Message of doom for Jerusalem (chs. 4-7)

Dramatizing the siege and fall of Jerusalem (chs. 4-5)

II. Oracles against Jerusalem and Her Land: Basic structure (chs. 4-24)The section consists of a variegated collection of visions, oracles, and sign-acts

1. Messages of doom for the city and land (chs. 4-7)

2. Message of doom for the temple (chs 8-11)

3. Assorted messages of doom (12:1-24:!4)

4. Final sign of doom (24:15-27)

• In ch. 4, Ezekiel’s messages for his fellow exiles begin

Why the messages of doom?The messages of doom are intended to dismantle Jerusalemite theology by systematically undermining the four pillars upon which Judah’s false sense of security was built.1. Yahweh’s covenant with Israel• People of Israel assumed there could be no divorce to the Sinai covenant. • Ezekiel: Israel’s persistent rebellion broke covenant relationship (12:17-16:63;

18:1-32; 20:1-44; 22:1-24:14)

2. Yahweh’s commitment to his land• Yahweh the divine landlord was obligated to defend his territory• Ezekiel: Yahweh himself handing over the land to foreigners (6:1-7:27; 20:45-

21:17)

Why the messages of doom?3. Yahweh’s commitment to Jerusalem• Zion’s inviolability- the temple and the city, the most important basis of

Israel’s security• Ezekiel: Jerusalem can and will fall – Yahweh is preparing to abandon the

temple and city (8:1—11:25)

4. Yahweh’s covenant with David• Yahweh would guarantee that David’s descendants would have eternal title to

the throne of Israel (2 Sam 7)• Ezekiel: this covenant too was suspended (12:1-16; 17:1-24; 19:1-14)

• The promises of God offer no security for those who refuse to take seriously the responsibilities that are required in the covenant relationship. In fact, people are already in exile. [What does it mean for us today?]

1. Judgment oracles against Israel (chs. 4-7)

• Dramatizing the siege and fall of Jerusalem (chs. 4-5)• A series of sign-acts followed by an interpretive address

• The desolation of the land of Israel (chs. 6-7)• Transcribe two oracular pronouncements

Use of “Sign-acts”

• “Sign acts are nonverbal actions and objects intentionally employed by the prophets so that message content was communicated through them to the audiences” (Dictionary of the Old Testament: Prophets, K. G. Friebel, Sign Acts, p707, 2012)

• “”Sign-acts are dramatic performances designed to visualize a message and in the process to enhance its persuasive force so that the observers’ perceptions of a given situation might be changed and their beliefs and behaviour modified.” (D. Block, NICOT)

• Visible words: the divine word can be communicated orally or visually. A sign-acts is a means of communicating the message.

• A long-standing prophetic practice – Ahijah of Shiloh tore his cloak into 12 pieces and handed over 10 of them to Jeroboam. signifying that Yahweh was giving him rule over 10 tribes of Israel (1 Kgs 11:29-39)

• Other prophets also used them (Jeremiah, Isaiah, etc.), but Ezekiel used the most!• The action is explicitly called a “sign” for the family of Israel (4:3; 12:6, 11 and 24:24, 27)

• “This will be a sign to the people of Israel.” • “I have made you a sign to the Israelites.” • Say to them, ‘I am a sign to you.’

Sign-acts

• 3 elements (Fohrer)• A command to execute it• A report of its execution• An interpretation of it

Four sign-acts (4:1-5:4)

• The entire series is necessary to describe Yahweh’s decreed designs for Jerusalem – not just the city would be besieged, or that it would be razed, but also the fate of the population. The aim was to destroy people’s false bases of security and to dash all hope among the exiles of an early return to the homeland.

• There are four sign-acts, some of which begin with Yahweh’s direct address of the prophet:• “Now, son of man” (4:1; 5:1)

The sign-acts (4:1-5:4): fulfilled in the fall and destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.1. The sign of the brick (4:1-3)• End with “This will be a sign to the people of Israel.”

2. Bearing Israel’s iniquity (4:4-8)• The prophet himself bears the sign value in his person in two phases: both

end with ”after/until you have finished”

3. The food of the destitute (4:9-17)• Deals with two issues: Siege and exilic diet (Jerusalem under siege then exile)• Siege diet (4:9-11) and interpretation (4:16-17); exilic diet (4:12) and

interpretation (4:13)

4. The fate of the population of Jerusalem (5:1-4)• The three divisions of hair reflect three forms of annihilation

Siege of Jerusalem symbolized (4:1-3)

• “Now, son of man, take a block of clay, put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. Then lay siege to it: Erect siege works against it, build a ramp up to it, set up camps against it and put battering rams around it. Then take an iron pan, place it as an iron wall between you and the city and turn your face toward it. It will be under siege, and you shall besiege it. • This will be a sign to the people of Israel.

