CHAPTER 24 Sep. 28 
The Cauldron
Again, in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me saying, 2Son of man, write the name of the day, this selfsame day: the king of Babylon came close to Jerusalem this day. 3Utter a parable to the rebellious house and tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh, Set on the cauldron, set it on, and also pour water into it. 4Gather its pieces into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones. 5Take the choice of the flock, and also a pile of wood for the bones under the cauldron; make it boil well; yes, let its bones be boiled in its midst. 6Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Woe to the city of blood, to the cauldron whose rust is therein, and whose rust is not gone out of it! Take out of it piece after piece; no lot is fallen on it. 7For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it on the bare rock; she didn’t pour it on the ground, to cover it with dust. 8So that it may cause wrath to come up to take vengeance, I have set her blood on the bare rock, that it should not be covered. 9Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Woe to the city of blood! I also will make the pile great. 10Heap on the wood, make the fire hot, boil well the flesh, make thick the broth, and let the bones be burned. 11Then set it empty on its coals, that it may be hot and its brass may be hot, so that its filthiness may be molten in it, that its rust may be consumed. 12She has wearied herself with lies; yet her great rust doesn’t go forth out of her; her rust doesn’t go forth by fire. 13In your filthiness is lewdness: because I have cleansed you and you weren’t cleansed, you shall not be cleansed from your filthiness any more, until I have caused My wrath toward you to rest. 14I, Yahweh, have spoken it: it shall happen, and I will do it: I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I relent; according to your ways and according to your doings shall they judge you, says the Lord Yahweh.
The Death of Ezekiel’s Wife
15Also the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 16Son of man, behold, I will take away from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke: yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, neither shall your tears run down. 17Sigh, but not aloud; make no mourning for the dead; bind your headdress on you, and put your shoes on your feet, don’t cover your lips nor eat men’s bread. 18So I spoke to the people in the morning; and at evening my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded. 19The people said to me, Won’t you tell us what these things are to us, that you do so? 20Then I said to them, The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 21Speak to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I will profane My sanctuary, the pride of your power, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pities; and your sons and your daughters whom you have left behind shall fall by the sword. 22You shall do as I have done: you shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men. 23Your ornaments shall be on your heads, and your shoes on your feet: you shall not mourn nor weep; but you shall pine away in your iniquities, and groan one toward another. 24Thus Ezekiel shall be a sign to you; according to all that he has done, you will do. When this comes, then you will know that I am the Lord Yahweh. 25You, son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their heart, their sons and their daughters, 26that in that day he who escapes shall come to you, to cause you to hear it with your ears? 27In that day your mouth will be opened to him who has escaped, and you shall speak, and be no more mute. So you will be a sign to them; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.

Commentary

24:7 She set it on the bare rock- But :8 says that God made her do this with her blood, so that she would incite His wrath. Here we have an example of how God confirms people in the sin they choose to commit. There’s both a downward spiral and an upward one, we can never take a break from our spiritual journey, constantly we are being confirmed in the direction we choose.
24:12 Wearied herself with lies- The wearying with lies suggests that it was due to their listening to false prophets rather than the true word of God that the fire did not cleanse them.
24:16 The desire of your eyes- The implication is that Ezekiel dearly loved his wife and found her very attractive. Yet just as he so loved her, so Judah loved Yahweh’s temple (:21). We must realize that Judah weren’t atheists, they hadn’t rejected Yahweh. On one hand they loved Him, but they loved their other gods too.
24:23 The emphasis is very much on the psychological suffering of the condemned Israel. Ezekiel wasn’t allowed to weep, which is the natural expression of grief. It therefore bottled up within him, causing deep psychological pain; in order to present Israel with an illustration of how they would feel under God’s judgment. The punishment of the rejected at the final judgment will be “gnashing of teeth” (Mt. 24:51), which is again a picture of anger with oneself and internal torment at what might have been, the eternal future which they chose to miss. The wicked will not be punished with literal fire or torture; the internal psychological pain will be in fact far worse. These pictures of condemnation are frequent in the Bible; not to scare us into submission, but to bring before us the eternal consequence of the decisions we take in this life, for the flesh or for the Spirit.
24:27- see on 29:21.