61 lines
3.4 KiB
Markdown
61 lines
3.4 KiB
Markdown
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title = "Ezekiel 4:1–17"
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date = "2023-03-10"
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### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Ezekiel4.1-17)
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At last, Ezekiel gets the first word that he is to speak to the people on the
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Lord's behalf. Like many prophets before him, he is to perform some symbolic
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actions that represent what will happen in the future. This one is pretty
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elaborate, though. He is to build a model for the siege of Jerusalem, complete
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with camps, a wall, and battering rams arranged around it. In addition, he was
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to take an iron griddle and place it on edge between himself and the city. This
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iron wall is meant to represent the barrier God will erect between Himself and
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His people. Sieges are terrible events, so there will normally be lots of
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people in Jerusalem praying for deliverance. But this wall will prevent God
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from hearing those prayers—because He put it there—so that the destruction of
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the city will be complete.
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After these preparations are complete, Ezekiel is given the task of lying down
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next to this diorama to bear the punishment of the houses of Israel and Judah.
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Israel will be punished for 390 years, so Ezekiel will lie on his left side 390
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days. Judah will be punisheed for 40 years, so he will lie on his right side
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for 40 days. "Days" here cannot mean the whole 24-hour period, continuously,
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because Ezekiel is also commanded to make bread and eat it in the following
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verses. Instead, each day there was a period of time where he would be lying
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down on his side, and the Lord would make it so that he couldn't turn from side
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to side while he lay there.
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If that wasn't hard enough, Ezekiel is put on siege rations for the duration of
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this mock siege. There's a product called Ezekiel Bread that purports to be
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healthier than normal bread because it follows a "Biblical recipe", but any
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benefits it does or doesn't have are completely unrelated to this passage.
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That's the danger of taking things out of context. Just because something is in
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the Bible doesn't mean it's something we're supposed to do. Just think of all
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the passages that describe how people sinned and failed to follow the Lord's
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instruction! I also doubt they use manure as the oven fuel at the Ezekiel Bread
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factory.
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The Mosaic Law was meant to emphasized purity and making a distinction between
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God's people and the rest of the nations. Clothing was not made of blended
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threads, fields were sown with one kind of crop, and so on. When God commands
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Ezekiel to make bread out of 6 different grains and legumes, He isn't giving a
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general recommendation. I don't believe this is specifically prohibited in the
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Law, but the idea of it runs counter to its general themes. Instead, it is to
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represent the desperation of the people under siege. Sieges work by inducing
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starvation in a populace. As supplies dwindle, you start getting creative with
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meals, and so a loaf of bread might be made with the last of _all_ your types
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of flour at once.
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The amount that Ezekiel would eat of this bread was tiny: twenty shekels works
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out to 220 grams or 8 ounces. His water was also constrained: a hin was about a
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gallon (3.5 liters) so a sixth of that is a bit over 2 cups or 0.6 liters. A
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man may be able to survive on that for over a year, maybe if each meal was that
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amount. But again, the point of this deprivation is to show how the people of
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Jerusalem are going to be judged. It is severe and sobering.
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* * *
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You are a just judge, bringing punishment upon the heads of the wicked.
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