Visions of the Kingdom: Week 5

Ezekiel 4:1-17: The Siege of Jerusalem

• 4:1 "tablet" - clay tablets in Assyria and Babylon were engraved while soft, and then dried. If baked in an oven, they could then be used as a master to impress copies on wet clay, like a clay mimeograph.
  "draw" - actually "engrave", making it clear this is engraving a wet clay tablet and not painting on an already hardened flat tile. "map" - as a former priest in Jerusalem, Ezekiel would be very familiar with the layout.

  This is interesting because the Israelites brought with them the Egyptian practice of writing on Papyrus and engraving in stone. Jeremiah (and presumably Ezekiel) wrote their prophecies on a scroll. Jeremiah 36:20-32 But in Babylon, clay writing supplies were readily available.

• 4:2 "lay seige against it" - so far, it sounds fun - like toy soldiers!
• 4:3 "iron plate" - a griddle, as in Leviticus 2:5.
• 4:4 "lie on your left side" - doesn't sound fun any more. Ezekiel has become in a sense the "scape goat". Leviticus 16:22. As a priest, Ezekiel uses the language of the priesthood.
• 4:5,6 "390 days" and "40 days" - there are a number of theories on what this refers to. I'm going to mention the most obvious reference: Numbers 14:34 and Exodus 12:40. The problem is, this might conflict with my theories on how long Israel was in Egypt. When we did Exodus 12, my reading was 430 years of sojourning. With only 4 generations (confirmed by the line of Moses), People were not long lived enough to fill out 430 years actually in Egypt (another reading of Exodus 12:40). However, another commentator points out that 1 Chronicles 7:20-26 seems to include 9 generations, which does reasonably fill out 430 years. But then, it was 10 generations from Perez to David. Ruth 4:18-22
• 4:8 "tie you with ropes" - apparently figurative. Struck with paralysis for a Divine purpose.
• 4:9 Many busy people have wanted kibble for humans: some ready and shelf stable food with minimal preparation. One example was the Manna in the wilderness - which the Israelites ate for 40 years (with a break for quail). But that was supernatural in origin. "Ezekiel's bread", is a very practical recipe, and is even a commercial product (with the addition of yeast and gluten).
• 4:10 "weigh out" - a promised punishment for disobedience. Leviticus 26:26
• 4:12 "bake it" - in the handy griddle already part of the tableau. I wonder if oil was used?
• 4:14 Ezekiel, a priest, asks for - and receives - a small concession from God. This reminds me of Peter and the unclean meat.
• 4:16 This was all a public visual tableau of God's announcement of the fall of Jerusalem. The conventional wisdom of the false prophets was that Nebuchadnezzar would be defeated like Sennacharib before him, and Jeconiah would return to Jerusalem. Thus, Ezekiel's message was no better received than Jeremiah's.