Ezekiel 5

Ezekiel 5 AND The first four verses of ch 5 probably belong as the concluding verses of ch 4. The three discourses in chs 5-7 are related in that they elaborate on the symbolism of Eze 5:1-4. However, each of these discourses has its distinctive thrust. The first is characterized by the dual themes of rebellion and retribution (Ezekiel 5:5-17). The focus is on disobedience and desolation in the second discourse (6:1-14). In his third sermon, Ezekiel speaks of chaos and calamity (Ezekiel 7:1-27).

Whether these sermons were delivered during the later part of the time of the symbolic siege of Jerusalem, or whether they were given sometime afterwards cannot be determined. In either case, the symbolic actions gained for Ezekiel an attentive audience. It appears that during the period of these public discourses, he was generally treated with respect (cf. Ezekiel 8:1; Ezekiel 14:1; Ezekiel 20:1). PARABLE OF THE NATION’S FATEEze_5:1-4 Shaving of the Hair (Ezekiel 5:1 a): And as for you, son of man, take to yourself a sharp sword, for a barber’ s razor. Take it, and cause it to pass over your head and your beard. During the days of his symbolic siege of Jerusalem, Ezekiel performed another act. He shaved his head and beard with a sharp sword that he used like a barber’ s razor. The sword symbolizes the invading Chaldean army. Ezekiel symbolizes the land of Judah. The coming invader will scrape the land bare (cf. Isaiah 7:20). He will bring upon it disgrace and mourning. Again Ezekiel was commanded to violate the ceremonial law so as to make a prophetic application. The hair of the priest was a mark of his consecration to God’ s service (Leviticus 19:27). Shaving the head was a sign of mourning (Isaiah 3:24; Isaiah 22:12). If an Israelite priest shaved his head, he was defiled (Leviticus 21:5). Ezekiel defiled and humiliated himself as a symbol of the humiliation of the people of Judah who were defiled and no longer holy to the Lord. Nothing was left to do but to mourn their death as a nation.

The hair removed from face and head was to be divided by weight into three parts. The balances that Ezekiel was to use may symbolize justice just as is still the case today. God’ s judgment is measured, accurate and fair (cf. Jeremiah 15:2). Distribution of the Hair (Ezekiel 5:1-2) The first third (Ezekiel 5:1 b): Take to yourself balances, and divide them. A third part you will burn in the fire in the midst of the city when the days of the siege are fulfilled. Ezekiel’ s shorn hair symbolizes the population of Jerusalem. The manner of the disposal of the hair indicated the various fates that awaited those rebellious Jews. A third of the hair was to be burned in the midst of the city, i.e., on the tile that depicted the city of Jerusalem. These hairs symbolized those who will die in the horrors of warfare— fire, sword, famine and pestilence— when the city was besieged. The second third (Ezekiel 5:2 a): Take a third part, smite with the sword around about her. Another third of the hair was to be smitten with the sword round about her, viz., the city. This symbolized the fate of those who tried to escape the city, either during or after the fall. A prime example is King Zedekiah and his associates (cf. 2 Kings 25:4 ff.).

The third third (Ezekiel 5:2 b): And a third part you will scatter to the wind. And I will unsheathe a sword after them. The last third of the hair was to be scattered to the wind. The hairs symbolize those who will be dispersed to foreign lands. Though they had escaped the holocaust at Jerusalem, they will not find peace, for I will unsheathe a sword after them (Ezekiel 5:2). Jeremiah predicted the same fate for the exiles (Jeremiah 9:15), as did Moses before him (Leviticus 26:33). Gathering of the Hair(Ezekiel 5:3-4) Hair bound in the hem (Ezekiel 5:3): Take a few in number, and bind them in the hem of your garment. In this bleak passage, there is a hint of hope. A few of the hairs— presumably those that had been scattered to the wind— were to be retrieved and bound in the hem of Ezekiel’ s garment. A remnant of those carried off to exile will survive.

