Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:
And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.
Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.
Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity.
For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.
Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.
And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.
Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.
And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.
Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink.
And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.
And the Lord said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them.
Then said I, Ah Lord God! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.
Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow’s dung for man’s dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith.
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 care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:
That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and consume away for their iniquity.
Ezekiel 4 unveils a series of dramatic, symbolic acts that God commanded Ezekiel to perform, vividly portraying the impending siege and destruction of Jerusalem. Confined to his house and its courtyard, Ezekiel was instructed to use visual aids and physical actions to communicate God's message to the exiled Israelites. These symbolic acts, four in total across chapters 4 and 5, served as powerful warnings of the judgment to come.
The Siege Depicted
book_name Ezekiel 4:1-3 marks the beginning of this prophetic drama. Ezekiel was commanded to draw a detailed outline of Jerusalem on a clay brick, a common and easily recognizable object. He was then to enact a siege against this representation, complete with a wall, a ramp, military camps, and battering rams positioned on all sides. This elaborate depiction was meant to capture the brutal reality of the coming Babylonian siege led by Nebuchadnezzar, which would ultimately lead to the city's fall around 587–586 BC.
The exiles, observing this performance, would have immediately understood the implications of these military devices. However, they likely struggled to believe that their holy city, the place of God’s presence and presumed protection, could ever be subjected to such a devastating attack. After all, the actual fall of Jerusalem was still approximately six years away. Ezekiel’s task was to shatter this false sense of security. The people's sins had sealed Jerusalem's fate. God had turned against the city and its inhabitants to such an extent that He was like an impenetrable iron plate, offering no defense (Ezekiel 4:3). The message was clear and impossible to ignore: judgment was inevitable.
Bearing the Iniquity of Israel and Judah
book_name Ezekiel 4:4-8 presents a more complex and challenging symbolic act. God instructed Ezekiel to lie on his sides for a specific number of days: 390 days on his left side and 40 days on his right. The interpretation of this act centers on the burden of iniquity.
When lying on his left side, Ezekiel would have been facing north, symbolizing the northern kingdom of Israel. The 390 days represent the years of Israel's iniquity, dating back to their initial departure from God’s covenant. It is important to remember that the northern kingdom had already been destroyed by the Assyrians in 722 BC, highlighting the long history of their disobedience.
As a priest, Ezekiel was also called to bear the iniquity of his people (Ezekiel 4:4-5). In the priestly role, sins were carried away representatively, something Ezekiel could not fully accomplish without a true atoning sacrifice. God had already decreed judgment upon Judah (note the absence of a call to repentance). Lying on his right side, facing south towards Jerusalem, Ezekiel bore the iniquity of Judah, which had accumulated forty years of sin leading up to their judgment (Ezekiel 4:6-7). This act underscores the weight of their collective sin and the inevitability of divine justice.
The Bread of Affliction
The third symbolic act, described in book_name Ezekiel 4:9-13, involved the preparation and consumption of a special bread. Ezekiel was instructed to take various grains common in Israel – wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt – and bake them together into a single loaf. For the entire duration of the 390 days, he was to eat only this bread. The amount was meager – just eight ounces per day – and the water ration was equally scant, only a sixth of a gallon (Ezekiel 4:10-11; see Ezekiel 4:16).
This meager diet symbolized the extreme scarcity that the people of Jerusalem would face during the Babylonian siege. Food and water would become precious commodities, and the people would suffer greatly. To further illustrate the dire circumstances, God initially instructed Ezekiel to bake these cakes over dried human excrement in the sight of the exiles. This would have demonstrated how the people in Jerusalem would be forced to eat ceremonially unclean food when they were banished from the land (Ezekiel 4:12-13), a consequence of their defilement of the land.
A Priest's Plea and God's Concession
book_name Ezekiel 4:14-17 reveals Ezekiel's deep-seated commitment to God's law and his personal integrity. As a priest, he had dedicated his life to upholding dietary restrictions and maintaining ritual purity. The instruction to use human excrement as fuel was deeply offensive to him, and he voiced his strong objection.
In response to Ezekiel's plea, God, in His compassion, granted a concession. He allowed Ezekiel to use cow dung, a common fuel source, instead of human excrement (Ezekiel 4:14-15). Despite this modification, the core message remained unchanged. The Jews of Jerusalem would face terrible famine and thirst as the Babylonians laid siege to the city. They would be driven to desperate measures, unimaginable in their worst nightmares. The entire population would suffer devastatingly "because of their iniquity" (Ezekiel 4:16-17).
The chapter concludes with the somber note that no offer of repentance or restoration is extended. The judgment of ruin and captivity will be fully executed. Ezekiel 4 serves as a stark reminder of the consequences of sin and the unwavering justice of God. It also demonstrates God's willingness to communicate His message through dramatic and unforgettable means, even when it requires personal sacrifice and discomfort from His prophet. The meticulous detail of the symbolic acts underscores the seriousness of the situation and the certainty of the impending judgment.
Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:
And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.
Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.
Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity.
For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.
Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.
And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.
Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.
And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.
Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink.
And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.
And the Lord said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them.
Then said I, Ah Lord God! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.
Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow’s dung for man’s dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith.
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 care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:
That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and consume away for their iniquity.
Ezekiel 4 unveils a series of dramatic, symbolic acts that God commanded Ezekiel to perform, vividly portraying the impending siege and destruction of Jerusalem. Confined to his house and its courtyard, Ezekiel was instructed to use visual aids and physical actions to communicate God's message to the exiled Israelites. These symbolic acts, four in total across chapters 4 and 5, served as powerful warnings of the judgment to come.
The Siege Depicted
book_name Ezekiel 4:1-3 marks the beginning of this prophetic drama. Ezekiel was commanded to draw a detailed outline of Jerusalem on a clay brick, a common and easily recognizable object. He was then to enact a siege against this representation, complete with a wall, a ramp, military camps, and battering rams positioned on all sides. This elaborate depiction was meant to capture the brutal reality of the coming Babylonian siege led by Nebuchadnezzar, which would ultimately lead to the city's fall around 587–586 BC.
The exiles, observing this performance, would have immediately understood the implications of these military devices. However, they likely struggled to believe that their holy city, the place of God’s presence and presumed protection, could ever be subjected to such a devastating attack. After all, the actual fall of Jerusalem was still approximately six years away. Ezekiel’s task was to shatter this false sense of security. The people's sins had sealed Jerusalem's fate. God had turned against the city and its inhabitants to such an extent that He was like an impenetrable iron plate, offering no defense (Ezekiel 4:3). The message was clear and impossible to ignore: judgment was inevitable.
Bearing the Iniquity of Israel and Judah
book_name Ezekiel 4:4-8 presents a more complex and challenging symbolic act. God instructed Ezekiel to lie on his sides for a specific number of days: 390 days on his left side and 40 days on his right. The interpretation of this act centers on the burden of iniquity.
When lying on his left side, Ezekiel would have been facing north, symbolizing the northern kingdom of Israel. The 390 days represent the years of Israel's iniquity, dating back to their initial departure from God’s covenant. It is important to remember that the northern kingdom had already been destroyed by the Assyrians in 722 BC, highlighting the long history of their disobedience.
As a priest, Ezekiel was also called to bear the iniquity of his people (Ezekiel 4:4-5). In the priestly role, sins were carried away representatively, something Ezekiel could not fully accomplish without a true atoning sacrifice. God had already decreed judgment upon Judah (note the absence of a call to repentance). Lying on his right side, facing south towards Jerusalem, Ezekiel bore the iniquity of Judah, which had accumulated forty years of sin leading up to their judgment (Ezekiel 4:6-7). This act underscores the weight of their collective sin and the inevitability of divine justice.
The Bread of Affliction
The third symbolic act, described in book_name Ezekiel 4:9-13, involved the preparation and consumption of a special bread. Ezekiel was instructed to take various grains common in Israel – wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt – and bake them together into a single loaf. For the entire duration of the 390 days, he was to eat only this bread. The amount was meager – just eight ounces per day – and the water ration was equally scant, only a sixth of a gallon (Ezekiel 4:10-11; see Ezekiel 4:16).
This meager diet symbolized the extreme scarcity that the people of Jerusalem would face during the Babylonian siege. Food and water would become precious commodities, and the people would suffer greatly. To further illustrate the dire circumstances, God initially instructed Ezekiel to bake these cakes over dried human excrement in the sight of the exiles. This would have demonstrated how the people in Jerusalem would be forced to eat ceremonially unclean food when they were banished from the land (Ezekiel 4:12-13), a consequence of their defilement of the land.
A Priest's Plea and God's Concession
book_name Ezekiel 4:14-17 reveals Ezekiel's deep-seated commitment to God's law and his personal integrity. As a priest, he had dedicated his life to upholding dietary restrictions and maintaining ritual purity. The instruction to use human excrement as fuel was deeply offensive to him, and he voiced his strong objection.
In response to Ezekiel's plea, God, in His compassion, granted a concession. He allowed Ezekiel to use cow dung, a common fuel source, instead of human excrement (Ezekiel 4:14-15). Despite this modification, the core message remained unchanged. The Jews of Jerusalem would face terrible famine and thirst as the Babylonians laid siege to the city. They would be driven to desperate measures, unimaginable in their worst nightmares. The entire population would suffer devastatingly "because of their iniquity" (Ezekiel 4:16-17).
The chapter concludes with the somber note that no offer of repentance or restoration is extended. The judgment of ruin and captivity will be fully executed. Ezekiel 4 serves as a stark reminder of the consequences of sin and the unwavering justice of God. It also demonstrates God's willingness to communicate His message through dramatic and unforgettable means, even when it requires personal sacrifice and discomfort from His prophet. The meticulous detail of the symbolic acts underscores the seriousness of the situation and the certainty of the impending judgment.