Ezekiel Chapter 24
Friday, 01/30/26 at 09:01
Solitary Man
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Eze 24:1 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,
This new dating occurs 2 years and 5 months after the last date found in Ez 20:1. This is the exact date that Babylon began its final siege of Jerusalem, which would last until the 11th year, 4th month, 9th day (Jer 52:6). The siege would last 1 and a half years. It should be no surprise that God would open Ezekiel’s mouth on the exact day that this historical siege began. No, this was not coincidence. Very little in the child of God’s life should be viewed as coincidence.
It is important that we take note of this date. In the last verse of this chapter, we will see that God will shut the mouth of his prophet regarding the ability to prophesy anything further to Israel. He will not be free from that yoke until we get to Ez 33:22.
Eze 24:2 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.
But let us consider this one last word to the people in exile concerning the fate of their beloved city.
God does not need the internet. He does not need 5G, or any G. He does not need Starlink, or any other form of high speed communication. No matter how fast or how phenomenal the computers and the software of this age become, nothing can ever come close to the supernatural workings of the Holy Spirit.
We will see in chapter 33 that it took 1 and a half years after the fall of Jerusalem for someone to come and report of its destruction. This sort of tells us that whoever was exiled at the end of this siege was not taken to any place near where Ezekiel was held, otherwise they would have heard of this calamity much sooner. But God does not need email or instant messaging. He is well able to communicate whatever he desires to communicate to us, as long as we’re willing and able to hear.
Eze 24:3 And utter a parable (maw-shawl – pithy maxim, metaphor, simile, proverb) unto the rebellious (mer-ee – bitter) house, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Set on a pot, set it on, and also pour water into it:
Now God was not interested in discussing the things that the people of the exile may have been interested in. I imagine these backslid souls would have been interested in the composition of the forces arrayed against the city. What size were the respective armies, what weapons the enemy had assembled, and what were the state of defences of the city.
None of that mattered, as far as Yehovah was concerned. What mattered was what he had decreed was going to come to pass. It mattered not the state of readiness of the defenders, or how much provision they had stockpiled in light of the imminent siege. The mishpat, or verdict of God had already been passed. And once more in this chapter, we will be made aware one more time as to how irrevocable this decree was.
Yehovah has decided that he wants all these truths about this final judgment immortalized in stories, metaphors, allegories, parables, and reenactments. He wants these truths to be memorialized in such a way that they will not easily be forgotten. Who will forget all of Ezekiel’s antics thus far? He was called upon to do some very memorable things. He was commissioned to speak in a manner that would be forever noted for its extreme vulgarity. Using vivid imagery to aid the listener to remember what total judgment looks like would help them to pass on these tales to future generations. So God wants to paint a picture of a pot. A boiling pot.
Eze 24:4 Gather the pieces thereof into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice (mib-khawr – best) bones.
Yehovah wants it made perfectly clear that the best of the best of Judah will be thrown into this boiling pot. It will not just be the common folk who will pay the brunt of the price. No matter how wealthy or how powerful, they will be boiled in this pot. I am sure that many wealthy had escaped their luxurious country houses to the relative safety of Jerusalem. That would not save them. Not this time.
Eze 24:5 Take the choice (mib-khawr) of the flock, and burn also the bones under it, and make it boil well, and let them seethe (baw-shawl – roast) the bones of it therein.
The idea is that everything that is the best will be burnt. It may be thrown into the pot. It may be used to keep the fire burning. If all of their resources were not spent in a futile defence of this city, it would be spent nonetheless when the invaders breached the walls. Every choice morsel that was Jerusalem and Judah was going into the pot. The idea of seething implies that these pieces would be thoroughly cooked. That is, no piece shall escape the pot until it has been entirely roasted or boiled.
Eze 24:6 Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum (khel-aw – disease, rust) is therein, and whose scum (khel-aw) is not gone out of it! bring it out piece by piece; let no lot fall upon it.
This word khel-aw is found only in this chapter in the entire bible. While disease merits consideration as an appropriate descriptive aspect of their spiritual condition, the idea of rust is better, since we are speaking of the pot itself. If we take the pot as being Jerusalem, the inhabitants thereof have so corrupted this once holy city to such an extent, that it is on the verge of rusting through, as it were. That is, the pot has become worthless, and is good for nothing except to be destroyed as well. That is why the city will be demolished with all the people. A place can become so defiled that only by a complete burning can it be cleansed. This is why several places in the book of Judges were commanded to be burnt with fire. The Canaanites had defiled their places of residence so severely, that all vestiges of their idolatry and immorality had to be destroyed, lest it became a snare and a stumblingblock, as it did to Achan in Ai, (Josh 7:1-26).
