Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 4:4
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 shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity.
4. lay the iniquity upon it ] The meaning seems to be that as when one lies on his side it bears his weight, so this laying of the prophet’s weight upon his side is a symbol of the weight of punishment which shall be laid on Israel for its iniquity. Others propose to alter the pointing and read: and I will lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon thee. The alteration is unnecessary.
thou shalt bear their iniquity ] To “bear iniquity” is a standing expression meaning to bear the punishment of iniquity. Possibly the word actually means “punishment of iniquity” in such phrases. The prophet does not bear the iniquity of Israel instead of Israel, as the servant of the Lord in Isaiah 53, his act is entirely symbolical, representing how Israel shall bear its iniquity.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
4 6. Symbol of the people’s bearing their iniquity
In the former symbol the prophet carried on the siege, representing the besiegers; here he changes his part and represents the besieged. This symbol is shewn contemporaneously with the former, of which it is but the inner side. He is commanded to lie first on his left side for a great number of days; thus he bears the iniquity of the Northern Kingdom. To bear the iniquity means to endure the punishment due to it. When the prophet is said to bear the iniquity of Israel, the meaning is that in his action he is a sign or symbol of the house of Israel bearing its iniquity. Lying on his side, held down as with cords ( Eze 4:8) and unable to turn he represents Israel pressed down and held in the grasp of the punishment of its iniquity. The left side represents the Kingdom of Israel, which lay to the left or north. The number of days during which the prophet lies on his side corresponds to the number of years during which Israel shall be bound under the weight of its iniquity ( Eze 4:5). Secondly, having finished the days for the Northern Kingdom the prophet has to lie on his right side forty days to represent Judah also bearing its iniquity for forty years. The right side is suitable to Judah, which lay on the south or right. The prophet being unable to lie on both sides at once has to lie first on one and then on the other. It is obvious, however, that the symbolism here is not quite exact. Israel and Judah bear the penalty of their iniquity for part of the time simultaneously. The period of bearing iniquity ends for both at the same moment, when both are restored together as the prophet hopes. Consequently Judah’s forty years are concurrent with the last forty years of Israel’s chastisement. The whole period is not 390 + 40 = 430, but 390 in all for Israel and the last 40 of that period for Judah. See on Eze 4:6.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The siege being thus represented, the condition and suffering of the inhabitants is exhibited by the condition of one, who, bound as a prisoner or oppressed by sickness, cannot turn from his right side to his left. The prophet was in such a state.
Bear their iniquity – The prophet was, in a figure, to bear their iniquities for a fixed period, in order to show that, after the period thus foretold, the burden of their sins should be taken off, and the people be forgiven. Compare Lev 16:21-22.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 4. Lie thou also upon thy left side] It appears that all that is mentioned here and in the following verses was done, not in idea, but in fact. The prophet lay down on his left side upon a couch to which he was chained, Eze 4:6, for three hundred and ninety days; and afterwards he lay in the same manner, upon his right side, for forty days. And thus was signified the state of the Jews, and the punishment that was coming upon them.
1. The prophet himself represents the Jews.
2. His lying, their state of depression.
3. His being bound, their helplessness and captivity.
4. The days signify years, a day for a year; during which they were to bear their iniquity, or the temporal punishment due to their sins.
5. The three hundred and ninety days, during which he was to lie on his left side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Israel, point out two things: the first, The duration of the siege of Jerusalem. Secondly, The duration of the captivity off the ten tribes, and that of Judah.
6. The prophet lay three hundred and ninety days upon his left side, and forty days upon his right side, in all four hundred and thirty days. Now Jerusalem was besieged the ninth year of the reign of Zedekiah, 2Kg 25:1-2, and was not taken till the eleventh year of the same prince, 2Kg 25:2.
But properly speaking, the siege did not continue the whole of that time; it was interrupted; for Nebuchadnezzar was obliged to raise it, and go and meet the Egyptians, who were coming to its succour. This consumed a considerable portion of time. After he had defeated the Egyptians, he returned and recommenced the siege, and did not leave it till the city was taken. We may, therefore, conclude that the four hundred and thirty days only comprise the time in which the city was actually besieged, when the city was encompassed with walls of circumvallation, so that the besieged were reduced to a state of the utmost distress. The siege commenced the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah; and it was taken on the ninth day of the fourth month of the eleventh year of the same king. Thus the siege had lasted, in the whole, eighteen months, or five hundred and ten days. Subtract for the time that Nebuchadnezzar was obliged to interrupt the siege, in order to go against the Egyptians, four months and twenty days, or one hundred and forty days, and there will remain four hundred and thirty days, composed of 390+40=430. See Calmet on this place. See also at the end of this chapter. See Clarke on Eze 4:16.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Lie thou also; a posture which was to signify the settled resolution of the besiegers, who had taken up their abode till the siege were finished in taking Jerusalem.
Upon thy left side, to note the less worthy part, the ten tribes, or Samaria, which was from Jerusalem toward the left hand, and was head of the ten tribes.
Lay the iniquity; take upon thee in the representation thereof both guilt and punishment; bear both, not to expiate, but to exemplify what they should suffer.
The house of Israel, distinguished from Judah; it is the ten tribes.
According to the number of the days; by that proportion of time thou shalt know and intimate to them how long I have borne patiently with their sins, and how long they shall bear their own punishment.
Thou shalt bear their iniquity; signifying that as the prophet in the sign, so God in very deed, had patiently borne with them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. Another symbolical actperformed at the same time as the former, in vision, not in externalaction, wherein it would have been only puerile: narrated as a thingideally done, it would make a vivid impression. The second action issupplementary to the first, to bring out more fully the sameprophetic idea.
left sidereferring tothe position of the ten tribes, the northern kingdom,as Judah, the southern, answers to “the right side”(Eze 4:6). The Orientals facingthe east in their mode, had the north on their left, and thesouth on their right (Eze16:46). Also the right was more honorable than the left: so Judahas being the seat of the temple, was more so than Israel.
bear the iniquityiniquitybeing regarded as a burden; so it means, “bear thepunishment of their iniquity” (Nu14:34). A type of Him who was the great sin-bearer, not inmimic show as Ezekiel, but in reality (Isa 53:4;Isa 53:6; Isa 53:12).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Lie thou also upon thy left side,…. Some think this was not in reality, but in vision, as Kimchi observes; and so Maimonides c; and in like manner they understand his eating and drinking by measures and preparing food, as he is directed in a following part of this chapter: but others are of opinion that all this was really done. The reasons given on both sides are not despicable. It is urged against the reality of the fact, that the prophet, without a miracle, could never have lain so long on one side; and besides, this seems to be contradicted by a later account, of his sitting in his house before the expiration of those days; since from the fifth day of the fourth month of the fifth year, in which he began to prophesy, Eze 1:1, (and this order was seven days after that at least, Eze 3:15), to the fifth day of the sixth month of the sixth year, when we find him sitting, Eze 8:1; were but four hundred and thirteen days; and if seven are taken out from thence, there are but four hundred and six; whereas the whole time of his lying for Israel and Judah were four hundred and thirty; and it is further observed, that it does not seem decent that the prophet should be obliged really to eat such bread as he was ordered to make. On the other hand it is observed, that the order of portraying the siege of Jerusalem on a the, and setting an iron pan for a wall, seem to direct to the doing of real facts, and to that this order is subjoined, without any mark of distinction; besides, the prophet was to have this portrait in view, while he was lying on his side, and uncover his arms, which seem to denote real facts: and was to prophesy, not by words, for he was to be dumb, Eze 3:26; but by facts; and he was to do all this in the sight of his people; and if the order to make a cake of bread was not to be really performed in the manner directed, there would have been no occasion of deprecating it. The learned Witsius d, who has collected the arguments on both sides, is inclined to the latter; and observes from others, that some persons have lain longer on one side than the prophet, without a miracle: particularly a certain paralytic nobleman, who lay sixteen years in such a manner: and as for the computation of time, Cocceius is of opinion that the forty days for Judah are included in the three hundred and ninety for Israel; and which indeed seem to be the whole number, Eze 4:9; and which at once solves the difficulty; and besides, the force of the objection may be taken off by observing, that the fifth year might be intercalated, and consist of thirteen months, which was common with the Jews to have a “Veadar”, or intercalated month: nor is it dishonourable nor unusual for the Lord to call his dear servants sometimes to hard and disagreeable service, as both these cases seem to be, when he has ends of his own glory, and the good of others, to be answered thereby. And the lying on the left side for the sins of the house of Israel was, as Jarchi thinks, because that Samaria, which was the head of the ten tribes, lay to the left of Jerusalem: see
Eze 16:46; or rather, because the left hand is not so honourable as the right; it may show that the Lord had not such an esteem for Israel us for Judah;
and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it; not to atone for it, but to show what was the cause of their captivity; far herein the prophet was no type of Christ, but represented the people of Israel; who had been grievously sinning against God, during the term of time hereafter mentioned, and now would be punished for it; for by “iniquity” is meant the punishment of it, which is often the sense of the word used; see Ge 4:13;
[according] to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity: which are particularly declared in Eze 4:5.
