Ezekiel 4 Study Notes: Ezekiel Acts Out the Siege
God has Ezekiel act out the coming attack on Jerusalem with a city sketched on a brick and an iron plate, then lie on each side for many days bearing the guilt of Israel and Judah. He lives on scant, weighed food baked over an unclean fire, and when he protests, God changes the fuel and foretells famine in the city.
General
When Ezekiel lay on his left side and later on his right side, what did the LORD say he was doing (Ezekiel 4:4-6)?
Answer: Bearing the guilt of Israel and then of Judah
God told Ezekiel to lie on his left side and take on himself the iniquity, meaning the guilt, of Israel’s people, and afterward to lie on his right side for Judah, with each day standing for a year of their sin (4:4-6). All the while he was to keep his face turned toward the besieged city with his arm uncovered, speaking God’s word against it, and God would bind him with ropes so he could not turn over until the days were done (4:7-8). God had warned him earlier that he would be tied with ropes (3:25). Linking days with years recalls the wilderness, when Israel carried its guilt one year for every day the spies had been in Canaan (Numbers 14:34). The long sign, given to the people as a picture of what was coming (24:24), showed that the judgment answered years of piled-up sin.
- Ezekiel 4:4-6 (BSB)“Then lie down on your left side and place the iniquity of the house of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their iniquity for the number of days you lie on your side. For I have assigned to you 390 days, according to the number of years of their iniquity. So you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. When you have completed these days, lie down again, but on your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah. I have assigned to you 40 days, a day for each year.”Ezekiel lies first on one side for Israel and then on the other for Judah, each day standing for a year of their sin.
- Ezekiel 4:7-8 (BSB)“You must turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared, and prophesy against it. Now behold, I will tie you up with ropes so you cannot turn from side to side until you have finished the days of your siege.”He keeps his face toward the besieged city and prophesies, held in place by ropes until the days are finished.
- Ezekiel 3:25 (BSB)“And you, son of man, they will tie with ropes, and you will be bound so that you cannot go out among the people.”God had already told Ezekiel that he would be tied up and unable to move about freely among his people.
- Numbers 14:34 (BSB)“In keeping with the forty days you spied out the land, you shall bear your guilt forty years—a year for each day—and you will experience My alienation.”In the wilderness the LORD also linked days and years, assigning Israel one year of guilt for each day the land was scouted.
- Ezekiel 24:24 (BSB)“‘Thus Ezekiel will be a sign for you; you will do everything that he has done. When this happens, you will know that I am the Lord GOD.’”Ezekiel’s actions are given to the people as a sign of what is coming upon them.
Theological
What did Ezekiel’s lying first on his left side and then on his right side signify, according to 4:4-6?
Answer: Bearing the guilt of Israel and then of Judah
Ezekiel was to lie on his left side and take Israel’s iniquity upon himself, then on his right side to carry Judah’s iniquity, each day corresponding to a year of the nation’s sin (4:4-6). Throughout, his face was fixed on the besieged city with arm bared in prophetic threat, and God bound him so he could not turn until the appointed days were complete (4:7-8; compare 3:25). The day-for-a-year correspondence echoes the wilderness sentence, in which Israel bore its guilt one year per day of the spies’ mission (Numbers 14:34). The sign portrays the coming siege as the just penalty for a long history of accumulated covenant breaking, borne out visibly by the prophet as a sign for the people (24:24).
- Ezekiel 4:4-6 (BSB)“Then lie down on your left side and place the iniquity of the house of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their iniquity for the number of days you lie on your side. For I have assigned to you 390 days, according to the number of years of their iniquity. So you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. When you have completed these days, lie down again, but on your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah. I have assigned to you 40 days, a day for each year.”Ezekiel lies first on one side for Israel and then on the other for Judah, each day standing for a year of their sin.
- Ezekiel 4:7-8 (BSB)“You must turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared, and prophesy against it. Now behold, I will tie you up with ropes so you cannot turn from side to side until you have finished the days of your siege.”He keeps his face toward the besieged city and prophesies, held in place by ropes until the days are finished.
- Ezekiel 3:25 (BSB)“And you, son of man, they will tie with ropes, and you will be bound so that you cannot go out among the people.”God had already told Ezekiel that he would be tied up and unable to move about freely among his people.
- Numbers 14:34 (BSB)“In keeping with the forty days you spied out the land, you shall bear your guilt forty years—a year for each day—and you will experience My alienation.”In the wilderness the LORD also linked days and years, assigning Israel one year of guilt for each day the land was scouted.
- Ezekiel 24:24 (BSB)“‘Thus Ezekiel will be a sign for you; you will do everything that he has done. When this happens, you will know that I am the Lord GOD.’”Ezekiel’s actions are given to the people as a sign of what is coming upon them.