1. The sign of the brick – a siege on the city (4:1-3)• “And you, son of man” (4:1)• Constructing models and placing them around the brick (sun-dried brick made of clay)• Siege warfare involved encircling a city to prevent inhabitants from escaping and supplies

from being brought in to the defenders• Enemy armies also would attempt to penetrate the walls:

• Ramp - huge inclines made of earth, rocks and debris to allow access to fortresses built at the top of hills

• Battering rams – siege engines for conquering the walled cities of Palestine

• Iron pan – a domestic utensil used to bake flat cakes over an open fire. Here it symbolizes the wall that Yahweh has placed between himself (represented by Ezekiel) and Jerusalem. By specifying an iron instrument, it highlights the impenetrability of the barrier and the firmness of his rejection of the people. His decision to destroy Jerusalem was irrevocable.

• Turn your face towards it – emphasizes the adversative disposition of Yahweh toward his people. It was God, not foreign armies, has become the enemy

2. Bearing Israel’s iniquity (4:4-5)

• “Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the people of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side. I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the people of Israel. “After you have finished this, • lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the

people of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year. Turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem and with bared arm prophesy against her. I will tie you up with ropes so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have finished the days of your siege.

2. Bearing Israel’s iniquity (4:4-5)

• “Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the people of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side. I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the people of Israel.• “After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right

side, and bear the sin of the people of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year. • Turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem and with bared arm

prophesy against her. I will tie you up with ropes so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have finished the days of your siege.

Who bear the sin of the people?

• Instead of representing Yahweh, Ezekiel now plays the role of the priest, carrying the burden of his people’s sins on his shoulder.

What do the numbers 390 years and 40 years stand for?• NIV: the years of their sin; ESV: the years of their punishment• For I assign to you a number of days, 390 days, equal to the number of the

years of their punishment• you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the

punishment of the house of Judah.• The term has a wide range of meanings: iniquitous actions, iniquitous

human condition, the guilt incurred by iniquitous behavour, and the punishment for iniquity

What do the numbers 390 years and 40 years stand for?• Most scholars: 390 years of iniquity, calculating backward from 586

B.C. =? 976 ~ the date the temple was completed (Solomon also responsible for official court-sponsored apostasy). Israel had provoked Yahweh’s wrath by simultaneously worshipping other gods• There is a limit on God’s patience

What do the numbers 390 years and 40 years stand for?• 40 years for Judah serves as a round number for one generation (ref.

Israelites in the desert wondering) – 40 years of punishment for the iniquities in vv. 4-5, an apparent reference to the people’s experience of exile (like in Numbers, the exile eliminates a whole generation of Israelites that has provoked his wrath and to set the stage for a new beginning (but exile consistently recognized as 70 years)• Thus, the two phases of sign-act – the long period of apostasy and the

subsequent experience of the wrath of God (accusation and announcement of judgment)

390 and 40

Ezekiel sees the Glory of

the Lord in the Kebar River

Fall of Jerusalem Ezekiel sees the Glory of the Lord fills the Temple

5th year of the exile (1:2-3)

593 BC

12th year of the exile (33:21)

586 BC

25th year of the exile (40:1)

573 BC

Dedication of the temple (1 Kgs 8:1-66)

~967/943 BC

King Cyrus of Persia’s proclamation (2 Chr 36:22)539 BC

the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia

390 years

Message of judgment and the fall of Jerusalem

Message of salvation and hope (return from exile)

40 years

4:7-9

• Turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem and with bared arm prophesy against her.• Bared arm – a military gesture of a warrior preparing for battle

• I will tie you up with ropes so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have finished the days of your siege• It is Yahweh who ties up Ezekiel, not other people (ref. 3:25). It implies the

unalterable quality of his prophecy. He may not adjust his message by changing his position. Yahweh exercises absolute control over him

3. The food of the destitute (4:9-17)• “Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt; put them in

a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself. You are to eat it during the 390 days you lie on your side.

• Weigh out twenty shekels of food to eat each day and eat it at set times. Also measure out a sixth of a hin of water and drink it at set times.

• Eat the food as you would a loaf of barley bread; bake it in the sight of the people, using human excrement for fuel.” The Lord said, “In this way the people of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them.”

The food of the destitute (4:9-17)

• Then I said, “Not so, Sovereign Lord! I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have never eaten anything found dead or torn by wild animals. No impure meat has ever entered my mouth. ”• “Very well,” he said, “I will let you bake your bread over cow dung

instead of human excrement.”• He then said to me: “Son of man, I am about to cut off the food

supply in Jerusalem. The people will eat rationed food in anxiety and drink rationed water in despair, for food and water will be scarce. They will be appalled at the sight of each other and will waste away because of their sin.

