1 Again, in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, the LORD’s word came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, write the name of the day, this same day. The king of Babylon drew close to Jerusalem this same day. 3 Utter a parable to the rebellious house, and tell them, thus says the Lord GOD, set on the cauldron, set it on, and also pour water into it: 4 gather its pieces 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 also a pile of wood for the bones under the cauldron; make it boil well; yes, let its bones be boiled within it. 6 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the bloody city, to the cauldron whose rust is therein, and whose rust is not gone out of it! Take out of it piece after piece; no lot is fallen on it. 7 For her blood is in the middle of her; she set it on the bare rock; she didn’t pour it on the ground, to cover it with dust. 8 That it may cause wrath to come up to take vengeance, I have set her blood on the bare rock, that it should not be covered. 9 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the bloody city! I also will make the pile great. 10 Heap on the wood, make the fire hot, boil the meat well, and make the broth thick, and let the bones be burnt. 11 Then set it empty on its coals, that it may be hot, and its brass may burn, and that its filthiness may be molten in it, that its rust may be consumed. 12 She is weary with toil; yet her great rust, rust by fire, doesn’t leave her. 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 towards you to rest. 14 I, the LORD, have spoken it: it shall happen, and I will do it: I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent; according to your ways, and according to your doings, shall they judge you, says the Lord GOD. 15 Also the LORD’s word came to me, saying, 16 Son of man, behold, I will take away from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke: yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, neither shall your tears run down. 17 Sigh, but not aloud, make no mourning for the dead; bind your headdress on you, and put your shoes on your feet, and don’t cover your lips, and don’t eat men’s bread. 18 So I spoke to the people in the morning; and at evening my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded. 19 The people said to me, Won’t you tell us what these things are to us, that you do so? 20 Then I said to them, the LORD’s word came to me, saying, 21 Speak to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pities; and your sons and your daughters whom you have left behind shall fall by the sword. 22 You shall do as I have done: you shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men. 23 Your tires shall be on your heads, and your shoes on your feet: you shall not mourn nor weep; but you shall pine away in your iniquities, and moan one towards another. 24 Thus Ezekiel shall be a sign to you; according to all that he has done, you will do. When this comes, then you will know that I am the Lord GOD. 25 You, 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 heart, their sons and their daughters, 26 that in that day he who escapes shall come to you, to cause you to hear it with your ears? 27 In that day your mouth will be opened to him who has escaped, and you shall speak, and be no more mute: so you will be a sign to them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary, 1706
Verses 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.
Verses 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.