c Moreh Nevochim, par. 2. c. 46. d Miscel. Sacr. tom. 1. l. 1. c. 12. sect. 14, 15, &c.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The second symbolical act. – Eze 4:4. And do thou lay thyself upon thy left side, and lay upon it the evil deeds of the house of Israel; for the number of the days during which thou liest thereon shalt thou bear their evil deeds. Eze 4:5 . And I reckon to thee the years of their evil deeds as a number of days; three hundred and ninety days shalt thou bear the evil deeds of the house of Israel. Eze 4:6 . And (when) thou hast completed these, thou shalt then lay thyself a second time upon thy right side, and bear the evil deeds of the house of Judah forty days; each day I reckon to thee as a year. Eze 4:7 . And upon the siege of Jerusalem shalt thou stedfastly direct thy countenance, and thy naked arm, and shalt prophesy against it. Eze 4:8 . And, lo, I lay cords upon thee, that thou stir not from one side to the other until thou hast ended the days of thy siege. – Whilst Ezekiel, as God’s representative, carries out in a symbolical manner the siege of Jerusalem, he is in this situation to portray at the same time the destiny of the people of Israel beleaguered in their metropolis. Lying upon his left side for 390 days without turning, he is to bear the guilt of Israel’s sin; then, lying 40 days more upon his right side, he is to bear the guilt of Judah’s sin. In so doing, the number of the days during which he reclines upon his sides shall be accounted as exactly equal to the same number of years of their sinning. , “to bear the evil deeds,” i.e., to take upon himself the consequence of sin, and to stone for them, to suffer the punishment of sin; cf. Num 14:34, etc. Sin, which produces guilt and punishment, is regarded as a burden or weight, which Ezekiel is to lay upon the side upon which he reclines, and in this way bear it. This bearing, however, of the guilt of sin is not to be viewed as vicarious and mediatorial, as in the sacrifice of atonement, but is intended as purely epideictic and symbolical; that is to say, Ezekiel, by his lying so long bound under the burden of Israel and Judah which was laid upon his side, is to show to the people how they are to be cast down by the siege of Jerusalem, and how, while lying on the ground, without the possibility of turning or rising, they are to bear the punishment of their sins. The full understanding of this symbolical act, however, depends upon the explanation of the specified periods of time, with regard to which the various views exhibit great discrepancy.
In the first place, the separation of the guilt into that of the house of Israel and that of the house of Judah is closely connected with the division of the covenant people into the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah. That Ezekiel now is to bear the sin of Israel upon the left, that of Judah on the right side, is not fully explained by the circumstance that the kingdom of the ten tribes lay to the left, i.e., to the north, the kingdom of Judah to the right, i.e., to the south of Jerusalem, but must undoubtedly point at the same time to the pre-eminence of Judah over Israel; cf. Ecc 10:2. This pre-eminence of Judah is manifestly exhibited in its period of punishment extending only to 40 days = 40 years; that of Israel, on the contrary, 390 days = 390 years. These numbers, however, cannot be satisfactorily explained from a chronological point of view, whether they be referred to the time during which Israel and Judah sinned, and heaped upon themselves guilt which was to be punished, or to the time during which they were to atone, or suffer punishment for their sins. Of themselves, both references are possible; the first, viz., in so far as the days in which Ezekiel is to bear the guilt of Israel, might be proportioned to the number of the years of their guilt, as many Rabbins, Vatablus, Calvin, Lightfoot, Vitringa, J. D. Michaelis, and others suppose, while in so doing the years are calculated very differently; cf. des Vignoles, Chronol. I. p. 479ff., and Rosenmller, Scholia, Excurs. to ch. iv. All these hypotheses, however, are shattered by the impossibility of pointing out the specified periods of time, so as to harmonize with the chronology. If the days, reckoned as years, correspond to the duration of their sinning, then, in the case of the house of Israel, only the duration of this kingdom could come into consideration, as the period of punishment began with the captivity of the ten tribes. But this kingdom lasted only 253 years. The remaining 137 years the Rabbins have attempted to supply from the period of the Judges; others, from the time of the destruction of the ten tribes down to that of Ezekiel, or even to that of the destruction of Jerusalem. Both are altogether arbitrary. Still less can the 40 years of Judah be calculated, as all the determinations of the beginning and the end are mere phantoms of the air. The fortieth year before our prophecy would nearly coincide with the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign, and therefore with the year in which this pious king effected the reformation of religion. Ezekiel, however, could not represent this year as marking the commencement of Judah’s sin. We must therefore, as the literal meaning of the words primarily indicates, regard the specified periods of time as periods of punishment for Israel and Judah. Since Ezekiel, then, had to maintain during the symbolical siege of Jerusalem this attitude of reclining for Israel and Judah, and after the completion of the 390 days for Israel must lie a second time ( , Eze 4:6) 40 days for Judah, he had to recline in all 430 (390 + 40) days. To include the forty days in the three hundred and ninety is contrary to the statements in the text. But to reckon the two periods together has not only no argument against it, but is even suggested by the circumstance that the prophet, while reclining on his left and right sides, is to represent the siege of Jerusalem. Regarded, however, as periods of punishment, both the numbers cannot be explained consistently with the chronology, but must be understood as having a symbolical signification. The space of 430 years, which is announced to both kingdoms together as the duration of this chastisement, recalls the 430 years which in the far past Israel had spent in Egypt in bondage (Exo 12:40). It had been already intimated to Abraham (Gen 15:13) that the sojourn in Egypt would be a period of servitude and humiliation for his seed; and at a later time, in consequence of the oppression which the Israelites then experienced on account of the rapid increase of their number, it was – upon the basis of the threat in Deu 28:68, that God would punish Israel for their persistent declension, by bringing them back into ignominious bondage in Egypt – taken by the prophet as a type of the banishment of rebellious Israel among the heathen. In this sense Hosea already threatens (Hos 8:13; Hos 9:3, Hos 9:6) the ten tribes with being carried back to Egypt; see on Hos 9:3. Still more frequently, upon the basis of this conception, is the redemption from Assyrian and Babylonian exile announced as a new and miraculous exodus of Israel from the bondage of Egypt, e.g., Hos 2:2; Isa 11:15-16. – This typical meaning lies also at the foundation of the passage before us, as, in accordance with the statement of Jerome,
(Note: Alii vero et maxime Judaei a secundo anno Vespasiani, quando Hierusalem a Romanis capta templumque subversum est, supputari volunt in tribulatione et angustia et captivitatis jugo populi constitui annos quadringentos triginta, et sic redire populum ad pristinum statum ut quomodo filii Israel 430 annis fuerunt in Aegypto, sic in eodem numero finiatur: scriptumque esse in Exo 12:40. – Hieronymus.)
it was already accepted by the Jews of his time, and has been again recognised in modern times by Hvernick and Hitzig. That Ezekiel looked upon the period during which Israel had been subject to the heathen in the past as “typical of the future, is to be assumed, because only then does the number of 430 cease to be arbitrary and meaningless, and at the same time its division into 390 + 40 become explicable.” – Hitzig.
