Chapter 4

1
take Ezek 5:1-17, Ezek 12:3-16; 1Sam 15:27-28; 1Kgs 11:30-31; Isa 20:2-4; Jer 13:1-14, Jer 18:2-12, Jer 19:1-15, Jer 25:15-38, Jer 27:2-22; Hos 1:2-9, Hos 3:1-5; Hos 12:10

a tile μαπδ H3843, levainah generally denotes a brick, and Palladius informs us that the bricks in common use among the ancients were "two feet long, one foot broad, and four inches thick;" and on such a surface the whole siege might be easily pourtrayed. Perhaps, however, it may here denote a flat tile, like a Roman brick, which were commonly used for tablets, as we learn from Pliny, Hist. Nat. 1. vii. c. 57.

even Jer 6:6, Jer 32:31; Amos 3:2


2
lay Jer 39:1-2, Jer 52:4; Luke 19:42-44

battering rams or, chief leaders, Ezek 21:22


3
an iron pan or, a flat plate, or slice, Lev 2:5

This Ezek 12:6, Ezek 12:11, Ezek 24:24-27; Isa 8:18, Isa 20:3; Luke 2:34; Heb 2:4


4
upon Ezek 4:5, Ezek 4:8

and lay 2Kgs 17:21-23

thou shalt bear Lev 10:17, Lev 16:22; Num 14:34, Num 18:1; Isa 53:11-12; Matt 8:17; Heb 9:28; 1Pet 2:24


5
I have Isa 53:6

three This number of years will take us back from the year in which Judea was finally desolated by Nebuzar-adan, bc 584, to the establishment of idolatry in Israel by Jeroboam, bc 975. "Beginning from 1Kgs 12:33. Ending Jer 52:30."


6
forty days This represented the forty years during which gross idolatry prevailed in Judah, from the reformation of Josiah, bc 624, to the same final desolation of the land. Some think that the period of 390 days also predicts the duration of the siege of the Babylonians (Ezek 4:9), deducting from it five months and twenty-nine days, when the besiegers went to meet the Egyptians (2Kgs 25:1-4; Jer 37:5); and that forty days may have been employed in desolating the temple and city. "Beginning from 2Kgs 23:3, 2Kgs 23:23. Ending Jer 52:30."

each day for a year Heb. a day for a year, a day for a year, Num 14:34; Dan 9:24-26, Dan 12:11-12; Rev 9:15, Rev 11:2-3, Rev 12:14, Rev 13:5


7
set Ezek 4:3, Ezek 6:2

and thine Isa 52:10


8
I will Ezek 3:25

from one side to another Heb. from thy side to thy side


9
wheat Ezek 4:13, Ezek 4:16

millet Dochan in Arabic, dokhn the holcus dochna of Forskal, is a kind of millet, of considerable use as a food; the cultivation of which is described by Browne.

fitches or, spelt, Kussemim is doubtless ζεα, or spelt, as Aquila and Symmachus render here; and so LXX and Theodotion, ολυρα. In times of scarcity it is customary to mix several kinds of coarser grains with the finer, to make it last the longer.

three Ezek 4:5


10
Ezek 4:16, Ezek 14:13; Lev 26:26; Deut 28:51-68; Isa 3:1


11
shalt drink Ezek 4:16; Isa 5:13; John 3:34


12
cakes a "round" thing, Gen 18:6


13
Dan 1:8; Hos 9:3-4


14
Ah Ezek 9:8, Ezek 20:49; Jer 1:6

my soul Acts 10:14

have I Exod 22:31; Lev 11:39-40, Lev 17:15

abominable Lev 19:7; Deut 14:3; Isa 65:4, Isa 66:17


15
cow's dung Dried cow-dung is a common fuel in the East, as it is in many parts of England, to the present day; but the prophet was ordered to prepare his bread with human ordure, to shew the extreme degree of wretchedness to which the besieged should be exposed, as they would be obliged literally to use it, from not being able to leave the city to collect other fuel. Ezek 4:15


16
I will Ezek 5:16, Ezek 14:13; Lev 26:26; Ps 105:16; Isa 3:1

eat The prophet was allowed each day only twenty shekels weight, or about ten ounces, of the coarse food he had prepared, and the sixth part of a hin, scarcely a pint and a half, of water; all of which was intended to shew that they should be obliged to eat the meanest and coarsest food, and that by weight, and their water by measure. Ezek 4:10-11, Ezek 12:18-19; Ps 60:3; Lam 1:11, Lam 4:9-10, Lam 5:9


17
and consume Ezek 24:23; Lev 26:39


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