Ezekielchapter 24
27 verses · Ezekiel · 593 to 571 BC · The Prophets
“Son of man, behold, I am about to take away the desire of your eyes with a fatal blow. But you must not mourn or weep or let your tears flow.
Introduction
Ezekiel, The Prophets, Ezekiel Overview.
Ezekiel received this on the day he was told to write down, the day Jerusalem's siege began six hundred miles away. He was a priest and a husband, and before evening the chapter touches both. The first part is a parable from the kitchen, and the second is the hardest command any prophet in the book receives. Listen for the date and why it had to be written, and for what the people ask him at the end. It closes the long section of judgment on Jerusalem. It asks how grief speaks when a loss is too great for ordinary mourning.
Context
- Who
- Exiles six hundred miles from Jerusalem who could not yet know what had happened that morning
- What
- A parable of a cooking pot set on the fire, given on the day the siege began, and the death of Ezekiel's wife as a sign of the loss of the temple.
- Where
- Tel Abib in Babylonia, on the day Jerusalem was besieged six hundred miles away.
- When
- The ninth year of the exile, the tenth month, the tenth day, about January 588 BC.
- Why
- To mark the start of the siege as God's judgment and to prepare the exiles for a loss too great for ordinary mourning.
Historical context
The date is the point of the chapter. God tells Ezekiel to write down the name of this day, this very day, because on this very day the king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem. The book of Kings gives the same day of the same month for the start of the siege. News travelled by caravan and took months; nobody in Babylonia could have known. Writing it down created a record that could be checked later, and it was.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
The cooking pot is a household object doing awful work. A large bronze or clay cauldron is set on the fire and filled with choice cuts and the best bones. Then it is boiled until the meat is gone, and then, this is the part no cook does, the empty pot is left on the coals until the metal glows and the crusted deposit inside is burned out. That corrosion is the city's blood-guilt, and the fire is the only thing that will remove it.
The blood detail underneath is legal. Blood poured on bare rock, not covered with earth, cries out and cannot be hidden. Covering blood with dust was the required act; Jerusalem's guilt was left on the bare rock deliberately, so that it would provoke a response.
Then the personal blow. Ezekiel's wife, called the delight of his eyes, dies, and he is forbidden every ordinary mourning custom: no wailing, no tears, keep the turban on instead of baring the head, keep the sandals on instead of going barefoot, do not cover the moustache, do not eat the bread that neighbours bring to a house of death. Each of these was a fixed public practice, and skipping them was as visible as performing them.
Significance
The exiles ask him directly: will you not tell us what these things mean for us? The answer is that the temple, the pride of their strength, the delight of their eyes and the desire of their soul, is going to be profaned, and their sons and daughters left behind will fall by the sword.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
And they will not mourn either, because grief that public would be an admission, and because the loss will be too great for the ordinary rituals to carry. Ezekiel's silent, dry-eyed morning after his wife's death is the rehearsal. From here to chapter thirty-three he speaks only about the nations, until a survivor arrives with the news.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
The site's table of synagogue readings ties no weekly portion and no Haftarah to this chapter. Probed for this lane, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts printed parashot 0 and haftarah uses 0 for Ezekiel 24, and no festival reading for the book. The table holds the Haftarah of each weekly portion and the six books read whole on a feast or a fast. Across chapters 1 to 24 of Ezekiel the same probe found a Haftarah only in chapters 20 and 22.
The corpus ties the customs of mourning to this chapter. The prophet is told not to mourn his wife. Rashi gives one reason the people will not mourn either: "because you have no consolers, for no one among you is not a mourner" (Rashi on Ezekiel 24:22:1).
How it is read
Rashi is the main commentator on this chapter in the corpus. He is quoted here from The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, which Sefaria reports as CC-BY. The translation is modern, so every quotation from it is fifty words or fewer.
The chapter is dated "in the ninth year of Zedekiah" (Rashi on Ezekiel 24:1:1). The siege began that day: "Today he besieged it" (Rashi on Ezekiel 24:2:1). The pieces gathered into the pot are the leaders and princes, gathered into the city "Out of fear of the siege" (Rashi on Ezekiel 24:4:1).
