Ezekiel 4

Ezekiel 4 The use of symbolic actions by Old Testament prophets was a proven way of gaining an audience and underscoring a point. The great prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah found the symbolic act a useful tool when they could no longer obtain a hearing for their message. Ezekiel performs four dramatic parables in this section depicting (1) the siege of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 4:1-3); (2) national sin (Ezekiel 4:4-6); (3) the siege famine (Ezekiel 4:9-17); and (4) the nation’ s fate (Ezekiel 5:1-4).

These dramatic parables were performed in the fifth year of Jehoiachin’ s captivity. At that time any thought of Jerusalem’ s overthrow will, according to any human prognostication, be highly improbable. Zedekiah ruled in Jerusalem as Nebuchadrezzar’ s vassal. With his lands diminished and his military strength exhausted, no one could imagine that he will be so stupid as to provoke his overlord. Yet Ezekiel joined Jeremiah in affirming that destruction was the ultimate fate of Jerusalem.

PARABLE OF ‘S SIEGEEze_4:1-3 Preparation (Ezekiel 4:1-3 a): The tile (Ezekiel 4:1): But as for you, son of man, take to yourself a tile and place it before you. Inscribe upon it a city, Jerusalem. In his first symbolic action, Ezekiel was to sketch a diagram of Jerusalem on a tile or brick (RSV). In Mesopotamia the clay tablet was the common writing material. While the clay was moist and soft, the inscription was engraved upon it with a stylus; then the tablet was exposed to the sun for hardening. Large numbers of such tablets have been recovered, some of which have diagrams of buildings upon them similar to what an architect might devise. It would be natural under the circumstances for a Hebrew exile to make use of the Babylonian writing material.

Siege equipment (Ezekiel 4:2): Lay siege against it, and construct a mound about it. Set against it encampments, and place battering rams round about. Ezekiel was instructed to lay siege against the city he had drawn. By a common figure, the prophet is here represented as doing what he portrays. Perhaps he drew on the tile the plan of a siege. On the other hand, it may mean that he was to model the various siege weapons around the brick. A third possibility is that the armament of the besieging troops was represented on other tiles. Four common siege techniques are named: Assault towers (KJV, forts; dayeq) denotes the towers manned by archers by which a besieged city was attacked. The Hebrew is actually singular. Sometimes these towers were of enormous height, as much as twenty stories. Such towers are frequently depicted in Mesopotamian art. According to 2 Kings 25:1, assault towers were used in the final siege of Jerusalem.

Mounds (sdFla) were banks of soil heaped up to the level of the walls of the besieged city. Such mounds could serve as observation posts, and, if close enough to the walls, ramps for the battering rams. Camps (mahanot) were military detachments that surrounded the city. Battering rams (karim) were iron-shod beams transported by a wheeled tower. Often the battering ram was found in the lower part of the siege towers mentioned above.

The iron pan (Ezekiel 4:3 a): As for you, take to yourself an iron pan. Place it as a wall of iron between you and the city. The prophet was to place an iron pan between himself and the inscribed tile. This was a kind of flat plan— virtually no more than a sheet of metal— such as was used for baking a thin cake of bread (cf. Leviticus 2:5). This pan represented a wall of iron. Normally walls provided protection or containment. The pan probably represents the siege wall around Jerusalem erected by the Babylonians.

Action (Ezekiel 4:3 b): Set your face against it. It will enter a state of siege, and you will besiege it. It is a sign to the house of Israel. With his symbolic objects in place, Ezekiel was to perform a symbolic action. He was (1) to set his face against the city; and (2) to lay siege to it. The prophet was to assume the part of the attacking army. Since Ezekiel was God’ s representative, his actions underscored the point that God was fighting against Jerusalem. Perhaps the laying siege (RSV, press the siege) indicates the gradual movement of the clay models of siege instruments nearer and nearer the doomed city. The tile diagram and the objects pertaining to it were designed to be a sign to the house of Israel. Ellison pictures Ezekiel silently acting out these parables much to the chagrin of the growing numbers who assembled each day to watch his antics. When the crowd was ready to listen, Ezekiel gave the verbal explanation of his actions (5:5-7:27). The term house of Israel here embraces both those Jews who were in exile and those who remained in Judah.

PARABLE OF ISRAEL’S SINEze_4:4-8 In Ezekiel 4:1-3 Ezekiel impersonated Jerusalem’ s enemies. His role is now reversed. Here Ezekiel symbolizes the apostate people of God. He is to lie first on his left side, then on his right side, to bear the iniquity of the house of Israel and the house of Judah. The Oriental habit was to face eastward when indicating points of the compass. Facing east one has north on his left side and south on his right.

