King James Version, with Nii Okai's journal notes · 4 notes
1Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:
2And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.
3Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.
So all the while that the remnant of the people not taken captive were in the land, minding their own business and living their lives, though wicked and Godless,
all the while Ezekiel was more or less enchanting against them.
He had made a physical representation of their gates and walls and was speaking words against the city for its captivity.
Like he was pronouncing spells and curses more or less against them.
This is very interesting.
4Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity.
5For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
390 years — some search suggests this is the total number of years from the rebellion of Solomon to when Israel went into captivity, and the next verse captures 40 years of the final days of Judah before they went into captivity.
All of it totalling 430 years, equivalent to the 430 years in bondage in Egypt.
But for the prophet and priest Ezekiel to go through such agony, well, I don't know, but the imagery of the prophet lying on his side perpetually in the eyes of the people who were in exile was very strong.
6And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.
7Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.
8And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.
9Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.
10And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.
I checked, and this was like taking 6 to 8 slices of bread a day as your food, and the water was just about 3 glasses of water a day.
To have this as your food and water in the Middle Eastern dry conditions was really extreme.
11Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink.
12And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.
13And the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them.
14Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.
15Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow’s dung for man’s dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith.
16Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:
17That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and consume away for their iniquity.
Ezekiel's prophecies were very symbolic, both private prophecies, like how he was to lie down for over a year on one side, and how he was to lie down on the opposite side for the next forty days.