This latter view is not, of course, to be understood as Hitzig and Hvernick take it, i.e., as if the 40 years of Judah’s chastisement were to be viewed apart from the 40 years’ sojourn of the Israelites in the wilderness, upon which the look of the prophet would have been turned by the sojourn in Egypt. For the 40 years in the wilderness are not included in the 430 years of the Egyptian sojourn, so that Ezekiel could have reduced these 430 years to 390, and yet have added to them the 40 years of the desert wanderings. For the coming period of punishment, which is to commence for Israel with the siege of Jerusalem, is fixed at 430 years with reference to the Egyptian bondage of the Israelites, and this period is divided into 390 and 40; and this division therefore must also have, if not its point of commencement, at least a point of connection, in the 430 years of the Egyptian sojourn. The division of the period of chastisement into two parts is to be explained probably from the sending of the covenant people into the kingdom of Israel and Judah, and the appointment of a longer period of chastisement for Israel than for Judah, from the greater guilt of the ten tribes in comparison with Judah, but not the incommensurable relation of the divisions into 390 and 40 years. The foundation of this division can, first of all, only lie in this, that the number forty already possessed the symbolical significance of a measured period of divine visitation. This significance it had already received, not through the 40 years of the desert wandering, but through the 40 days of rain at the time of the deluge (Gen 7:17), so that, in conformity with this, the punishment of dying in the wilderness, suspended over the rebellious race of Israel at Kadesh, is already stated at 40 years, although it included in reality only 38 years; see on Num 14:32. If now, however, it should be supposed that this penal sentence had contributed to the fixing of the number 40 as a symbolical number to denote a longer period of punishment, the 40 years of punishment for Judah could not yet have been viewed apart from this event. The fixing of the chastisement for Israel and Judah at 390 + 40 years could only in that case be measured by the sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt, if the relations of this sojourn presented a point of connection for a division of the 430 years into 390 and 40, i.e., if the 40 last years of the Egyptian servitude could somehow be distinguished from the preceding 390. A point of contact for this is offered by an event in the life of Moses which falls within that period, and was fertile in results for him as well as for the whole of Israel, viz., his flight from Egypt in consequence of the slaughter of an Egyptian who had ill-treated an Israelite. As the Israelites, his brethren, did not recognise the meaning of this act, and did not perceive that God would save them by his hand, Moses was necessitated to flee into the land of Midian, and to tarry there 40 years as a stranger, until the Lord called him to be the saviour of his nation, and sent him as His messenger to Pharaoh (Ex 2:11-3:10; Act 7:23-30). These 40 years were for Moses not only a time of trial and purification for his future vocation, but undoubtedly also the period of severest Egyptian oppression for the Israelites, and in this respect quite fitted to be a type of the coming time of punishment for Judah, in which was to be repeated what Israel had experienced in Egypt, that, as Israel had lost their helper and protector with the flight of Moses, so now Judah was to lose her king, and be given over to the tyranny of the heathen world-power.
(Note: Another ingenious explanation of the numbers in question has been attempted by Kliefoth, Comment. p. 123. Proceeding from the symbolical signification of the number 40 as a measure of time for divine visitation and trial, he supposes that the prescription in Deu 25:3 – that if an Israelite were to be subject to corporal punishment, he was not to receive more than 40 stripes – is founded upon this symbolical signification – a prescription which, according to 2Co 11:24, was in practice so carried out that only 39 were actually inflicted. From the application and bearing thus given to the number 40, the symbolical numbers in the passage before us are to be explained. Every year of punishment is equivalent to a stripe of chastisement. To the house of Israel 10 x 39 years = stripes, were adjudged, i.e., to each of the ten tribes 39 years = stripes; the individual tribes are treated as so many single individuals, and each receives the amount of chastisement usual in the case of one individual. Judah, on the contrary, is regarded as the one complete historical national tribe, cause in the two faithful tribes of Judah and Benjamin the people collectively were represented. Judah, then, may receive, not the number of stripes falling to individuals, but that only which fell upon one, although, as a fair compensation, not the usual number of 40, but the higher number – compatible with the Torah – of 40 stripes = years. To this explanation we would give our assent, if only the transformation into stripes or blows of the days of the prophet’s reclining, or of the years of Israel’s punishment, could be shown to be probable through any analogous Biblical example, and were not merely a deduction from the modern law of punishment, in which corporal punishment and imprisonment hold the same importance. The assumption, then, is altogether arbitrary irrespective of this, that in the case of the house of Israel the measure of punishment is fixed differently from that of Judah; in the former case, according to the number of the tribes; in the latter, according to the unity of the kingdom: in the former at 39, in the latter at 40 stripes. Finally, the presupposition that the later Jewish practice of inflicting only 30 instead of 40 stripes – in order not to transgress the letter of the law in the enumeration which probably was made at the infliction of the punishment – goes back to the time of the exile, is extremely improbable, as it altogether breathes the spirit of Pharisaic micrology.)
While Ezekiel thus reclines upon one side, he is to direct his look unchangingly upon the siege of Jerusalem, i.e., upon the picture of the besieged city, and keep his arm bare, i.e., ready for action (Isa 52:10), and outstretched, and prophesy against the city, especially through the menacing attitude which he had taken up against it. To be able to carry this out, God will bind him with cords, i.e., fetter him to his couch (see on Eze 3:25), so that he cannot stir from one side to another until he has completed the time enjoined upon him for the siege. In this is contained the thought that the siege of Jerusalem is to be mentally carried on until its capture; but no new symbol of the state of prostration of the besieged Jerusalem is implied. For such a purpose the food of the prophet (Eze 4:9.) during this time is employed.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
We must first consider the scope of this prophecy, and we shall then discuss more conveniently its separate parts. It is not doubtful that God wished to oppose the pride of the people, for they thought themselves punished more severely than they deserved. And this is customary with hypocrites, because while they dare not acquit themselves altogether, they yet murmur as if God afflicted them too severely, then they willingly offer something in compensation that they may free themselves from punishment. For although they confess themselves guilty, yet they do not cease to turn aside, and think if God descends to equity with them, that either they will escape, or at least be less miserable. Such was the disposition of the ancient people, as is well known. We now only need to repeat what we have said before: that the Jews were more obstinate because God had spared them. Nor did they think this only temporary, but they exulted with great freedom, as if they had settled all their business with God. Meanwhile the exiles were constantly complaining, first, that God had treated them so severely, and yet had in clemency pardoned the Jews: then they thought that they had been deceived, and that if they had prudently attended to their own affairs they could have escaped the miseries by which they were oppressed. Now, therefore, Ezekiel is ordered to come forward into the midst of them, and shortly to show that no other result is possible but that the whole people should receive the reward of their wickedness. But because simple teaching was not sufficient to stir them up, a vision is added, and to this end the Prophet is ordered to lie on one side for three hundred and ninety days, and on the other side forty days. Now the interpretation is added, that days are taken for so many years But the meaning is, that the people through three hundred and ninety years carried on war with God, because they had never ceased from sin. Hence the Prophet is ordered to take upon him the iniquity of so many years: but God appointed him days for years, then forty years are added which belong to the people of Judah.
