Charles Ellicott Commentary Ezekiel 4:2

"and lay siege against it, and build forts against it, and cast up a mound against it; set camps also against it, and plant battering rams against it round about." — Ezekiel 4:2 (ASV)

Lay siege against it. — It must have seemed at this time unlikely that Jerusalem would soon become the subject of another siege. The only power by which such a siege could be undertaken was Babylon (Egypt having been so thoroughly defeated as to be out of the question for a long time); and Nebuchadnezzar had now, within a few years, three times completely conquered Judea, had carried two of its kings, one after the other, captive in chains, and had also taken into captivity 10,000 of the leading people, setting up as king over the remnant a creature of his own, who was nevertheless of the royal house of Judah.

A fresh siege could only be the result of a fresh rebellion—an act, under the circumstances, of simple infatuation. Yet Zedekiah, through the anger of the LORD (2 Kings 24:20), was guilty of this infatuation, and thus the prophecy was fulfilled. The prophecy itself is undated but must have been between the call of Ezekiel in the fifth month of the fifth year (Ezekiel 1:2) and the next date given (Ezekiel 8:1), the sixth month of the sixth year. The siege began, according to Jeremiah 52:4, in the tenth month of the ninth year, so that the prophecy preceded its fulfilment by only about four years.

Build a fort against it. — Rather, a tower. The several acts of a siege are graphically described. First, the city is invested. Then a tower is built, as was customary, of sufficient height to overlook the walls and thus obtain information about the activities of the besieged. Instruments for throwing stones or darts were also sometimes placed in such towers.

Next, cast a mound against it—a common operation of the ancient siege (Jeremiah 32:24), in which a sort of artificial hill was built to give the besiegers an advantage.

Then the camps (not merely one camp) are set around the city to prevent ingress and egress. Finally, the battering rams are brought against the walls.

These battering rams were heavy beams, headed with iron, and slung in towers, so that they could be swung against the walls with great force. They are frequently seen in the representations of sieges found in the ruins of Nineveh. The practice of forming the end of the beam like a ram’s head belongs to the Greeks and Romans, but the instrument itself was much older.