Catholic Commentary on Ezekiel 4

“I am about to cut off the food supply in Jerusalem.” (Ezekiel 4:16)

The Sign of the Siege

The LORD instructs Ezekiel to perform a series of sign actions depicting the siege of Jerusalem. He is to take a clay tablet, draw the city of Jerusalem on it, and set up siege works against it. He is to lie on his left side for 390 days, bearing the sin of Israel, then on his right side for 40 days, bearing the sin of Judah. During this time he is to eat rationed food and water to depict the siege conditions. He is to bake his bread over human dung as a sign of unclean food in exile. When Ezekiel protests the uncleanness, God allows cow dung instead. I am about to cut off the food supply 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 Catechism draws from Ezekiel's prolonged sign actions the principle of the prophet's bodily participation in the message: the whole person, not just the voice, becomes the medium of the divine word (CCC 702).

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, Ezekiel lay on his side for more than a year as a living symbol. The prophet's body was the sermon. The most powerful preaching is not always the most eloquent speech but the life fully committed to embodying the message. What does your body say about the word you claim to believe?

Prayer

Lord God, let our whole lives, not just our words, be the living proclamation of your message. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

4
A Sign of Jerusalem’s Siege
1 “Now you, son of man, take a brick, place it before you, and draw on it the city of Jerusalem. 2 Then lay siege against it: Construct a siege wall, build a ramp to it, set up camps against it, and place battering rams around it on all sides. 3 Then take an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between yourself and the city. Turn your face toward it so that it is under siege, and besiege it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.
 
4 Then lie down on your left side and place the iniquity of the house of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their iniquity for the number of days you lie on your side. 5 For I have assigned to you 390 days, according to the number of years of their iniquity. So you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
 
6 When you have completed these days, lie down again, but on your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah. I have assigned to you 40 days, a day for each year. 7 You must turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared, and prophesy against it.
 
8 Now behold, I will tie you up with ropes so you cannot turn from side to side until you have finished the days of your siege.
The Defiled Bread
 
9 But take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt; put them in a single container and make them into bread for yourself. This is what you are to eat during the 390 days you lie on your side. 10 You are to weigh out twenty shekels of food * 4:10 20 shekels is approximately 8 ounces or 228 grams of food. to eat each day, and you are to eat it at set times.
 
11 You are also to measure out a sixth of a hin of water † 4:11 A sixth of a hin is approximately 0.65 quarts or 0.61 liters of water. to drink, and you are to drink it at set times. 12 And you shall eat the food as you would a barley cake, after you bake it over dried human excrement in the sight of the people.”
 
13 Then the LORD said, “This is how the Israelites will eat their defiled bread among the nations to which I will banish them.”
 
14 “Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “I have never defiled myself.‡ 4:14 Hebrew “Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “Behold, my soul has never been made unclean. From my youth until now I have not eaten anything found dead or mauled by wild beasts. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth.”
 
15 “Look,” He replied, “I will let you use cow dung instead of human excrement, and you may bake your bread over that.”
 
16 Then He told me, “Son of man, I am going to cut off the supply § 4:16 Hebrew staff of food in Jerusalem. They will anxiously eat bread rationed by weight, and in despair they will drink water by measure. 17 So they will lack food and water; they will be appalled at the sight of one another wasting away in their iniquity.

*4:10 4:10 20 shekels is approximately 8 ounces or 228 grams of food.

†4:11 4:11 A sixth of a hin is approximately 0.65 quarts or 0.61 liters of water.

‡4:14 4:14 Hebrew “Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “Behold, my soul has never been made unclean.

§4:16 4:16 Hebrew staff

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