Verse 2
2. Lay siege… build a fort… cast a mount All of these ordinary acts of a besieging army are so acted out in the picture-sermon of the dumb prophet that his hearers are made to understand the calamity which must soon fall upon their national capital. The “fort” was supposed to be occupied by archers, the “mount” was built in order that the besiegers might overlook the walls of the city and command the streets (Isaiah 37:33; Jeremiah 6:6; Jeremiah 32:24).
The camp Literally, camps. The besieging army is represented as divided into encampments which guard the city at all points. How the prophet represented these soldiers, battering-rams, etc., we do not know. They hardly seem to be a part of the picture engraved upon his unbaked brick.
Battering-rams It has been doubted by a recent writer (Havet) whether battering-rams were invented as early as Ezekiel’s day, but the Assyrian monuments show pictures of them in use centuries earlier. There was usually a battering-ram in the lower part of each fort or movable tower. The Hebrew word ( kar) does not indicate that this “batterer” must have had a ram’s head upon it. The Assyrian “ram” often had a spear-shaped head.
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