25 - Bible Commentary | Karuna Sadan

The use of symbolic actions by Old Testament prophets was a proven way of gaining an audience and underscoring a point. The great prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah found the symbolic act a useful tool when they could no longer obtain a hearing for their message.

“You also, son of man, take a clay tablet and lay it before you, and portray on it a city, Jerusalem. 2 Lay siege against it, build a siege wall against it, and heap up a mound against it; set camps against it also, and place battering rams against it all around. 3 Moreover take for yourself an iron plate, and set it as an iron wall between you and the city. Set your face against it, and it shall be besieged, and you shall lay siege against it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel. (Ezekiel 4:1-3)

Like a child playing with mud, Ezekiel was told by the Lord to draw a map of the siege that was to come. These action were probably done by Ezekiel in a place where many could watch (probably in a market place). If these actions were done in private, it would not be very effective. The point was to get the message out.

Lie also on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it. According to the number of the days that you lie on it, you shall bear their iniquity. For I have laid on you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days; so you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And when you have completed them, lie again on your right side; then you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days. I have laid on you a day for each year. (Ezekiel 4:4-6)

Prophet Ezekiel was to lie on his left side for 390 days and in some unknown symbolic way lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon himself.

After the 390 days for the house of Israel, the prophet was then instructed to then to do it for 40 days to symbolically bear the iniquity of the house of Judah.

The most difficult part in all this was verse 8

And surely I will restrain you so that you cannot turn from one side to another till you have ended the days of your siege. (Ezekiel 4:8)

It's hard to imagine the prophet not able to turn from one side to another because he was restrained from doing so by the Lord.

“Also take for yourself wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt; put them into one vessel, and make bread of them for yourself. During the number of days that you lie on your side, three hundred and ninety days, you shall eat it. And your food which you eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day; from time to time you shall eat it. You shall also drink water by measure, one-sixth of a hin; from time to time you shall drink. And you shall eat it as barley cakes; and bake it using fuel of human waste in their sight.” Then the Lord said, “So shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, where I will drive them.” (Ezekiel 4:9-13)

During the 390 days of lying on his side, Ezekiel was commanded to make bread of many different grains and eat it during those days. This suggests that during those days, Ezekiel was not completely inactive and laying on his side continually.

In times of scarcity in those times, several kinds of coarser grain was mixed with the finer, to make it last the longer.

in their sight…(Ezekiel 4:12)

This proves what I mentioned earlier. Prophet Ezekiel performed these actions openly for all to see.

Chapter 4