13 In thy filthiness is lewdness, for I have purged thee, and thou art not pure. Thou shalt no more be purged from thy filthiness, till I have satisfied my fury upon thee.
They are all the most rebellious of rebels, going about with slander: they are bronze and iron; they are all corrupters. The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed by the fire; they have melted, and melted in vain; and the bad are not plucked away. Reprobate silver shall they call them, for Jehovah hath rejected them.
But to those that are contentious, and are disobedient to the truth, but obey unrighteousness, [there shall be] wrath and indignation, tribulation and distress, on every soul of man that works evil, both of Jew first, and of Greek;
And he said to the vinedresser, Behold, [these] three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree and find none: cut it down; why does it also render the ground useless? But he answering says to him, Sir, let it alone for this year also, until I shall dig about it and put dung, and if it shall bear fruit -- but if not, after that thou shalt cut it down.
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, [the city] that kills the prophets and stones those that are sent unto her, how often would I have gathered thy children as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate;
All the chiefs of the priests also, and the people, increased their transgressions, according to all the abominations of the nations; and they defiled the house of Jehovah which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. And Jehovah the God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up early and sending; because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling-place. But they mocked at the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the fury of Jehovah rose against his people, and there was no remedy.
And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places; yet ye have not returned unto me, saith Jehovah. And I also have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece [of land] was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered. And two, three, cities wandered unto one city, to drink water, and were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah. I have smitten you with blasting and mildew; the palmer-worm hath devoured the multitude of your gardens, and your vineyards, and your fig-trees and your olive-trees: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah. I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, taking away captive your horses; and I made the stench of your camps to come up, even into your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah. I have overthrown among you, like God's overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a brand plucked out of the burning; yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah. Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth [it] not; yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, and he knoweth [it] not. And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face; and they do not return to Jehovah their God, nor seek him for all this. And Ephraim is become like a silly dove without understanding: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria. When they go, I will spread my net upon them; I will bring them down as the fowl of the heavens; I will chastise them, according as their assembly hath heard. Woe unto them! for they have wandered from me; destruction unto them! for they have transgressed against me. And I would redeem them; but they speak lies against me. And they cried not unto me in their heart, when they howled upon their beds; they assemble themselves for corn and new wine; they have turned aside from me. I have indeed trained, I have strengthened their arms, but they imagine mischief against me. They return, [but] not to the [Most] High: they are like a deceitful bow. Their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue: this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.
And Jehovah said unto me, Son of man, wilt thou judge Oholah and Oholibah? yea, declare unto them their abominations. For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands; and with their idols have they committed adultery, and have also passed over unto them their children, whom they bore unto me, to be devoured. Moreover this have they done unto me: in the same day have they defiled my sanctuary and profaned my sabbaths. For when they had slaughtered their children unto their idols, they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and behold, thus have they done in the midst of my house. And furthermore, they sent for men to come from far, unto whom a messenger was sent; and behold, they came: for whom thou didst wash thyself, paintedst thine eyes, and deckedst thyself with ornaments; and satest upon a stately bed, with a table prepared before it, whereupon thou hadst set mine incense and mine oil. And the voice of a multitude living carelessly was with her; and with people of the common sort were brought Sabeans from the wilderness, and they put bracelets upon their hands, and a beautiful crown upon their heads. And I said of her that was old in adulteries, Will she now commit her fornications, even she. And they went in unto her, as they go in unto a whorish woman: so went they in unto Oholah and unto Oholibah the lewd women. And righteous men, they shall judge them with the judgment of adulteresses, and with the judgment of women that shed blood; for they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I will bring up an assemblage against them, and will give them to be driven hither and thither and spoiled. And the assemblage shall stone them with stones, and despatch them with their swords; they shall kill their sons and their daughters, and burn their houses with fire. And I will cause lewdness to cease out of the land, and all women shall receive instruction and shall not do according to your lewdness.
From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, the king of Judah, even unto this day, these three and twenty years, the word of Jehovah hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened. And Jehovah hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear, when they said, Turn again now every one from his evil way, and from the wickedness of your doings, and dwell in the land that Jehovah hath given unto you and to your fathers from of old even for ever. And go not after other gods, to serve them and to worship them; and provoke me not to anger with the work of your hands; and I will do you no hurt. But ye have not hearkened unto me, saith Jehovah; that ye might provoke me to anger with the work of your hands, to your own hurt.
But the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, and they do not seek Jehovah of hosts. And Jehovah will cut off from Israel head and tail, palm-branch and rush, in one day: the ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail. For the guides of this people mislead [them]; and they that are guided by them are swallowed up. Therefore the Lord will not rejoice in their young men, neither will he have mercy on their fatherless and on their widows; for every one is a hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.
