Ezekiel 24:15-24

B. The Death of Ezekiel's Wife 24:15-24

TRANSLATION

(15) And the word of the LORD came unto me saying, (16) Son of man, behold, I am about to take from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke; yet you shall not lament or weep, nor shall your tears come down. (17) Sigh silently; make no mourning for the dead, your headdress bind upon you, and your sandals put upon your feet, and do not cover your lip, and do not eat the bread of men. (18) So I spoke unto the people in the morning, and my wife died in the evening; and I did in the morning as I was commanded. (19) And the people said unto me: Will you not declare to us what these things are to us that you are doing? (20) And I said unto them, The word of the LORD came unto me, saying, (21) Say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold I am about to profane My sanctuary, the pride of your power, the desire of your eyes, and the longing of your soul; and your sons and your daughters whom you have left behind shall fall by the sword. (22) And you shall do as I have done; you shall not cover your lip, and you shall not eat the bread of men; (23) and your headdress shall be upon your heads, and your sandals upon your feet; you shall not lament nor weep; but you shall waste away in your iniquities, and moan one to another. (24) And Ezekiel shall be to you a sign; according to all which he has done you shall do; when it comes to pass you shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

COMMENTS

A shocking announcement was made to the prophet on that day when Jerusalem came under siege. It was an announcement which caused Ezekiel no little grief. The desire of your eyes your wife would die with a stroke, i.e., she would die suddenly without having been previously sick. The prophet was commanded to refrain from any lamentation or mourning rites (Ezekiel 24:16). He was to sigh in silence, i.e., to internalize his agony, and he was not to resort to the customary loud cries of lamentation. He was not to loosen his headgear to let his hair hang down covering his upper lip. He was not to remove his sandals nor eat the bread of men, i.e., the mourner's meal supplied by friends and relatives (Ezekiel 24:17). What a difficult burden the Lord laid on His prophet. Ezekiel's silent grief was to symbolize the stupefying effect which the fall of Jerusalem would have on the Jews at home and abroad. They would be too stunned for customary expressions of grief.

Even though he knew his wife would die at any moment, Ezekiel continued his ministry of preaching. That evening his wife died. The next morning Ezekiel carried out the Lord's command to sigh in silence (Ezekiel 24:18). The people, perplexed by his strange behavior, sensed that the prophet was trying to convey some symbolic meaning to them. Thus they inquired concerning his conduct (Ezekiel 24:19).

In response to the inquiry of his fellow exiles, Ezekiel first indicated that what he had been doing and what he was about to say came from God (Ezekiel 24:20). He had just suffered the loss of the desire of his eyes, the one he held most precious. The Jews were about to lose their Temple. The loss thus incurred is indicated in the text by three expressions which underscore the prominent place that sacred structure occupied in the hearts of the Jews. The Temple was (1) the pride of your power, i.e., that which guaranteed, so they thought, the invincibility of Jerusalem and permanence of their national existence; (2) the desire of your eyes, i.e., that which they held to be most precious; and (3) the longing of your soul, i.e., that which they most missed by being exiled to Babylon. That sacred spot was about to be profaned being delivered into the hands of heathen men. Along with the loss of that Temple the exiles would lose their sons and daughters who had been left behind in the doomed city (Ezekiel 24:21). When the exiles would hear of the destruction of the Temple and the loss of their children, they would be thrown into shock, unable to observe the conventional mourning customs (Ezekiel 24:22). Added to the news of the unthinkable disaster in Jerusalem would be the pangs of guilty conscience. During that period of grief the once proud exiles would waste away in their iniquities. In almost inaudible expressions they would moan one to another (Ezekiel 24:23). In this way the Lord had appointed Ezekiel as a sign to the exiles. As the prophet had abstained from outward display of mourning, so also would the exiles. When all this came to pass the news that Jerusalem had fallen and the Temple had been destroyed they would know that the event had been decreed by the Lord (Ezekiel 24:24).