Deeper Commentary
Ezekiel 4:1 You also, son of man, take a tile, and lay it before
yourself, and portray on it the city - Jerusalem- Such engraven tiles
with cities upon them were common in Babylon. Again we see God working to
appeal to people in local terms. And our witness of His word must be
likewise. It's unclear where Ezekiel was imprisoned in Ez. 3, with the
captives in Babylonia or in Jerusalem. His message in the acted parable
which follows is clearly to the effect that Babylon would come a third
time against Jerusalem and destroy it (:16). The message of judgment was
of course an appeal to "turn" in repentance, for that was the aim of
Ezekiel's witness as Ez. 3 has made clear. If this parable was acted out
by the Chebar, then there was the possibility that the repentance of those
already in captivity could have saved Jerusalem from the threatened
destruction. For it was God's intention that Judah repent and Jerusalem
not be destroyed.
Ezekiel 4:2 Lay siege against it, and build forts against it, and cast up
a mound against it; set camps also against it, and plant battering rams
against it all around- Presumably this was done by drawing these
things upon the tile. But it was as if by doing so, a siege was actually
laid against Jerusalem- so certain was this prophetic word of fulfilment.
Presumably Ezekiel was still dumb at this time (Ez. 3:26). Hence the acted
parable, the still small voice of lived example which was and is more
powerful than the spoken word.
Ezekiel 4:3 Take for yourself an iron pan and set it for a wall of iron
between yourself and the city: and set your face toward it, and it shall
be besieged, and you shall lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to
the house of Israel- The setting of Ezekiel's face represented the
setting of God's face against Jerusalem (Jer. 21:10; Ez. 15:7). Jeremiah's
message in Jerusalem was being repeated by Ezekiel to the captives in
Babylon. The iron pan speaks of the "northern iron" of Babylon (Jer.
15:12; 28:13- again we note similarities between Jeremiah and Ezekiel,
prophesying at about the same time and delivering the same message,
Jeremiah in Judah and Ezekiel to the captives already in Babylon). Later
Ezekiel would liken the defences of Jerusalem to a weak "wall" of clay
bricks that toppled easily (Ez. 13:12,14). But Ezekiel represented God,
and the iron wall spoke of the barrier between Jerusalem and God through
which their desperate prayers would not penetrate. It was a "sign" in that
"the house of Israel" were to realize this is how it would be, and repent
so it didn't happen. There is a gap between the Divine pronouncement and
its realization, in which we can repent and change that pronouncement. We
also live in such a gap, and have repented and changed the verdict of
eternal death for us. "The house of Israel" is a term used repeatedly in
Ezekiel. And yet the captives he was among were apparently from Judah. But
it was God's plan that at the restoration, both the ten tribes and Judah
would together repent and return to the land. Perhaps there were also
members of the ten tribes in captivity in Babylon, or Ezekiel's prophecies
were to be taken to them, as they were apparently taken to the Jews still
in Jerusalem.
Ezekiel 4:4 Moreover lie on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the
house of Israel on it; according to the number of the days that you shall
lie on it, you shall bear their iniquity- Again we see the "son of
man" Ezekiel looking forward to the Lord Jesus, the ultimate bearer of
Israel's sins. Ezekiel was to "lie" on his side, but the Hebrew is often
used for sleeping. Whilst sleeping he was to bear their sin and when he
awoke from the final sleep, their sin would have been carried; again
looking forward to the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Samaria,
the capital of the ten tribe kingdom, is described by Ezekiel as being on
the left side (Ez. 16:46). To 'bear iniquity' meant 'to bear the
punishment for iniquity' (Ex. 28:43; Num. 18:1 etc.). They were as it were
to sleep and then arise at the restoration.
Ezekiel 4:5 For I have appointed the years of their iniquity to be to you
a number of days, even three hundred and ninety days. So you shall bear
the iniquity of the house of Israel-
Perhaps some restoration could have happened to the ten tribes after 390
years, if the right conditions had been fulfilled by them; although
there's no sign it ever did. See on :6. Perhaps God was
willing to accept Ezekiel as the sin bearer for them, whether or not they
repented; but they didn't even accept that. The start of the 390 day-years
may have begun some time earlier for Israel, the ten tribes. We note that
390 + 40 gives 430, which was the number of years Israel were in Egypt
(Ex. 12:40). The LXX reads 190, not 390. If we take the beginning of
Israel's punishment as the deportations under the reign of Pekah in BC
736, this brings us to BC546. If Judah's punishment began with the
destruction of Jerusalem in BC586, forty years from that comes to the same
date, BC546.
Ezekiel 4:6 Again, when you have accomplished these, you shall lie on your
right side, and shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah: forty days,
each day for a year, have I appointed it to you-
Ezekiel was asked to prophecy that Judah would suffer for their sins for
40 years. Perhaps something could've happened after 40 years... And then,
the starting point of the 70 or 40 years was somewhat flexible- for Ez.
22:3,4 records Ezekiel's prophecy that the desolation of Jerusalem by the
Babylonians [the starting point of the time periods] was actually being
hastened, brought forward, by the terrible behaviour of the Jews living
there after the initial Babylon invasion of the land. Closer study reveals
the variableness of outworking of the time periods. Jer. 25:11,12 and Jer.
