Ezekiel 24:1

GOD'S LAST MESSAGE BEFORE THE FALL OF JERUSALEM

THE RUSTED CALDRON; AND THE DEATH OF EZEKIEL'S WIFE

There are three connected themes in this chapter: (1) the parable of the rusty caldron (Ezekiel 24:1-14); the sign of the death of Ezekiel's wife (Ezekiel 24:15-24); and (3) the prophecy of the end of Ezekiel's dumbness (Ezekiel 24:25-27).[1]

The date of this chapter is January 15,588 B.C., a date confirmed in 2 Kings 25:1, and in Jeremiah 39:1; 52:4. It is also significant that, in the times of Zechariah, this very date had been memorialized among the captives, and for ages celebrated as a solemn fast-day (Zechariah 8:19).

When Ezekiel wrote these words (yes, they were actually written down on the very day God's message came, Ezekiel 24:2), he was in Babylon, four hundred miles from Jerusalem; and there was no way that he could have known the exact day of Nebuchadnezzar's investment of Jerusalem except by the direct revelation of God. "It cannot be supposed that such intelligence could have reached him by any human means. When, therefore, the captives later received news of the beginning of the siege, they had, upon comparing the dates, an infallible proof of the Divine inspiration of Ezekiel."[2]

The radical critics have done their best to get rid of the implications of a passage like this; but as Keil stated it, "The definite character of this prediction cannot be changed into a "vaticinium post eventum", either by arbitrary explanations of the words, or by some unfounded hypothesis."[3]

Only an unbeliever, or one who wishes to become an unbeliever, can possibly allow some evil scholar, whose purpose is clearly that of discrediting the Word of God, to deny what the sacred text says, merely upon the basis of his arbitrary emendations of the text, or by his efforts to substitute his own word for the Word of God.

"These prophecies in Ezekiel 24 were delivered two years and five months after those dated in Ezekiel 20:1 ."[4]

PARABLE OF THE RUSTY CALDRON

Ezekiel 24:1-5

"Again in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Son of man, write the name of the day, even of this selfsame day: the king of Babylon drew close unto Jerusalem this selfsame day. And utter a parable unto the rebellious house, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Set on the caldron, set it on, and also pour water into it: gather the pieces thereof into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones. Take the choice of the flock, and also a pile of wood for the bones under the caldron; make it boil well; yea, let the bones thereof be boiled in the midst of it."

The arrogant unbelief of some alleged scholars never fails to astonish us. May, for example, stated that, Ezekiel was probably in Babylon when he wrote this, "To be able to know the very day of the beginning of the siege."[5] Apparently such a `scholar' never heard of such a thing as 'Divine inspiration.' One may wonder why he wrote so much about a book in the Bible, the value of which is founded solely upon its being "inspired of God (1 Peter 1:21)."

Feinberg accurately observed that, "One purpose for this attention to the exact date, was in order for the nations to have written, tangible proof of the accuracy of Ezekiel's prophecies."[6]

Analogies clearly visible in this parable: the caldron is the city; the flesh in it is the people; the immense fire under it is the fire of war; the setting of the caldron on the fire is the beginning of the siege; the rust in the pot (introduced later) is the inherent wickedness of the people; the "choice bones (Ezekiel 24:4)" are the bones with meat attached to them; their being "choice" bones indicates that the nobility and the landed gentry will also be ruined by the war; the "bones under the caldron (Ezekiel 24:5)" are the large bones used, along with the logs for fuel; the removal of the flesh from the caldron indicates the destruction of the whole city, rich and poor alike, high and low, indiscriminately, whether by sword, by pestilence, by famine, or by deportation; the emptying of the caldron indicated the removal of Jerusalem's population; the caldron's still being rusted indicated Jerusalem's worthlessness, at that time, as regarded God's eternal purpose, entailing, of course, the necessity for its complete destruction; the severe burning of the caldron in intense fire after it was emptied speaks of the burning and destruction of the city itself and the Temple of God.

It would seem, as Jamieson thought, that God's selection of this figure of the boiling caldron might have been in response to that boastful proverb the people adopted (Jeremiah 11:3), in which they claimed to be "the flesh" safe in the caldron (Jerusalem), whereas the captives, by their absence, were out of it altogether. Ezekiel here revealed to them that, "Your proverb shall prove to be awfully true, but in a far different sense from what you intended."[7] Judah would not be safe in the caldron, but cooked and destroyed in it.