To rouse my wrath, to take vengeance, I have set on the bare rock the blood she has shed, that it may not be covered.
The siege of Jerusalem has begun, and God is explaining the boiling pot of this chapter. What does He do with a city that kills and does not even hide the evidence?
Judgment that is now settled
In this chapter warning turns into sentence. One commentator ties that to the city's shamelessness.
J. N. DarbyIn Ezekiel 24 God pronounces final judgment on Jerusalem, who was not even ashamed of her sins. On the day that Nebuchadnezzar lays siege to Jerusalem, the prophet's wife dies... God would set Jerusalem as a pot on the fire, to melt and consume it all. God had cleansed her, but she did not become clean; and now He lets His fury rest on her.
Why blood had to be covered
The verse points back to the law of Moses about blood, which every Israelite knew. One commentator sums up that law:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinEverything in this chapter of the law speaks of how sacred the blood is. It shows what great value God places on the blood, for life belongs to Him. It shows with what jealous care He watches over it... Even the hunter had to pour out the blood and cover it with dust.
Blood set on the bare rock
The heart of the verse is a reversal. What the city did with the blood of others, God now does with her blood.
Numerical Bible NotesShe had taken life. God had made life sacred, and even when life was taken rightly, the blood had to be poured out to Him. This blood was never poured out, so it stayed 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 openly for vengeance. In His turn, God had set her blood on the bare rock, so that it should not be covered.
Why human blood weighs so much
Another writer says why killing carried extra weight in Israel, and how God answered it.
William KellyThe evil of Jerusalem reached as far as blood. That was a far greater offence in Israel, because they knew how God upheld the sacredness of human life, since man is made in His image — a truth the nations soon forgot and lost. Her evil was deeply ingrained and committed openly, with no care to hide it, and so Jehovah would deal with her in the same way in His retribution.
A city that felt safe
This verse sits inside the parable of the boiling pot. Religion can give people a false sense of safety.
William KellyThe cauldron, filled with the pieces of flesh and the best bones and boiled well, is the dreadful picture which Jehovah later explains. It points back to their own proud boast that Jerusalem kept them safe. The flesh never trusts God for eternal life or for full forgiveness of sins. In the same way, mere religion tends to presume on God's promises as unbreakable, with no heed at all to His will or His glory, and to the plain dishonour of His name and word.
Uncovered blood as a cry
Uncovered blood also speaks for the victim. The same writer points back to this verse when he describes God's servants left unburied.
Numerical Bible NotesTheir blood has been shed like water round the city of peace, and no one was left to bury them. Yet in this way they were left appealing to God in the open sight of heaven — the crime made plain, the earth refusing to cover it (compare Job 16:18; Ezekiel 24:8).
Uncovered blood is never silent. It accuses the one who shed it, and it pleads for the one who lost it.
Blood that asks for pardon instead
Blood crying for vengeance is not the last word. One writer sets Abel's blood beside the blood of Christ.
Hamilton SmithAbel's blood was sprinkled on the earth, and cried aloud to God for vengeance on the one who shed it. The blood of Christ has been sprinkled on the mercy seat under the eye of God, and instead of crying for vengeance, it cries for pardon for those who shed it.
Summary
- Blood claimed. God treats life as His own. Even a hunter had to pour out blood and cover it with dust.
- Blood exposed. Jerusalem left her victims' blood uncovered on bare rock. She was not even ashamed of her sins.
- Blood answered. In His turn God set her blood on the rock, uncovered, so that wrath had to rise and vengeance had to come.
- Blood heard. Uncovered blood always speaks. It accuses the killer, and it pleads for the killed, who appeal to heaven in open sight.
- Blood better. Christ's blood cries too — not for vengeance, but for pardon for the very people who shed it.