Hair burned in the fire (Ezekiel 5:4): From them take again, and cast them into the midst of the fire and burn them. From it a fire will go out into all the house of Israel. Though some will survive, their situation will be desperate. From the hairs retrieved, Ezekiel was to take some and cast them into the fire. The fire here may represent persecution through which some of the Jewish remnant will die. On the other hand, the fire may represent the fire that will destroy Babylon. Those who refused to heed the prophetic admonition to flee Babylon will face this fate.

Thus the general drift of this parable is clear. Ezekiel foresees the total destruction and dispersion of Jerusalem’ s populace. True faith, however, will survive in a faithful remnant.

The expression from them fire will go out into all the house of Israel is difficult. Perhaps the thought is that even the faithful remnant in Babylon will suffer new hardships because of the suicidal rebellion launched by the leadership in Jerusalem. 5:5-17 In 5:5-17 the four symbols found in Ezekiel 4:1 to Ezekiel 5:4 are directly and forcefully explained. Ezekiel may have preached this homily as he lay upon his side illustrating the siege of Jerusalem. After briefly reciting the sin of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 5:5-6), the prophet enunciates two dreadful threats against the city (Ezekiel 5:7-12). He then describes the results of the judgment (Ezekiel 5:13-15). He closes this discourse with yet another direct threat (Ezekiel 5:16-17). This first discourse describes the privilege, perversity and punishment of Jerusalem. Sin of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 5:5-6): A clear identification (Ezekiel 5:5 a): Thus says the Lord GOD: This is Jerusalem! Through the siege signs of Eze 4:1 to Ezekiel 5:4, Ezekiel has made it clear that disaster was going to overtake the inhabitants of a besieged city. It remained only for Ezekiel to make known the identity of the city. The sense of drama is sustained as the prophet tersely announces, This is Jerusalem. His auditors can no longer speculate that the map portrayed some other city.

A clear justification (Ezekiel 5:5 b-6): Ezekiel’ s thesis in vv 5-6 is that Jerusalem’ s sin against God was grievous. He argues his point in two ways.

Judah’s central position (Ezekiel 5:5 b): In the midst of the nations I have placed her, and lands are round about her. Jerusalem’ s sin was grievous because of the position that she occupied. God had placed Jerusalem in the midst of the nations (Ezekiel 5:5). This is no manifestation of Jewish pride, but an indication of the basic premise of Old Testament religion, viz., the election of Israel. Geographically, Canaan was in the midst of the great civilizations of the ancient Near East.

The habitation assigned to the chosen people was carefully chosen by the Lord. The people of God were to be the great witness to monotheism in the ancient world. Jerusalem, however, was unfaithful to her mission. The ancient Jews thought of God as inexorably connected with physical Jerusalem. The continued physical existence of the walls and buildings known as Jerusalem was not what concerned God, but rather the mission and message of that city. This concept the contemporaries of Ezekiel found hard to accept. Judah’s blatant rebellion (Ezekiel 5:6): She has rebelled against my judgments for evil more than the nations, and against my statutes more than the lands that are round about her; for they have refused my judgments, and in my statutes they have not walked. Jerusalem’ s sin was grievous in view of the fact that she had received special divine revelation in the form of judgments and statutes. The rabbis taught that judgments (mispatim) pertained to a man’ s duty to his fellowman, while statutes (huqqot) spelled out his duty to God. Certainly greater light involves greater responsibility before God. An Egyptian and an Israelite may commit the same overt act; but the deed was a far greater crime for the Israelite because Israel had divine law and light.

The grievousness of Jerusalem’ s sin is indicated by the verbs of Eze 5:6. She had rebelled (temer) against, and her population had rejected (ma’ asu), the judgments of God. She refused to walk in the statutes of God.

