Ezekiel 4:6

6. In Eze_4:5 the number of days for Israel is stated to be 390, and in Eze_4:6 the number for Judah 40. The number 390 creates a difficulty. Several things have to be borne in mind. 1. To bear iniquity means to bear the penalty of it. The period of bearing iniquity, therefore, does not refer to the time of sinning but to the time of being punished for sin. Consequently any allusion to the period of the duration of the Northern Kingdom is excluded. 2. The representation in this prophet, as in all the prophets, is that the overthrow of the state is due to the sin of the people, and this overthrow with the continued state of the Exile and its hardships is the punishment of the people’s sin. To be subdued by the heathen and driven into exile is for the people to have to bear their iniquity. Hence restoration is impossible until the iniquity of the people is paid off, or atoned in suffering (Isa_40:2). Israel’s bearing of iniquity comes to an end with the Restoration: “Cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, her iniquity pardoned.” 3. It is the view of all the prophets, Ezekiel included, that the Restoration will embrace all the existing captives both of the North and South, every one called by Jehovah’s name (Isa_43:6-7; cf. Isa_11:12 seq.; Jer_3:12; Jer_3:18; Eze_37:16 seq. &c.). And this restoration is final. 4. It follows from all this that the periods during which Israel and Judah bear their iniquity terminate simultaneously. Israel bears iniquity longer than Judah because it began to bear earlier. It is evident (cf. Eze_4:9) that the whole period of bearing iniquity in exile is 390 years, not 390 + 40 or 430, but 350 + 40, the 40 years of Judah running parallel to the last 40 of Israel. The period of 40 years for Judah’s exile is confirmed by ch. Eze_29:11-14, where it is said that Egypt shall be carried into captivity 40 years by Nebuchadnezzar, and at the end of that period restored, though not to its former greatness. Forty years is the period of Chaldean supremacy; at the end of that period Babylon shall fall, a new world arise, and the captive nations shall be restored. Now the prophet cannot possibly have supposed that Israel went into exile 350 years before Judah. From the fall of Samaria (722) to the destruction of Jerusalem (586) is only 136 years. In Eze_4:5 LXX. reads 190 (so Eze_4:9); in Eze_4:4 the reading is 150, which probably is an addition (Field’s Hex.). The number 190 is probably the original one. It is not quite certain from what point the prophet computed, whether from the fall of Samaria (722), which is most natural, or from the deportation of the Northern tribes by Tiglath Pileser twelve years earlier; as he spoke also before the fall of Jerusalem even this point may be somewhat indefinite. Most probably he used general and round numbers, computing the time which Israel had already passed in captivity at 150 years, to which, if the 40 years still to be undergone in common with Judah be added, the whole period is 190 years.

Eze_4:7-8 recapitulate Eze_4:1-6 : Eze_4:7, Eze_4:1-3, and Eze_4:8, Eze_4:4-6. Eze_4:1-6 form one passage describing first the siege (Eze_4:1-3), and secondly the rigours of the siege, which are prolonged into exile (Eze_4:4-6). While enduring these hardships in siege and exile the people are bearing their iniquity. The apparent incongruity of the prophet’s playing two rôles, that of besieger (Eze_4:1-3), and that of being besieged (Eze_4:4-6), could hardly be avoided if both things were to be represented.

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.

Eze 4:6 And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.

Ver. 6. And when thou hast accomplished them.] That is, art within forty years of accomplishing them.

Thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days,] i.e., Years, beginning at the eighteenth year of Josiah; or, as others compute it, at his thirteenth year, and ending them in the eleventh of Zedekiah, which are the bounds of Jeremiah’s prophecy. A very learned man yet living observeth, that God doth here set and mark out Judah’s singular iniquity by a singular mark; for that they had forty years so pregnant instructions and admonitions by so eminent a prophet as Jeremiah, yet were they impenitent to their own destruction. And the like may well be said of Dr Ussher, that prophet of Ireland, who, upon the toleration of Popery there, preaching before the State at Dublin upon a special solemnity, made a full and bold application of this text unto them in these very words: From this year, said he - viz., A.D. 1601 - will I reckon the sin of Ireland; and dare say that those whom you embrace shall be your ruin, and you shall bear this iniquity. {a} And it happened accordingly; for, forty years after - viz., A.D. 1641 - began the rebellion and destruction of Ireland, done by those Papists and Popish priests then connived at.

{a} Dr Ussher’s Funeral Sermon, by Dr Bern. 39.

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.

