Ezekiel 4
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Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:
2 And 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.
3 Moreover 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.
4 Lie 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.
5 For 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.
6 And 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.
7 Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.
8 And, 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.
9 Take 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.
10 And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.
11 Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink.
12 And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.
13 And the Lord said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them.
14 Then 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.
15 Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith.
16 Moreover 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:
17 That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and consume away for their iniquity.
Public Domain KJV text from Wordproject.org
ESV Bible text displayed through the American Bible Society's Global Bible Widget
NIV Bible text displayed through the American Bible Society's Global Bible Widget
Commentary
Visual aids can be helpful to draw people into a message and to help us understand challenging topics, but visual aids should never overpower the message of the Word. In Ezekiel four, God instructs Ezekiel to provide the people with two visual aids to demonstrate the next coming siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. This was illustrated by a small model city siege work he made, and by bread cooking over human waste.
Scripture's "visual aids" have deep significance. The cross, for instance, is deeper than just a visual demonstrating of God’s love for us. The cross was and continues to be the means of our atonement and proof that salvation can never come through our best efforts. Baptism is evidence that the old man has died, been buried, and raised a new man in Christ. Communion emphasizes the point that our salvation comes through Christ alone and that He offers us salvation as a free gift.
I think Ezekiel’s visual aids caught the attention of the people, but, like the visual aids of the New Testament, they were so much more. They were God’s Word made visible and that’s good news!
Eric Bates
Family Ministries Director
Carolina Conference of SDA