The scum of the pot is the wicked in the city: "the wicked within her have not come out" (Rashi on Ezekiel 24:6:1). The blood left on the bare rock was left uncovered on purpose, "in order that it might be remembered, so that My vengeance might be taken" (Rashi on Ezekiel 24:8:1).
The desire of the prophet's eyes is "Your wife, as the context proves at the end" (Rashi on Ezekiel 24:16:1). He did "as I had been commanded not to observe mourning" (Rashi on Ezekiel 24:18:1). The people are to do the same when the city falls, for "there is no mourning except where there are consolers" (Rashi on Ezekiel 24:22:1). None among them will be left who is not a mourner.
The corpus carries 2 notes on this chapter without an English text, marked linked. Radak's notes stand at 24:15:1 and 24:20:1. Each stands cited and unquoted, because Sefaria holds no English version of the ref.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries 40 rabbinic locators on the verses of this chapter, 14 filed under the Talmud and 26 under the Midrash. It carries the text of none, so each is cited by ref here and never quoted or paraphrased. The verse numbers are the Hebrew ones the corpus prints.
On verse 1 it holds Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Rosh Hashanah 1:22, Ein Yaakov, Rosh Hashanah 1:25, Jerusalem Talmud Taanit 4:5:6 and Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Tazria 13:2. On verse 2 it holds Jerusalem Talmud Taanit 4:5:4, Midrash Lekach Tov on Esther 2:16:1, Midrash Tanchuma, Tazria 9:1 and Seder Olam Rabbah 26:1. On verse 3 it holds Berakhot 56b:9, Midrash Lekach Tov, Genesis 11:1:2 and Otzar Midrashim, Baraita of Samuel HaKatan 1:10. On verse 4 it holds Yoma 25b:13. On verse 5 it holds Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 19:10.
On verse 7 it holds Eikhah Rabbah 2:4, Eikhah Rabbah 4:16 and Jerusalem Talmud Taanit 4:5:17. On verse 8 it holds Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Gittin 5:13, Ein Yaakov, Gittin 5:17 and Gittin 57b:8. On verse 10 it holds Eikhah Rabbah, Petichta 5 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sanhedrin 2:17. On verse 13 it holds Bava Kamma 92b:14, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Bava Kama 8:10 and Ein Yaakov, Bava Kamma 8:17. On verse 16 it holds Bereshit Rabbah 25:1, Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Bereshit 36 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Moed Katan 3:14.
On verse 17 it holds Bava Batra 60b:17, Berakhot 11a:10 and Berakhot 16b:3. On verse 18 it holds Jerusalem Talmud Bikkurim 2:1:9. On verse 21 it holds Bava Batra 4a:3, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Bava Batra 1:2 and Ein Yaakov, Bava Batra 1:2. On verse 22 it holds Eikhah Rabbah 1:22. On verse 23 it holds Eikhah Rabbah, Petichta 23, Jerusalem Talmud Shabbat 6:4:4 and Kohelet Rabbah 12:7:1.
On verse 24 it holds Midrash Lekach Tov on Lamentations 3:16:1 and Tractate Semachot 8:9.
What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Ezekiel 24:1:1 to 24:22:1, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Radak, Radak on Ezekiel 24:15:1 to 24:20:1, cited by ref only: Sefaria holds no English version of the ref; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/ezekiel/24.json, the 40 Talmud and Midrash locators on the verses of this chapter; The site's own files, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, probed for Ezekiel 24: parashot 0, haftarah uses 0, no festival reading for the book.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
The boiling pot with rust that will not come off
Ezekiel 24:1-2
The chapter opens with an exact date, the ninth year, the tenth month, the tenth day. Henry reads the precision as proof offered in advance, Ezekiel naming the very day Nebuchadnezzar's siege began. Keil notes the date became a fixed fast day in the Jewish calendar, the tenth of Tebeth.
