Ezekiel · Chapter 4

V. 1. Portray-Draw a map of Jerusalem.

Verse 1. Take thee a tile] A tile, such as we use in covering houses, will give us but a very inadequate notion of those used anciently; and also appear very insufficient for the figures which the prophet was commanded to pourtray on it. A brick is most undoubtedly meant; yet, even the larger dimensions here, as to thickness, will not help us through the difficulty, unless we have recourse to the ancients, who have spoken of the dimensions of the bricks commonly used in building. Palladius, Deuteronomy Revelation Rustica, lib. vi. c. 12, is very particular on this subject:—Sint vero lateres longitudine pedum duorum, latitudine unius, altitudine quatuor unciarum. “Let the bricks be two feet long, one foot broad, and four inches thick.” Edit. Gesner, vol. iii. p. 144. On such a surface as this the whole siege might be easily pourtrayed. There are some brick-bats before me which were brought from the ruins of ancient Babylon, which have been made of clay and straw kneaded together and baked in the sun; one has been more than four inches thick, and on one side it is deeply impressed with characters; others are smaller, well made, and finely impressed on one side with Persepolitan characters. These have been for inside or ornamental work; to such bricks the prophet most probably alludes.

But the tempered clay out of which the bricks were made might be meant here; of this substance he might spread out a sufficient quantity to receive all his figures. The figures were, 1. Jerusalem. 2. A fort. 3. A mount. 4. The camp of the enemy. 5. Battering rams, and such like engines, round about. 6. A wall round about the city, between it and the besieging army.

Verse 1. Take a tile, &c., and lay it before thee — 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, (chap. 18.,) and to take one of those earthen vessels and break it in the sight of the elders of the Jews, (chap. 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 portraiture of Jerusalem, thereby to represent it as under a siege. We may observe, that God often suited prophetical types and figures to the genius and education of the prophets themselves: so the figures which Amos makes use of are generally taken from such observations as are proper to the employment of a shepherd, or a husbandman. Ezekiel had a peculiar talent for architecture, therefore several of his representations are suitable to that profession. And they that suppose the emblem here made use of to be below the dignity of the prophetical office, may as well accuse Archimedes of folly for making lines in the dust: see Lowth.

Verse 1. Son of man, take thee a tile. It is probable that the prophet took a sheet of plastic clay proper for his purpose; for the Hebrew root hnb banah, is generally applied to construction in various kinds of architecture. On this tablet of clay he made a model of Jerusalem, and so well defined that all the jews would know it. Against this city he traced the lines of the besieging army, and against the towers of Jerusalem he built his pugnacula, as the Greek seems to import, little wooden forts. He raised his mounts, and set to work his scorpions, his battering rams, and other engines of war. The ram was powerful against the wall. It was a whole timber with an iron head. Forty men swung it with slings in one hand, and covered themselves with bucklers in the other, and boldly approached the wall amidst a shower of arrows from the besieged. They feared little, except from the slings, which threw down rocks on the assailants. Ezekiel did all this to win souls, that the jews who would not hear his sermons, might at least decypher his figures.

1. A tile… portray upon it the city — It is a suggestive fact that on many of the bricks taken from Assyrian palaces are yet to be seen pictures of animals, forts, soldiers, royal offerings, etc.; while Gadea, one of the earliest kings, is seen seated with a tile or tablet in front of him on which is drawn a picture of the city of Babylon. Ezekiel need not have been much of an artist, but on the soft clay he could easily have drawn the walls and towers and temples of the city and an outline of the surrounding mountains so that every Israelite would recognize the place instantly. (Compare Psalm 48:12, 13.) Jerusalem — It is not impossible, at least after the capture of Jerusalem, that such tiles might have been for sale in the Babylonian bazaars. It was not unusual for representations of captured forts or cities to be brought home by the victorious army. The cuneiform texts have considerable to say of Jerusalem — Assyrian, Urusalem; Tel Amarna, Ursalimmu, “Possessor of Peace,” or “Salim’s Possessions” (Brown’s Hebrew and English Lexicon).

V. 2. Lay siege-Draw the figure of a siege about the city. Build-Raise a tower and bulwarks.

Verse 2. Battering rams] כרים carim. This is the earliest account we have of this military engine. It was a long beam with a head of brass, like the head and horns of a ram, whence its name. It was hung by chains or ropes, between two beams, or three legs, so that it could admit of being drawn backward and forward some yards. Several stout men, by means of ropes, pulled it as far back as it could go, and then, suddenly letting it loose, it struck with great force against the wall which it was intended to batter and bring down. This machine was not known in the time of Homer, as in the siege of Troy there is not the slightest mention of such. And the first notice we have of it is here, where we see that it was employed by Nebuchadnezzar in the siege of Jerusalem, A.M. 3416. It was afterwards used by the Carthaginians at the siege of Gades, as Vitruvius notes, lib. x. c. 19, in which he gives a circumstantial account of the invention, fabrication, use, and improvement of this machine. It was for the want of a machine of this kind, that the ancient sieges lasted so long; they had nothing with which to beat down or undermine the walls.

Verses 2, 3. And lay siege against it — Make a portraiture of a siege, and of such warlike instruments as are used in sieges, figuring every thing just as when an army lies before a place with an intention of taking it. Moreover, take thou an iron pan — Or rather, an iron plate, probably such as cakes were baked on. “This,” says Bishop Newcome, “may denote the strong trenches of the besiegers, or their firmness and perseverance in the siege; or, according to others, that there was an iron wall between the besieged and God, whom the prophet represented;” namely, the sins of the people, which separated between them and God, and prevented him from showing them mercy.

2. Lay siege… build a fort… cast a mount — All of these ordinary acts of a besieging army are so acted out in the picture-sermon of the dumb prophet that his hearers are made to understand the calamity which must soon fall upon their national capital. The “fort” was supposed to be occupied by archers, the “mount” was built in order that the besiegers might overlook the walls of the city and command the streets (Isaiah 37:33; Jeremiah 6:6; 32:24). The camp — Literally, camps. The besieging army is represented as divided into encampments which guard the city at all points. How the prophet represented these soldiers, battering-rams, etc., we do not know. They hardly seem to be a part of the picture engraved upon his unbaked brick. Battering-rams — It has been doubted by a recent writer (Havet) whether battering-rams were invented as early as Ezekiel’s day, but the Assyrian monuments show pictures of them in use centuries earlier. There was usually a battering-ram in the lower part of each fort — or movable tower. The Hebrew word (kar) does not indicate that this “batterer” must have had a ram’s head upon it. The Assyrian “ram” often had a spear-shaped head.