The wickedness of Jerusalem was worse than that of heathen nations round about (Ezekiel 5:6). The judgments of God are always relative to the light and privilege granted to a people. This thought is amplified in the following verses. First Threat (Ezekiel 5:7-10): Basis of the threat (Ezekiel 5:7): Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD: Because you are more tumultuous than the nations that are round about you— in my statutes you have not walked, and my judgments you have not done, nor have you done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you; The word therefore introduces, not the judgment, but further indictment. This is common in oracles of judgment. It is almost as though the Lord is hesitant to pronounce the sentence, or at least to establish a firm legal basis for that sentence before it is uttered. The word translated tumultuous is of uncertain meaning. It seems to be connected with the noun hdmon that refers to a tumultuous crowd. They raged in their opposition against God. Such a description is appropriate to these lawless ones who rejected the judgments and statutes of the Lord. Judah had not even measured up to the standards of heathen nations—nor have you done according to the judgments of the nations round about you (Ezekiel 5:7). Judah had sunk even deeper into wickedness than pagan nations. The thought here may be that of Jer 2:10 f., viz., that the heathen were more loyal to their non-gods than was Israel to the God of creation. Specifics of the threat (Ezekiel 5:8-10)The second therefore in the unit introduces Yahweh’s word of judgment. Five specific details concerning the forthcoming judgment of God are set forth in Ezekiel 5:8-10. Divine judgment (Ezekiel 5:8 a): therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold I, even I, am against you… The future judgment is the work of the sovereign ruler of Judah. Yahweh is ’ adondy, i.e., sovereign. It is he who has become the adversary of Judah. The formula I am against you seems to be derived from the background of hand-to-hand combat. The dreadful thought that God has entered into mortal combat against Jerusalem is underscored by the emphasis on the first person pronoun—I, even I, am against you. The great sovereign God not only declares in Ezekiel 5:8 his hostility toward Jerusalem, he announces his intention to execute judgments in the midst of that city. The last expression is repeated in Ezekiel 5:10.

Public judgment (Ezekiel 5:8): and I will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nations. Repeatedly Ezekiel emphasizes this thought. Judah publicly had profaned the honor of God. Thus the Holy One of Israel publicly must be vindicated. The death of Judah will be a hideous example to other nations. Unprecedented judgment (Ezekiel 5:9): And I will do in you what I have not done, and the likes of which I will not do again, because of all your abominations. Third, the judgment is unprecedented. The abominations of Judah were without precedent; so also will be the manifestation of God’ s judgment (v 9). Modern students find it easy to criticize the spiritual blindness and obduracy of Israel in refusing to believe the prophetic threats against Jerusalem. This verse should serve to explain in part the bewilderment and incredulity that this message of destruction produced. There was no precedent to prepare for the disaster.

Currey observes that The punishments of God are cumulative. The calamities of the Babylonian were surpassed by the Roman siege (Matthew 24:21), and these again were but a foreshadowing of still more terrible destruction at the last day.

Unthinkable judgment (Ezekiel 5:10 a): Therefore, fathers will eat sons in your midst, and sons will eat their fathers. The judgment results in horrible barbarisms. In the extremities of the forthcoming siege cannibalism will be practiced in Jerusalem. That children will be devoured during that brutal period had been prophesied already. The gruesome fulfillment is recorded in Lamentations 4:10. Ezekiel, however, here goes beyond previous threats in that he predicts that sons will eat their fathers. “ Human plight can know no greater depths.”

