Ezekiel 4
The Sign of the Siege
Read…
Ezek. 4:1 “You
also, son of man, take a clay tablet and lay it before you, and portray on it a
city,
Ezek. 4:2 Lay
siege against it, build a siege wall against it, and heap up a mound against
it; set camps against it also, and place battering rams against it all around.
Ezek. 4:3 Moreover
take for yourself an iron plate, and set it as an iron wall between you and the
city. Set your face against it, and it shall be besieged, and you shall lay
siege against it. This will be a sign
to the house of Israel.
Intro
√ The Sign of the Siege
Ezekiel’s ministry began with a personal encounter with the living God Who…
Called him into ministry
Showed him His glory
Appointed him a Watchman
As such Ezekiel was to sound the alarm of God’s coming judgment as recorded in chapters 4-24.
Need for judgment ~ chapters 4-11
(
Need for discernment ~ chapters 12-19
(Don’t listen to the false prophets)
Need for perspective ~ chapters 20-24
(Present condition rooted in ancient corruption)
In this chapter Ezekiel tries to get the people’s attention by means of…
Signs
Sermons
Visions
…with the hope that rebellious Jewish people would hear God’s word with their ears, and see God’s word portrayed with their eyes.
Yet, for all of the prophet’s efforts the people would still reject his warning!
Reminding us that sin makes us blind, deaf and dumb (stupid!).
Ap. Be open to new ways of declaring God’s truth
We’ll find in our study that God tells Ezekiel to do some strange things to communicate His message to a people who aren’t listening to the Word that Ezekiel was preaching.
God isn’t limited, God is creative, God knows how to reach people that aren’t listening.
So, if God gives you something to do, or some new way to share the Gospel…
…don’t reject it simply because it’s never been done!
Ex. Ken Graves and his wrestling outreach
Fact of the Siege (vs. 1-3)
Ezek. 4:1 “You
also, son of man, take a clay tablet and lay it before you, and portray on it a
city,
Ezek. 4:2 Lay siege against it, build a siege wall against it, and heap up a mound against it; set camps against it also, and place battering rams against it all around.
Ezek. 4:3 Moreover take for yourself an iron plate, and set it as an iron wall between you and the city. Set your face against it, and it shall be besieged, and you shall lay siege against it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.
√ The fact of the Siege
The first thing that God wanted Ezekiel to warn the people
about was the fact of the
coming siege on
The false prophets in
Jeremiah was in stationed in
Zedekiah wouldn’t listen to Jeremiah and suffered greatly
for his sin ~ captured, watched his sons killed, then had his eyes poked out,
and carried off to
He was the last Jewish
king of
To communicate the fact of the coming siege God told Ezekiel to build a model of the siege as a visual sign of God’s impending judgment.
Ex. RPG board games ~ “Warhammer – the Judgment of God”
√ The sign of the Siege
We’re not told where Ezekiel built his model, but most students of the Bible suggest that it was in the front courtyard of his home (ref. Ez. 3:25).
The sign…
Tablet = sketch of the city
Siege wall = dirt ramparts around the city
Mound = ramp for the siege engines
Camps = keep people in & supplies out
Ezekiel’s little model would have been easily understood by
the Jewish captives in
Even today you can look at aireal views of Masada and see the remains of the Roman siege ~ just as described by God of Jerusalem here in Ezekiel’s prophecy!
So, through this visual sign that he built the people
understood that God intended to destroy
√ The sign of the skillet
Note vs. 3 again…
Ezek. 4:3 Moreover
take for yourself an iron plate,
and set it as an iron wall between you and the city. Set your face against it,
and it shall be besieged, and you shall lay siege against it. This will be a sign
to the house of
As part of Ezekiel’s visual sign God told him to set up an iron plate between his face and the brick (city).
The skillet used by the Jewish people for cooking their flat bread (pita).
Some believe that it represents…
The “iron-like” grip that Nebuchadnezzar would have on the city.
Others suggest that it means…
The impregnable
barrier between God and
That is, God wouldn’t listen to their prayers for deliverance once the siege began.
Either way the primary picture is that the iron plate
suggests that the siege would be successful and that
Length of the Siege (vs. 4-8)
Ezek. 4:4 “Lie
also on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of
Ezek. 4:5 For I have laid on you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days; so you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
Ezek. 4:6 And
when you have completed them, lie again on your right side; then you shall bear
the iniquity of the house of
Ezek. 4:7 “Therefore
you shall set your face toward the siege of
Ezek. 4:8 And surely I will restrain you so that you cannot turn from one side to another till you have ended the days of your siege.
√ The length of the siege
The next sign involves Ezekiel lying on his side, first his left side, and then his right…
…to communicate the length of the siege…
“And surely I will restrain you so that you cannot turn from one side to another till you have ended the days of your siege.” ~ vs. 8
We’re told that he lays…
390 days on his left side
40 days on his right side
For a total of 430 days for the years of their sin (“iniquity”).
