Albert Barnes Commentary Ezekiel 4:9

"Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof; [according to] the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, even three hundred and ninety days, shalt thou eat thereof." — Ezekiel 4:9 (ASV)

Two things are prefigured in the remainder of this chapter:

1. The hardships of exile,
2. The severity of a siege.

To the people of Israel, separated from the rest of the nations as holy, it was a leading feature in the calamities of their exile that they must be mixed up with other nations, and eat of their food, which to the Jews was a defilement (Amos 7:17; Daniel 1:8).

Fitches — A species of wheat with shorn ears.

In one vessel — To mix all these varied seeds was an indication that the people were no longer in their own land, where precautions against such mixing of seeds were prescribed.

Three hundred and ninety days — The days of Israel’s punishment, because this is a figure of the exile which concerns all the tribes, not of the siege which concerns Judah alone.