Ezekiel’s immobility and the meaning of ‘the house of Judah’ in Ezekiel 4

Abstract

Ezekiel 4.4-6 recounts a sign-act in which the prophet is instructed to lie first on his left side and then on his right, to symbolise the עון‎ of the house of Israel and the עון‎ of the house of Judah. The interpretive crux of the passage concerns the identification of ‘the house of Israel’ and ‘the house of Judah’, usually understood as either the northern and southern kingdoms or as interchangeable terms for the same entity. This article challenges the assumptions about Israel and Judah which underlie these interpretations, re-examining the terms’ use in the immediate and wider contexts in order to argue that the condemnation of the house of Judah in 4.6 extends a sign-act originally concerned only with the inhabitants of Jerusalem to the inhabitants of the country as a whole. The interpretation explains the specifications of ‘left’ and ‘right’ and the significance of the 40 years allotted to Judah, as well as enabling a consistent meaning for the key term עון‎.