V. 3. A wall-That it may resemble a wall of iron, for as impregnable as such a wall, shall the resolution and patience of the Chaldeans be.

Verse 3. Take thou unto thee an iron pan] tbjm machabath, a flat plate or slice, as the margin properly renders it: such as are used in some countries to bake bread on, called a griddle or girdle, being suspended above the fire, and kept in a proper degree of heat for the purpose. A plate like this, stuck perpendicularly in the earth, would show the nature of a wall much better than any pan could do. The Chaldeans threw such a wall round Jerusalem, to prevent the besieged from receiving any succours, and from escaping from the city.

This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.] This shall be an emblematical representation of what shall actually take place.

Verses 2, 3. And lay siege against it — Make a portraiture of a siege, and of such warlike instruments as are used in sieges, figuring every thing just as when an army lies before a place with an intention of taking it. Moreover, take thou an iron pan — Or rather, an iron plate, probably such as cakes were baked on. “This,” says Bishop Newcome, “may denote the strong trenches of the besiegers, or their firmness and perseverance in the siege; or, according to others, that there was an iron wall between the besieged and God, whom the prophet represented;” namely, the sins of the people, which separated between them and God, and prevented him from showing them mercy.

3. An iron pan — This expression probably refers to the machines used by the Babylonians and Assyrians behind which the archers stood, shooting through a hole or window. Representations of these may be seen on the bas-reliefs from Nineveh where engines of this kind are shown in actual use. From fragments of these discovered, and now in the Louvre, it would appear that they were made of bronze or wickerwork and cased with leather (Private note from a well-known English Assyriologist). The prophet used the best representation of this well-known bulwark which his kitchen contained. The ordinary view merely regards this as representing “a firm, impregnable wall of partition, which the prophet, as messenger and representative of God, is to raise between himself and the beleaguered city” (Keil). Set thy face against it — It was no new thing for Jerusalem to be besieged; but for the first time in history the people of Israel now see that the prophet and representative of Jehovah is taking sides with its enemies. No wonder that Ezekiel at first grew “hot” (Ezekiel 3:14) at the thought of acting such a part before his countrymen. No wonder that such a “sign” aroused attention and bitterest antagonism.

V. 4. Lay-Take upon thee the representation of their guilt and punishment. House of Israel-The ten tribes. The number-By this thou shalt intimate how long I have borne with their sins, and how long they shall bear their punishment.

Verse 4. Lie thou also upon thy left side] It appears that all that is mentioned here and in the following verses was done, not in idea, but in fact. The prophet lay down on his left side upon a couch to which he was chained, Ezekiel 4:6, for three hundred and ninety days; and afterwards he lay in the same manner, upon his right side, for forty days. And thus was signified the state of the Jews, and the punishment that was coming upon them. 1. The prophet himself represents the Jews. 2. His lying, their state of depression. 3. His being bound, their helplessness and captivity. 4. The days signify years, a day for a year; during which they were to bear their iniquity, or the temporal punishment due to their sins. 5. The three hundred and ninety days, during which he was to lie on his left side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Israel, point out two things: the first, The duration of the siege of Jerusalem. Secondly, The duration of the captivity off the ten tribes, and that of Judah. 6. The prophet lay three hundred and ninety days upon his left side, and forty days upon his right side, in all four hundred and thirty days. Now Jerusalem was besieged the ninth year of the reign of Zedekiah, 2 Kings 25:1, 2, and was not taken till the eleventh year of the same prince, 2 Kings 25:2. But properly speaking, the siege did not continue the whole of that time; it was interrupted; for Nebuchadnezzar was obliged to raise it, and go and meet the Egyptians, who were coming to its succour. This consumed a considerable portion of time. After he had defeated the Egyptians, he returned and recommenced the siege, and did not leave it till the city was taken. We may, therefore, conclude that the four hundred and thirty days only comprise the time in which the city was actually besieged, when the city was encompassed with walls of circumvallation, so that the besieged were reduced to a state of the utmost distress. The siege commenced the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah; and it was taken on the ninth day of the fourth month of the eleventh year of the same king. Thus the siege had lasted, in the whole, eighteen months, or five hundred and ten days. Subtract for the time that Nebuchadnezzar was obliged to interrupt the siege, in order to go against the Egyptians, four months and twenty days, or one hundred and forty days, and there will remain four hundred and thirty days, composed of 390+40=430. See Calmet on this place. See also at the end of this chapter. See Clarke “Ezekiel 4:16”.

Verses 4-6. Lie thou also, &c. — “In his own house, Ezekiel 3:24. This was to be his posture, not without intermission, but in the exercise of his prophetical office, during that part of each day, when the people were likely to observe his conduct.” — Bishop Newcome. Upon thy left side — The left side, as being the least respectable, signified Israel, or the ten tribes: the right side, as being most honoured, the tribes of Judah and Benjamin; or, as it is generally expressed, the kingdom of Judah. Ezekiel’s lying on one side for a long time together, signified the great patience of God in bearing with the sins of Israel. And lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days, &c. — From the days that I shall order thee to lie upon thy left side thou shalt understand how many years I have borne with their iniquity, for each day was to signify a year: see verse 6. Thou shalt bear their iniquity — Thou shalt, in the way of a sign or symbol, suffer for their iniquity, namely, in lying so long upon one side. Or, thou shalt pre-signify the punishment which they shall bear. For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity — This verse explains the former: I have pointed out the number of years wherein apostate Israel sinned against me. According to the number of days, three hundred and ninety days — “This number of years will take us back, with sufficient exactness, from the year in which Jerusalem was sacked by Nebuchadnezzar to the first year of Jeroboam’s reign, when national idolatry began in Israel.” — Bishop Newcome. Some, however, rather suppose that the years are meant which intervened between the falling of Solomon into idolatry, and the carrying away of the ten tribes by Shalmanezer, at which time they entirely ceased to be a nation or people of themselves, and were wholly dispersed and mixed with other nations. Thou shalt bear the iniquity of Judah forty days — So many years there were from the time when King Josiah entered into a solemn covenant to serve and worship God, (from whence their future idolatry received a great aggravation,) to the destruction of the city and temple. I have appointed thee each day for a year — Days frequently stand for years in the prophetical accounts of time.

