In Ezek. 4–5, the coming siege of Jerusalem and the dispersion of its inhabitants is foretold under divers symbols. If the 5th year of Jehoiachins captivity be taken (as is most probable) for the year in which Ezekiel received this communication, it was a time at which such an event would, according to human calculation, have appeared improbable. It could scarcely have been expected that Zedekiah - the creature of the king of Babylon and ruling by his authority in the place of Jehoiachin - would have been so infatuated as to provoke the anger of the powerful Nebuchadnezzar. It is indeed to infatuation that the sacred historian ascribes the act 2 Kings 24:20.