Ezekiel 24:1
“The prophecies in this chapter were delivered two years and five months after those of the previous section Eze 20:1. The day mentioned here was the very day on which Nebuchadnezzar completed his arrangements for the siege, and closed in the city (marginal references). After the captivity this day was regularly observed as a fast day Zec 8:19.”
write down today’s date: The written date let the exiles check the prophecy when the news arrived months later. Gill took the command to include the day of the week. 2 Kings 25:1 gives the same day for the start of the siege.
Ezekiel 24:2
“Son of man, write thee the name of the day,.... That is, what day of the week it was, as well as what day of the month; as whether the first, or second, or third, &c.: for the Jews had no other names for their days, as we have: even of this same day; according to Bishop Usher (r), it was the 30th of January, and the fifth day of the week (Thursday); A.M. 3414, or 590 before Christ. Mr. Whiston (s) places it at 3413 A.M. or 591 before Christ.”
Ezekiel 24:3-5
The sign is spoken as a parable of a cooking pot, filled with the choice pieces of the flock. Gill reads the choice cuts as Jerusalem's own leading citizens, the best of the flock rather than the culls. Wesley notes the command set on, set it on, doubled for urgency.
Ezekiel 24:3
“A pot - Or, the caldron; with reference to Eze 11:3. The prophet indicates by the figure utter destruction. The caldron is the city, the fire is the surrounding army, the flesh and bones are the inhabitants shut in within the walls.”
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 24:3
“Alluding to the self-confident proverb used among the people, Eze 11:3 (see on Eze 11:3), "This city is the caldron and we be the flesh"; your proverb shall prove awfully true, but in a different sense from what you intend.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Wesley read the best pieces as the leading men of the city: the king, princes, priests, magistrates and the wealthy. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown set the choice bones in the pot against the bare bones beneath it used as fuel. The rich suffer longest.
Ezekiel 24:4
“The "choice bones" in the pot have flesh adhering to them. The bones under the pot (Eze 24:5) are those having no flesh and used as fuel, answering to the poorest who suffer first, and are put out of pain sooner than the rich who endure what answers to the slower process of boiling.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 24:4
“Fill it - With those pieces that are biggest, fullest of marrow, and which are divided according to the bones; these are the principal members of the state, the king, princes, priests, magistrates, and the most wealthy citizens.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
pile the fuel beneath it: In the Hebrew the fuel is a pile of bones. Wesley read them as the innocent dead of Jerusalem, whose blood feeds the fire of judgment. Clarke saw the city's own quarrels and divided counsels adding heat to the siege.
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.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 24:5
“The bones - Not of the pieces to be boiled, but of the many innocents murdered in Jerusalem; for their blood crieth for vengeance, and their bones scattered on the face of the earth, will both make and maintain this fire.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Ezekiel 24:6-8
Fairbairn reads the detail of blood set upon the top of a rock as the chapter's sharpest legal point. The law required spilled blood to be covered. Barnes notes the exposed blood functions as a standing accusation, the city's own crime left uncovered until judgment answers it.
Ezekiel 24:6
“Let no lot fall upon it - Pull out the flesh indiscriminately; let no piece be chosen for king or priest; thus showing that all should be involved in one indiscriminate ruin.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 24:6
“In former carryings away of captives, lots were cast to settle who were to go, and who to stay, but now all alike are to be cast out without distinction of rank, age, or sex.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
on the bare rock: The Law required the blood of hunted game to be covered with dirt, as Leviticus 17:13 directs. Jerusalem left the blood it shed open on the rock. Clarke read the exposed blood as idol sacrifice done in public view.
Ezekiel 24:7
“For her blood is in the midst of her - She gloried in her idol sacrifices; she offered them upon a rock, where the blood should remain evident; and she poured none upon the ground to cover it with dust, in horror of that moral evil that required the blood of an innocent creature to be shed, in order to the atonement of the offender’s guilt. To “cover the blood of the victim,” was a command of the law, Lev 17:13; Deu 12:24.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
take vengeance: The blood God leaves uncovered keeps crying out for justice. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown recalled Abel's blood crying from the ground in Genesis 4:10, and this blood lies open on the rock. The city is repaid in kind.