29:10 speak of a 70 year period of Babylonian rule over Judah, beginning
with the invasion of BC597. But Babylon only ruled over Judah for 49
years, before Babylon fell to the Persians. This would connect with the
way that Zech. 4:3 speaks of 7 menorah candlesticks each with 7 lamps,
making 49 lamps. 49 is the cycle of 7 sabbath years that culminated in the
jubilee year, and the jubilee year, the proclamation of liberty to the
land (Lev. 25:8-12; 27:7-24) is a figure used so often in Isaiah to
describe the freedom of Judah once released from Babylon. Lev. 26:34,43
speak of the land enjoying her Sabbaths whilst Israel were in exile for
their sins- i.e. for 49 years. So it seems that there could have been some
restoration after 49 years- but it didn't happen. But Dan. 9:2 and 2
Chron. 36:21 seem to reinterpret those 70 years of Jeremiah's prophecies
as speaking of a 70 year period during which Jerusalem and the temple
would be desolate. See on Ez. 6:8.
Ezekiel 4:7 You shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with
your arm uncovered; and you shall prophesy against it- Ezekiel was
representing God, whose arm was uncovered in His active judgment of
Jerusalem. He was ready for action, and only desperate repentance would
change this. But the same phrase "arm uncovered" is found only in Is.
52:10, which speaks of how God's arm was uncovered in preparing to destroy
the nations abusing Israel through the revelation of Messiah. There is
always a silver lining in God's judgments. The judgment of His people was
to presage the destruction of Babylon and the establishment of His
restored kingdom in Israel at the restoration, replete with a Messiah
figure. But His people precluded this possibility by their disobedience.
Ezekiel 4:8 Behold, I lay shackles on you, and you shall not turn yourself
from one side to the other, until you have accomplished the days of your
siege- "Shackles" is the same word used of how the Jews bound Ezekiel
with shackles in Ez. 3:25.
Ezekiel 4:9 Take for yourself also wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet
and spelt, and put them in one vessel and make bread of it; according to
the number of the days that you shall lie on your side, even three hundred
and ninety days, you shall eat of it- The idea was that whilst
sleeping in captivity, Israel and Judah would eat only very basic food
without meat. But the book of Esther reveals that this isn't what happened
in the longer term; many of Judah ended up prosperous. Again we have here
a potential scenario which was precluded by the utter refusal of the Jews
generally to repent. See on :16.
Ezekiel 4:10 Your food which you shall eat shall be by weight, twenty
shekels a day: from time to time you shall eat it- The way Peter was
given a vision and asked to eat what he had previously thought unclean has
many similarities with Ezekiel going through a similar experience (Ez.
4:10-14 cp. Acts 10:14). Peter was intended to have made the connection,
which he apparently didn't do. We too find points of contact between our
experiences and those of Biblical characters. This is where familiarity
with the basic text of scripture can open up the meaning of our lives to
us.
Ezekiel 4:11 You shall drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin:
from time to time you shall drink- Not much less than a pint of water
/ day, less than what today would be considered a necessary fluid intake
in a hot climate (1 Kings 22:27; Is. 30:20). Ezekiel was effectively
imprisoned at this time, as explained at the end of Ez. 3; the idea was
that his captors would in turn suffer like this.
Ezekiel 4:12 You shall eat it as barley cakes, and you shall bake it in
their sight with dung that comes out of man- This suggests a very
stark existence without even firewood. But as noted on :9, God punished
His people far less than He planned, less their iniquities deserved, as
Ezra observed to the captives who returned (Ezra 9:13). Here we see how
God's statements may not come true because His mercy and pity is stronger
than His judgment of sin. But that grace is not automatic, and is given
depth and meaning the more we consider the reality of the statements of
judgment made in His anger. See on :16; Ez. 5:2.
Ezekiel 4:13 Yahweh said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their
bread unclean among the nations where I will drive them- They were to
be purposefully defiled, made to eat unclean food (Hos. 9:3), driven to
realize that they existed as unclean in God's eyes, their situation
precluding perfect obedience to Divine law. And thereby they were to be
driven to appreciate His grace. Again, there was purpose and intention
behind all God's judgments for sin.
Ezekiel 4:14 Then I said, Ah Lord Yahweh! Behold, my soul has not been
polluted; for from my youth up even until now have I not eaten of that
which dies of itself, or is torn of animals; neither came there abominable
flesh into my mouth- The implication might be that given such a lack
of meat in the diet, the captives like Ezekiel would be driven to eat
unclean meat. We wonder whether Ezekiel was in fact so totally technically
obedient; his words recall that of the older brother who claimed total
obedience to his father.
Ezekiel 4:15 Then He said to me, Behold, I have given you cow’s dung for
man’s dung, and you shall prepare your bread thereon- This was a
concession to Ezekiel, showing how God is open to dialogue with man.
However, the use of any dung would still have made the food ritually
unclean; so the essential lesson of :13 was still to be learnt.
Ezekiel 4:16 Moreover He said to me, Son of man, behold, I will break the
staff of bread in Jerusalem. They shall eat bread by weight, and with
fearfulness; and they shall drink water by measure, and in dismay-
The situation acted out by Ezekiel was however to go on many years, not
just during the siege of Jerusalem. The idea was that the deprivations of
the siege were to continue throughout their captivity. But in wrath God
remembered mercy and this didn't in fact happen; see on :9,12.
Ezekiel 4:17 That they may want bread and water, and be dismayed one with
another, and pine away in their iniquity- This pining away was that
of Lev. 26:39, the judgment for breaking covenant. But we must recall that
they had just witnessed Ezekiel bearing their iniquity, in the spirit of
the Christ. Their pining away, sitting depressed by the rivers of Babylon
pining away in their sins, could have been resolved by realizing that
Ezekiel had carried the punishment for their iniquity. He really was set
up as their representative, "son of man" saviour. But as later with the
Lord Jesus, they refused to accept that. Seeon Ez. 5:3.
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