and cauldron bubble." Very like the noise made by ebullition, when a _pot of thick_ _broth_, "sleek and slab," is set over a fierce fire. Such was that here represented, in which all the _flesh_, the _fat_ and the _bones_ were to be boiled, and generally dissolved together....

BURN - Rather, as in margin; the bones would serve for fuel....

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

TAKE THE CHOICE OF THE FLOCK,.... King, princes, nobles, magistrates, priests and rulers of the people: AND BURN ALSO THE BONES UNDER IT: or, "put a pile of bones under it" u; the bones of them that are slain in it; denoting the great slaughter of them; or the bones of the innocent that had been murdered in it; which were the cause of these judgments coming upon them; and caused the wrath of God to burn the more hotly against them; or the bones of the wicked: AND MAKE IT BOIL WELL; the pot; that the water may be very hot and boiling; denoting the severity of the judgments of God in the city, to the destruction of many by sword, famine, and pestilence: AND LET THEM SEETHE THE BONES OF IT THEREIN; that the strongest among them may be weakened and destroyed by the length and severity of the siege, and the judgments attending it. The Targum is, "bring near the kings of the people, and ev...

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

EZEKIEL 24. THE LAST MESSAGE BEFORE THE FALL OF THE CITY. Ezekiel 24:1. The Rusty Caldron. We now reach the last message delivered by Ezekiel before the fall of the city; and, curiously enough, it was delivered on the opening day of the siege (2 Kings 25:1) an event of which Ezekiel must have known by his gift of second sight. In a probably acted parable, the city is compared to a pot filled with pieces of flesh (=the inhabitants), including choice pieces (= the leaders). But beneath the pot a huge fire is blazing, symbolic of the siege. Then, after boiling, the pieces are taken out in any order, symbolic of indiscriminate dispersion; but, as the pot is rusty, it is set again empty upon the furious fire, to be cleansed of its rust by the flames. The rust is symbolic of the blood, shed in injustice an

BURN. pile up. BONES. Ginsburg thinks we should read "wood". them. The 1611 edition of the Authorized Version reads "him"....

The rusted caldron set on the fire (1) Ezekiel 24:1. A caldron is to be set on the fire, filled with water, pieces of flesh cast into it and fuel piled under it that it may boil furiously. The caldron is Jerusalem; the pieces of flesh the inhabitants; the fire and boiling the siege with its terrible severities. The pieces of flesh shall be pulled out of the caldron indiscriminately, symbol of the universal dispersion when the siege is over. (2) Ezekiel 24:6. Explanation: these sufferings are judgments for the sins of the city, its bloodshed and uncleanness, which are public and open. This blood and filthiness cleaves to it like rust to a caldron. (3) Ezekiel 24:9. Rising anew into tones of menace the divine voic