What was there yet to do to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? -- And now, let me tell you what I am about to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be eaten up; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trodden under foot; and I will make it a waste -- it shall not be pruned nor cultivated, but there shall come up briars and thorns; and I will command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Ezekiel 24
Commentary on Ezekiel 24 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
On the day on which the king of Babylon commenced the siege and blockade of Jerusalem, this event was revealed by God to Ezekiel on the Chaboras (Ezekiel 24:1 and Ezekiel 24:2); and he was commanded to predict to the people through the medium of a parable the fate of the city and its inhabitants (Ezekiel 24:3-14). God then foretold to him the death of his own wife, and commanded him to show no sign of mourning on account of it. His wife died the following evening, and he did as he was commanded. When he was asked by the people the reason of this, he explained to them, that what he was doing was symbolical of the way in which they were to act when Jerusalem fell (Ezekiel 24:15-24). The fall would be announced to the prophet by a fugitive, and then he would no longer remain mute, but would speak to the people again (Ezekiel 24:25-27). - Apart, therefore, from the last three verses, this chapter contains two words of God, the first of which unfolds in a parable the approaching calamities, and the result of the siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans (Ezekiel 24:1-14); whilst the second typifies by means of a sign the pain and mourning of Israel, namely, of the exiles at the destruction of the city with its sanctuary and its inhabitants. These two words of God, being connected together by their contents, were addressed to the prophet on the same day, and that, as the introduction (Ezekiel 24:1 and Ezekiel 24:2) expressly observes, the day on which the siege of Jerusalem by the king of Babylon began.
And the word of Jehovah came to me in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, saying, Ezekiel 24:2. Son of man, write for thyself the name of the day, this same day! The king of Babylon has fallen upon Jerusalem this same day. - The date given, namely, the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year after the carrying away of Jehoiachin (Ezekiel 1:2), or what is the same thing, of the reign of Zedekiah, who was appointed king in his stead, is mentioned in Jeremiah 52:4; Jeremiah 39:1, and 2 Kings 25:1, as the day on which Nebuchadnezzar blockaded the city of Jerusalem by throwing up a rampart; and after the captivity this day was still kept as a fast-day in consequence (Zechariah 8:19). What was thus taking place at Jerusalem was revealed to Ezekiel on the Chaboras the very same day; and he was instructed to announce it to the exiles, “that they and the besieged might learn both from the time and the result, that the destruction of the city was not to be ascribed to chance or to the power of the Babylonians, but to the will of Him who had long ago foretold that, on account of the wickedness of the inhabitants, the city would be burned with fire; and that Ezekiel was a true prophet, because even when in Babylon, which was at so great a distance, he had known and had publicly announced the state of Jerusalem.” The definite character of this prediction cannot be changed into a vaticinium post eventum , either by arbitrary explanations of the words, or by the unfounded hypothesis proposed by Hitzig, that the day was not set down in this definite form till after the event. - Writing the name of the day is equivalent to making a note of the day. The reason for this is given in Ezekiel 24:2 , namely, because Nebuchadnezzar had fallen upon Jerusalem on that very day. סמך signifies to support, hold up (his hand); and hence both here and in Psalms 88:8 the meaning to press violently upon anything. The rendering “to draw near,” which has been forced upon the word from the Syriac (Ges., Winer, and others), cannot be sustained.
Parable of the Pot with the Boiling Pieces
Ezekiel 24:3. And relate a parable to the rebellious house, and say to them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Set on the pot, set on and also pour water into it. Ezekiel 24:4. Gather its pieces of flesh into it, all the good pieces, haunch and shoulder, fill it with choice bones. Ezekiel 24:5. Take the choice of the flock, and also a pile of wood underneath for the bones; make it boil well, also cook its bones therein. Ezekiel 24:6. Therefore, thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Woe! O city of murders! O pot in which is rust, and whose rust doth not depart from it; piece by piece fetch it out, the lot hath not fallen upon it. Ezekiel 24:7. For her blood is in the midst of her; she hath placed it upon the naked rock; she hath not poured it upon the ground, that they might cover it with dust. Ezekiel 24:8. To bring up fury, to take vengeance, I have made her blood come upon the naked rock, that it might not be covered. Ezekiel 24:9. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Woe to the city of murders! I also will make the pile of wood great. Ezekiel 24:10. Heap up the wood, stir the fire, do the flesh thoroughly, make the broth boil, that the bones may also be cooked away. Ezekiel 24:11. And set it empty upon the coals thereof, that its brass may become hot and glowing, that the uncleanness thereof may melt within it, its rust pass away. Ezekiel 24:12. He hath exhausted the pains, and her great rust doth not go from her; into the fire with her rust! Ezekiel 24:13. In thine uncleanness is abomination; because I have cleansed thee, and thou hast not become clean, thou wilt no more become clean from thy uncleanness, till I quiet my fury upon thee. Ezekiel 24:14. I Jehovah have spoken it; it cometh, and I will do it; I will not cease, nor spare, nor let it repent me. According to thy ways, and according to thy deeds, shall they judge thee, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah.