Ezekiel - Daily Bible Study DailyBibleStudy.Org

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Eze. 4:9-12

9 Take [laqach] thou also unto thee wheat [chittah], and barley [sa`orah], and beans [powl], and lentiles [adash], and millet [dochan], and fitches [kuccemeth], and put [nathan] them in one [echad] vessel [kaliy], and make [asah] thee bread [lechem] thereof, according to the number [micpar] of the days [yowm] that thou shalt lie [shakab] upon thy side [tsad], three [shalowsh] hundred [me'ah] and ninety [tish`iym] days [yowm] shalt thou eat [akal] thereof.
10 And thy meat [ma'akal] which thou shalt eat [akal] shall be by weight [mishqowl], twenty [esriym] shekels [sheqel] a day [yowm]: from time [eth] to time [eth] shalt thou eat [akal] it.
11 Thou shalt drink [shathah] also water [mayim] by measure [masuwrah], the sixth part [shishshiy] of an hin [hiyn]: from time [eth] to time [eth] shalt thou drink [shathah].
12 And thou shalt eat [akal] it as barley [sa`orah] cakes [uggah], and thou shalt bake [uwg] it with dung [gelel] that cometh out [tsa'ah] of man [adam], in their sight [ayin]. KJV-Interlinear

9 'But as for you, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet and spelt, put them in one vessel and make them into bread for yourself; you shall eat it according to the number of the days that you lie on your side, three hundred and ninety days. 10 'And your food which you eat shall be twenty shekels a day by weight; you shall eat it from time to time. 11 'And the water you drink will be the sixth part of a hin by measure; you shall drink it from time to time. 12 'And you shall eat it as a barley cake, having baked it in their sight over human dung.' NASB

Ezekiel continues his painting of the picture of life in Jerusalem when the siege by the Chaldean army begins and then continues until the final destruction of the entire city.

Prior to Ezekiel, Jeremiah has already written the book of Lamentations. Which, in its five chapters describes the horrors of life in the city during the siege by the Chaldean army, and if you haven't had any kind of a wake up call, then Lamentations is truly the book of doom and gloom. We haven't studied Lamentations (the book of mourning) yet, but when we do, it will not be a fun book to study.

Lam. 4:3-5
3 Even jackals offer the breast, They nurse their young; But the daughter of my people has become cruel Like ostriches in the wilderness. 4 The tongue of the infant cleaves To the roof of its mouth because of thirst; The little ones ask for bread, But no one breaks it for them. 5 Those who ate delicacies Are desolate in the streets; Those reared in purple Embrace ash pits. NASB

Lam. 4:9-10
9 Better are those slain with the sword Than those slain with hunger; For they pine away, being stricken For lack of the fruits of the field. 10 The hands of compassionate women Boiled their own children; They became food for them Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people. NASB

Ezekiel paints a picture of starvation within the city. Outside the city there is abundance, but inside, there will be more horror stories than anyone can even begin to imagine.

Unfortunately, since Jeremiah has already written his prophecies, and now Ezekiel is living his prophecies for well over a year, then people generally when they hear sorrowful stories over and over, again and again, will become desensitized to the miseries. They won't want to believe them, let alone believe that these things will actually happen to them. So their ears begin to close. They become indifferent and continue with their daily lives, ignoring the horrible storm (the reality of life) that is collecting on the horizon.

Ezekiel was to eat from a diet of sparse grains and foods that are common to the average household. Most of these foods would be stored in separate containers, but since Ezekiel is making his bread from a mixture of all of these foods, that is to portray a picture of famine and a severe shortage of food.

His daily ration of food amounted to about two slices of heavy bread and about a pint of water. Typically a person would eat more than ten times that amount, what with three meals, and snacks in between. Not to mention those usual bedtime snacks that some of us enjoy. And, under normal conditions, we would have fruits, vegetables, meats with all of the good sauces and gravies and such, plus the desserts, and our favorite beverages to round out our meals.

To make matters even worse, the cooking fuel was not the usual wood for the fire, but saved human excrement mixed with straw which was then dried and saved for cooking fuel.

I'm not sure if you can imagine the aroma of the meal. If you have ever traveled in a motor home, and RV, or just visited an outhouse perhaps at a county fair, which did not have the odor killing chemicals placed in the septic tank, then you know just how rank the septic 'soup' can get. Now imagine saving this in a bucket for future cooking fuel. Guess who gets to mix in the straw? That is if there is any straw, otherwise all you have is raw human waste for the kitchen fire.

Ezekiel will live this life to show two things. First, that life inside the city is going to get very miserable, and second, that a person can live through it all if they just humble themselves, turn to God, and trust in Him. Pressure in life doesn't get much tougher than this.

This picture also portrays one more thing. Life without God is no better than life as described in these passages - miserable, horrible, hopeless, full of fear and uncertainty. The enemy is just outside the walls of te city ready to burn and kill everything. Those that die are the lucky ones, as Jeremiah states. Those who live, well, they will have the worst that life can offer. The men are tortured and the women receive treatment that, well, needs no comment.

Jeremiah gives this prophecy well ahead of time. Ezekiel gives his prophecy well ahead of time. People have ample time to get out, to evacuate, before all of this destruction begins. People have ample time to change their attitude before this destruction begins.

Unfortunately, most do not see the importance of Bible doctrine in their lives. Most do not have the time for doctrine or God in their lives. Most want to make up and justify their own rules of conduct for their own life. Most figure that they are living the kind of life that God wants them to live, so they go no further. They close their eyes to their spiritual flaws.

So, God warns and warns, and warns to the point that people tune Him out.

Then disaster strikes in their lives. Unemployment, some type of medical problem, a hurricane, a storm, a tsunami, a slip in the bath tub, or perhaps they simply live out their uneventful life and death becomes their destructive event.

Ezekiel has seen heaven in all of its glory. John told of untold blessings above and beyond our imagination. Then we have the picture of the opposite side of life - starvation and untold misery also beyond imagination (until you have to live it).

Most of us will never face such challenges as the Israelites faced, in our lifetime, but the realities of life are very real when it comes to facing the end of our life. We have blessings and cursings on either side of the choices we make.

We will all face pressures of one type or another during our life, so we all will have ample warning and time to make up our minds as to what side of life we will choose to live our life - on Gods side of the table, or on the opposite side in the jungle. The pattern of our life will be our own confession and testimony either for or against ourselves when our own personal judgment comes.

The best thing you can do for yourself is to get with a daily Bible study program, stick with it, and never leave it for the rest of your life. God will take care of everything else in life.

Now is the time to post a prayer.

End Of Lesson

Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth.

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