Ezekiel 24:8
“The blood of Abel, though the ground received it, still cries to heaven for vengeance (Ge 4:10, 11); much more blood shamelessly exposed on the bare rock. set her blood--She shall be paid back in kind (Mt 7:2). She openly shed blood, and her blood shall openly be shed.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Ezekiel 24:9-14
The fire is built greater still, the bones themselves burned. Keil reads the escalation from cooking to scorching the empty vessel as the point where the metaphor gives out. Henry notes the chapter's most severe line, I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent.
Ezekiel 24:9
“Therefore thus saith the Lord God, woe to the bloody city,.... See Gill on Eze 24:6, I will even make the pile for fire great; a large pile of wood, a great quantity of fuel to maintain the fire, and keep the pot boiling; meaning the vast army of the Chaldeans, which the Lord would bring against Jerusalem, which should closely besiege it, and vigorously attack it, until it had executed the fury of the wrath of God, comparable to fire, and of his judgments upon it. The Targum is, "even I will multiply her destruction.''”
mix in the spices: The cooking goes on until nothing is left in the pot. Wesley read the spicing as a judgment seen to be just, and the burned bones as the strongest men of the city perishing. The fire reaches every rank.
Ezekiel 24:10
“And spice it well - To express this justice, that is acceptable to God and men. The bones - The greatest, strongest, and firmest of the Jews shall perish in this fiery indignation.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Set the empty pot on its coals: With the contents gone, the fire turns to the pot itself, the city. The heat burns away rust that no washing had removed. Henry described Jerusalem worn out with broken promises of amendment.
its thick rust: The thick rust stays on the pot through every effort to remove it. Wesley read the effort as Jerusalem's trust in her allies and idols, and the rust as sins never repented. Only the fire of the burning city removes it.
Ezekiel 24:12
“With lies - Her allies, their promises, their forces, and their idols, all prove a lie to the house of Judah. Her scum - Her unrepented sins shall be punished in the fire that burns their city.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
the indecency of your uncleanness: Clarke noted that the Hebrew zimmah names deliberate indecency, sin planned and desired. The LORD tried to cleanse the city through His word and earlier judgments. Only His wrath will make it pure.
Ezekiel 24:13
“In thy filthiness is lewdness - זמה zimmah, a word that denominates the worst kinds of impurity; adultery, incest, etc., and the purpose, wish, design, and ardent desire to do these things. Hers were not accidental sins, they were abominations by design, and they were the worse in her, because God had cleansed her, had separated the Israelites from idolatry and idolatrous nations, and by his institutions removed from them all idolatrous incentives. But they formed alliances with the heathen, and adopted all their abominations; therefore God would not spare them. See Eze 24:14.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The LORD has spoken, and three short refusals close off any hope of delay. Henry wrote that God's words of wrath stand as firm as His promises of favour. The city is judged by its own ways and deeds.
Ezekiel 24:14
“God hath said it, and he will do it. Note, The declarations of God's wrath against sinners are as inviolable as the assurances he has given of favour to his people; and the case of such is sad indeed, who have brought it to this issue, that either God must be false or they must be damned.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The desire of his eyes taken, and no mourning allowed
Ezekiel 24:15-18
The Lord tells the prophet he takes away the desire of thine eyes, and forbids him to mourn her. Keil reads the bare notice, and at even my wife died, as deliberately unadorned. Henry reads the loss, calling it the costliest sign any prophet was ever asked to perform.
Ezekiel 24:15
“Also the word of the Lord came unto me, saying. Next follows the other sign, by which the Lord shows the destruction of the temple.”
the desire of your eyes: The desire of his eyes is his wife, who dies that evening in verse 18. The phrase shows how dear she was to him. Clarke read the command to shed no tears as a sign of a grief too heavy to weep.
