Ezekiel was given a scroll to eat. After eating it, he is put under obligation both to lie mute, prohibited, for a time, from speaking, and also, when compelled, to finally speak God's messages.
Ezekiel 4:1-2, A model of the city
"Now, son of man, take a clay tablet, 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.
Ezekiel is to set up a model of Jerusalem under siege.
Ezekiel 4:3-6, A day for each year
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 house of Israel.
"Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the house 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 house of Israel.
"After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the house of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year.
After creating the model of Jerusalem, Ezekiel is first to take an iron pan and create a wall between himself and the city. Duguid argues that this represents a barrier between the city and God, signifying God's refusal to listen to the coming cries from the city. There are other prophetic passages where God says something similar, a refusal to listen to cries to him: Isaiah 59:2, Jeremiah 7:16, Ezekiel 8:18, Amos 5:23, Habakkuk 1:2, Zechariah 7:13.
Ezekiel is to lie next to his model of the city, first on his left side, then on his right side. He is to lie on his left side 390 days, representing 390 years and then 40 days on his right side, representing 40 years. Mackie suggests that the 390 days represents 390 years of the temple's existence from the time of Solomon. Alexander notes that the 390 days is also very close to the (literal) time remaining in the siege of Jerusalem.
The Septuagint has numbers 190 and 150 in place of the Masoretic Text's 390 and 40. Alexander argues that the Septuagint numbers reflect a later editorial change that attempted to track time from the fall of Israel (722 BC) to the fall of Jerusalem (578 BC, roughly 150 years) followed by another 40 years in Babylon before the return to Jerusalem (539 BC.)
Ezekiel will bear the guilt of Judah, as the scapegoat of Israel (Mackie, see Leviticus 16:6-10.)
Ezekiel 4:7-8, Tied up
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.
Ezekiel is to face the direction of the siege and speak out against Jerusalem. Ezekiel will be tied up during this time, so that he cannot turn around.
Mackie calls this "street theatre" -- Ezekiel acts out, physically, a picture of his message.
Ezekiel 4:9-12, Prepare yourself
"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 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 barley cake; bake it in the sight of the people, using human excrement for fuel."
Ezekiel is to prepare, in advance, food for the time in which he is tied up. To cook the food he is to use human feces as fuel!
The bread described there is a sign of the starvation suffered by the people in Jerusalem. (This is not a recommended way to build good bread -- indeed, it is the opposite of that -- Mackie points out the absurdity of using verse 9 for marketing bread, see the bread advertised here.) The amount of daily water rations, a sixth of a hin, is probably less than a quart.
Ezekiel 4:13-15, Defiled food
The LORD said, "In this way the people of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them."
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 unclean meat has ever entered my mouth."
"Very well," he said, "I will let you bake your bread over cow manure instead of human excrement."
Ezekiel objects to using human excrement as fuel. Apparently this makes the food ritually unclean. God agrees to allow him to use cow manure instead of human excrement.
Ezekiel 4:16-17, Famine
He then said to me: "Son of man, I will cut off the supply of food 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 people faraway in Jerusalem, besieged by the Babylonians, will be forced to ration water and food.
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