Ezekiel 4-5

Bible study with Dr. Chuck Missler

Ezekiel 4-24 document God’s judgment on Jerusalem, all given before the siege of Jerusalem.

REVIEW: THE FALL OF THE NATION

The Babylonian Captivity
The Babylonian captivity actually took place in three sieges, but it had been extensively prophesied well in advance (Isaiah 39:5-7; Jeremiah 25:8-12). Daniel, who had been taken captive as a teenager in the first of the three sieges, came to know from reading the Jeremiah prophecy that the captivity would last for 70 years. That is when he went into prayer, which was interrupted by Gabriel and the famous 70 week vision of Daniel 9. [Daniel took Old Testament prophecy literally, as we should as well! Be aware of teachers who over-allegorize.]

606 BC
Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, which was defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates River by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon (Jeremiah 46:1-6).

605 BC
On his way home, Nebuchadnezzar laid siege on Jerusalem. Jehoiakim was captured (2 Chronicles 36). However, upon hearing that his father had died and that he now was the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar released Jehoiakim as a vassal king of Jerusalem. During this first siege of Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar plundered the Temple for gold and treasures, and took captive of Jerusalem’s most promising teenagers, including Daniel and his 3 friends. This was Nebuchadnezzar’s "style," to take from his captives the most promising people of that culture and train them in his/Babylonian ways.

598 BC
A few years later, Jehoiakim rebelled, bringing forth the second siege of Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar thus sent his alliances (Chaldeans, Syrians, Moabites, Ammonites) to destroy Judah (2 Kings 24), raging a 5-year battle. Jehoiakim died (Jeremiah 22:17-19). His son, Jehoiachin (Jeconiah) took over for a few months, ending the siege. Zedekiah, Jeconiah’s uncle, took over as king, though many didn’t consider him king, since he never really fulfilled the role.

587 BC
Zedekiah rebelled, and Nebuchadnezzar’s had enough. In this third siege, Jerusalem was leveled. Both the City and the Temple were destroyed (2 Kings 24-25), and Nebuchadnezzar took everyone as slaves.

Both Ezekiel and Jeremiah wrote during the time of the 3rd siege.

In Jeremiah 32:5, Jeremiah warned Zedekiah that he would be led to Babylon in chains.
He will take Zedekiah to Babylon, where he will remain until I deal with him, declares the LORD. If you fight against the Babylonians, you will not succeed.

Ezekiel 12:13 spoke also of Zedekiah, that Zedekiah would not see Babylon.
I will spread my net for him, and he will be caught in my snare; I will bring him to Babylonia, the land of the Chaldeans, but he will not see it, and there he will die.

It was documented that Zedekiah did not believe either one, since it didn't seem like the two prophets could agree with each other.

2 Kings 25:5-7
The Babylonian army pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered, and he was captured. He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where sentence was pronounced on him. They killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.

The last thing Zedekiah saw was the killing of his sons. The Babylonians then blinded him, and then took him to Babylon in chains, fulfilling both Jeremiah’s and Ezekiel’s prophecies!
Hallelujah! The fulfillment of prophecy is one of the best evidence of God’s work in our lives!

Ezekiel’s task was to confront Israel with her sin and warn her of impending destruction (Cf. Ezekiel 3:17). Ezekiel employed several means to focus on the people’s need for judgment. These included sins (Ezekiel 4-5), sermons (Ezekiel 6-7), and visions (Ezekiel 8-11). In each case the emphasis was on sin and its ensuing suffering.



EZEKIEL 4: Ezekiel communicated through object lessons, trying to get across to Israel that a siege is coming


GOD USES EZEKIEL TO ILLUSTRATE HOW ISRAEL WILL BE BESIEGED (Ezekiel 4:1-3)

Ezekiel set this up in some public place to dramatize a graphic model of prophecy. God was using Ezekiel to do the very obvious thing, to get it through their heads that Jerusalem was going to be besieged and plundered.
God was using Ezekiel to do an object lesson to get their attention and warn that they were going to be in trouble.


EZEKIEL LAYS ON HIS SIDES TO ILLUSTRATE THE INIQUITY OF ISRAEL (Ezekiel 4:4-8)

"So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the people of Israel" (Ezekiel 4:5)
Ezekiel will lay 390 days on his left side for the iniquity of the Northern Kingdom (House of Israel) and 40 days on his right side for the iniquity of the Southern Kingdom (House of Judah). And as history proves, the Northern Kingdom was indeed in idolatry longer than the Southern Kingdom.

Not the whole of the 430 years of the Egypt state is appointed to Israel—this is shortened by the 40 years of the wilderness sojourn, to imply either that a way is open to their return to life by their having the Egypt state merged into that of the wilderness; or, that by ceasing from idolatry and seeking in their sifting and sore troubles, a restoration to righteousness and peace.

