Ezekiel 4:2 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Ezekiel 4:2
And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.
to give · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
siege
מָצ֗וֹרma.Tzor
H4692
something hemming in · noun, common masculine singular absolute
build
וּבָנִ֤יתָu.va.Ni.ta
H1129
to build (literally and figuratively) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
fort
דָּיֵ֔קda.Yek
H1785
a battering-tower · noun, common masculine singular absolute
cast
וְשָׁפַכְתָּ֥ve.sha.fakh.Ta
H8210
to spill forth (blood · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
mount
סֹֽלְלָ֑הso.le.Lah
H5550
a military mound · noun, common feminine singular absolute
set
וְנָתַתָּ֨הve.na.ta.Tah
H5414
to give · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
camp
מַחֲנ֛וֹתma.cha.Not
H4264
an encampment (of travellers or troops) · noun, common feminine plural absolute
set
וְשִׂיםve.sim-
H7760
to put (used in a great variety of applications · conjunction + verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
rams
כָּרִ֖יםka.Rim
H3733
a ram (as full-grown and fat) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
about
סָבִֽיבsa.Viv
H5439
(as noun) a circle · noun, common both genders singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ezekiel 21:22 At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to appoint captains, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shout…
Jeremiah 6:6 For thus hath the LORD of hosts said, Hew ye down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly o…
Jeremiah 39:1-2 In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem, and…
Jeremiah 52:4 And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon c…
Luke 19:42-44 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine ey…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 4:1-8
The prophet is here ordered to represent to himself and others by signs which would be proper and powerful to strike the fancy and to affect the mind, the siege of Jerusalem; and this amounted to a prediction.
I. He was ordered to engrave a draught of Jerusalem upon a tile, Eze 4:1. It was Jerusalem's honour that while she kept her integrity God had graven her upon the palms of his hands (Isa 49:16), and the names of the tribes were engraven in precious stones on the breast-plate of the high priest; but, now that the faithful city has become a harlot, a worthless brittle tile or brick is thought good enough to portray it upon. This the prophet must lay before him, that the eye may affect the…
forth--rather, "watch tower" (Jer 52:4) wherein the besieges could watch the movements of the besieged [GESENIUS]. A wall of circumvallation [Septuagint and ROSENMULLER]. A kind of battering-ram [MAURER]. The first view is best.
a mount--wherewith the Chaldeans could be defended from missiles.
battering-rams--literally, "through-borers." In Eze 21:22 the same Hebrew is translated "captains."
Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 4:2
Battering rams - כרים carim. This is the earliest account we have of this military engine. It was a long beam with a head of brass, like the head and horns of a ram, whence its name. It was hung by chains or ropes, between two beams, or three legs, so that it could admit of being drawn backward and forward some yards. Several stout men, by means of ropes, pulled it as far back as it could go, and then, suddenly letting it loose, it struck with great force against the wall which it was intended to batter and bring down. This machine was not known in the time of Homer, as in the siege of Troy there is not the slightest mention of such. And the first notice we have of it is here, where we see t…
"And you shall set the siege against it, and you shall build fortifications, and you shall heap up a mound, and you shall set camps against it, and place battering rams around it." Therefore the teacher must vigilantly make known to the progressing soul what temptations follow it, so that it may be able to prepare itself cautiously against the snares of the malignant spirit. Hence it is well that now, after the city of Jerusalem has been described on the brick, it is said to the prophet: "And you shall set the siege against it, and you shall build fortifications, and you shall heap up a mound." For when the vision of peace is already being described, it is necessary that the wars of temptations be announced to it. For in order that it may be able to reach those eternal joys of peace, it must without doubt endure here many struggles of tribulations. Of which it is well said: "You shall set the siege against it." For the preacher sets a siege against the soul to be instructed when by forewarning he indicates in what ways vices oppose themselves to virtues, how lust strikes chastity, how anger disturbs the tranquility of the mind, how much foolish joy dissolves the vigor of the mind, how talkativeness destroys the fortification of the heart, how envy kills charity, how pride undermines the citadel of humility, how deceit, when it has corrupted truth in speech, corrupts it also in understanding, so that he who was unwilling to speak the truth that he understood no longer even understands what he might speak. Therefore the siege is set by the preacher when through the words of holy admonition it is shown which vices lie in wait against each and every virtue, and in what ways. And the preacher builds fortifications against the Jerusalem which he describes on the brick when he demonstrates how fortified all evils come against the mind, so that vices hide themselves under the appearance of virtues; so that, as we have often already said, immoderate anger may seek to appear as justice, and relaxation of discipline may wish to appear as gentleness, and stinginess may call itself frugality, and disordered pouring out of resources may call itself benevolence. For there are, as it were, fortifications built against the mind when vices grow up under the appearance of virtues and show themselves on high through an image, though they always lie low through their action.…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Battering-ram — (Ezek. 4:2; 21:22), a military engine, consisting of a long beam of wood hung upon a frame, for making breaches in walls. The end of it which was brought against the wall was shaped like a ram’s head.