Hence the left side represented the house of Israel, the northern kingdom that had been carried captive in 722 B.C. The right side symbolized the house of Judah, the southern kingdom that was in its dying days at the moment Ezekiel received this revelation. The number of days that the prophet spent on each side symbolized the number of years that each kingdom stood under the condemnation of God.

General Observations. A few observations about this action parable need to be made before the difficult question of the numbers found here is taken up: The action of the prophet in lying first on the one side, then on the other, was commanded by God. Therefore, there is no reason to suspect that Ezekiel suffered from epileptic seizures or catalepsy.

Ezekiel 4:4 seems to suggest that the time periods do not represent the time of Israel’ s sinning, but the period during which the people of God had been, or will be, punished for their sins. The longer period of punishment for Israel, the northern kingdom, indicates the greater guilt of that nation. Part of the time Israel and Judah bore the penalty of their sin simultaneously. That is to say, the period of punishment overlapped.

The end of the period of punishment was the same for both kingdoms— 539 B.C. In dealing with prophetic numbers, one must allow for approximations or rounding off. Such great diversity of opinion exists as to the terminus a quo of the figures in Ezekiel 4:5-6 that dogmatic assertions are out of place. Inherent in these figures is a hint of hope. The period of punishment, though long and terrible, will not be interminable. It is not necessary to assume that Ezekiel was in the prone position day and night. Other activities are said to have been performed during this period. Hence the symbolic prone position must have lasted only part of each day.

Ezekiel on the Left Side (Ezekiel 4:4-5): As for you, lie upon your left side. Set the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it. The number of days in which you lay upon it you will bear their iniquity. (Ezekiel 4:5) For I have appointed to you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of days, three hundred ninety days. So will you bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. In his prone position, Ezekiel was to bear the iniquity of the two kingdoms. The term iniquity in the Old Testament can refer to the sin itself, or the punishment that comes upon that offense.

In the present passage, the term seems to have the latter connotation. Ezekiel is to symbolize through his personal suffering of physical restraint the punishment of God’ s people in being cut off from the holy land and the temple. This symbolic suffering is by no means to be equated with the vicarious suffering that is set forth in Isaiah 53.

Ezekiel was to lie on his left side 390 days. If the Hebrew text be retained as is, there seems to be only one possible terminus a quo for this period, viz., the division of the Israelite kingdom in 931 B.C. Allowing for round figures— something very common in prophecy— the 390 years terminate with the fall of Babylon in 539 B.C. Through that entire period the citizens of the northern kingdom were under the wrath of God because of their apostate activities. Ezekiel on the Right Side (Ezekiel 4:6): When you have finished these days, then lie a second time upon your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days; one day for each year I have appointed you. From what point are the forty years of Judah’ s punishment to be counted?

The figure forty is reminiscent of the period of Israel wandering in the wilderness (Numbers 14:34). In Ezekiel’s day, the nation came into “the wilderness of the peoples” (20:35). From the final deportation of Jews to Babylon in 582 B.C. (Jeremiah 52:30) until the fall of Babylon and the end of the Babylonian exile in 539 B.C. is a period of forty-two years. The prophet is probably referring to this period with the symbolic number forty, the period during which God’ s people, because of their sin, are denied access to the Promised Land.

Another view worthy of note is that of Currey. He sees in these figures a purely symbolic significance. The two figures combined yield 430 years. This may be a representation of the future in terms of the past. Just as Israel was 430 years in Egyptian bondage, so will they now be in bondage in Mesopotamia. Some scholars find difficulty in fitting the 430 days of this action parable into the chronology of the early ministry of Ezekiel. Ellison argues that this action parable must be fitted into the year and two months that elapsed between Ezekiel 1:2 and Ezekiel 8:1. According to the Jewish system of reckoning time, this is equivalent to 413 days. Ellison therefore argues that the forty days on the right side must have been concurrent with the last forty days of the 390 days on the left side. In the fulfillment of this prophecy the forty years of Judah’ s punishment were in fact concurrent with the last forty years of Israel’ s punishment. In the symbolic action, however, the days seem to be consecutive— 390 on the left side followed by forty on the right side.

Therefore, one must conclude either (1) that during the period between Ezekiel 1:2 and Ezekiel 8:1 a month had been intercalated; or (2) that the symbolic prostration extended beyond the time stipulated in Ezekiel 8:1. Of course, if the prophet’ s prostration occurred only in a vision, as some scholars contend, it will not be necessary to fit the 430 days into the chronology of Ezekiel’ s life. Other Details of the Parable (Ezekiel 4:7-8): So unto the siege of Jerusalem you will set your face. Your shoulder will be uncovered. You will prophesy against it. (Ezekiel 4:8) Behold, I have placed bands upon you, and you will not turn yourselffrom one side to the other until you have completed the days of your siege. During the entire time that he was lying on his side, Ezekiel was to fix his gaze upon the tile that depicted the besieged city of Jerusalem. The fixing of the gaze indicates steadfastness of purpose. He was to have his arm uncovered like a warrior prepared for battle (cf. Isaiah 52:10). By these actions he was prophesying against Jerusalem (Ezekiel 4:7).

Ezekiel 4:8 underscores the discomfort that Ezekiel must have experienced while carrying out this symbolic act. He was not to turn from one side to another. There may be a hint of special divine aid in the statement I lay bands upon you.PARABLE OF ‘S FAMINEEze_4:9-17 How could Ezekiel be commanded to make bread while lying bound upon his side? Several commentators think that this inconsistency is proof that all of these symbolic actions transpired in vision where such a thing is possible. However, if the prophet’ s immobilization occupied only a part of each day there is no inconsistency. Once Ezekiel had performed his daily demonstration— lying facing the model of the besieged city— he apparently arose and performed the other symbolic acts that related to the siege. Original Directive (Ezekiel 4:9-13): The quality of the food (Ezekiel 4:9): Various grains (Ezekiel 4:9 a): Now as for you, take for yourself wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and fitches. The nature of his food was restricted. His bread was to be made of an odd mixture of grains and seeds. Instead of the normal wheat flour, various kinds of cereals will have to be mixed so as to obtain sufficient quantity to make a cake of bread. Those besieged in Jerusalem will have to eat what they could get. Six different kinds of cereal grains are specified: (1) wheat and (2) barley are frequently mentioned as foods in the Old Testament; (3) beans (pol) are mentioned elsewhere only in 2 Samuel 17:28; (4) lentils, (5) millet, and (6) fitches (spelt, RSV), a species of wheat. Mingled grains (Ezekiel 4:9 b): Put them in a vessel, and prepare them as food for yourself… The various grains were to be placed in one vessel. In the law of Moses it was forbidden to sow the ground with mingled seeds (Leviticus 19:19; Deuteronomy 22:9). Though not specifically condemned, the mixing of these grains and seeds in flour will seem to be banned under the same principle. In a city under siege and in foreign exile, the Jews will not be able to be so scrupulous about their diet.

Duration of the diet (Ezekiel 4:9 c): according to the number of days in which you are lying upon your side, three hundred ninety days and you will eat it. The dietary restrictions were to be in force during the 390 days of bearing the iniquity of the people of God (Ezekiel 4:9). Here again the question of the duration of Ezekiel’ s symbolic siege of Jerusalem is raised. Verse 9 seems to suggest that the prophet lies upon his side only 390 days. What happened to the forty days he was to lie upon his right side? Many modern scholars assume that the 390 days are inclusive of the forty days.

However, this interpretation runs counter to the explicit statement in v 6 that Ezekiel was to lie on his right side after he had finished the 390 days on his left side. One must conclude either (1) that the dietary regulations of this paragraph were to be observed only during the time when Ezekiel was on his left side; or (2) that the dietary restrictions were observed during the forty days on the right side as well, even though the text does not explicitly so state. Any other interpretations will put v 9 at variance with v 6. God’ s people were to be exiled from the sacred temple precincts for 390 years, the northern kingdom from 931 to 539 B.C., and the southern kingdom for the last forty years of that period.

Ezekiel’ s symbolic diet during the days of his “ siege” was designed to set forth two basic thoughts: (1) the scarcity of food that will exist in Jerusalem during the final siege; and (2) the impure food that those exiled from Judah will be forced to eat. This point he established during the 390 days on his left side. Continuing this phase of the demonstration during the period he lay on his right side would have been superfluous. The quantity of the food (4:10-11): Your food that you eat will be twenty shekels in weight for a day. Once each day you will eat it. (11) As for water, you will drink the sixth of a hin by measure. Once each day you will drink it. The quantity of his food was limited. Ezekiel’ s diet during the 390 days was to consist of twenty shekels of food (v 10) and the sixth of a hin of water (v 11). This amounts to about eight ounces of food and two cups of water daily.

This is insufficient for maintenance of physical well-being. Only with supernatural assistance would Ezekiel have been able to follow this regime during the symbolic days of siege. In a hot climate this limitation on water is very oppressive. Rationed water is called the water of affliction (1 Kings 22:27; Isaiah 30:20). The fact that food was weighed rather than measured indicates the most extreme scarcity (cf. Leviticus 26:26; Revelation 6:6). The prophet was to partake of his unpalatable meals literally, from time to time (v 10). The rabbis interpreted this phrase to mean once in a twenty-four hour period. Currey concurs. The instruction is to partake of the food at the appointed interval of a day and at no other time. T he consumption of the food (4:12a): As a barley cake you will eat it… The meager food was to be eaten as barley cake, i.e., he is to eat his meal with all the relish that one customarily gives to barley cakes. Both the eating and the preparation of the food was to be in their presence, i.e., so the exiles could observe. Thus will they come to understand it as a sign of what had befallen them already, and of what will yet befall their brethren in Jerusalem.

The preparation of the food (4:12b-13): and with human dung you will bake it in their presence. (13) The LORD said, In this way the children of Israel will eat their unclean food among the nations where I will drive them. One of the usual calamities of a siege is lack of fuel. To further dramatize siege conditions, Ezekiel was to prepare his food with unclean fuel. The prophet was told to use human dung (v 12) as cooking fuel, that which was revolting as well as ceremonially impure and defiling (cf. Deuteronomy 23:12 ff.). Barley bread was prepared on hot stones (1 Kings 19:6) that were to be heated by human excrement. For the moment the ceremonial law was to be overridden so as to make a moral point.

The significance of the disgusting instruction regarding the use of human dung for fuel is given in v 13. Those Israelites who yet remained in Jerusalem will be forced to eat unclean food among the nations where God will drive them (cf. Hosea 9:3). Foreign lands were regarded by the Israelites as unclean. Even those who attempted to maintain the dietary code will be eating unclean bread because the ritual first fruits of the harvest will not be able to be offered in the temple of the Lord. In addition to the specific prediction being set forth in this action parable, Ezekiel is making a significant point: Israel’ s position as a separate, sanctified people will be destroyed during the Babylonian exile.

Mitigation (Ezekiel 4:14-15): Ezekiel’s protest (Ezekiel 4:14): Then I said, Ah, O Lord GOD! Behold my soul has not been polluted, and a corpse or that which was torn in pieces I have never eaten from my youth until now. Abominable meat has never come into my mouth. The command to prepare his food with human dung as fuel shocked the conscientious young priest. He obliquely requested relief from this phase of the object lesson. The first words that Ezekiel speaks in this book are an emotional outburst, Ah Lord God! (cf. Jeremiah 1:6). The godly prophet was not so much concerned with what displeased his taste as what offended his conscience. From exasperation Ezekiel moved to narrative prayer that is introduced in Ezekiel 4:14 with behold. My soul (i.e., I) has not been polluted. He meticulously had sought to abide by the dietary laws from my youth until now. Even in the deprivations of captivity and the spiritual confusion of that episode, he had conscientiously attempted to follow the law of God.

Ezekiel cites three examples of how he faithfully had observed the Old Testament law. (1) He had not eaten of a corpse, i.e., an animal that had not been properly slaughtered. Such meat was forbidden (Leviticus 17:15; Deuteronomy 14:21). (2) He had not eaten what was torn in pieces, i.e., an animal that had been killed by a wild beast. Such was forbidden to the Israelite because the blood had not been properly drained. (3) Abominable meat (piggul) had never come into his mouth. In its more restricted sense, the Hebrew term refers to sacrificial flesh rendered unfit by disregard for the laws of sacrifice. In a broader sense, the term is used of any forbidden food. The Lord’s compassion (Ezekiel 4:15): Then He said unto me, See, I have appointed for you cattle dung instead of human dung. You will prepare your food with it. The gracious Lord acquiesced in the request of His prophet. He permitted Ezekiel to substitute animal dung for the prescribed human dung (v 15). Dried cow dung was not as physically disgusting as human dung. So in the case of Ezekiel, there was a mitigation of the defilement; but still defilement remained, and in exile the people of God were subjected to it. Explanation (Ezekiel 4:16-17): He said unto me, Son of man, behold I am about to shatter the staff of bread in Jerusalem. They will eat food by weight and with concern. Water by measure and in dismay they will drink, (17) because bread and water will be scarce. They will be dismayed one with another. They will waste away under their punishment. Shortly God will shatter the staff of bread in Jerusalem.

Bread was then, and is still, known as the staff of life because man is so dependent upon it (cf. Leviticus 26:26; Psalms 105:16). The inhabitants of that doomed city will be forced to eat food by weight and drink water by measure. The food and water will be so scarce as to give rise to grave concern and even dismay (Ezekiel 4:16). Faced with this lack of food the populace will gradually waste away under the punishment of the Lord (Ezekiel 4:17). Ezekiel Chapter Four Verse 1 OF ‘S (Ezekiel 4-7) VISIBLE OF FALL OF The absurd view that the events of this chapter existed only subjectively in the mind of Ezekiel, that it was all a vision of his, is here rejected. “The adoption of such an interpretation is not the act of an honest interpreter."[1]What Ezekiel did here was only another example of what many of God’s prophets throughout the ages also did. Zedekiah’s “horns of iron” (1 Kings 22:11); Isaiah’s walking “naked and barefoot” (Isaiah 22:2-3); Jeremiah’s “yokes of wood” (Jeremiah 27:2); Hosea’s marriage to Gomer (Hosea 1:1-3:10); Zechariah’s breaking of Beauty and Bands (Zechariah 11); Agabus’ binding himself with Paul’s belt (Acts 21:10),, etc. are other examples of such enacted prophecies. This chapter portrays (1) the visible model of Jerusalem’s siege and capture (Ezekiel 4:1-3), the certainty of punishment awaiting both the northern and southern Israels (Ezekiel 4:4-8), the scarcity of food for the inhabitants of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 4:9-11), and the ceremonial uncleanness that would come to the besieged and to the captives (Ezekiel 4:12-17). Regarding the time of the events recorded here, Canon Cook placed it in the fifth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin (592 B.C.). He also noted that the destruction of Jerusalem was contrary to all human expectations. “It could scarcely have been expected that Zedekiah, the creature of the king of Babylon and ruling by his authority in the place of Jehoiachin would have been so infatuated as to provoke the anger of the powerful Nebuchadnezzar. It was indeed to infatuation that the historian ascribed that foolish act of Zedekiah (2 Kings 24:20).[2]Ezekiel 4:1-3“Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and portray upon it a city, even Jerusalem: and lay siege against it, and build forts against it, and cast up a mound against it, and plant battering rams against it round about. And take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face toward it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.““Take thee a tile …” (Ezekiel 4:1). The fact that he could draw a map on this tile identifies it as coming from Babylon, not Jerusalem, clearly indicating that Ezekiel was written from the land of Israel’s captivity, despite the concentrated focus upon Jerusalem. This special concern for Jerusalem should not surprise us. “This requires no explanation. Jerusalem was the heart and the brain of the nation, the center of its life and its religion, and in the eyes of the prophets (all of them) the fountain-head of its sin."[3]The necessity of the prophetic warning to Israel regarding the ultimate fall and total destruction of Jerusalem lay in the foolish and blind optimism of the people. “Even after they were carried into captivity, numbers of them were still engaging in false optimism,"[4] supposing that the captivity would soon end dramatically, and failing to understand that their dreadful servitude was nothing more than God’s punishment of their consummate wickedness, a punishment they richly deserved. This unexpected, totally improbable fall of Jerusalem is throughout this section of Ezekiel the almost constant subject. “The great theme of the first part of Ezekiel is the certainty of the complete downfall of the Jewish state."[5]This model of the city of Jerusalem, with the deployment of all kinds of military installations and equipment all around it, “was a proper and powerful device for capturing attention, and it amounted to a prediction of the fall of Jerusalem."[6]Ezekiel probably had many examples of this type of illustration to aid him in the fulfillment of God’s command, because, “Assyrian bas-reliefs show in vigorous detail how a siege was carried out."[7]In the analogy here, Ezekiel himself enacts the part of God as the true besieger of the city. It came to pass as Jeremiah prophesied, when God said, “I myself shall fight against you with outstretched hand and strong arm, in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath” (Jeremiah 21:5). The iron barrier (represented by the cooking utensil) stood for the wall of separation which the sins of Israel had erected between themselves and the Lord. “Your iniquities have been a barrier between you and your God,’ (Isaiah 59:2). “It meant the total severance of relation between Jerusalem and God, You have screened yourself off with a cloud, that prayer may not pass through.'"[8]It would appear from the overwhelmingly bad news of such an illustrated prophecy that Israel should have been filled with sorrow and consternation over it, "But there seems to have been little response to it. Ezekiel was being taught in the crucible of human experience the incredible resistance of men to the Word of God."[9]Verse 4 "Moreover lie thou upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it; according to the number of days thou shalt lie upon it, thou shalt bear their iniquity. For I have appointed the years of their iniquity to be unto thee a number of days, even three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And again, when thou hast accomplished these, thou shalt lie on thy right side, and shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah, each day for a year, have I appointed it unto thee. And thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with thine arm uncovered; and thou shalt prophesy against it. And, behold, I lay hands upon thee; and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to the other till thou hast accomplished the days of thy siege.""Left side ... right side ..." (<a href="/bible/parallel/EZK/4/4" class="green-link">Ezekiel 4:4</a>). The ancient usage of such terminology was based upon the proposition that one faced the East (the rising sun); and thus the left stood for the North, the right stood for the South; and the East was always considered "the front."[10] Since Northern Israel (Samaria) lay north of Jerusalem, the "right" and "left" designation applied to the Ten Northern tribes and to Judah, respectively. "The restrained position of the prophet was a symbol of the loss of freedom awaiting the people."