Ezekiel 4, Modeling Siege

I recently had the privilege of visiting the Parthenon in Athens, and the Acropolis Museum that sits at the foot of the Acropolis. In the museum was a Lego duplicate of the acropolis with the Parthenon and other buildings on the acropolis. It was fun to see this semblance of the acropolis that someone had built. It was not fun to see the semblance of Jerusalem that Ezekiel built.

“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.

Ezekiel has been muted by God except when God wants him to give a message to Israel in captivity. So here he re-enacts the judgment that God is bringing on those Israelites still in Israel, and particularly Jerusalem. Israel is still guilty of breaking covenant with Yahweh and will be judged for it. The army of Babylon will lay siege to Jerusalem, building a ramp of dirt up the side of the wall in order to enter the city and defeat it. They’ll batter down the gates to gain entrance. Jerusalem’s days are numbered.

4 “Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the people of Israel upon yourself. 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.

Ezekiel will spend a total of 430 days lying on his side, facing north (symbolic of the northern kingdom of Israel, which has already fallen) 390 days, and then facing south (symbolic of Judah and Jerusalem, the southern kingdom, which is currently under Babylonian domination, but not destroyed). Some think the 390 years is started from the rule of Solomon (and thus, nearing completion), some think from the rule of Jehoiachin (and not complete until the Maccabean revolt gives Israel control of their holy city again). The bearing of sin Ezekiel is doing is not actual atonement, but paying the penalty of exile and client-nation by Israel itself for her sins. The binding on Ezekiel is either literal, though not restrictive as it could be, or figurative of God’s requiring him to carry this object lesson out. It is clear that he does not spend all day in this acted out lesson, cooking and even receiving guests in the rest of each day.

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 of food to eat each day and eat it at set times. 11 Also measure out a sixth of a hin 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 their sin. (Ezekiel 4)

The “diet” that Yahweh puts Ezekiel under is not even a healthy subsistence diet. A Jewish Talmudic anecdote recounts an experiment in which the elements mentioned here were combined to make bread and found that the product was so disgusting that not even a dog would eat it (b. ՝Erub. 81a) [Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the Old Testament]. This symbolizes the conditions that would exist under siege and matches the Leviticus 26:26 prediction of the judgments that would come upon Israel for violating the covenant (“When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will be able to bake your bread in one oven, and they will dole out the bread by weight. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied.”) Things will be so bad that the only fuel people will be able to find will be dried human excrement. This is the horror and uncleanness coming upon Israel for her idolatry and injustice, but God graciously permits Ezekiel to use cow dung instead.

Why does God want the Israelites in exile with Ezekiel to know this? Apparently because they themselves are still guilty of idolatry and need to see that the judgment of God is still ongoing for this rebellion and unfaithfulness. They need to repent and turn back to worshiping Yahweh alone. They need to keep covenant with Him. God is always urging us to return to Him when we stray. His discipline is designed to restore us, not destroy us.