Batteringram — (Ezekiel 4:2; 21:22) a large beam with a head of iron which was sometimes made to resemble the head of a ram. It was suspended by ropes to a beam supported by posts, and balanced so as to swing…
Engine — a term applied exclusively to military affairs in the Bible. The engines to which the term is applied in (2 Chronicles 26:15) were designed to propel various missiles from the walls of the besieged…
War — The Israelites had to take possession of the Promised Land by conquest. They had to engage in a long and bloody war before the Canaanitish tribes were finally subdued. Except in the case of Jericho…
Arms, Military · For sieges: Battering Rams — For sieges: Battering Rams
Battering-Ram · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Fort · Field fortifi — Field fortifi
Instruction · Il — Il
Pantomime · By Ezekiel — By Ezekiel
Prophets · Frequently in their actions, &c were made signs to the people — Frequently in their actions, &c were made signs to the people
Sieges · Those engaged in: Built forts and mounts — Those engaged in: Built forts and mounts
Walls · Of cities: Were battered by besieging armies
And lay siege against it,.... In his own person, as in Ezekiel 4:3; or draw the form of a siege, or figure of an army besieging a city; or rather of the instruments and means used in a siege, as follows:
and build a fort against it: Kimchi interprets it a wooden tower, built over against the city, to subdue it; Jarchi takes it to be an instrument by which stones were cast into the city; and so the Arabic version renders it, "machines to cast stones"; the Targum, a fortress; so Nebuchadnezzar in reality did what was here only done in type, 2 Kings 25:1; where the same word is used as here:
and cast a mount about it; a heap of earth cast up, in order to look into the city, cast in darts, and…
Ezekiel 4:1-3
1. Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:
1. Et tu, Fili hominis, sume tibi laterem, et pone ipsum coram facie tua, et pinge super ipsum urbem, nempe Hierosolymam:
2. And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.
2. Et pone contra eam obsidionem, et extrue contra eam turrim, et funde adversus eam aggerem, et pone adversus eam castra, et statue contra eam arietes in circuitu.
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…
In words and in mimed actions, the prophet Ezekiel declared the certainty of impending judgment on Jerusalem. God’s people, having broken the terms of the Lord’s covenant with them at Mount Sinai, now faced the curses of death and destruction that were attached to that covenant. Only after these curses had taken effect could there be any hope for the future.
4:1–7:27 These chapters focus on words and actions that proclaimed doom to the city of Jerusalem (chs 4–5) and to the surrounding land of Judah (chs 6–7).
4:1-2 The first of Ezekiel’s sign acts (see “Prophetic Sign Acts” Theme Note) was to create a detailed tableau depicting Jerusalem . . . under siege.
Rashi on Ezekiel 4:2
a stone-throwing catapult Heb. דיק, mangonel in Old French, [mangonneau in modern French], with which they cast stones upon the city.
a siege mound Heb. סֹלְלָה, he would pour earth and press upon it (סֹלְלָה) and beat it down with sticks, and make a high mound on which to stand and look into the city and shoot arrows.
סֹלְלָה is bastion in Old French, rampart.
and place villages around it Heb. כָּרִים. Jonathan rendered: אֶפְרוֹרְוָן, which are villages that his armies make, and [the armies] dwell in tents on [all] sides of the city, so that no man could come or go. Another explanation is that כָּרִים are officers appointed over the army; this one guards on this side, and that one on tha…
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
