Bible Fiber
- Tired of scripture study guides that leave you wanting more substance? Discover a resource that offers comprehensive teaching and deep insights into the prophetic message.
- Have you been avoiding the more challenging books of the Bible because they are hard to understand or apply to your life? Let Bible Fiber build your foundational knowledge about ancient Israel’s history and culture.
Welcome to Bible Fiber, where we are encountering the textures and shades of the biblical tapestry through twelve Minor Prophets, two reformers (Ezra and Nehemiah), and one priest in exile (Ezekiel). Along the way, we take pauses for minicourses on peoples of the Bible and ponder why the prophetic office ended. I am Shelley Neese, president of The Jerusalem Connection, a Christian organization devoted to sharing the story of the people of Israel, both ancient and modern.
You won't find another podcast so committed to teaching the parts of the Bible that get the least attention and also is constantly calling for prayers for the modern state of Israel during this moment of crisis.
Bible Fiber
Ezekiel 4
Prophetic sign-acts pop up frequently in the Major and Minor Prophets. They were real-life dramatizations that represented divine messages. I think of them as prophetic versions of immersive theater with object lessons. Knowing humans are visual, auditory, and tactile learners, God used all three communication methods to shake the covenant people out of their spiritual apathy. Elijah, Elisha, Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Zechariah all performed sign-acts during their careers to reinforce their primary message. However, no prophet relied on sign-acts more than Ezekiel. This probably had something to do with the fact that he was also the prophet that God struck dumb.
God commanded Ezekiel to “take a brick and set it before you” and “on it portray a city, Jerusalem” (4:1). When imagining Ezekiel’s brick, do not picture a small, hardened, modern brick. It was more likely the size of a large tile or building block. Because God told Ezekiel to inscribe the brick, the clay must have not yet dried and hardened in the sun, according to typical Babylonian construction methods. Although the text does not indicate the level of Ezekiel’s artisanship, the prophet drew from memory a blueprint of his hometown, Jerusalem. God also instructed him to build models of siege equipment, possibly out of sticks, clay, or straw. Encircling the visual aid of Jerusalem was a miniature siege wall, a ramp, enemy encampments, and battering rams (4:2). According to Babylonian war tactics, the siege wall prevented escape during the siege, and the battering rams broke down the city’s gates and walls. In my imagination, Ezekiel engaged in a one-player version of the board game Risk.