The people who were left in Jerusalem after the first captivity consoled themselves with the idea that they were better off than their brethren who were taken to Babylon. They believed that Yahweh would protect them from any foreign power and that neither the city of Jerusalem nor the Judean kingdom would ever be overthrown. Ezekiel's task was to disillusion them with reference to this hope, to make clear to them that the city would be destroyed and also the reasons why it would be overthrown. To accomplish these tasks, the prophet performed a number of symbolic acts. For example, on a piece of tile, he drew a picture of Jerusalem under siege and placed the tile in a prominent place, where it could be seen plainly by all those who walked along the street. He lay on his left side for a period of time each day for three hundred and ninety days, and then he lay on his right side in a similar manner for forty days. Ezekiel explained that for each day he lay on his left side, northern Israel would be in captivity for one year, and for each day he lay on his right side, the southern kingdom — Judah — would spend a year in captivity. He cut off his hair, dividing it into three parts that symbolized northern Israel, the Judeans left in Jerusalem, and those in captivity in Babylon. He rationed his food, carried furniture out of his house, and did various other things to represent the disaster that would soon overtake the city of Jerusalem.
According to the prophet, the reason for the captivities that had already occurred, as well as for the one in store for the people left in Jerusalem, is the people's defiance of Yahweh's laws. Because Ezekiel believes that Yahweh rules supreme over all the nations of the earth, any violation of Yahweh's commands without appropriate punishment constitutes an infringement upon the deity's honor. Such violations are serious matters to Ezekiel, evidenced by the fact that his references to punishments are usually followed by the words "Then you will know that I am the Lord."