4:6 Judah was the community of those in exile, whose sojourn outside the land was represented by the symbolic figure of 40 years. They were a lost generation, just like the generation that spent 40 years in the wilderness for their sin (Num 14:34). • The 430 days of Ezekiel’s confinement (cp. Ezek 4:5) parallel the 430 years that Israel spent in Egypt (Exod 12:40), hinting that there would be a new exodus at the end of the Exile.

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

Which declared Judah, who had now from the time of Josiah slept in their sins forty years.

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

each day for a year--literally, "a day for a year, a day for a year." Twice repeated, to mark more distinctly the reference to Num 14:34. The picturing of the future under the image of the past, wherein the meaning was far from lying on the surface, was intended to arouse to a less superficial mode of thinking, just as the partial veiling of truth in Jesus' parables was designed to stimulate inquiry; also to remind men that God's dealings in the past are a key to the future, for He moves on the same everlasting principles, the forms alone being transitory.

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 6. Forty days] Reckon, says Archbishop Newcome, near fifteen years and six months in the reign of Manasseh, two years in that of Amon, three months in that of Jehoahaz, eleven years in that of Jehoiakim, three months and ten days in that of Jehoiachin, and eleven years in that of Zedekiah; and there arises a period of forty years, during which gross idolatry was practiced in the kingdom of Judah. Forty days may have been employed in spoiling and desolating the city and the temple.

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

And when thou hast accomplished them,.... The three hundred and ninety days, by lying so long on the left side, bearing the sins of the house of Israel in this way; or, as Cocceius renders the words, "and thou shall accomplish them, and thou shalt lie", &c. (g), that is, thou shalt so accomplish these days, that thou mayest lie through forty days on the right hand, and then make bare thine arm, and prophesy against Jerusalem; for he thinks the forty days are part of the three hundred and ninety, as before observed: and so Piscator's note is, "when thou shalt accomplish", &c. namely, when there shall remain yet forty days, as appears by comparing Eze 4:9 with this verse and Eze 4:5; so Polanus interprets the passage: then

lie again on thy right side; that is, for Judah; which tribe, as Jarchi observes, lay to the south, and so to the right of Jerusalem; see Eze 16:46; or rather the prophet lay on the right side for Judah, because more honourable, and in greater esteem with the Lord; nor were their sins so many, or continued in so long as those of the ten tribes; and therefore they, and the punishment of them, are borne a less time by the prophet, as follows:

and thou shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: which some think answers to the forty years of Manasseh's evil reign; others reckon from the thirteenth of Josiah to the end of Zedekiah, and others from the eighteenth of Josiah to the destruction of Jerusalem, which was five years after the carrying of Zedekiah captive:

I have appointed thee each day for a year; which is not only the key for the understanding of the forty days, but also the three hundred and ninety.

(g) "et absolves hos, et decumbes", Cocceius, Starckius; "et consummabis haec, et jacebis", Montanus.

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

When thou hast almost accomplished, or when about to accomplish them, i.e. forty days, before the three hundred and ninety do expire, at the end of three hundred and fifty days turn thou to thy right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah; and that this is the true account appears from this verse, compared with Eze 1:1,2; 8:1, say some, and those very learned men. Others will have the forty days distinct from the three hundred and ninety, and reckon them by themselves, and so the better and grammatical construction in the Hebrew seems to carry it, for it speaks in the perfect tense, and lying. a second time. But be these numbers distinct or but one, is no great concern; either way they do plainly speak God’s wonderful patience with Israel and Judah, and point out the time of the miseries of both for their sinfulness.

Again, Heb. a second time. Thou shalt bear the iniquity: see Eze 4:4.

Of the house of Judah; of the two tribes, say some; of the royal family, say others, and countenance it with Isa 22:21; and then Israel distinguished is the whole body of the two tribes, and the remnant of the ten tribes that escaped, and embodied with the two tribes; as some did at the first division, others afterward in Asa’s, Jehoshaphat’s, Hezekiah’s, and Josiah’s time, leave their places and came to Jerusalem.

Forty days; it is plain they are so many years, but not so plain where to begin them, whether from Manasseh, or more probably from Josiah’s renewing covenant, until the destruction of the temple, which is forty years; during which time God deferred to punish, expecting whether they would keep covenant and walk with God, or retain their idolatries and wicked ways, which latter they did for thirteen years of Josiah’s reign, for eleven of Jehoiakim, and eleven of Zedekiah’s reign, and five of his captivity, which amount to just forty years; and they are mentioned, say some, apart from the three hundred and ninety, because they were more wickedly abused to promote sin.

