Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 24:1-14
We have here,
I. The notice God gives to Ezekiel in Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar's laying siege to Jerusalem, just at the time when he was doing it (Eze 24:2): "Son of man, take notice, the king of Babylon, who is now abroad with his army, thou knowest not where, set himself against Jerusalem this same day." It was many miles, it was many days' journey, from Jerusalem to Babylon. Perhaps the last intelligence they had from the army was that the design was upon Rabbath of the children of Ammon and that the campaign was to be opened with the siege of that city. But God knew, and could tell the prophet, "This day, at this time, Jerusalem is invested, and the Chaldean army has sat down before it."…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Ezekiel 24:11
set it empty . . . that . . . brass . . . may burn, . . . that . . . scum . . . may be consumed--Even the consumption of the contents is not enough; the caldron itself which is infected by the poisonous scum must be destroyed, that is, the city itself must be destroyed, not merely the inhabitants, just as the very house infected with leprosy was to be destroyed (Lev 14:34-45).
Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 24:10
Heap or wood - Let the siege be severe, the carnage great, and the ruin and catastrophe complete.
John Gill on Ezekiel 24:11
Then set it empty upon the coals thereof,.... The city, when emptied of its inhabitants and substance, like a pot that is boiled over, and all in it boiled away, or taken out; burn it with fire, as the city of Jerusalem when taken and plundered was:
that the brass of it may be hot, and burn; as brass will when set on coals: or, "the bottom of it" (w); so Ben Melech observes, from the Misnah, that the lower part or bottom of a pot, cauldron, or furnace, is called the brass of it; and so the sense is, make the fire burn so fierce as to burn the bottom of the pot; or the canker and rust of it, which the following words explain:
and that the filthiness of it may be molten in it, that the scum…