Devastating judgment (Ezekiel 5:10 b): I will execute judgments in you. I will scatter all your remnant to every wind. The judgment involves the scattering of God’ s people. In Ezekiel 5:10 Ezekiel alludes to those Jews who will flee from the Babylonian invasion as well as those who will be carried off to Babylon or sold into slavery in distant lands.Second Threat (Ezekiel 5:11-12)1. Basis of the threat (Ezekiel 5:11 a): Therefore as I live (oracle of the Lord GOD) surely, because my sanctuary you have defiled with all your detestable things and with all your abominations… Again the first therefore introduces the basis for the second threat, while the second therefore sets forth the threat itself. This dire threat is in order because the inhabitants of Jerusalem had defiled God’ s temple with their detestable things and their abominations, i.e., their idolatrous paraphernalia. History records how King Manasseh erected an idol in the temple precincts (2 Kings 21:7). Ahaz replaced the divinely ordained altar with an Assyrian model (2 Kings 16:11). 2. General picture of the threat (Ezekiel 5:11 b): therefore I will cut you short. My eye will spare not, nor will I have pity. Because of such brazen presumption, God will cut short Jerusalem without mercy (Ezekiel 5:11). There is no evidence that the Israelites were overtly more wicked than neighboring peoples. They, however, had violated the first and most basic commandment in that they rendered allegiance to that which was less than God. Specifics of the threat (Ezekiel 5:12) Ezekiel alludes to the symbolic act that he had performed with his shaven hair (Ezekiel 5:1-4). a. The first third (Ezekiel 5:12 a): A third part of you with pestilence will die. With famine they will be consumed in your midst. A third of the populace will be consumed by pestilence and famine in the midst of the city.b. The second third (Ezekiel 5:12 b): A third part will fall by the sword round about you. A third will fall by the sword in trying to defend the city, or escape therefrom.c. The third third (Ezekiel 5:12 c): A third part I will scatter to every wind. A sword I will unsheathe after them.

A third will be scattered in every direction. This latter group will include both those who might manage to escape to surrounding nations, and those who will be carried into foreign exile. Divine retribution will continue to pursue these folks even on foreign soil. The sword that God will unsheathe after these refugees symbolizes the persecution that they will continue to experience. The horrors of the Babylonian siege were but the beginning of sorrows of the nation. The prophecy may reach beyond the limits of the Babylonian era.

Ezekiel may here be foretelling the continuous misery that the once favored people of God will experience.Results of the Judgmen(Ezekiel 5:13-15)Three results of Jerusalem’ s judgment are mentioned in these verses:

God’s anger assuaged (Ezekiel 5:13 a): Then my anger will end. My wrath I will cause to rest in respect to them, and will be comforted. Only when Jerusalem was in ruins and her few survivors scattered abroad is God’ s anger (’aph) and wrath (hema) assuaged. The strongly anthropomorphic expression, my wrath I will cause to rest in respect to them is used in three other places in the book. Evil actions have tragic results. In this first discourse the only note of hope is that once Jerusalem is destroyed the righteous anger of God will be satisfied. God’s word vindicated (Ezekiel 5:13 b): They will know that I the LORD have spoken in my zeal when I have finished my wrath on them. Through the fulfillment of the predicted punishment, they will recognize that the calamity was initiated by God and was not due to mere chance. Ezekiel uses the terms zeal/jealousy (qina) and wrath (hema) synonymously. God’s zeal or jealousy is provoked by idolatry (Ezekiel 8:3; Ezekiel 8:5; cf. Exodus 20:3-5).

God’s people humiliated (Ezekiel 5:14-15): And I will make you a desolation and a reproach among the nations that are round about you, before every one who passes by. (Ezekiel 5:15) And it will be a reproach, and a taunt, a lesson and an astonishment to the nations that are round about you when I execute against you judgments in anger, wrath and furious rebukes. I the LORD have spoken it. The retribution against Jerusalem earns for the people of Judah the contempt of all neighboring nations, and passers-by as well (Ezekiel 5:14). The ruins of the once proud capital of Judah will serve as a reproach, taunt, a warning lesson and a source of astonishment to the neighboring nations. At this point Ezekiel mentions only this one good that will result from the fall of Judah. From the tragedy of Israel, the nations will learn that Yahweh is in control of history, and that he is a righteous God.