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

6. Lie again on thy right side… forty days, etc. — The left side represented the northern kingdom (Israel), which lay to the left, according to Hebrew geography; the right represented the southern kingdom (Judah), which lay to the right. The punishment in both cases comes because of iniquity. Israel went into captivity earlier and therefore bears her punishment longer. For Judah the prophet is to lie upon his side for forty days; “one day for a year do I appoint it to thee” (Hebrews).

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

Each day for a year. The Hebrew formula is that of iteration day for a year, a day for a year." It originates, as has been said, in Num_14:34. What has been known as the year-day theory of prophetic interpretation flows naturally from it, and has been applied

(1) to the "seventy weeks" of Dan_9:24-27, and

(2) the twelve hundred and sixty and the three days and a half of Rev_11:3, Rev_11:9.

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

Accomplished - That is, almost accomplished. House of Judah - Of the two tribes. Forty days - Probably from Josiah's renewing the covenant, until the destruction of the temple, during which time God deferred to punish, expecting whether they would keep their covenant, or retain their idolatries, which latter they did for thirteen years of Josiah's reign, for eleven of Jehoiakim's, and eleven of Zedekiah's reign, and five of his captivity, which amount to just forty years. But all this was done in a vision.

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

General Information:

The Spirit continues speaking to Ezekiel.

these days

the days Ezekiel lies down on his left side to illustrate the siege of the kingdom of Israel

you will carry the sin

Possible meanings are 1) "you will be guilty of the sin" or 2) "you will be punished for the sin." Either of these meanings will be demonstrated symbolically by Ezekiel as noted in the UDB. See how you translated these words in Ezekiel 4:4.

the house of Judah

The word "house" is a metonym for the family that lives in the house, in this case the descendants of Judah over many years. See how you translated these words in Ezekiel 3:1. AT: "the Judah people group" or "the people of Judah" (See: Metonymy)

I am assigning to you one day for each year

"I will make you do this one day for each year that I will punish them"

Set your face toward Jerusalem that is under siege

This is a command to stare at the model of Jerusalem as a symbol of punishing Jerusalem. See how you translated a similar phrase in Ezekiel 4:3. AT: "Stare at Jerusalem that is under siege" or "Stare at Jerusalem that is under siege, so that it will be harmed" (See: Symbolic Action)

Set your face

Here "face" is a metonym for attention or gaze. "Set your face" refers to literally staring at something. (See: Metonymy)

prophesy against it

"prophesy about the bad things that will happen to Jerusalem"

For behold

"Look" or "Listen" or "Pay attention to what I am about to tell you"

I am placing bonds on you

Bonds are ropes or chains that keep a person from moving. It is not clear whether the word "bonds" is a metaphor for something Yahweh does that is as if he had bound Ezekiel or if he is using literal, physical ropes. (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

kingdom of Judah

face

Jerusalem

siege

prophet

bind

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days This teaches us that the house of Judah sinned, from the time that the ten tribes were exiled until Jerusalem was destroyed, forty years: 22 of Manasseh, about whom it is written (II Kings 21:3): “as Ahab...had made,” and Ahab had reigned 22 years; two of Ammon and 11 of Jehoiakim, and this prophecy was transmitted to Ezekiel in the fifth year of Zedekiah. This totals 40 years. The grand total is four hundred and thirty [years]. After this prophecy, they remained yet six years, equaling 8 jubilees and 36 years. In 8 jubilees [there] are 8 cycles of Sabbatical years, equaling 56 Sabbatical years, totaling 64 [hallowed years]. In 36 years, there are 5 Sabbatical years, totaling 69 land-release years, and the final jubilee year is accounted to them as an iniquity because they were exiled from it [the land] because of their iniquity, totaling 70 hallowed years of land release, which Israel did not observe. Therefore, they were exiled 70 years to fulfill (Lev. 26:34): “Then the land will appease its Sabbaths.” That is what is written at the end of Chronicles (II 36:21): “To fulfill the word of the Lord [that was] in the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land has appeased its Sabbaths, for as long as it lay desolate, it rested, to complete seventy years.”

“Your left side” symbolizes Samaria; “your right side” symbolizes Judah, because Judah is in the south of the land of Israel, as it is said (16:46): “And your big sister Samaria...who lives at your left.” Also in the Book of Joshua (15:1), he describes the border of the tribe of Judah as occupying the entire southern border.

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.