Heap on the logs, kindle the fire, boil the meat well, mix in the spices, and let the bones be burned up.
God tells Ezekiel to pile the logs high under a cooking pot and let the fire finish its work. The pot is Jerusalem under siege, which raises hard questions: who is the meat, why must the bones burn too, and why is nothing spared?
The Day Written Down
This was not general preaching. God attached it to one particular day.
Numerical Bible NotesThe word of Jehovah comes to Ezekiel on that day. It tells him to write down the name of the day, and assures him that the king of Babylon has drawn near to Jerusalem on that very same day.
A Boast Turned Back on the Boasters
The pot was not a new image. The leaders in Jerusalem had said it first.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinIn regard to the judgment they said, "It is not the time to build houses; this is the cauldron and we are the flesh." … They still thought themselves safe in Jerusalem. The phrase "this is the cauldron" means the city of Jerusalem; and we are the "flesh" — themselves. As the flesh in the cauldron is preserved from the fire by the cauldron itself, so they felt themselves secure in the doomed city.
God takes their own picture and makes it come true in a way they never intended.
Numerical Bible NotesAnd now the taunt about the cauldron is to be answered in the event. Jerusalem is indeed to be their cauldron, and in it they will feel the fire of divine wrath. The city itself was a cauldron whose rust was in it, and the rust could not be scoured out. So the whole of it comes under judgment. No lot has fallen on it to spare anyone.
Blood That Was Never Covered
The fire is built so high because of what the city had done with human life.
Numerical Bible NotesShe had taken life — the life that God had ordained to be sacred. Even where life was rightly taken, the blood was to be poured out to Him. It had not been poured out, so it remained to defile her. Worse, she had set it on the bare rock in open view: "She did not pour it on the ground to cover it with dust." So it cried out openly for vengeance. God, in His turn, had set her blood on the bare rock, so that it should not be covered.
Why the Bones Must Burn Too
Boiling would soften the meat. Burning the bones leaves nothing at all.
William KellyIn verses 9-14 we see that Jerusalem should be taken and destroyed in no superficial way. For now Jehovah lets it be known that not only should the bones be burnt, but the city itself. The city is the cauldron, set no longer with water but empty on the coals. So its copper glows, its filthiness is smelt inside it, and its scum is consumed.
Cleansing Refused, Fury Allowed to Rest
The scum that will not scour off explains the severity. Gentler measures had already been tried and had failed.
J. N. DarbyJerusalem should be set as a caldron 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.
Kelly names what had already been tried, and who would carry out the sentence.
William KellyDisciplinary measures had long failed; proper government according to His law was despised. Let the haughtiest and most cruel of earthly marauders come and execute the divine decree now fixed.
What the Fire Warns Against
Kelly traces the boast back to a habit of mind that did not die with Jerusalem.
William KellyJust as the flesh never trusts God for eternal life or for full forgiveness of sins, so mere religiousness tends to presume that God's promises cannot fail. It pays no heed at all to His will or His glory, and it plainly dishonours His name and word.
Summary
- Dated. The order to heap on the logs came the day Babylon's king reached Jerusalem. God told the prophet to write that date down.
- Answered. The pot was their own slogan of safety; God took the image and made it come true against them.
- Uncovered. The city shed blood and never covered it, so God left it exposed on bare rock, crying out.
- Thorough. Flesh boiled, bones burned, then the emptied pot itself set glowing on the coals: nothing superficial.
- Refused. He had cleansed her and she would not be cleansed; when discipline is despised long enough, He lets His fury rest.