Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 4:3
Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it [for] a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This [shall be] a sign to the house of Israel.
3. an iron pan ] As marg. plate, i.e. griddle on which cakes were fired (Lev 2:5). This common article the prophet is to set up between him and the city to represent an iron wall. As the plate is said to be an iron wall between him and the city it is most natural to interpret it of the powerful fortifications of Jerusalem (Ew.). It might, however, be a symbol of the implacable and iron severity of the siege, which itself but shews the inexorable grasp which the judgment of God has taken of the city. The word it in the end of the verse refers to the city; and the prophet plays the rle of besieger.
All this is a sign to the house of Israel of what shall come to pass. Comp. ch. Eze 12:11.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
An iron pan – Another figure in the coming siege. On Assyrian sculptures from Nimroud and Kouyunjik there are sieges of cities with forts, mounts, and rams; and together with these we see a kind of shield set up on the ground, behind which archers are shooting. Such a shield would be represented by the flat plate (margin). Ezekiel was directed to take such a plate (part of his household furniture) and place it between him and the representation of the city.
A sign to the house of Israel – This sign was not necessarily acted before the people, but may simply have been described to them as a vivid representation of the event which it foretold. Israel stands here for the kingdom of Judah (compare Eze 3:7, Eze 3:17; Eze 5:4; Eze 8:6). After the captivity of the ten tribes the kingdom of Judah represented the whole nation. Hence, prophets writing after this event constantly address their countrymen as the house of Israel without distinction of tribes.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 3. Take thou unto thee an iron pan] machabath, a flat plate or slice, as the margin properly renders it: such as are used in some countries to bake bread on, called a griddle or girdle, being suspended above the fire, and kept in a proper degree of heat for the purpose. A plate like this, stuck perpendicularly in the earth, would show the nature of a wall much better than any pan could do. The Chaldeans threw such a wall round Jerusalem, to prevent the besieged from receiving any succours, and from escaping from the city.
This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.] This shall be an emblematical representation of what shall actually take place.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
An iron pan, to signify the hardness and obstinacy of the besiegers; probably a frying-pan, on the plain part of which the the bearing the portrait of Jerusalem lying, the iron edges or brims compassed it round about, as a line drawn round a besieged city, out of which the distressed could not flee, into which no relief could be brought. It plainly noted the cruelty of the Chaldeans and future tortures of the Jews, who were like to be fried or broiled in this iron pan, as Jer 29:22; 2Ma 7:5.
Set it for a wall of iron; that it may resemble a wall of iron; for as impregnable as such a wall should the courage, resolution, and patience of the Chaldeans be attacking it.
Set thy face against it; fix thy displeased countenance against it, in token of my displeasure.
Thou shalt lay siege: if the prophet do represent him that sent him, then it speaks Gods appearing against these wicked ones.
This shall be a sign; all these things are signs and emblems usual with all, most usual with this prophet, who in this hieroglyphic foreshows the state of those that lived at Jerusalem.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. iron panthe divine decreeas to the Chaldean army investing the city.
set it for a wall of ironbetween thee and the cityEzekiel, in the person of God,represents the wall of separation between him and the people as oneof iron: and the Chaldean investing army. His instrument ofseparating them from him, as one impossible to burst through.
set . . . face againstitinexorably (Ps 34:16).The exiles envied their brethren remaining in Jerusalem, but exile isbetter than the straitness of a siege.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan,…. Which Kimchi thinks, for its metal, represented the hardness of the hearts of the people of Israel; and, for its colour, the blackness of their sins: though others are of opinion, this being a pan in which things are fried, it may signify the miseries of the Jews in captivity; the roasting of Ahab and Zedekiah in the fire, and particularly the burning of the city: others, the wrath of God against them, and his resolution to destroy them: but rather, since the use of it was as follows,
and set it [for] a wall of iron between thee and the city, it seems to represent all such things as are made use of by besiegers to screen them from the besieged; such as are now used are trenches, parapets, bastions, c. for the prophet in this type is the besieger, representing the Chaldean army secure from the annoyance of those within the walls of the city:
and set thy face against it with a firm resolution to besiege and take the city; which denotes both the settled wrath of God against this people, and the determined purpose of the king of Babylon not to move from it until he had taken it:
and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it; as an emblem of the army of the Chaldeans besieging it, which is confirmed by the next clause:
this [shall be] a sign to the house of Israel; of the city of Jerusalem being besieged by the Babylonians; this was a sign representing it, and giving them assurance of it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(3) An iron pan.The margin gives the sense more accurately, a flat plate. It was used for baking cakes (see Lev. 2:5, marg.). This was to be set for a wall of iron between the prophet (representing the besiegers) and the city, doubtless as symbolical of the strength of the besiegers lines, and of the impossibility there would be of an escape from the city by a sally. Their foes should be made too strong for them defensively as well as offensively.