The sum of 390 and 40 years is 430, a period famous in the history of the covenant-people, being that of their sojourn in Egypt (Exodus 12:40, 41; Galatians 3:17).

The 390 years, in reference to the sin of Israel, was somewhat specific, being the years from the setting up of the calves by Jeroboam (1Kings 12:20–33); that is, from 975 BC to 585 BC, about the year of the Babylonians captivity.

The 40 years may allude to the forty years in the wilderness. Elsewhere, God threatened to bring them back to Egypt, which must mean, not Egypt literally, but a bondage as bad as that one in Egypt (Deuteronomy 28:68; Hosea 9:3). So, now God will reduce them to a kind of new Egyptian bondage to the world: Israel, the greater transgressor, for a longer period than Judah (Ezekiel 20:35–38). Alternatively, the 40 years of Judah may refer to that part of Manasseh's 55-year reign in which he had not repented, and which, we are expressly told, was the cause of God's removal of Judah, notwithstanding Josiah’s reformation (1Kings 21:10-16; 23:26, 27).


EZEKIEL’S DIET REFLECTS THE SEVERE FAMINE ISRAEL WILL FACE (Ezekiel 4:9-12)

"...millet..." (Ezekiel 4:9)
This is an annual grass which grows and matures without rain, the seeds of which are ground to flour and mixed with other cereals to form breadstuffs for the poor.

The materials mentioned in this passage represent the common grains in Israel’s diet (2 Samuel 17:27-29). Supplies were so scarce that several foods had to be combined to provide enough for a meal. The best exposition of this part of Ezekiel’s prediction of Jerusalem’s desolation is Jeremiah’s lamentation of it (Lamentations 4:3, 10-11), where he describes the terrible famine that was in Jerusalem during the siege and the sad effects of it.

"...twenty shekels..." (Ezekiel 4:10)
A shekel weighs 0.4 of an ounce, avoirdupois.

That means Ezekiel's food allowance was only about eight ounces a day!

"...sixth part of an hin..." (Ezekiel 4:11)
Ezekiel's water ration was about a pint and a half a day!

"In this way the people of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them" (Ezekiel 4:13)
Foreign nations and their products were considered unclean (Amos 7:17; Hosea 9:3, 4). 

The Israelites insisted on taking on heathen worship, heathen idols, so God says, "Great, I am going to put you at the level of the heathen."

Ezekiel was a priest. He knew the dietary laws--He knew the above broke just about every dietary law there is. However, the above passages were above such ceremonial issues (Exodus 22:30; Leviticus 7:18, 24; 17:11-16; 19:7; 22:8; Deuteronomy 12:16; 14:21). In these passages, Ezekiel was talking about survival rations.

Ezekiel was trying to illustrate that the Israelites will not have the luxury to comply with the dietary laws of the Lord because of the siege. The mixing of the grains and mixing dung with meat were defiling to the Jews, including Ezekiel, but that was his point: They would be lucky to find anything to eat—Famine was coming!

Note: It’s not really defiling the meat to mix it with dung, since Ezekiel was using it for fuel and heat, not food.


GOD GIVES ISRAELITES OVER TO THE HEATHEN IDOLS THEY HAVE CHOSEN TO WORSHIP (Ezekiel 4:13-17)

Ezekiel 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" (Ezekiel 4:14)
Ezekiel denies ever having taken part in idol worship (meat sacrificed to idols was unclean meat), in a similar manner that Peter defended himself when asked to eat unclean animals (Acts 10:9-16).

Israel will waste away because of their iniquity (Ezekiel 4:17)


EZEKIEL 5: God's judgment on Jerusalem continues

Ezekiel shaves his head and beard to illustrate great shame (Ezekiel 5:1)
Hair was a sign of consecration of a priest (Leviticus 21:4-5), a symbol of the priest’s commitment to the Lord. It was also the symbol of a Nazarite vow. In Jeremiah 41 it was a sign of catastrophe. From Job 1, Isaiah 22, and Jeremiah 7, it was a sign of mourning.

God deals with the Israelites in thirds (Ezekiel 5:2-12)
Ezekiel was to take three balances, implying the just discrimination with which God weighs out the portion of punishment allotted to each. He was then to divide his hair into three "thirds"; and what happened to that hair was symbolic of what was being predicted would happen to the Israelites.

One third of the hair was to be burned, symbolic of the consuming of pestilence and famine; a second third was to be smitten with the sword, as was to be the lot of many inhabitants; and a third part was to be scattered to the wind, a figure of the scattered exiles, which included those who went down to Egypt taking Jeremiah with them (Ezekiel 5:12).

