Ezekiel 4:5

"“Moreover lie on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel on it. According to the number of the days that you shall lie on it, you shall bear their iniquity."

Key Reflection

Ezekiel 4:5 instructs Ezekiel to lie on his left side for 390 days, symbolically bearing the iniquity of the house of Israel, representing a period equivalent to their years of sin. This action visually and spiritually conveys the weight of their transgressions and Ezekiel's role as a prophet bearing witness to God’s judgment and mercy.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

According to the number of the days -Or, “to be to thee as a number of days (even as)” etc. Compare the margin reference. Some conceive that these “days” were the years during which Israel and Judah sinned, and date in the case of Israel from Jeroboam’s rebellion to the time at which Ezekiel wrote (circa 390 years); and in the case of Judah from Josiah’s reformation. But it seems more in accordance with the other “signs,” to suppose that they represent not that which had been, but that which shall be. The whole number of years is 430Ezekiel 4:5-6, the number assigned of old for the affliction of the descendants of AbrahamGenesis 15:13;Exodus 12:40.

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