General
What did the LORD say the weighed bread and measured water of the sign meant for Jerusalem (Ezekiel 4:16-17)?
Answer: Its food would run short until its people wasted away
During the sign Ezekiel lived on a small weighed portion of bread and a small measured amount of water, taken at set times (4:9-11). The LORD then explained it: He was about to cut off Jerusalem’s food. The people would anxiously eat bread measured out by weight and drink water in measured amounts in despair, and with both running out they would be horrified to watch one another wither because of their sin (4:16-17). This matched what God’s covenant had warned: bread handed out by weight that never satisfied (Leviticus 26:26), and survivors withering because of their guilt (Leviticus 26:39). Compare the later siege, when the city’s hunger left its people with nothing to eat (2 Kings 25:3).
- Ezekiel 4:9-11 (BSB)“But take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt; put them in a single container and make them into bread for yourself. This is what you are to eat during the 390 days you lie on your side. You are to weigh out twenty shekels of food to eat each day, and you are to eat it at set times. You are also to measure out a sixth of a hin of water to drink, and you are to drink it at set times.”Ezekiel’s daily bread and water during the sign are small, weighed and measured portions.
- Ezekiel 4:16-17 (BSB)“Then He told me, “Son of man, I am going to cut off the supply of food in Jerusalem. They will anxiously eat bread rationed by weight, and in despair they will drink water by measure. So they will lack food and water; they will be appalled at the sight of one another wasting away in their iniquity.”God explains that Jerusalem’s food will be cut off and its people will waste away in their sin.
- Leviticus 26:26 (BSB)“When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will bake your bread in a single oven and dole out your bread by weight, so that you will eat but not be satisfied.”The covenant warnings had threatened bread doled out by weight that would never satisfy.
- Leviticus 26:39 (BSB)“Those of you who survive in the lands of your enemies will waste away in their iniquity and will decay in the sins of their fathers.”The same chapter warned that survivors in enemy lands would wither because of their guilt.
- 2 Kings 25:3 (BSB)“By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so severe that the people of the land had no food.”Compare the later siege, when famine left the city’s people without food.
Theological
According to 4:16-17, what did the rationed food and water of Ezekiel’s sign portend for Jerusalem?
Answer: Its food would run short until its people wasted away
The meager weighed ration and measured water Ezekiel consumed at set times (4:9-11) enacted the siege famine. The LORD declares that He will break Jerusalem’s supply of bread; its inhabitants will eat by weight with anxiety and drink by measure in dismay, and, deprived of both, they will look on one another appalled as they wither under their iniquity (4:16-17). The judgment answers the covenant warnings: bread doled out by weight that leaves them hungry (Leviticus 26:26), and a people wasting under their guilt (Leviticus 26:39). Compare the severe famine of the later siege (2 Kings 25:3).
- Ezekiel 4:9-11 (BSB)“But take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt; put them in a single container and make them into bread for yourself. This is what you are to eat during the 390 days you lie on your side. You are to weigh out twenty shekels of food to eat each day, and you are to eat it at set times. You are also to measure out a sixth of a hin of water to drink, and you are to drink it at set times.”Ezekiel’s daily bread and water during the sign are small, weighed and measured portions.
- Ezekiel 4:16-17 (BSB)“Then He told me, “Son of man, I am going to cut off the supply of food in Jerusalem. They will anxiously eat bread rationed by weight, and in despair they will drink water by measure. So they will lack food and water; they will be appalled at the sight of one another wasting away in their iniquity.”God explains that Jerusalem’s food will be cut off and its people will waste away in their sin.
- Leviticus 26:26 (BSB)“When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will bake your bread in a single oven and dole out your bread by weight, so that you will eat but not be satisfied.”The covenant warnings had threatened bread doled out by weight that would never satisfy.
- Leviticus 26:39 (BSB)“Those of you who survive in the lands of your enemies will waste away in their iniquity and will decay in the sins of their fathers.”The same chapter warned that survivors in enemy lands would wither because of their guilt.
- 2 Kings 25:3 (BSB)“By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so severe that the people of the land had no food.”Compare the later siege, when famine left the city’s people without food.
General
Ezekiel drew a city on a brick, surrounded it with siege works, and set an iron plate between himself and it. What was this acted message (Ezekiel 4:1-3)?
Answer: A model of Jerusalem besieged, as a sign to Israel
The LORD told Ezekiel to take a brick, sketch Jerusalem on it, and then lay siege to the drawing: a wall around it, a ramp, army camps, and battering rams on every side (4:1-2). He was to set up an iron plate like a wall between himself and the city and turn his face toward it as its attacker (4:3). This was a sign for Israel, a message acted out instead of only spoken, showing that Jerusalem was about to be surrounded and attacked. Other acted messages of Ezekiel are described the same way, as signs from God to His people (12:6; 24:24). Compare the later siege, when Babylon’s king Nebuchadnezzar camped outside Jerusalem and enclosed it with siege works (2 Kings 25:1-2).