"... your garment..." (Ezekiel 5:3)
The small remnant of God’s people who eventually returned to the city is pictured by the few hairs that were bound up in Ezekiel’s robe. [Cf. Ezekiel 6:8-10; 9:8; 11:13]

"… Fire…" (Ezekiel 5:4)
Many things are included in the concept of fire. One of the allegorical idioms is being "tried by fire." We are familiar with the refining of silver and gold, but here in Ezekiel's prophecy it is Israel that is being refined by fire. Fire here is tribulation. The idea of fire being used as a method of refining is used throughout the Scripture in many contexts.

Example of the fiery furnace in Daniel: Shadrach, Meshach and Abenego were preserved through the fire by the Son of God, because they did not bow to the image.

Nebuchadnezzar was ruler of the entire known world at that time and was a type of the antichrist (Cf. Revelation 13).

54x in Ezekiel, God makes the claim, "And they shall know that I am the Lord." Ezekiel’s whole theme is the recognition that God is God.

Early on, Ezekiel’s message pointed out that they were to repent of their idolatry. He warns them, but they do not listen. Judgment falls to demonstrate to them, and all the nations around them, that the Lord is God (Cf. Zechariah 13:8-9).

"This is Jerusalem" (Ezekiel 5:5-6)
Jerusalem was the center of God’s providential choice and care (Exodus 19:5, 6; Deuteronomy 7:6-8; 14:2; 26:19).

Ezekiel was always talking of Jerusalem. Being a prophet to slaves in Babylon, Ezekiel was hundreds of miles away from Jerusalem. At the time he was warning them, Jerusalem was still around, yet it was about to be destroyed (Deuteronomy 32:8).

Isaiah 2:1-4
God had an origin for Jerusalem, and He has a destiny for Jerusalem.

Heavy judgment is predicted for Jerusalem (Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28; Jeremiah 19; or Lamentations 2), and Jerusalem plays a pivotal role in God’s plan. When Jerusalem fails, He punishes it; and yet when the world is blessed, the blessings come from Jerusalem. [Cf. Isaiah 2:4]

God will vindicate his holiness before the world (Ezekiel 20:9, 14, 22, 41; 22:16; 28:25; 38:23; 39:27) with unparalleled punishments upon Israel from the Lord (cf. Lam 1:12; 2:20; 4:6).

"Parents will eat their children, and children will eat their parents" (Ezekiel 5:10)
Cf. 2 Kings 6:24-29; Leviticus 26:29

Cannibalism had been predicted by Moses (Deuteronomy 28:52-57) and were verified by Jeremiah (Lamentations 2:20; 4:10).

"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" (Ezekiel 5:12)
These judgments are referred to in Ezekiel 5:2 (Cf. Jeremiah 14:12) and were not limited to Zedekiah’s time: 1/3 suffered the Nazi holocaust in Germany (Cf. Zech 13:8-9)!


GOD JUDGES ISRAEL AS A LESSON FOR THE WORLD (Ezekiel 5:13-17)

"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" (Ezekiel 5:13)
This solemn asseveration appears in Ezekiel 5:13, 15, 17; 17:21, 24; 21:17, 32; 23:34; 24:14; 26:14; 30:12; 34:24; 36:36; 37:14; 39:5 and elsewhere in similar phraseology.
(Ezekiel 5:14-17)

The Remnant
The concept of the remnant became the dominant note of prophecy in the Old Testament, from the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BC on. Similar idea is also found in Genesis:
* The flood of Noah: out of the entire world, God saved 8 people.
* In Isaiah 6:12-13, the "substance thereof" is really "stump," referring to the root of Jesse, a prophecy fulfilled by Jesus(Cf. Isaiah 10:20-22).
* The remnant is gathered not from Babylon, but from all countries (Jeremiah 23:3).
* The remnant is going to be intertwined with promises to restore Israelites to their land.
* Isaiah 11 says that when they are called back to their land the second time, it would be the final time—the first time they were called back from Babylon, from one country; the second time was from May 14, 1948 and on-wards.

Jerusalem
Watch the role of Jerusalem in prophecy. In the end of Ezekiel 5, God pronounced on Jerusalem the four scourges of famine, evil beasts, pestilence and sword (Leviticus 26:14-26). The four acts of judgment: famine, evil beasts, pestilence, and sword, also appear in Ezekiel 14:20 (Cf. Leviticus 26:22-26; Deuteronomy 32:24, 25; Revelation 6:7-8). 

These judgments on Israel have significance:
* For the world (Ezekiel 5:5-8)
* For Israel (Ezekiel 5:13-17)
* And for the survivors (Ezekiel 6:8-10)