Ezekiel: For His GlorySample

In order to penetrate the hardness of the people, God commands Ezekiel to perform ‘sign-acts’. These are actions with a significance beyond themselves, similar to street theatre or church dramas today. But Ezekiel’s sign-acts are more than these modern-day analogs because his actions also hold prophetic significance for Israel (v. 3). The first set of sign-acts is found in chapter 4:     

1. The prophet lays siege to a clay brick that has a map of Jerusalem drawn on it (vv. 1–3). In the immediate context, the iron pan most likely represents a barrier in the relationship between God and Israel (cf. 3:26). This prophetic action anticipates the Babylonian army erecting siegeworks against Jerusalem (cf. 2 Kgs 25:1–2).     
2. Ezekiel lies on his left side for 390 days, then his right for 40 days (vv. 4–8). Each day corresponds to a year of Israel and Judah’s sin, and Ezekiel is to symbolically bear the people’s sin.     
3. The prophet is to eat a siege diet and drink rationed water during the time he lays on his side (vv. 9–17). This points to the restricted diet that those in Jerusalem would experience during the siege (cf. 2 Kgs 25:3). Their emaciated state would lead the people to identify the cause of their distress: their sin. Indeed, the wording is reminiscent of the covenant curses for disobedience (cf. Lev. 26:26, 39). For Ezekiel, from a priestly background, it is detestable to eat food cooked over human excrement, so God permits him to cook over cow manure instead. This symbolizes the unclean food that God’s people would eat in exile. 

This set of sign-acts looks forward to the terrible fate of Jerusalem from the hand of God. The judgments of siege, famine, and exile to unclean lands are God’s punishment for Israel’s sin.

Reflection

Was Ezekiel effective in bearing and removing Israel’s sin? The people still went into exile as punishment, so the answer is ‘No.’ But thank God for Jesus, who, in the ultimate sign-act of the cross,* did away with sin as our substitute (e.g. John 1:29).

*Duguid, Iain M., The NIV Application Commentary: Ezekiel (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1999), p. 95.