Ezekiel 4:16 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.

Moreover he said unto me, son of man,.... What follows opens the design, and shows what was intended by the symbol of the miscellany bread, baked with cow dung, the prophet was to eat by measure, as, well as drink water by measure: namely, the sore famine that should be in Jerusalem at the time of the siege: behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: that is, take away bread, which is the staff of life, the support of it, and which strengthens man's heart; and also the nourishing virtue and efficacy from what they had. The sense is, that the Lord would both deprive them of a sufficiency of bread, the nourishment of man; and not suffer the little they had to be nourishing to them; what they ate would not satisfy them, nor do them much good; see Lev 26:26; and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; that they might not eat too much at a time, but have something for tomorrow; and to cause their little stock to last the longer, not knowing how long the siege would be: and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment; that such a judgment should fall upon them, who thought themselves the people of God, and the favourites of heaven.

(Verse 16, 17.) And he said to me: Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they shall eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and they shall drink water by measure and with dismay; so that when bread and water are lacking, each one shall stumble to his brother, and they shall waste away in their iniquities. The Hebrew word Mate () is interpreted as staff in the first edition of Aquila, and as firmament in the second edition and by Symmachus and Theodotion. But what he had shown through his work, he also demonstrates through his speech, and the silence of both the left and right sides, and the ash bread mixed with the six varieties of spices, signifying the evils of the world, he points to the fact that a famine of food and an incredible shortage of water will occur in Jerusalem, so that everyone will fall to their brother, hoping for help from another, which they do not foresee in themselves. For it is the nature of humans, when pressed by evils and the weight of distress, to have more confidence in what is close at hand than in themselves: and they waste away in their iniquities, while suffering everything because of their iniquities. And I fear lest this breaking of bread may also be found in our Jerusalem, in which the vision of peace is seen, which the Lord crushes when he is angry, and judges us unworthy of his bread. And if only we could at least merit to receive him with weight and solicitude, and wet the dry tongue with excessive dryness, like the last finger of Lazarus (Luke 16). But with the Church lacking in bread and water, a man will fall against his brother, and everywhere there is discord, as our Christ's tunic is torn apart by those who even the soldiers in the Savior's passion dared not tear apart (John 19); and as we waste away in our iniquities, for we do not possess the justice of God. It is written in Jeremiah that the little ones, that is, the common people of the Church, sought bread, and there was no one to break it for them (Lamentations 4:4). But Paul, truly a man of the Church, knew that Christ had broken the legal bread and given it to the disciples to distribute. He confidently speaks: The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the Body of Christ? (I Cor. X, 16.) And those who are weak and in need of the milk of infancy cannot eat the staff or the strength of bread, nor can they receive solid food. And nothing strengthens the mind of the one who eats like the bread of life, of which it is written: And the bread strengthens the heart of man (Psal. CLXXXIII, 15).

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.

I will break the staff of bread - They shall be besieged till all the bread is consumed, till the famine becomes absolute; see Kg2 25:3 : "And on the ninth of the fourth month, the famine prevailed in the city; and There Was No Bread for the people of the land." All this was accurately foretold, and as accurately fulfilled. Abp. Newcome on Kg2 25:6 observes: "This number of years will take us back, with sufficient exactness, from the year in which Jerusalem was sacked by Nebuchadnezzar to the first year of Jeroboam's reign, when national idolatry began in Israel. The period of days seems to predict the duration of the siege by the Babylonians, Kg2 25:9, deducting from the year five months and twenty-nine days, mentioned Kg2 25:1-4, the time during which the Chaldeans were on their expedition against the Egyptians; see Jer 37:6." This amounts nearly to the same as that mentioned above.

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.

staff of bread--bread by which life is supported, as a man's weight is by the staff he leans on (Lev 26:26; Psa 105:16; Isa 3:1). by weight, and with care--in scant measure (Eze 4:10).