Chapters iv and v.
The divine predictions of the impending doom for Jerusalem was not
believed by the exiles. The messages of the false prophets who moved
among them encouraged the rebellious spirit and therefore the threatened
disaster was thought incredible by the captives. The mission of Ezekiel
was to dispel the false hope of a speedy return to the land. After he
had received his solemn commission and the message he was to deliver to
the rebellious people, he is commanded to enact four signs, which were
to teach the captives that which would speedily come upon their beloved
city Jerusalem.
=I. The Sign of the Tile.= The first symbolical sign is that of the
tile, which the Prophet was to use to picture the coming siege of
Jerusalem.
Thou also, son of man, take thee a brick, and lay it before thee,
and portray upon it the city, Jerusalem; And lay siege against it,
and build forts against it, and cast a mound against it; set the
camps also against it, and set battering-rams against it round about.
Moreover take thou unto thee an iron plate, and set it for a 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. This shall
be a sign to the house of Israel (verses 1-3).
The word translated "tile" means a brick. The Babylonians used clay
bricks to keep their records; whole libraries consisting of a very large
number of such bricks have been uncovered by the spade of the excavator.
These bricks were almost square, fourteen by twelve inches. Many have
been found which have engraven upon them various building plans and
astrological figures. Such a brick Ezekiel was commanded to take and
draw upon the soft clay surface a city, which was to represent
Jerusalem. The second verse shows Jerusalem in the state of siege. The
coming calamity was vividly pictured in this first sign. The Prophet was
also to take an iron pan (literally: plate) and use it for a wall of
iron between him and the city and set his face against it. In all this
the Prophet was to show Jehovah's action against Jerusalem. He
impersonated Jehovah in laying siege against it in marking the clay
brick and raising the iron-plate between himself and the city. In
connection with the latter sign we may well think of Isaiah lix:2: "Your
iniquities have separated between you and your God." Thus in this first
sign the certainty of the successful siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans
was set forth in plain view of the captives. Yet they heard not and
continued their foolish dreams and believed rather the false prophets.
God has everywhere set forth in His Word coming judgments. Our age, so
self-secure and boasting in many of its godless achievements, will end
in a great judgment-catastrophe. Every portion of God's Word testifies
of this fact. God will fulfil the prophecies of His servants the
prophets. The past fulfilment of God's threatened judgments vouch for
the literal fulfilment of those still future. Yet our blinded age (2
Cor. iv:4) heeds it not. More than ever they say, "Peace and safety,"
and ridicule God's message and God's messengers, who give a faithful
warning.
=II. The Sign of the Prophet's Physical Position.= While in the first
sign Jehovah's action against Jerusalem was pictured, in the next signs
a portrayal is given of the punishments which should come upon the
people. The Prophet's divinely commanded actions witnessed beforehand
what should come upon the disobedient, rebellious nation. In his own
person Ezekiel had to taste the great degradation and judgment which was
about to become the portion of the people.
Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the 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. For I have laid
upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of
the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear them,
lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity
of the house of Israel. And when thou hast accomplished them, lie
again on the right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the
house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a
year. Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of
Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt
prophesy against it. And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and
thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another till thou hast
ended the days of thy siege (verses 4-8).
Expositors and critics have interpreted this and the other signs in
various ways. Higher Criticism maintains that the whole description is
purely ideal and that the Prophet never did in person what was asked of
him. They point to the fact that nowhere is a statement made that he did
these things. We quote from the "Expositor's Bible":
"It is clear that these signs could never have been enacted, either in
view of the people or in solitude, as they are here described. It may be
doubted whether the whole description is not purely ideal, representing
a process which passed through the prophet's mind, or was suggested to
him in the visionary state but never actually performed."
Other critics have tried to explain the Prophet's actions by some kind
of a catalepsy, from which, they claim, he suffered. All these theories
are pure inventions, springing from a denial of inspiration. They make
much of the physical impossibility of this command to lie continuously
for 390 days on the left side and for 40 days on the right side. But it
does not say that the Prophet should be in that position day and night
during that allotted time. The fact that he was to prepare food to eat
during these days excludes this extreme view. The Prophet no doubt
carried out the divine command as he understood it, and thereby gave the
people a sign concerning their iniquity and the deserved punishment. But
what do the 390 days of Israel and 40 days of Judah mean? The text shows
that the days here mean years.[4] The 390 and 40 days make 430 days.