A sign to the house of Israel.As already said, the tribe of Judah, with the associated remnants of the other tribes, is considered as representing the whole nation after the Assyrian captivity, and is spoken of as the house of Israel except when there is occasion to distinguish especially between the two parts of the nation. (See Eze. 3:7; Eze. 3:17; Eze. 5:4; Eze. 8:6; 2Ch. 21:2; 2Ch. 28:27, &c.) The prophecy would have been equally effective whether seen as a symbolic act or only related.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. An iron pan This expression probably refers to the machines used by the Babylonians and Assyrians behind which the archers stood, shooting through a hole or window. Representations of these may be seen on the bas-reliefs from Nineveh where engines of this kind are shown in actual use. From fragments of these discovered, and now in the Louvre, it would appear that they were made of bronze or wickerwork and cased with leather (Private note from a well-known English Assyriologist). The prophet used the best representation of this well-known bulwark which his kitchen contained. The ordinary view merely regards this as representing “a firm, impregnable wall of partition, which the prophet, as messenger and representative of God, is to raise between himself and the beleaguered city” (Keil).
Set thy face against it It was no new thing for Jerusalem to be besieged; but for the first time in history the people of Israel now see that the prophet and representative of Jehovah is taking sides with its enemies.
No wonder that Ezekiel at first grew “hot” (Eze 3:14) at the thought of acting such a part before his countrymen. No wonder that such a “sign” aroused attention and bitterest antagonism.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Eze 4:3. Take thou unto thee an iron pan The prophet takes to him an iron pot or vessel, such as fire was wont to be carried in before the Chaldean and Persian generals, when they went to battle. And he puts it for a wall of iron between him and the city, to signify the force and strength of that army whose symbol was fire. Then he sets, or hardens his face against the city, as men look fiercely, who are inflexibly bent on the ruin of another; and he lays siege to it, or declares the city should be besieged by surrounding it. In all this scenery, the text, says Ezekiel, was a sign to the house of Israel, or, in other words, a type of what the Chaldean king and his army should act against Jerusalem. See Bishop Chandler’s Defence, p. 170.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 4:3 Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it [for] a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This [shall be] a sign to the house of Israel.
Ver. 3. Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan. ] Sartaginem ferream, in token of God’s hard and inflexible hatred bent against so hard-hearted a people; whom he will therefore fry as in a pan, and seethe as in a pot, Jer 1:13 so that they shall “pine away in their iniquities.”
Set thy face against it, and thou shalt lay siege.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
pan = a flat plate, as used for baking.
set thy face. Ref to Pentateuch (Lev 17:10; Lev 20:3, Lev 20:5, Lev 20:6; Lev 26:17). App-92. Compare Jer 21:10; Jer 44:11.
the house of Israel. See note on Exo 16:31. To be carefully distinguished here from Judah.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
an iron pan: or, a flat plate, or slice, Lev 2:5
This: Eze 12:6, Eze 12:11, Eze 24:24-27, Isa 8:18, Isa 20:3, Luk 2:34, Heb 2:4
Reciprocal: 1Ki 20:35 – Smite me Eze 4:7 – set Eze 13:17 – set thy Eze 21:2 – set Dan 11:17 – set
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 4:3. The city had a protecting wall around it which would have to be attacked before it could be taken. As a representation of this wall Ezekiel was to get an iron pan which could be placed on edge in the position of such a protecting structure. This pan was to he raised up between the tile and the prophet who was to act as a besieging army. This shall be a sign means that the Jews were to take this performance of Ezekiel as a sign of what was about to happen to their city.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
4:3 Moreover take thou to thee an {a} iron pan, and set it [for] a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This [shall be] a sign to the house of Israel.
(a) Which signified the stubbornness and hardness of their hearts.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Then Ezekiel was to place an iron plate between himself and his model of the city and to lay siege to Jerusalem. This was to be a sign to the people of Israel of what God would do to the real Jerusalem (cf. Deu 28:52-57). The meaning of the iron plate or pan is also debatable, though it appears to have been a common cooking griddle (Heb. mahabhath). It may have signified the Babylonian army that made escape from the city impossible, [Note: Alexander, "Ezekiel," p. 769; Feinberg, p. 33; Cooper, p. 94.] God’s determined hostility against Jerusalem, [Note: Ibid.; Taylor, p. 76.] the barrier of sin that the Jews had raised between themselves and God, [Note: Dyer, "Ezekiel," p. 1235.] or Ezekiel’s protection as he acted out his drama. [Note: Alexander, "Ezekiel," p. 769.] I favor the view that it represented a barrier that existed between the people and God, whom Ezekiel represented, that their sin had erected and that their prayers could not penetrate (cf. Isa 58:2; Lam 3:44).
Evidently Ezekiel built this model scene without speaking to his audience or explaining what he was doing, and he probably did it just outside his house (cf. Eze 3:24-25).
"The purpose of God in this prophetic act was hardly limited to letting Ezekiel and his countrymen in on the future. More important was their need to see that God was not about to let the sins of the city He had chosen go unpunished." [Note: Stuart, p. 55.]