√ Not 24/7
I don’t think that Ezekiel was tied up and left to lay on his side for 430 days…
…rather, he probably went out of his home each day and lay down next to the model of the siege and returned to his home each evening.
That seems logical in view of the fact that God instructs him to mix up bread dough and cook it each day.
Pretty hard to do if you’re tied up all day long.
So, he probably went out each day so that the Jewish people could see him as they made their way through the city during their normal work days.
Ap. The meaning of the sign
The easy part of the sign to interpret is the part about him lying on his left and right side.
We’re told that he’s to lie on his left side for 390 days for the sin of the “house of
We’re told that he’s to lie on his right side for 40
days for the sin of the “house of
Picture Ezekiel laying down in his yard with the model of
If he laid down with his face toward
When he lay down on his left side he would be facing North ~ the direction of
When he lay down on his right side he would be facing South ~ the direction of
So, the visual sign to the people is that God was bringing a
siege upon
…both the sins of
√ 430 days
The hard part in interpreting the sign is to figure out what the number of days means!
Bible commentators have all sorts of ideas but none of them work out well when you do the math!
The basic idea is that each day represents a year of sin…
“I have laid on you a day for each year.” ~ vs. 6
But, which years is God talking about…
…their sin in the past, or their chastening in the future?
Ex. Past or future
Past ~ some commentators think that it represents the
years of
Not, 390 and 40, or 430 years!
Future ~ some think it represents the 430 years of
Gentile domination of
…to the beginning of the Maccabean revolt in 197 B.C.
The problem with that view is that is that both the starting and ending dates are picked arbitrarily!
Why not use 586 B.C. as the starting point ~ the year that
While the Maccabean revolt began in 197 B.C., the Jews
didn’t take control of
So, it’s all “fuzzy math” and doesn’t do a good job explaining “why” God used these numbers.
Ex. Judgment for sin
What we can be sure of is that God’s judgment on
God was warning the people that because they had consistently rejected His warnings…
…a siege
was coming that would result in the total destruction of the Jewish nation, capital,
Ap. One more thought
The closest we get with the 430 days to years is…
From David ~ God’s choice as king
To Zedekiah ~ the last king in David’s linage
…we know that Zedekiah was taken to Babylon in 486 B.C., add 430 years and that takes us back to 1016 B.C. ~ very close to the time that David ascended the throne (approximately 1010 B.C.).
So, perhaps the total of 430 days/years represents the
length of time that
Severity of the Siege (vs. 9-17)
Ezek. 4:9 “Also take for yourself wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt; put them into one vessel, and make bread of them for yourself. During the number of days that you lie on your side, three hundred and ninety days, you shall eat it.
Ezek. 4:10 And your food which you eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day; from time to time you shall eat it.
Ezek. 4:11 You shall also drink water by measure, one-sixth of a hin; from time to time you shall drink.
Ezek. 4:12 And you shall eat it as barley cakes; and bake it using fuel of human waste in their sight.”
Ezek. 4:13 Then the
LORD said, “So shall the children of
Ezek. 4:14 So I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Indeed I have never defiled myself from my youth till now; I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has abominable flesh ever come into my mouth.”
Ezek. 4:15 Then He said to me, “See, I am giving you cow dung instead of human waste, and you shall prepare your bread over it.”
Ezek. 4:16 Moreover
He said to me, “Son of man, surely I will cut off the supply of bread in
Ezek. 4:17 that they may lack bread and water, and be dismayed with one another, and waste away because of their iniquity.
√ The severity of the siege
The 2nd
sign that God gives to
That is, in full view of the Jewish captives Ezekiel is going to endure the “siege” on a very sparse diet of bread and water.
About 8 ounces of bread a day
And 20 ounces of water a day
God tells him to make bread dough of 6 different grains (vs. 9) and to cook it over a unique campfire of human waste!
Aren’t you glad you’re not called to be a prophet!
As gross as it sounds (and it is), it wasn’t uncommon in those times.
Not many trees to use for firewood so the people would mix straw into manure, let it dry and then use it for fuel.
Ezekiel’s been a pretty good sport up to this time but now he begs God not to make him do it! (I can relate to that!)
“So I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Indeed I have never defiled myself from my youth till now; I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has abominable flesh ever come into my mouth.” ~ vs. 14
God has mercy on him and lets him use cow manure!
Who would have ever thought that was good news!
The point of the sign is that God is communicating through Ezekiel’s visual demonstration the severity of the famine that would come as a result of the siege.
Ex. Siege
The idea of a siege was to bring a well-fortified city to surrender by cutting off their supply of…
Food
Water
Weapons
If the people didn’t surrender they would be forced to resort to horrible conditions including the eating of “defiled” food as God predicted in vs. 13.
Close
√ The Sign of the Siege
As wild as God’s methods are to reach His people I think this section, as well as the following chapters…
He speaks through the Word spoken by Ezekiel
He speaks through the Signs demonstrated by Ezekiel
…it all demonstrates the length to which God will go to communicate with people.
Ap. Be open to the Lord’s creative ways of communicating His Word
Ex. Potters wheel, Grim Reaper, Bread at the Square