No matter what Yehovah had tried to do in the past, no matter what sort of reforms kings like Josiah had attempted to implement, it did no permanent good. The rust had gotten into the metal too deeply. And a metalworker knows that when this happens, the only solution is to cut it out.
To let no lot fall upon it is to say that each and every person shall be brought out in order for judgment. A lot could be used to determine who would live and who would die. No such lot would be allowed in this circumstance. Each piece, each person, would be judged, one after another. Some would die early in the siege by the sword. Others a little later by the plague. Next would be the ones who would perish by famine. Finally the rest would be destroyed when the enemy broke through and slaughtered the inhabitants thereof. Few would be left. Those that were spared were said to be the poorest of the land. They were left to eke out an existence, and to attempt to have the land produce something for the new ruler.
Eze 24:7 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;
Israel was known for its strict laws concerning blood. One could not eat anything with the blood. All blood must be poured out upon the ground, and it should be disposed of properly. We could quote all sorts of scriptures about the severe injunctions concerning the blood, but I think everyone is aware of the basics of these rules.
What Yehovah is saying that these reprobates had become so shameless in their behavior, that their murdering was done in the open, with no shame, in utter defiance of the laws of their God. They never even bothered to try and cover up their gross crimes anymore. Just like we legalize abortion, euthanasia, poisonous jabs, and insane transgender mutilation. Blood is being shed, and we applaud it. We protect it. We not only applaud it, but we prosecute anyone who attempts to interfere in the process. Our pots are full of rust, and the choice pieces of our lands are being thrown into the pot. The heat is being turned up, and most of the church is too busy scrolling to even notice.
Eze 24:8 That it might cause fury (khay-maw – hot, furious, poisonous rage and wrath) to come up to take vengeance (naw-kawm – from a root to hold a grudge); I have set her blood upon the top of a rock, that it should not be covered (concealed).
What does this brazen display of open defiance of God’s most holy laws do? It causes his wrath to manifest and to take action. God’s wrath is depicted as a living thing with a will of its own. After a certain point, God does not even try to stop the rot anymore. In fact, he seems to take steps to ensure that once the rot in a nation has reached a certain point, it will remain prominent and in the open, so that there is no possibility that God’s mercy would be triggered. Sometimes sin is so bad, that God does not want to pardon it anymore.
Eze 24:9 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city! I will even make the pile for fire (the pile of fuel) great.
God is the one who said that he will add fuel to the fire. Instead of looking upon the suffering that is already taking place and responding with pity, God chooses to go out and gather even more wood, in order to make the fire hotter! As his people began to cry out to him for mercy, God simply turns up the thermostat.
This teaches us that there is a time and a place for God to extend mercy and compassion. Then there are also times when those seasons are over. No more extensions. No more forgiveness. No more hearing our cries. Only judgment, to scour the land that we have so completely defiled.
Eze 24:10 Heap on wood, kindle the fire, consume the flesh, and spice it well (perfume and season it well), and let the bones be burned (khaw-rar – glow, melt).
It is as if God has come down and is cheering on the Chaldean army, the instrument of his wrath! He urges them to stoke the flames higher. Keep cooking until all the flesh is consumed. Not just cooked to perfection, but cooked until all the meat is obliterated, as in a sacrificial burnt offering. Spice it well means to hold nothing back in order to ensure that this meal is cooked properly. That is, spare no expense in expensive spices and seasonings, if that is what it takes to do a thorough job. And keep the fire burning until even the bones are consumed. That is crematorium hot. Don’t stop the slaughter until everything is destroyed, even as a body in a crematorium.
Eze 24:11 Then set it empty upon the coals thereof, that the brass of it may be hot, and may burn, and that the filthiness (toom-aw – religious impurity, uncleanness) of it may be molten in it, that the scum (khel-aw) of it may be consumed.
In this instance, Yehovah is not satisfied with merely burning up the contents that he has thrown into the pot. No, the pot itself now has to be cleansed. All that rust in the pot is to be burnt away. That would involve a tremendous amount of heat.
What Yehovah is speaking of here is the destruction of Jerusalem itself. The people have left such an indelible stain even upon its walls, and the very earth that it resides on, that only a thorough cleansing can ever restore it back to a usable state. And God loves to use fire to cleanse. Thus the city must suffer the same fate as its people.
Eze 24:12 She hath wearied herself with lies (teh-oon – naughtiness, from a root meaning to exert oneself strenuously for nothingness), and her great scum (khel-aw) went not forth out of her: her scum (khel-aw) shall be in the fire.
