The Day of the Parable of a Boiling Pot – Ezek 24:1-2

The exact day of the parable of a boiling pot is the day the siege of Jerusalem began. 2 Ki 25:1, it was in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month.  This was the third time that Nebuchadnezzar invaded.  And it was the last.  On this occasion he destroyed the city completely.

The Subject of the Parable – Ezek 24:3-5

The parable is about a boiling pot.  The instructions were to set on a pot, pour water into it, gather the pieces into it, the good pieces, the choice bones, and the choice of the flock.  In the parable they burn the bones under it and let it boil well.  And they seethe the bones.  To seethe is to churn or foam as if boiling.

The Interpretation of the Parable – Ezek 24:6-11

The scum.  Scum is the extraneous matter that forms on the surface of a liquid as a foul filmy covering.  The scum was not gone out of it, which you would normally remove.  The scum represents the blood that was in the midst of her.  This is where the scum comes from, like boiling meat trimmings for the dogs.  When sacrificing to the idols, she set the blood upon the top of a rock, and not on the ground to cover it, contrary to Lev 17:13.

Piece by piece, and let no lot fall upon it.  This signifies that the judgment was going to affect every person in the city.  No lot indicates that there was no selection about who escaped the judgment and who God judged.

The pile of fire great, heap on wood.  Boil well in the fire, v.5.  These represent 2 Ki 25:9 where the Chaldeans burnt the house of the Lord, and the houses of the great men.  When the pot is set empty on the coals, the brass gets hot, and burns, and the filthiness is molten (liquefied) in it, so that the scum is consumed.  My God is a consuming fire.  With this judgment of fire, God intended to entirely remove the sin of the people from the city.

The choice of the flock, v.5, represents 2 Ki 25:7 Zedekiah’s sons, 2 Ki 25:18 the priest, the second priest, and the keepers of the door, and 2 Ki 25:19 an officer over the men of war, five men who were in the king’s presence, the principle scribe of the host, and 60 men of the people.

Bones burned, v.5. The bones burned like Josiah did in 2 Ki 23:16.  When the nations attack Jerusalem in the Tribulation, the enemies will scatter their bones, Ps 141:7.

The Application of the Parable of a Boiling Pot – Ezek 24:12-14

Jerusalem wearied herself with lies.  She listened to false prophets and not the prophets of God.  If they had hearkened unto prophets prophesying in the name of the Lord and had repented, they would have removed the scum.  Yet, her great scum was still in her.  So, her scum burned in the fire.

The Lord purged them several times trying to get them in a right relationship with him, but they were never fully purged.  They kept going back into their idolatry.  Therefore, the Lord said that she would not be purged from her filthiness any more, till he caused his fury to rest.

The Lord said, I “have spoken it: it shall come to pass”.  He will not go back, though he did many times before, Ps 107.  The Lord said he would not spare and he wouldn’t repent.  He judged her according to her ways and doings.