What does Ezechiel Chapter 24 say, and which statements belong to its speaker?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

A dated siege word introduces a rusty pot. Bereavement and commanded restraint form a sign. An escaped messenger accompanies reopened speech.

Chapter breakdown

Ezechiel 24 dates the word to year nine, month ten, day ten. The prophet must record the day Babylon's king sets himself against Jerusalem and speak a pot parable to the provoking house. Water, good pieces of thigh and shoulder and the fattest flock animal go in, with piles of bones beneath and thorough boiling. Woe identifies the rusty pot with the bloody city: its pieces are cast out without a lot. Blood lies on smooth rock instead of earth where dust could cover it; the Lord exposes it for indignation and vengeance. A great bonfire consumes flesh and bones. The empty pot is set on coals to melt its brass and filth and consume rust, yet great pains and fire have not removed the rust. Uncleanness persists until indignation rests, and judgment follows ways and doings without sparing. These remain the parable's instructions, not a report of completed cooking; marrow is not substituted for bones.

The Lord takes the desire of Ezechiel's eyes with a stroke and forbids lament, weeping and tears. He must sigh in silence, keep his head-tire and shoes, leave his face uncovered and not eat mourners' meat. He speaks in the morning, his wife dies in the evening and he does as commanded the next morning. The stroke is not a medical diagnosis, and turban and sandals are more specific than the text.

Asked the meaning, he explains that the sanctuary, glory and desire of Israel will be profaned and the sons and daughters left behind fall by sword. People imitate his uncovered face, absence of mourning meals, crowns and shoes, pining for iniquity and sighing with brothers. Ezechiel is a sign of things to come. When strength, glory and children are taken and an escaped person brings news, his mouth opens and he is silent no more. The passage does not attribute the required restraint to psychological shock or teach that true grief necessarily transcends mourning rituals.

The story inside

Opening: A dated siege word introduces a rusty pot. Development: Bereavement and commanded restraint form a sign. Conclusion: An escaped messenger accompanies reopened speech.

Lessons worth keeping

1
A dated siege word introduces a rusty pot.
2
Bereavement and commanded restraint form a sign.
3
An escaped messenger accompanies reopened speech.

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 93898–93913
24:1. And the word of the Lord came to me in the ninth year, in the tenth month, the tenth day of the month, saying: 24:2. Son of man, write thee the name of this day, on which the king of Babylon hath set himself against Jerusalem to day. 24:3. And thou shalt speak by a figure a parable to the provoking house, and say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Set on a pot, set it on, I say, and put water in it. 24:4. Heap together into it the pieces thereof, every good piece, the thigh and the shoulder, choice pieces and full of bones. 24:5. Take the fattest of the flock, and lay together piles of bones under it: the seething thereof is boiling hot, and the bones thereof are thoroughly sodden in the midst of it.
Lines 93915–93936
24:6. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose rust is in it, and its rust is not gone out of it: cast it out piece by piece, there hath no lot fallen upon it. 24:7. For her blood is in the midst of her, she hath shed it upon the smooth rock: she hath not shed it upon the ground, that it might be covered with dust. 24:8. And that I might bring my indignation upon her, and take my vengeance: I have shed her blood upon the smooth rock, that it should not be covered. 24:9. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the bloody city, of which I will make a great bonfire. 24:10. Heap together the bones, which I will burn with fire: the flesh shall be consumed, and the whole composition shall be sodden, and the bones shall be consumed. 24:11. Then set it empty upon burning coals, that it may be hot, and the brass thereof may be melted: and let the filth of it be melted in the midst thereof, and let the rust of it be consumed.
Lines 93951–93977
24:16. Son of man, behold I take from thee the desire of thy eyes with a stroke, and thou shalt not lament, nor weep; neither shall thy tears run down. 24:17. Sigh in silence, make no mourning for the dead: let the tire of thy head be upon thee, and thy shoes on thy feet, and cover not thy face, nor eat the meat of mourners. 24:18. So I spoke to the people in the morning, and my wife died in the evening: and I did in the morning as he had commanded me. 24:19. And the people said to me: Why dost thou not tell us what these things mean that thou doest? 24:20. And I said to them: The word of the Lord came to me, saying: 24:21. Speak to the house of Israel: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will profane my sanctuary, the glory of your realm, and the thing that your eyes desire, and for which your soul feareth: your sons, and your daughters, whom you have left, shall fall by the sword. 24:22. And you shall do as I have done: you shall not cover your faces, nor shall you eat the meat of mourners. 24:23. You shall have crowns on your heads, and shoes on your feet: you shall not lament nor weep, but you shall pine away for your iniquities, and every one shall sigh with his brother.