Ezekiel 4:10 Komentář

Ezekiel was now among the captives in Babylon, but they there had Jerusalem still upon their hearts; the pious captives looked towards it with an eye of faith (as Dan 6:10), the presumptuous ones looked towards it with an eye of pride, and flattered themselves with a conceit that they should shortly return thither again; those that remained corresponded with the captives, and, it is likely, bouyed them up with hopes that all would be well yet, as long as Jerusalem was standing in its strength, and perhaps upbraided those with their folly who had surrendered at first; therefore, to take down this presumption, God gives the prophet, in this chapter, a very clear and affecting foresight of the besieging of Jerusalem by the Chaldean army and the calamities which would attend that siege. Two things are here represented to him in vision: - I. The fortifications that should be raised against the city; this is signified by the prophet's laying siege to the portraiture of Jerusalem (Eze 4:1-3) and laying first on one side and then on the other side before it (Eze 4:4-8). II. The famine that should rage within the city; this is signified by his eating very coarse fare, and confining himself to a little of it, so long as this typical representation lasted (Eze 4:9-17).

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 4 This chapter contains a prophecy of the siege of Jerusalem, and of the famine that attended it. The siege is described by a portrait of the city of Jerusalem on a tile, laid before the prophet, Eze 4:1; by each of the actions, representing a siege of it, as building a fort, casting a mount, and setting a camp and battering rams against it, and an iron pan for a wall, between the prophet, the besieger, and the city, Eze 4:2; by his gesture, lying first on his left side for the space of three hundred ninety days, and then on his right side for the space of forty days, pointing at the time when the city should be taken, Eze 4:4; and by setting his face to the siege, and uncovering his arm, and prophesying, Eze 4:7; and by bands being laid on him, so that he could not turn from one side to the other, till the siege was ended, Eze 4:8; the famine is signified by bread the prophet was to make of various sorts of grain and seeds, baked with men's dung, and eaten by weight, with water drank by measure, which is applied unto the people; it is suggested that this would be fulfilled by the children of Israel's eating defiled bread among the Gentiles, Eze 4:9; but upon the prophet's concern about eating anything forbidden by the law, which he had never done, cow's dung is allowed instead of men's, to prepare the bread with, Eze 4:14; and the chapter is concluded with a resolution to bring a severe famine on them, to their great astonishment, and with which they should be consumed for their iniquity, Eze 4:16.

And thy meat which thou shall eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day,.... To eat bread by weight was a sign of a grievous famine; see Lev 26:26; a shekel, according to Josephus (i), weighed four Attic drachms, or half an ounce, wherefore twenty shekels weighed ten ounces; so that the bread the prophet had to eat was but ten ounces a day: from time to time shall thou eat it; at the certain time of eating, or but once a day; from a set time in one day to the same in another; as from morning to morning, or from noon to noon, or from evening to evening; see Jer 37:21. (i) Antiqu. l. 3. c. 8. sect. 2.

(Vrs. 9 ff.) And you will take for yourself wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt; and you will put them into one vessel, and you will make for yourself breads according to the number of days on which you will sleep on your side: three hundred and ninety days you will eat it. But your food that you will eat will be in the weight of twenty shekels a day: from time to time you will eat it. And you will drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin; from time to time you will drink it. And you shall eat it as barely bread, and cover it with human excrement in their sight. What vice we have interpreted as, which in Hebrew is called Chasamim (): The Seventy and Theodotion placed ὄλυραν, which some interpret as oats, others as millet. But the first edition of Aquila and Symmachus interpreted it as ζέας, or ζείας: which we call either far or spelt in the native language of Italy and Pannonia. They also added pottery to the vase, but the prophet orders a future famine and demonstrates the shortage of the people of Israel. Just as in a scarcity of all things, different types of food and delicacies are not sought after; but rather how the stomach can be filled: thus the prophet now puts wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and oats into one vessel, and makes three hundred and ninety loaves of bread, which will be eaten each day: these loaves weigh twenty sicles, that is, staters. However, a siclus, that is, a stater, has four drachmas. And eight drachmas make one Latin ounce: so that one loaf of bread is said to have ten ounces, by which the soul is more drawn than sustained. The sterility of food is increased by the sterility of water. For it is commanded to drink the sixth part of the Hebrew measure, which is called hin, each day. Furthermore, two chœnixes Attic make one hin: which we can call two Italian sextarii, so that the hin is the measure of the Jewish sextarius and our military, the sixth part of which makes a third part of the Italian sextarius. Food and drink, according to the famous Speaker, not only give strength but also prevent death. What he says, 'From time to time you will eat or drink,' means from evening to evening, although some may mistakenly understand it as from year to year. And these loaves are made like barley bread made with ashes. And it is said to him, that he cover them with human dung, not for those who will eat them (ignorance is accustomed to temper miseries) but for those who see, and in their eyes, to experience horror before enduring nausea. It is also to be noted that, according to the number of days of the left side, three hundred and ninety sub-cinereous loaves are to be made and eaten each day, and there is to be no mention at all of the forty loaves of the right side; so that the holy Scripture may secretly hint that the punishment of the people who have sinned is not the same if they have knowledge of God and of him who has completely departed from the true religion. Furthermore, we can also say, according to spiritual understanding, that the Jewish people, after offending God, still eat sub-cinereous loaves mixed with wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and oats; of which one is the food of men and the other is the food of animals. For in that which they appear to believe in one God, they have something of grain. But what they deny the Son, they are sustained by the barley of animals and beans, by which the stomach of those who eat is inflated, and the mind is said to be oppressed: so much so that even to Pythagoreans, the food is detestable. Because of lentils, Esau lost his birthright (Gen. 25). Millet is the food of peasants, and of wild animals, and of birds. Oats, or vetches and alsike clover, are the food of dumb animals. But what is written, according to the Septuagint, that Elijah fleeing from Jezebel found bread ὀλυρίτην, made of ashes (3 Kings 19), is a sign of persecution and scarcity. Therefore, he is also fed by the ravens, so that because he did not find food in Israel, he would be nourished by unclean foods from the nations. The law itself, which they read but do not understand, is bread made of ashes and covered with human excrement. Therefore, the apostle Paul also says that he considered the gains of the Law and the observance of the former ceremonies as dung, in order to gain Christ (Philippians 3).

Ezekiel delineates Jerusalem, and lays siege to it, as a type of the manner in which the Chaldean army should surround that city, Eze 4:1-3. The prophet commanded to lie on his left side three hundred and ninety days, and on his right side forty days, with the signification, Eze 4:4-8. 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 provision, fuel, and every necessary of life, which the Jews should experience during the siege of Jerusalem, Eze 4:9-17.

Twenty shekels a day - The whole of the above grain, being ground, was to be formed into one mass, out of which he was to make three hundred and ninety loaves; one loaf for each day; and this loaf was to be of twenty shekels in weight. Now a shekel, being in weight about half an ounce, this would be ten ounces of bread for each day; and with this water to the amount of one sixth part of a hin, which is about a pint and a half of our measure. All this shows that so reduced should provisions be during the siege, that they should be obliged to eat the meanest sort of aliment, and that by weight, and their water by measure; each man's allowance being scarcely a pint and a half, and ten ounces, a little more than half a pound of bread, for each day's support.

SYMBOLICAL VISION OF THE SIEGE AND THE INIQUITY-BEARING. (Eze. 4:1-17) tile--a sun-dried brick, such as are found in Babylon, covered with cuneiform inscriptions, often two feet long and one foot broad.

twenty shekels--that is, little more than ten ounces; a scant measure to sustain life (Jer 52:6). But it applies not only to the siege, but to their whole subsequent state.