[11]"And thou shalt set thy face toward the siege ..." (<a href="/bible/parallel/EZK/4/7" class="green-link">Ezekiel 4:7</a>). This represented the intent purpose of God looking to the total destruction of the city. "With thine arm uncovered ..." (<a href="/bible/parallel/EZK/4/7" class="green-link">Ezekiel 4:7</a>). There is another echo of <a href="/bible/parallel/JER/21/5" class="green-link">Jer 21:5</a> in this. God's arm was uncovered and outstretched to accomplish the destruction of the Jewish kingdom. "Lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it (Ezekiel's left side) ... thou shalt bear their iniquity ... so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel... and again, thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah ..." (<a href="/bible/parallel/EZK/4/4" class="green-link">Ezekiel 4:4-6</a>). Right here lies the "lost message of Ezekiel." None of dozens of commentators we have consulted pays the slightest attention whatever to the colossal teachings of the vital messages in these dramatic clauses. Ezekiel represents God in the analogy here; and as God's representative, he bears the iniquity of both Israel and Judah. The 390 years for one and the forty years for the other, therefore have no application whatever to the duration of the captivity, either of Northern Israel or of Southern Israel, nor of any one else. The absolute inability of all the commentators to come up with any rational or reasonable explanation of what these respective time periods really prophesied is the only proof needed that they have simply not understood what is meant by them. Here Ezekiel is a type of the Son Man (the Christ) indeed; and he becomes the sin-bearer for all Israel. That is the bold, unequivocal message of this passage. What about the 390 years and the forty years? "Forty" throughout the Old Testament is the symbolical word for punishment; and the Ten Northern Tribes deserved ten times forty (four hundred stripes, days, years, whatever; but as the Jews always administered that "forty" as "forty stripes save one" it would mean that the Ten Tribes deserved 390 years of the wrath of God. Judah, the principal tribe of the Southern Israel also would receive "forty," it not being considered necessary to add the limitation of "save one" here, as it may be understood. As we see it, God's "beating the iniquity of all the tribes of earth in the person of his "Only Begotten Son," is the sum total of what is indicated in this passage which all scholars have labeled, "impossible of understanding," "unintelligible," "subject to no satisfactory explanation," etc. Some may think that our explanation is also unsatisfactory; but to us it makes more sense than anything else we have ever encountered. In the quadruple statement in this paragraph that Ezekiel is to "bear the sins" of both houses of Israel, how can a scholar like Taylor assert that, "This is a symbol of the weight of the punishment to be borne by Israel!"[12] Ezekiel, as a type of Christ. is the one doing the bearing, according to the holy text. At first, we considered adopting the position on this paragraph mentioned by Pearson, who said, "With the data at our disposal, it appears unwise to be dogmatic as to how the forty and the 390 years are to be reckoned."[13] However, the thundering remarks about Ezekiel's being the sin-bearer here point so clearly in the direction which we have chosen, that we are offering what seems (to us) a reasonable and logical understanding of it. Thus all of the inconvenience, humiliation, painful physical constraint, the unclean diet, etc. are an eloquent portrayal of the sufferings, humiliation, even death, of the great Sin-Bearer, Christ, of whom Ezekiel was merely a type. There is no device for discovering an easy solution to these numbers. The years of Israel's sins were actually far more than 390, and the same is true of the sins of Judah. There is no evidence that the sins of Israel were ten times as much as those of Judah (except upon the premise of their being far greater in number). The device of choosing the Septuagint (LXX) over the the Hebrew text of the Old Testament here gives only 150 years, but that doesn't work either. Verse 9 "Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof; according to the number of days that thou shalt lie on thy side, even three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof. And thy food which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it. And thou shalt drink water by measure, the sixth part of a bin.' from time to time shalt thou drink."In this paragraph Ezekiel is to be identified, not as a sin-bearer, but as a representation of the besieged and captive Israelites. The prophecy means that they shall suffer famine, severe food shortages, the ration of water, and all of the other rigors of a siege. Some of the measurements mentioned here may have varied a little from what we are told; but Cook gave "twenty shekels a day" as about nine ounces of food, and a "sixth part of a hin" of water as "about two pints" a day.[14] In any case, such restricted amounts must be considered as just about the minimum survival diet. Some have thought that the mixing of all these edibles in one vessel was a ceremonial violation regarding unnatural mixtures (<a href="/bible/parallel/LEV/19/19" class="green-link">Leviticus 19:19</a>); but the more likely understanding is that it indicates merely the scarcity of food. Wheat and barley were normally used by the rich and poor respectively, and this was also true of beans and lentils; but the millet, and spelt (fitches) were often used as food for animals.[15] The "fitches" (spelt) was a kind of wild wheat, resembling the seed of some grasses.[16] The picture that emerges is that of a family scraping together a small handful of half a dozen different products in order to find enough for a single piece of bread. Verse 12 "And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it in their sight with dung that cometh out of man. And Jehovah said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations whither I will drive them. Then said I, Ah Lord Jehovah! Behold, my soul hath not been polluted; for from my youth up even until now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn of beasts; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth. Then he said unto me, See, I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread thereon. Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with fearfulness, and they shall drink water by measure, and in dismay: that they may want bread and water, and be dismayed one with another, and pine away in their iniquity.""And thou shalt bake it in their sight with dung ..." (<a href="/bible/parallel/EZK/4/12" class="green-link">Ezekiel 4:12</a>). The dung mentioned here was not to be a part of the food but was to be fuel for the baking of it, thus assuring the ceremonial uncleanness of the bread. "Thou shalt prepare thy bread thereon ..." (<a href="/bible/parallel/EZK/4/15" class="green-link">Ezekiel 4:15</a>). This means that the bread was to be baked upon afire made of cow chips. Such a product is still used as fuel in the Mid East. "Dried cow-dung and camel-dung is still used for fuel by the Bedouin."[17] It is not all that unsatisfactory as a fuel, as some of the pioneer high plainsmen of the USA have testified. More than a century ago, Robinson described his journey with some Arabs, "Who baked a large cake (an ember cake’) of bread in the embers of a fire made of camel’s and cow-dung. They took it out when done, brushed the ashes off of it, and divided it among the party… I tasted it and found it quite as good as the common bread of that country."[18]The big point about this use of dung for fuel is that in Jewish minds it made the bread ceremonially unclean.

