Ezekiel 4:1-3

Chapter Four

DRAMATIC PARABLES
4:1-5:4

The use of symbolic actions by Old Testament prophets was a tried and true way of gaining an audience and underscoring a point.[138] The great prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah found the symbolic act a useful tool when they could no longer obtain a hearing for the unspoken word.[139] Ezekiel performs four dramatic parables in this section: (1) the parable of the siege of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 4:1-3); (2) the parable of national sin (Ezekiel 4:4-6); (3) the parable of the siege famine (Ezekiel 4:9-17); and (4) the parable of the nation's fate (Ezekiel 5:1-4).

[138] Early examples of the use of symbolic prophecy are 1 Samuel 15:27 f, 1 Kings 11:29 ff; 1 Kings 22:14; 2 Kings 13:14-19.

[139] E. g., Isaiah 20:2; Jeremiah 13:1-7; Jeremiah 19:1-2; Jeremiah 27:2-3.

These dramatic parables were performed in the fifth year of Jehoiachin's captivity. At that time any thought of Jerusalem's overthrow would, according to any human prognostication, be highly improbable. Zedekiah ruled in Jerusalem as Nebuchadnezzar's vassal. With his lands diminished and his military strength exhausted it would scarcely be imagined that he would be so stupid and careless as to provoke his overlord. Yet Ezekiel joined Jeremiah in affirming that destruction was the ultimate fate of Jerusalem and dispersion the fate of her inhabitants.

I. THE PARABLE OF JERUSALEM'S SIEGE 4:1-3

TRANSLATION

(1) But as for you, son of man, take to yourself a tile and place it before you and inscribe upon it a city, Jerusalem. (2) And lay siege against it, and construct a mound about it, and set against it encampments, and place battering rams round about. (3) And as for you, take to yourself an iron pan and place it as a wall of iron between you and the city; and set your face against it and it shall enter a state of siege, and you shall besiege it. It is a sign to the house of Israel.

COMMENTS

In this first symbolic action Ezekiel was to sketch a diagram of Jerusalem on a tile or brick (RSV). In Mesopotamia the clay tablet was the common writing material. While the clay was moist and soft the inscription was engraved upon it with a stylus; then the tablet was exposed to the sun for hardening. Large numbers of such tablets have been recovered, some of which have diagrams of buildings upon them similar to what an architect might devise. It would be natural under the circumstances for a Hebrew exile to make use of the Babylonian writing material.
Ezekiel was instructed to lay siege against the city he had drawn (Ezekiel 4:2). By a common figure the prophet is here represented as doing that which he portrays. Perhaps he drew on the tile the plan of a siege. On the other hand, it may mean that he was to model the various siege weapons around the brick. A third possibility is that the armament of the besieging troops was represented on other tiles.

Four common siege techniques are named:
1. Assault rowers (KJV, forts). The Hebrew is actually singular. The term dayeq denotes the towers manned by archers by which a besieged city was attacked. Sometimes these towers were of enormous height, as much as twenty stories.[140] Such towers are frequently depicted in Mesopotamian art. According to 2 Kings 25:1 assault towers were used in the final siege of Jerusalem.

[140] Currey, BC, p. 32.

2. Mounds (solela). Banks of soil heaped up to the level of the walls of the besieged city. Such mounds could serve as observation posts, and, if close enough to the walls, ramps for the battering rams.

3. Camps (machanot). Military detachments which surrounded the city.

4. Battering rams (karim). Iron-shod beams transported by a wheeled tower.[141] Often the battering ram was found in the lower part of the siege towers mentioned above.

[141] Blackwood, EPH, p. 58.

The prophet was to place an iron pan between himself and the inscribed tile. This would be a kind of flat plan virtually no more than a sheet of metal such as was used for baking a thin cake of bread (cf. Leviticus 2:5). This pan represented a wall of iron. Some see here a symbol of Jerusalem's wall in which the Jews put so much trust. Others take the pan to symbolize the iron-like severity of the siege against the city. There would be no escaping from that doomed place. Still others see the pan as depicting the impenetrable barrier, which had arisen between God (as represented by Ezekiel) and Jerusalem. Still others see in the pan another siege implement the shield which attackers would erect as protection for archers.

With his symbolic objects in place, Ezekiel was to perform a symbolic action. He was (1) to set his face against the city; and (2) lay siege to it. The prophet was to assume the part of the attacking army. Since Ezekiel was God's representative, his actions would underscore the point that God was fighting against Jerusalem. Perhaps the laying siege (RSV, press the siege) indicates the gradual movement of the clay models of siege instruments nearer and nearer the doomed city.[142]

[142] Ellison, E,W,W, p. 33.

The tile diagram and the objects pertaining to it were designed to be a sign to the house of Israel (Ezekiel 4:3). Ellison pictures Ezekiel silently acting out these parables much to the chagrin of the growing numbers who assembled each day to watch these antics, When the crowd was ready to listen, Ezekiel gave the verbal explanation of his actions (Ezekiel 5:5 to Ezekiel 7:27).[143] The term house of Israel here embraces both those Jews who were in exile and those who remained in Judah.

[143] Ibid. Others think that Ezekiel never actually performed these parables, but only described to the captives vividly what he had seen in vision.