Jerusalem herself is spoken of as representative for all the wicked people within. Even as Sodom represented the sins of its inhabitants, so now Jerusalem is being spoken of in a similar fashion. Both cities are burnt with fire. The only difference is that Jerusalem does have a glorious future, while Sodom did not. We shall see this same principle as God pronounces various judgments upon the heathen nations surrounding Israel. Some will be restored, some are done forever. We know from Jeremiah that Jerusalem and Judah will rest for 70 years.
Lies are the foundation of all evil.
Joh_8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
How many of you out there are like me, who simply cannot listen to even one word of anything the mainstream media has to say? If you think it is bad in America, come to Canada (or to many other countries in the west, I imagine). At least you have Fox, which has some truth, and is not treasonously hostile to the president like all the others. And America has many alternative news sources to pick and choose from. Canada has very few.
But I digress. Continual lying will wear one out. Is it not increasingly difficult for the liars to keep their stories straight? How they have to calculate in their heads what they are going to say every time they open their mouths! I don’t know how they manage to do it. Continual lying must be exhausting! How those news anchors are able to do it day after day is beyond me.
And all of that lying is for nought. In the end, you gain nothing. Except hell.
Rev_21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
But no matter how high God turned up the heat, this pot could not get rid of her rust. So the pot itself would have to be destroyed. But all of that scum, all of that rust, will be tossed into the flame, until it all is consumed, one way or another.
Perhaps the sense is that all the scum (sin) could not be removed by anything that God had tried. But, his fire of total judgment is the one thing that is certain to do the trick.
Eze 24:13 In thy filthiness (toom-aw) is lewdness (zim-maw – bad plan, heinous crime, wicked device): because I have purged (taw-hare – be bright, purified, uncontaminated) thee, and thou wast not purged (taw-hare), thou shalt not be purged (taw-hare) from thy filthiness (tomm-aw) any more, till I have caused my fury (khay-maw) to rest upon thee.
Yehovah had tried everything to uncontaminate this scummy pot. Inside this pot was found every sort of wicked device. No matter what sort of word God gave, no matter what sort of evil God sent, this pot could not be cleansed. So what can God do, but decree an utter end to it?
We are so blind. We are so deaf. God has been screaming in our ears to repent, repent, repent. But we would not. We would not change our ways. The road we are on, we refuse to get off of it. Our churches refuse to change. They continue with their compromises and their false doctrines and their detestable practices. We ignore the ruin all around us. We pretend it is just business as usual. If we happen to faintly hear Yehovah screaming, we simply turn up the volume on the sound system, and let our paganized ‘worship’ leaders lead us into another round of emotional manipulation that we think is the actual presence of God. We are scummy, we are rusty, we are diseased in our faith and in our practices. The pot of the modern day church is filled with the choice ministers and the big names and the fancy cars and the massive stadiums, and the heat has been turned on.
Yehovah has tried to purge the filthiness out of us for many years. But we would not listen. So now, he will stop trying to purge us anymore. He will simply cause his fury to rest upon us, until even our bones are consumed.
Eze 24:14 I the LORD have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back (paw-rah – loosen, dismiss), neither will I spare (khoos – cover, pity, have compassion), neither will I repent (naw-kham – sigh, sorry, ease myself); according to thy ways (deh-rek – path or course of life), and according to thy doings (al-ee-law – exploits, performance, inventions), shall they judge (shaw-fat – pronounce sentence, punish) thee, saith the Lord GOD.
Do you think God is joking? That this is some sort of game? That this somehow does not apply to us? How does anyone in their right mind think that if we commit the same sins as those people in the bible did, that we shall escape the same judgment? Have we not read even this:
Heb_2:3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
Heb_12:25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
1Co 10:1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
1Co 10:2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
1Co 10:3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
1Co 10:4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
1Co 10:5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
1Co 10:6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
1Co 10:7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
1Co 10:8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
1Co 10:9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
1Co 10:10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
1Co 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
Here is one of those times where God tells us that he will not change his mind. No pity, no compassion, no repentance. And the thing is, is that all we are receiving is exactly what our actions deserve. He always repays man according to the road that they have chosen to take.
The Babylonians are the ‘they’ at the end of the verse. That is, God’s instruments of judgment shall be moved to effect a punishment that fits the crime. Judah chose paths and deeds that merited nothing but total destruction, so Babylon would be inspired to totally destroy them.