4, 5. Lie thou also upon thy left side… three hundred and ninety days — LXX., one hundred and ninety days. Most modern expositors do not believe that Ezekiel lay on one side three hundred and ninety or one hundred and ninety days without moving. Certainly if he did this he must have been paralyzed or cataleptic, as Klostermann, Kraetzschmar, etc., think. (Compare Piepenbring, Revue de L’Hist. des Rel.,1891.) Gautier, however, points out that all of these commands have reference to Ezekiel’s actions as a preacher. When alone, or in the seclusion of his own house, he can talk to his wife and walk as he pleases; but when the time comes for the sermon, and the people gather to hear the word of the Lord, they always find the prophet in the same place, and in the same posture, and maintaining an unbroken silence. This silent picture-prophecy of the length of the captivity continued week after week, and month after month, until all the exiles heard of it, as also, without doubt, the Israelites who remained in Jerusalem; for the communication seems to have been constant between Chebar and the holy city. Thou shalt bear their iniquity — This does not mean that the prophet is to be punished in their place, but that he thus prophetically announces their punishment; the term “iniquity” in this connection meaning penalty for iniquity. The duration has no reference to the days of the siege of Jerusalem, but to the years of exile. But how then can we accept as correct the figures three hundred and ninety which are given by our present Hebrew text, and which are wholly contrary to the facts in the case? Many of the old expositors, from Jerome to Keil, being unable to explain this number historically, have added to it the forty days which the prophet suffered for Judah, and have explained the total symbolically — four hundred and thirty being the years spent in Egyptian bondage (Exodus 12:40). The meaning would then be that the punishment in Babylon would be as severe, though not necessarily as long, as their punishment in Egypt and their wandering in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 28:68). But the fact is that the Babylonian exile was in no respect equal in hardship to the Egyptian enslavement. We prefer, therefore, to accept the Hebrew text, which the Septuagint followed, rather than our present text. If this translation, which reads one hundred and ninety instead of three hundred and ninety, is to be accepted, it is then evident that, since the captivity of both Judah and Israel ends at the same time, the forty years are not to be thought of as added to the one hundred and ninety, but as included in them (Ezekiel 16:53; 37:16, 19, 22; 47:13). The forty years, then, is to be counted from the destruction of Jerusalem (586 B.C.) to the restoration. This gives exact and almost literal fulfillment to the prophecy, “forty” being the round number which is constantly used in Scripture for one generation (Ezekiel 29:11-14; Numbers 14:33, etc.). The captivity of Israel is here counted one hundred and fifty years longer than that of Judah; its beginning probably being reckoned from the invasion and deportation of Tiglath-pileser, 734 B.C. The one hundred and ninety years of Israel would extend, then, from 734 B.C. to 538 B.C., the year of restoration. (See chronological chart.) I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days — Literally, the years of their iniquity do I make to be to thee as a number of days — even as. The number of days that Ezekiel lies upon his side symbolizes the number of years daring which the people shall bear their iniquity — “a day for a year” (verse 6). “Lying on his side, held down as with cords (verse 8) and unable to turn, he represents Israel pressed down and held in the grasp of the punishment of iniquity.” — Davidson.

V. 5. I have laid-I have pointed out the number of years wherein apostate Israel sinned against me, and I did bear with them. Years-These years probably began at Solomon’s falling to idolatry, in the twenty-seventh year of his reign, and ended in the fifth of Zedekiah’s captivity.

Verses 4-6. Lie thou also, &c. — “In his own house, Ezekiel 3:24. This was to be his posture, not without intermission, but in the exercise of his prophetical office, during that part of each day, when the people were likely to observe his conduct.” — Bishop Newcome. Upon thy left side — The left side, as being the least respectable, signified Israel, or the ten tribes: the right side, as being most honoured, the tribes of Judah and Benjamin; or, as it is generally expressed, the kingdom of Judah. Ezekiel’s lying on one side for a long time together, signified the great patience of God in bearing with the sins of Israel. And lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days, &c. — From the days that I shall order thee to lie upon thy left side thou shalt understand how many years I have borne with their iniquity, for each day was to signify a year: see verse 6. Thou shalt bear their iniquity — Thou shalt, in the way of a sign or symbol, suffer for their iniquity, namely, in lying so long upon one side. Or, thou shalt pre-signify the punishment which they shall bear. For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity — This verse explains the former: I have pointed out the number of years wherein apostate Israel sinned against me. According to the number of days, three hundred and ninety days — “This number of years will take us back, with sufficient exactness, from the year in which Jerusalem was sacked by Nebuchadnezzar to the first year of Jeroboam’s reign, when national idolatry began in Israel.” — Bishop Newcome. Some, however, rather suppose that the years are meant which intervened between the falling of Solomon into idolatry, and the carrying away of the ten tribes by Shalmanezer, at which time they entirely ceased to be a nation or people of themselves, and were wholly dispersed and mixed with other nations. Thou shalt bear the iniquity of Judah forty days — So many years there were from the time when King Josiah entered into a solemn covenant to serve and worship God, (from whence their future idolatry received a great aggravation,) to the destruction of the city and temple. I have appointed thee each day for a year — Days frequently stand for years in the prophetical accounts of time.

Ver. 5. Three hundred and ninety days, reckoning a day for a year, as was done in regard of the twelve spies. There are some difficulties in our calculation, which requires the consummate skill of criticism. Vide Poli Synop. From the fourth day of the fourth month, of the fifth year, is four hundred and thirteen days; whereas the prophet lay forty days on his left side for the sin of Israel. These being taken off, there remain three hundred and ninety.—How do the critics account for the loss of the seventeen years from the accession of Jeroboam, who made Israel sin by the calves in Bethel and Dan? Answer, by collating the chronology of the kings of Judah with some of the kings of Israel, where the æra of each may not be distinctly fixed, for the prophetic vision respects both those kingdoms. Years.

Rehoboam reigned — 17

Abijah — 3

Asa — 41

Jehoshaphat — 25

Abijam, after the death of his father — 4

These comprise the ninety years — 90

Athaliah reigned — 6

Jehoash — 40

Amaziah — 15

Jeroboam — 2.,

Till the commencement of king Azariah — 26

Azariah, called Uzziah — 52

Jehoram — 19

Jotham to the 7th of Hezekiah — 9

Hezekiah, after the fall of Samaria — 23

Manasseh — 55

Amon — 2

Josiah — 31

Jehoiakim — 11

Jeconiah, three months

Zedekiah to the burning of the city. — 11

Total — 390

The prophet lay on his left side for the expiation of Judah’s sin forty days or years, completing 430 years

Total = 430

The last forty days or years is generally reckoned from the rejection of Jeremiah as a prophet, commencing in the thirteenth year of king Josiah; for though in the eighteenth year of his reign the princes at the great passover swore to keep the covenant, they swore with hypocrisy, concealing their idols at home, as stated in Jeremiah 34:18. Thus they are counted. Under Josiah eighteen years, under Jehoiakim eleven years, and under Zedekiah eleven, which gives precisely forty years.

