Ezekiel-Chapter-4
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Remember the following truth from our beloved Torah!
“Ye
shall NOT ADD
TO THE WORD which I command
you, NEITHER SHALL YE DIMINISH FROM IT,
that ye may keep the commandments of יְהוָה
אֱלֹהֵיכֶם - the LORD your Eloleichem,
which I command you”. Davarim - Deuteronomy
4:2. (JPS-1917).
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With Rabbi, Dr. Reuven Ben Avraham-Goossens, PhD.
Introduction:
In Chapter 4,
the nature of Ezekiel’s ministry shifts from verbal warnings to prophetic
pantomime. Because the “rebellious house” has stopped listening to words, the
Divine command directs Ezekiel to become a living, breathing architectural
model of
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Below are the verses of Ezekiel Chapter
4:1-17: Whilst below the verses are the Explanation’s. (Chapter is from JPS-1917
version of the Tanakh).
Verse 1: “Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and
lay it before thee, and trace upon it a city, even
Explanation: Ezekiel is commanded to engage in a visual “sign-act”. He takes a soft
clay brick (livenah) and engraves upon it a map or
schematic of the city of
Verse 2: and lay siege against it, and build forts against it,
and cast up a mound against it; set camps also against it, and set battering
rams against it round about.
Explanation: The prophet must set up a miniature siege. He builds a fort, casts a
mound for elevation, sets up military camps, and places battering rams around
the “city”. This is a tangible demonstration of the impending Babylonian
tactical assault.
Verse 3: And take thou unto thee an iron griddle, and set it
for a wall of iron between thee and the city; and set thy face toward it, and
it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign
to the house of
Explanation: An iron griddle is placed between the prophet and the brick city. This
represents an impenetrable wall of iron, symbolising that the Divine protection
has been withdrawn and replaced by a barrier that no prayer can pierce.
Verse 4: Moreover lie thou upon thy left side, and lay the
iniquity of the house of
Explanation: Ezekiel is told to lie on his left side. This physical posture
represents the bearing of the “iniquity” of the Northern Kingdom (
Verse 5: For I have appointed the years of their iniquity to
be unto thee a number of days, even three hundred and ninety days; so shalt
thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
Explanation: The duration is set at 390 days. Each day corresponds to a year of the
Verse 6: And again, when thou hast accomplished these, thou
shalt lie on thy right side, and shalt bear the iniquity of the house of
Explanation: Upon completing the first period, he must turn to his right side for 40
days. This specifically represents the house of
Verse 7: And thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of
Explanation: With his arm bared (an ancient gesture of readiness for battle),
Ezekiel must fix his gaze upon the “siege” of the brick. This indicates that
the Divine decree against the city is active and the “arm” of judgment is ready
to strike.
Verse 8: And, behold, I lay bands upon thee, and thou
shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast accomplished the
days of thy siege.
Explanation: The prophet is “bound” by Divine decree, unable to turn from side to
side. This ensures he remains a fixed sign to the people, showing that the
period of judgment is set and cannot be avoided or shortened by human effort.
Verse 9: 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, even three hundred and ninety days, shalt thou eat thereof.
Explanation: He is instructed to mix various grains, wheat, barley, beans, lentils,
millet, and spelt into one vessel to make bread. In normal times, these would
be separate; mixing them signifies the desperate scarcity of a city under siege
where one must scrape together whatever remains.
Verse 10: And thy
food which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day; from time
to time shalt thou eat it.
Explanation: His food is strictly rationed to twenty shekels (about 8 or 9 ounces) a
day. This is the “bread of adversity”, meant to sustain life at the absolute
bare minimum during the famine of the siege.
Verse 11: Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth
part of a hin; from time to time shalt thou drink.
Explanation: Water is also rationed to the “sixth part of a hin”
(roughly 1 to 1.5 pints). The precision of the measurement emphasizes the
extreme lack of resources within the walls of
Verse 12: And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt
bake it in their sight with dung that cometh out of man’.
Explanation: The bread is to be baked as barley cakes using human excrement as fuel.
This is not for nutritional purposes but to signify the ultimate state of
ritual and physical defilement that the people will endure.
Verse 13: And יְהוָה - the LORD said: ‘Even thus shall the children of
Explanation: The Divine Voice explains the symbolism: the Children of Israel will be
forced to eat “unclean bread” among the nations where they will be scattered,
losing their ability to maintain the laws of purity.
Verse 14: Then said I: ‘Ah אֱלֹהִים יְהוָה - LORD Elohim (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 of beasts; neither came there abhorred flesh
into my mouth’.
Explanation: Ezekiel protests on the grounds of his personal holiness, noting that
he has never defiled himself by eating carrion or forbidden meats since his
youth. It is a plea to maintain his priestly integrity even amidst the sign-act.
Verse 15: Then He said unto me: ‘See, I have given thee
cow’s dung for man’s dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread thereon’.
Explanation: The request is granted in part. He is permitted to use cattle dung
instead of human waste for fuel. While still a sign of hardship and a “low”
fuel source, it spares him the extreme ritual defilement he feared.
Verse 16: Moreover
He said unto me: ‘Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in
Explanation: The message is reinforced: the “staff of bread” (the literal support of
life) in
Verse 17: that they
may want bread and water, and be appalled one with another, and pine away in
their iniquity’”.
Explanation: The final goal of this deprivation is that the people will look at one
another in desolation and eventually "pine away" in their iniquity.
The siege is the physical manifestation of their spiritual collapse.
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My Concluding
Message:
The message of Chapter 4 is one of unavoidable consequence. The
detailed rationing of food and the “iron wall” signify that the window for
negotiation has closed; the siege is no longer a possibility, but a
mathematical certainty. By lying on his side for over a year, Ezekiel
demonstrates that the “weight of iniquity” is not a metaphor, it is a crushing
burden that must be physically borne before any restoration can occur. The
chapter concludes with a stark reality: when a nation breaks its spiritual
covenant, its physical “staff of bread” eventually breaks as well, leading to a
state of total desolation and “pining away”.
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