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I will break the staff of bread - They shall be besieged till all the bread is consumed, till the famine becomes absolute; see 2 Kings 25:3; : "And on the ninth of the fourth month, the famine prevailed in the city; and There Was No Bread for the people of the land." All this was accurately foretold, and as accurately fulfilled.

Abp. Newcome on 2 Kings 25:6; observes: "This number of years will take us back, with sufficient exactness, from the year in which Jerusalem was sacked by Nebuchadnezzar to the first year of Jeroboam's reign, when national idolatry began in Israel. The period of days seems to predict the duration of the siege by the Babylonians, 2 Kings 25:9, deducting from the year five months and twenty-nine days, mentioned 2 Kings 25:1-4, the time during which the Chaldeans were on their expedition against the Egyptians; see Jeremiah 37:6." This amounts nearly to the same as that mentioned above.

The staff of bread - Bread is so called because it is that on which the support of life mainly depends.

With astonishment - With dismay and anxiety at the calamities which are befalling them.

The bread which was Ezekiel's support, was to be made of coarse grain and pulse mixed together, seldom used except in times of urgent scarcity, and of this he was only to take a small quantity. Thus was figured the extremity to which the Jews were to be reduced during the siege and captivity. Ezekiel does not plead, Lord, from my youth I have been brought up delicately, and never used to any thing like this; but that he had been brought up conscientiously, and never had eaten any thing forbidden by the law. It will be comfortable when we are brought to suffer hardships, if our hearts can witness that we have always been careful to keep even from the appearance of evil. See what woful work sin makes, and acknowledge the righteousness of God herein. Their plenty having been abused to luxury and excess, they were justly punished by famine. When men serve not God with cheerfulness in the abundance of all things, God will make them serve their enemies in the want of all things.