Ezekiel 24:16
“Son of man, behold,.... This is said to raise the attention of the prophet, something strange and unusual, interesting and affecting, being about to be delivered: I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke; meaning his wife; who very probably was of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to; however, of an amiable disposition, and in her conjugal relation very agreeable to the prophet; and, no doubt, a truly religious woman, and upon all account's desirable to him.”
2 more voices on this verse
Ezekiel 24:16
“Behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes - Here is an intimation that the stroke he was to suffer was to be above all grief; that it would be so great as to prevent the relief of tears. Curae leves loquuntur, graviores silent, is a well-accredited maxim in such cases. Superficial griefs affect the more easily moved passions; great ones affect the soul itself, in its powers of reasoning, reflecting, comparing, recollecting, etc., when the sufferer feels all the weight of wo.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 24:16
“His natural tenderness is shown by that graphic touch, "the desire of thine eyes." What amazing subjection, then, of his individual feeling to his prophetic duty is manifested in the simple statement (Eze 24:18), "So I spake . . . in the morning; and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded." stroke--a sudden visitation.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Groan quietly: Mourners in Israel went bareheaded and barefoot, covered the upper lip, and ate a mourning meal. Wesley listed each custom that Ezekiel was told to set aside. Silent groaning was all the grief allowed him.
Ezekiel 24:17
“Make no mourning - As a priest, he could make no public mourning, Lev 21:1, etc. Bind the tire of thine head - This seems to refer to the high priest’s bonnet; or perhaps, one worn by the ordinary priests: it might have been a black veil to cover the head. Put on thy shoes upon thy feet - Walking barefoot was a sign of grief. Cover not thy lips - Mourners covered the under part of the face, from the nose to the bottom of the chin.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Ezekiel 24:17
“Bind the tire - Adorn thy head, as thou wast used to do; go not bare-headed as a mourner. Thy shoes - ln great mournings the Jews went bare-footed. Cover not thy lips - It was a custom among them to cover the upper lip.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Ezekiel 24:17
“JEROME explains, "Thou shalt retain the hair which is usually cut in mourning." The fillet, binding the hair about the temples like a chaplet, was laid aside at such times. Uncovering the head was an ordinary sign of mourning in priests; whereas others covered their heads in mourning (2Sa 15:30).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
in the evening my wife died: The whole sign happens within one day. Clarke saw the prophet's wife as a figure of the city and its temple, dear to him as they were to the people. Ezekiel obeyed the next morning without any public mourning.
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 Eze 24:21, where the temple is represented to be the desire of his eyes, as his wife was, Eze 24:16.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 24:19-24
The answer names the coming loss in the same terms as the prophet's own. Gill reads the parallel as deliberately built, the temple to Jerusalem what the wife was to Ezekiel. JFB notes the command laid on the people, ye shall not mourn nor weep, turns Ezekiel's silence into theirs.
So I answered them: Ezekiel answers the people with the word of the LORD that came to him. Spurgeon observed that the people knew at once that his strange conduct had a meaning for them. The answer ties the prophet's loss to theirs.
Ezekiel 24:20
“Then I answered them,.... And gave them an account of the design of the whole, and what was signified hereby: the word of the Lord came unto me, saying; ordering him to do all he did; for he did nothing of himself, but all according to the divine will; and who also directed him to say the following things to the people, by way of explanation.”
the pride of your power: The temple is described in the same words used of the prophet's wife, as dear to the people as she was to him. Henry recalled Jeremiah 7, where the people trusted the temple as a charm. The children left in Jerusalem share its fall.
Ezekiel 24:21
“It was the pride of their strength; they prided in it as their strength that they were the temple of the Lord, Jer. vii. Note, The church-privileges that men are proud of are profaned by their sins, and it is just with God to profane them by his judgments.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 24:21
“Profane - Cast off, and put into the hands of Heathens. The excellency of your strength - So it was while God's presence was there. The desire - As much your desire, as my wife was mine; most dear to you.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
the bread of mourners: The exiles will copy Ezekiel's conduct when the news reaches them. Gill added that they would set aside every rite of their country for the dead. The loss will be too great for ordinary mourning.
