When God first called Ezekiel, He said, “As for them, whether they listen or not—
for they are a rebellious house—they will know that a prophet has been among
them…But you shall speak my words to them whether they listen or not, for they
are rebellious” (Ezekiel 2:5, 7). God never assured Ezekiel that the people would
actually listen to His words. His role was not so much to campaign and organize
the community so much as it was to bear witness to the fact that God was giving
them the truth whether they liked it or not. Even so, God had Ezekiel
communicate His message to the people in a variety of creative and attention-grabbing
ways.
The Expositor’s Bible Commentary1
Chapters 4-24 combine a series of oral messages and symbolic acts
designed to warn the people of Judah that judgment was coming and to
explain the reason for this imminent discipline. In chapters 4-7 Ezekiel
dramatized the coming siege of Jerusalem (ch. 4) and the subsequent
dispersion of the people in exile (ch. 5).
Chapter 4: Laying Siege to Jerusalem
Object Lesson: Ezekiel laying siege to model of Jerusalem while eating rations
4:1-3
Ezekiel builds a model of Jerusalem under siege. Translations vary with most
saying Ezekiel wrote or engraved on a brick and others saying he inscribed on a
clay tablet. Either way, it is clear that Ezekiel made a miniature representation of
Jerusalem under siege as a prophecy of what would later happen.
4:4-8
Ezekiel lies on his left side for 390 days and his right side for 40 days.2 We need
not imagine that all he did was lie on his side day and night, for a few verses later
God instructs Ezekiel on how to prepare and cook his food. Furthermore, in
chapter 8, we see Ezekiel sitting in his house with the elders during the last days
of laying on his right side. Perhaps we should imagine Ezekiel assuming this
position in a public place several hours each day.
4:9-17
During this time of lying on his side, Ezekiel ate meager rations of bread and
water to show that the Jerusalem inhabitants would run very low on food and
water during the siege.
Chapter 5: Destroying Jerusalem
Object Lesson: Ezekiel shaves his head and beard and divides up the hair in
thirds
5:1-4
Ezekiel used a sword to shave his hair. He burned a third, struck another third
with a sword, and scattered the last third to the wind, but not before he first
took some of the hair out and tied it to his robe. From the hair on his robe, he
pulled out a few pieces and burned them.
5:5-17
Here we find the explanation of Ezekiel’s symbolically hairy actions. His cut hair
represents all of the people left in Jerusalem. One third of them will perish from
pestilence and famine, another third will die by the sword, and on third find
themselves scattered (presumably taken captive). Of this last group of survivors,
the Babylonians will kill some (but not all) with the sword. This section also
provides much insight into what God’s reasons are for punishing His people so
severely.
God’s Reasons:
– 5:6 She has rebelled against my rules
– 5:6 More wickedness than surrounding nations
– 5:9 All of your abominations
– 5:11 Defiled sanctuary w/ “detestable things” and “abominations”
Judah’s Punishments:
– 5:10 Severe hunger resulting in cannibalism (fathers eating sons and vice
versa)
punishment inflicted by conquering foreign powers on the children of Israel and Judah from the
deportation of Jehoiachin, their recognized king, to the inception of the Maccabean rebellion in
167 b.c. During the Maccabean period, the Jews once again exercised dominion over Judah.
Though this is a possible solution, dogmatism concerning these numbers must be avoided” (The
Expositor’s Bible Commentary, pp. 769-770).
14
– 5:12 A third die of pestilence and famine
– 5:12 A third die by sword
– 5:12 A third scattered to the winds (probably exile)
– 5:14 Make you a desolation
– 5:15 Become a reproach, taunt, warning, horror
– 5:16 Famine, hunger, no supply of bread
– 5:17 Send wild beasts against you
The Purpose of Ezekiel’s Ministry
While Ezekiel prophesied to the exiles in Babylonia, Jeremiah carried out his
ministry back home in Judah. We can easily see the importance of Jeremiah’s
mission—to urge the people to repent. However, what’s the point of having
Ezekiel speak about the situation in Jerusalem and the impending doom they
faced when he was hundreds of miles away? It is not as though the people back
home would ever hear a word of Ezekiel’s prophecy. The answer, I believe, is
that God wanted to control the narrative. He wanted His version of history
recorded rather than defaulting to what people would have thought without
Ezekiel’s insights. Before we can see why this would be so important, we have to
wrap our minds around how polytheists think, especially when it comes to
getting conquered.