You see, it matters not what God chooses to use to destroy us. I see something today that I have not clearly seen in the past. For the past 5 years, we have been so focused on trying to unravel each and every conspiracy in the land. From covid, to the jab, to 5G, to chemtrails, to DEW weapons, to depopulation, to DARPA, to islam, to Marxism, to wokeness, to transgenderism, to mRNA, to spike proteins, to the deep state, to the cabal, to false flags, to climate change, to censorship, to technocracy, to AI, to quantum computers, to who the heck knows what else, all these things serve one purpose. To distract us, to get us to spend our precious days that the Lord has allotted to us to chase down things that, in the end, don’t really matter.
Does it really matter which of the above things God uses to destroy us? Is not what is important the fact that we are being destroyed? Why is Yehovah allowing so many curses to fall on us? Isn’t that the question we should be pursuing, above all else?
So in the same way, Judah was deceived. As Egypt tried to oppose Babylon, they focused on that. As Egypt fell and Babylon rose, all their energy was directed at stopping them. All the while Yehovah is screaming at them to repent, repent, repent.
But nobody listened. Nobody cared. So they went down in flames. And that is where we are all headed.
Eze 24:15 Also the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Now we come to the most heartbreaking portion of the entire book. At least as far as the prophet himself is concerned. What occurs next will be reminiscent of what Yehovah asked Abraham to do. Only this time, Yehovah stays not his hand.
This portion occurs on the same day, based on verse 18. That is, Ezekiel spoke the above prophecy to the people, and in the evening this thing occurred.
Eze 24:16 Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire (makh-mawd – delight, object of affection, beloved, pleasant thing) of thine eyes with a stroke (mag-gay-faw – pestilence, slaughter, plague): yet neither shalt thou mourn (saw-fad – lament, wail, tear the hair or beat the breast) nor weep (baw-kaw – bemoan, bewail, complain, lament, cry), neither shall thy tears run down.
Sigh. This is a hard verse. Did you know that this verse is really the only insight that we have into the prophet’s personal life? And it is only included here because of its direct prophetic impact.
From the language used, we can deduce that this woman meant a great deal to him. She was his delight, his object of affection, his beloved, his most pleasant thing. And God said he was going to take her away. And take her away suddenly. So we see that the notion of ‘died suddenly’ did not originate with the effects of the deadly jab. There are several instances in the bible where Yehovah himself chooses to remove one or another from off the face of the earth.
Abraham was asked to sacrifice Isaac. But he was spared that fate. Ezekiel was not. Note that the word for stroke can also imply a pestilence, or plague. But it is highly doubtful that was the case here, as the language indicates that this was to be a sudden, unexpected death.
And to top it all off, Ezekiel was not allowed to mourn at all for her. All so that, yet one more visual example could be presented to these exiles of what was to occur in Jerusalem. As if Yahweh had not spoken of this terrible judgment in enough ways already, he takes the prophet’s most beloved wife.
How this flies in the face of our happy, happy Christianity! How this goes against the grain of everything that the Laodicean church speaks of in their mega churches. How seemingly senseless, how apparently unnecessary, this most cruel stroke by Yahweh is given! How seemingly undeserving a recipient is this most faithful prophet of the Lord. Why would God do such a thing, especially to one such as this? Is this what we can expect when we agree to serve him wholeheartedly?
The short answer is yes. Yes, because he is worthy. Yes, because he is the boss. Yes, because we are very rarely made to understand the why’s of God’s will. Yes, because if we meant that we will follow him at all costs, then this might be one of the bills that we must pay. Yes, because we have no idea if this was actually a blessing in disguise. Maybe she was slated for a terrible death, due to some misfortune or disease. Maybe she would have backslid into hell, if she was allowed to live. These are all speculations, and may have no merit. The point is that, are we willing to suffer all things, for the sake of the gospel?
1Co_9:12 If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless we have not used this power; but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ.
Php_1:29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;
1Th_3:4 For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know.
2Th_1:5 Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:
2Ti_1:12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
2Ti_2:12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
And of course, there is the terrifying admonition and command of Jesus himself:
Luk_14:33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
If God took your most precious companion, or your child, or anything else you value above everything else, and gave you little or no reason for it, would you be okay with that? Would you still follow him? Would you still love him just as much as before, or would your love now be tainted with suspicion and mistrust?
Sometimes God does exceedingly hard things in our lives. And just in case we are feeling sorry for ourselves over some setback or disappointment in our ‘first world’ form of Christianity, can we not spare a moment for those who have to undergo unbelievably difficult trials of faith? How about if you and your family were thrown to the lions in the Roman arena? What if you had to watch your wife and your children being slowly eaten alive by lions? You hear them scream, you watch them die, and there is nothing that you can do. All your prayers have gone unanswered. And to top it all off, this is all done for entertainment! Thousands of people are laughing at your family’s fate, cheering on the lions and thoroughly enjoying themselves! In this scenario, I think an even worse burden would be if you were left alive instead of being devoured yourself. To have to live with such a memory would be incomprehensible.
