Ezekiel 4:4

Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity.

Lie thou also upon thy left side - another symbolical act, performed at the same time as the former, in vision, not in external action, wherein it would have been only puerile: narrated as a thing ideally done, it would make a vivid impression. The second action is supplementary to the first, to bring out more fully the same prophetic idea.

Left side - referring to the position of the ten tribes, the Northern Kingdom; as Judah, the Southern, answers to "the right side" (). The Orientals, facing the East in their mode, had the North on their left and the South on their right (). Also, the right was more honourable than the left; so Judah, as being the seat of the temple, was more so than Israel.

According to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it, thou shalt bear their iniquity - iniquity being regarded as a burden; so it means, "bear the punishment of their iniquity" (). A type of Him who was the great sin-bearer, not in mimic show, as Ezekiel, but in reality (; ; ).