"... Clues to Ezekiel’s intent to create irony appear even before verse 6. The first colon of the parable uses the verbal form שפת (“set” the pot on the fire) that sounds just like שפט (“judge” the pot). The noun מבחר (“choicest”) appears twice (verses 4, 5), and conjures the thought of the people’s arrogance about their election (בחר, Exodus 20:5). By verse 5 the song specifies that a choice animal is being butchered, “the choicest of the flock,” presumably for a fellowship-offering meal in the temple courts. Resonances with the familiar metaphor of Israel itself as a holy flock will echo in some ears (see Ezekiel 34:1–16; 36:37–38; 1 Kings 1:17; Psalm 23:1–4; 74:1; 79:13; 95:7; 100:3). By the end of the song, irony begins to spark as to a possible new, incongruous meaning emerges. Ezekiel’s audience itself is the meal being cooked! God’s protection of the holy flock is actually not indiscriminate. Nebuchadnezzar has “laid” siege to Jerusalem (סמך, 24:2), just as one “lays” one’s hand (סמך) on the head of a sacrificial animal in Zion’s courts (Leviticus 1:4; 3:2, 8, 13; 4:24). The siege will turn the city into a fiery temple stovetop boiling a lamb ..."