NOTES for Eze 4:1-17
What Ezekiel, who was in Babylon, drew Jerusalem upon was probably not a brick but a clay tablet, though that is not the point. In general, we encounter strange and highly extravagant forms of behaviour that do not conform to our ideas of what is normal. Yet this form of witness, so unusual to us, was not unacceptable in that age. On the contrary, unconventional actions only drew the listeners' attention more strongly to the prophetic words and confirmed the seriousness and soundness of the preaching.
The prophet's words show that even in exile he maintains his unity with Jerusalem and his bond with the compatriots who still remain in their native land. Nor does the prophet intend to soothe those countrymen who are in captivity with him with false hopes: he understands that captivity resulted from unrepented sins, and that the people continue to commit them. Again and again the prophet warns of the danger, but, as has often happened and will happen many times again, almost no one listens to the warning...