Ezekiel 24:15-27, Ezekiel’s Mourning

I don’t remember what year it was or where it was (I think it was at the Navigators’ Glen Eyrie), but I was attending one of Larry Crabbes Institutes of Biblical Counseling. Each morning he shared a devotional and this morning it was from Ezekiel 24:15-17. He was struck by God’s instructions to Ezekiel not to mourn at the death of his wife by crying, yet God didn’t restrict him from mourning inwardly. It is healthy to mourn a significant loss, but the way one displays that grief can be varied. Using the image of a balance beam he suggested that you can fall off the balance beam of healthy emotion by either denying your feelings or by expressing them sinfully. Ezekiel wasn’t to deny his emotions, nor express them sinfully (attacking, manipulating, etc.), but was to groan quietly, in order to convey a message to Israel.

15 The word of Yahweh came to me: 16 “Son of man, with one blow I am about to take away from you the delight of your eyes. Yet do not lament or weep or shed any tears. 17 Groan quietly; do not mourn for the dead. Keep your turban fastened and your sandals on your feet; do not cover your mustache and beard or eat the customary food of mourners.”

The Expositor’s commentary explains,

In the funeral rites of the ancient Near East, the mourner normally tears his garments and puts on sackcloth (2Sa 3:31). He removes his shoes and headdress (2Sa 15:30; Mic 1:8), shaves his head, and puts earth on his head (1Sa 4:12). The lower part of the face (from the mustache down) is covered with a veil of some sort (2Sa 15:30; 19:4). The mourner rolls his head or his whole body in dust and then lies, or sits, among a heap of ashes (Isa 58:5; Mic 1:10). He fasts for a day (2Sa 1:12; 3:35), after which friends bring “mourning bread” (Jer 16:7). Funeral lamentations are made by the family, relatives, and professional mourners (2Sa 1:17; 11:26; Mic 1:8).

Yahweh is instructing Ezekiel to forgo all this form of mourning, even though it is his wife, the “delight” of his eyes, who has died. Israel is the delight of Yahweh’s eyes.

18 So I spoke to the people in the morning, and in the evening my wife died. The next morning I did as I had been commanded.

19 Then the people asked me, “Won’t you tell us what these things have to do with us? Why are you acting like this?”

20 So I said to them, “The word of Yahweh came to me: 21 Say to the people of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Yahweh says: I am about to desecrate my sanctuary—the stronghold in which you take pride, the delight of your eyes, the object of your affection. The sons and daughters you left behind will fall by the sword. 22 And you will do as I have done. You will not cover your mustache and beard or eat the customary food of mourners. 23 You will keep your turbans on your heads and your sandals on your feet. You will not mourn or weep but will waste away because of your sins and groan among yourselves. 24 Ezekiel will be a sign to you; you will do just as he has done. When this happens, you will know that I am the Sovereign Yahweh.’

The exiles among whom Ezekiel is living will not mourn outwardly when the siege of Jerusalem is finished.  The loss of their relatives will not be grieved normally, because their sinfulness has been judged and because they knew this was coming. Ezekiel had prophesied it for years.

25 “And you, son of man, on the day I take away their stronghold, their joy and glory, the delight of their eyes, their heart’s desire, and their sons and daughters as well— 26 on that day a fugitive will come to tell you the news. 27 At that time your mouth will be opened; you will speak with him and will no longer be silent. So you will be a sign to them, and they will know that I am Yahweh.” (Ezekiel 24:15-27)

Ezekiel is told that a fugitive from Jerusalem will come one day to tell him the news of the destruction of Israel’s “stronghold,” the holy city of Jerusalem, and then he can grieve openly.