Third Threat (Ezekiel 5:16-17) Ezekiel 5:16 —When I send against them the evil arrows of famine that are for destruction that I will send against you to destroy you; and I will increase famine upon you. I will shatter your staff of bread. (Ezekiel 5:17) I will send against you famine and wild beasts, and they will bereave you. Pestilence and blood will pass through you. I will bring a sword upon you. I the LORD have spoken it. In the third threat of this discourse, Ezekiel enumerates six calamities that will befall Judah. God was about to send against his people the evil arrows of famine, i.e., blasting, mildew, locusts and other plagues that will lead to a scarcity of food. In addition, God will increase the famine. He will withhold the rain. Thus will he shatter the staff of bread (Ezekiel 5:16; cf. Ezekiel 4:16). Other disasters will depopulate the land. Wild beasts will become a problem. They will especially attack children. Thus will the wicked mothers and fathers be bereaved. Pestilence, i.e., plagues, will take their toll against man and beast. Others will die by violence as blood passed through their midst. Finally, they will face the sword of divine retribution, the Chaldean enemy.

Three times in this first discourse Ezekiel stressed the fact that I the Lord have spoken (Ezekiel 5:13; Ezekiel 5:15; Ezekiel 5:17). It is not the existence of the Lord that is being stressed, but the identity of the speaker as Yahweh. It is really Yahweh, the God of revelation and redemption, who has made these threats. He is a God who reveals Himself in acts as well as in words. His acts accredit and validate His words. The dire threats of this chapter were certain to befall Judah.

In summarizing the first discourse, three stages of backsliding can be observed: (1) the Jews had rebelled against the ordinances of God in their hearts (Ezekiel 5:6); (2) they ceased to walk in God’ s statutes in the outer life (Ezekiel 5:6); and finally, (3) they were so brazen that they defiled God’ s sanctuary (Ezekiel 5:11). With regard to Jerusalem’ s punishments, again a threefold progression is observable: (1) God was against his people (Ezekiel 5:8); (2) God will execute judgments on his people (Ezekiel 5:8); and finally (3) those judgments will be executed in anger and wrath (Ezekiel 5:15) Ezekiel Chapter FiveVerse 1 SIEGE OF As Dummelow noted, Ezekiel’s part in these pantomimes is variable. Part of the time he represents God, and at other times he stands for Israel. Here he stands for Jerusalem, his head particularly, standing for city; but again, in the burning of the hair in the midst of the city (that is, in the middle of the map of the city on the tile), he enacts the part God would play in the destruction of Jerusalem. Ezekiel 5:1-4“And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp sword; as a barber’s razor shalt thou take it unto thee, and shall cause it to pass upon thy head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh and divide the hair. A third part shalt thou burn in the fire in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled; and thou shalt take a third part and smite with the sword round about it; and a third part shalt thou scatter to the wind, and I will draw out a sword after them. And shall take thereof a few in number and bind them in thy skirts. And of these again shalt thou take, and cast them into the midst of the fire; therefore shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.“As regarded the destiny of Jerusalem, the symbols introduced here were extremely distressing. The sword stood for the armed might of Babylon. The shaving of the head stood for humiliation, mourning, disaster, the loss of sanctity, catastrophe.

