Charles Ellicott Commentary Ezekiel 4:3

"And take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face toward it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel." — Ezekiel 4:3 (ASV)

An iron pan. —The margin gives the meaning more accurately, a flat plate. It was used for baking cakes (see Leviticus 2:5, margin). This was to be set as an iron wall between the prophet (representing the besiegers) and the city, doubtless symbolic of the strength of the besiegers’ lines and of the impossibility of an escape from the city by a sally. Their foes would be made too strong for them defensively as well as offensively.

A sign to the house of Israel. —As already said, the tribe of Judah, with the associated remnants of the other tribes, is considered to represent the whole nation after the Assyrian captivity, and is spoken of as “the house of Israel” except when it is necessary to distinguish especially between the two parts of the nation. (Ezekiel 3:17; Ezekiel 5:4; Ezekiel 8:6; 2 Chronicles 21:2; 2 Chronicles 28:27, etc.) The prophecy would have been equally effective whether seen as a symbolic act or only recounted.