This place is variously twisted by interpreters. I will not refer to all their comments, for they have fatigued themselves in vain by inventing arguments which vanish of their own accord: I will not spend the time in refuting them, but will only endeavor to elicit the genuine sense. Some extend the name of Israel to the whole body of the people, but this must be rejected; for they begin the three hundred and ninety years from the first revolt, of which mention is made in the Book of Judges, (Jud 2:2,) and they gather together those years during which the Israelites often fell into impiety: hence they reckon the three hundred and ninety years, and subtract those periods in which religion and the pure worship of God flourished, as under Gideon, under Samson for some time, and under David and Solomon. They subtract then those years in which piety flourished among the people, and the remainder reaches about three hundred and ninety years. But it would be absurd to include the tribe of Judah under the name of Israel, when a comparison between each kingdom is made. We know, indeed, that all the posterity of Abraham were so named by their father Jacob, when, therefore, the name of Israel is put, the twelve or thirteen tribes are comprehended without exception; but when there is comparison, Israel signifies only the ten tribes, or that adulterous kingdom which set up Jeroboam as king after the death of Solomon. (1Kg 12:20.) Since, then, both Israel and Judah are treated of here, it is by no means suitable that the prophecy should speak of the whole people, and mix the tribe of Judah with the rest. Then the event itself dispels many clouds and takes away all room for controversy: for if we number the years from the revolt in Rehoboam’s time, we shall find three hundred and ninety years till the siege of Jerusalem. What then can be easier, and what room is there for conjectures? I wonder that Jerome, since he relates nothing but mere trifles, yet boasts of some wonderful wisdom; for he says, he did not do it for the sake of boasting, and truly he has little cause for it; for if any one will read his Commentary, he will find nothing but what is puerile. (1Kg 12:28.) But, as I have already said, since the name of Israel everywhere signifies the ten tribes, this interpretation is best here: namely, that the obstinacy of the ten tribes was continued through three hundred and ninety years. For, as is sufficiently, known, Jeroboam erected two altars, that he might turn away the people from the worship of God: for he thought himself not sufficiently established in his kingdom, so as to retain the obedience of the people, unless he turned them away from the house of David. Therefore he used that artifice — thus the worship of God was corrupted among the Israelites. Now by idolatry the Prophet here points out the other sins of the people; for from this fountain flowed all other iniquities. After they had once cut themselves off from God, they became forgetful of the whole law. The Prophet therefore includes all their corruptions under this one expression, since by the edict of their king this people had shaken off the yoke of God, for which Hosea reproaches them. (Hos 5:11.) We now understand the three hundred and ninety years of Israel’s iniquity, because the people then rejected the law, and followed foreign superstitions, which Jeroboam fabricated with no other intention than That; of strengthening the power of his kingdom, just as earthly kings are influenced by no other desire, although they pretend, and even magnificently boast, that they seek God’s glory with the utmost devotion, yet their religion is only a delusion; provided only that they retain the people in obedience and duty, any kind of worship, and any mode of worshipping God, is the same to them. Such, therefore, was the cunning of Jeroboam: but his posterity greatly deteriorated, so that the worship of God could never be restored among the Israelites. Circumcision, indeed, remained, in which they imitated what Moses had commanded in the law, but at the same time they had two altars, and those profane ones, instead of one only. At length they did not hesitate openly to adopt the idolatries of the Gentiles: hence they so mixed up God with their inventions, that what even they valued under the pretense of piety, was an abomination to him. This is the reason why God says that the iniquity of the people of Israel has endured for three hundred and ninety years
The difficulty in the second clause is greater, because the computation does not agree exactly. After the death of Josiah we shall only find twenty-two years to the destruction of the city. But we know that this king, of his eminent piety, took care that God should be sincerely worshipped; for he purged the whole land of all its defilements. Where, then, will be those forty years? Hence it is necessary to take a part of the reign of Manasseh, because then Jerusalem not only revolted from the teaching of the law, but that tyrant cruelly raged against all the Prophets, and the city was defiled by innocent blood. Hence it will be necessary to omit the reign of Josiah, then a part of the reign of Manasseh must be cut off, because he did not immediately relapse into idolatry; but after he grew up, then the worship of God and the examples of his fathers being despised, he turned aside to strange and fictitious worship, though he did not persist in his impiety to the end of his life. Eighteen years, then, must be taken and joined to the two-and-twenty, that the number which the Prophet uses may be made up, unless, perhaps, any one would rather take a part of the reign of Josiah. (2Kg 22:0) For although that pious king did his utmost to uphold the worship of God, yet we know that the people of very wickedness strove with the goodness of God. For when the law was found no amendment followed, for the memory of all its doctrine had grown obsolete; but when it was placed before the people they ought to have become new. But so far from those who had been previously alienated from God becoming wise again, they betrayed their obstinacy more and more. Since then, the impiety of the people had been detected, it is not surprising that the people of Judah is said to have sinned for forty years. Certainly this latter explanation pleases me most, because the Prophet refers to continuous years, which followed the captivity of the ten tribes; although I do not reject the other interpretation, because it reckons those years during which Manasseh exercised his tyranny against God’s servants, and endeavored as much as he could to abolish his pure worship, and to pollute it with the filth of all the nations. Now, therefore, we understand the forty years of the iniquity of the tribe of Judah.
As to those interpreters who refer the four hundred and thirty years to the siege of the city, as if God’s vengeance was thus satisfied, I fear it will not hold good; it seems to me not a suitable explanation; it only signifies that it is not surprising if their enemies besiege the city so long, since they did not cease to provoke God for as many years as the siege continued days. The city was besieged a whole year and two or three months. The beginning of the siege continues to the end of the half year, but it was finished in three or four months, when Pharaoh endeavored to free the Jews, who were then his allies and confederates, by bringing up his army. Then Nebuchadnezzar went forth to meet him, and the city was relieved for a short time. Now if we take three hundred and ninety days, we shall find a whole year at first, that is three hundred and sixty-five years, although then there was an intercalary month, and they had not their year defined as we now have; but yet there will be three hundred and sixty-five days, which make a complete year. The two months will make sixty days, so we shall have four hundred and twenty days. Now a month and a half elapsed before the return of Nebuchadnezzar. Then the computation will amount to four hundred and thirty years. But interpreters are satisfied, because the siege of the city endured to a time which answers to that prescribed to Abraham. For God entered into covenant with Abraham four hundred and thirty years before the promulgation of the law. But I do not see why they are so satisfied with this resemblance. Nor is this the meaning of our Prophet. When he speaks of a siege he certainly regards especially the destruction of the city. Therefore I do not think that the days of the siege are here enumerated as a just punishment, but only that years are compared with days, that they may determine how long the siege should be, and that the end was not to be, expected until the whole people perished.
Besides, we see as we go on that the Prophet lay on his side three hundred and ninety days; where there is no mention of forty days, and that part seems to be omitted. Yet this remains fixed, because Israel and Judah had been obstinate in their wickedness; hence the city was besieged until it was utterly taken. Now surely the punishment of Israel cannot be considered as consisting in the overthrow of the holy city; for already the ten tribes had migrated from their country, and did not know what was doing at Jerusalem, except by report. Whatever happened their condition was altogether separate from all the miseries of the people, for they were then quiet in exile. As then the Prophet is ordered to bear the iniquity of Israel for three hundred and ninety days, this ought not to be restricted to the siege. God simply means, since so many years had elapsed during which both Israelites and Jews had not ceased to sin, their final destruction was already at hand. But we know that then the kingdom of Judah was extinguished, and exile was to the ten tribes like death. On this account they had perished; nor did the Prophet bear their iniquity as if they were then paying the penalty of their sins. But we know that this is the customary manner of Scripture, because God reckons sins to the third and fourth generation. (Exo 20:5; Deu 5:9.) When, therefore, God wished the ten tribes to be dragged into exile, then he punished them for their wickedness three hundred and ninety years. Afterwards he bore with the city of Jerusalem for a certain time, and endured a similar impiety in that tribe, that he should not utterly blot out the memory of the people. But the Jews did not repent, since we also see by Isaiah comparing them with the Israelites, that they became worse. (Isa 18:1, 8 [ sic ].) Micah reproves them for following the statutes of Omri; (Mic 6:16,) whence it is not surprising if the punishment which they endure should answer to the wickedness in which they had involved themselves. We shall see also that the same subject is repeated by our Prophet in Eze 16:0.
