three hundred and ninety days. These were to be literal "days" to Ezekiel, and were to represent 390 literal "years". The date of the command is not material to the understanding of this prophecy. The meaning of the expression "bear their iniquity" (see note on Ezekiel 4:4) determines the interpretation as referring to the duration of the punishment, and not to the period of the iniquity which brought it down. The 390 days stand for 390 years and the 40 days for 40 years, the duration of the punishment of Israel and Judah respec tively. As this has to do with the city Jerusalem (verses: Ezekiel 4:1-3), the periods must necessarily be conterminous with something that affects the ending of its punishment. 'This was effected solely by the decree for the restoration and rebuilding of Jerusalem in 454 B.C. (App-50). Three hundred and ninety years take us back to the sixteenth year of Asa, when Baasha made war on Judah (844 B.C. 2 Chronicles 16:1. App-50); which was followed by the solemn announcement by the prophet Jehu against Baasha of the quickly coming punishment of Israel (1 Kings 16:1, &c.), The punishment of Judah, in like manner, began forty years betore (455-4 B.C.): viz. in 495-4 B.C.; 495 (his fifth year), being the year of Jehoiakim's burning of the roll. The prophecy of this punishment was given in his fourth year (Jeremiah 25:1; Jeremiah 25:9-11), and the execution of it speedily followed. This symbolical action of Ezekiel shows no how long Jerusalem's punishment lasted, and when it ended.
Related Commentaries of Ezekiel 4:5
Ezekiel 4:5
5 For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.