4, 5. Lie thou also upon thy left side… three hundred and ninety days — LXX., one hundred and ninety days. Most modern expositors do not believe that Ezekiel lay on one side three hundred and ninety or one hundred and ninety days without moving. Certainly if he did this he must have been paralyzed or cataleptic, as Klostermann, Kraetzschmar, etc., think. (Compare Piepenbring, Revue de L’Hist. des Rel.,1891.) Gautier, however, points out that all of these commands have reference to Ezekiel’s actions as a preacher. When alone, or in the seclusion of his own house, he can talk to his wife and walk as he pleases; but when the time comes for the sermon, and the people gather to hear the word of the Lord, they always find the prophet in the same place, and in the same posture, and maintaining an unbroken silence. This silent picture-prophecy of the length of the captivity continued week after week, and month after month, until all the exiles heard of it, as also, without doubt, the Israelites who remained in Jerusalem; for the communication seems to have been constant between Chebar and the holy city. Thou shalt bear their iniquity — This does not mean that the prophet is to be punished in their place, but that he thus prophetically announces their punishment; the term “iniquity” in this connection meaning penalty for iniquity. The duration has no reference to the days of the siege of Jerusalem, but to the years of exile. But how then can we accept as correct the figures three hundred and ninety which are given by our present Hebrew text, and which are wholly contrary to the facts in the case? Many of the old expositors, from Jerome to Keil, being unable to explain this number historically, have added to it the forty days which the prophet suffered for Judah, and have explained the total symbolically — four hundred and thirty being the years spent in Egyptian bondage (Exodus 12:40). The meaning would then be that the punishment in Babylon would be as severe, though not necessarily as long, as their punishment in Egypt and their wandering in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 28:68). But the fact is that the Babylonian exile was in no respect equal in hardship to the Egyptian enslavement. We prefer, therefore, to accept the Hebrew text, which the Septuagint followed, rather than our present text. If this translation, which reads one hundred and ninety instead of three hundred and ninety, is to be accepted, it is then evident that, since the captivity of both Judah and Israel ends at the same time, the forty years are not to be thought of as added to the one hundred and ninety, but as included in them (Ezekiel 16:53; 37:16, 19, 22; 47:13). The forty years, then, is to be counted from the destruction of Jerusalem (586 B.C.) to the restoration. This gives exact and almost literal fulfillment to the prophecy, “forty” being the round number which is constantly used in Scripture for one generation (Ezekiel 29:11-14; Numbers 14:33, etc.). The captivity of Israel is here counted one hundred and fifty years longer than that of Judah; its beginning probably being reckoned from the invasion and deportation of Tiglath-pileser, 734 B.C. The one hundred and ninety years of Israel would extend, then, from 734 B.C. to 538 B.C., the year of restoration. (See chronological chart.) I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days — Literally, the years of their iniquity do I make to be to thee as a number of days — even as. The number of days that Ezekiel lies upon his side symbolizes the number of years daring which the people shall bear their iniquity — “a day for a year” (verse 6). “Lying on his side, held down as with cords (verse 8) and unable to turn, he represents Israel pressed down and held in the grasp of the punishment of iniquity.” — Davidson.

V. 6. Accomplished-That is, almost accomplished. House of Judah-Of the two tribes. Forty days-Probably from Josiah’s renewing the covenant, until the destruction of the temple, during which time God deferred to punish, expecting whether they would keep their covenant, or retain their idolatries, which latter they did for thirteen years of Josiah’s reign, for eleven of Jehoiakim’s, and eleven of Zedekiah’s reign, and five of his captivity, which amount to just forty years. But all this was done in a vision.

Verse 6. Forty days] Reckon, says Archbishop Newcome, near fifteen years and six months in the reign of Manasseh, two years in that of Amon, three months in that of Jehoahaz, eleven years in that of Jehoiakim, three months and ten days in that of Jehoiachin, and eleven years in that of Zedekiah; and there arises a period of forty years, during which gross idolatry was practiced in the kingdom of Judah. Forty days may have been employed in spoiling and desolating the city and the temple.

Verses 4-6. Lie thou also, &c. — “In his own house, Ezekiel 3:24. This was to be his posture, not without intermission, but in the exercise of his prophetical office, during that part of each day, when the people were likely to observe his conduct.” — Bishop Newcome. Upon thy left side — The left side, as being the least respectable, signified Israel, or the ten tribes: the right side, as being most honoured, the tribes of Judah and Benjamin; or, as it is generally expressed, the kingdom of Judah. Ezekiel’s lying on one side for a long time together, signified the great patience of God in bearing with the sins of Israel. And lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days, &c. — From the days that I shall order thee to lie upon thy left side thou shalt understand how many years I have borne with their iniquity, for each day was to signify a year: see verse 6. Thou shalt bear their iniquity — Thou shalt, in the way of a sign or symbol, suffer for their iniquity, namely, in lying so long upon one side. Or, thou shalt pre-signify the punishment which they shall bear. For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity — This verse explains the former: I have pointed out the number of years wherein apostate Israel sinned against me. According to the number of days, three hundred and ninety days — “This number of years will take us back, with sufficient exactness, from the year in which Jerusalem was sacked by Nebuchadnezzar to the first year of Jeroboam’s reign, when national idolatry began in Israel.” — Bishop Newcome. Some, however, rather suppose that the years are meant which intervened between the falling of Solomon into idolatry, and the carrying away of the ten tribes by Shalmanezer, at which time they entirely ceased to be a nation or people of themselves, and were wholly dispersed and mixed with other nations. Thou shalt bear the iniquity of Judah forty days — So many years there were from the time when King Josiah entered into a solemn covenant to serve and worship God, (from whence their future idolatry received a great aggravation,) to the destruction of the city and temple. I have appointed thee each day for a year — Days frequently stand for years in the prophetical accounts of time.

