Ezekiel 4:1

CHAPTER IV

Ezekiel delineates Jerusalem, and lays siege to it, as a type

of the manner in which the Chaldean army should surround that

city, 1-3.

The prophet commanded to lie on his left side three hundred and

ninety days, and on his right side forty days, with the

signification, 4-8.

The scanty and coarse provision allowed the prophet during his

symbolical siege, consisting chiefly of the worst kinds of

grain, and likewise ill-prepared, as he had only cow's dung for

fuel, tended all to denote the scarcity of proviswn, fuel, and

every necessary of life, which the Jews should experience during

the siege of Jerusalem. 9-17.

NOTES ON CHAP. IV

Verse Ezekiel 4:1. Take thee a tile] A tile, such as we use in covering houses, will give us but a very inadequate notion of those used anciently; and also appear very insufficient for the figures which the prophet was commanded to pourtray on it. A brick is most undoubtedly meant; yet, even the larger dimensions here, as to thickness, will not help us through the difficulty, unless we have recourse to the ancients, who have spoken of the dimensions of the bricks commonly used in building. Palladius, De Re Rustica, lib. vi. c. 12, is very particular on this subject:-Sint vero lateres longitudine pedum duorum, latitudine unius, altitudine quatuor unciarum. "Let the bricks be two feet long, one foot broad, and four inches thick." Edit. Gesner, vol. iii. p. 144. On such a surface as this the whole siege might be easily pourtrayed. There are some brick-bats before me which were brought from the ruins of ancient Babylon, which have been made of clay and straw kneaded together and baked in the sun; one has been more than four inches thick, and on one side it is deeply impressed with characters; others are smaller, well made, and finely impressed on one side with Persepolitan characters. These have been for inside or ornamental work; to such bricks the prophet most probably alludes.

But the tempered clay out of which the bricks were made might be meant here; of this substance he might spread out a sufficient quantity to receive all his figures. The figures were,

1. Jerusalem.

2. A fort.

3. A mount.

4. The camp of the enemy.

5. Battering rams, and such like engines, round about.

6. A wall round about the city, between it and the besieging army.