This reminds us of Exodus xii:40-41, where the sojourning of the
children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt is given as 430 years. The 40
years of Judah recall the years of wandering in the wilderness. The 390
days apply to the period of Israel's unfaithfulness, which lead up to
their punishment. These 390 years must be reckoned from Jeroboam, who
was the first King of the house of Israel by divine appointment as
revealed through Ahijah, the Prophet (1 Kings xi:31). The 40 years of
Judah, for which Ezekiel was to lie upon his right side for 40 days must
mean the 40 years of Solomon's reign. Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the
vile goddess of the Zidonians. Judah worshipped besides Ashtoreth,
Chemosh, the god of the Moabites and Milcom, the god of Ammon (1 Kings
xi:33). Thus the captives were reminded by the Prophet's painful
position of the shameful history of the long years of apostasy of their
nation. But more than that. The Lord said expressly to Ezekiel: "I have
laid upon thee the years of their iniquity ... so shalt thou bear the
iniquity of the house of Israel." By consulting other passages in the
Old Testament, especially in Exodus and Leviticus,[5] it will be found
that the phrase "bear their iniquity" always means to endure the
punishment due to sin or iniquity. Ezekiel's sign therefore pictured the
actual results in punishment, which was now to fall upon the people for
their sins. The 390 years and the 40 years therefore must be primarily
applied to the period of their punishment. The Prophet, therefore, had
put upon him suffering typical of the nation's punishment. He is in this
a blessed type of the great Sinbearer, who bore our sins in His own body
on the tree. Of Him it is written, "He shall bear their iniquities." And
the believing remnant of Israel in a future day, looking upon Him, whom
they pierced, will yet confess "He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was
upon Him and with His stripes we are healed" (Isaiah liii:5).
[4] Some have concluded on account of this passage, that throughout the
prophetic word wherever "days" are mentioned, they mean "years." This is
incorrect. The "year-day" theory is not a scriptural one. Where we find
days, it means days unless the text itself, as it is here in Ezekiel,
explains the days as years.
[5] Exod. xxviii:38-43; Lev. v:1, 17, vii:8, x:17, etc.
=III. The Sign of the Famine and the Defiled Bread.= The siege of
Jerusalem had been portrayed in the tile sign; the hardships in divine
judgments in the second and the third sign describes additional
punishments to come upon Jerusalem.
Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils,
and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make thee
bread thereof, according to the number of the days that thou shalt
lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat
thereof. And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight,
twenty shekels a day: from time to time shall thou eat it. Thou
shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from
time to time shalt thou drink. And thou shalt eat it as barley
cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in
their sight. And the Lord said, Even thus shall the children of
Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will
drive them (verses 9-13).
Then the Priest-Prophet, horrified at the defilement he was to be
subjected to, spoke to Jehovah and received an answer from Him granting
his request and giving further instructions about the sign.
Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, 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. Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee
cow's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread
therewith. Moreover 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: That they may want bread and water, and be
astonished one with another, and consume away for their iniquity
(verses 14-17).
This sign then shows the horrors of the siege of Jerusalem and what was
to come upon the people during the period of their punishment. The
wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet and fitches[6] were to be put into
one vessel, because a little of each was available. To eat things by
weight and not to be satisfied with it, was announced through Moses as
one of the threatened judgments. "And when I have broken the staff of
your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall
deliver you your bread again by weight; and ye shall eat and not be
satisfied" (Lev. xxvi:26). The sign meant famine as the Lord told
Ezekiel (verse 16).
[6] Or spelt, a kind of corn.
Then uncleanness, defilement, is added. The famine stands connected with
the siege, the defilement refers more to that, which was to come upon
them in their captivity among the Gentiles. It pictured the unclean
religious conditions into which the people were to be plunged during the
exile. "Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread
among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them." The same judgment was
announced by Hosea. "They shall not dwell in the Lord's land; but
Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in
Assyria. They shall not offer wine to the Lord, neither shall they be
pleasing unto Him; their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of
mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted" (Hosea ix:3-4). And
Ezekiel baked the bread in the prescribed way, while no doubt, the
captives looked on in horror, that a Priest like Ezekiel could act thus.
The sign found its fulfillment. God's predicted judgments were always
literally fulfilled. God means what He has declared in His Word. The
future will yet witness to it.