Ezekiel 24 contains two discrete units. The first, verses 1–14, picks up on an image from 11:3: Jerusalem as a cooking pot. The parable opens with the word of the LORD came to me, and a very important date: the day when the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem began (v. 2). It closes with the oracular formula declares the Sovereign LORD (v. 14). The second unit describes the most difficult sign-act in this book. Here God forbids Ezekiel to mourn the death of his wife (vv. 15–27; for other sign-acts in Ezekiel, see chs. 4–5; 12:1–20; 37:15–28). The description of this sign also opens with the divine word formula typical of Ezekiel (v. 15) and closes with two statements of the sign’s significance, each ending with the recognition formula: verses 20–24, a message for the community; and verses 25–27,…