6. Lie again on thy right side… forty days, etc. — The left side represented the northern kingdom (Israel), which lay to the left, according to Hebrew geography; the right represented the southern kingdom (Judah), which lay to the right. The punishment in both cases comes because of iniquity. Israel went into captivity earlier and therefore bears her punishment longer. For Judah the prophet is to lie upon his side for forty days; “one day for a year do I appoint it to thee” (Hebrews).

V. 7. Set-While thou liest on thy side thou shalt fix thy countenance on the portrait of besieged Jerusalem. Uncovered-Naked and stretched out as being ready to strike.

Verses 7, 8. Thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem — Thou shalt look toward Jerusalem, or toward the portraiture of it upon the tile, with a threatening countenance, as men do toward the city which they are besieging. And thine arm shall be uncovered — Or, stretched out, as the Vulgate reads it. Their habits were anciently so contrived, that their right arms were disengaged from their upper garments, that they might be the more ready for action. So ancient statues and coins represent heroes with their right arms bare, and out of the sleeves of their garments. Thus God is said to make bare his arm, Isaiah 52:10, where he is represented as subduing his adversaries, and bringing salvation to his people. And thou shalt prophesy against it — Thou shalt signify by these signs what shall happen to it. And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee — See Ezekiel 3:25. God is said to do what was done in consequence of his command. And thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another — This may mean, that the Lord would powerfully enable, and even constrain him to lie quietly in the posture appointed him, till the days were accomplished, in the sense explained in note on verse 4, this being intended to signify that the Chaldeans should continue the siege, and should be, as it were, fixed and fastened there, as by bonds, till the city was taken. This evidently seems to have been a real transaction, and not a vision, otherwise it does not appear how it could have been a sign to the people; for how could any thing be a sign to them, of which they were not eye-witnesses? Till thou hast ended the days of thy siege — “The three hundred and ninety days, mentioned verses 5 and 9, it seems, were designed, not only to signify the years of Israel’s sin, but the continuance of the siege of Jerusalem. That siege lasted, from the beginning to the end of it, seventeen months, as appears from 2 Kings 25:1-4. But the king of Egypt, coming to relieve the city, was the occasion of raising the siege for some time, as appears from Jeremiah 37:3. So that it may reasonably be gathered from the authority of the text, joined to the circumstances of the story, that the siege lasted about thirteen months, or three hundred and ninety days.”

7. The foregoing calculation makes more dramatic the continuance of the siege. That siege is sure to be successful. The uncovered arm of the prophet represents that the arm of Jehovah is “made bare” and ready for action (Psalm 98:1; Isaiah 52:10). The prophecy has gone forth, and not only has it foretold the captivity of the city, but it has even reckoned the years in which the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be held in captivity. Nothing could be more startling than the sight of the silent prophet prostrate upon the earth with “set face” and bare arm outstretched against the city which had always stood for the Israelite nation and its religion. There were no words spoken (Ezekiel 3:26). It was in this sign-language he was to “prophesy against it.”

V. 8. Bands-An invisible restraint assuring him, that those could no more remove from the siege, than he from that side he lay on.

Verses 7, 8. Thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem — Thou shalt look toward Jerusalem, or toward the portraiture of it upon the tile, with a threatening countenance, as men do toward the city which they are besieging. And thine arm shall be uncovered — Or, stretched out, as the Vulgate reads it. Their habits were anciently so contrived, that their right arms were disengaged from their upper garments, that they might be the more ready for action. So ancient statues and coins represent heroes with their right arms bare, and out of the sleeves of their garments. Thus God is said to make bare his arm, Isaiah 52:10, where he is represented as subduing his adversaries, and bringing salvation to his people. And thou shalt prophesy against it — Thou shalt signify by these signs what shall happen to it. And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee — See Ezekiel 3:25. God is said to do what was done in consequence of his command. And thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another — This may mean, that the Lord would powerfully enable, and even constrain him to lie quietly in the posture appointed him, till the days were accomplished, in the sense explained in note on verse 4, this being intended to signify that the Chaldeans should continue the siege, and should be, as it were, fixed and fastened there, as by bonds, till the city was taken. This evidently seems to have been a real transaction, and not a vision, otherwise it does not appear how it could have been a sign to the people; for how could any thing be a sign to them, of which they were not eye-witnesses? Till thou hast ended the days of thy siege — “The three hundred and ninety days, mentioned verses 5 and 9, it seems, were designed, not only to signify the years of Israel’s sin, but the continuance of the siege of Jerusalem. That siege lasted, from the beginning to the end of it, seventeen months, as appears from 2 Kings 25:1-4. But the king of Egypt, coming to relieve the city, was the occasion of raising the siege for some time, as appears from Jeremiah 37:3. So that it may reasonably be gathered from the authority of the text, joined to the circumstances of the story, that the siege lasted about thirteen months, or three hundred and ninety days.”

8. To have turned from one side to the other during the continuance of this tableau would have ruined its symbolic reference to Israel and Judah (verses 4, 6). It is not stated that he must not rise up from the earth during this long period. The next verse proves that at least occasionally he is expected to get up, not only to attend to necessary duties, but to prepare for other symbolical actions. Every day, however, for one hundred and ninety days the prophet is seen lying upon his left side before the besieged city, “crushed to the ground” under the weight of Israel’s punishment. The more suffering entailed, by his speechlessness and seeming paralysis, the more intensely effective would be the impression produced by it. Many ancient Simeon stylites and modern Indian devotees have depended for their influence chiefly on such a conquest of the physical nature. THE PROPHET’S FOOD SYMBOLIZING THE CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE IN

V. 9. Take-Provide thee corn enough: for a grievous famine will accompany the siege. Wheat-All sorts of grain are to be provided, and all will be little enough. One vessel-Mix the worst with the best to lengthen out the provision.

Verse 9. Take thou also unto thee wheat] In times of scarcity, it is customary in all countries to mix several kinds of coarser grain with the finer, to make it last the longer. This mashlin, which the prophet is commanded to take, of wheat, barley, beans, lentiles, millet, and fitches, was intended to show how scarce the necessaries of life should be during the siege.

