UNUSUAL TASKS

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“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.”

“Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the people of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side. I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the people of Israel.”

“After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the people of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year. Turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem and with bared arm prophesy against her. I will tie you up with ropes so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have finished the days of your siege.”

“Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt; put them in a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself. You are to eat it during the 390 days you lie on your side. Weigh out twenty shekels of food to eat each day and eat it at set times. Also measure out a sixth of a hin of water and drink it at set times. Eat the food as you would a loaf of barley bread; bake it in the sight of the people, using human excrement for fuel.” The Lord said, “In this way the people of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them.”

Then I said, “Not so, Sovereign Lord! I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have never eaten anything found dead or torn by wild animals. No impure meat has ever entered my mouth.”

“Very well,” He said, “I will let you bake your bread over cow dung instead of human excrement.”

He then said to me: “Son of man, I am about to cut off the food supply in Jerusalem. The people will eat rationed food in anxiety and drink rationed water in despair, for food and water will be scarce. They will be appalled at the sight of each other and will waste away because of their sin.”

“Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor to shave your head and your beard. Then take a set of scales and divide up the hair. When the days of your siege come to an end, burn a third of the hair inside the city. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city. And scatter a third to the wind. For I will pursue them with drawn sword. But take a few hairs and tuck them away in the folds of your garment. Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire and burn them up. A fire will spread from there to all Israel.”

Ezekiel 4, 5:1-4

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Ezekiel’s calling to be the Lord’s prophet has taken some rather unconventional turns as we have seen through the first three chapters of the book named after him. But as we continue our study, moving into Chapter 4 and part of Chapter 5, we find God giving His messenger some rather unusual tasks, four to be exact. Let’s look at each.

1. Drawing on clay.

“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.”

It’s been said a picture is worth a thousand words. Thus, God was asking His messenger to draw what Jerusalem will look like under siege, a precursor of what would come when Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian forces came a second time on Jerusalem, laying siege to the city before leaving it in ruin. God told Ezekiel to make the sketch so the Israelites would be given a sign. There would be no doubt that God ordained and approved of the attack on His people.

2. Side lying.

“Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the people of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side. I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the people of Israel.”

“After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the people of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year. Turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem and with bared arm prophesy against her. I will tie you up with ropes so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have finished the days of your siege.”

“Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt; put them in a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself. You are to eat it during the 390 days you lie on your side. Weigh out twenty shekels of food to eat each day and eat it at set times. Also measure out a sixth of a hin of water and drink it at set times. Eat the food as you would a loaf of barley bread; bake it in the sight of the people, using human excrement for fuel.” The Lord said, “In this way the people of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them.”

Then I said, “Not so, Sovereign Lord! I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have never eaten anything found dead or torn by wild animals. No impure meat has ever entered my mouth.”

“Very well,” He said, “I will let you bake your bread over cow dung instead of human excrement.”

He then said to me: “Son of man, I am about to cut off the food supply in Jerusalem. The people will eat rationed food in anxiety and drink rationed water in despair, for food and water will be scarce. They will be appalled at the sight of each other and will waste away because of their sin.”

How extensive were the sins of the Israelites?

How about 390 years extensive. That’s a long time to show disobedience toward a God who hates disobedience and serves as a testament to the Lord’s patience. For He could have punished His people long before He did but He wanted to give them every possible opportunity to turn from their wicked ways and commit to getting right with Him.

Unfortunately they failed to do that and so Ezekiel got to lie on his left side for 390 days, one day for every year the Israelites had sinned. While lying every day for so long, Ezekiel was bearing the sins of the people of Israel and he would nourish himself with rations of bread and water as he fulfilled God’s wishes, bread that God allowed him to bake on cow dung vice human excrement so Ezekiel would not have to defile himself. It wasn’t how the bread was cooked that mattered the most. Rather it was the symbology that the people of Israel would be cut off from supplies and have to ration their food and water because both would be scarce. Scripture tells us that the people would “be appalled at the sight of each other” and would “waste away because of their sin.”

So for 390 days, God’s prophet would lie on his left side. But then what? Would the Lord allow him to get back to some sense of normalcy?

Not exactly.

For as we continue to look at our scripture passage, we find the Lord simply telling Ezekiel to roll over, this time onto his right side for 40 days, a day for every year the people of Judah sinned. He was to turn his face toward the clay drawing of the besieged Jerusalem and keep his eyes upon it, an act that represented how resolute the Babylonians would be in carrying out their attack on Jerusalem.  

3. Shave and a haircut.

“Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor to shave your head and your beard. Then take a set of scales and divide up the hair. When the days of your siege come to an end, burn a third of the hair inside the city. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city. And scatter a third to the wind. For I will pursue them with drawn sword. But take a few hairs and tuck them away in the folds of your garment. Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire and burn them up. A fire will spread from there to all Israel.”

First, Ezekiel would have to shave his head and beard, a symbol of God’s complete rejection of His people. Next, the hair was divided up into three parts and each third was treated in a certain fashion to represent what would happen to Jerusalem and its people.

Burning the hair would symbolize the burning of Jerusalem, an act that would leave the city in ruins.

Striking the hair with the sword would represent the number of people who would be slain by the sword at the hands of the Babylonians.

And throwing some of the hair into the wind would end up being akin to the people of Jerusalem being whisked away into seventy years of captivity.

Drawing on clay. Lying on his side for first 390 and then 40 days. Cutting off all his hair and following God’s direction with each third of it.

All unusual tasks given to Ezekiel by God but they were as important as any of the verbal messages that the prophet would later be asked to share. As we go forth every day to do the will of the Lord, we should be prepared to do whatever God asks us to do to accomplish the purposes He wants to accomplish, no matter how strange His assignments might seem.    

Amen

In Christ,

Mark
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