View Ezekiel 24 in the note window.
By the sign of flesh boiling in a pot are shewed, the miseries of
Jerusalem during the siege, ver. 1 - 14.
By the sign of Ezekiel's not mourning for his wife is shewed,
that the approaching calamities would be to great to be lamented,
ver. 15 - 27.
1: In the ninth year - Of Zedekiah's reign. Came unto me - The
prophet was now in Babylon.
2: Set himself - Sat down to besiege.
4: Every good piece - All the chief of the inhabitants of the land,
the wealthiest, who will fly from their country - houses to live in safety
in Jerusalem: the most war - like, who will betake themselves to
Jerusalem for its defence. 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.
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.
6: The bloody city - Jerusalem. Whose scum - Her wickedness is
still within her. Piece by piece - One piece after another 'till all
be consumed. No lot - Lots are for saving some, but here shall be no
sparing any.
7: The blood - Innocent blood which she hath shed.
The top of a rock - Where it might be long seen.
To cover it - These butchers of innocent ones leave their blood uncovered.
8: I have set - I will openly punish, and in such a manner as shall
not be soon forgotten.
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.
11: The filthiness - A type of the unreformed sinfulness of the city.
Molten - That their wickedness may be taken away with their persons, and
city.
12: She - Jerusalem. 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.
13: Lewdness - Or obstinacy and boldness. Purged thee - Used all
means to purge thee.
16: With a stroke - A sudden stroke, by my own immediate hand.
We know not how soon the desire of our eyes may be removed from us.
Death is a stroke, which the most pious, the most useful, the most
amiable are not exempted from.
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. Eat not - Of thy neighbours and friends, who were wont to
visit their mourning friends, and send in choice provision to their houses.
18: I spake - Told them what I expected would be.
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.
22: Ye shall do - When you are in captivity, where you may not use
your own customs.
23: Pine away - You shall languish with secret sorrow, when you shall
not dare to shew it openly.
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.
26: To hear it - To give thee a narrative of all he had seen.
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.