Verse 9. Take thou also wheat and barley, &c. — In times of scarcity it is usual for people to mix a great deal of the coarse kinds of grain with a little of the better sort, to make their provisions last the longer. This Ezekiel was commanded to do, to signify the scarcity, and the coarse fare the inhabitants should have in the siege of the city. Three hundred and ninety days thou shalt eat thereof — During which time the siege lasted: see verse

8. The forty days, mentioned verse 6, seem not to be brought into this account. These, denoting Judah’s sin of forty years’ continuance, being superadded to the three hundred and ninety days of the siege, may signify the days spent in spoiling and desolating the city and temple, and carrying away the remnant of the people. Jerusalem was taken on the ninth day of the fourth month, Jeremiah 52:6; and on the tenth day of the fifth month the temple was burned, verse 12; and so we may reasonably conjecture by the eighteenth of that month, which was the fortieth from the taking of the place, the whole city was burned, and the few Jews who were left were carried into captivity: see Lowth.

EXILE, 9-17.

The prophet is commanded to take of all kinds of grain and make the mixture into cakes, which he shall bake with dung, and of which he shall eat very sparingly. This is to show the impoverished condition of the people in the siege (verses 16, 17), and also their pollution during the exile (verse 13).

9. Fitches — R.V., “spelt.” “Bread was usually made of wheat; the addition of the other coarser materials, and their mixture, indicate the straits to which men will be reduced in the siege and perhaps after the fall of the city.” — Davidson. “The outcome of this mixture would be a coarse, unpalatable bread, not unlike that to which the population of Paris was reduced in the siege of 1870-71.” — Plumptre. Three hundred and ninety days — LXX., one hundred and ninety days. That is, all the time the prophet lies on his side before the besieged city (verse 5).

V. 10. By weight-Not as much as you will, but a small pittance delivered by weight to all. Twenty shekels-Ten ounces: scarce enough to maintain life. From time to time-At set hours this was weighed out.

Verse 10. Twenty shekels a day] The whole of the above grain, being ground, was to be formed into one mass, out of which he was to make three hundred and ninety loaves; one loaf for each day; and this loaf was to be of twenty shekels in weight. Now a shekel, being in weight about half an ounce, this would be ten ounces of bread for each day; and with this water to the amount of one sixth part of a hin, which is about a pint and a half of our measure. All this shows that so reduced should provisions be during the siege, that they should be obliged to eat the meanest sort of aliment, and that by weight, and their water by measure; each man’s allowance being scarcely a pint and a half, and ten ounces, a little more than half a pound of bread, for each day’s support.

Verses 10-12. And thy meat shall be by weight twenty shekels, &c. — In sieges it is common to stint every one to a certain allowance, by which means they can guess how long their provisions will last: twenty shekels is but ten ounces; a short allowance for a day’s sustenance. From time to time shalt thou eat of it — This shall be thy daily allowance during the whole three hundred and ninety days. Thou shalt drink also water by measure — In sieges it is usual for the enemy to cut off the water from coming into the cities which they besiege, as much as they can, which produces a scarcity of it; the sixth part of a hin — Which is about a pint and a half of our measure. Thou shalt eat it as barley cakes — Such as people make in haste, when they have not time for preparing a set meal: see Exodus 12:39. This represents the hurry and disorder which would be occasioned by the siege. And thou shalt bake it with dung — To signify the scarcity of all kinds of fuel. Sir J. Chardin, in his MS. quoted by Harmer, tells us, “the eastern people always used cow-dung for baking, boiling a pot, and dressing all kinds of victuals that are easily cooked; especially in countries that had but little wood.” And D’Arvieux, “complaining that one sort of Arab bread smells of smoke, and tastes of the cow-dung used in baking it, informs us, that the peasants often make use of the same fuel, and that all who live in villages where there is not plenty of wood, are very careful to stock themselves with it; the children,” he says, “gather up the dung, and clap it against a wall to dry, from whence the quantity that is necessary for baking, or warming themselves, is taken from time to time.” — Harmer, chap. 4. observ. 20, vol. 1. According to Dathius, quoted by Bishop Newcome, the dung of camels, as well as that of cows or oxen, was also “often used by the easterns as fuel for preparing their food.” But the command here given to the prophet, to use human dung, expressed the greatest necessity, and was terribly significant of the extremities which the inhabitants of Jerusalem should undergo during the siege, no nation making use of that offensive kind of fuel.

Ver. 10. Thy meat—twenty shekels a-day, of barley meal, about ten ounces. See the map of Jerusalem.

10. Thy meat… thou shalt eat… by weight, twenty shekels a day — This is about half the ordinary prison fare in England and America. It was to be weighed out carefully — not measured — because of the extreme scarcity of provisions.

V. 11. The sixth part-About six ounces.

Verses 10-12. And thy meat shall be by weight twenty shekels, &c. — In sieges it is common to stint every one to a certain allowance, by which means they can guess how long their provisions will last: twenty shekels is but ten ounces; a short allowance for a day’s sustenance. From time to time shalt thou eat of it — This shall be thy daily allowance during the whole three hundred and ninety days. Thou shalt drink also water by measure — In sieges it is usual for the enemy to cut off the water from coming into the cities which they besiege, as much as they can, which produces a scarcity of it; the sixth part of a hin — Which is about a pint and a half of our measure. Thou shalt eat it as barley cakes — Such as people make in haste, when they have not time for preparing a set meal: see Exodus 12:39. This represents the hurry and disorder which would be occasioned by the siege. And thou shalt bake it with dung — To signify the scarcity of all kinds of fuel. Sir J. Chardin, in his MS. quoted by Harmer, tells us, “the eastern people always used cow-dung for baking, boiling a pot, and dressing all kinds of victuals that are easily cooked; especially in countries that had but little wood.” And D’Arvieux, “complaining that one sort of Arab bread smells of smoke, and tastes of the cow-dung used in baking it, informs us, that the peasants often make use of the same fuel, and that all who live in villages where there is not plenty of wood, are very careful to stock themselves with it; the children,” he says, “gather up the dung, and clap it against a wall to dry, from whence the quantity that is necessary for baking, or warming themselves, is taken from time to time.” — Harmer, chap. 4. observ. 20, vol. 1. According to Dathius, quoted by Bishop Newcome, the dung of camels, as well as that of cows or oxen, was also “often used by the easterns as fuel for preparing their food.” But the command here given to the prophet, to use human dung, expressed the greatest necessity, and was terribly significant of the extremities which the inhabitants of Jerusalem should undergo during the siege, no nation making use of that offensive kind of fuel.

Ver. 11. Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of a hin, the quantity contained in twelve shells of a hen’s egg. In some sieges more could not be allowed. The daily loaf of our prisoners often weighs eighteen ounces: the prophet’s short allowances designated the severities of the siege.

