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Expanded Comments |
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| 1 Thou, therefore, O son of man, Take thee a tile, and lay it before thee,–and portray thereon a city, even Jerusalem. |
Take thee a tile – The use of such signs was common with the prophets of olden times. R2223:4
Even Jerusalem – Although the trouble is divided into two portions, it is all represented as coming against one people, as illustrated by the one capital city. C295; R1341:4
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| 2 Then shalt thou lay siege against it, And build up against it a siege-wall, And cast up against it, a mound,–And set against it camps, And place against it battering-rams, round about. |
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| 3 Thou, therefore, take thee a pan of iron, and set it for a wall of iron, between thee and the city,–then shalt thou direct thy face against it, and it shall come into siege, and thou shalt lay siege to it, a sign, shall it be, to the house of Israel. |
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| 4 Thou, therefore, lie thou on thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel, upon it,–during the number of the days which thou shalt lie thereon, shalt thou bear their punishment. |
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| 5 I, therefore, have appointed thee the years of their punishment, by the number of days, a hundred and ninety days,–so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. |
390 days – Some suppose this dates from the revolt, when they went into idolatry, about 390 years before the desolation of Jerusalem. C295; R1341:4
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| 6 And, when thou hast ended these, then shalt thou lie, on thy right side, a second, time, and shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah,–forty days, one day for each year, have I appointed thee. |
40 days – Some suppose the wrath against the two tribes dated from 40 years before the desolation when, under Manasseh, the two tribes became idolaters. R1341:4; C295
Each day for a year – Time has its type and antitype, like every other part. HG49:3
The word day often stands for epoch or period. Thus the creative days were not 24-hour days. F19
A literal year, Jewish reckoning, contains 360 days; and since in prophecy a day represents a year of actual time, each symbolic "time" would be 360 years. R5564:3
A prophetic year of 360 days, used to symbolize 360 years, is an arbitrary arrangement peculiar to its intended use. It is neither a Lunar year of 354 1/3 days nor a Solar year of 365 1/4 days. R1979:6
A day for a year is Bible usage in symbolic prophecy. B91, B66; Q846:2; OV81:1; HG519:5
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| 7 Thus then, unto the siege of Jerusalem, shalt thou direct thy face, with thine arm made bare,–so shalt thou prophesy against it. |
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| 8 And lo! I have laid upon thee–bands,–and thou shalt not turn thee from thy one side to thine other, until thou have ended the days of thy siege. |
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| 9 Thou, therefore, take thee wheat and barley and peas and lentils and millet and spelt, and put them in one, vessel, and make them ready for thee as bread,–during the number of days which thou, art lying on thy side, a hundred and ninety days, shalt thou eat it; |
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| 10 and, thy food, which thou shalt eat, shall be, by weight, twenty shekels a day,–from time to time, shalt thou eat it; |
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| 11 and, water, by measure, shalt thou drink, the sixth part of a hin,–from time to time shalt thou drink; |
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| 12 and, as a barley cake, shalt thou eat it,–and, the same, with dung proceeding from man, shalt thou bake, before their eyes. |
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| 13 Then said Yahweh, In like manner, shall the sons of Israel eat their bread, defiled,–among the nations, whither I will drive them. |
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| 14 Then said, I, Ah! My Lord, Yahweh, lo! my person, hath not been defiled: neither of what hath died of itself, nor of what hath been torn in pieces: have I eaten, from my youthful days even unto now, neither hath come into my mouth, the flesh of a foul thing. |
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| 15 So then he said unto me, See, I have granted thee, cow's dung for man's dung,–and thou shalt prepare thy bread thereupon. |
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| 16 And he said unto me, Son of man, Behold me! breaking the staff of bread in Jerusalem, So shall they eat bread by weight, and with anxious care, And, water, by measure, and in astonishment, shall they drink: |
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| 17 that they may lack bread and water and be astonished one with another, and pine away in their punishment. |
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