17 Cease to groan, `for' the dead thou dost make no mourning, thy bonnet bind on thee, and thy shoes thou dost put on thy feet, and thou dost not cover over the upper lip, and bread of men thou dost not eat.'
They pour not out wine to Jehovah, Nor are they sweet to Him, Their sacrifices `are' as bread of mourners to them, All eating it are unclean: For their bread `is' for themselves, It doth not come into the house of Jehovah.
And Moses saith unto Aaron, and to Eleazar, and to Ithamar his sons, `Your heads ye do not uncover, and your garments ye do not rend, that ye die not, and on all the company He be wroth; as to your brethren, the whole house of Israel, they bewail the burning which Jehovah hath kindled;
And David is going up in the ascent of the olives, going up and weeping, and he hath the head covered, and he is going barefooted, and all the people who `are' with him have covered each his head, and have gone up, going up and weeping;
`As to the leper in whom `is' the plague, his garments are rent, and his head is uncovered, and he covereth over the upper lip, and `Unclean! unclean!' he calleth;
I have been dumb, I open not my mouth, Because Thou -- Thou hast done `it'.
Desist, and know that I `am' God, I am exalted among nations, I am exalted in the earth.
Of painful deaths they die, They are not lamented, nor are they buried, For dung on the face of the ground they are, And by sword and by famine are consumed, And their carcase hath been for food To the fowl of the heavens, And to the beast of the earth. For thus said Jehovah: Do not enter the house of a mourning-feast, Nor go to lament nor bemoan for them, For I have removed My peace from this people, An affirmation of Jehovah, The kindness and the mercies. And died have great and small in this land, They are not buried, and none lament for them, Nor doth any cut himself, nor become bald for them. Nor do they deal out to them for mourning, To comfort him concerning the dead, Nor cause them to drink a cup of consolations For his father and for his mother.
And ye have done as I have done, On the upper lip ye are not covered, And bread of men ye do not eat. And your bonnets `are' on your heads, And your shoes `are' on your feet, Ye do not mourn nor do ye weep, And ye have wasted away for your iniquities, And ye have howled one unto another.
And howled have songstresses of a palace in that day, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, Many `are' the carcases, into any place throw -- hush!
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Ezekiel 24
Commentary on Ezekiel 24 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 24
Here are two sermons in this chapter, preached on a particular occasion, and they are both from Mount Sinai, the mount of terror, both from Mount Ebal, the mount of curses; both speak the approaching fate of Jerusalem. The occasion of them was the king of Babylon's laying siege to Jerusalem, and the design of them is to show that in the issue of that siege he should be not only master of the place, but destroyer of it.
Eze 24:1-14
We have here,
Eze 24:15-27
These verses conclude what we have been upon all along from the beginning of this book, to wit, Ezekiel's prophecies of the destruction of Jerusalem; for after this, though he prophesied much concerning other nations, he said no more concerning Jerusalem, till he heard of the destruction of it, almost three years after, ch. 33:21. He had assured them, in the former part of this chapter, that there was no hope at all of the preventing of the trouble; here he assures them that they should not have the ease of weeping for it. Observe here,