Ezekiel 24:22
“And ye shall do as I have done,.... When his wife died, and as he was ordered by the Lord; the meaning of Which they were now inquiring: ye shall not cover your lips; as a token of mourning; nor use any other of their country rites and ceremonies, for fear of provoking their enemies, in whose hands they shall be: nor eat the bread of men; or "of mourners", as the Targum; there shall be none to comfort them, or send bread to them; they shall all be alike mourners.”
waste away because of your sins: The turbans and sandals stay on, and the exiles waste away in silence under their sins. Leviticus 26:39 warned that survivors in the lands of their enemies would waste away in their iniquity. They groan among themselves, with no mourning rites.
Ezekiel 24:23
“They could not in their exile manifest publicly their lamentation, but they would privately "mourn one to another." Their "iniquities" would then be their chief sorrow ("pining away"), as feeling that these were the cause of their sufferings (compare Le 26:39; The fullest fulfilment is still future (Zec 12:10-14).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 24:23
“And your tires shall be upon your heads, and your shoes upon your feet.....”
Ezekiel will be a sign for you: The prophet's own conduct becomes the message. Wesley noted that he would go on serving as a sign until the event itself convinced the exiles. When the news comes, they will do what he did and know who sent it.
Ezekiel 24:24
“Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign,.... These are the words of the prophet concerning himself; observing that in all the above things he was a sign to the Jews of what should befall them, and what should be their case: and according to all that he hath done shall ye do; however it might be then a matter of scorn and derision: and when this cometh: when this prophecy comes to pass, and all these calamities come upon the city and temple: ye shall know that I am the Lord God; omniscient, omnipotent, true, and faithful.”
When the fugitive comes, your mouth will open
Ezekiel 24:25-27
The chapter closes, naming the day a survivor will reach the prophet with news of the fall. Fairbairn reads the end of the prophet's silence, noted already at chapter 3, as bound to this sign. Clarke notes the chapter's last clause applies the recognition formula to the prophet's household loss.
Ezekiel 24:25
“Their strength - Their walls and fortifications. The joy - All their public and private joys and hopes shall be destroyed in the destruction of the kingdom, and their children.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
a fugitive will come: A single survivor carries the news from Jerusalem to the exiles in Babylon. Gill read it as one who escaped the Chaldeans when the city was taken. Ezekiel 33:21 records his arrival in the twelfth year.
Ezekiel 24:26
“That he that escapeth in that day shall come unto thee,.... That is, that one that should escape the hands of the Chaldeans, when the city should be taken, should directly make the best of his way to the prophet: to cause thee to hear it with thine ears; all the particulars of the destruction of the city and temple, as it had been represented to him in vision; when he would see the exact agreement between prophecy and facts; see Eze 33:21.”
your mouth will be opened: The silence laid on Ezekiel in 3:26 ends on the day the fugitive comes. Wesley observed that until then the prophet speaks of other nations. Henry compared the sign with Christ's command to keep silent until the resurrection proved His word.
Ezekiel 24:27
“In that day shall thy mouth be opened - What is, When some one who shall have escaped from Jerusalem, having arrived among the captives, shall inform them of the destruction of the city, the temple, the royal family, and the people at large; till then he might suppress his tears and lamentations. And we find from Eze 33:21, that one did actually escape from the city, and informed the prophet and his brethren in captivity that the city was smitten.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Ezekiel 24:27
“Thus Christ forbade his disciples to preach openly that he was Christ till after his resurrection, because that was to be the full proof of it. "But then thou shalt speak with the greater assurance, and the more effectually, either to their conviction or to their confusion." Note, God's prophets are never silenced but for wise and holy ends.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Ezekiel 24:27
“No more dumb - From this prophecy for eighteen months during the siege, he does not prophesy of Israel, but of other nations. Thou shalt be a sign - Until the event shall convince the Jews, thou shalt by sign, signify to them, what is coming.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Keep studying
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2286: “An Ancient Question Modernized” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Patrick Fairbairn, An Exposition of Ezekiel.