Ezekiel 4
Overview
4:1 Under the type of a siege is shewn the time from the defection of Jeroboam to the captivity;
4:9 By the provision of the siege, is shewn the hardness of the famine. Verse 1 take Ezekiel 5:1-17, 12:3-16; 1 Samuel 15:27, 15:28; 1 Kings 11:30, 11:31; Isaiah 20:2-4; Jeremiah 13:1-14, 18:2-12, 19:1-15, 25:15-38, 27:2-22; Hosea 1:2-9, 3:1-5; 12:10 a tile לבנה [H3843], levainah generally denotes a brick, and Palladius informs us that the bricks in common use among the ancients were "two feet long, one foot broad, and four inches thick;" and on such a surface the whole siege might be easily pourtrayed. Perhaps, however, it may here denote a flat tile, like a Roman brick, which were commonly used for tablets, as we learn from Pliny, Hist. Nat. 1. vii. c. 57.even Jeremiah 6:6, 32:31; Amos 3:2 Reciprocal Deuteronomy 28:52 - General; 2 Kings 13:18 - Smite; 25:1 - pitched; Jeremiah 43:9 - great; 52:4 - pitched; Ezekiel 2:1 - Son; 3:24 - Go; 5:2 - the city; 5:5 - This; 21:19 - General Verse 2 lay Jeremiah 39:1, 39:2, 52:4; Luke 19:42-44 battering ramsor, chief leaders, Ezekiel 21:22 Reciprocal Jeremiah 33:4 - thrown; Ezekiel 17:17 - by Verse 3 an iron panor, a flat plate, or slice, Leviticus 2:5 This Ezekiel 12:6, 12:11, 24:24-27; Isaiah 8:18, 20:3; Luke 2:34; Habakkuk 2:4 Reciprocal 1 Kings 20:35 - Smite me; Ezekiel 4:7 - set; 13:17 - set thy; 21:2 - set; Daniel 11:17 - set Verse 4 upon Ezekiel 4:5, 4:8 and lay 2 Kings 17:21-23 thou shalt bear Leviticus 10:17, 16:22; Numbers 14:34, 18:1; Isaiah 53:11, 53:12; Matthew 8:17; Habakkuk 3:1; 1 Peter 2:24 Reciprocal Exodus 28:38 - bear the iniquity; Ezekiel 18:20 - bear Verse 5 I have Isaiah 53:6 threeThis number of years will take us back from the year in which Judea was finally desolated by Nebuzar-adan, bc 584, to the establishment of idolatry in Israel by Jeroboam, bc 975. "Beginning from 1 Kings 12:33. Ending Jeremiah 52:30.Reciprocal Isaiah 20:2 - Go; 20:3 - three; Ezekiel 4:4 - upon; 4:9 - three Verse 6 forty daysThis represented the forty years during which gross idolatry prevailed in Judah, from the reformation of Josiah, bc 624, to the same final desolation of the land. Some think that the period of 390 days also predicts the duration of the siege of the Babylonians - Ezekiel 4:9
deducting from it five months and twenty-nine days, when the besiegers went to meet the Egyptians - 2 Kings 25:1-4; Jeremiah 37:5
and that forty days may have been employed in desolating the temple and city. "Beginning from 2 Kings 23:3, 23:23. Ending Jeremiah 52:30."each day for a yearHeb. a day for a year, a day for a year, Numbers 14:34; Daniel 9:24-26, 12:11, 12:12; Revelation 9:15, 11:2, 11:3, 12:14, 13:5 Reciprocal Isaiah 20:3 - three Verse 7 set Ezekiel 4:3, 6:2 and thine Isaiah 52:10 Reciprocal Ezekiel 20:46 - set; 21:2 - set; Daniel 11:17 - set Verse 8 I will Ezekiel 3:25 from one side to anotherHeb. from thy side to thy sideReciprocal 4:4 - upon Verse 9 wheat Ezekiel 4:13, 4:16 milletDochan in