On the whole then, God wished to show the people that they had abused his forbearance too much and too long, since they did not desist from sinning even to the four hundred and thirtieth year. The Israelites indeed began to turn aside from the true worship of God while the Temple still remained pure, but at length the tribe of Judah, by degenerating, became guilty of the same impiety. Now we understand the intention of the Holy Spirit.
I pass on to the words. Thou, says he, shalt lie upon thy left side We must remark that this was not in reality completed, because Ezekiel did not lie for three hundred and ninety days upon his side, but only by a vision, that he might afterwards relate to the people what God had made manifest. As to the opinion of those commentators who think the ten tribes are meant by the left side, because Samaria was situated to the left hand, I do not think it applicable. I do not doubt that God wished to prefer the tribe of Judah to the kingdom of Israel; for although the ten tribes excelled in the number, opulence, and strength of men, yet God always made more, of the kingdom of Judah. For here was the seat of David; and the ten tribes were the posterity of Abraham only after the flesh, the promise remained to Jerusalem, and there also the lamp of God shone, as we have said in many places. Hence the right side signifies that dignity with which God wished always to adorn the kingdom of Judah: but the ten tribes are marked by the left side; because, as I have said, they did not enjoy equal glory with the kingdom of Judah, although they are more numerous, more courageous, and more abundant in all good things. It must now be observed that the burden of bearing their iniquity was imposed on the Prophet: not because God transferred to him the iniquity of the people, as some here invent an allegory, and say that the Prophet was a type of Christ, who bore on himself the iniquity of the people. But an expiation is not here described: but we know that God uses his servants for different purposes. So therefore the Prophet on one side is ordered to oppose Jerusalem, as if he were the king of Babylon; hence he sustains the character of king Nebuchadnezzar when he opposes the city of brick, of which we spoke yesterday. Now he sustains other characters, as of the ten tribes and the kingdom of Judah, when he lies upon his left side three hundred and ninety days , and on his right side forty days For this reason also it is said, I have appointed to thee the years of this iniquity, according to then number, of the days, etc; that is, when I order thee to lie on thy right side so many days, I represent to thee years. For it would have been absurd to demand of the Prophet to lie upon one side four centuries, so God accommodates himself in these figures to our standard; and it is contrary to nature that a man should lie for four centuries, and because that is absurd, God changes years into days; and this is the reason why days are said to be substituted for years. Afterwards it is added, when thou shalt have fulfilled those years, then thou shalt afterwards lie upon thy right side, and shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days Here God shows the tribe of Judah, that when it ought to be frightened by the punishment of the kingdom of Israel, it still persisted in its wickedness hence the Jews could not possibly escape the punishment of the Israelites.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
II. PARABLE OF ISRAELS SIN 4:48
TRANSLATION
(4) And as for you, lie upon your left side, and set the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it. The number of days in which you lay upon it you shall bear their iniquity. (5) For I have appointed to you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of days, three hundred ninety days. So shall you bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. (6) When you have finished these days, then lie a second time upon your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days; one day for each year I have appointed you. (7) So unto the siege of Jerusalem you shall set your face, and your shoulder shall be uncovered, and you shall prophecy against it. (8) And behold I have placed bands upon you, and you shall not turn yourself from one side to the other until you have completed the days of your siege.
COMMENTS
In Eze. 4:1-3 Ezekiel impersonated Jerusalems enemies; his role is now reversed. Here Ezekiel symbolizes the apostate people of God. He is to lie first on his left side, then on his right side, to bear the iniquity of the house of Israel and the house of Judah. The Oriental habit was to face eastward when indicating points of the compass.[144] Facing east one has north on his left side and south on his right. Hence the left side represented the house of Israel, the Northern Kingdom which had been carried captive in 722 B.C. The right side symbolized the house of Judah, the Southern Kingdom which was in its dying days at the moment Ezekiel received this revelation. The number of days which the prophet spent on each side symbolized the number of years which each kingdom had stood under the condemnation of God.
[144] Feinberg, PE, p. 33.
A few observations about this action parable need to be made before the difficult question of the numbers found here is taken up:
1. The action of the prophet in lying first on the one side and then on the other was commanded by God. Therefore there is no reason to suspect that Ezekiel suffered from epileptic seizures or catalepsy.
2. Eze. 4:4 seems to suggest that the time periods here indicated do not represent the time of Israels sinning, but the period during which the people of God had been or would be punished for their sins.
3. The longer period of punishment for Israel, the Northern Kingdom, indicates the greater guilt of that nation.
4. Part of the time Israel and Judah bore the penalty of their sin simultaneously. That is to say, the period of punishment overlapped.
5. The end of the period of punishment was the same for both kingdoms 539 B.C.
6. In dealing with prophetic numbers one must allow for approximations or rounding off to figures.
7. Such great diversity of opinion exists as to the terminus a quo of the figures here given that dogmatic assertions are out of place.
8. Inherent in these figures is a hint of hope. The period of punishment, though long and terrible, would not be inter minable.
9. It is not necessary to assume that Ezekiel was in the prone position day and night. Other activities are said to have been performed during this period. Hence the symbolic prone position must have lasted only part of each day.
Ezekiel was to lie on his left side 390 days. If the Hebrew text be retained as is, there seems to be only one possible terminus a quo for this period, viz., the division of the Hebrew kingdom in 931 B.C. Allowing for round figures something very common in prophecy the 390 years would terminate with the fall of Babylon in 539 B.C. Through that entire period the citizens of the Northern Kingdom were under the wrath of God because of their apostate activities.[145]
[145] Many modern writers prefer to follow the Greek text which gives 190 as the figure here. From the fall of Samaria in 722 B. C until the time of Ezekiels vision was about 150 years Add to this the 40 years mentioned in Eze. 4:6 and the figure 190 is reached However, it is more likely that the Greek translators deliberately altered the text. There is no logical explanation of how any accidental change in the text could have occurred here.
From what point are the 40 years of Judahs punishment to be counted? The figure 40 is reminiscent of the period of Israel wandering in the wilderness. It seems more in accordance with the other signs in this book to suppose that these years represent not that which had already transpired, but that which was yet to be. From the final deportation of Jews to Babylon in 582 B.C. (Jer. 52:30) until the fall of Babylon and the end of the Babylonian exile in 539 B.C. is a period of 42 years. The prophet is probably referring to this period with the symbolic number 40, the period during which Gods people, because of their sin, would be denied access to the Promised Land.
Another view worthy of note is that of Currey who sees in these figures a purely symbolic significance. The two figures combined yield 430 years. This may be a representation of the future in terms of the past. Just as Israel was 430 years in Egyptian bondage, so would they now be in bondage in Mesopotamia.[146] A correlation may also exist between the 40 years punishment assigned to Judah and the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness during the Exodus from Egypt.[147]
[146] Currey. BC, pp. 3334. Hoses had predicted already that Ephraim would again suffer the misery of bondage in a strange land. See Hoses Eze. 8:13; Eze. 9:3.
[147] Ellison, (EMM, p. 34) argues for this connection.
In his prone position Ezekiel was to bear the iniquity of the two kingdoms. The term iniquity in the Old Testament can refer to the sin itself or the punishment that comes upon that offense. In the present passage the term seems to have the latter connotation. Ezekiel is to symbolize through his personal suffering of physical restraint the punishment of Gods people in being cut off from the Holy Land and the Temple. This symbolic suffering is by no means to be equated with the vicarious suffering which is set forth in Isaiah 53.
During the entire time that he was lying on his side Ezekiel was to fix his gaze upon the tile which depicted the besieged city of Jerusalem. The fixing of the gaze indicates steadfastness of purpose. He was to have his arm uncovered like a warrior prepared for battle (cf. Isa. 52:10). By these actions he would be prophesying against Jerusalem (Eze. 4:7).
Eze. 4:8 underscores the discomfort which Ezekiel must have experienced while carrying out this symbolic act. He was not to turn from one side to another. There may be a hint of special divine aid in the statement I lay bands upon you.[148]
[148] Taylor (TOTC, p. 81) takes the expression literally, and pictures Ezekiels body trussed with cords during his daily period upon his side.