The balances were a symbol of the justice and righteousness of God and the equity of his judgments. Ezekiel’s head represented Jerusalem; the hair represented the population of it, the glory, and honor, and ability of the city. These were all to disappear in the destruction. The various uses of the three-thirds of the hair, only a part of the last third being accorded a special treatment, indicated the various ways in which the population of Jerusalem would be killed. The burning in the midst of the city refers to their death by famine and pestilence; the smiting of a third of it with the sword “round about the city” represents those who would fall to the sword of Babylon; and the scattering of a third of it to the winds represented the scattering of the Israelites among all nations. Apparently the mandate to smite some of the hair “round about the city” refers to his smiting of it symbolically around the tile that had the map of Jerusalem engraved upon it. “And thou shalt take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts …” (Ezekiel 5:3) Yes indeed, right here is that same glorious doctrine of the righteous remnant so prominent in the works of Isaiah and Jeremiah. “There are some who deny the doctrine of the remnant is in Ezekiel, but that view is untenable in the light of this verse 3."[1] It is clear enough here that the small portion of that final third which was bound in the skirts of God’s prophet was an eloquent testimony that not all of Israel would be destroyed. “And of these again shalt thou take and cast them … into the fire …” (Ezekiel 5:4) This shows that not all of the “righteous remnant” would escape the disasters to fall upon the Whole nation. Even from them also there would be those who fell away. Having in these dramatic pictures foretold the terrible destruction of Jerusalem, Ezekiel in the following paragraph explained the necessity for the coming judgment. Verse 5 “Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: This is Jerusalem: I have set her in the midst of the nations, and countries are round about her. And she hath rebelled against mine ordinances in doing wickedness more than the nations, and as for my statutes, they have not walked in them. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because ye are turbulent more than the nations round about you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept mine ordinances, neither have done after the ordinances of the nations that are round about you; therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I, even I, am against thee; and I will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations. And I will do in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the like, because of all thine abominations. Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments on thee; and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter unto all the winds. Wherefore as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee; neither shall mine eye spare, and I also will have no pity.

A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee; and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee, and a third part shall I scatter unto all the winds, and will draw out a sword after them.““This is Jerusalem …” (Ezekiel 5:5). The illustration is here explained by God Himself. The doom of Jerusalem is clearly prophesied. “I have set her in the midst of the nations …” (Ezekiel 5:5) This was true in both ways. It refers to the central location of Palestine in the midst of the three continents, Europe, Asia, and Africa; and the nations were literally in all directions from Jerusalem. But it was also true in the larger context of the information and privileges enjoyed by the Jews. God’s choice of the Abrahamic children as his “Chosen People” was for the purpose of preserving the knowledge of the true God in a world where that knowledge was in danger of falling. They alone received the Mosaic law; they were particularly chosen as the replacement for the reprobate pagans of ancient Palestine; and to them only the great prophets of God brought correction and enlightenment. “Against my statutes more than the countries that are round about her …” (Ezekiel 5:6). The picture that emerges here is that of a nation abundantly blessed with the ordinances and statutes of God, these repeated words being, absolutely, references to the Mosaic Law. In fact, the references to the Book of Moses are so frequent from this chapter on to the very end of Ezekiel that some of the radical critics (S. R. Driver, for example) have advanced the theory that Ezekiel was the author of Ezekiel 17-26, sometimes called the Holiness Code, in Leviticus.[2]However, there are so many impossibilities involved in the acceptance of such a false theory that true scholars are unable to allow it. Beasley-Murray stated flatly that, “We may approach this book in confidence that it is what it purports to be, namely the record of Ezekiel’s 25-year ministry to his fellow-exiles in Babylon."[3]No, Ezekiel did not invent the regulations, statutes, and ordinances of God which Israel had so long and so thoroughly violated.

