Lexical Summary ug: To bake, to round, to encircle Original Word: עוּג Strong's Exhaustive Concordance bake A primitive root; properly, to gyrate; but used only as a denominative from uggah, to bake (round cakes on the hearth) -- bake. see HEBREW uggah NAS Exhaustive Concordance Word Origindenominative verb from uggah Definition to bake NASB Translation baked (1). Brown-Driver-Briggs [עוּג] verb denominative bake (a cake; literally make a cake of); — Qal Imperfect2masculine singular suffix 3 feminine singular תְּעֻגֶנָֿה (so Baer Ginsb, > van d. H. תְּעֻגֶּנּה) thou shalt bake it (on form see Köi. 496 f. Ges§ 58k) Ezekiel 4:12. Topical Lexicon Hebrew Daily Life and the Round Barley CakeIn ancient Israelite households bread was generally baked in flat or slightly domed shapes upon heated stones, the inner wall of a clay oven, or a rudimentary griddle set over embers. The single‐occurrence term עוּג points to this simple, circular loaf made from barley meal—an inexpensive, readily available grain that sustained the poor and often served as fodder for animals. While wheat loaves graced festive tables, barley cakes were associated with hardship and subsistence, a fact that heightens their rhetorical power when employed by the prophets. Canonical Setting: Ezekiel 4:12 Ezekiel, already exiled to Babylon, is commanded to enact a vivid sign to his fellow captives: “You are to eat it as you would a barley cake and bake it over dried human excrement before their eyes.” (Ezekiel 4:12) The prophet’s forty‐day diet of measured water and meager bread dramatizes the famine and ritual defilement that will befall Jerusalem under siege. By specifying the round barley cake (עוּג) instead of a finer loaf, the oracle underscores scarcity; by prescribing fuel that would render the food ceremonially unclean, it proclaims the profound covenant breach that brings judgment. Symbolism of Defilement and Judgment 1. Physical deprivation: Limited rations illustrate the starvation conditions anticipated in the city (Ezekiel 4:10–11). Barley as a Motif of Humility and Divine Provision Although Ezekiel 4 accentuates scarcity, elsewhere Scripture uses barley to display God’s surprising provision: • Judges 7:13—Gideon hears a Midianite dream of a barley loaf overturning a tent, an image of God employing the weak to topple the strong. Thus the same humble grain that portrays judgment in Ezekiel later becomes an emblem of grace in both Testaments. Prophetic Imagery and Christological Echoes Ezekiel’s enacted parable prefigures the Messiah who would one day bear reproach, hunger, and shame on behalf of His people (Isaiah 53:3–5; Hebrews 13:12–13). The polluted cake anticipates the Holy One made “sin on our behalf” (2 Corinthians 5:21), that a righteous remnant might find cleansing and life. Pastoral and Homiletical Applications • Call to repentance: Ezekiel’s shocking object lesson warns against complacency in sin. Summary The lone appearance of עוּג in Ezekiel 4:12 captures in a single, rustic loaf the intertwined themes of deprivation, defilement, and divine warning. Yet when read within the wider canon, the same barley cake motif also heralds God’s power to reverse judgment through the provision of His Servant, turning symbols of want into signs of abundant grace. Forms and Transliterations תְּעֻגֶ֖נָה תעגנה tə‘uḡenāh tə·‘u·ḡe·nāh teuGenahLinks Interlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel TextsEnglishman's Concordance Ezekiel 4:12 HEB: צֵאַ֣ת הָֽאָדָ֔ם תְּעֻגֶ֖נָה לְעֵינֵיהֶֽם׃ ס NAS: cake, having baked [it] in their sight KJV: cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung INT: out human baked their sight 1 Occurrence |
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