Judges 11:23-24
23 ‘Since now the LORD, the God of Israel, drove out the Amorites from
before His people Israel, are you then to possess it? 24 ‘Do you not
possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever the
LORD our God has driven out before us, we will possess it.
Yahweh, Israel’s God, gave her a certain territory, and Chemosh, the Ammonite
deity, determined their borders.
Isaiah 36:18-20
18 ‘Beware that Hezekiah does not mislead you, saying, “The LORD will
deliver us.” Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land
from the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 ‘Where are the gods of Hamath
and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? And when have they
delivered Samaria from my hand? 20 ‘Who among all the gods of these
lands have delivered their land from my hand, that the LORD would
deliver Jerusalem from my hand?'”
Each nation has its own particular gods who care for it, guard it, and grant
victory. When the Assyrians were gobbling up kingdom after kingdom, they
bragged saying the gods of the various nations could not withstand them.
Jeremiah 50:1-3
1 The word which the LORD spoke concerning Babylon, the land of the
Chaldeans, through Jeremiah the prophet: 2 “Declare and proclaim
among the nations. Proclaim it and lift up a standard. Do not conceal it
but say, ‘Babylon has been captured, Bel has been put to shame, Marduk
has been shattered; Her images have been put to shame, her idols have
been shattered.’ 3 “For a nation has come up against her out of the
north; it will make her land an object of horror, and there will be no
inhabitant in it. Both man and beast have wandered off, they have gone
away!
A nation’s defeat is a god’s defeat. In the time of Babylon’s destruction (after
Ezekiel’s time), people will think the gods Bel and Marduk are put to shame
because the nation they protect, Babylon, will fall to a power out of the north.
In light of how ancient people thought about their national gods, let us consider
for a moment the standard conclusion people would draw when they saw
Bablyon conquer Judah. They would think Marduk has defeated Yahweh.
Marduk must be more powerful, since Yahweh could not defend His people from
the mighty Babylonians. Now, this conclusion is absolutely unacceptable to God.
He will not have His people thinking He was defeated just because they were.
Ezekiel make it crystal clear among the surviving exiles in captivity that the
defeat of Judah happened not because the Babylonian gods are too powerful for
Yahweh, but because Yahweh lifted His hand of protection and brought them in
to punish His people for their unwillingness to keep His covenant and for their
chronic idolatry addiction. Yahweh is plenty strong to defeat an imperial army.
After all, He did precisely that when the Assyrians came knocking at Jerusalem’s
gates. Furthermore, He is so powerful He can use other nations to do His
bidding.
- Ralph H. Alexander, “Ezekiel,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein
(Grand Rapids: Zondervan 1986), 768.[↩] - Ralph Alexander provides one idea about what these numbers mean: “Normally the numbers
would be taken literally as periods of time separated into two distinct and successive intervals of
390 and 40 years (vv. 5-6). Ezekiel’s reference point for chronological determination was
Jehoiachin’s deportation of 597 b.c. This, therefore, would appear to be the natural starting
point for measuring the time periods in these verses. The 430 years would denote thepunishment inflicted by conquering foreign powers on the children of Israel and Judah from the
deportation of Jehoiachin, their recognized king, to the inception of the Maccabean rebellion in
167 b.c. During the Maccabean period, the Jews once again exercised dominion over Judah.
Though this is a possible solution, dogmatism concerning these numbers must be avoided” (The
Expositor’s Bible Commentary, pp. 769-770).[↩]
