Verse 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.

Verse 4

Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the b house of Israel upon it: [according] to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity.

(b) By this he represented the idolatry and sin of the ten tribes (for Samaria was on his left hand from Babylon) and how they had remained in it three hundred and ninety years.

Verse 6

And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy c right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.

(c) Which declared Judah, who had now from the time of Josiah slept in their sins forty years.

Verse 7

Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thy d arm [shall be] uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.

(d) In token of a speedy vengeance.

Verse 8

And, behold, I will lay e cords upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.

(e) The people would so straightly be besieged that they would not be able to turn them.

Verse 9

Take thou also to thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, f and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread of them, [according] to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, g three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat of it.

(f) Meaning that the famine would be so great that they would be glad to eat whatever they could get.

(g) Which were fourteen months that the city was besieged and this was as many days as Israel sinned years.

Verse 10

And thy food which thou shalt eat [shall be] by weight, h twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.

(h) Which make a pound.

Verse 11

Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of i an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink.

(i) {See (Exodus 29:40) }

Verse 12

And thou shalt eat it [as] barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it k with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.

(k) Signifying by this the great scarcity of fuel and matter to burn.

Verse 14

Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither hath l abominable flesh come into my mouth.

(l) Much less such vile corruption.

Verse 15

Then he said to me, Lo, I have given thee cow's m dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread with them.

(m) To be as fire to bake your bread with.

Verse 16

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, (Isaiah 3:1) ; (Ezekiel 14:13).