- Ezekiel 4:1-3 (BSB)““Now you, son of man, take a brick, place it before you, and draw on it the city of Jerusalem. Then lay siege against it: Construct a siege wall, build a ramp to it, set up camps against it, and place battering rams around it on all sides. Then take an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between yourself and the city. Turn your face toward it so that it is under siege, and besiege it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.”Ezekiel sketches Jerusalem on a brick, surrounds it with siege works, and sets an iron plate between himself and the city.
- Ezekiel 12:6 (BSB)“And as they watch, lift your bags to your shoulder and take them out at dusk; cover your face so that you cannot see the land. For I have made you a sign to the house of Israel.””Another of Ezekiel’s acted messages is described in the same terms, as a sign God gave to Israel through him.
- Ezekiel 24:24 (BSB)“‘Thus Ezekiel will be a sign for you; you will do everything that he has done. When this happens, you will know that I am the Lord GOD.’”God says Ezekiel himself serves as a sign, and what he does is what the people will go through.
- 2 Kings 25:1-2 (BSB)“So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army. They encamped outside the city and built a siege wall all around it. And the city was kept under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year.”Compare the later siege, when Babylon’s army camped outside Jerusalem and enclosed it with siege works.
Theological
What was the meaning of Ezekiel’s drawing on the brick, ringed with siege works and faced across an iron plate (Ezekiel 4:1-3)?
Answer: A model of Jerusalem besieged, as a sign to Israel
Ezekiel’s sign-act is a miniature siege: Jerusalem inscribed on a brick and encircled with a siege wall, ramp, camps and battering rams (4:1-2), with the prophet behind an iron plate, face set against the city (4:3). God names it a sign to Israel, an enacted prophecy announcing that Jerusalem would soon be surrounded and attacked. The same category governs Ezekiel’s later symbolic actions, in which the prophet himself becomes a sign of what the people will undergo (12:6; 24:24). Compare the siege that followed, when Nebuchadnezzar camped outside Jerusalem and enclosed it with siege works (2 Kings 25:1-2).
- Ezekiel 4:1-3 (BSB)““Now you, son of man, take a brick, place it before you, and draw on it the city of Jerusalem. Then lay siege against it: Construct a siege wall, build a ramp to it, set up camps against it, and place battering rams around it on all sides. Then take an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between yourself and the city. Turn your face toward it so that it is under siege, and besiege it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.”Ezekiel sketches Jerusalem on a brick, surrounds it with siege works, and sets an iron plate between himself and the city.
- Ezekiel 12:6 (BSB)“And as they watch, lift your bags to your shoulder and take them out at dusk; cover your face so that you cannot see the land. For I have made you a sign to the house of Israel.””Another of Ezekiel’s acted messages is described in the same terms, as a sign God gave to Israel through him.
- Ezekiel 24:24 (BSB)“‘Thus Ezekiel will be a sign for you; you will do everything that he has done. When this happens, you will know that I am the Lord GOD.’”God says Ezekiel himself serves as a sign, and what he does is what the people will go through.
- 2 Kings 25:1-2 (BSB)“So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army. They encamped outside the city and built a siege wall all around it. And the city was kept under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year.”Compare the later siege, when Babylon’s army camped outside Jerusalem and enclosed it with siege works.
General
True or False: The LORD said that Ezekiel’s bread, baked over an unclean fire, pictured how the Israelites would eat unclean bread in the lands where He would drive them (Ezekiel 4:13).
Answer: True
This is true. Ezekiel was to bake his bread over a fire of human waste in front of the people (4:12). The LORD gave the meaning at once: among the nations where He would scatter them, the Israelites would eat bread that was ceremonially unclean, that is, unfit under God’s law for His holy people (4:13). Hosea had given the northern tribes a similar warning, that outside the LORD’s land they would end up eating what was unclean in Assyria (Hosea 9:3). In Babylon, Daniel showed the same concern when he resolved not to make himself unclean with the royal food (Daniel 1:8).
- Ezekiel 4:12-13 (BSB)“And you shall eat the food as you would a barley cake, after you bake it over dried human excrement in the sight of the people.” Then the LORD said, “This is how the Israelites will eat their defiled bread among the nations to which I will banish them.””Ezekiel is told to bake his bread over an unclean fire publicly, and God explains that Israel will eat unclean bread in exile.
- Hosea 9:3 (BSB)“They will not remain in the land of the LORD; Ephraim will return to Egypt and eat unclean food in Assyria.”Hosea warned Ephraim that, driven from the LORD’s land, they would end up eating what was unclean in Assyria.
