Ezequiel 4:1-17 NVT

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 4:9

Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches ,.... The first of these was commonly used to make bread of; in case of want and poverty, barley was used; but, for the rest, they were for cattle, and never used for the food of men but in a time of great scarcity; wherefore this was designed to denote the famine that should attend the siege of Jerusalem; see 2 Kings 25:3 ; and put them in one vessel ; that is, the flour of them, when ground,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 4:10

And thy meat which thou shall eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day ,.... To eat bread by weight was a sign of a grievous famine; see Leviticus 26:26 ; a shekel, according to Josephus F9 Antiqu. l. 3. c. 8. sect. 2. , weighed four Attic drachms, or half an ounce, wherefore twenty shekels weighed ten ounces; so that the bread the prophet had to eat was but ten ounces a day: from time to time shall thou eat it ; at the certain time of eating, or but once a day; from a set... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 4:11

Thou shall drink also water by measure ,.... Not wine, but water; and this not as much as he would, but a certain measure; which shows great want of it, and expresses a very distressed condition see Lamentations 5:4 ; the sixth part of an hin ; a hin held twelve logs, or seventy two egg shells, or about three quarts of our measure; and the sixth part of one were two logs, or twelve egg shells, and about a pint of our measure; so that it was but a pint of water a day that the prophet... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 4:12

And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes ,.... That is, the bread made of wheat, barley, beans, lentiles, millet, and fitches, was to be made in the form of barley cakes, and to be baked as they; not in an oven, but under ashes; and these ashes not of wood, or straw, or turf, but as follows: and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of men, in their sight : the prophet was to take human dung, and dry it, and then cover the cakes or loaves of his mixed bread with it, and burn it... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 4:13

And the Lord said, even thus shall the children of Israel ,.... Not the ten tribes only, or those who were among the other two, but all the Jews in captivity: eat the defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them ; so called, not because mixed, but baked in the above manner; which was a symbol of the defilements which they should contract upon various accounts, by dwelling among the Gentiles; so that this foretells their captivity; their pollution among the nations of the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 4:14

Then said I, ah, Lord God !.... The interjection "ah" is expressive of sighing and groaning, as Jarchi; or of deprecation, as the Targum, which paraphrases it, ""and I said", receive my prayer, O Lord God:' behold, my soul hath not been polluted ; not meaning that his soul had not been polluted with sin, or with an evil thought, as Kimchi interprets it; but by his soul he means the inward part of his body, his stomach and belly; which had not been defiled by taking in meats which were... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 4:15

Then he said to me ,.... The Lord hearkened to the prophet's prayer and argument, and makes some abatement and alteration in the charge he gave him: lo, I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung : that is, allowed him to make use of the one instead of the other, in baking his mingled bread: thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith ; having gathered cow's dung, and dried it, he was to burn it, and bake his bread with it, which is meant by preparing it. In some parts of our nation,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 4:16

Moreover he said unto me, son of man ,.... What follows opens the design, and shows what was intended by the symbol of the miscellany bread, baked with cow dung, the prophet was to eat by measure, as, well as drink water by measure: namely, the sore famine that should be in Jerusalem at the time of the siege: behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem : that is, take away bread, which is the staff of life, the support of it, and which strengthens man's heart; and also the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 4:17

That they may want bread and water ,.... Or, "because they shall want" F12 למען "eo quod", Munster, Vatablus; "propterea", Tigurine version. &c.; therefore they shall eat the one, and drink the other, by weight; or they shall do this till there shall be none to eat and drink: and be astonished one with another ; when they shall find they cannot relieve one another; and not knowing what method to take for the support of nature: and consume away for their iniquity ; their... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ezekiel 4:1

Take thee a tile - A tile, such as we use in covering houses, will give us but a very inadequate notion of those used anciently; and also appear very insufficient for the figures which the prophet was commanded to pourtray on it. A brick is most undoubtedly meant; yet, even the larger dimensions here, as to thickness, will not help us through the difficulty, unless we have recourse to the ancients, who have spoken of the dimensions of the bricks commonly used in building. Palladius, De Re... read more

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 4:9

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 4:10

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 4:11

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 4:12

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 4:13

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 4:14

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 4:15

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 4:16

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 4:17

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ezekiel 4:1

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