What does Ezechiel Chapter 15 say, and which statements belong to its speaker?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

Vine wood is compared before and after burning. Jerusalem’s inhabitants receive the comparison. Transgression explains announced desolation.

Chapter breakdown

Ezechiel 15 asks what makes vine wood better than other wood or a branch among forest trees. It is not suitable for work or even a pin on which to hang a vessel. Fire consumes both ends and reduces the middle to ashes; if it was unfit when whole, it is still less useful after burning. The chapter does not mention fruit or define the sole vocation of every believer by fruit-bearing.

The Lord compares this wood delivered to fire with Jerusalem's inhabitants. He sets his face against them: having gone out from fire, they will be consumed by fire and know he is the Lord.

The land becomes desolate because they have been transgressors. This is the stated reason for the judgment, rather than a botanical account of crooked vines, a gardener's decisions or a general law governing every society.

The story inside

Opening: Vine wood is compared before and after burning. Development: Jerusalem’s inhabitants receive the comparison. Conclusion: Transgression explains announced desolation.

Lessons worth keeping

1
Vine wood is compared before and after burning.
2
Jerusalem’s inhabitants receive the comparison.
3
Transgression explains announced desolation.

Test your recall

Which images and requests does the speaker use, and what does the chapter leave unresolved?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 92574–92586
15:2. Son of man, what shall be made of the wood of the vine, out of all the trees of the woods that are among the trees of the forests? 15:3. Shall wood be taken of it, to do any work, or shall a pin be made of it for any vessel to hang thereon? 15:4. Behold it is cast into the fire for fuel: the fire hath consumed both ends thereof, and the midst thereof is reduced to ashes: shall it be useful for any work? 15:5. Even when it was whole it was not fit for work: how much less, when the fire hath devoured and consumed it, shall any work be made of it?
Lines 92588–92597
15:6. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: As the vine tree among the trees of the forests which I have given to the fire to be consumed, so will I deliver up the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15:7. And I will set my face against them: they shall go out from fire, and fire shall consume them: and you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have set my face against them. 15:8. And I shall have made their land a wilderness, and desolate, because they have been transgressors, saith the Lord God.