The Prophets · Old Testament

Ezekiel 4

Ezekiel 4: the tile, the siege, lying on his side and the rationed bread

General context

The Lord gives the prophet a series of acted signs. He is to take a tile, portray on it "the city, even Jerusalem," and lay siege to it with a fort, a mount, a camp and battering rams; an iron pan is to stand as "a wall of iron" between him and the city, and "This shall be a sign to the house of Israel." He is to lie on his left side and bear "the iniquity of the house of Israel" for three hundred and ninety days, then on his right side for "the iniquity of the house of Judah" forty days, "each day for a year." With bands laid on him he will not turn from side to side until the days are done. He is to make bread of wheat, barley, beans, lentiles, millet and fitches in one vessel, eat it by weight, "twenty shekels a day," drink water by measure, "the sixth part of an hin," and bake it with human dung in their sight, because "the children of Israel" will "eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles." The prophet objects that from his youth he has never eaten what dies of itself or is torn, nor "abominable flesh"; the Lord allows cow's dung instead of man's. The chapter ends with the Lord saying he will "break the staff of bread in Jerusalem," so that they eat bread by weight and drink water by measure with astonishment and "consume away for their iniquity."

Cited passages: Ezekiel 4:1, Ezekiel 4:2, Ezekiel 4:3, Ezekiel 4:4, Ezekiel 4:5, Ezekiel 4:6, Ezekiel 4:8, Ezekiel 4:9, Ezekiel 4:10, Ezekiel 4:11, Ezekiel 4:12, Ezekiel 4:13, Ezekiel 4:14, Ezekiel 4:15, Ezekiel 4:16, Ezekiel 4:17

Ezekiel 4 (KJV)

¹Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:

²And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.

³Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, 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.

⁴Lie 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.

⁵For 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 the iniquity of the house of Israel.

⁶And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.

⁷Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.

⁸And, 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.

⁹Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, 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.

¹⁰And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.

¹¹Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink.

¹²And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.

¹³And the Lord said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them.

¹⁴Then 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.

¹⁵Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow’s dung for man’s dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith.

¹⁶Moreover 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:

¹⁷That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and consume away for their iniquity.

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Historical context

The chapter is spoken as command; apart from the prophet's one protest, nothing here is narrated as performed. The text does not say that he actually lay on his side or ate the bread; it records the instructions and the exchange about the dung. The numbers are stated exactly: three hundred and ninety days for "the house of Israel" on the left side, forty days for "the house of Judah" on the right, with the rule "each day for a year." The text does not say which years these stand for, whether past or future, and it distinguishes "the house of Israel" from "the house of Judah" without explaining the distinction here. The iron pan is described as a wall between the prophet and the city, and the text does not say what it represents. The prophet's objection is his only speech in the chapter, and it refers to food laws he has kept "from my youth up," which fits the title "priest" from 1:3, though the chapter does not make that connection itself. The rations, twenty shekels of food and a sixth of a hin of water, are given as measures without conversion. The chapter mentions "the Gentiles, whither I will drive them" as the future setting of the defiled bread, while the siege sign is aimed at Jerusalem; the text leaves the two settings side by side.

Cited passages: Ezekiel 4:3, Ezekiel 4:5, Ezekiel 4:6, Ezekiel 4:14, Ezekiel 4:10, Ezekiel 4:13, Ezekiel 4:7

Literary context

The chapter is a sequence of imperatives, "take thee," "lay siege," "lie thou," "take thou," each sign explained by a short clause of meaning. The siege on a tile is a small model of a large event, and the phrase "set thy face against it" makes the prophet play the attacker while the iron pan makes him also the barrier. The word "iniquity" is repeated across the lying-down sign and the closing verse, tying the days on his side to the hunger in the city. Weights and measures dominate the middle, "by weight," "by measure," "from time to time," and the closing verse echoes them exactly, "bread by weight," "water by measure," so the prophet's rations and Jerusalem's rations are written in the same words. The one break in the chain of commands is the prophet's protest, "Ah Lord God!", and the Lord's reply concedes a detail, cow's dung for man's dung, without withdrawing the sign. The chapter ends not on the prophet but on the city, "consume away for their iniquity," so the signs point beyond his body to the people they portray.

Cited passages: Ezekiel 4:1, Ezekiel 4:3, Ezekiel 4:4, Ezekiel 4:11, Ezekiel 4:16, Ezekiel 4:14, Ezekiel 4:15, Ezekiel 4:17

Key moments

Jerusalem on a tile (Ezekiel 4:1). The prophet is told to portray the city on a tile and besiege it.
The iron pan (Ezekiel 4:3). An iron pan stands as a wall between him and the city as a sign to Israel.
Three hundred and ninety days (Ezekiel 4:5). He is to lie on his left side bearing Israel's iniquity, a day for a year.
Forty days for Judah (Ezekiel 4:6). He is then to lie on his right side forty days for the house of Judah.
Bread by weight (Ezekiel 4:10). His food is rationed to twenty shekels a day and his water measured.
Ah Lord God (Ezekiel 4:14). The prophet protests that he has never eaten anything defiled.
The staff of bread broken (Ezekiel 4:16). The Lord says Jerusalem will eat bread by weight and drink water by measure.

For reflection

The prophet objects to only one detail of the signs, the fuel for his bread, and that one detail is changed. What does the text suggest about the difference between obeying a hard command and asking for it to be altered?