Many of his messages required actions that involved strange behavior and personal suffering. He lay on his side for long periods of time (4:4–6), ate siege rations (4:9–17), shaved his head and beard (ch. 5), packed his bags and dug through a wall (12:1–7), set up a road sign (21:18–20), walked among bones of bodies in a valley (37:1–14), and joined two sticks together (37:15–17). Throughout, Ezekiel is addressed as “son of man,” a term intended to point out his humanness in relation to God’s holiness