Ezekiel 4
OUTLINE:
I. \\#Eze 1:1-23:49\\ Before the Siege (c.593-587)
A. \\#1:1-3:15\\ The First Message
1. \\#Eze 1:1-28\\ God
a. \\#1-3\\ The Setting
b. \\#4-28\\ The Glory of the Lord
c. \\#4\\ The Cloud
d. \\#5-14\\ The Four Living Creatures
e. \\#15-21\\ The Four Wheels
f. \\#22-25\\ The Firmament
g. \\#26-28\\ The One Above
h. \\#28\\ Ezekiel’s Reaction
2. \\#2:1-3:15\\ The Commission of Ezekiel
a. \\#2:1-2\\ God’s Strengthening
b. \\#2:3-3:15\\ God’s Calling
(1) \\#2:3-5\\ Go to God’s People
(2) \\#2:6-3:3\\ Go with God’s Words
(3) \\#3:4-11\\ Go with God’s Equipping
(4) \\#3:12-15\\ Go with God’s Spirit
B. \\#Eze 3:16-7:27\\ The Second Message
1. \\#3:16-21\\ Go as God’s Watchman
2. \\#3:22-3:27\\ Hardships for Ezekiel
a. \\#3:22-24\\ A Shift in Location
b. \\#3:24-27\\ Three Commands Given
3. \\#4:1-5:17\\ Signs of Jerusalem’s Siege
a. \\#4:1-3\\ A Besieged City
b. \\#4:4-8\\ A Sinful City
c. \\#4:9-17\\ A Hungry City
\\#Eze 3:16-7:27\\ The Second Message, Signs of Jerusalem’s Siege
I. \\#4:1-3\\ A Besieged City
A. This appears to be a continuation of chapter 3. If so, we can
conclude that this is what Ezekiel was to do after he shut
himself in his home and was wrapped with chains.
B. \\#1\\ "even Jerusalem" - This portion of the vision
specifically dealt with Jerusalem’s future.
C. "take a tile… and pourtray upon it the city" - Ezekiel was
to create a model of Jerusalem to demonstrate what would
happen to it.
D. \\#2\\ "lay siege against it" - Ezekiel was further instructed
to build a mock siege against his city, with a battering
tower (fort), a mount, and an enemy camp.
E. \\#3\\ Further, he was to set "an iron pan" between the city
and himself.
1. Ezekiel was playing the part of God and the iron pan was
to represent the barrier between God and Jerusalem.
2. Had the iron pan represented the siege, it would have
been on all four sides of the city.
3. This barrier represented the sin of Israel which came
beteen the city and God.
F. "it shall be besieged" - God plainly declared that the city
of Jerusalem would be besieged. This was a prophecy.
G. "This shall be a sign" - Ezekiel was acting out a message
that was directed to Israel.
II. \\#4:4-8\\ A Sinful City
A. \\#4-5\\ "lie upon they left side"
1. Ezekiel was to demonstrate the number of years both Israel
and Judah had sinned against God, provoking the imminent
judgment.
2. He would illustrate Israel’s years by laying on his left
side.
3. "according to the number of the days, 390 days"
a. Ezekiel was to lay on his left side one day for each
year Israel had been in sin, a total of 390 days for
390 years.
b. The problem with Ezekiel’s total is the northern
kingdom only existed for 241 years. It had been
destroyed for approximately 150 years.
c. However, John Gill noted that the 390 years ran from
the beginning of the northern kingdom to the
destruction of the southern kingdom, indicating God
had not completed His judgment on the northern
kingdom until He judged the entire nation of Israel.
d. And why would God continue to weigh judgement on a
kingdom that had not existed for approximately 150
years?
(1) The Bible does not say.
(2) However, it might have been because the
consequences of the northern kingdom’s sins
continued to reap a harvest.
(3) The northern kingdom influenced not only
individuals, but nations. For example, Judah
was influenced by Israel.
(4) That means that even the Babylonian judgment that
was about to fall on Judah was at least a
partial result of Israel’s sins.
(5) Perhaps as long as sin’s harvest continued, God
would continue to lay the judgments to Israel’s
charge.
4. \\#5\\ "for I have laid upon thee" - Ezekiel was to lay on
his side one day for each of those years.
a. The question has to be asked, "Did he just lay on his
left side for over a year?"
b. That is all the text gives to us and considering the
other extreme things that God asked of Ezekiel, it is
very possible.
c. However, it also possible that he took breaks from
time to time for personal needs.
