Sermon Tone Analysis

The primary purpose of Ezekiel’s message was to restore God’s glory before the people who had spurned it in view of the watching nations.

But Israel’s own welfare was bound up with its God.

As a priest, Ezekiel was deeply concerned with the holiness of God, and consequently with the sin of His people, that is, with any behavior that offended the holy God.

These twin themes can hardly be separated, as attention to matters of purity can be found on nearly every page.

Like other prophets called to explain the Babylonian exile, Ezekiel stressed that it was due to the people’s faithlessness toward God, and therefore to their failure to live as God’s renewed humanity.

He also stressed that even this disaster was not the end of Israel’s story.

God would restore them morally and spiritually, and eventually use Israel to bring light to the Gentiles.

Ezekiel adds a nuance to this prophetic refrain: Israel”s calling was to show forth holiness of God’s name, but they had “profaned” that name (treated it as unholy); in restoring them, God would act to vindicate the holiness of his name before all nations, enabling them to know him.

(ESVSB)

Ezekiel 3:22-

Ezekiel is told to go out to the plain.

When he does so, he sees the glory of the Lord, and collapses.

Then Ezekiel was given three restrictions.

First, he was instructed to shut himself in his house (v.

24).

The second restriction apparently was closely associated with the first.

The prophet was to be bound with ropes to insure his seclusion, “so that you cannot go out among the people” (v.

25).

While some interpreters reject the idea of a literal binding of the prophet, there seems no reason to take it as figurative.

Like the first restriction it was to be self-imposed, perhaps with the help of family and friends.

But more than Ezekiel’s movement was to be restricted.

He also was to be unable to speak (cf.

Job 29:10; Ps 137:6).

Then Ezekiel was given three restrictions.

First, he was instructed to shut himself in his house (v.

24).

The second restriction apparently was closely associated with the first.

The prophet was to be bound with ropes to insure his seclusion, “so that you cannot go out among the people” (v.

25).

While some interpreters reject the idea of a literal binding of the prophet, there seems no reason to take it as figurative.

Like the first restriction it was to be self-imposed, perhaps with the help of family and friends.

But more than Ezekiel’s movement was to be restricted.

He also was to be unable to speak (cf.

Job 29:10; Ps 137:6).

He is then instructed to go and restrict himself to his own house.

He is also informed that he will become incapable of speech—except when he is delivering a message from God.

The Lord’s further instructions in 24:25–27 appear to indicate that Ezekiel’s silence would last until the fall of Jerusalem in 587 B.C., that is, for six years.

His silence would end at that time when he spoke with a fugitive from Jerusalem.

Thus he would “be a sign unto them, and they will know that I am the LORD.”

Ezekiel was to be a holy vessel, dedicated solely to the service of God for the benefit of God’s people.

When he spoke, it would be by God’s command and with his authority.

The call closed with a prototype of a favorite saying of Jesus, “Whoever will listen, let him listen.”

When Ezekiel was permitted to speak, it was with the reminder that his message was to the rebellious house of Israel/Judah.

He was to deliver the message and let those who possessed spiritual discernment understand and make the application.

Jesus used parables punctuated with “who has ears let him hear” (see Matt 13:10–17).

As the nation faced days of judgment, the needs of the people could not be met by offering a new perspective on their problems.

What the nation needed was a new perspective on God.

The call experience of Ezekiel supplied that new perspective by reinforcing the holiness and majesty of God.

He was able to share that viewpoint with the certainty of judgment.

Ironically, at the close of the call narrative God told the prophet that he was not to speak to the people.

God withheld his word because of the rebelliousness of Israel (3:26).

Ezekiel 4:1-

Ezekiel

Ezekiel was instructed to present his messages in symbolic actions before the people.

These symbolic actions were God’s way of communicating truth without words.

Sometimes words are so familiar that people pay little attention to the depth of their content.

The dramatic presentations gave Ezekiel’s message an arresting character.

In the first dramatic presentation, Ezekiel used a clay brick commonly used in building.

