Ezek 4

EZEKIEL 4 - Siege of Jerusalem symbolized

OVERVIEW

• Ezekiel’s word from God was a prophetic warning of judgment on Jerusalem, a city that would soon be besieged

• The entire prophecy found in Ezek 4:1-7 carries the weight of impending doom, where Ezekiel 4:1-3 vividly describes how the prophet was to re-enact the siege <N154>

Notable sieges on Jerusalem with those exiled:

• 605 BC - Daniel was exiled

• 595-596 BC - Ezekiel was exiled <K110>

• Ezekiel was to take a clay tablet on which the city of Jerusalem was drawn and build a miniature siege wall against his clay Jerusalem, along with the camps of siege armies and their battering rams

• This was not a mere re-enactment but a symbolic act of immense responsibility, as Ezekiel was to lay siege to the miniature replica of Jerusalem, bearing the weight of his people's destiny

• Ezekiel was also instructed to set an iron plate between himself and the city that symbolized the barrier between God and Jerusalem, meaning God would not intervene in the coming siege

Ezekiel 4:1-3 NIV

[1] “Now, son of man, take a block of clay, put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. [2] Then lay siege to it: Erect siege works against it, build a ramp up to it, set up camps against it and put battering rams around it. [3] Then take an iron pan, place it as an iron wall between you and the city and turn your face toward it. It will be under siege, and you shall besiege it. This will be a sign to the people of Israel.

NOTES BY VERSE

Note: each ** comment in this document is listed in numerical order according to the verse(s) from this chapter

** The prophets often foreshowed impending judgments by significant emblems, which usually strike more powerfully than words. So Jeremiah was commanded to go down to the potter’s house and observe how frequently vessels were marred in his hands (Jer 18) and to take one of those earthen vessels and break it in the sight of the elders of the Jews (Jer 19) that they might thereby be sensibly taught the greatness of God’s power and their own frailty. So here God commands Ezekiel to take a tile, or such a slate as mathematical lines or figures are usually drawn upon, and there to make a portrait of Jerusalem, thereby to represent it as under a siege. <C34>

Ezekiel 4:1-3 NIV

Jeremiah 18:1-6 NIV

[1] This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: [2] “Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message.” [3] So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. [4] But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. [5] Then the word of the Lord came to me. [6] He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.

Jeremiah 19:1-2,10-11 NIV

[1] This is what the Lord says: “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take along some of the elders of the people and of the priests [2] and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. There proclaim the words I tell you, [10] “Then break the jar while those who go with you are watching, [11] and say to them, 'This is what the Lord Almighty says: I will smash this nation and this city just as this potter's jar is smashed and cannot be repaired. They will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room.

** The prophet Ezekiel was to represent the siege of Jerusalem by signs and lie on his left side for a number of days, equal to the years the Jews were captivated by idolatry; Ezekiel was to show how sin was causing the destruction of Jerusalem <H83>

Ezekiel 4:4-6 NIV

[4] “Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the people of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side. [5] I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the people of Israel. [6] “After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the people of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year.

** The days Ezekiel was to lay on his sides corresponded to the years of iniquity (a day was symbolic of a year) for the two kingdoms of the 12 tribes of Israel. So, the 390 years of iniquity refer to the northern kingdom of Israel (10 tribes), and the 40 years of iniquity refer to the southern kingdom of Judah (2 tribes). The nation of Israel split up into two kingdoms after the death of Solomon in 930 BC. Solomon’s sins, as an old man, are revealed in 1 Kings 11 and are the reason God tore 10 tribes out of his son’s hands. God didn’t do it in Solomon’s life because of his love for David. <N154>

Ezekiel 4:4-6 NIV

1 Kings 11:4-8 NIV

[4] As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. [5] He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. [6] So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done. [7] On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. [8] He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.

** Ezekiel highlights the food scarcity the Jews would experience because of their sin and resultant siege

Ezekiel 4:10-12,15-17 NIV

[10] Weigh out twenty shekels of food to eat each day and eat it at set times. [11] Also measure out a sixth of a hin of water and drink it at set times. [12] Eat the food as you would a loaf of barley bread; bake it in the sight of the people, using human excrement for fuel.” [15] “Very well,” he said, “I will let you bake your bread over cow dung instead of human excrement.” [16] He then said to me: “Son of man, I am about to cut off the food supply in Jerusalem. The people will eat rationed food in anxiety and drink rationed water in despair, [17] for food and water will be scarce. They will be appalled at the sight of each other and will waste away because of their sin.

Ezek 4.

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