November 7, 2026, Ezekial 4:1-27
November 7, 2026, Ezekial 4:1-27
4 “And you, son of man, take a brick
and lay it before you, and engrave on it a city, even Jerusalem. 2 And
put siegeworks against it, and build a siege wall against it, and
cast up a mound against it. Set camps also against it, and plant battering
rams against it all around. 3 And you, take an iron
griddle, and place it as an iron wall between you and the city; and set
your face toward it, and let it be in a state of siege, and press the
siege against it. This is a sign for the house of Israel.
4 “Then lie on your left side, and
place the punishment[a] of the house of Israel
upon it. For the number of the days that you lie on it, you shall bear
their punishment. 5 For I assign to you a number of
days, 390 days, equal to the number of the years of their
punishment. So long shall you bear the punishment of the house of
Israel. 6 And when you have completed these, you
shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the
punishment of the house of Judah. Forty days I assign you, a day for each
year. 7 And you shall set your face toward the
siege of Jerusalem, with your arm bared, and you shall prophesy against
the city. 8 And behold, I will place cords
upon you, so that you cannot turn from one side to the other, till you have
completed the days of your siege.
9 “And you, take wheat and barley,
beans and lentils, millet and emmer,[b] and put them into a single vessel and
make your bread from them. During the number of days that you lie on
your side, 390 days, you shall eat it. 10 And
your food that you eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels[c] a day; from day to day[d] you shall eat
it. 11 And water you shall drink by measure,
the sixth part of a hin;[e] from day to day you shall drink. 12 And
you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it in their sight on human
dung.” 13 And the Lord said, “Thus shall
the people of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations where I
will drive them.” 14 Then I said, “Ah,
Lord God! Behold, I have never defiled myself.[f] From my youth up till
now I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor
has tainted meat come into my mouth.” 15 Then
he said to me, “See, I assign to you cow's dung instead of human dung, on which
you may prepare your bread.” 16 Moreover, he said
to me, “Son of man, behold, I will break the supply[g] of bread in Jerusalem.
They shall eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and they shall drink
water by measure and in dismay. 17 I will do
this that they may lack bread and water, and look at one another in
dismay, and rot away because of their punishment.
Ezekiel 4 details
God's command to the prophet to perform severe, acted-out parables (sign-acts)
to illustrate the coming siege of Jerusalem. The chapter highlights the
certainty of judgment, the severe realities of famine, and God's accommodation
to the prophet's personal conscience.
God asked Ezekiel
to endure profound physical and emotional discomfort to deliver a warning to
His people. When faced with inconvenience, ridicule, or discomfort, how willing
are you to stand firm in sharing God's truth or serving others?
The iron plate
placed between Ezekiel and the city represented the devastating separation
created by sin. Is there a "wall" or barrier you have allowed to grow
between you and God, and how can you rely on Christ to help remove that
separation?
Robin Adams
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