A possible explanation for the two prophesies of Ezekiel, against "The House of Israel" and the "House of Judah":

Both concern the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple:

Eze 4: 1 & 2 "Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:

2 And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about".

This only happened twice in the history of Israel:

1. In Ezekiel's day, around 540 - 580 BC, by the armies of Nebuchadnezzar.

-----> This final destruction of Jerusalem is possibly 390 years after King Jeroboam set up the false temple worship in Samaria. Jeroboam created high places and golden calves as idols for the ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom to worship, and he did not want his 10 tribes to worship in Jerusalem, in God's true temple anymore.

Note: On our Kings Chart, best we can tell, we are only accounting for 345 years from Jereboam and Rehoboam, in 931 BC, to the destruction of Jerusalem, in 586 BC. But, if we take the earliest time line from our commentaries and Bible foot notes for a beginning and the latest time line we find for the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, we can easily get the full 390 years. We just do not know for sure about our time lines, but we do know what God's Word says - Divine discipline upon THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL - ALL 12 TRIBES, for 390 years of sin.

Eze 4:5 "For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days:"

-----> Many of the Kings of the Southern Kingdom of Judah were seduced by the same false worship, and in the end even set up pagan altars and idols in the temple in Jerusalem.

-----> At the time Ezekiel is prophesying, the Northern Kingdom is already in Assyrian captivity for its sins, and the Southern Kingdom is involved with pagan worship in the Temple in Jerusalem.

-----> I think it is clear that the 390 year prophesy concerns the 390 years of sin of the "whole House of Israel" - all 12 tribes, from King Solomon's death, to the final destruction of Jerusalem by the armies of Nebuchadnezzar.

390 years for the WHOLE HOUSE OF ISRAEL:

Ezekiel 3:1 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel.

Ezekiel 3:4 And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them.

Ezekiel 3:5 For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel;

Ezekiel 3:7 But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.

Ezekiel 3:17 Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.

Ezekiel 4:3 Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.

Ezekiel 4:4 Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity.

Ezekiel 4:5 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.

Ezekiel 5:4 Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.

Ezekiel 6:11 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.

40 years for the "HOUSE OF JUDAH":

2. Second destruction of Jerusalem, in 70 AD by the armies of the Roman General Titus.

-----> In approximately 30 AD, Jesus began His public ministry - THE King Himself.

-----> The Northern Kingdom of Israel - the 10 tribes had been scattered since the time of Ezekiel, so only the Tribes of Judah and Benjamin still had an identity and genealogy to their tribes.

-----> 30 AD to 70 AD = 40 years of sin for the "House of Judah" and destruction of Jerusalem just as Ezekiel describes.

This is the best explanation I have found,

Bob