A DRAMATIC SIEGE
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Opening Prayer
As I come to your Word today, Father, inspire and convict me to better reflect your love and care for those around me.
Read EZEKIEL 4
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Siege of Jerusalem Symbolized
4 “Now, son of man, take a block of clay, put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. 2 Then lay siege to it: Erect siege works against it, build a ramp up to it, set up camps against it and put battering rams around it. 3 Then take an iron pan, place it as an iron wall between you and the city and turn your face toward it. It will be under siege, and you shall besiege it. This will be a sign to the people of Israel.
4 “Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the people of Israel upon yourself.[a] You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side. 5 I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the people of Israel.
6 “After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the people of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year. 7 Turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem and with bared arm prophesy against her. 8 I will tie you up with ropes so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have finished the days of your siege.
9 “Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt; put them in a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself. You are to eat it during the 390 days you lie on your side. 10 Weigh out twenty shekels[b] of food to eat each day and eat it at set times. 11 Also measure out a sixth of a hin[c] of water and drink it at set times. 12 Eat the food as you would a loaf of barley bread; bake it in the sight of the people, using human excrement for fuel.” 13 The Lord said, “In this way the people of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them.”
14 Then I said, “Not so, Sovereign Lord! I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have never eaten anything found dead or torn by wild animals. No impure meat has ever entered my mouth.”
15 “Very well,” he said, “I will let you bake your bread over cow dung instead of human excrement.”
16 He then said to me: “Son of man, I am about to cut off the food supply in Jerusalem. The people will eat rationed food in anxiety and drink rationed water in despair, 17 for food and water will be scarce. They will be appalled at the sight of each other and will waste away because of[d] their sin.
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 4:4 Or upon your side
- Ezekiel 4:10 That is, about 8 ounces or about 230 grams
- Ezekiel 4:11 That is, about 2/3 quart or about 0.6 liter
- Ezekiel 4:17 Or away in
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
How easy is it for you to see your times of suffering as a gift God is using to draw you closer to him?
Imagine going to visit your pastor and finding them lying on their side in front of their house! It was, however, quite common for Old Testament prophets to portray their message in dramatic forms or acted parables.1 It seems unlikely that Ezekiel lay for the entire period, morning to night, but rather only during the hours when he was acting as a prophet. After all, there’s no point in doing a drama if no one is watching. In the close-knit community of the exiles, word would surely have gotten around that Ezekiel was at it again. It would have been a shock to the exiles that Ezekiel portrayed God as the enemy of Jerusalem, not its defender. The point of the drama was to warn the exiles not to place their hopes in the survival of Jerusalem and to show them the starvation rations the people of Jerusalem would have to survive while under Babylonian siege. While Ezekiel could accept calmly the limitations to his diet, he drew the line at cooking with human excrement.
It must have been difficult to be a prophet’s wife. Imagine watching your husband starving himself and making an exhibition of himself, possibly borrowing household items as props for his work. In a low-budget production, Ezekiel started off playing the role of God attacking Jerusalem but then changed in verse 4, taking the part of his own people and, in words reminiscent of Isaiah 53, bearing their sins.
Note: As the next oracle in 8:1 is dated just 13 months later, it is generally thought that Ezekiel did his 390 and 40 days (vv. 5, 6) simultaneously rather than consecutively.
Apply
Ezekiel suffered for his people and would suffer with them. How much do we empathize with those around us who suffer?
Closing prayer
Heavenly Father, help me to reflect your mind and your heart as I relate to the suffering you show me.
1 See Isa 20; Jer 13—and Agabus in Acts 21
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