Those prohibitions are in the Pentateuch, that is, THE BOOK OF MOSES. It should be borne in mind that Moses did not write five books, but one only; and the divisions into five separate books is a foolish device indeed, despite the fact of its serving the convenience of students. “More than the countries round about her …” (Ezekiel 5:6). This is a reference to one of the fundamental facts often overlooked. The pagan nations surrounding the Chosen People certainly did know many of the portions of God’s will, as Paul testified in Romans 1:18-23; and the text here reveals that the surrounding pagans had done a better job of honoring what part of God’s will they knew than had Israel. “Turbulent more than the nations that are round about you …” (Ezekiel 5:7). The older versions render “multiplied” here instead of turbulent; and Matthew Henry stated that this was a reference to the multiplication of idols and pagan shrines.[4] In any case, it is a reference to the excessive wickedness of Israel as compared with the surrounding pagans. “Neither have done after the ordinances of the nations …” (Ezekiel 5:7). Not only had Israel rejected and forsaken the law of God, but they had rejected all laws and regulations, even those of pagan nations, leaving them the status of being essentially lawless. “Behold, I, even I, am against thee; and I will execute judgments against thee in the sight of the nations …” (Ezekiel 5:8). The justice of God’s impending judgments against Israel was due in part to the fact that their position, by God’s grace, in the midst of the nations as an example and a teacher to all of them, required that their utter failure to discharge their Divine mission be demonstrated to the whole world. “I will do in thee that which I have not done … the like unto which I will not do any more …” (Ezekiel 5:9). The horrible cannibalism mentioned here indeed occurred during that final siege. The account in Lamentations is the record of the tragic fulfillment of these words. “Thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy abominations …” (Ezekiel 5:11). This would seem to indicate that God’s terrible judgment against Israel was principally due to this offence; but the sanctuary here was not the only defilement in Jerusalem. The valley of the Sons of Hinnom, from which the word Gehenna was derived, was the scene of the horrible shrine of Moloch, where even the kings of Israel made their sons “pass through the fire” to Molech. “A third part shall die with the pestilence, and with famine …” (12). Here God Himself gives the meaning of the burning of a third part of Ezekiel’s hair, mentioned back in Ezekiel 5:2. Also, there is the revelation that a third shall die by the sword, and a third shall be scattered to the winds. “I will … draw out a sword after them …” (Ezekiel 5:12). This means that even of that third who were to be scattered, the sword would also take its toll. Also, this means that, of the hair that was to be bound in the skirts of Ezekiel, thus representing the “righteous remnant,” and which was also a small portion of that final third, that even of those thus represented some would be lost. Verse 13 “Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my wrath toward them to rest, and I shall be comforted: and they shall know that I, Jehovah, have spoken in my zeal, when I have accomplished my wrath upon them.“All of the ancient prophets speak in the most eloquent and frightening terms of the wrath of God. God’s anger against sin is a much more terrible reality than most men suppose. The modern conception of God has reduced him to the status of a benevolent old grandpa, so indifferent to the sins raging in his presence, that he would scarcely punish anybody. Is he not a God of love? Indeed, he is; but this must also be reconciled with his unmitigated anger and intolerance against all sin. God’s being comforted when his punishment of evil is completed indicates, as Plumptre noted, that, “He rejoices in the punishment of evil for its own sake and that he rejoices that the punishment has done its proper work in leading men to repentance."[5]Verse 14 “Moreover I will make thee a desolation and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by.““The object here was to make Judah and Jerusalem a warning to the nations around about them."[6]Verse 15 “So it shall be a reproach and taunt, an instruction and an astonishment, unto the nations that are round about thee, when I shall execute judgments on thee in anger and in wrath, and in wrathful rebukes (I, Jehovah, have spoken it); when I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, that are for destruction, which I will send to destroy you. And I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread; and I will send upon you evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and I will bring the sword upon thee: I, Jehovah, have spoken it.“Greenberg cited no less than five phrases and expressions here that Ezekiel quoted from Leviticus 26.[7] It was for their violation of the covenant that came through Moses that resulted in God’s fierce anger against Israel. “The evil arrows of famine …” (Ezekiel 5:16). According to the Book of Moses (Deuteronomy 22:23), these evil arrows refer to famine. God’s promise to increase it shows that hunger upon hunger would fall upon the condemned people. “Evil beasts …” (Ezekiel 5:17). According to Watt, this is a reference to brutalized men who have no breath from God."[8] This, of course, could be correct; but the passage may also be intended literally. It will be remembered that when the Assyrians deported the Northern Israel, it was necessary to send back a priest to teach the people regarding the “God of the land,” as a protection against the wild beasts (2 Kings 17:27). “Pestilence and blood …” (Ezekiel 5:17). “This refers to some terrible disease."[9]Eichrodt pointed out that in this chapter, “Ezekiel brings out God’s world-wide purpose of salvation, showing that it formed the background of the election of Israel, whose resistance to God’s plan for the whole world amounted to her throwing away the position Israel was intended to occupy, thus making her rejection and severe punishment absolutely certain."[10]The holy Church herself is in danger of the same tragic mistake made by Israel. If the Church shall forget that “God so loved the world” (all of it) that he gave the Gospel to “the whole creation”; and if she shall forget or neglect her mission to spread the Truth to the ends of creation, she herself might indeed suffer a fate similar to that which God inflicted upon the ancient Israel.