11. The sixth… of a hin — A hin is 6.07 liters (Kautzsch). A liter contained 1.056 quarts, so one sixth hin would be a little more than two pints; terribly little in so hot a country. Surely this might have been called the “bread of affliction and the water of affliction” (1 Kings 22:27; Isaiah 30:20).

V. 12. As barley cakes-Because they never had enough to make a loaf with, they eat them as barley cakes. With dung-There was no wood left, nor yet dung of other creatures. This also was represented in a vision.

Verse 12. Thou shalt bake it with dung] Dried ox and cow dung is a common fuel in the east; and with this, for want of wood and coals, they are obliged to prepare their food. Indeed, dried excrement of every kind is gathered. Here, the prophet is to prepare his bread with dry human excrement. And when we know that this did not come in contact with the bread, and was only used to warm the plate, (see Ezekiel 4:3,) on which the bread was laid over the fire, it removes all the horror and much of the disgust. This was required to show the extreme degree of wretchedness to which they should be exposed; for, not being able to leave the city to collect the dried excrements of beasts, the inhabitants during the siege would be obliged, literally, to use dried human ordure for fuel. The very circumstances show that this was the plain fact of the case. However, we find that the prophet was relieved from using this kind of fuel, for cow’s dung was substituted at his request. See Ezekiel 4:15.

Verses 10-12. And thy meat shall be by weight twenty shekels, &c. — In sieges it is common to stint every one to a certain allowance, by which means they can guess how long their provisions will last: twenty shekels is but ten ounces; a short allowance for a day’s sustenance. From time to time shalt thou eat of it — This shall be thy daily allowance during the whole three hundred and ninety days. Thou shalt drink also water by measure — In sieges it is usual for the enemy to cut off the water from coming into the cities which they besiege, as much as they can, which produces a scarcity of it; the sixth part of a hin — Which is about a pint and a half of our measure. Thou shalt eat it as barley cakes — Such as people make in haste, when they have not time for preparing a set meal: see Exodus 12:39. This represents the hurry and disorder which would be occasioned by the siege. And thou shalt bake it with dung — To signify the scarcity of all kinds of fuel. Sir J. Chardin, in his MS. quoted by Harmer, tells us, “the eastern people always used cow-dung for baking, boiling a pot, and dressing all kinds of victuals that are easily cooked; especially in countries that had but little wood.” And D’Arvieux, “complaining that one sort of Arab bread smells of smoke, and tastes of the cow-dung used in baking it, informs us, that the peasants often make use of the same fuel, and that all who live in villages where there is not plenty of wood, are very careful to stock themselves with it; the children,” he says, “gather up the dung, and clap it against a wall to dry, from whence the quantity that is necessary for baking, or warming themselves, is taken from time to time.” — Harmer, chap. 4. observ. 20, vol. 1. According to Dathius, quoted by Bishop Newcome, the dung of camels, as well as that of cows or oxen, was also “often used by the easterns as fuel for preparing their food.” But the command here given to the prophet, to use human dung, expressed the greatest necessity, and was terribly significant of the extremities which the inhabitants of Jerusalem should undergo during the siege, no nation making use of that offensive kind of fuel.

12. The supply of wood in a besieged city must soon give out. Camels’ and asses’ dung, which is the ordinary fuel for poor people in Egypt and Palestine even to this day, could not be used because the beasts were all dead. Besides, the once “holy people” have lost all sense of shame. This vividly represents the loathesomeness and uncleanness of the people (verse 13; compare Deuteronomy 23:13), and was as revolting to Ezekiel as to us (Leviticus 5:3; 7:21). Henceforth the once holy people, having been driven out of the Lord’s land because of their sins, will eat their bread defiled (verse 13; Hosea 9:3). As barley cakes — He shall eat it as barley cakes — the ordinary food of the poorest classes — are eaten. Does this mean that after being baked in the coals it is to be eaten ravenously?

Verse 13. Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles — The prophet, speaking above of eating and drinking by weight and measure, foretels the famine in Jerusalem; now in the bread baked with dung is also pre-signified the unclean bread which the children of Israel were to eat among the Gentiles. For their circumstances in their captivity would not permit them to observe the rules of their law relating to unclean meats; and they would be constrained to partake of meats, part of which had been offered to idols. Compare Hosea 9:1-3; Daniel 1:8. Bread is often used in the Hebrew for all sorts of food.

EXILE, 9-17.

The prophet is commanded to take of all kinds of grain and make the mixture into cakes, which he shall bake with dung, and of which he shall eat very sparingly. This is to show the impoverished condition of the people in the siege (verses 16, 17), and also their pollution during the exile (verse 13).

9. Fitches — R.V., “spelt.” “Bread was usually made of wheat; the addition of the other coarser materials, and their mixture, indicate the straits to which men will be reduced in the siege and perhaps after the fall of the city.” — Davidson. “The outcome of this mixture would be a coarse, unpalatable bread, not unlike that to which the population of Paris was reduced in the siege of 1870-71.” — Plumptre. Three hundred and ninety days — LXX., one hundred and ninety days. That is, all the time the prophet lies on his side before the besieged city (verse 5).

Verse 14. My soul hath not been polluted] There is a remarkable similarity between this expostulation of the prophet and that of St. Peter, Acts 10:14.

Verses 14, 15. Then said I, Ah, Lord God, &c. — He deprecates this, and entreats it may not be enjoined him. Behold, my soul hath not been polluted — I have always carefully observed the distinction between meats clean and unclean: I beseech thee, command me not now to eat any thing so contrary to my former practice. Neither came their abominable flesh into my mouth — The Hebrew word, lwgp, abominable, is used of such meats as were forbidden by the law, as the learned reader may see, Leviticus 7:18, and 19:7; Isaiah 65:4. Then he said, Lo, I have given thee cow’s dung, &c. — This indicated, that even the pious would suffer greatly during the siege of Jerusalem; and that all the circumstances of things would admit of, would be a very small distinction between them and the wicked; for Ezekiel, God’s prophet, could only obtain the exchange of a somewhat less offensive kind of fuel for one extremely offensive.

14, 15. Ezekiel, a priest, was well acquainted with the Levitical legislation (Leviticus 17:15; 22:8), and had been an ardent keeper of the law (Leviticus 7:18, 24; 11:39, 40; 19:7). When he heard this commandment to defile himself he burst out with a pathetic appeal for mercy, and because his conscience would have been defiled by eating (verse 14), the Lord heard him and changed the most objectionable requirement. Abominable flesh — This may mean spoiled flesh (Leviticus 19:7), or other unclean meats (Deuteronomy 14:3-21), or possibly flesh offered to idols (Acts 15; 1 Corinthians 7).