The food of the destitute (4:9-17)

• “And you, son of man” (4:9)

• A siege diet – food will be so scarce that it will be impossible to get enough flour and vegetable meal together of any one kind to make even one loaf of bread.

• A meager diet – daily allotment of 20 shekels of food ~ 8 oz; water 1/6 of a hin (5.7 liter) ~ 2/3 of a quart (liter) => the brink of starvation• Intention clarified in vv. 16-17 and 5:10

• The fuel – human excrement or cow dung (explanation – 4:13)• Cooking food over a fire fueled by excrement renders the food unclean, but

so are preparing food in a foreign land yields defied food (because of the abominable practices of their inhabitants, esp. idolatry)

How could Ezekiel lie on one side for 390 days? And how could he survive on that much bread?• Probably: he adopts his prone position for several hours each day,

probably at the busiest hours of the day• While the audience watch, eat one small bite of the loaf.• In the evening and the rest of the day, he just goes about his normal

business.

Ezekiel bread

• Moshe Greenberg (Anchor Yale Commentary on Ezekiel):• The mixture of wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt; to make

bread -> symbolizes a situation where the scarcity was such that no one kind of grain was plentiful enough on its own to make a whole loaf.• He also records an interesting experiment carried out in the 3rd century A.D.

that apparently demonstrated even a dog would not eat Ezekiel’s bread

4. The fate of the population of Jerusalem (5:1-4)• “Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor to

shave your head and your beard. Then take a set of scales and divide up the hair. • When the days of your siege come to an end, burn a third of the hair

inside the city. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city. And scatter a third to the wind. For I will pursue them with drawn sword. • But take a few hairs and tuck them away in the folds of your garment.

Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire and burn them up. A fire will spread from there to all Israel.

The fate of the population of Jerusalem (5:1-4)• “And you, son of man” (5:1)• A new object for the sign-act – a sword ( a military weapon)• Two-phased dramatization:

• (1) cutting and disposing of the prophet’s hair; • (2) preserving a remnant

• The importance of 3: hair divided into 3 parts; disposed of in 3 different ways, fire occurs three times (5:4 throw into fire, burn in fire, a fire)• Shaving hair: Mourning (self-shaving)? Extreme dishonour and humiliation

(forcefully shaved by someone else)?• Weigh out the hair on a set of scales – meticulous precision, not

haphazard, but deliberately and carefully measured (the judgment). The totality of the impending judgment

The fate of the population of Jerusalem (5:1-4)• First portion set on fire at the center of the city when the days of the

siege are completed (390 days) – destruction• Second portion – the violent death of those managed to escape the

destruction inside the city at the hands of the Babylonian armies• Final third – symbolizing the dispersion and the disappearance of the

remainder of the population• “For I will pursue them with drawn sword” – Yahweh is the one who

draw the sword

The fate of the population of Jerusalem (5:1-4)• The hair that Ezekiel tucks away in the skirts of his garment –

represent those few residents of Jerusalem who will escape the fire, the sword, and the scattering• The symbolic judgmental action of burning, chopping up and

scattering now gives way to gracious protective care over the exiles. They survive because of God’s intervention on their behalf. • The future of God’s people lay with the exiles�

• “take a few of these and throw them into the fire and burn them up”• But complacent exiles will be thrown into the fire (5:4)• The fire started in Jerusalem would spread to the entire house of Israel, even

to those in exile.

The interpretation of the sign-acts (5:5-17)

• Begin with “This is what the Sovereign Lord says” (5:5)• A modified form of the divine self-introduction formula “I am Yahweh. I have

spoken.”

• End with “I the Lord have spoken.”

• Two main sections• The indictment of Jerusalem (5:5-6)• Two announcements of Judgment upon Jerusalem (5:7-17)

• The first (5:7-10)• The second (5:11-17)

The indictment of Jerusalem(5:5-6)

• “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. Yet in her wickedness she has rebelled against my laws and decrees more than the nations and countries around her. She has rejected my laws and has not followed my decrees.• In 3rd person - indictment

The indictment of Jerusalem(5:5-6)

• “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: • The accused:

• This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her (a city of privileged status, most favoured ity)

• Indicted on the following charges:• Yet in her wickedness she has rebelled against my laws and decrees more than the

nations and countries around her. • She has rejected my laws and has not followed my decrees.