Let us see what Benson’s commentary has to say about this. He nicely summarizes all the various parts of this awful story.
Behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke — Behold, I take away from thee thy wife, the object of thy love and thy affection, by a sudden stroke from my own immediate hand, that is, by a sudden death. Observe, reader, we know not how soon the desire of our eyes may be removed from us. Death is a stroke from which the most pious, the most useful, the most amiable, are not exempted. Yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep — Thou shall not show any signs of grief. This command was given to the prophet, to signify that the public calamity should be so great, that private ones would not appear worthy of notice, nor would they be at leisure to lament them, so much would those of a public nature distract and oppress them. Bind the tire of thy head upon thee — Use thy ordinary dress upon thy head; for in the time of mourning it was customary sometimes to shave the head, sometimes to cast dust upon it. Put on thy shoes upon thy feet — Going barefoot was usual in great sorrow and affliction; and therefore the prophet, who was to show no sign of sorrow, was commanded to put on his shoes. Cover not thy lips — Covering the lips, or face, was another token of mourning. And eat not the bread of men — Partake not of the mourning-feast, that relations used to prepare for the funerals of their friends: see note on Jeremiah 16:7. So I spake to the people, &c., and at even my wife died — My wife accordingly died very suddenly in the evening of a day, on the morning of which I had been speaking to the people, concerning the intimations I had of her death; and the next morning I declared what commands God had laid upon me, not to make any outward show, or sign of mourning upon that occasion. [end]
I suppose if there is one consolation for Ezekiel, it is that his wife has died according to the will of God and in service of his prophetic ministry. At least there would be some purpose to it, cruel though it seems. How many people lose their loved ones for seemingly no purpose whatsoever? A drive by shooting, a drunk driver, a robbery gone wrong. At least here, she would be immortalized forever in the word of God. Though that certainly would do nothing to ease the prophet’s pain.
I was trying to think of who else in the bible had to experience such a terrible loss, and the only name that comes to mind was Job. He lost all 10 children, and all his wealth, and his health. He got to keep his wife, but that was about it.
So what did these 2 have in common? The only common thread that I can glean is that both were perfectly obedient.
Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
Job was perfect, as far as God was concerned. Ezekiel never says or does a single thing that displeases God. Even Jeremiah complained at times about the path God had placed him on. Not so Ezekiel.
The reward for these 2 fellows was terrible personal loss. And personal loss at the hands of Yahweh himself! It did not matter if the devil or men, or Yahweh himself did the smiting, the scripture in both cases made it crystal clear that God was behind it all.
We shall never know the exact and complete truth as to why this is so. Why, if you serve God perfectly, that makes you a candidate for extreme loss. I can only speculate. I would like to think that these were men of rare character. Since God knew that they could handle these things (even though Job had a very difficult go of it), perhaps this would entitle them to some sort of spectacular award in the afterlife that was not available to anyone else. It would not surprise me to see these 2 in a place of special honor and authority in heaven.
These 2 men should serve as examples for anyone who experiences any sort of terrible personal loss, despite living a life of perfect obedience to the will of God, insomuch as anyone can be said to perfectly obey. Like these 2, the full answer shall never be known this side of heaven. This is simply a reality of our existence. Sometimes God chooses this path for us. And all the praying and believing and declaring and rebuking in the world will not alter matters one little bit.
Sometimes all we can do is simply endure.
There is one more absolutely fascinating truth to be gleaned out of this verse. There is a word used here called makh-mawd. It is used to describe how Ezekiel felt about his wife. It means desire, delight, an object of affection.
There is a scholar by the name of Jay Smith who is one of the only non muslims on earth to delve into the scholastic history of the koran, and the origin of its text. He provides some very compelling evidence that the name muhammed actually originates from this Hebrew word makh-mawd, or the praised one, or the one to delight in. It is used rarely in the bible, but can be found in the Song of Solomon:
Son 5:16 His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely (makh-mawd). This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.
