Ezekiel 4
4
Ezekiel Symbolizes the Siege of Jerusalem
1Yahweh said, “Son of man, take a clay tile # 4:1 Or “sun-dried brick [slab of clay].” These clay tiles were used for building materials and were generally about a foot wide and two feet long. Ezekiel, a man of clay, was the “clay tile” God wrote his message upon. and lay it in front of you. Sketch the city of Jerusalem on the tile. 2Build a wall around it and, to represent a siege, pile up a dirt ramp against the wall. Then prepare to attack it as if it were a real city. Surround it with armed soldiers and station battering rams on all sides. 3Then take an iron frying pan # 4:3 The iron frying pan represented the total severing of relationship, like an iron wall of stubbornness that stood between God and the people of Jerusalem. and place it on edge as though it were an iron wall between you and the city. Then direct your gaze toward the city, for it is under siege and you are besieging it. This is to be a sign, an object lesson for the people of Israel.
4-5“Then lie down on your left side and stay like that for 390 days. The people of Israel sinned for 390 years, and you will lie one day for each year they sinned. You will symbolically bear # 4:4–5 Or “lift up.” their guilt for as many days as you lie on that side and bear their punishment. 6After that, lie down a second time but turn over on your right side and stay like that for forty days, one day for each year of the guilt of the people of Judah. 7Then direct your gaze on the model of the siege of Jerusalem, shake your fist at the city # 4:7 Like a warrior prepared for battle, Ezekiel was to act like he was threatening the city to attack it. See Isa. 52:10. and prophesy against her. 8Behold, I am going to tie you up, and you will not be able to turn from one side to the other until the period of your seclusion is over. # 4:8 Or “until you have finished the days of your siege(s).” Ezekiel was commanded to be bound with ropes and to lie on his side for a total of 430 days as a sign of the guilt of Israel and Judah. The calculation of the years must be made in a religious sense, not political. For 390 years, Jerusalem was the religious capital of all Israel, even during the divided monarchy. The only time Jerusalem was the capital of Judah alone was for the 40 years before Josiah recaptured the northern region of Israel. The sins referred to here are in reference to the 430 years of sins against Yahweh’s temple-presence in Jerusalem, as the religious capital of both Israel and Judah. Additionally, 430 years was the duration Israel spent as slaves in Egypt.
9“Now take some wheat, barley, beans, lentils, and other grains; # 4:9 Or “millet and spelt [emmer],” which are grains not generally used for bread. store them all together and make bread for yourself. This will be your food for the 390 days you are lying on your side. 10Of these grains, make a small loaf of bread # 4:10 Or “weigh out twenty shekels [about 8 ounces or 220 grams] for a daily portion.” at a set time each day. 11And you are to ration the water you drink to two cups # 4:11 Or “the sixth part of a hin,” about 1.26 pints (0.6 liter). at a set time each day. 12Eat the food as you would a barley cake. While everyone can see you, build a fire with dried human excrement, then bake the bread on the coals.” # 4:12 Ezekiel’s actions were meant to dramatize symbolically what would happen during the siege of Jerusalem. There would be little food and water and little or no fuel to build fires to cook it. And the same situation would follow them when they would be taken into captivity. Additionally, the mixture of polluted bread and its strange odor can symbolize the traditions of men that Paul said were like “manure” (Phil. 3:1–14; see Mark 7:13).
13And Yahweh said, “In this same way the Israelites will have to eat defiled food among the nations where I will disperse them.”
14Then I replied, “Oh no! Lord Yahweh, I have never defiled myself, from childhood until now. I have never eaten meat from any animal that died a natural death or was killed by wild animals. Nothing unclean has ever entered my mouth.” # 4:14 See Acts 10:9–16.
15“Very well,” he said, “I will let you use dried cow manure # 4:15 Dried cow dung is commonly used as fuel in the East. instead of human excrement as fuel to bake your bread.” 16Then he added, “Son of man, I am going to cut off Jerusalem’s food supply. In their horrible distress, the food they eat and the water they drink will be rationed. 17They will watch as it all runs out and look at each other in total despair. And they will slowly die of starvation # 4:17 Or literally “rot and decay.” There are four prophetic signs given in chs. 4–5. (1) The sign of the model of Jerusalem, 4:1–3. (2) The sign of the prophet lying bound on his side, 4:4–8. (3) The sign of the defiled bread, 4:9–17. (4) The sign of the barber’s razor, 5:1–4. It appears that all these prophetic signs took place during the period of Ezekiel’s silence (3:24–27). These signs became more eloquent than words. because of their guilt.”
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Ezekiel 4: TPT
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