The Strand Study Bible

EZEKIEL 24:15

EZEKIEL 24:24

1282

back, neither will I spare, neither will I re- pent; according to thy ways, and according to thy doings, shall they judge thee, saith the Lord GOD. P The sign of the death of Ezekiel’s wife (Picturing family dismemberment after Babylon’s final invasion) 15 Also the 1 word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 16 Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke: yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down. 17 Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire of thine head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover not thy lips, and eat not the bread of men. 18 So I spake unto the people in the morning: and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded.

19 And the people said unto me, Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us, that thou doest so? 20 Then I answered them, The 1 word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 21 Speak unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, 2 I will pro- fane my sanctuary, the excellency of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pitieth; and your sons and your daughters whom ye have left shall fall by the sword. P 22 And ye shall do as I have done: ye shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men. 23 And your tires shall be upon your heads, and your shoes upon your feet: 3 ye shall not mourn nor weep; but ye shall pine away for your iniquities, and mourn one toward another. 24 Thus 4 Ezekiel is unto you a sign: according to all that he hath done shall ye

1. Ezk 1:3,24 2. Fulfilled - II Ki 25:9 (Temple Destroyed) 3. Jere 16:5-7 4. Ezk 4:3 & 12:6,11

24:16 On the very day that King Nebuchadnezzar began his third and final siege of Jerusalem in 588 BC, Ezekiel is told that the joy of his life (i.e., his wife; the desire of thine eyes ) would be taken from him in the evening by way of a stroke as a sign to the captive Jews in Babylon (vs 24). Just as Ezekiel would not have time to mourn his wife’s death, so the Jews in Jerusalem during the third and final invasion would not have time to mourn the death of their loved ones. The disaster would be so great, the dead so many, that the people would be stunned with grief, unable even to honor the dead with the appropriate rites. NOTE – Why would God take the life of an innocent woman just to prove a point? Is truth that important to God? The answer is yes, for truth trumps life itself. The reason truth trumps life is because truth is eternal, this life is not. This life is not about this life no matter how good a life you’re having. This life is simply a prelude to the next life. And until you get it, you’re not getting it, as God’s people are notorious for “not getting it” ( II Cor 4:17,18 ). 24:17 The Jews over in Babylon weren’t the only ones to learn truth from the death of Ezekiel’s wife. Ezekiel was to learn three truths as well: 1. The end of this life is not the end of your life 2. A believer is not immune from suffering ( Forbear to cry ) (I Pet 1:6-7) 3. Pain ( make no mourning ) does not excuse a believer from serving the Lord (II Cor 11:22-30) 24:18 God allowed Ezekiel’s wife to die in order to illustrate truth to backslidden Israel. Is transferring truth that important, where a loved one must die to illustrate it? The answer is yes! According to the Bible, there are seven reasons why truth is so important to God: 1. Truth is one of the seven moral attributes of God ( Rom 1:20b ) The moral attributes of God are those virtues or qualities, which manifest His nature and constitute His character. Thus, God is truth ( Deut 32:4-6 , Jn 14:6 and J n 14:17 & 15:26 ). To deny truth is to deny the existence of God. To deny the existence of an existent God is to deny reality. 2. Truth trumps life itself ( Ezk 24:16 ) Since truth comes from God and God is eternal so truth is eternal, thus the eternal trumps the temporal. 3. God’s truth is more important than His name ( Psa 138:2 ) God must establishes who He is (his Person) by what He says, because what He says holds everything together ( Colo 1:17 ). Thus, if His Word’s no good, what good is His name? 4. Without truth there would be no virtue (Phil 4:8) Virtue is the quality that determines moral excellence. Thus, truth establishes what is worthy and what is not. 5. God desires to be worshiped, praised, and known by His truth (Jn 4:23-24, Psa 71:22 and II Pet 3:9) God wants real relationships between Him and His creations to be based upon honesty, not dishonesty. 6. God receives glory when truth is obeyed (Psa 115:1) Glory is the outward manifestation of God’s holiness, which is both awesome and beautiful. When truth is obeyed, that which is both awesome and beautiful is observed ( I Chro 29:13 ). 7. In the end, God must destroy all those who reject the truth (Rom 1:18) If God is truth (and He is), then truth is alive and eternal. Thus, to walk in truth is to have life and have it more abundantly (Jn 10:10). But to reject truth is to perish. Seeing that God is not willing that any should perish (II Pet 3:9), He desires that we obey the truth so as to avoid eternal death (Lk 12:4-5, Rom 6:23 and Rev 20:14-15).