Arabic, dokhn the holcus dochna of Forskal, is a kind of millet, of considerable use as a food; the cultivation of which is described by Browne.fitchesor, spelt, Kussemim is doubtless ζεα, or spelt, as Aquila and Symmachus render here; and so LXX and Theodotion, ολυρα. In times of scarcity it is customary to mix several kinds of coarser grains with the finer, to make it last the longer.three 4:5 Reciprocal 2 Kings 25:3 - the famine; Isaiah 28:25 - in the principal; Jeremiah 52:6 - the famine; Lamentations 5:4 - have; Ezekiel 4:6 - forty days Verse 10 Ezekiel 4:16, 14:13; Leviticus 26:26; Deuteronomy 28:51-68; Isaiah 3:1 Reciprocal Revelation 6:5 - had Verse 11 shalt drink Ezekiel 4:16; Isaiah 5:13; John 3:34 Reciprocal Exodus 29:40 - hin; Leviticus 23:13 - the fourth Verse 12 cakesa "round" thing, Genesis 18:6 Reciprocal Ezekiel 21:6 - before Verse 13 Daniel 1:8; Hosea 9:3, 9:4 Reciprocal 2 Kings 6:25 - an ass's head; 18:27 - eat; Isaiah 30:20 - the bread; Ezekiel 4:9 - wheat; Amos 7:17 - die Verse 14 Ah Ezekiel 9:8, 20:49; Jeremiah 1:6 my soul Acts 10:14 have I Exodus 22:31; Leviticus 11:39, 11:40, 17:15 abominable 19:7; Deuteronomy 14:3; Isaiah 65:4, 66:17 Reciprocal Exodus 22:13 - torn in pieces; Leviticus 7:21 - abominable; 7:24 - beast; 11:2 - General; Deuteronomy 14:21 - any thing; Job 6:7 - as my sorrowful meat; Daniel 1:8 - defile; Malachi 1:13 - torn; Matthew 14:20 - were; Acts 15:20 - things; Colossians 2:16 - in meat; Habakkuk 3:1 - in meats Verse 15 cow's dungDried cow-dung is a common fuel in the East, as it is in many parts of England, to the present day; but the prophet was ordered to prepare his bread with human ordure, to shew the extreme degree of wretchedness to which the besieged should be exposed, as they would be obliged literally to use it, from not being able to leave the city to collect other fuel. Ezekiel 4:15 Reciprocal 2 Kings 18:27 - eat; Lamentations 1:11 - seek Verse 16 I will Ezekiel 5:16, 14:13; Leviticus 26:26; Psalm 105:16; Isaiah 3:1 eatThe prophet was allowed each day only twenty shekels weight, or about ten ounces, of the coarse food he had prepared, and the sixth part of a hin, scarcely a pint and a half, of water; all of which was intended to shew that they should be obliged to eat the meanest and coarsest food, and that by weight, and their water by measure. Ezekiel 4:10, 4:11, 12:18, 12:19; Psalm 60:3; Lamentations 1:11, 4:9, 4:10, 5:9 Reciprocal Deuteronomy 28:48 - in hunger; Job 6:7 - as my sorrowful meat; 21:25 - never; Psalm 80:5 - General; 104:15 - bread; Ecclesiastes 5:17 - he eateth; Isaiah 36:12 - that they may; Ezekiel 4:9 - wheat; Amos 4:8 - but; Micah 6:14 - eat; Haggai 1:6 - eat; Revelation 6:5 - had Verse 17 and consume Ezekiel 24:23; Leviticus 26:39 Reciprocal Deuteronomy 28:28 - General; 28:48 - in hunger; Job 21:25 - never; Psalm 80:5 - General; Ecclesiastes 5:17 - he eateth; Isaiah 3:1 - the stay; Lamentations 5:9 - General; Ezekiel 12:18 - General; Micah 6:14 - eat; Haggai 1:6 - eat