Albert Barnes Commentary Ezekiel 4:1

"Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and portray upon it a city, even Jerusalem:" — Ezekiel 4:1 (ASV)

A tile - Rather, a brick. Sun-dried or kiln-burned bricks were from very early times used for building walls throughout the plain of Mesopotamia. The bricks of Nineveh and Babylon are sometimes stamped with what appears to be the device of the king in whose reign they were made, and often covered with a kind of enamel on which various scenes are portrayed. Among the subjects depicted on such bricks discovered at Nimroud are castles and forts.