Some scholars find difficulty in fitting the 430 days of this action parable into the chronology of the early ministry of Ezekiel. Ellison argues that this action parable must be fitted into the year and two months which elapsed between Eze. 1:2 and Eze. 8:1. According to the Jewish system of reckoning time, this would be equivalent to 413 days.[149] Ellison therefore argues that the 40 days on the right side must have been concurrent with the last 40 days of the 390 days on the left side.[150] However, the text certainly gives the impression that the 430 days of prostration were consecutive 390 on the left side followed by 40 on the right side. In the fulfillment of this prophecy the 40 years of Judahs punishment was in fact concurrent with the last 40 years of Israels punishment. But in the symbolic action performed by Ezekiel the days seem to be consecutive. Therefore, one must conclude either (1) that during the period between Eze. 1:2 and Eze. 8:1 a month had been intercalated (see note 12); or (2) that the symbolic prostration extended beyond the time stipulated in Eze. 8:1. Of course, if the prophets prostration occurred only in a vision as some scholars contend, it would not be necessary to fit the 430 days into the chronology of Ezekiels life.
[149] The Jewish year was a lunar year of 354 days. Periodically an extra month was intercalated so as to bring the lunar calendar into harmony with the seasons. If the year which elapsed between Eze. 1:2 and Eze. 8:1 was such a leap year, the maximum number of days would be 442.
[150] Ellison, EMM. p. 34.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(4) Lie thou also upon thy left side.Here a fresh feature of this symbolical prophecy begins, while the former siege is still continued (Eze. 4:7).
Lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it.The expression, to bear the iniquity of any one, is common in Scripture to denote the suffering of the punishment due to sin. (See, among many other passages, Eze. 18:19-20; Eze. 23:35; Lev. 19:8; Num. 14:34; Isa. 53:12.) It is clear, therefore, that Ezekiel is here to represent the people as enduring the Divine judgment upon their sins. This may seem inconsistent with his representing at the same time the besiegers of Jerusalem, the instruments in the Divine hand for inflicting that punishment; but such inconsistencies are common enough in all symbolic representations, and neither offend nor in any way mar the effect of the representation. The house of Israel is here expressly distinguished from the house of Judah, and means the ten tribes. They are symbolised by the prophets lying on his left side, because it was the Oriental habit to look to the east when describing the points of the compass, and the northern kingdom was therefore on the left.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4, 5. Lie thou also upon thy left side three hundred and ninety days LXX., one hundred and ninety days. Most modern expositors do not believe that Ezekiel lay on one side three hundred and ninety or one hundred and ninety days without moving. Certainly if he did this he must have been paralyzed or cataleptic, as Klostermann, Kraetzschmar, etc., think. (Compare Piepenbring, Revue de L’Hist. des Rel., 1891.) Gautier, however, points out that all of these commands have reference to Ezekiel’s actions as a preacher. When alone, or in the seclusion of his own house, he can talk to his wife and walk as he pleases; but when the time comes for the sermon, and the people gather to hear the word of the Lord, they always find the prophet in the same place, and in the same posture, and maintaining an unbroken silence. This silent picture-prophecy of the length of the captivity continued week after week, and month after month, until all the exiles heard of it, as also, without doubt, the Israelites who remained in Jerusalem; for the communication seems to have been constant between Chebar and the holy city.
Thou shalt bear their iniquity This does not mean that the prophet is to be punished in their place, but that he thus prophetically announces their punishment; the term “iniquity” in this connection meaning penalty for iniquity. The duration has no reference to the days of the siege of Jerusalem, but to the years of exile. But how then can we accept as correct the figures three hundred and ninety which are given by our present Hebrew text, and which are wholly contrary to the facts in the case? Many of the old expositors, from Jerome to Keil, being unable to explain this number historically, have added to it the forty days which the prophet suffered for Judah, and have explained the total symbolically four hundred and thirty being the years spent in Egyptian bondage (Exo 12:40). The meaning would then be that the punishment in Babylon would be as severe, though not necessarily as long, as their punishment in Egypt and their wandering in the wilderness (Deu 28:68). But the fact is that the Babylonian exile was in no respect equal in hardship to the Egyptian enslavement. We prefer, therefore, to accept the Hebrew text, which the Septuagint followed, rather than our present text. If this translation, which reads one hundred and ninety instead of three hundred and ninety, is to be accepted, it is then evident that, since the captivity of both Judah and Israel ends at the same time, the forty years are not to be thought of as added to the one hundred and ninety, but as included in them (Eze 16:53; Eze 37:16; Eze 37:19; Eze 37:22; Eze 47:13). The forty years, then, is to be counted from the destruction of Jerusalem (586 B.C.) to the restoration. This gives exact and almost literal fulfillment to the prophecy, “forty” being the round number which is constantly used in Scripture for one generation (Eze 29:11-14; Num 14:33, etc.). The captivity of Israel is here counted one hundred and fifty years longer than that of Judah; its beginning probably being reckoned from the invasion and deportation of Tiglath-pileser, 734 B.C. The one hundred and ninety years of Israel would extend, then, from 734 B.C. to 538 B.C., the year of restoration. (See chronological chart.)
I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days Literally, the years of their iniquity do I make to be to thee as a number of days even as. The number of days that Ezekiel lies upon his side symbolizes the number of years daring which the people shall bear their iniquity “a day for a year” (Eze 4:6). “Lying on his side, held down as with cords (Eze 4:8) and unable to turn, he represents Israel pressed down and held in the grasp of the punishment of iniquity.” Davidson.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“Moreover lie on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel on it. According to the number of days you will lie on it. You will bear their iniquity. For I have appointed the years of their iniquity to be to you a number of days, even three hundred and ninety days. So shall you bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And again when you have accomplished these you will lie on your right side, and you will bear the iniquity of the house of Judah. Forty days, each day for a year, have I appointed it to you.”
Having depicted the siege of Jerusalem with its inevitable end, Ezekiel was now himself to depict himself as bearing the sin of Israel and Judah. The time elements were further indication that when God spoke to ‘the house of Israel’ it depicted all the tribes, both those incorporated into Judah and those scattered elsewhere among the nations. His message would reach to them as well.
By lying on his left side Ezekiel was to show himself as bearing the iniquity of the northern kingdom of Israel. The pain and the sores resulting would at times become unbearable. But it was acted out prophecy. He suffered the pain that they should have suffered. But it was not vicarious. It depicted what would be and why their suffering and exile were necessary. The reason for selecting 390 days is not explained other than that it represents a period of 390 years, although the 390 days may represent a thirteen month year (30 x 13). If we date it from approximately 930 BC, the date of the setting up of the golden calves and the break by Israel from the central sanctuary (1Ki 12:26-33), which to a priest of Judah could well be seen as the beginning of ‘the years of their iniquity’, it would bring us down to around this time, remembering that their suffering and rebellion still continued. It need not be seen as necessarily exact. It was symbolic, and the ‘years of their iniquity’ were still continuing. But its point was not only to accentuate the length of their iniquity, but to indicate that it was coming to an end. God would yet bring them to repentance and show mercy on them.
Three hundred and ninety represents three hundreds and three thirties (thirty being three intensified). Thus it stresses a complete period based on the significance of three, the number of completeness, a perfect period. However, 390 days also represents a thirteen month year taking the approximation regularly used of thirty days to a month (Gen 7:24; Gen 8:3 with Eze 7:11 and Eze 8:4; Rev 11:2 with Eze 11:3). Possibly then this was such a year.
After he had finished depicting the period of the iniquity of Israel he must then turn over and depict the period of the iniquity of Judah. This was to be for forty days, depicting forty years. ‘Forty’ regularly depicts a period of trial and testing. We can compare how under Moses Israel suffered forty years in the wilderness. Thus the forty years, a round number depicting trial and testing, refers to the final period of Judah’s rebellion against God. Possibly it was to be seen as ‘dating’ from the death of Josiah around 609 BC which resulted in all his activity on behalf of Yahweh’s name ceasing and its being replaced by final idolatry which was still continuing (2Ch 36:5; 2Ch 36:9; 2Ch 36:11). Again it is symbolic rather than exact. Their period of iniquity was far shorter than that of Israel, but it was still going on (this difference confirms that the figures look back to the past and not forward to the future).
Laying on the left or right side may have come from the fact that if he was lying on his back with his head towards Jerusalem the northern kingdom would be on his left and the southern kingdom on his right.
The point behind both representations was to demonstrate that both nations had gone through long periods of iniquity, and still did so, and that that situation would go on. They did, however, also stress that their period of iniquity would eventually come to an end in God’s time. When the restoration did take place people from both Israel and Judah would participate.
A question that is disputed is whether the 40 days follows the 390 days, or whether Ezekiel turned over after 350 days, the last forty days counting for both, thus completing a theoretical thirteen month year. Eze 4:9 may suggest that 390 days was the total period for which he lay there, and the passage nowhere actually says that he was to lie on his left side for 390 days. But Eze 4:4; Eze 4:6 strongly suggest it.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eze 4:4. Lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it By the iniquity is meant the punishment of the iniquity of the house of Israel; and though several commentators interpret this passage of what was past, there seems no doubt that it was intended to foretel and pre-signify what was future; namely, how many years the children of Israel and Judah were to suffer the punishment of their iniquity; but we should observe, that in the three hundred and ninety days are not only denoted the three hundred and ninety years during which the children of Israel were to suffer the punishment of their iniquity, but also the three hundred and ninety days themselves, during which Jerusalem was to be besieged and reduced to the utmost distress by famine. Compare the 11th with the 16th verse. Ezekiel takes meat and drink by measure for three hundred and ninety days, the meaning whereof is explained in the 16th and 17th verses; namely, that the famine should rage for so many days in Jerusalem: but the same Ezekiel lying upon his side pre-signifies how long Israel and Judah should lie under the punishment of their iniquity; namely, Israel three hundred and ninety, and Judah forty years. But this matter, says Calmet, is so pregnant with difficulties, that it requires a whole dissertation to consider it.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
I cannot but think somewhat more than Ezekiel, as a servant, and the captivity of the people in Babylon, was intended by this type. At least it is hardly possible to overlook Christ, the one and only suited burden-bearer of his people’s sins, as here alluded to Jesus, indeed, not only on his side, but in his whole person in his body-sufferings, and soul-travail, bare the sins of his redeemed, and carried their sorrows. And most blessed it is to eye Him under this divine character.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Eze 4:4 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 shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity.
Ver. 4. Lie thou also upon thy left side. ] Which for so long a time to do, could not but put the prophet to great pain, and try his patience to the utmost, especially if he lay bound all the while, as Theodoret thinketh he did, to set forth Jerusalem’s great miseries during the siege, or rather God’s infinite patience in bearing with their evil manners with so perverse a people.
Thou shalt bear their iniquity,
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Eze 4:4-8
4As for you, lie down on your left side and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel on it; you shall bear their iniquity for the number of days that you lie on it. 5For I have assigned you a number of days corresponding to the years of their iniquity, three hundred and ninety days; thus you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. 6When you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah; I have assigned it to you for forty days, a day for each year. 7Then you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared and prophesy against it. 8Now behold, I will put ropes on you so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have completed the days of your siege.
Eze 4:4 God commands the prophet to lie (BDB 1011, KB 1486, Qal IMPERATIVE) on his left side to bear (BDB 669, KB 724, lit. to carry, Qal IMPERFECT) the sin of Israel. Apparently this is a function of the priesthood (cf. Num 18:1). The VERB implies the carrying away of sin, like the scapegoat in the ceremony of Leviticus 16, the Day of Atonement. However, Ezekiel’s actions do not cause God to spare Jerusalem, but judge it (cf. Eze 4:7). Ezekiel’s acts show the extent of the people’s rebellion (i.e., longevity).
Eze 4:5 three hundred and ninety days Ezekiel is told to lie on his side to show the sin of both Israel (Eze 4:4-5) and Judah (Eze 4:6). It is obvious here that the house of Israel means the Northern Ten Tribes only.
There has been much difficulty concerning 390 days. The Septuagint has 190 days and this may be closer to the original number because the difference in time between chapter Eze 1:2 and Eze 8:1 is only 14 months, which seems not to leave enough time for 430 days of silent witness (i.e., 390 for Israel and 40 for Judah).
It is possible that the combined numbers (i.e., 390 + 40) equals Israel’s time in Egypt plus the wilderness wanderings (cf. Gen 15:13; Exo 12:40; Act 7:6; Gal 3:17). Therefore, it might be a way of referring to the beginning of Israel as a people (i.e., Abraham – Moses). If so, it symbolized that they had always been a sinful, rebellious, stiff-necked people (cf. Eze 2:3-4; Eze 2:7-8).
We as moderns must remember that the ancients used certain numbers in symbolic ways. Often these are round numbers (cf. John J. Davis, Biblical Numerology).
Eze 4:6 forty days The number forty in the Bible is often a long period of indefinite time. See Special Topic: Symbolic Numbers in Scripture .
Eze 4:7 with your arm bared This was a metaphor for God’s effective action against Jerusalem.
God’s arm/hand can be for good or woe.
1. positive, Exo 6:6; Exo 15:16; Deu 4:34; Deu 5:15; Deu 7:19; 2Ch 32:8; Psa 98:1; Isa 52:10; Jer 32:17-18
2. negative, Jer 6:12; Jer 21:5; Jer 27:5-6; Eze 20:33-34; Eze 30:24-25
Eze 4:8 I will put ropes on you This same metaphor is used in Eze 3:25. God directs the prophet’s words and actions to communicate His message to His people.
It seems from Eze 3:25 that the prophet was limited to his home. The elders had to go there to see him (cf. Eze 8:1; Eze 14:1; Eze 20:1). He was also allowed to communicate either by a message or a dramatic act only if God directed him.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
lay = set, or place. Hebrew sum. See note on Eze 4:1.
according to the number, &c. Reference to Pentateuch, (Num 14:34). This is no evidence that in prophetic scriptures there is a “year = day “theory. These exceptions prove the opposite rule. In all of them “day” means “day”, and “year” means “year”.
bear their iniquity. A technical expression belonging to the Pentateuch – to endure the punishment due to iniquity, or sin. See Exo 28:38, Exo 28:93. Lev 5:1, Lev 5:17; Lev 7:18; Lev 10:17; Lev 16:22; Lev 17:16; Lev 19:16; Lev 20:17, Lev 20:19, Lev 20:20 (sin); Lev 22:9 (sin), Lev 22:16; Lev 24:15 (sin). Num 5:31; Num 9:13 (sin); 14, 33 (whoredoms), 34; Eze 18:1, Eze 18:1, Eze 18:22 (sin), 23, 32 (sin); Eze 30:15. Outside the Pentateuch, only in Eze 4:4, Eze 4:5, Eze 4:6; Eze 16:54 (shame); Eze 18:19, Eze 18:20, Eze 18:20; Eze 23:49 (sin); Eze 32:24 (shame), 25 (shame), 30 (shame); Eze 44:10, Eze 44:12; and in Isa 53:4, Isa 53:11, Isa 53:12, where the verb is sabal (not nasa, as in Pentateuch), and Lam 5:7.
iniquity. Hebrew. `avon. App-44. Put by Figure of speech metonymy (of Cause), App-6, for the punishment brought about in consequence of it.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Eze 4:4-8
Eze 4:4-8
“Moreover lie thou upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it; according to the number of days thou shalt lie upon it, thou shalt bear their iniquity. For I have appointed the years of their iniquity to be unto thee a number of days, even three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And again, when thou hast accomplished these, thou shalt lie on thy right side, and shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah, each day for a year, have I appointed it unto thee. And thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with thine arm uncovered; and thou shalt prophesy against it. And, behold, I lay hands upon thee; and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to the other till thou hast accomplished the days of thy siege.”
