The top of a rock - The blood was poured upon a naked, dry, rock where it could not be absorbed or unnoticed.

For her blood is in the midst of her - She gloried in her idol sacrifices; she offered them upon a rock, where the blood should remain evident; and she poured none upon the ground to cover it with dust, in horror of that moral evil that required the blood of an innocent creature to be shed, in order to the atonement of the offender's guilt. To "cover the blood of the victim," was a command of the law, Leviticus 17:13; Deuteronomy 12:24.

For her blood is in the midst of her,.... The blood of innocent persons shed in the midst of her, openly and publicly, cried for vengeance:

she set it upon the top of a rock; where it could not soak in, as when spilled upon soft earth: this denotes her openness and impudence in shedding blood, as not being ashamed of it, or afraid of punishment for it, but as rather glorying in it; perhaps there may be some allusion to the tops of hills and mountains, where idolatry was committed, attended with shedding human blood:

she poured it not upon the ground, to cover it with dust; she did not take any methods to hide her sin; having no sense of the heinousness of it, nor any consciousness of guilt, or any remorse or repentance; respect is had to a law which obliged to cover blood shed with dust, Leviticus 17:13. The Targum of the whole is,

"because innocent blood which is shed in the midst of her; with pride and with a high arm she shed it; she shed it not through ignorance, that she might repent of it.''

For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it upon the top of a {i} rock; she poured it not upon the ground, to cover it with dust;

(i) The city showed her cruelty to all the world, and was not ashamed of it, neither yet hid it.

24:7 The blood - Innocent blood which she hath shed. The top of a rock - Where it might be long seen. To cover it - These butchers of innocent ones leave their blood uncovered.

7. upon the top of a rock-or, "the dry, bare, exposed rock," so as to be conspicuous to all. Blood poured on a rock is not so soon absorbed as blood poured on the earth. The law ordered the blood even of a beast or fowl to be "covered with the dust" (Le 17:13); but Jerusalem was so shameless as to be at no pains to cover up the blood of innocent men slain in her. Blood, as the consummation of all sin, presupposes every other form of guilt.

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.