The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel
Ezekiel 4
Chapter IV · Vol. III, p. 1316
1 Under the type of a siege is showed the time from the defection of Jeroboam to the captivity. 9 By the provision of the siege, is showed the hardness of the famine.
1 Thou also, son of man, atake thee ba tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even cJerusalem:1
A.M. cir. 3410. B.C. cir. 594.
a Is.xx. Je.xiii.xviii.xix.xxv.xxvii. ch.v.xii. Ho.i.iii.
1 Recent excavations have shown that it was customary in Assyria and Babylonia to depict upon slabs of limestone, alabaster, and prepared tiles, the cities besieged and captured by celebrated conquerors. The halls of their great palaces were generally covered with such scenic representations, many of which are now in the British Museum. These illustrate the words of the prophet.—P.
2 Andd lay siege2 against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount3 against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams4 against it round about.
3 Moreover, take thou unto thee an iron pan,5 and set it for ea 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. Thisg shall be a sign to the house of Israel.
5 Or, a flat plate or slice.
e 2 Ki.25.1-3. Je.39.1,2; 52.4-7.
g ch.12.2-12; 24.24,27. Ho.i.iii. Zec.i.-vi. Je.xiii.xviii.xix.xxxii. Is.vii.viii.xx. Ge.15.13-16. 2 Ch.36.15. Is.8.18.
4 Lieh thou also upon thy left side, and lay ithe 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.6
h ver.5,8; ch.16.46.
i 1 Ki.17.21-23. Ps.69.27. Is.53.6.
6 He bore their iniquity emblematically—upon Christ alone has the Lord really laid the iniquity of us all.—C.
5 For I have laid upon thee jthe years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days:7 so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
6 And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy kright side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days:8 I have appointed thee each day for a year.9
7 Therefore thou shalt lset thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and nthine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.
8 And behold, oI will lay bands1 upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another,2 till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.
o ch.3.25. 2 Ki.25.1-4. Je.39.1,2; 37.9,10.
1 What these 'bands' were, it is impossible to say. They may have been the physical bands of a nervous and muscular affection, that rendered turning literally impossible; or they may have been the spiritual bands of the divine command, that rendered change morally unlawful.—C.
2 Heb. from thy side to thy side.
9 Takep thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches,3 and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread4 thereof, according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side; three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.5
p ver.13,16.
3 Or, spelt.
4 See note * below.
5 So long the siege of Jerusalem lasted, allowing it to have been raised four months, 2 Ki.25.1-4. Je.37.5; 39.1,2; 52.4-7.
* These coarser grains were mixed with the wheat, to indicate the scarcity that would compel the Jews to every expedient to eke out their miserable, scanty, and often defiled stores, in the siege of Jerusalem, which should end in their captivity and dispersion.—C.
10 And thy meat which thou shalt eat qshall be by weight twenty shekels[≈ 230 g · 8 oz]6 a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.
11 Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin[≈ 3.7 litres · 6.5 pints]:7 from time to time shalt thou drink.
7 A third part of a Scotch pint.
12 And thou shalt eat it as barley-cakes,8 and thou shalt bake it with dung9 that cometh out of man, in their sight.
8 As ordinary food, or hastily made.
9 ver.13. Ho.9.3. The dung was used for fuel.
13 And the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat rtheir defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them.
A.M. cir. 3410. B.C. cir. 594.
14 Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! sbehold, 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.
15 Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee tcow's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith.1
t Pr.27.7. La.4.10, i.e. to be fuel for baking his bread.
1 Did God change his purpose at the suggestion of the prophet? No. The proper emblem of misery and defilement was in God's first direction—the efficacy of humble prayer was exemplified in the remission and substitution granted in the second.—C.
Notes
Ver. 1-7. It is most probable that these things were really done, and not in mere vision. If that year was their leap-year of thirteen months, there was time enough between the dates [ch. 1. 1, 2; 8. 1]. God could easily make the prophet lie still all the time specified, and live comfortably on his provision. The brittle tile represented Jerusalem's weakness and readiness to be irrecoverably ruined. The pan or slice of iron represented the walls of Jerusalem, or the resolution and fortifications of the Chaldean besiegers; the three hundred and ninety days on his left side, answering to the years of wickedness by the less regarded ten tribes after Jeroboam had become king, 1 Ki. xii., might also figure out three hundred and ninety days of siege by the Chaldeans, before they went off to fight the Egyptians [Je. 37. 5]. The forty days on his right side, answering to the Jews' years of wickedness under Manasseh, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah, or beginning from the thirteenth or eighteenth year of Josiah, might represent the forty days of siege after the Chaldeans returned before the city was taken.—His setting his face against the portrait of Jerusalem, and having his arm bare, marked how furiously the Chaldeans should besiege it, and how ready they would be to use their swords in murdering the inhabitants.
Ver. 1. Tile. The tiles and bricks used for building in several eastern countries are very large, and have often been used as tablets. Pliny relates how Epigenes inscribed a long series of astronomical observations upon brick tiles (Nat. Hist. lib. viii. 57). The order was particularly appropriate in Chaldea, where it was customary to inscribe indented figures upon broad and thin bricks, many of which are still found in the ruins of Babylon, and may be frequently seen in European collections of eastern antiquities. C.
Ver. 7. Arm shall be uncovered. The uncovering of the arm denoted, in eastern phraseology, preparation for battle; and was intended as a farther emblem of Chaldean preparation, courage and activity in carrying on the siege. C.
Ver. 12. The Egyptians, Arabs, and other Orientals, frequently use the dried dung of cows and camels for fuel; and the lower classes in Egypt are so wretchedly poor, that they are often compelled literally to comply with the disgusting, but emblematic, order directed to the prophet.—Sandys' Orient. Lit. 1007, 1008. C.
Reflections.—God accurately marks and avenges the iniquities of preceding ages upon obstinate apostates who have continued in them. And with earnestness and resolution the instruments of justice proceed in their work against hardened transgressors. If God require it of us, we must be ready to endure any hardship or disgrace for his sake. And it is prudent to accustom ourselves to hardships, as we know not to what we may be put before we die. The fear of sinning chiefly affects a gracious soul. And amidst pinching wants, it is very comfortable to have a conscience untainted with wilful guilt. But how ready God is, and how ready then should we be, to regard the conscientious scruples of his people!
Measures in square brackets are modern equivalents added for this edition. They are not in the King James text or in Brown’s notes. They use common scholarly estimates: a cubit is about 45.7 cm (18 in), a shekel about 11.4 g (0.4 oz), an ephah about 22 litres. Money values give the worth of the silver or gold at spot prices on 28 October 2026, not what the sum would buy in the ancient world.