- Daniel 1:8 (BSB)“But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s food or wine. So he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself.”In Babylon, Daniel resolved not to make himself unclean with the royal food and drink.
Theological
True or False: According to 4:13, the bread baked over an unclean fire signified the ritually defiled food Israel would eat among the nations of its exile.
Answer: True
This is true. The command to bake the ration over human waste in public (4:12) is interpreted at once by the LORD: Israel would eat defiled bread in the countries of its banishment (4:13). Exile from the LORD’s land meant living among unclean things, the consequence Hosea had announced for Ephraim in Assyria (Hosea 9:3). Daniel’s resolve to keep himself undefiled by the royal provisions shows the faithful feeling that pressure in Babylon (Daniel 1:8).
- Ezekiel 4:12-13 (BSB)“And you shall eat the food as you would a barley cake, after you bake it over dried human excrement in the sight of the people.” Then the LORD said, “This is how the Israelites will eat their defiled bread among the nations to which I will banish them.””Ezekiel is told to bake his bread over an unclean fire publicly, and God explains that Israel will eat unclean bread in exile.
- Hosea 9:3 (BSB)“They will not remain in the land of the LORD; Ephraim will return to Egypt and eat unclean food in Assyria.”Hosea warned Ephraim that, driven from the LORD’s land, they would end up eating what was unclean in Assyria.
- Daniel 1:8 (BSB)“But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s food or wine. So he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself.”In Babylon, Daniel resolved not to make himself unclean with the royal food and drink.
General
When Ezekiel protested that he had never made himself unclean, how did the LORD respond (Ezekiel 4:14-15)?
Answer: He let him use cow dung as fuel in place of human waste
Told to bake his bread over human waste, Ezekiel cried out to the Lord GOD. He said he had never defiled himself: from his youth he had never eaten an animal that died on its own or was torn by beasts, and no unclean meat had ever entered his mouth (4:14). Ezekiel was a priest (1:3), and God’s law forbade priests to eat such meat (Leviticus 22:8; 44:31). The LORD answered his plea and changed the fuel, allowing cow dung in place of human waste for baking the bread (4:15). The sign and its message stayed in place, but God granted His servant’s request.
- Ezekiel 4:14 (BSB)““Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have not eaten anything found dead or mauled by wild beasts. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth.””Ezekiel protests that from his youth he has kept himself from anything unclean.
- Ezekiel 4:15 (BSB)““Look,” He replied, “I will let you use cow dung instead of human excrement, and you may bake your bread over that.””The LORD grants a different fuel for baking the bread.
- Ezekiel 1:3 (BSB)“the word of the LORD came directly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the River Kebar. And there the LORD’s hand was upon him.”Ezekiel is introduced as a priest, a man bound by the priestly laws of cleanness.
- Leviticus 22:8 (BSB)“He must not eat anything found dead or torn by wild animals, which would make him unclean. I am the LORD.”The law forbade a priest to eat an animal that died on its own or was killed by beasts, the very thing Ezekiel says he never ate.
- Ezekiel 44:31 (BSB)“The priests may not eat any bird or animal found dead or torn by wild beasts.”Ezekiel’s own later vision repeats the same rule for priests.
Theological
How did the LORD answer Ezekiel’s objection to baking his bread over human waste (Ezekiel 4:14-15)?
Answer: He let him use cow dung as fuel in place of human waste
Ezekiel’s protest is that of a priest (1:3) who had guarded his ritual purity from youth: he had never eaten carrion or what beasts had torn, and no unclean meat had passed his lips (4:14), as the priestly law required (Leviticus 22:8; compare 44:31). The LORD did not withdraw the sign, but He accommodated His servant, permitting cow dung as fuel in place of human waste (4:15). The concession shows the LORD hearing His prophet’s plea while keeping the message of the sign intact.
- Ezekiel 4:14 (BSB)““Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have not eaten anything found dead or mauled by wild beasts. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth.””Ezekiel protests that from his youth he has kept himself from anything unclean.
- Ezekiel 4:15 (BSB)““Look,” He replied, “I will let you use cow dung instead of human excrement, and you may bake your bread over that.””The LORD grants a different fuel for baking the bread.
- Ezekiel 1:3 (BSB)“the word of the LORD came directly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the River Kebar. And there the LORD’s hand was upon him.”Ezekiel is introduced as a priest, a man bound by the priestly laws of cleanness.
- Leviticus 22:8 (BSB)“He must not eat anything found dead or torn by wild animals, which would make him unclean. I am the LORD.”The law forbade a priest to eat an animal that died on its own or was killed by beasts, the very thing Ezekiel says he never ate.
- Ezekiel 44:31 (BSB)“The priests may not eat any bird or animal found dead or torn by wild beasts.”Ezekiel’s own later vision repeats the same rule for priests.