A Sign in Sorrow

Ezekiel 24 marks a turning point in the book. In the ninth year, on the tenth day of the tenth month, God told Ezekiel to write the name of the day, this same day. The king of Babylon drew close to Jerusalem this same day. From exile, Ezekiel recorded what God revealed hundreds of miles away.

God then gave a parable of a cooking pot. The choice pieces of meat inside recalled the leaders' earlier boast in chapter 11 that they were the meat, safe in the cauldron. But the pot was rusty, and its rust would not leave it even under fire. God said he had tried to cleanse Jerusalem, and she would not be cleansed. The siege would expose the corruption that repeated warnings had failed to remove.

The most personal moment in the book follows. God told Ezekiel he would take away the desire of his eyes, his wife, and that Ezekiel must not mourn in the customary public ways. So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. Ezekiel's grief was real; God permitted him to sigh, but not aloud. His restraint became a sign. The temple, the desire of the people's eyes, would fall, and their shock would be too deep for ordinary mourning. In the New Testament, 2 Corinthians 1:4 says God comforts us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction.