Ezekiel 4

II. ORACLES OF JUDGMENT ON JUDAH AND JERUSALEM FOR SIN CHS. 4-24

This section of the book contains prophecies that Ezekiel delivered from the beginning of his ministry (in 593 B.C.) to the fall of Jerusalem (586 B.C.). All of these prophecies deal with the coming destruction of the city and related calamities.

"Here begin Ezekiel’s prophecies directed toward others than himself." [Note: Ibid., p. 53.]

". . . Ezekiel’s messages of doom are evidently intended to dismantle official Jerusalemite theology by systematically undermining the four pillars upon which Judah’s (false) sense of security was built: 1. Yahweh’s covenant with Israel . . . (cf. Ezekiel 12:17 to Ezekiel 16:63; Ezekiel 18:1-32; Ezekiel 20:1-44; Ezekiel 22:1 to Ezekiel 24:14). 2. Yahweh’s commitment to his land . . . (Ezekiel 6:1 to Ezekiel 7:27; Ezekiel 21:1-23 [Eng. Ezekiel 20:45 to Ezekiel 21:17]). 3. Yahweh’s commitment to Jerusalem . . . (Ezekiel 4:1 to Ezekiel 5:17 . . . Ezekiel 8:1 to Ezekiel 11:25). 4. Yahweh’s covenant with David . . . (Ezekiel 12:1-16; Ezekiel 17:1-24; Ezekiel 19:1-14)." [Note: Block, The Book . . ., pp. 162-63. See also p. 8.]

A. Ezekiel’s initial warnings chs. 4-7

In this section, Ezekiel grouped several symbolic acts that pictured the destruction of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 4:1 to Ezekiel 5:4) and several discourses that he delivered on the subject of Jerusalem’s destruction (Ezekiel 5:5 to Ezekiel 7:27). Most of the exiles believed that the Jews who had gone into captivity would return to the Promised Land soon and that God would not allow the Babylonians to destroy Jerusalem and the temple. Ezekiel presented a very different picture of the future.

1. Dramatizations of the siege of Jerusalem chs. 4-5

The Lord had shut Ezekiel’s mouth (Ezekiel 3:26), so the first prophecies he delivered were not spoken messages but acted-out parables (cf. 1 Kings 11:30; 1 Kings 22:11; 2 Kings 13:17; Isaiah 20:2-4; Jeremiah 13:1-14; Jeremiah 19:1-10; Acts 21:10-11). Ezekiel evidently appeared somewhat like a mime doing street theater as he dramatized a message without speaking a word.

"The symbolic actions during the prophet’s inability to speak were testimonies to the past wickedness and chastisement of the house of Israel (the whole nation), and prophetic of a coming siege. They are therefore intermediate between the siege of 2 Kings 24:10-16, at which time Ezekiel was carried to Babylon, and the siege of 2 Kings 25:1-11, eleven years later." [Note: The New Scofield . . ., p. 841.]