Ezekiel 24:15-16

The Lord told Ezekiel that He was about to take the life of his beloved wife. The English word "blow" (Ezekiel 24:16) implies a sudden, unexpected death. The Hebrew word, magephoh, does not demand a sudden death, but it sometimes describes such a death (cf. 1 Samuel 4:17; 2 Samuel 17:9; 2 Samuel 18:7). It could also mean death by plague or disease or anything that strikes a person down (cf. Exodus 9:14; Numbers 14:37; Numbers 16:44-50; Numbers 25:8-9). In any case, the prophet was not to mourn, weep, or shed any tears over this personal tragedy (cf. Jeremiah 16:5-13).

Such an announcement raises the question of whether God commits unprovoked acts of cruelty just to illustrate a point. In view of revelations of God’s character here and elsewhere, we should probably interpret this statement as meaning that God allowed Ezekiel’s wife to die at this precise time. He used her death, which He predicted to the prophet, to communicate a message to His people (cf. the unfaithfulness of Hosea’s wife). The text does not say that God put her to death as an object lesson. She could have been ill for some time before she died. Another similar situation involved God allowing the death of His innocent Son to occur at precisely the time God intended as another expression of His love and judgment.