Verses 14, 15. Then said I, Ah, Lord God, &c. — He deprecates this, and entreats it may not be enjoined him. Behold, my soul hath not been polluted — I have always carefully observed the distinction between meats clean and unclean: I beseech thee, command me not now to eat any thing so contrary to my former practice. Neither came their abominable flesh into my mouth — The Hebrew word, lwgp, abominable, is used of such meats as were forbidden by the law, as the learned reader may see, Leviticus 7:18, and 19:7; Isaiah 65:4. Then he said, Lo, I have given thee cow’s dung, &c. — This indicated, that even the pious would suffer greatly during the siege of Jerusalem; and that all the circumstances of things would admit of, would be a very small distinction between them and the wicked; for Ezekiel, God’s prophet, could only obtain the exchange of a somewhat less offensive kind of fuel for one extremely offensive.

14, 15. Ezekiel, a priest, was well acquainted with the Levitical legislation (Leviticus 17:15; 22:8), and had been an ardent keeper of the law (Leviticus 7:18, 24; 11:39, 40; 19:7). When he heard this commandment to defile himself he burst out with a pathetic appeal for mercy, and because his conscience would have been defiled by eating (verse 14), the Lord heard him and changed the most objectionable requirement. Abominable flesh — This may mean spoiled flesh (Leviticus 19:7), or other unclean meats (Deuteronomy 14:3-21), or possibly flesh offered to idols (Acts 15; 1 Corinthians 7).

Verse 16. I will break the staff of bread] They shall be besieged till all the bread is consumed, till the famine becomes absolute; see 2 Kings 25:3: “And on the ninth of the fourth month, the famine prevailed in the city; and THERE WAS NO BREAD for the people of the land.” All this was accurately foretold, and as accurately fulfilled.

Abp. Newcome on Ezekiel 4:6 observes: “This number of years will take us back, with sufficient exactness, from the year in which Jerusalem was sacked by Nebuchadnezzar to the first year of Jeroboam’s reign, when national idolatry began in Israel. The period of days seems to predict the duration of the siege by the Babylonians, Ezekiel 4:9, deducting from the year five months and twenty-nine days, mentioned 2 Kings 25:1-4, the time during which the Chaldeans were on their expedition against the Egyptians; see Jeremiah 37:5.” This amounts nearly to the same as that mentioned above.

EZEKIEL

Verses 16, 17. Behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem — I will cause a scarcity of bread in Jerusalem, 2 Kings 25:3; and deprive it of the chief support of man’s life. And they shall eat their bread by weight and with care — Here we have a declaration of the meaning of what the prophet was ordered to do, verses 10 and 11. It was intended to signify, that during the siege, the people of Jerusalem should eat their food very sparingly, and with great anxiety, for fear they should not be able to get a further supply, when what they had was consumed. That they may want bread and water — Or, so that they shall want bread and water: and be astonished one at another — Shall look upon one another astonished at each other’s ghastly, meager countenances, or at the greatness of their calamities; and consume away, &c. — And pine away with hunger and hardships, on account of their wickedness.

16, 17. These verses explain verses 10 and 11. Staff of bread — Or, staff (of life), which is bread (Leviticus 26:26; Isaiah 3:1). Expositors differ as to whether Ezekiel actually was compelled to eat this bread during the six months of the pictorial siege or not. There is no sufficient reason to doubt it. Certainly, if the painting of the tile and the pictured siege and the prophet’s lying upon his side were real acts, then this was also. Dr. Davidson’s objection that he is represented as making and eating the bread, while at the same time he is said to be lying motionless upon his side is by no means conclusive. Even if he were in a cataleptic condition, as some think, yet he might still have obeyed all these commands, the bread, of course, being made by his wife. But if, as we understand it, these commands to remain in a certain posture, motionless, applied only to the hours during which his picture-sermon was being preached, and not to his private life, then he might with his own hands have prepared the food. It could have been eaten lying upon his side, as one hand was not “bound” (Ezekiel 4:7). Consume away for their iniquity — “Another echo from the book which had so largely entered into the prophet’s education” (Leviticus 26:39). “Pine” in Hebrew is same as “consume.” “To the wretchedness of physical privation there was added the consciousness of the sufferers that it was caused by their own evil deeds.”

V. 17. May want-So because they served not God with chearfulness in the abundance of all things, He made them serve their enemies in the want of all things.

Verses 16, 17. Behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem — I will cause a scarcity of bread in Jerusalem, 2 Kings 25:3; and deprive it of the chief support of man’s life. And they shall eat their bread by weight and with care — Here we have a declaration of the meaning of what the prophet was ordered to do, verses 10 and 11. It was intended to signify, that during the siege, the people of Jerusalem should eat their food very sparingly, and with great anxiety, for fear they should not be able to get a further supply, when what they had was consumed. That they may want bread and water — Or, so that they shall want bread and water: and be astonished one at another — Shall look upon one another astonished at each other’s ghastly, meager countenances, or at the greatness of their calamities; and consume away, &c. — And pine away with hunger and hardships, on account of their wickedness.

16, 17. These verses explain verses 10 and 11. Staff of bread — Or, staff (of life), which is bread (Leviticus 26:26; Isaiah 3:1). Expositors differ as to whether Ezekiel actually was compelled to eat this bread during the six months of the pictorial siege or not. There is no sufficient reason to doubt it. Certainly, if the painting of the tile and the pictured siege and the prophet’s lying upon his side were real acts, then this was also. Dr. Davidson’s objection that he is represented as making and eating the bread, while at the same time he is said to be lying motionless upon his side is by no means conclusive. Even if he were in a cataleptic condition, as some think, yet he might still have obeyed all these commands, the bread, of course, being made by his wife. But if, as we understand it, these commands to remain in a certain posture, motionless, applied only to the hours during which his picture-sermon was being preached, and not to his private life, then he might with his own hands have prepared the food. It could have been eaten lying upon his side, as one hand was not “bound” (Ezekiel 4:7). Consume away for their iniquity — “Another echo from the book which had so largely entered into the prophet’s education” (Leviticus 26:39). “Pine” in Hebrew is same as “consume.” “To the wretchedness of physical privation there was added the consciousness of the sufferers that it was caused by their own evil deeds.”