If you also refer to the research done by Robert Spencer, you will find that there is strong evidence to believe that islam was created by a heretical Nestorian apostate. The earliest coinage and documentation strongly hint at Christian symbolism being used and altered for this man’s use. Makh-mawd was a name that referred to Christ, the praised one, in some early church circles. The name makh-mawd is strikingly similar to muhammed, is it not? Thus, an allegorical and prophetic reference to the lovely one in the Song of Solomon referred to Christ. Jay Smith makes the case that this name, which was supposed to point to Christ, eventually became used to name this supposedly original prophet of islam. And Mr. Spencer provides compelling evidence that muhammed did not even exist, but was a later creation by those warlords in later decades to cement their control over the masses that they had conquered. I know I am not explaining this as well as I should, but if anyone is interested, check out the works by those 2 great scholars for yourself.
Eze 24:17 Forbear (Do not) to cry (aw-nak – shriek, groan), make no mourning (ay-bel – lamentation) for the dead, bind (wrap) the tire of thine head (the fancy head dress) upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover not thy lips, and eat not the bread of men.
As Benson described above, these were all the signs of mourning in that culture. It would be the equivalent of us wearing a black outfit at a funeral. We also have funeral lunches, or wakes.
This reminds me of covid. Not only were they creating corpse after corpse with their poison jabs and their deadly hospital protocols, they did not allow us to mourn our dead. Funerals were forbidden. Many were not even allowed to say goodbye to loved ones who were being murdered in their hospital beds. The mechanics of the covid tyranny were deeply demonical indeed.
The idea here is that the horror in Jerusalem was to be so great, that no one would have time to mourn any one individual. And wasn’t that the case with covid? Anywhere from 20 to 80 million people killed by the jab and the protocols, and it just became a statistic. In fact, most governments altered or wiped out the true numbers as to what they had done. Such a sickening coverup of the most egregious criminal behavior, and no one even blinked an eye. Kill millions, disable hundreds of millions, and who cares? Will anyone ever be held to account? Don’t hold your breath.
Eze 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.
Eze 24:19 And the people said unto me, Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us, that thou doest so?
This proves that this death occurred the same day as the word he has just spoken right before. When Ezekiel refused to mourn for his wife in the supposedly traditional manner, the people waited until the next day to ask him about it.
This seems to prove that priests generally mourned for their wives, though a reading of the instructions in Leviticus do not explicitly mention wives:
Lev 21:1 And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto the priests the sons of Aaron, and say unto them, There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people:
Lev 21:2 But for his kin, that is near unto him, that is, for his mother, and for his father, and for his son, and for his daughter, and for his brother,
Lev 21:3 And for his sister a virgin, that is nigh unto him, which hath had no husband; for her may he be defiled.
Lev 21:4 But he shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people, to profane himself.
Only the nearest blood relatives are listed here, not wives. However, we are speaking of the prohibition of ritual defilement, that is, some sort of contact with the dead. This passage did not prohibit a priest from mourning for anyone that he chose to mourn over. Thus, Ezekiel would have been expected to show signs of mourning for his wife, especially since she was described in such loving terms. This is why the people were wondering why he was acting so abnormally.
Some think that the people may have been mocking him, as if they cared less how he was behaving but only asked him so that they would have more material to mock him with. I see no merit in that position taken by some scholars, as there has been no evidence presented anywhere in this book that his listeners were mocking him, or even persecuting him, as they did Jeremiah back in Jerusalem.
Eze 24:20 Then I answered them, The word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
God speaks to the prophet yet a 3rd time, in order to complete this most harsh of lessons.
Eze 24:21 Speak unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will profane (khaw-lal – dissolve, pollute) my sanctuary, the excellency (gaw-ohn – arrogancy, pomp, pride) of your strength (oze – force, security, majesty), the desire (makh-mawd) of your eyes, and that which your soul (nephesh) pitieth (makh-mawl – symapthizes, delights in); and your sons and your daughters whom ye have left shall fall by the sword.
The two things that these people would have the most care for would be demolished. Supposedly some of these exiles would have had children who were left behind when they were deported. One could understand that they would have missed them. Even if many in Judah were guilty of child sacrifice, I am sure just like anything, when a thing is taken away from you, that is when you miss it. Sort of like a 2 year old who never plays with certain toys unless some other kid wants to play with it, then he starts screaming.
In the same way they would have felt a great affection for the temple. Never mind that when they were still in the country, they defiled it with their idols. Now that their comforting religious routines were taken away from them, I am sure they were bereft. Think about all the sacrifices for sin that they could not perform. Think about all the required festivals that they could not attend. All those laws of Torah, drummed into their heads, and they could not keep most of them. So yes, they have considered the temple their makh-mawd – their delight. Not only are they cut off from their temple, but horror of horrors, unclean Gentiles would overrun it and ravage it! And not only that Gentiles would defile it, but they would burn it to the ground.
