Ezekiel 24:6-8 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Wherefore thus saith the Lord Here begins an explication of the preceding symbolical representation; Wo to the bloody city Jerusalem, which is this pot; whose scum is therein Whose filthiness, or wickedness, is not purged out of it. Bring it out piece by piece One piece after another till all be taken. Let nothing be left in it; let it be emptied of every thing. This signified the entire ruin and spoil of the city and the inhabitants of it, all without distinction being either killed or carried into captivity. Let no lot fall upon it There shall be no lot cast to determine who shall be spared and who consumed, or who shall be left and who carried into captivity; for they shall be all either destroyed or carried away. For her blood is in the midst of her The innocent blood which she hath shed. She set it upon the top of a rock Openly and publicly, without fear, or shame, or reluctance; she set it where it might be seen by all, and seen long; she shed blood in a presumptuous manner, and with a high hand; she was impudent and barefaced in her cruelties; she did not seek to cover or excuse them. She poured it not upon the ground, to cover it with dust As being ashamed of shedding it. “These words allude to the command of the law: Leviticus 17:13, that they should cover the blood of any beast, or other living creature which was slain, with dust; which precept was not only intended to prevent their eating of blood, but also to give men a sort of horror or aversion to bloodshed.” Lowth. That it might cause fury to come up to take vengeance For such impudent murders as these, which even dared the divine indignation. I have set her blood upon the top of a rock Her punishment shall be as notorious in the sight of the world as her sin was. I will punish it so openly, and in such a manner, as shall not be soon forgotten.