“589. THE PORTRAITURE OF JERUSALEM—EZEKIEL 4:1”

The Portraiture of Jerusalem—Eze_4:1

In the fourth chapter of Ezekiel we find one of the remarkable and elaborate instances in Scripture of instruction, warning, and prophecy by symbolical action. The prophet is directed to make a representation of Jerusalem upon a tile, and in its presence to carry on, during a protracted period, by symbolical procedure, the operations of a siege, and represent its accompanying circumstances of calamity and privation.

The details are curious, interesting, and instructive; but as they have become in some points obscure by lapse of time, or from imperfect knowledge of eastern usages, we shall endeavor to explain them.

The direction to portray the city upon a tile seems at the first view a strange mode of representation. It would have been so even in Palestine at the date of the transaction; but it was the most natural and obvious mode of representation that could be devised in Chaldea, where the practice of writing and portraying, by indented figures upon broad and thin bricks or tiles, is now well known from abundance of actual remains. Great numbers of such bricks, charged with inscriptions, and with figures of animals and other objects, have been found among the ancient ruins of Chaldea and Assyria. The bricks employed for this use are mostly of fine clay, hardened in the fire. They are of various sizes, but usually of a foot square by three inches in thickness. In those that have been found, one of the broad surfaces is immensely charged with inscriptions in the wedge-shaped character; and some of them, in addition to the lines of inscribed writing, have the figures of animals and other objects, with other lines of inscription attached to them. It has hence been conjectured, that these tiles comprise public and private documents, with the names and seals of witnesses, and that the ruined edifices from which they have been obtained were the repositories of such archives. In fact, the second discovery by Mr. Layard, in his last visit to Nineveh, of a large chamber filled with such inscribed tiles, places this beyond question; and establishes the probability that the record-chambers at Babylon and at Ecbatana, which were successively explored for the original decree of Cyrus in favor of the Jews, were such chambers as those, and the records like these inscribed on tiles. The object, doubtless, was to give them the most enduring shape—as durable as inscription on stone, perhaps more durable, while far less expensive and cumbersome. There is much reason to hope that the inscriptions on tile and marble already brought to light, and more that is assuredly yet to be found, will ere long be deciphered, as already has been partly done. Indeed, Colonel Rawlinson expresses little doubt of being able to read the contents of this record-chamber; and when this is accomplished, we shall doubtless acquire large additions to our present imperfect knowledge of the remote history of Assyria, Babylonia, and Media, with new and valuable materials for the illustration of Scripture. Indeed, if the decree of Cyrus had been then found at Babylon, we might cherish the hope of its being yet discovered there; and if so, as a version of it exists in the Bible, it would furnish a key for the translation of other memorials of the same kind. But the decree was found in the record-chamber at Ecbatana in Media. This is the modern Hamadan, and when we visited that place, we did not perceive any such mounds or “heaps” (to use the Scriptural term), as those of the ancient sites of the Tigris and Euphrates, the exploration of which might offer the hope of any such reward to antiquarian research.

As to the mode of representation in the case before us, it may have been by impressing the name or symbol of Jerusalem upon the tile. The direction given to the prophet is, however, to “portray Jerusalem” itself. We incline, therefore, to think that the city was actually figured in such a way as to be recognizable by the exiles whom the prophet addressed, and to whom the actual site was familiar. This might be done by means of engraving or indenting—or perhaps by color, for traces of color have been found upon the bricks of the Assyrian palaces. Either way, the representation of a town would have been no difficult process, according to the mode followed by the Assyrian artists, who have left us many representations of towns in their sculptures. It was only needful to define the site in a rough way, and to mark out upon the conspicuous points one or two of the remarkable buildings. The following engraving shows how this might be done. Indeed, there is some reason to suppose that this is an Assyrian representation of Jerusalem; and if so, it is quite within the range of probability that we see in it a facsimile of the portraiture of Jerusalem which appeared upon the tile of Ezekiel; for it may, easily be supposed that when ordered to portray that city, the prophet would do so after the fashion of those acknowledged representations of it, so easy to copy, which he had seen on the walls of the Assyrian palaces. We say “had seen” advisedly; for there is much evidence in various allusions to be found in his prophecy, that he had seen and noticed with particular attention the “chambers of imagery” in these regal abodes; and if so, he must have regarded with especial interest any representations of Jerusalem which may have been found in them.

Assyrian Portraiture of Jerusalem

In regard to the probability of this sculpture being intended to represent Jerusalem, there can be no better authority than Mr. Bonomi, who is well acquainted with that city, and has studied its topography and antiquities. Speaking of this sculpture in his recent work on Nineveh and its Palaces, he says: “The sculpture represents a fortified city, built upon a considerable elevation, opposite to which is a still higher craggy hill, surmounted by a castellated tower, from the base of which a narrow stream flows down into the valley that separates the two hills. It is especially to be observed that olive-trees are growing upon both the hills, but more particularly on the one upon the summit of which is the tower; and that on the half of the city is a walk, or road, about half-way up, below which, and at the side of the stream, is a row of tombs, or inferior houses. The relative situation of these objects exactly resembles the position of similar objects visible on approaching Jerusalem from the East. On our left we have Mount Moriah and the high wall of the temple; at our feet the brook Kedron, and the tombs of the valley of Jehoshaphat, or some inferior buildings at the base of Mount Moriah; and on our left the Mount of Olives. The chief objection to this interpretation, is the circumstance of the stream taking its rise in the Mount of Olives—a topographical inaccuracy, however, that might easily be pardoned in the Assyrian artist, if time and the Arabs had but spared us the other friezes to assist us in interpreting this relievo, and the other significant decorations of the chamber.”

Autor: JOHN KITTO