4:9 Take thou also to thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, {f} and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread of them, [according] to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, {g} three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat of it.
(f) Meaning that the famine would be so great that they would be glad to eat whatever they could get.
(g) Which were fourteen months that the city was besieged and this was as many days as Israel sinned years.
4:9 Take - Provide thee corn enough: for a grievous famine will accompany the siege. Wheat - All sorts of grain are to be provided, and all will be little enough. One vessel - Mix the worst with the best to lengthen out the provision.
4:9-17 The bread which was Ezekiel's support, was to be made of coarse grain and pulse mixed together, seldom used except in times of urgent scarcity, and of this he was only to take a small quantity. Thus was figured the extremity to which the Jews were to be reduced during the siege and captivity. Ezekiel does not plead, Lord, from my youth I have been brought up delicately, and never used to any thing like this; but that he had been brought up conscientiously, and never had eaten any thing forbidden by the law. It will be comfortable when we are brought to suffer hardships, if our hearts can witness that we have always been careful to keep even from the appearance of evil. See what woful work sin makes, and acknowledge the righteousness of God herein. Their plenty having been abused to luxury and excess, they were justly punished by famine. When men serve not God with cheerfulness in the abundance of all things, God will make them serve their enemies in the want of all things.
