We don’t know her, but since God described her as the “delight of your eyes,” one can only suspect that she was indeed a delight. The word is used in a variety of places to describe precious and good things. Not the least of which, it is used to describe the Temple and its treasures. Ezekiel had found a good thing and had obtained the favor of the Lord. And now, she would be, or so it seemed, prematurely taken from him. His remaining ministry would be carried out alone.

There is one story in the whole Bible that I still find staggering.  It’s the story of the death of Ezekiel’s wife (Ezekiel 24:15-27). One day the prophet woke up to the Word of the Lord. It came to him as it had come to him before. The Word was simple. The prophet did not need a Hebrew grammar or lexicon to understand. The Lord said, “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” (Ez. 24:16). The words were numbingly clear.

As I thought about these words, I thought back to Ezekiel’s call. The Lord said to him, among other things, speaking of house of Israel, “Be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words…. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed by their looks, for they are a rebellious house” (Ez. 2:6). And then in verse 8 the Lord said, “But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Be not rebellious like that rebellious house.” I can only imagine Ezekiel. Perhaps the Word of the Lord frightened him more than all of the words of the house of Israel.

It was in chapter four that the Lord told him to symbolize the destruction of Jerusalem by laying on his left side for 390 days! That’s more than a year! And then, once that was completed the Word of the Lord came to him again commanding him to lay on his right side for another forty days! How could the prophet not tremble at the Word of the Lord?

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