Ezekiel 4:3

Eze 4:3 Moreover take thou unto thee an 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.

Ver. 3. Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan.] Sartaginem ferream, in token of God’s hard and inflexible hatred bent against so hard-hearted a people; whom he will therefore fry as in a pan, and seethe as in a pot, {Jer 1:13} so that they shall "pine away in their iniquities."

Set thy face against it, and thou shalt lay siege.] This the prophet was to do in the name and person of God and his soldiers, the Chaldeans. Hard hearts make hard times, yea, they make Deum, natura sua mollem, misericordem, et melleum, durum esse et ferreum, as one saith - God to harden his hand, and hasten men’s destruction.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4:3 The prophet was to take on the role of God in this dramatic scene. The iron griddle set up between him and the city showed that Jerusalem had cut itself off from God. Meanwhile, the prophet was to turn his face aggressively toward the city, showing that God’s attention had not flagged but that he was implacably determined to destroy Jerusalem in the coming siege.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Which signified the stubbornness and hardness of their heart.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

iron pan--the divine decree as to the Chaldean army investing the city.

set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city--Ezekiel, in the person of God, represents the wall of separation between him and the people as one of iron: and the Chaldean investing army. His instrument of separating them from him, as one impossible to burst through.

set . . . face against it--inexorably (Psa 34:16). The exiles envied their brethren remaining in Jerusalem, but exile is better than the straitness of a siege.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 3. Take thou unto thee an iron pan] מחבת machabath, a flat plate or slice, as the margin properly renders it: such as are used in some countries to bake bread on, called a griddle or girdle, being suspended above the fire, and kept in a proper degree of heat for the purpose. A plate like this, stuck perpendicularly in the earth, would show the nature of a wall much better than any pan could do. The Chaldeans threw such a wall round Jerusalem, to prevent the besieged from receiving any succours, and from escaping from the city.

This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.] This shall be an emblematical representation of what shall actually take place.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(3) An iron pan.—The margin gives the sense more accurately, a flat plate. It was used for baking cakes (see Lev_2:5, marg.). This was to be set for a wall of iron between the prophet (representing the besiegers) and the city, doubtless as symbolical of the strength of the besiegers’ lines, and of the impossibility there would be of an escape from the city by a sally. Their foes should be made too strong for them defensively as well as offensively.

A sign to the house of Israel.—As already said, the tribe of Judah, with the associated remnants of the other tribes, is considered as representing the whole nation after the Assyrian captivity, and is spoken of as “the house of Israel” except when there is occasion to distinguish especially between the two parts of the nation. (See Eze_3:7; Eze_3:17; Eze_5:4; Eze_8:6; 2Ch_21:2; 2Ch_28:27, &c.) The prophecy would have been equally effective whether seen as a symbolic act or only related.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. an iron pan] As marg. plate, i.e. griddle on which cakes were fired (Lev_2:5). This common article the prophet is to set up between him and the city to represent an iron wall. As the plate is said to be an iron wall between him and the city it is most natural to interpret it of the powerful fortifications of Jerusalem (Ew.). It might, however, be a symbol of the implacable and iron severity of the siege, which itself but shews the inexorable grasp which the judgment of God has taken of the city. The word it in the end of the verse refers to the city; and the prophet plays the rôle of besieger.

All this is a sign to the house of Israel of what shall come to pass. Comp. ch. Eze_12:11.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan,.... Which Kimchi thinks, for its metal, represented the hardness of the hearts of the people of Israel; and, for its colour, the blackness of their sins: though others are of opinion, this being a pan in which things are fried, it may signify the miseries of the Jews in captivity; the roasting of Ahab and Zedekiah in the fire, and particularly the burning of the city: others, the wrath of God against them, and his resolution to destroy them: but rather, since the use of it was as follows,

and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city, it seems to represent all such things as are made use of by besiegers to screen them from the besieged; such as are now used are trenches, parapets, bastions, &c. for the prophet in this type is the besieger, representing the Chaldean army secure from the annoyance of those within the walls of the city:

and set thy face against it; with a firm resolution to besiege and take the city; which denotes both the settled wrath of God against this people, and the determined purpose of the king of Babylon not to move from it until he had taken it:

and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it; as an emblem of the army of the Chaldeans besieging it, which is confirmed by the next clause:

this shall be a sign to the house of Israel; of the city of Jerusalem being besieged by the Babylonians; this was a sign representing it, and giving them assurance of it.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

An iron pan - Another figure in the coming siege. On Assyrian sculptures from Nimroud and Kouyunjik there are sieges of cities with “forts, mounts, and rams;” and together with these we see a kind of shield set up on the ground, behind which archers are shooting. Such a shield would be represented by the “flat plate” (margin). Ezekiel was directed to take such a plate (part of his household furniture) and place it between him and the representation of the city.