Cook pointed out that there are abundant echoes of the prohibitions in th’e Pentateuch, such as those inLeviticus 26:39 in Ezekiel.[19] Added to that, “All food eaten in a foreign land among the heathen was unclean to the Jews."[20]“With his priestly background, Ezekiel had such injunctions as the prohibitions against eating an animal that had died of itself, etc. (Leviticus 7:24; Leviticus 22:8; Exodus 22:31; Leviticus 17:11-16; and Deuteronomy 14:21) before him continually. This is especially true of the regulations in Leviticus."[21]Thus, in Ezekiel we find exactly the same ever-present consciousness on the part of God’s prophets of the prior existence of the covenant and every line of the Pentateuch. It was true in our studies of all twelve of the Minor Prophets, and without exception, all of the Major Prophets also. “Pine away in their iniquity …” (Ezekiel 4:17). “This is another echo from that book which had entered so largely into Ezekiel’s education (Leviticus 26:39). where the Hebrew word for “pine” is the same word as ‘consume.’ To the wretchedness of physical privations there was to be added the consciousness on the part of the sufferers that their privations were caused by their own evil deeds."[22]“Hunger and thirst, sorrow and dismay, would fall upon the sinners in Zion exactly as the ancient book of the law had foretold (Leviticus 26:39)."[23]

