Ezekiel 24:15-17

The Death of Ezekiel's Wife.

‘Also the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, “Son of man, behold I am taking from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke. Yet you will neither mourn, nor weep, nor shall your tears run down. Sigh, but not aloud. Make no mourning for the dead. Bind your turban on you, and put your shoes on your feet, and do not cover your lips (moustache), and do not eat the bread of men.”

God tells Ezekiel that his wife is about to die and that he is to use it as a sign to Israel of what is coming. It is not necessary to see in this a sudden striking down from total health. She may well have been ill for some time (and it could not have been easy being the prophet's wife). It is not her death that is the sign but Ezekiel's reaction to it.

That she is called ‘the desire of your eyes' brings out his feelings for her, and we here learn that on top of all the other burdens that he had had to bear was his beloved wife's illness. We should not be surprised when all of life seems to be toppling on to us. God does so work in those He loves, that we may learn more to look to Him.

But her description as ‘the desire of your eyes' is also given because she is to be compared with God's sanctuary (Ezekiel 24:21), the place where Yahweh met with His people, the place which men ‘loved'. The desire of their eyes was also about to be destroyed.

So Ezekiel was to abjure all the normal signs of mourning. He was not to wail loudly (Micah 1:8 see also Mark 5:38). He was not to begin a period of official mourning. He was to continue to wear his priestly turban (Ezekiel 44:18; Exodus 39:28), although in periods of deep distress that would normally be removed and the head covered in dust and ashes (compare Jos 7:6; 1 Samuel 4:12; Job 2:12). He was not to take off his sandals (compare 2 Samuel 15:30; Isaiah 20:2). He was not to cover his lips (veil the lower part of his face - compare Micah 3:7; Leviticus 13:45 of a leper). He was not to take part in a mourning feast, a wake (Jeremiah 16:7). He was not to show signs of mourning.

‘The bread of men', that is ordinary bread such as would normally be eaten at a wake.