Ezekiel 24:1

The new message of the Lord is unusual in one way. The prophet must write down the day, and not only as the date of the message, as is usual. The day is also the exact start of the prediction coming true. As before, he dates it from Jehoiachin's captivity. Only a higher power could have revealed that the siege began that very day. Even the dullest person would feel this.

The exact date is given by the prophet. It was the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year. What happened on that date is recorded in 2 Kings 25:1: "And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem and laid siege to it." How did Ezekiel know about all this? It was the Lord who gave him this information and led him to record the date... We quote a recent commentator: "These verses put the dilemma to us as clearly as can be. Either Ezekiel was a deliberate deceiver, or he had some kind of second sight!" What about divine revelation? These "learned" men refuse even to think it possible.

Ezekiel had been carried into captivity with king Jehoiachin. At the least, he was one of those taken captive at that time. It is his habit to date his prophecies from that period. This is important to notice if we are to understand the revelations given to him. For himself there is no longer any question of dates or of kings, of Judah or of Israel. The people of God are in captivity among the Gentiles.

In Ezekiel, chapter 24 divides the book. We have the utter rejection of the city.

In the last chapter of this series, plainly an appendix to what has gone before, we find the judgment now reached. The king of Babylon has drawn near to Jerusalem. Once that is certain, prophetic messages stop for the present. The events speak for themselves, and now they have to listen to God's voice in them.

In Ezekiel 24 God pronounces final judgment against Jerusalem, who was not even ashamed of her sins. On the day that Nebuchadnezzar lays siege to Jerusalem, the prophet's wife dies; and although he loved her more than anyone else, Ezekiel was not to mourn. Under the figure of his wife's death he is told to hold back his heart before the judgment of the Lord. Once the judgment has been carried out, the prophet's mouth would be opened, and the word of the Lord would be spoken openly to the remnant of the people, so that they would know the Lord. Jerusalem should be set as a cauldron on the fire to melt and consume the whole. God had purged her, but she was not purged; and now He causes His fury to rest upon her.

There are two parts in the chapter. The first announces that the siege has begun, before any news of it could reach the people. The second shows us what this means: God is cutting the tie between Himself and the people, as the death of the prophet's wife pictures. These two parts are, in a certain sense and in a most touching way, in contrast with one another.