“Left side … right side …” (Eze 4:4). The ancient usage of such terminology was based upon the proposition that one faced the East (the rising sun); and thus the left stood for the North, the right stood for the South; and the East was always considered “the front.” Since Northern Israel (Samaria) lay north of Jerusalem, the “right” and “left” designation applied to the Ten Northern tribes and to Judah, respectively.
“The restrained position of the prophet was a symbol of the loss of freedom awaiting the people.”
“And thou shalt set thy face toward the siege …” (Eze 4:7). This represented the intent purpose of God looking to the total destruction of the city.
“With thine arm uncovered …” (Eze 4:7). There is another echo of Jer 21:5 in this. God’s arm was uncovered and outstretched to accomplish the destruction of the Jewish kingdom.
“Lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it (Ezekiel’s left side) … thou shalt bear their iniquity … so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel… and again, thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah …” (Eze 4:4-6).
Right here lies the “lost message of Ezekiel.” None of dozens of commentators we have consulted pays the slightest attention whatever to the colossal teachings of the vital messages in these dramatic clauses. Ezekiel represents God in the analogy here; and as God’s representative, he bears the iniquity of both Israel and Judah. The 390 years for one and the forty years for the other, therefore have no application whatever to the duration of the captivity, either of Northern Israel or of Southern Israel, nor of any one else. The absolute inability of all the commentators to come up with any rational or reasonable explanation of what these respective time periods really prophesied is the only proof needed that they have simply not understood what is meant by them.
Here Ezekiel is a type of the Son Man (the Christ) indeed; and he becomes the sin-bearer for all Israel. That is the bold, unequivocal message of this passage.
What about the 390 years and the forty years? “Forty” throughout the Old Testament is the symbolical word for punishment; and the Ten Northern Tribes deserved ten times forty (four hundred stripes, days, years, whatever; but as the Jews always administered that “forty” as “forty stripes save one” it would mean that the Ten Tribes deserved 390 years of the wrath of God. Judah, the principal tribe of the Southern Israel also would receive “forty,” it not being considered necessary to add the limitation of “save one” here, as it may be understood. As we see it, God’s “beating the iniquity of all the tribes of earth in the person of his “Only Begotten Son,” is the sum total of what is indicated in this passage which all scholars have labeled, “impossible of understanding,” “unintelligible,” “subject to no satisfactory explanation,” etc. Some may think that our explanation is also unsatisfactory; but to us it makes more sense than anything else we have ever encountered.
In the quadruple statement in this paragraph that Ezekiel is to “bear the sins” of both houses of Israel, how can a scholar like Taylor assert that, “This is a symbol of the weight of the punishment to be borne by Israel!” Ezekiel, as a type of Christ. is the one doing the bearing, according to the holy text.
At first, we considered adopting the position on this paragraph mentioned by Pearson, who said, “With the data at our disposal, it appears unwise to be dogmatic as to how the forty and the 390 years are to be reckoned.” However, the thundering remarks about Ezekiel’s being the sin-bearer here point so clearly in the direction which we have chosen, that we are offering what seems (to us) a reasonable and logical understanding of it.
Thus all of the inconvenience, humiliation, painful physical constraint, the unclean diet, etc. are an eloquent portrayal of the sufferings, humiliation, even death, of the great Sin-Bearer, Christ, of whom Ezekiel was merely a type.
There is no device for discovering an easy solution to these numbers. The years of Israel’s sins were actually far more than 390, and the same is true of the sins of Judah. There is no evidence that the sins of Israel were ten times as much as those of Judah (except upon the premise of their being far greater in number). The device of choosing the Septuagint (LXX) over the the Hebrew text of the Old Testament here gives only 150 years, but that doesn’t work either.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
upon: Eze 4:5, Eze 4:8
and lay: 2Ki 17:21-23
thou shalt bear: Lev 10:17, Lev 16:22, Num 14:34, Num 18:1, Isa 53:11, Isa 53:12, Mat 8:17, Heb 9:28, 1Pe 2:24
Reciprocal: Exo 28:38 – bear the iniquity Eze 18:20 – bear
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 4:4. Lay is used figuratively and means that Ezekiel would be going through this unpleasant experience to emphasize the iniquity of the house of Israel. Each day lie lay on J^s side stood for a year in the sinful history of the nation. Bear their iniquity de-notes that the prophet was to undergo this affliction as a sign of the greatness of Israel’s sin.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Eze 4:4-6. Lie thou also, &c. In his own house, Eze 3:24. This was to be his posture, not without intermission, but in the exercise of his prophetical office, during that part of each day, when the people were likely to observe his conduct. Bishop Newcome. Upon thy left side The left side, as being the least respectable, signified Israel, or the ten tribes: the right side, as being most honoured, the tribes of Judah and Benjamin; or, as it is generally expressed, the kingdom of Judah. Ezekiels lying on one side for a long time together, signified the great patience of God in bearing with the sins of Israel. And lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days, &c. From the days that I shall order thee to lie upon thy left side thou shalt understand how many years I have borne with their iniquity, for each day was to signify a year: see Eze 4:6. Thou shalt bear their iniquity Thou shalt, in the way of a sign or symbol, suffer for their iniquity, namely, in lying so long upon one side. Or, thou shalt pre-signify the punishment which they shall bear. For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity This verse explains the former: I have pointed out the number of years wherein apostate Israel sinned against me. According to the number of days, three hundred and ninety days This number of years will take us back, with sufficient exactness, from the year in which Jerusalem was sacked by Nebuchadnezzar to the first year of Jeroboams reign, when national idolatry began in Israel. Bishop Newcome. Some, however, rather suppose that the years are meant which intervened between the falling of Solomon into idolatry, and the carrying away of the ten tribes by Shalmanezer, at which time they entirely ceased to be a nation or people of themselves, and were wholly dispersed and mixed with other nations. Thou shalt bear the iniquity of Judah forty days So many years there were from the time when King Josiah entered into a solemn covenant to serve and worship God, (from whence their future idolatry received a great aggravation,) to the destruction of the city and temple. I have appointed thee each day for a year Days frequently stand for years in the prophetical accounts of time.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Eze 4:4-8. (B) The Exile: its Duration.The next action is more curious. Ezekiel is represented as lying upon his side for 190 days (as LXX correctly reads in Eze 4:5) to symbolise the years of punishment in exilea year for a dayundergone by Israel and Judah for their sins. As the restoration of these two kingdoms is expected to occur simultaneously (Eze 37:16 ff.) we must assume that, as he lies for forty days upon his right side to represent Judah (i.e. the southern kingdom), so he lies 150 days on his left to represent Israel (i.e. the northern kingdom), though the whole period of her exile covers, of course, 190 years. Forty is a round number: in point of fact, the exile of Judah (reckoning from the fall of Jerusalem) lasted almost fifty years (586538 B.C.). A hundred and fifty is also a round number: from the date at which Ezekiel is writing (592 B.C.) back to the fall of Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom (721 B.C.), the exile of Israel lasted about 130 years, or more nearly 150, if we carry the date back to the Assyrian deportation of some of Israels northern inhabitants, 734 B.C. (2Ki 15:29).
Some think that this action points to the rigidity of catalepsy; but the sequel, in which Ezekiel bakes, eats, and drinks, shows that it cannot have been literally carried out. At most one may suppose that the symbolic action was deliberately performed for a certain time each day. Despite his silence, his strange posture and behaviour were charged with prophetic meaning.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
4:4 Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the {b} house of Israel upon it: [according] to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity.
(b) By this he represented the idolatry and sin of the ten tribes (for Samaria was on his left hand from Babylon) and how they had remained in it three hundred and ninety years.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Lying on the side 4:4-8
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Then Ezekiel was to recline in public on his left side for 390 days. This was to represent the number of years that Israel would have to bear punishment for her sins. Evidently when Ezekiel lay on his left side he faced north, the Northern Kingdom. This meant that his body would have been pointing west, toward Jerusalem.