Ezekiel - episode 4

Woe to the bloody city!

Time has expired for Jerusalem: «Again, in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month [end of 589 – beginning of 588 a.C.], the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Son of man, write the name of the day, even of this same day» (Ezek 24,1-2).
Ezekiel tells «a parable» in which the city is represented as a «caldron», full of «choice bones» and nevertheless affected by the «rust» of many sins. Their blood is not covered, this way adding insolence to the murders: Jerusalem is not interested in hiding them, she is not afraid that the poured blood could “cry to the Lord”, as in Gen 4,10. Therefore the Lord lights the terrible fire of the Babylonian siege, that can «boil well» the caldron’s content (Jerusalem’s inhabitants) and can even burn its «brass» (walls and buildings). «Utter a parable to the rebellious house, and tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Set on the caldron, set it on, and also pour water into it: gather its pieces into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones. Take the choice of the flock, and also a pile of wood for the bones under the caldron; make it boil well; yes, let its bones be boiled in its midst.”‘ “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Woe to the bloody city, to the caldron whose rust is therein, and whose rust is not gone out of it! Take out of it piece after piece; No lot is fallen on it. For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it on the bare rock; she didn’t pour it on the ground, to cover it with dust. That it may cause wrath to come up to take vengeance, I have set her blood on the bare rock, that it should not be covered.’ “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Woe to the bloody city! I also will make the pile great. Heap on the wood, make the fire hot, boil well the flesh, and make thick the broth, and let the bones be burned. Then set it empty on its coals, that it may be hot, and its brass may burn, and that its filthiness may be molten in it, that its rust may be consumed. She has wearied herself with toil; yet her great rust doesn’t go forth out of her; her rust doesn’t go forth by fire. In your filthiness is lewdness: because I have cleansed you and you weren’t cleansed, you shall not be cleansed from your filthiness any more, until I have caused my wrath toward you to rest. I, the LORD, have spoken it: it shall happen, and I will do it: I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent; according to your ways, and according to your doings, shall they judge you,’ says the Lord GOD.”» (Ezek 24,3-14).
The Lord then asks His prophet a terrible symbolic action: «Also the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Son of man, behold, I will take away from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke: yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, neither shall your tears run down. Sigh, but not aloud, make no mourning for the dead; bind your headdress on you, and put your shoes on your feet, and do not cover your lips, and do not eat men’s bread.” So I spoke to the people in the morning; and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded. The people said to me, “Won’t you tell us what these things are to us, that you do so?”



Then I said to them, “The word of the LORD came to me, saying, ‘Speak to the house of Israel, “Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pities; and your sons and your daughters whom you have left behind shall fall by the sword. You shall do as I have done: you shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men. Your turbans shall be on your heads, and your shoes on your feet: you shall not mourn nor weep; but you shall pine away in your iniquities, and moan one toward another. Thus Ezekiel shall be a sign to you; according to all that he has done, you will do. When this comes, then you will know that I am the Lord GOD.”’” “You, son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their heart, their sons and their daughters, that in that day he who escapes shall come to you, to cause you to hear it with your ears? In that day your mouth will be opened to him who has escaped, and you shall speak, and be no more mute: so you will be a sign to them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.”» (Ezek 24,15-27). Jerusalem’s end, then, will be tragically quick, not giving time even to the traditional mourning practices.
Ezekiel will remain mute for several months, until the fulfillment of the prophecy (Ezek 33,21-22); he is a living symbol of the Word the people belittled, ignored, replaced with the false prophets’ announcements (see Ezek 13,1-5) and rejected. After his long silence, Ezekiel will change his preaching: the punishment for Jerusalem’s sins was executed, now it is time for a renovation and a new hope. We will write about it in the next post.
I leave to your personal reading the oracles against the foreign nations (chapters 25-32), in particular the one against the king of Tyre (Ezek 28,1-19). The text presents that character as a human being model, created by the Lord perfect and wonderful. His disastrous fall is caused by the pride («you have set your heart as the heart of God») and by the huge lust for money («By the abundance of your traffic they filled the midst of you with violence, and you have sinned»; «By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your traffic, you have profaned your sanctuaries»).