Ezekiel’s Wife Dies

"Also the word of the Lord came to me: 'Son of man, behold, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke; yet you shall not mourn or weep nor shall your tears run down. Sigh, but not aloud; make no mourning for the dead. Bind on your turban, and put your shoes on your feet; do not cover your lips, nor eat the brad of mourners.' So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. And on the next morning I did as I was commanded." (Ezekiel 24: 15-18, RSV) [Read Ezekiel 24:15-27]

At the beginning of Ezekiel 24, a date is given: "In the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me..." Scholars have figured this date to be January 15, 588 B.C., the day the siege of Jerusalem began. This is referred to in 2 Kings 25:1-2: "So in the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army. He encamped outside the city and built siege works all around it. The city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedkiah." In Jeremiah 52:3b-9 we read the account from that prophet. While the siege was going on, a personal tragedy was occurring in the prophet Ezekiel's life.

Notice how tenderly the Lord spoke to him: "I am about to take away from you the delight of your eyes." We learn that this is not in reference to the beloved city of Jerusalem, although that place was indeed the delight of the Hewbrews' eyes, but the Lord was speaking to Ezekiel of his own wife who died in the evening of the day the siege began. Was she killed in warfare? We don't know the details. "At a stroke" referes to the unexpectedness of her death, not "with a stroke" as we would say in an acute physical debility.

Was Ezekiel in Jerusalem when he was making his predictions about the calamities happening during the siege and the death of his wife? Some scholars believe he had returned to Jerusalem, perhaps for a short while, after he had been exiled in Babylon. Others believe his prophecy and knowing of Jerusalem's plight was revealed to him while he was still in Babylon. Regardless of the unanswered questions, Ezekiel was very much aware of his wife's death and of Jerusalem's situation. Furthermore, because of the circumstances due to their disobedience to God, and the dire conditions of the city under siege, he was not allowed to mourn for his departed wife.

Loosening the head dress (turban), baring the feet, and covering the lips were common Hebrew signs of mourning. Ezekiel was ordered to put on his turban and shoes and be ready immediately for what God had assigned him to do next. He had not time for mourning. We are reminded of Jesus' urgency when he told those who would be his disciples: "Let the dead bury their dead" (Matthew 8:22).

Here we are afforded a glimpse into the human side of Ezekiel. With what tenderness he called her "the delight of his eyes." He loved his wife and her death brought him poignant sorrow, as does the death of a beloved spouse. Yet he must repress his grief and refrain from mourning. So it is often with those who have been called to take part in telling others of God's work, His purposes, His love. They are called again and again to surrender their private woes to public responsibility. Ezekiel was acting out the pain God feels when His people must suffer, albeit it for sins they have committed. Behind Ezekiel's impassive exterior was a heart missing and mourning for his dead wife. And behind God's silence is His very heart, crying out to comfore His poeple. He enters into our mourning, our afflictions. The silent mourning Ezekiel endured was a representation of the even greater love and mercy God pours out for His people.

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Monday, October 4, 2010