The Siege of Jerusalem

Here are my thoughts on Ezekiel 24:1-14.

Summary: In this passage, God:

• commands Ezekiel to note the current date, since it marks the beginning of the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem
• presents a poetical allegory about a burning cauldron – symbolizing that siege
• presents two oracles that 1) interpret that allegory and 2) reveal that the cauldron is rusty – symbolizing the wickedness of the people of Jerusalem.

Thoughts: In verses 6-9, God describes the blood that has been shed in Jerusalem. Taylor offers some thoughts on this point:

Here are two oracles dependent upon each other and on the poem of the cooking-pot. The first (6-8) deals with the blood-guiltiness of Jerusalem, harking back to the message of 22:1-16…But Jerusalem’s guilt still remains, like blood spilled on the bare rock, uncovered by earth in burial and therefore still crying out to God for vengeance…

These verses are a powerful reminder of the magnitude of the sins in Jerusalem. In particular, innocent blood was being shed within her walls (via child sacrifice, robbery, etc.). It can be argued that the murder of innocents was the worst sin that one could commit in Jerusalem. Such heinous sins demanded recompense; as the God of justice, He could not allow them to persist. Now I wonder: did the people of Jerusalem actually attempt to justify these murders? If so, then that would highlight the magnitude of their depravity (i.e. they were so hardened to sin that even murders could not prick their consciences).

In verses 6-14, God asserts that He will remove sinfulness from Jerusalem by burning it out of her. Taylor offers some thoughts on this point:

…now the Lord intends to kindle a fire which will eventually melt the cauldron itself…the empty pot is stood on the burning coals so that it may become red-hot and all its filth and rust be melted away…The appalling sufferings undergone by God’s people from 588 BC onwards, in the siege and in exile, were due to their unwillingness to allow God to deal with them much earlier on in their history of disobedience.

This reminds me of previous instances where I believe that He punished me for my sinfulness (e.g. bad grades in college, lost friendships, etc.). Those trials were painful, and I initially responded to them by wrestling with Him, wondering why He chose those punishments. After sufficient time had passed, though, I was able to take a more God-centered view of those punishments, viewing them as motivation to change my ways. That was the desired effect from His perspective, as I was able to think about how I might avoid those sins in the future (and, more importantly, put those thoughts into practice).