A sign to the house of Israel - This “sign” was not necessarily acted before the people, but may simply have been described to them as a vivid representation of the event which it foretold. “Israel” stands here for the kingdom of Judah (compare Eze 3:7, Eze 3:17; Eze 5:4; Eze 8:6). After the captivity of the ten tribes the kingdom of Judah represented the whole nation. Hence, prophets writing after this event constantly address their countrymen as the house of Israel without distinction of tribes.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Pan, or plate, on which bread was usually baked. This was to represent the walls of the city. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

An iron pan, to signify the hardness and obstinacy of the besiegers; probably a frying-pan, on the plain part of which the the bearing the portrait of Jerusalem lying, the iron edges or brims compassed it round about, as a line drawn round a besieged city, out of which the distressed could not flee, into which no relief could be brought. It plainly noted the cruelty of the Chaldeans and future tortures of the Jews, who were like to be fried or broiled in this iron pan, as Jer 29:22; 2Ma 7:5.

Set it for a wall of iron; that it may resemble a wall of iron; for as impregnable as such a wall should the courage, resolution, and patience of the Chaldeans be attacking it.

Set thy face against it; fix thy displeased countenance against it, in token of my displeasure.

Thou shalt lay siege: if the prophet do represent him that sent him, then it speaks God’s appearing against these wicked ones.

This shall be a sign; all these things are signs and emblems usual with all, most usual with this prophet, who in this hieroglyphic foreshows the state of those that lived at Jerusalem.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. An iron pan — This expression probably refers to the machines used by the Babylonians and Assyrians behind which the archers stood, shooting through a hole or window. Representations of these may be seen on the bas-reliefs from Nineveh where engines of this kind are shown in actual use. From fragments of these discovered, and now in the Louvre, it would appear that they were made of bronze or wickerwork and cased with leather (Private note from a well-known English Assyriologist). The prophet used the best representation of this well-known bulwark which his kitchen contained. The ordinary view merely regards this as representing “a firm, impregnable wall of partition, which the prophet, as messenger and representative of God, is to raise between himself and the beleaguered city” (Keil).

Set thy face against it — It was no new thing for Jerusalem to be besieged; but for the first time in history the people of Israel now see that the prophet and representative of Jehovah is taking sides with its enemies.

No wonder that Ezekiel at first grew “hot” (Eze_3:14) at the thought of acting such a part before his countrymen. No wonder that such a “sign” aroused attention and bitterest antagonism.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

An iron pan. The word is used in Lev_2:5 Lev_6:21, et al., for a flat or shallow vessel in which cakes were baked or fried. Such a pan, like the Scotch "girdle," or our "gridiron," may well have formed part of the furniture of the prophet"s house when it was taken for this strange use. It was to represent the kind of shield or fence set up on the ground, from behind which the besiegers discharged their arrows. Such shields are seen, like the battering rams, in Assyrian bas-reliefs (Layard, "Nineveh," etc., 2:345). Other interpretations, which see in it the symbol of the circumvallation of the city, or of the impenetrable barrier which the sins of the people had set up between themselves and Jehovah, or of the prophet himself as strong and unyielding, (Jer_1:18) do not commendthemselves. The flat plate did not go round the city, and the spiritual meaning is out of harmony with the context. This shall be a sign, etc.. (comp. like forms in Eze_12:6, 11 24:25, 27) The exiles of Tel-Abib, who wore the only spectators of the prophet"s acts, are taken as representatives of "the house of Israel," that phrase being commonly used by Ezekiel, unless, as in vers. 5, 6, and Eze_37:16, there is a special reason for noting a distinction for Jonah as representing the whole nation.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A wall - That it may resemble a wall of iron, for as impregnable as such a wall, shall the resolution and patience of the Chaldeans be.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

an iron wall A semblance of the city wall that serves as a partition between the army and the city.

that is a sign that so will Jerusalem come under siege.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.