Ezekiel 4:8

And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege. I WILL LAY BANDS UPON THEE - () i:e., a constraint or restriction. THOU SHALT NOT TURN THEE FROM ONE SIDE TO ANOTHER - to imply the impossibility of their being able to shake off their punishment....

1-8 The prophet was to represent the siege of Jerusalem by signs. He was to lie on his left side for a number of days, supposed to be equal to the years from the establishment of idolatry. All that the prophet sets before the children of his people, about the destruction of Jerusalem, is to show that sin is the provoking cause of the ruin of that once flourishing city....

I WILL LAY BANDS UPON THEE - Contrast margin reference. The Lord will put constraint upon him, to cause him to exercise his office. In the retirement of his house, figuratively bound and under constraint, he shall not cease to proclaim the doom of the city. THE DAYS OF THY SIEGE - Those during which he should thus foretell the approaching calamity....

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 ...

AND, BEHOLD, I WILL LAY HANDS UPON THEE,.... Representing either the besieged, signifying that they should be taken and bound as he was; or rather the besiegers, the Chaldean army, which should be so held by the power and providence of God, that they should not break up the siege until they had taken the city, and fulfilled the whole will and pleasure of God; for these bands were an emblem of the firm and unalterable decree of God, respecting the siege and taking of Jerusalem; and so the Targum paraphrases it, "and, lo, the decree of my word is upon thee, as a band of ropes;'' and to this sense Jarchi interprets it; and which is confirmed by what follows: AND THOU SHALL NOT TURN THEE FROM ONE SIDE TO ANOTHER TILL THOU HAST ENDED THE DAYS OF THY SIEGE; showing that the Chaldean army should not depart from Jerusalem until it was taken; for though, upon the report of the Egyptian army co...

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

(B) THE EXILE: ITS DURATION. The next action is more curious. Ezekiel is represented as lying upon his side for 190 days (as LXX correctly reads in Ezekiel 4:5) to symbolise the years of punishment in exile a year for a day undergone by Israel and Judah for their sins. As the restoration of these two kingdoms is expected to occur simultaneously (Ezekiel 37:16 ff.) we must assume that, as he lies for forty days upon his _right_ side to represent Judah (_i.e._ the _southern_ kingdom), so he lies 150 days on his _left_ to represent Israel (_i.e._ the _northern_ kingdom), though the _whole_ period of her exile covers, of course, 190 years. Forty is a round number: in point of fact, the exile of Judah (reckoning from the fall of Jerusalem) lasted almost fifty years (586- 538 B.C.

BEHOLD. Figure of speech _Asterisimos_ App-6....

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

THE DAYS OF THY SIEGE— That is, the three hundred and ninety days' siege of Jerusalem, mentioned in the preceding verse. That siege, from the beginning to the ending of it, lasted seventy-seven months, as appears from 2 Kings 25:1. But the king of Egypt coming to relieve the city occasioned the raising of the siege for some time. So that it may reasonably be gathered from the authority of the text, joined to the circumstances of the history, that the siege lasted about thirteen months, or three hundred and ninety days. See Archbishop Usher's Annals, and Calmet....