Ezekiel 4:15

Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith. I HAVE GIVEN THEE COW'S DUNG FOR MAN'S DUNG - a mitigation of the former order (); no longer "the dung of man;" still the bread so baked is "defiled;" to imply that, whatever partial abatement there might be for the prophet's sake, the main decree of God, as to the pollution of Israel by exile among the Gentiles, is unalterable....

9-17 The bread which was Ezekiel's support, was to be made of coarse grain and pulse mixed together, seldom used except in times of urgent scarcity, and of this he was only to take a small quantity. Thus was figured the extremity to which the Jews were to be reduced during the siege and captivity. Ezekiel does not plead, Lord, from my youth I have been brought up delicately, and never used to any thing like this; but that he had been brought up conscientiously, and never had eaten any thing forbidden by the law. It will be comfortable when we are brought to suffer hardships, if our hearts can witness that we have always been careful to keep even from the appearance of evil. See what woful work sin makes, and acknowledge the righteousness of God herein. Their plenty having been abused to luxury and excess, they were justly punished by famine. When men serve not God with cheerfulness in t...

EXPOSITION Prior to any detailed examination of the strange series of acts recorded in this and the following chapter, we are met with the question whether they were indeed visible and outward acts, or only imagined by the prophet in a state of ecstasy and afterwards reported by him to the people. Each view has been maintained by commentators of repute. I adopt, with scarcely any hesitation, the former, and for the following reasons. (1) On the other interpretation the acts recorded were not signs to the people (Ezekiel 4:3) till the prophet reported them; but the whole context shows that they were to be substitutes for spoken teaching. They belong to the period of the prophet's silence. (2) This mode of teaching, though not carried to the same extent, was part of the normal method of a prophet's work. Zedekiah's horns of iron ...

THEN HE SAID TO ME,.... The Lord hearkened to the prophet's prayer and argument, and makes some abatement and alteration in the charge he gave him: LO, I HAVE GIVEN THEE COW'S DUNG FOR MAN'S DUNG: that is, allowed him to make use of the one instead of the other, in baking his mingled bread: THOU SHALT PREPARE THY BREAD THEREWITH; having gathered cow's dung, and dried it, he was to burn it, and bake his bread with it, which is meant by preparing it. In some parts of our nation, where fuel is scarce, cow's dung is made use of; it is gathered and plastered on the walls of houses, and, being dried in clots, is taken and burnt....

Ezekiel 4:1. The word tile means “brick.” They were used by the Babylonians to preserve their records, and many have been found marked with building plans, etc. The sign of the tile foretells the siege of Jerusalem and Jehovah's opposition against the city. Ezekiel 4:4. While in the preceding sign Jehovah's action against Jerusalem was pictured, in this new sign a portrayal is given of the punishment which should come upon the inhabitants of the city. In his own person Ezekiel had to experience the great degradation and judgment which was to fall upon all the people. The critical school has invented all kinds of theories to explain, or rather to explain away, the divine command given to the prophet. They say that probably Ezekiel suffered from some form of epilepsy or catalepsy; they also point out the physical

(C) THE HARDSHIPS OF THE EXILES AND THE BESIEGED. The horrors of famine, consequent upon the siege, are suggested by the symbolical action of this section, in which the prophet's food and drink are to be carefully measured out about half a pound of food a day and a little over a pint of water. But blended with the thought of the scarcity of food during the siege is the thought of the uncleanness of the food eaten during the exile. According to Hebrew ideas, any food eaten in any land outside of Canaan was necessarily unclean: partly because such a land, not being Yahweh's land, was itself unclean, and partly because no first-fruits would be offered to Him, as He could have no sanctuary there (Hosea 9:3 f.). The uncleanness of exile is suggested by the mongrel combinations (_cf._ Ezekiel 4:9) which in food, as in d

LO. Figure of speech _Aster's._ App-6. GIVEN. Same word as "appointed", Ezekiel 4:6. THEREWITH: or., thereupon. Compare Ezekiel 4:12....

Second Section. Ch. Ezekiel 3:22 to Ezekiel 7:27 The second section of the Book contains these parts: (1) Ch. Ezekiel 3:22-27. A preface in which the prophet is commanded to confine himself to his own house, and abandon for a time his public ministry. (2) Ch. Ezekiel 4:1-4. A series of symbols representing the siege of Jerusalem, the scarcity during it, the pollution of the people in exile among the nations, and the terrible fate of the inhabitants on the capture of the city. (3) Ch. Ezekiel 5:5-17. Exposition of these s

III. THE PARABLE OF JERUSALEM'S FAMINE 4:9-17 TRANSLATION (9) NOW as for You, take to you wheat and barley, and beans and lentils and millet and fitches, and put them in a vessel, and prepare them for food for yourself, according to the number of days in which you are lying upon your side, three hundred ninety days and you shall eat it. (10) And your food which you shall eat shall be twenty shekels in weight for a day. Once each day[151] you shall eat it. (11) And as for water, you shall drink the sixth of a hin by measure. Once each day you shall drink it. (12) And as a barley cake you shall eat it, and with human dung you shall bake it in their presence. (13) And the LORD said, In this way the children of Israel shall eat their unclean food among the nations where I will drive them. (14) Then I said, Ah, O Lord GOD! Behold mv soul has not been polluted, and a corpse or that which was...

§ 2. THE OVERTHROW OF THE JEWISH KINGDOM FORETOLD (EZEKIEL 4-7) The great theme of the first part of Ezekiel's prophetic ministry was the certainty of the complete downfall of the Jewish state. Though Zedekiah had been set on the throne by Nebuchadrezzar after the first captivity, there was no hope for the kingdom. Zedekiah's reign was viewed by Ezekiel, as well as by Jeremiah, only as a temporary respite, to be followed by a second captivity which would bring the state to an end. Ezekiel 4-7 contain the first group of Ezekiel's prophecies to this effect. They are to be placed between the date of his prophetic call (June-July, 592 b.c.) and that of the next group of prophecies (August-September, 591 b.c.). The present group includes a series of symbolic prophecies of the siege and captivity of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 4:5), a prophecy against the mountains of Israel ...