Commentary on Ezekiel Chapters 1-20 John Calvin
EZEKIEL
offered to the Prophet before the city was besieged. Hence he threatened want and famine at a time when they were still eating bread made of pure wheat. For he orders all these things to be put in one vessel Hence we gather, that this mixture would be by no means acceptable to delicate palates: for we know that beans and lentils are grosser than wheat, and cannot be kneaded into a dough of the right kind, since the wheat and pulse are dissimilar. For this reason, then, God places them in one vessel
Then it is added --- thou shalt make bread for thee according to the number of the days The days here numbered are the three hundred and ninety: there is no mention of the forty days, but it may be a part put for the whole. Now it follows: Ezekiel 4:10-11
10. And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.
10. Et cibus quem comedes in pondere, erit viginti siclorum pro die 93 a tempore usque ad tempus comedes. 94
11. Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink.
11. Et aquas in mensuram bibes in sextam partem hin: a tempore usque ad tempus bibes.
This confirms what I have said, namely, that the want should be such, that the Prophet dared not eat even that bread to satiety: you shall eat, says he, bread by weight, viz, twenty shekels. These are not complete rounds, so that the sense is, that God commanded his Prophet to live sparingly. When the city was besieged, bread was distributed in pieces to each person. God then here says, that the Jews should be almost famished during the siege, so that they should not have bread except by fixed weight, and that a small one. What follows is more miserable, namely, the want of water; for this is the last stage of calamity when thirst oppresses us. it seems hard, indeed, to want wine, but when water is deficient, this, as I have said, is the last stage of famine, and this the Prophet denounces against the Jews when he says, water was not given to him during the time of the siege unless by measure. I shall leave the rest till to-morrow.
PRAYER.
Almighty God, since thou hast thus far sustained us by thy inestimable clemency, grant that we may not abuse thy goodness, and by our perverseness provoke thy vengeance against us, but may we prevent thy judgment, and so submit ourselves to thee that thou mayest take us into thy confidence and protect us against all our enemies: then supply us bountifully with whatever is needful for us, and since thou wishest us to restrain our natural desires, may we never be deficient in spiritual food, but be continually refreshed with it, until at length we enjoy that fullness which is promised us and laid up for us in heaven by Christ our Lord. --- Amen.
Lecture Thirteen
WE saw in yesterday's lecture that as many days were assigned to the siege of the city Jerusalem as years in which they had provoked God's wrath. For, as I have 93That is, in or for each day.–Calvin. 94That is, from the beginning to the end: viz., from the first day to the 390th. — Calvin