The book of Ezekiel's prophecies is full of his Enacted Parables. Here is a sample:
- The siege of Jerusalem acted out, Eze 4
- Ezekiel's razor and sword and his shaved head, Eze 5
- Israel's exile acted out, Eze 12
- Judah's doom acted out with a cooking pot, Eze 24
- The two sticks, Eze 37:15-28
Ezekiel was not the only prophet to act out parables:
- Jeremiah's Linen Loincloth, Jer 13
- The entire book of Hosea is an enacted parable of unfaithful Israel
- Jesus cursing of the fig tree is an enacted parable, Mark 11:12-14
- Jesus washing the disciple's feet is an enacted parable. John 13
- Belt of Agabus, Acts 21:10-12
Some of these appear bizarre to us today but were designed make a deep impression on those to whom the messages were delivered.
Eze 4:8 simply says (God is speaking):
"Now behold, I will tie you up with ropes so you cannot turn from side
to side until you have finished the days of your siege"
I am happy to accept that God did exactly as He said he would and as recorded faithfully by the prophet Ezekiel. Such would have deepened the impression of the message upon those who saw him. Indeed, the Pulpit commentary frankly observes:
Verse 8. - I will lay bands upon thee, etc. The words point to the
supernatural constraint which would support the prophet in a position
as trying as that of an Indian yogi or a Stylite monk. He would
himself be powerless to move (exceptis excipiendis, as before) from
the prescribed position. There is, perhaps, a reference to Ezekiel
3:25. The people would have "put bands" upon the prophet to hinder his
work; Jehovah will "put bands" upon him to help, nay, to constrain,
him to finish it.
This was clearly to represent the firm, unalterable decree of God that Judah was to be placed in shackles from which she could not free herself, precisely because it was a divine decree executed through the agency of Babylon.
