Page 123 - NOTES ON EZEKIEL

CHAPTER XXIV. 117

set himself against Jerusalem this same day. And
ult<'r a parable unto the rebellious house, and say unto
them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Set on a pot, set
it on, and also pour water into it: gather the pieces thereof
into it, even every good piece, the thigh and the
shoulder; fill it with the choice bones. Take the
choice of the flock, and burn also the bones under it,
and make it boil well, and let them seethe the bones of
it therein. Wherefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah,
Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is
therein, and whose scum is not gone out of i t ! bring
it out piece by piece; let no lot fall upon it. For her
blood is in the midst of her; she set it upon the top of
a rock; she poured it not upon the ground, to cover it
with dust; that it might cause fury to come up to take
vengeance; I have set hen blood on the top of a rock,
that it should not be covered.” (Ver. 1—8.) Thus
the caldron filled with the pieces of flesh and best bones,
all boiled well, partly with the rest of the bones, is the
awful figure which Jehovah afterwards explains in allu­
sion to their own fond boast (chap, xi.) of security in
Jerusalem. For as the flesh never trusts God for eternal
life or' an absolute remission of sins, so mere religious­
ness is apt to presume on the indefeasibility of God’s
promises without the slightest heed to His will or
glory and to the evident dishonour of His name and
word. But they deceive their souls, as the Jews did
here, on whom should fall indiscriminate judgment.
“ Let no lot be cast upon it.” None should go un­
punished. As the evil of Jerusalem even to blood (so
much the greater offence in Israel, as they lyiew how
God maintained the sacredness of life in man, His