So much for all those false prophets, who kept telling everyone not to worry. Everything will be all right. God is about to return you to Jerusalem. You will all be reunited with your families once again.
Don’t you know that the wealth of the sinner is about to be transferred into the hands of the just?
Sure. Okay. And if you believe that, then I have a few bridges to sell you!
Eze 24:22 And ye shall do as I have done: ye shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men.
I think there is more than one way to interpret this verse. When the news finally reaches you that Jerusalem and the temple are no more, you will be stunned into a stupor. All those false prophecies would have finally blown up in your face. All your false hopes, all those lies that you believed in, poof! All gone! You discounted Ezekiel. You disregarded Jeremiah. You killed those prophets who kept telling you to repent. You refused and refused. And look at where you are now. Stateless. Homeless. Without family. Without religion. Without anything. You are bereft. But most importantly, you are without Yehovah. And with very little hope of ever finding him again. How shall you serve him without a temple? Where can you practice your faith, now that you are ensconced in a foreign land?
Another way to see this verse is that they would be afraid, or not allowed to mourn the destruction of Jerusalem, since they were living in the nation that destroyed it. This would not endear them to their neighbors.
Even another way of seeing it is their hearts have become so hardened, that temple and family fail to move them anymore. Sin and all its attendant destruction can harden one’s heart so completely that nothing can touch it anymore. You just can’t feel any remorse, any sorrow, certainly no repentance.
Eze 24:23 And your tires (peh-ayr – fancy head dress) shall be upon your heads, and your shoes upon your feet: ye shall not mourn (saw-fad) nor weep (baw-kaw); but ye shall pine away (maw-kak – melt, vanish, dissolve) for your iniquities (aw-vone – perversity, moral evil), and mourn (naw-ham – growl, roar) one (eesh – man) toward another (awkh – brother).
Any extreme outward display of grief for Babylon’s military victories would certainly be a dangerous thing to do. Instead, once you realized the permanence of Yehovah’s judgment on your wicked ways, you would be relegated to mourning in private. Pining away has the inference of melting, vanishing, dissolving. You would slowly disappear. Your vitality and reason for living would be drained from you. Your mourning is said to be one that growls or roars. Maybe that contains the connotation of one who is so broken inside, that instead of deep depression, they lash out in deep rage. The verse says that a man would roar towards his brother. Maybe you would lash out at those who convinced you to trust the words of the false prophets.
And how about us today? What shall those do who cling to the lies and the delusions of the false prophets? When it finally becomes crystal clear that everything you had hoped for was a lie, when all you trusted in was a farce, what shall you do? Whom shall you turn to? If you haven’t developed your relationship with Jesus, how shall you survive? Seek you God, first and foremost, if you hope to navigate these uncharted waters unto the end of the road.
Eze 24:24 Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign (mo-faith – token, omen, miracle): according to all that he hath done shall ye do: and when this cometh, ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
Ezekiel is the sneak preview of coming attractions. His makh-mawd, his most favorite thing, his wonderful wife, taken away just like that. And so shall you receive the dire news. In a moment, in an instant, and just like that, all that you have hoped for shall be gone forever.
I still cannot get over the awful price Ezekiel had to pay, just to provide these reprobates with yet another sign of God’s sure and infallible intent. The worst part of it was that they weren’t going to listen to it anyway. They would not benefit from it, even as they did not benefit from any other sign that Ezekiel had already given. So why another one? Especailly one as costly as this one?
Maybe because this sign, being so terribly costly to the prophet himself, would actually cause some to truly repent. Because the direct words of God are coming to an end for these exiled Judeans, maybe this last and most terrible of signs would have finally penetrated at least a few hardened hearts.
What are you willing to give up, in order to reach even one more hardened heart? Are you willing to give up your spouse, if it meant that one more soul would enter the kingdom? I pray most fervently to God that I will never be asked such a terrible thing.
But it is food for thought, is it not?
Eze 24:25 Also, thou son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take from them their strength (maw-oze – fortified place, defence), the joy (maw-soce – delight) of their glory (tif-aw-raw – ornament, beauty, majesty), the desire (makh-mawd) of their eyes, and that whereupon they set (mas-saw – burden, doom, utterance, burden) their minds (nephesh), their sons and their daughters,
Eze 24:26 That he that escapeth (paw-leet – refugee, fugitive) in that day shall come unto thee, to cause thee to hear (hashmaw-ooth – announcement, from the word shama, only time in OT) it with thine ears?