B. \\#6\\ "lie again on thy right side"
1. "when thou hast accomplished them" - Once Ezekiel had
completed the 390 days on his left side, he was to lay
an additional 40 days on his right.
2. \\#Ex 12:40-41\\ The combined years that God was reckoning
to Israel and Judah was 430 years. That is the same
number of years that Israel abode in Egypt. Although
there is no obvious connection, it is interesting.
3. "each day for a year" - This was to represent the 40 years
that Judah had been guilty of "iniquity."
4. There is no clear consensus on which 40 years God was
making reference.
a. As some have put it, with all of their years of
wickedness, how could God count ONLY 40 years of
iniquity?
(1) For example, wickedness and idolatry was begun in
Solomon’s reign. \\#1Kings 11:1-8\\
(2) But of all the kings of Judah, Manasseh
\\#2Kings 21:1-10, 2Chron 33:1-20\\ was the king
whose evil God would not forget.
2Ki 23:26 Notwithstanding the LORD turned not
from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith
his anger was kindled against Judah, because of
all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked
him withal.
(3) And there were others.
b. A few believe that the 40 is used symbolically.
Typically, the number 40 represents a period of
testing, but it was also the corresponding period of
judgment (i.e. the children of Israel spend 40 years
wandering in the wilderness).
5. But while we cannot tell which 40 years God had in mind,
God did have some time period in mind and had Ezekiel
stay on His right side for that time period.
C. \\#7-8\\ While laying on both sides, Ezekiel was to:
1. \\#7\\ "set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem" -
Either toward the model of the city Ezekiel had made or
toward the far-away city of Jerusalem.
2. "thine arm shall be uncovered" - To uncover the arm was
to make it ready for battle.
3. \\#8\\ "I will lay bands upon thee" - As God had
originally commanded in \\#Eze 3:25\\, during all of this
he was to be chained or tied up as a captive.
a. "thou shalt not turn" - Ezekiel was not permitted to
flip from one side to the other.
b. "tili thou hast ended the days of thy siege" - Ezekiel
was to continue laying on his side until he
demonstrated all of the days of sin which would cause
Jerusalem to be sieged.
(1) Ezekiel’s 430 days did not represent the days of
the siege as some think for the siege lasted
longer.
(2) \\#Jer 39:1\\ says the siege began in the 9th
year of Zedekiah, the 10th month while
\\#Jer 39:2, 2Kings 25:2-3\\ state that it
ended on his 11th year, 4th month, 9th day.
(3) That would be 18 months, 9 days or 549 days.
c. "thy siege" - This was called Ezekiel’s siege for he
was literally living out Jerusalem’s siege.
III. \\#4:9-17\\ A Hungry City
A. \\#9-11\\ Ezekiel’s Diet was also to be restricted.
1. \\#9\\ "make thee bread thereof" - Ezekiel could mix
"wheat and barley, and beans, and lentiles (similar to a
dried bean), and millet (a cereal crop used mostly for
fodder), and fitches" (a specific seed) together to make
bread.
2. "three hundred and ninety days" - This was to be his diet
at least for the first 390 days of his siege.
3. \\#10\\ "twenty shekels a day"
a. It is difficult to know for certain but one source
stated a shekel weighed around 10.5 grams.
b. Times 20 that comes to 210 grams.
c. Converted that comes to 7.4 ounces, which is less than
1/2 a pound of bread per day.
4. Ezekiel could drink a "sixth part of an hin" of water
throughout the day.
a. Merriam-Webster defined a hin as 1.5 gallons.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hin
b. Divided by 6 that would equal 1 quart of water.
B. \\#12-15\\ "bake it with dung"
1. \\#12-13\\ There is disagreement as to exactly what God
meant by this. Some feel that the dung was to be baked
into the bread while others speculate that perhaps dried
dung was to be used to bake with instead of wood.
Either way, the command would be most disagreeable and
was given to depict the desperation of the people during
the siege.
2. \\#14\\ "my soul hath not been polluted" - Ezekiel spoke
to God, not requesting anything but pointing out that he
had never eaten anything defiled or polluted.
3. \\#15\\ "I have given thee cow’s dung" - God did not
remove the dung all together, but He did allow Ezekiel
to use cow’s dung instead of man’s.
C. 16-17\\ Reasoning
1. \\#16\\ "I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem"
Ezekiel’s diet was to illustrate how bad it would be in
Jerusalem, but in reality, it would be worse.
2. \\#17\\ The people would ‘consume away for their
iniquity." The word "consume away" in Hebrew means to
vanish, dissolve, pine away.
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