Ezekiel 4

A Sign of Jerusalem’s Siege

1 “Now you, son of man, take a brick, place it before you, and draw on it the city of Jerusalem.

2 Then lay siege against it: Construct a siege wall, build a ramp to it, set up camps against it, and place battering rams around it on all sides.

3 Then take an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between yourself and the city. Turn your face toward it so that it is under siege, and besiege it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.

4 Then lie down on your left side and place the iniquity of the house of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their iniquity for the number of days you lie on your side.

5 For I have assigned to you 390 days, according to the number of years of their iniquity. So you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

6 When you have completed these days, lie down again, but on your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah. I have assigned to you 40 days, a day for each year.

7 You must turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared, and prophesy against it.

8 Now behold, I will tie you up with ropes so you cannot turn from side to side until you have finished the days of your siege.

The Defiled Bread

9 But take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt; put them in a single container and make them into bread for yourself. This is what you are to eat during the 390 days you lie on your side.

10 You are to weigh out twenty shekels of food ^[a] to eat each day, and you are to eat it at set times.

11 You are also to measure out a sixth of a hin of water ^[b] to drink, and you are to drink it at set times.

12 And you shall eat the food as you would a barley cake, after you bake it over dried human excrement in the sight of the people.”

13 Then the LORD said, “This is how the Israelites will eat their defiled bread among the nations to which I will banish them.”

14 “Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “I have never defiled myself. ^[c] From my youth until now I have not eaten anything found dead or mauled by wild beasts. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth.”

15 “Look,” He replied, “I will let you use cow dung instead of human excrement, and you may bake your bread over that.”

16 Then He told me, “Son of man, I am going to cut off the supply ^[d] of food in Jerusalem. They will anxiously eat bread rationed by weight, and in despair they will drink water by measure.

17 So they will lack food and water; they will be appalled at the sight of one another wasting away in their iniquity.

Ezekiel 4 Commentary

Chapter 4

The siege of Jerusalem. (1-8) The famine the inhabitants would suffer. (9-17)

Verses 1-8 The prophet was to represent the siege of Jerusalem by signs. He was to lie on his left side for a number of days, supposed to be equal to the years from the establishment of idolatry. All that the prophet sets before the children of his people, about the destruction of Jerusalem, is to show that sin is the provoking cause of the ruin of that once flourishing city.

Verses 9-17 The bread which was Ezekiel's support, was to be made of coarse grain and pulse mixed together, seldom used except in times of urgent scarcity, and of this he was only to take a small quantity. Thus was figured the extremity to which the Jews were to be reduced during the siege and captivity. Ezekiel does not plead, Lord, from my youth I have been brought up delicately, and never used to any thing like this; but that he had been brought up conscientiously, and never had eaten any thing forbidden by the law. It will be comfortable when we are brought to suffer hardships, if our hearts can witness that we have always been careful to keep even from the appearance of evil. See what woful work sin makes, and acknowledge the righteousness of God herein. Their plenty having been abused to luxury and excess, they were justly punished by famine. When men serve not God with cheerfulness in the abundance of all things, God will make them serve their enemies in the want of all things.

Footnotes

• [a]. 20 shekels is approximately 8 ounces or 228 grams of food.
• [b]. A sixth of a hin is approximately 0.65 quarts or 0.61 liters of water.
• [c]. Hebrew “Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “Behold, my soul has never been made unclean.
• [d]. Hebrew staff

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 4

This chapter contains a prophecy of the siege of Jerusalem, and of the famine that attended it. The siege is described by a portrait of the city of Jerusalem on a tile, laid before the prophet, Eze 4:1; by each of the actions, representing a siege of it, as building a fort, casting a mount, and setting a camp and battering rams against it, and an iron pan for a wall, between the prophet, the besieger, and the city, Eze 4:2,3; by his gesture, lying first on his left side for the space of three hundred ninety days, and then on his right side for the space of forty days, pointing at the time when the city should be taken, Eze 4:4-6; and by setting his face to the siege, and uncovering his arm, and prophesying, Eze 4:7; and by bands being laid on him, so that he could not turn from one side to the other, till the siege was ended, Eze 4:8; the famine is signified by bread the prophet was to make of various sorts of grain and seeds, baked with men's dung, and eaten by weight, with water drank by measure, which is applied unto the people; it is suggested that this would be fulfilled by the children of Israel's eating defiled bread among the Gentiles, Eze 4:9-13; but upon the prophet's concern about eating anything forbidden by the law, which he had never done, cow's dung is allowed instead of men's, to prepare the bread with, Eze 4:14,15; and the chapter is concluded with a resolution to bring a severe famine on them, to their great astonishment, and with which they should be consumed for their iniquity, Eze 4:16,17.