Ezekiel 4:1

Ezekiel 4:1. The chief sin of the Jewish nation and for which it went into captivity was idolatry. In order to Impress ils people with the seriousness of the offence, the prophet was required to do some of the “acting” mentioned in the preceding chapter. He was to dramatize the siege of Jerusalem which was the capital of the nation. In this drama he was to do some very unpleasant performances. The city of Jerusalem was -to be represented by a tile or brick, on which a likeness of Jerusalem was portrayed.

Ezekiel 4:2

Ezekiel 4:2. The 70-year captivity had been going on for some time when Ezekiel began to write, but the city of Jerusalem had not yet been destroyed because the 3rd stage of the subjugation was still to be accomplished. That great event was to be preceded with a siege, and the prophet was to “act out” the same by going through the motions of it in some figurative way.

Ezekiel 4:3

Ezekiel 4:3. The city had a protecting wall around it which would have to be attacked before it could be taken. As a representation of this wall Ezekiel was to get an iron pan which could be placed on edge in the position of such a protecting structure. This pan was to he raised up between the tile and the prophet who was to act as a besieging army. This shall be a sign means that the Jews were to take this performance of Ezekiel as a sign of what was about to happen to their city.

Ezekiel 4:4

Ezekiel 4:4. Lay is used figuratively and means that Ezekiel would be going through this unpleasant experience to emphasize the iniquity of the house of Israel. Each day lie lay on J^s side stood for a year in the sinful history of the nation. Bear their iniquity de-notes that the prophet was to undergo this affliction as a sign of the greatness of Israel’s sin.

Ezekiel 4:5

Ezekiel 4:5. The children of Israel were inclined toward idolatry from the beginning of their history as was shown at Mt. Sinai and afterward. But the specific length of time named in this verse should be dated from the enactment of national idolatry (1 Kings 12:26) which was in 975 B.C. to 585 B.C., and that was about the date of Ezekiel’ s performance just described.

Ezekiel 4:6

Ezekiel 4:6. The prophet was to lie on his left side when the case of Israel (the 10 tribes) was being treated. After that he was to lie on his right side to indicate the house of Judah, and that was to continue 40 days. Various theories have been offered in the works of reference as to why there was only the smaller number for Judah; but I am not convinced that any of them is welt founded. It is true that Judah was regarded as the greater offender from the standpoint of responsibility, for she had the example of Israel before her and should have profited by the- lesson. But in actual years devoted to the abominable practice, Israel far exceeded Judah. It is not necessary to go into any speculation beyond the known facts of history.

Ezekiel 4:7

Ezekiel 4:7. Set thy face means that Ezekiel was to take his reclining position to indicate the siege of Jerusalem. Arm uncovered indicates that all hindrances were to be removed that might make a siege ineffective.

Ezekiel 4:8

Ezekiel 4:8. No literal bands would have been necessary, for Ezekiel was an obedient servant and ready always to do the Lord’ s bidding. Yet he was under an obligation that was as binding as if he had been tied with ropes. In thus acting his part he would be showing the firmness of the siege.

Ezekiel 4:9

Ezekiel 4:9. Ezekiel was directed to prepare certain articles of food. This would require him to be up and about the community more or less, which indicates that his position of lying oil his side was not literally continuous, but only for the greater part of each day. Short intervals had to be used for the preparation of these articles of diet. The materials designated were such as a famine would produce, and that was one of the sub-jects the prophet wras to portray in his acting.

Ezekiel 4:10

' Ezekiel 4:10. The short rationing of meat described was another circumstance usually connected with a famine that is brought on by a siege.

Ezekiel 4:11

Ezekiel 4:11. Even drinking water is frequently very scarce in a siege. There was no actual shortage of that with Ezekiel, but he was made to ration it for himself as a further sign of the famine about to come on Jerusalem,

Ezekiel 4:12-15

Ezekiel 4:12-15. The history of mankind is one in which it is common to see one man enduring unpleasant experiences for the sake of another. This has been especially true of the prophets according to Jeremiah 13:1 S; 27:2, and the case of Ezekiel’s lying so long upon his sides. Now in the present verse we have another instance of a very disagreeable task imposed on the prophet. Smith’s Bible Dictionary states that dung was sometimes used as fuel in ancient times. However, it was usually for heating purposes only, which would not be so objectionable.

But in the case at hand the prophet was told to prepare his food with this substance as fuel. The necessary handling of such material in connection with cooking a meal would be very unpleasant, especially if the original order had been retained here. But upon the complaint of Ezekiel the Lord permitted him to substitute the discharges from a beast which would be less repulsive though bad enough. This unusual performance was to be a sign to the children of Israel of the unpleasant experiences which they were destined to have among the heathen nations where they had been sent as captives.

Ezekiel 4:16

Ezekiel 4:16. To avoid confusion It is well to keep in mind the fact of “ the three captivities,” or the three stages In the subjugation of Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah. For a more extended comment on this subject see 2 Kings 24:1 in volume 2 of this Commentary. Two of these captivities had taken place when Ezekiel began to write. The third one was still to come hut not very far in the future. The famine that is predicted in this verse occurred in that terrible event, and the Biblical account of it is given in 2 Kings 25:3. The statements of this verse are literal and were fulfilled when Nebuchadnezzar threw Jerusalem into a siege.

Ezekiel 4:17

Ezekiel 4:17. No material facts are added in this verse except to describe the immediate effects of the famine. Astonied is from shamem which Strong defines, “ To stun (or intransitively grow numb)The lack of food caused the people to grow numb and behold each other with a stunned countenance. All of this was to be brought upon them as a punishment for their iniquity.