Consume ... spice it well - i. e., "dress the flesh, and make it froth and bubble, that the bones and the flesh may be all boiled up together."

Heap or wood - Let the siege be severe, the carnage great, and the ruin and catastrophe complete.

Heap on wood, kindle the fire,.... This is said either to the prophet, to do this in an emblematic way; or to the Chaldean army, to prepare for the siege, encompass the city, begin their attacks, and throw in their stones out of their slings and engines, and arrows from their bows:

consume the flesh; not entirely, since it is afterwards to be spiced; but thoroughly boil it; denoting the severe sufferings the inhabitants should undergo before their utter ruin:

spice it well; pepper them off; batter their walls, beat down their houses, distress them by all manner of ways and means; signifying that this would be grateful to the Lord, as his justice would be glorified in the destruction of this people; and as the plunder of them would be like a spiced and sweet morsel to the enemy; whose appetites would hereby be sharpened and become keen, and to whom the sacking and plundering the city would be as agreeable as well seasoned meat to a hungry man:

and let the bones be burnt; either under it, or rather in it; even the strongest and most powerful among the people destroyed, who should hold out the longest in the siege. The Targum of the whole is,

"multiply kings; gather an army; order the auxiliaries, and prepare against her warriors, and let her mighty ones be confounded.''

Heap on wood, {k} kindle the fire, consume the flesh, and spice it well, and let the bones be burned.

(k) Meaning that the city would be utterly destroyed and that he would give the enemies an appetite for it.

24:10 And spice it well - To express this justice, that is acceptable to God and men. The bones - The greatest, strongest, and firmest of the Jews shall perish in this fiery indignation.

10. spice it well-that the meat may be the more palatable, that is, I will make the foe delight in its destruction as much as one delights in well-seasoned, savory meat. Grotius, needlessly departing from the obvious sense, translates, "Let it be boiled down to a compound."

24:1-14 The pot on the fire represented Jerusalem besieged by the Chaldeans: all orders and ranks were within the walls, prepared as a prey for the enemy. They ought to have put away their transgressions, as the scum, which rises by the heat of the fire, is taken from the top of the pot. But they grew worse, and their miseries increased. Jerusalem was to be levelled with the ground. The time appointed for the punishment of wicked men may seem to come slowly, but it will come surely. It is sad to think how many there are, on whom ordinances and providences are all lost.