Ezekiel 24:11

(11) Set it empty upon the coals.—Keeping up the strong figure of the parable, after all the inhabitants have passed under judgment the city itself is to be purged by fire. It is unnecessary here to think of heat as removing the rust (scum) from the cauldron; the prophet’s mind is not upon any physical effect, but upon the methods of purifying defiled metallic vessels under the law (see Num_31:23). It was a symbolical rather than a material purification, and in the present case involved the actual destruction of the city itself. In Eze_24:11-14, the obduracy of the people is set forth in strong language, together with the completeness of the coming judgment in contrast to the in-effectiveness of all former efforts for their reformation (Eze_24:13); and, finally, the adaptation of the punishment to the sin (Eze_24:14). The word translated “lies” in Eze_24:12 means pains or labour. Translate, The labour is in vain; her rust does not go out of her, even her rust with fire. In Eze_24:13 “lewdness” would be better rendered abomination.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eze 24:11 Then set it empty upon the coals thereof, that the brass of it may be hot, and may burn, and [that] the filthiness of it may be molten in it, [that] the scum of it may be consumed.

Ver. 11. That the brass of it may be hot, and may burn.] This Gregory {a} fitly applieth to Rome, taken and wasted by the Lombards. This city, ever since it was Papal - and then it first began to be so - was never besieged, but it was taken by the enemy.

{a} Iam vacua ardet Roma: iam enim et ipsa olla consumitur, in qua prius carnes et ossa consumebantur. - Hom. 18 in Ezek.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Or, bottom.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

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).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

11. scum of it] Rust. When the contents of the caldron have been seethed and emptied out of it—the siege and dispersion—the caldron itself shall be set empty upon the coals that its filth and rust may be molten and consumed—a figure for the purifying judgments continued long after the destruction of the city.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 of it may be consumed; the abominable wickedness of this people; since they were not reformed and brought to repentance for it by the admonitions and instructions given them, and by the chastisements and corrections laid upon them, they with their sins should be consumed in this terrible manner. The Targum is,

"I will leave the land desolate, that they may become desolate; and that the gates of her city may be consumed; and that those that work uncleanness in the midst of her may melt away, and her sins be consumed.''

(w) "fundum ejus", Pagninus, Vatablus.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Set it, the hieroglyphic pot, empty; the water, flesh, bones, all consumed, i.e. the citizens all wasted with sword, famine, or pestilence, the city left as an empty, overboiled pot.

Upon the coals thereof; signifying the burning of the city itself, after the emptying of its inhabitants.

That the brass of it; perhaps he alludes to the impudence of their sins, in that the city is likened to a pot of brass.

May be hot; God’s judgments would increase upon them, as heat doth in a pot set on coals.

And may burn; which is the highest degree; so should these miseries increase.

That the filthiness, type of the sinfulness, the unreformed sinfulness of the city, may be molten in it; that their wickedness may be taken away with their persons and city: they should have been purged by gentler meltings which God used; since they were not, nor would be purified, now they shall be melted to the utter destruction of them.

The scum: see Eze 24:6.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Then set it empty upon the coals, etc. The empty cauldron is, of course, the city bereaved of its inhabitants. The fire must go on till the rust is consumed. There is, however, in spite of the seemingly terrible hopelessness of the sentence, a gleam of hope, as there had been in Eze_16:42. When the punishment had done its full work, then Jehovah might cause his fury to rest (Ver. 13). Till then he declares, through the prophet, there will be no mitigation of the punishment. The word has gone forth, and there will be no change of purpose.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The filthiness - A type of the unreformed sinfulness of the city. Molten - That their wickedness may be taken away with their persons, and city.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

General Information:

Yahweh continues telling a parable to Ezekiel about a cooking pot that represents Jerusalem. This parable continues through Ezekiel 24:14. (See: Parables)

scorch

to burn the surface of something

so its uncleanness within it will be melted, its corrosion consumed

This can be stated in active form. AT: "to melt the uncleanness within it and to consume its corrosion" (See: Active or Passive)

uncleanness

A person whom God considers spiritually unacceptable or defiled is spoken of as if the person were physically unclean. (See: Metaphor)

corrosion

rust

consumed

burned away

She has become weary

Here the word "she" refers to the cooking pot. This is the cooking pot that is metaphorical for Jerusalem. AT: "Jerusalem has become tired" (See: Metaphor)

toil

difficult labor

but her corrosion has not gone out of her by the fire

The phrase "has not gone out of her" is an idiom. AT: "but the fire did not burn away her corrosion" (See: Idiom)

translationWords

bronze

clean

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

its filth shall be consumed [Heb. תִּתֻּם.] Its filth will end and be absorbed into its base. סִיר is [a pot] made of copper.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.