Ezekiel chapter 24

Well, life certainly has been pretty stirred up recently. Is today the first day of a once-again normal routine? Only time will tell.

vs 21

Ezekiel recounts what God has told him - that God is going to desecrate Jerusalem, that many are going to die, that the delight of their eyes will be destroyed - just as Ezekiel's wife died suddenly.

vs 22

Ezekiel goes on to tell them that they will not be able to mourn in the normal way for this loss - of both children and city.

vs 23

It is obvious that there is a perceived benefit in the loud and public mourning process here, and a detriment to it's not being practiced. But why won't they get to mourn?

vs 24

Perhaps for no other reason than that God forbids it, and so it does not happen. Then when they see that it has happened, when the news strikes them, and they don't mourn, then they will see that God was right. It might be that what was contrived in Ezekiel for effect is reality to God's people, because that's how deep in their sin they are - unable to mourn the loss of something great.

vs 25

It's quite a loss.

vs 26

Ahhh, the fugitive - the one who was hiding in the rugs or whatever. Is God using the trope, or did God invent the trope? Answer is obvious, really, because it's a trick question.

vs 27

Apparently this is a turning point in the book of Ezekiel. When this fugitive comes, and tells them about the destruction of Jerusalem, then Ezekiel is allowed to "talk", as it were. Really, what he is allowed to do, many people say, is to fulfil his role as a mediatory prophet, something God forbade him do earlier. Because obviously he hasn't been totally silent to them.