Ezekiel 24:1-14--The Siege of Jerusalem

Ezekiel 24:1-14
English Standard Version

The Siege of Jerusalem
24 In the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, write down the name of this day, this very day. The king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day. 3 And utter a parable to the rebellious house and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD:

“Set on the pot, set it on;
    pour in water also;
4 put in it the pieces of meat,
    all the good pieces, the thigh and the shoulder;
    fill it with choice bones.
5 Take the choicest one of the flock;
    pile the logs under it;
boil it well;
    seethe also its bones in it.

6 “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose corrosion is in it, and whose corrosion has not gone out of it! Take out of it piece after piece, without making any choice. 7 For the blood she has shed is in her midst; she put it on the bare rock; she did not pour it out on the ground to cover it with dust. 8 To rouse my wrath, to take vengeance, I have set on the bare rock the blood she has shed, that it may not be covered. 9 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the bloody city! I also will make the pile great. 10 Heap on the logs, kindle the fire, boil the meat well, mix in the spices, and let the bones be burned up. 11 Then set it empty upon the coals, that it may become hot, and its copper may burn, that its uncleanness may be melted in it, its corrosion consumed. 12 She has wearied herself with toil; its abundant corrosion does not go out of it. Into the fire with its corrosion! 13 On account of your unclean lewdness, because I would have cleansed you and you were not cleansed from your uncleanness, you shall not be cleansed anymore till I have satisfied my fury upon you. 14 I am the LORD. I have spoken; it shall come to pass; I will do it. I will not go back; I will not spare; I will not relent; according to your ways and your deeds you will be judged, declares the Lord GOD.”

---

The LORD comes to Ezekiel and tells him to write down the date of the very day He was talking to Ezekiel, because this was the day the prophecies had come true, and the city of Jerusalem was besieged by the king of Babylon.  The city and the people have been prepared like how meat is cooked and tenderized by boiling it in a pot over a fire.  The choicest of the sections of meat are there for the feast that is being prepared (this way of preparing food and these particular sections of meat were the LORD's portion of the sacrifices that were given to the priests.  Now, the people who are the LORD's portion have become a sacrifice of sorts, but this will not be a meal of atonement where the priests take the sins of the people upon themselves, but a feast of judgment where the Gentiles devour the Land and people to even destroy them if possible).

All the cities that were guilty of the shedding of innocent blood and all kinds of abominations that we talked about last time will now be judged and become heaps of rubble.  Their walls and fortifications will not protect them from the LORD's hand of judgment.  They will be burned with fire--fire so hot that it will proverbially melt their uncleanliness.  It will be a picture of fiery judgment that awaits all those who die in rebellion to the LORD.  Everything of value will be burned up and even the bones of those who had died and not been buried would be burned with fire as picture of the fiery judgment.

It did not have to be this way!  The LORD would have offered them cleansing and forgiveness if they would have returned to Him.  He would have protected them from natural disaster, plague, pestilence, and foreign invaders.  He would have given them peace, tranquility and prosperity.  All of it was theirs for the taking if they would have chosen to love Him and keep His commandments in response to that love.  Now, the only way to purify them of their corrosion and filthiness is with fire.  They have refused the LORD's cleansing, so they must now face His wrath.  He has set His mind to this thing and will do it, though they think it is impossible and He has sworn by His great Name over and over again that this will certainly happen.  The people should understand how powerful of a statement that is, but they keep imagining that they might somehow escape or avoid judgment.  It's not going to happen, though some of them will pass through the fire and survive (a small remnant).  It is because the LORD loves His people that He cannot continue to let them live in corruption and iniquity.  He must act to put an end to these abominations and to restore His great name and to restore His people.