Eze 4:15 | KingComments | STEP | The next act Ezekiel is to perform is also related to the siege of Jerusalem inscribed above as a result of their iniquity ( ). He is to portray food scarcity ( ). This indicates that famine will strike the city as a result of the siege. He is to take various cereals and legumes to make bread from them. “Wheat” is used to make the best bread. However, if wheat is scarce, it should be mixed with other grains of lesser quality, such as “barley … millet and spelt”. “Beans” and “lentils” are not grains, but they are common foods (cf. ). However, when they must be taken together to make bread, it does indicate the scarcity of these foods. Then it is a kind of “war bread”, which is eaten in times of food scarcity. Ezekiel is to put all the ingredients “in one vessel” and mix them together and make bread. That bread he must eat during the days that he lies on his side, for three hundred and ninety days. The ration is “twenty shekels a day by weight”, which is two hundred to three hundred grams ( ). This ration he must eat at set times, that is, he must divide it among several meals and not eat it all at once. Water is also rationed ( ). He gets “the sixth part of a hin” per day, which is about a liter. For a hot country, that is very little. He also has to divide the water throughout the day. He is also commanded to eat “a barley cake”, which he is to bake in the sight of the exiles “over human dung” ( ). This is indicative of the state of emergency in which Jerusalem will find itself. He points to that emergency by doing this “in their sight”. The LORD explains the act He is prescribing to Ezekiel ( ). It is symbolic of the time when the Jews will be scattered, both in Babylon and in the time after the year 70. They will be among the nations and often forced to eat food that is unclean according to the law ( ). As a faithful Jew, Ezekiel shrinks from preparing and eating his bread in this way and makes his objection to the LORD about it ( ; cf. ). The use of human dung as fuel for cooking is nowhere expressly forbidden. Yet the disgust shown by Ezekiel is understandable when we know what God said about how to deal with excrement ( ). We must also remember that God Himself has just attached to this symbolic act the statement that the Israelites “eat their bread unclean” among the nations. Ezekiel points out to God how he has always kept the law, ever since he was a child. Never did he eat anything that was forbidden to eat ( ; ). He never ate unclean meat. As befits a priest, he has always strictly observed the food laws. It is his fervent desire to continue to do so even in the land of exile (cf. ). God takes into account the conscience of His servant. He allows him to use “cow’s dung” instead of human dung to prepare his bread over it ( ). He does not override His command, but makes it easier for Ezekiel to obey Him. God knows that we need time to adjust our view to His view. This Divine sensitivity is an example for us in our dealings with fellow believers who sometimes have difficulty with things in which we are free before the Lord ( ). God explains the actions Ezekiel must perform ( ). He addresses him again as “son of man”. What Ezekiel is to portray is the lack of sufficient bread in Jerusalem during the siege. Water will also be scarce. Meals that are otherwise joyous affairs will become sad and grievous. Dismay will reign because the meals will be dominated by hardship and lack. They will “waste away in their iniquity”, meaning that they have brought their hardship and lack and dismay upon themselves by their own behavior and finally they will die of hunger.

‏ Ezekiel 4:15

Eating and Drinking of Ezekiel

The next act Ezekiel is to perform is also related to the siege of Jerusalem inscribed above as a result of their iniquity (Eze 4:4-8). He is to portray food scarcity (Eze 4:9). This indicates that famine will strike the city as a result of the siege. He is to take various cereals and legumes to make bread from them.

“Wheat” is used to make the best bread. However, if wheat is scarce, it should be mixed with other grains of lesser quality, such as “barley … millet and spelt”. “Beans” and “lentils” are not grains, but they are common foods (cf. 2Sam 17:27-29). However, when they must be taken together to make bread, it does indicate the scarcity of these foods. Then it is a kind of “war bread”, which is eaten in times of food scarcity. Ezekiel is to put all the ingredients “in one vessel” and mix them together and make bread. That bread he must eat during the days that he lies on his side, for three hundred and ninety days.

The ration is “twenty shekels a day by weight”, which is two hundred to three hundred grams (Eze 4:10). This ration he must eat at set times, that is, he must divide it among several meals and not eat it all at once. Water is also rationed (Eze 4:11). He gets “the sixth part of a hin” per day, which is about a liter. For a hot country, that is very little. He also has to divide the water throughout the day.

He is also commanded to eat “a barley cake”, which he is to bake in the sight of the exiles “over human dung” (Eze 4:12). This is indicative of the state of emergency in which Jerusalem will find itself. He points to that emergency by doing this “in their sight”. The LORD explains the act He is prescribing to Ezekiel (Eze 4:13). It is symbolic of the time when the Jews will be scattered, both in Babylon and in the time after the year 70. They will be among the nations and often forced to eat food that is unclean according to the law (Hos 9:3-4).

As a faithful Jew, Ezekiel shrinks from preparing and eating his bread in this way and makes his objection to the LORD about it (Eze 4:14; cf. Acts 10:14). The use of human dung as fuel for cooking is nowhere expressly forbidden. Yet the disgust shown by Ezekiel is understandable when we know what God said about how to deal with excrement (Deu 23:13-15). We must also remember that God Himself has just attached to this symbolic act the statement that the Israelites “eat their bread unclean” among the nations.

Ezekiel points out to God how he has always kept the law, ever since he was a child. Never did he eat anything that was forbidden to eat (Lev 11:39; Exo 22:31). He never ate unclean meat. As befits a priest, he has always strictly observed the food laws. It is his fervent desire to continue to do so even in the land of exile (cf. Dan 1:8).

God takes into account the conscience of His servant. He allows him to use “cow’s dung” instead of human dung to prepare his bread over it (Eze 4:15). He does not override His command, but makes it easier for Ezekiel to obey Him.

God knows that we need time to adjust our view to His view. This Divine sensitivity is an example for us in our dealings with fellow believers who sometimes have difficulty with things in which we are free before the Lord (Rom 14:1-4 ; Rom 15:1-4).

God explains the actions Ezekiel must perform (Eze 4:16-17). He addresses him again as “son of man”. What Ezekiel is to portray is the lack of sufficient bread in Jerusalem during the siege. Water will also be scarce. Meals that are otherwise joyous affairs will become sad and grievous. Dismay will reign because the meals will be dominated by hardship and lack. They will “waste away in their iniquity”, meaning that they have brought their hardship and lack and dismay upon themselves by their own behavior and finally they will die of hunger.