• What Laws that the Israelites had violated?• “What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our

God is near us whenever we pray to him? And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?(Deut 4:7-8)

The first announcements of Judgment upon Jerusalem(5:7-10)• “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: You have been more

unruly than the nations around you and have not followed my decrees or kept my laws. You have not even conformed to the standards of the nations around you. • “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself am against

you, Jerusalem, and I will inflict punishment on you in the sight of the nations. Because of all your detestable idols, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again. Therefore in your midst parents will eat their children, and children will eat their parents. I will inflict punishment on you and will scatter all your survivors to the winds.

The first announcements of Judgment upon Jerusalem(5:7-10)• “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: You have been more

unruly than the nations around you and have not followed my decrees or kept my laws. You have not even conformed to the standards of the nations around you. • Charges repeated• Now in 2nd person – sentencing, announcement of judgment

The first announcements of Judgment upon Jerusalem(5:7-10)• “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself am against you,

Jerusalem, and I will inflict punishment on you in the sight of the nations. Because of all your detestable idols, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again. Therefore in your midst parents will eat their children, and children will eat their parents. I will inflict punishment on you and will scatter all your survivors to the winds.• Yahweh’s reaction is cast in the form of a challenge to a duel: combatants,

goal, spectators, site• The combatants – Yahweh (challenger) – I myself am against you

• (As opposed to “I am with you” – an expression of presence and support)

• The goal: inflict judgment on you (Jerusalem)• The spectators – the nations• The site: In your midst

Does the punishment fit the crime?

• “I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again. Therefore in your midst parents will eat their children, and children will eat their parents.”• Yahweh’s own covenant curse for disobedience:• “If in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to be hostile

toward me, then in my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over. You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters.” (Lev 26:27-29, also Deut 28:53-57)• Other prophets spoke of parents eating their children (Isa 9:19-21; Jer 19:9;

Zech 11:9)• Cannibalism occurred in Samaria when Syria laid siege there (2 Kgs 6:24-

31), and probably when the Assyrian laid siege of Samaria in the 8th

century. The same fate awaits the residents of Jerusalem

The second announcements of Judgment upon Jerusalem (5:11-17)• Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because you

have defiled my sanctuary with all your vile images and detestable practices, I myself will shave you; I will not look on you with pity or spare you. A third of your people will die of the plague or perish by famine inside you; a third will fall by the sword outside your walls; and a third I will scatter to the winds and pursue with drawn sword.• “Then my anger will cease and my wrath against them will subside,

and I will be avenged. And when I have spent my wrath on them, they will know that I the Lord have spoken in my zeal.

The second announcements of Judgment upon Jerusalem (5:14-17)• “I will make you a ruin and a reproach among the nations around you,

in the sight of all who pass by. You will be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and an object of horror to the nations around you when I inflict punishment on you in anger and in wrath and with stinging rebuke. I the Lord have spoken.• When I shoot at you with my deadly and destructive arrows of

famine, I will shoot to destroy you. I will bring more and more famine upon you and cut off your supply of food. I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I the Lord have spoken. ”

• Three segments, each concludes with an expanded form of the divine self-introduction formula: “I the Lord have spoken”• Note the importance of “3”• “a warning and an object of horror to the nations around you”• When the nations observe Jerusalem, they will learn the awesome fate of

those who fall into the hands of the angry God.• The physical effects of Yahweh’s wrath will be very difficult, but the social and

psychological impact will be even more painful. Instead of receiving Yahweh’s covenant blessings and Israel being exalted among the nations (Deut 28:1-14), Jerusalem will lie in ruins.

The agents of death at Yahweh’s disposal (5:16-17)• Note the “I” – Yahweh as the subject

• “Deadly and destructive arrows of famine”

• How can Ezekiel associate arrows with famine?

• Deut 32:23-25

• “wild beasts against you, and they will leave you childless”

• Deut 32:25; Eze 14:21; 33:27

• Plague/pestilence (12 times in Ezekiel)

• Bloodshed - violent bloodshed inflicted by one human on another

• Sword (almost 90 times in Ezekiel) – also implies war

What does it means for us today?

• Is this the same God as the Christian God? The terror of Yahweh’s

pronouncements and the violence of the punishment do not seem consistent

with our comfortable perceptions of God the father today.

1. In a covenant relationship, the acceptance of the privilege must be

accompanied by the assumption of responsibility. Instead of serving as a model

of purity, Jerusalem has won the international contest in wickedness!

2. Those who have presumed upon the light of God’s grace must reckon with the

darkness of his fury. God will not condone infidelity, rebellion, wickedness and

abominations

3. The relationship between the Lord and his people is open to public view.

• ”They’ll know we are Christians by our …”

4. The Lord is the master of life and death

5. The word of the Lord is sure; he does not speak in vain