1 Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and portray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:
Now remember, Ezekiel is a captive in Babylon. He has been a perfectly normal man up until this point. Today, he silently takes a clay tile, and draws a picture of Jerusalem on it.
This is either the kind of tile used for writing in these days before paper, or the kind used to cover a building in decorations which were often carved with scenes or pictures, and sometimes up to 1' x 2' big. Either way, it was probably raw clay, not baked.
2 And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.
Now he pretends to lay siege to the city on his tile.
3 Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shall lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.
An iron frying pan or griddle would be as hard as the hearts of Israel and as black as their sin. It even more graphically represents the strength and power of the Babylonians, though. When sieging a city, they would put up walls and other protections so those in the city couldn’t shoot arrows at them, couldn’t get help from outside, and couldn’t escape.
4 Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shall lie upon it thou shall bear their iniquity.
5 For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shall thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
The Northern Kingdom, Israel, had been in rebellion to God for 390 years, so Ezekiel will lie on his side for 390 days.
6 And when thou have accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.
The southern Kingdom, Judah, had been much more faithful to God. They had only rebelled for 40 years.
It isn’t really clear whether Ezekiel lay on his side twenty-four hours a day for a year and a half or if this was his job and he went home each night. I lean towards him being there the whole time, but a later verse speaks about him sitting in his house before this time would have been up, so I’m not sure.
7 Therefore thou shall set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shall prophesy against it.
Can you imagine? This guy is perfectly normal one day, and the next he silently takes a piece of clay, carves a picture of Jerusalem on it, builds siege ramps up to it, and lays down next to it prophesying with his hand uncovered like he’s ready to swing his sword at it! It may be a good thing insane asylums had not been invented yet!
8 And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shall not turn thee from one side to another, till thou have ended the days of thy siege.
God tied him down so he couldn’t turn over.
9 Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, according to the number of the days that thou shall lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shall thou eat thereof.
The light, fluffy bread we Americans generally buy in the store is made of wheat alone (unless you buy special bread like 12 grain. Even then, the major ingredient is wheat.) This combination of grains and legumes God commanded Ezekiel to prepare would have been a complete protein (it had all the essential amino acids necessary for life, since grains have some and legumes have others), but would have been heavy and coarse. It would have kept Ezekiel alive, but not been the most pleasant food to eat. (There is a type of bread available in most stores called “Ezekiel Bread” that doesn’t taste too bad. The manufacture has added enough sugar to overcome the flavor!) This type of bread is what would be most available to those caught in the city during the siege.
10 And thy meat which thou shall eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shall thou eat it.
Twenty shekels is about 8-9 ounces, half what a man would normally eat in a day.
11 Thou shall drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shall thou drink.
This would be less than a pint of water a day. Most experts tell us to drink about four times that amount a day for optimum health.
Jerusalem was located on the top of a hill and, even though they had a tunnel down to a spring of water, during a siege, they would simply not have had enough water to have all they needed.
12 And thou shall eat it as barley cakes, and thou shall bake it with dung that comes out of man, in their sight.
13 And the Lord said, "Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them."
God is telling Israel how bad things are going to get. They will go hungry and thirsty and not have sufficient supplies.
14 Then said I, Ah Lord God! Behold, My soul has not been polluted: for from My youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dies of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into My mouth.
Food cooked with human waste was evidently considered defiled, though I don’t know of a scripture saying so. Since Ezekiel had been careful all his life to only eat those things approved by God, he found the idea of using human waste as fuel for his cooking fire abhorrent. Notice he didn’t object to small amount of food or water, nor lying on his side for more than a year. He only objected to what was unclean, not what was uncomfortable.
15 Then He said unto me, "Lo, I have given thee cow’s dung for man’s dung, and thou shall prepare thy bread therewith."
Cow manure is actually a common fuel. It is nearly as clean as wood to burn with very little odor. Now, I am sure the wealthy Jews bought wood for their fires because it is so much nicer to handle. But the time is coming when they will take whatever they can get.
16 Moreover He said unto me, "Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:
17 "That they may want bread and water, and be astonished one with another, and consume away for their iniquity."
God is going to punish them for their rebellion. They have been rich. Now they will be poor and afraid.