Into the soft clay he drew the map of Jerusalem so that the completed object represented the city of Jerusalem (v. 1).

Using the clay brick as his focal point, the prophet enacted a battle against it.

He constructed a siege wall, a mound or rampart, set up military camps around it, and employed battering rams against it.

Using an iron pan to represent an impenetrable barrier, he glared upon the city with the intensity and determination of a general leading an attack.

In the first dramatic presentation, Ezekiel used a clay brick commonly used in building.

Into the soft clay he drew the map of Jerusalem so that the completed object represented the city of Jerusalem (v. 1).

Using the clay brick as his focal point, the prophet enacted a battle against it.

He constructed a siege wall, a mound or rampart, set up military camps around it, and employed battering rams against it.

Using an iron pan to represent an impenetrable barrier, he glared upon the city with the intensity and determination of a general leading an attack.

Ezekiel’s actions demonstrated that he had some knowledge of Assyro-Babylonian battle tactics.

Seven aspects of this drama illustrate his understanding of military operations.

First, he laid siege to the city.

The Assyrians would lay siege by surrounding a city to cut off water and supplies until the people surrendered.

Second, he built a siege wall to surround the city, preventing escape of the inhabitants.

Third, he constructed an earthen rampart to enable the walls to be easily scaled.

Fourth, he established military camps strategically around the city.

Fifth, he used battering rams against the walls and gates.

Sixth, he set up an iron wall to represent the iron will of God’s judgment and the impenetrable barrier of Babylon’s army, which was God’s chastening rod.

Finally, he set his face against it to suggest God’s firm resolve.

These actions provided a “sign” of coming destruction for Jerusalem and Judah.

What the people refused to accept by word they witnessed in the symbolic actions of the prophet.

Ezekiel was instructed to lie on his left side for 390 days (vv.

4–5), then on his right side for forty days (v. 6) to suggest the length of the time of iniquity of Israel and Judah.

God also told him to turn his face toward the siege with “bared arm,” perhaps shaking his fist as a prophecy against the city (v.

7).

His left side would have been toward the north.

Directions usually were calculated by facing east, which placed north to the left, south to the right, and west to rear.

Israel after the division of the kingdom in 931 B.C. was the Northern Kingdom while Judah was the Southern Kingdom.

The right and left sides symbolically pointed to Israel and Judah.

The interpretation of the 390 days and forty days has led to much speculation.

None of the proposed interpretations are without some difficulties.

Although no workable solution to the problem of a literal chronology of the day-years has come to light, a literal interpretation in principle is still preferable to a symbolic one.

The basic principles of hermeneutics dictate that a passage be taken literally whenever possible.

That the days represent years is clearly defined in v. 6.

Since the text is about the siege and destruction of Jerusalem, the logical starting point for the 390 plus forty years would be the siege of the city in which Ezekiel was deported, namely 597 B.C. Calculating the 430 years from 597 B.C. would take the judgment of Judah down to the Maccabean revolt in 167 B.C. Caution should be exercised in drawing dogmatic conclusions from this fact.

Several additional facts also are definite regarding the passage.

First, each day of Ezekiel’s drama represented a year in the life of sinful Israel or Judah (v. 6) and signified a time of discipline.

Second, God was aware of sin in the lives of his people, and he was going to bring sin and sinner to a time of judgment.

Third, the siege would initiate the judgment that would proceed until the fall of Jerusalem and exile in Babylon.

Fourth, the consequences of God’s judgment are binding and inescapable (v.

8).

God’s judgment of sin is inevitable.

He is longsuffering (4:1–8) and may wait for years, but ultimately he will dispense judgment.

This judgment will include his people.

Judah is a universal and timeless example of this principle (see 5:15).

The extreme severity of conditions during the siege was enacted by the prophet during the 390 days he lay on his side.

He prepared a cake made of a mixture of six kinds of grain (v.

9).

The combination of wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt is unusual but not prohibited by the Torah or by the Mishna.