DEATH OF EZEKIEL’S WIFE
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Opening Prayer
As I come to read and reflect on Scripture today, Father, I need your Spirit to speak, to teach, to encourage, and to challenge me. I want to hear your voice.
Read EZEKIEL 24
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Jerusalem as a Cooking Pot
24 In the ninth year, in the tenth month on the tenth day, the word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, record this date, this very date, because the king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day. 3 Tell this rebellious people a parable and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘Put on the cooking pot; put it on
and pour water into it.
4 Put into it the pieces of meat,
all the choice pieces—the leg and the shoulder.
Fill it with the best of these bones;
5 take the pick of the flock.
Pile wood beneath it for the bones;
bring it to a boil
and cook the bones in it.
6 “‘For this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘Woe to the city of bloodshed,
to the pot now encrusted,
whose deposit will not go away!
Take the meat out piece by piece
in whatever order it comes.
7 “‘For the blood she shed is in her midst:
She poured it on the bare rock;
she did not pour it on the ground,
where the dust would cover it.
8 To stir up wrath and take revenge
I put her blood on the bare rock,
so that it would not be covered.
9 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘Woe to the city of bloodshed!
I, too, will pile the wood high.
10 So heap on the wood
and kindle the fire.
Cook the meat well,
mixing in the spices;
and let the bones be charred.
11 Then set the empty pot on the coals
till it becomes hot and its copper glows,
so that its impurities may be melted
and its deposit burned away.
12 It has frustrated all efforts;
its heavy deposit has not been removed,
not even by fire.
13 “‘Now your impurity is lewdness. Because I tried to cleanse you but you would not be cleansed from your impurity, you will not be clean again until my wrath against you has subsided.
14 “‘I the Lord have spoken. The time has come for me to act. I will not hold back; I will not have pity, nor will I relent. You will be judged according to your conduct and your actions, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”
Ezekiel’s Wife Dies
15 The word of the Lord came to me: 16 “Son of man, with one blow I am about to take away from you the delight of your eyes. Yet do not lament or weep or shed any tears. 17 Groan quietly; do not mourn for the dead. Keep your turban fastened and your sandals on your feet; do not cover your mustache and beard or eat the customary food of mourners.”
18 So I spoke to the people in the morning, and in the evening my wife died. The next morning I did as I had been commanded.
19 Then the people asked me, “Won’t you tell us what these things have to do with us? Why are you acting like this?”
20 So I said to them, “The word of the Lord came to me: 21 Say to the people of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am about to desecrate my sanctuary—the stronghold in which you take pride, the delight of your eyes, the object of your affection. The sons and daughters you left behind will fall by the sword. 22 And you will do as I have done. You will not cover your mustache and beard or eat the customary food of mourners. 23 You will keep your turbans on your heads and your sandals on your feet. You will not mourn or weep but will waste away because of[a] your sins and groan among yourselves. 24 Ezekiel will be a sign to you; you will do just as he has done. When this happens, you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.’
25 “And you, son of man, on the day I take away their stronghold, their joy and glory, the delight of their eyes, their heart’s desire, and their sons and daughters as well— 26 on that day a fugitive will come to tell you the news. 27 At that time your mouth will be opened; you will speak with him and will no longer be silent. So you will be a sign to them, and they will know that I am the Lord.”
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 24:23 Or away in
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
‘Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles.’1
Here is another cooking pot analogy, although it is not clear if Ezekiel speaks in words or if he acts out the parable, potentially ruining a valuable cooking pot. The pot is destroyed to illustrate God’s declaration that Jerusalem cannot be saved: ‘I will not have pity’ (v. 14). These are words of terrible finality—God’s patience is exhausted.
God tells Ezekiel that he is to lose his wife. This is almost another acted parable to illustrate that what Ezekiel’s wife means to him, the temple means to the people, and how they will suffer its loss. It is only from this passage that we know that Ezekiel was married. His wife is not named. The chapter gives us an unusual glimpse of Ezekiel as a man devoted to his wife who is the delight of his eyes. We cannot begin to imagine his inner anguish when he is told she is to die—all the more so as he is neither to show grief nor conduct funeral rites, but he is to continue with his prophetic work. One may wonder whether he told her how the day would end.
Life cannot have been easy for his wife. If Ezekiel was only 34, she may have been only in her twenties. Initially strictly vetted against the requirements for a priest’s wife,2 she would have been honored to have an important and respected husband, who would serve in the temple in Jerusalem. Then the exile dashed all those hopes. In exile she found herself living with a man who virtually starved himself to death before her eyes, who was the butt of everything from mockery to hatred, and ‘whose unpredictable eccentricity made her house a virtual tourist site.’3 Wives, like prophets, who sacrifice their priorities for the sake of the kingdom will not go unrewarded.
Apply
The loss of his wife was a great personal tragedy for Ezekiel. Is there someone who has lost a loved one that you can support and pray for?
Closing prayer
Lord Jesus, only you can heal the heart’s deepest wounds. As I relate to pain in those around me, please give me your compassion and wisdom. Speak through me the words of comfort and great hope that are found solely in you.
1 2 Cor 1:3, 4 2 Lev 21 3 C Wright, The Message of Ezekiel (IVP, 2001), 215.
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