It was my observation while reading the fourth chapter of Ezekiel that God introduced Ezekiel to the House of Israel with unconventional tactics, almost theater in nature. He was bound up with ropes in his house for a while. Now, he is outside and building a model of Jerusalem in clay. He is told in clear words; this model is a sign for the house of Israel. No big amphitheater events, no drama at the river, no shouting in the streets on a soap box. This is a picture of the siege for Jerusalem that is soon to come.

Ezekiel 4:1-3 says — “Now, son of man, take a block of clay, put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. Then lay siege to it: Erect siege works against it, build a ramp up to it, set up camps against it and put battering rams around it. Then take an iron pan, place it as an iron wall between you and the city and turn your face toward it. It will be under siege, and you shall besiege it. This will be a sign to the people of Israel [NIV].

These people were a long way from Jerusalem, they had been forced with the threat of death to leave their homes and walk to a place along the Kabar River to make things for Babylon. They longed to go home. Their heart was still in Jerusalem, the faithful had their eye on God (see Daniel 6:10). The presumptuous were arrogant in their belief the trip back to their home was just around the corner – after all, they were God’s people.

They were sure the King of Jerusalem would stand tall and get them back. He would get them out of the mess. It is possible that communication occurred from time to time between the captives and the people in Jerusalem. Clearly, they were not prepared for the message that was coming to them from Ezekiel. They had no sense of what was soon to happen – the siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldean Army (from southern Babylon, the army of Nebuchadnezzar II) and the famine inside the city that would be associated with that siege.

This display from Ezekiel was designed to catch the attention of the more thoughtful of the group. They had to come by and look at the event. Then they had to talk about what they were seeing with Ezekiel and with others to make some sense of it. I would suspect most saw it as mere theatre, but some realized what was portrayed and wondered what to make of the message.

He was told to build small structures representing the temporary forts built by the Chaldeans. He placed an iron pan between the clay city and himself. Most think this represents the inflexible position of both sides. The Chaldeans were pressing to become masters of the city, crushing the culture and the government. The Jews were resolved to resist, but eventually after about 13 months they lost the event.

I should also say that the total timeline for the siege was 18 months. There was about 5 months in the 18-month window that the Chaldeans were preoccupied with an advancing Egyptian army (see (Jeremiah 37:5-8). Once that situation was resolved by pushing back the Egyptians, they continued working the siege to completion (see Jeremiah 52:4-6).

After the clay model was built, Ezekiel lay on his side for a long time (390 days, yes over a year) to demonstrate the seriousness of the situation. Most commentators suggest the 390 days spoke to the 390 years of Hebrew apostacy from Jeroboam (approximately 929BC) to the fall of Babylon by Cyrus (approximately 539BC). This is the period of time that the house of Israel (the ten tribes) had been in rebellion. It was Cyrus who sent the House of Israel back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. God will have his way. He is sovereign.  I choose Jesus.