Ezekiel 4:16

4:9-17 The bread which was Ezekiel's support, was to be made of coarse grain and pulse mixed together, seldom used except in times of urgent scarcity, and of this he was only to take a small quantity. Thus was figured the extremity to which the Jews were to be reduced during the siege and captivity. Ezekiel does not plead, Lord, from my youth I have been brought up delicately, and never used to any thing like this; but that he had been brought up conscientiously, and never had eaten any thing forbidden by the law. It will be comfortable when we are brought to suffer hardships, if our hearts can witness that we have always been careful to keep even from the appearance of evil. See what woful work sin makes, and acknowledge the righteousness of God herein. Their plenty having been abused to luxury and excess, they were justly punished by famine. When men serve not God with cheerfulness in the abundance of all things, God will make them serve their enemies in the want of all things.

Moreover he said unto me, son of man,.... What follows opens the design, and shows what was intended by the symbol of the miscellany bread, baked with cow dung, the prophet was to eat by measure, as, well as drink water by measure: namely, the sore famine that should be in Jerusalem at the time of the siege: behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: that is, take away bread, which is the staff of life, the support of it, and which strengthens man's heart; and also the nourishing virtue and efficacy from what they had. The sense is, that the Lord would both deprive them of a sufficiency of bread, the nourishment of man; and not suffer the little they had to be nourishing to them; what they ate would not satisfy them, nor do them much good; see Leviticus 26:26; and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; that they might not eat too much at a time, but have something for tomorrow; and to cause their little stock to last the longer, not knowing how long the siege would be: and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment; that such a judgment should fall upon them, who thought themselves the people of God, and the favourites of heaven.

Ezekiel 4:16-17 . Behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem — I will cause a scarcity of bread in Jerusalem, 2 Kings 25:3 ; and deprive it of the chief support of man’s life. And they shall eat their bread by weight and with care — Here we have a declaration of the meaning of what the prophet was ordered to do, Ezekiel 4:10-11 . It was intended to signify, that during the siege, the people of Jerusalem should eat their food very sparingly, and with great anxiety, for fear they should not be able to get a further supply, when what they had was consumed. That they may want bread and water — Or, so that they shall want bread and water: and be astonished one at another — Shall look upon one another astonished at each other’s ghastly, meager countenances, or at the greatness of their calamities; and consume away, &c. — And pine away with hunger and hardships, on account of their wickedness.

(16) I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem. —In Ezekiel 4:16-17 , the meaning of the foregoing symbolism is declared in plain language. Bread, as the chief article of food is put for all food, the specific for the general. There shall be extreme suffering and distress, as a part of the punishment for their long-continued sins.

Verse 16. - The staff of bread . The phrase occurs again in Ezekiel 5:16 ; Ezekiel 14:13 , and also in Leviticus 26:26 ; Psalm 105:16 . In Isaiah 3:1 the thought is the same, but the Hebrew word is different. They shall eat bread by weight, etc. The phrase occurs, it may be noted, in Leviticus 26:26 , one of the verses above referred to. The care and astonishment , implying that the wonted cheerfulness of meals would have departed, meet us again in Ezekiel 12:19 . Ezekiel 4:16

16 . the staff of bread ] i.e. the staff which bread is; a common figure, ch. Ezekiel 5:16 ; Leviticus 26:26 ; Isaiah 3:1 ; Psalm 105:16 . It is scarcely necessary to say that the symbolical actions of this chapter were not actually performed. They naturally passed through the mind of the prophet as described, but so far as others were concerned they were merely narrated. The truth expressed by the symbolical action was as plain when the action was merely described as it would have been had the action been performed and seen. It is evident that the actions referred to here could not have been performed because they are represented as being done simultaneously. It is while he presses the siege with arm uncovered that the prophet also lies on his side held down by bands, bearing the sin of the people ( Ezekiel 4:5; Ezekiel 4:7-8 ), and it is while lying immoveable in this condition that he prepares cakes upon the coals and eats them ( Ezekiel 4:8-9 ). The prophet’s symbols merely express an idea; it is only when supposed to be actually performed that inconsistencies appear. The siege and the hardships of it prolonged into the exile—the people’s bearing their sin—are the two chief ideas of the chapter. These are of course contemporaneous with one another so far, but they are spoken of separately in Ezekiel 4:1-6 , the siege in Ezekiel 4:1-3 , and the hardships of it and the exile in Ezekiel 4:4-6 . But from Ezekiel 4:7 onwards they are somewhat mixed together.

Cornill reconstructs the chapter in a very drastic way with the view of keeping the two things, the siege and the exile, distinct throughout. He groups the verses as follows: first, bearing the sin of the people, i.e. the exile with its uncleanness, Ezekiel 4:4-6; Ezekiel 4:8 (7 is a gloss), 9, 12–5; and secondly, the siege with its scarcity, Ezekiel 4:1-3; Ezekiel 4:10-11; Ezekiel 4:16-17 . This reconstruction of the text is too violent to have any probability. A different suggestion was made by Well. ( Hist . p. 273, note), to the effect that in Ezekiel 4:9 , 390 is the right reading (though erroneously transferred also to Ezekiel 4:5 for 190), and that the reference is exclusively to the siege, which the prophet calculated would last so long. Further, the prophet’s lying on his side and being bound with bands, Ezekiel 4:8 , is a different thing from his lying on his side, Ezekiel 4:5 . In Ezekiel 4:5 he represented the bondage of the exile, in Ezekiel 4:8 seq . the straitness of the siege. This view requires that Ezekiel 4:13 , which interprets Ezekiel 4:8 seq . of eating unclean food in the dispersion, should be struck out as a gloss. The verse certainly appears in a shorter form in LXX., though there seems no ground for considering it wholly interpolated. And it is more natural that the repulsive symbol of Ezekiel 4:12 should refer to the fact that all food eaten in exile was unclean rather than to uncleanness due to scarcity of fuel during the siege.

Moreover he said to me, Son of man, behold, I will break {n} the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and in horror: (n) That is, the force and strength with which it would nourish, Isa 3:1, Eze 14:13.

Here the Lord confirms his threat of famine by a solemn protestation that he would break the staff of bread; either take their, harvests away, and deny them bread, or withhold his blessing, the strength of bread, that it should not nourish and refresh, as Leviticus 26:26 . In Jerusalem, that sinful city. By weight: see Ezekiel 4:10 . With care; afraid and doubtful whether or where they shall have any more. By measure: Ezekiel 4:11 . With astonishment; amazed at the strangeness of their condition, and the wounds and death of many that fell by the enemies’ hand, attempting to fetch a little water; or astonished, their very eyes failing for thirst.