As Ezekiel was utterly devastated and undone, yet forbidden to give vent to his inner grief, shall it not be so for you too, when you hear the words from someone who managed to escape this grievous calamity that I have sent upon your land? Shall you not be stunned into silence, not knowing where to turn to next? You have ignored me all of your life, and now the consequences have finally caught up with you. You thought that your behavior was of little or no consequence. But now you know differently.
So many people are exactly like this. They choose to ignore God and his requirements that he has placed upon us. They find a place where the minister gives them just enough truth that they can comfortably live with and embrace. They get riled and upset if he attempts to demand anything more than they wish to give. So they live their lives as they see fit.
Then one day calamity strikes. Bewildered, they cannot understand why such and such has happened to them. And now where do they turn? They have spent their entire lives ignoring God, and now God has repaid them in kind. God tells us again and again how he judges us according to our works. He also tells us that he will repay us according to the road, or path of life, that we chose to walk in. In other words, the punishment fits the crime.
Choose to ignore God, and God will choose to ignore you. When God needed you to step up, repent and follow him and you refused, do not be surprised if, at the hour of your need, God chooses to ignore you. Oh sure, we love those stories where God waited and waited for someone to turn to him, and he was there to welcome them back with open arms.
Don’t fool yourself. That is not how it always works. For the vast, vast majority of cases, there is no happy death bed conversion for the reprobate. Sinners almost always will stay sinners. The exceptions are just that – exceptions. Train yourself in righteousness, so that when the dark day comes, you will have a lifetime of good godly habits to draw upon.
Eze 24:27 In that day shall thy mouth be opened to him which is escaped (paw-leet), and thou shalt speak, and be no more dumb: and thou shalt be a sign (mo-faith) unto them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
This verse implies that God shut the mouth of Ezekiel after this word, on the day following the start of the siege. Ez 33:22 tells us when God opened his mouth again, and it wasn’t until the 12th year, the 10th month, the 5th day of the month, three years, less 5 days (or 6, since Ezekiel spoke one day after the siege began) that God opened his mouth once again.
Note that this applies to him prophesying about Israel. We shall see in the next 8 chapters that God turns Ezekiel’s attention to the surrounding nations. Apparently he was allowed to write words of judgment about them.
Since Ezekiel rarely writes anything out of order in this book, it is logical to assume that these next prophecies would have been written during these ‘silent years’, when his mouth was shut concerning Judah. Some commentators try to make a big deal that certain of the judgments speak of things that these nations do after the temple was destroyed, so they conclude that the prophecies must have been written after the temple was demolished. But that need not be the case. These are prophecies, after all! God and Ezekiel know the temple is to fall, so God will have Ezekiel speak a word to these nations, knowing how they will react to this future event.
This verse teaches us a crucial truth. Sometimes God shuts the mouth of his prophets. The pattern is that God will warn and warn. Once the judgment starts, it is now too late. The warnings were meant to give the people a chance to change their ways, so that God would have a reason to change his mind as to what he is planning to do. But once the punishment begins, what more is there to say? The judgment has begun. But what about these examples:
2Sa 24:15 So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men.
2Sa 24:16 And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite.
2Sa 24:17 And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father’s house.
In the above story, God himself decided that the punishment was enough. David really didn’t have a hand in stopping it, only to confess his responsibility for it.
Amo 7:1 Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings.
Amo 7:2 And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord GOD, forgive, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.
Amo 7:3 The LORD repented for this: It shall not be, saith the LORD.
Amo 7:4 Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and, behold, the Lord GOD called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and did eat up a part.
Amo 7:5 Then said I, O Lord GOD, cease, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.
Amo 7:6 The LORD repented for this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord GOD.
Amo 7:7 Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand.
Amo 7:8 And the LORD said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more:
Amo 7:9 And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.
In this one, no judgment had begun. God was merely displaying various possibilities, as it were. Amos interceded, in the fashion that Abraham interceded for Sodom and for Lot.
Once judgment begins, it begins, and it will see its end.
Repent now, while you can.
So we have made it to the halfway mark of this amazing book. Has it been all that you thought it would be? I certainly have learned much.
For the next 8 chapters, God’s bottomless anger is finally turned in another direction. 8 chapters of judgments on the heathen. After that, there is a bit more that God will have to say to his people. Then we get to the fun things, such as the valley of dry bones, God and Magog, and the new temple.
If we think we have encountered the hardest part of the book as far as interpretation, as the saying goes, ‘we ain’t seen nothing yet!’. What is ahead of us is extremely daunting. I have absolutely no confidence in my own ability to add any great insight to what is written. However, like everything so far, we will take it one verse at a time, and see where God takes us.
Solitary Man
https://solitaryman.substack.com/
