41 "Now you son of man , get yourself a brick , place it before you and inscribe a city on it, Jerusalem . 2 "Then lay siege against it, build a siege wall , raise up a ramp , pitch camps and place battering rams against it all around . 3 "Then get yourself an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city , and set your face toward it so that it is under siege , and besiege e it. This is a sign to the house of Israel .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Ezekiel 4:1-3
Commentary on Ezekiel 4:1-8
(Read Ezekiel 4:1-8)
The prophet was to represent the siege of Jerusalem by signs. He was to lie on his left side for a number of days, supposed to be equal to the years from the establishment of idolatry. All that the prophet sets before the children of his people, about the destruction of Jerusalem, is to show that sin is the provoking cause of the ruin of that once flourishing city.