Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - Ezekiel 4:1 - 4:1

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Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - Ezekiel 4:1 - 4:1


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The Sign of the Siege of Jerusalem. - This sign, which Ezekiel is to perform in his own house before the eyes of the exiles who visit him, consists in three interconnected and mutually-supplementary symbolical acts, the first of which is described in Eze 4:1-3, the second in Eze 4:4-8, and the third in Eze 4:9-17. In the first place, he is symbolically to represent the impending siege of Jerusalem (Eze 4:1-3); in the second place, by lying upon one side, he is to announce the punishment of Israel's sin (Eze 4:4-8); in the third place, by the nature of his food, he is, while lying upon one side, to hold forth to view the terrible consequences of the siege to Israel. The close connection as to their subject-matter of these three actions appears clearly from this, that the prophet, according to Eze 4:7, while lying upon one side, is to direct his look and his arm upon the picture of the besieged city before him; and, according to Eze 4:8, is to lie upon his side as long as the siege lasts, and during that time is to nourish himself in the manner prescribed in Eze 4:9. In harmony with this is the formal division of the chapter, inasmuch as the three acts, which the prophet is to perform for the purpose of portraying the impending siege of Jerusalem, are co-ordinated to each other by the repetition of the address וְאַתָּה in Eze 4:3, Eze 4:4, and Eze 4:8, and subordinated to the general injunction-to portray Jerusalem as a besieged city - introduced in Eze 4:1 with the words וְאַתָּה בֶן .

The first symbolical action. - Eze 4:1. And thou, son of man, take to thyself a brick, and lay it before thee, and draw thereon a city, Jerusalem: Eze 4:2. And direct a siege against it; build against it siege-towers, raise up a mound against it, erect camps against it, and place battering-rams against it round about. Eze 4:3. And thou, take to thyself an iron pan, and place it as an iron wall between thee and the city, and direct thy face towards it; thus let it be in a state of siege, and besiege it. Let it be a sign to the house of Israel.

The directions in Eze 4:1 and Eze 4:2 contain the general basis for the symbolical siege of Jerusalem, which the prophet is to lay before Israel as a sign. Upon a brick he is to sketch a city (חָקַק, to engrave with a writing instrument) which is to represent Jerusalem: around the city he is to erect siege-works - towers, walls, camps, and battering-rams; i.e., he is to inscribe the representation of them, and place before himself the picture of the besieged city. The selection of a brick, i.e., of a tile-stone, not burnt in a kiln, but merely dried in the sun, is not, as Hävernick supposes, a reminiscence of Babylon and monumental inscriptions; in Palestine, also, such bricks were a common building material (Isa 9:9), in consequence of which the selection of such a soft mass of clay, on which a picture might be easily inscribed, was readily suggested. נָתַן מָצֹור = שׂוּם , Mic 4:1-13 :14, “to make a siege,” i.e., “to bring forward siege-works.” מָצֹור is therefore the general expression which is specialized in the following clauses by דָּיֵק, “siege-towers” (see on 2Ki 24:1); by סֹלְלָה, “mound” (see on 2Sa 20:15); מַחֲנֹות, “camps” in the plural, because the hostile army raises several camps around the city; כָּרִים, “battering-rams,” “wall-breakers,” arietes; according to Joseph Kimchi, “iron rams,” to break in the walls (and gates, 21:27). They consisted of strong beams of hard wood, furnished at the end with a ram's head made of iron, which were suspended by a chain, and driven forcibly against the wall by the soldiers. Compare the description of them by Josephus, de bello Judaico iii. 7. 19. The suffix in עָלֶיהָ, in Eze 4:2, refers to עִיר. The siege-works which are named were not probably to be placed by Ezekiel as little figures around the brick, so that the latter would represent the city, but to be engraved upon the brick around the city thereon portrayed. The expressions, “to make a siege,” “to build towers,” “to erect a mound,” etc., are selected because the drawing was to represent what is done when a city is besieged. In Eze 4:3, in reference to this, the inscribed picture of the city is at once termed “city,” and in Eze 4:7 the picture of the besieged Jerusalem, “the siege of Jerusalem.” The meaning of the picture is clear. Every one who saw it was to recognise that Jerusalem will be besieged. But the prophet is to do still more; he is to take in hand the siege itself, and to carry it out. To that end, he is to placed an iron pan as an iron wall between himself and the city sketched on the brick, and direct his countenance stedfastly towards the city (הֵכִין), and so besiege it. The iron pan, erected as a wall, is to represent neither the wall of the city (Ewald) nor the enemies' rampart, for this was already depicted on the brick; while to represent it, i.e., the city wall, as “iron,” i.e., immoveably fast, would be contrary to the meaning of the prophecy. The iron wall represents, as Rosenmüller, after the hints of Theodoret, Cornelius a Lapide, and others, has already observed, a firm, impregnable wall of partition, which the prophet as messenger and representative of God is to raise between himself and the beleaguered city, ut significaret, quasi ferreum murum interjectum esse cives inter et se, i.e., Deum Deique decretum et sententiam contra illos latam esse irrevocabilem, nec Deum civium preces et querimonias auditurum aut iis ad misericordiam flectendum. Cf. Isa 59:2; Lam 3:44. מַחֲבַת, “pan,” i.e., an iron plate for baking their loaves and slices of cakes; see on Lev 2:5. The selection of such an iron plate for the purpose mentioned is not to be explained, as Kliefoth thinks, from the circumstance that the pan is primarily to serve the prophet for preparing his food while he is occupied in completing his sketch. The text says nothing of that. If he were to have employed the pan for such a purpose, he could not, at the same time, have placed it as a wall between himself and the city. The choice is to be explained simply from this, that such a plate was to be found in every household, and was quite fitted for the object intended. If any other symbolical element is contained on it, the hard ignoble metal might, perhaps, with Grotius, be taken to typify the hard, wicked heart of the inhabitants of Jerusalem; cf. Eze 22:18; Jer 15:12. The symbolical siege of Jerusalem is to be a sign for the house of Israel, i.e., a pre-announcement of its impending destiny. The house of Israel is the whole covenant people, not merely the ten tribes as in Eze 4:5, in contradistinction to the house of Judah (Eze 4:6).