CHAPTER 4

(595 B.C.)

SYMBOLS OF THE SIEGE: THE TILE

¹You also, son of man, take you a tile, and lay it before you, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem (the tile was the manner in which records were kept in ancient times. They were all sizes, which the average being about two feet long and one foot wide. They were covered with very small writing, at least in most cases, and, at times, pictorial representation.

The symbolism of the tile is the first the Lord will use through Ezekiel, all to portray His Message. A portrayal of the outline of the city of Jerusalem was to be put on the tile):

²And 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. (This was taking place in Babylonia approximately four years before Jerusalem would be destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar; therefore, the time of destruction is drawing near, which the Lord desires to portray to the Exiles.

The Prophet was to exhibit this tile portraying the outline of Jerusalem, and to make of wood or dirt all the necessary articles of destruction against the city, describing a siege.

This was probably left in a conspicuous place for quite some time, and no doubt studied minutely by many of the Exiles, who very easily discerned its message.)

THE IRON PAN, A SIGN

³Moreover take you unto you an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between you and the city: and set your face against it, and it shall be besieged, and you shall lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the House of Israel. (The iron pan signified a wall of iron surrounding the city in question, or at least from the side of the siege, portraying the power of the army of the Babylonians.)

THE LENGTH OF GODS PUNISHMENT: THE SIGN OF LYING 390 DAYS ON THE LEFT SIDE PUNISHMENT OF ISRAEL

⁴Lie you also upon your left side, and lay the iniquity of the House of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that you shall lie upon it you shall bear their iniquity. (The Lord will now use another type of symbolism, that of Ezekiel physically lying on his left side 390 days, and then on his right side for 40 days. This was to be done for a few minutes each day.

The symbolism was to portray both the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah. It was meant to portray these two kingdoms crushed to the ground.)

⁵For I have laid upon you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shall you bear the iniquity of the House of Israel. (The 390 days was to represent the 390 years of their iniquity, counting both the Northern and the Southern Kingdoms. The Lord showed extreme displeasure with the Northern Kingdom as a result of their splitting the nation and going into idol worship [I Ki. 12:16-20, 28-30].)

THE SIGN OF LYING ON THE RIGHT SIDE 40 DAYS PUNISHMENT OF JUDAH

⁶And when you have accomplished them, lie again on your right side, and you shall bear the iniquity of the House of Judah forty days: I have appointed you each day for a year. (As the Northern Kingdom had been symbolized, likewise, the Southern Kingdom of Judah would be symbolized by the 40 days of Ezekiel lying on his right side. This was not to be 40 days added to the 390 days, but rather that the 40 was to be simultaneous with the 390, with both periods ending with the fall of Judah and Jerusalem.)

THE SIGN OF THE BARE ARM BOUND JERUSALEM HELPLESS TO AVERT HER DOOM

⁷Therefore you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and your arm shall be uncovered, and you shall prophesy against it. (Ezekiel lying on his left side and then on his right side was possibly immediately before the symbolism of the tile. He was to face this model of the siege, with one arm uncovered. This was meant to denote the fact that both Judah and Israel, because of sin, were naked to the judgment of God.)

⁸And, behold, I will lay bands upon you, and you shall not turn yourself from one side to another, till you have ended the days of your siege.

THE FAMINE DURING THE SIEGE

⁹Take you also unto you wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make you bread thereof, according to the number of the days that you shall lie upon your side, three hundred and ninety days shall you eat thereof. (The 390 days did not mean that the siege would last for this period of time; in fact, it lasted about 2 years. Rather, it was meant to imply that the destruction of Jerusalem and Judah pertained to the entire time of the iniquity, which was 390 years, at least for the Northern Kingdom, and which included the Southern Kingdom of Judah.)

¹⁰And your meat which you shall eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shall you eat it. (The twenty shekels a day would buy about ten ounces, which was to be consumed each day. As Ezekiel went through this regimen each day, the sameness of the procedure could not help but have a lasting effect on the Exiles, as it portrayed by Prophetic symbolism that which was coming shortly to Jerusalem.)

¹¹You shall drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shall you drink. (The sixth part of an hin would be about a half pint. This was, as the food, to be doled out once a day. To drink also water by measure showed that water would be at a premium, as food, in the coming siege.)

¹²And you shall eat it as barley cakes, and you shall bake it with dung that comes out of man, in their sight. (The implication of the Lord is that fuel to heat the stoves would be in such short supply that the population would be forced to use the dried contents of the cesspools of Jerusalem for fuel in order to try to cook their food, such as it was.)

¹³And the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them. (Under the ceremonial Law of Moses, bread cooked by the fuel of human dung was defiled. This was to serve as a symbolism of the banishment of the Jews among the Gentiles, whom the Jews called unclean. As such, they considered themselves defiled and ceremonially unclean, and constantly!)

¹⁴Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! behold, my soul has not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dies of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth. (Ezekiel, as a Priest, had faithfully followed the Law of Moses, and had done his best to keep himself from any kind of defilement. That of which he speaks is noted in Ex. 22:31 and Lev. 7:24, 11:39-40, and 17:15.)

¹⁵Then He said unto me, Lo, I have given you cows dung for mans dung, and you shall prepare your bread therewith. (In response to the plea of the Prophet, the Lord would allow Ezekiel to use cows dung rather than mans dung. However, this also was more than likely ceremonially unclean, but at least not as repugnant in Ezekiels sight. Without going into explanation, these were ceremonial and not moral laws, which means there was no actual sin involved either way.)

¹⁶Moreover 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 (this pertained to the terrible famine which ensued as a result of the siege of Jerusalem, and which was also described by Jeremiah upon its fulfillment [Lam. 4:8-10]):

¹⁷That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and consume away for their iniquity. (To the horror of the famine and its physical privation, there was to be added the consciousness that it was caused by their own sins.)