Ezekiel 5:1

Ezekiel 5:1. The prophet was directed to do some more acting to which reference has been made frequently. The head is the most important part of the body, and the Lord selected that part of Ezekiel’s person in the present drama. The weighing of the hairs was necessary in order to make the equal divisions that were called for.

Ezekiel 5:2

Ezekiel 5:2. The hulk of the hairs was to be divided into thirds, corresponding to the three points in verse 12. Midst of the city could not mean Jerusalem literally, because Ezekiel was in Babylon and there is no evidence that he ever left it. The phrase means he was to perform these things in the midst of the people of whose former kingdom the city of Jerusalem was the capital. (See verse 5.) The prophet was to go out among the people and burn one division of the hairs in their sight. He would hold a division in one hand and with the other he would hack or hew it to bits. The other third of the hairs was to be tossed out and let be scattered with tiie wind.

Apparently these last hairs, representing actual living persons, were set free to go where they would. Vet that was not to be so, for even those who escaped the first two fates were doomed to be pursued with hostile intent, hence the Lord said he would do what Ezekiel could not humanly do; make a sword follow after the scattered hairs.

Ezekiel 5:3

Ezekiel 5:3. Before making the divisions described In the preceding verse, Ezekiel was to reserve a few in number. (This refers to the “remnant” recorded in Ezra 2:64.) He was to hind them in his garment which would indicate an act to shield them from the ravages of the three events just described.

Ezekiel 5:4

Ezekiel 5:4. The “remnant,” however, was not to escape entirely from tribulation, hence Ezekiel was directed to take sAne of the hairs he had placed in the folds of his garment and burn them. The Lord explained that a fire (figuratively) would come out against the house of Israel.

Ezekiel 5:5

Ezekiel 5:5. This is Jerusalem explains that whaL Ezekiel was directed to do was to be fulfilled upon Jerusalem as was stated at verse 2. Set if in the midst of nations. God bestowed great honors on Jerusalem by giving her such prominence among the nations.

Ezekiel 5:6

Ezekiel 5:6. Jerusalem did not literally commit more or greater idolatry than the nations of heathendom, for that would have been next to impossible. But when considered in the light of her opportunities and her professions, she had committed abomination mo-rc than the countries about. Specifically, Bhe had substituted wickedness for the judgments of the Lord and refused to walk in the law of God.

Ezekiel 5:7

Ezekiel 5:7. Multiplied is from HAMON and the definition in Strong’s lexicon is, “A noise, tumult, crowd; also disquietude, wealth.” The thought is that Jerusalem made a greater ado than the surrouding nations as to her importance of wealth and strength. In spite of such claims, however, she did not show as consistent an attitude toward the law she professed to follow as dirt the heathen nations.

Ezekiel 5:8

Ezekiel 5:8. It may be observed that mucti of Ezekiel’s writing seems to be directed more especially against Jerusalem than against the nation generally. That can be explained by the fact that most of the nation was already in exile and suffering their punishment., while Jerusalem as a city was still standing and facing the third and last stage of the captivity. Jerusalem was the capital city and was largely responsible for the state of corruption among the people through the power and example of the leaders, hence God declared, “I am against thee.”

Ezekiel 5:9

Ezekiel 5:9. This means that the punishment the Lord intended to inflict on Jerusalem would be greater than had ever been put on her before.

Ezekiel 5:10

Ezekiel 5:10. This verse predicts some of the awful effects of a famine that was to be brought upon Jerusalem by the siege. It would seem impossible for parents to he starved to such an extent that they would eat the flesh of their own children, But hunger is a terrible motive, and this very deed has been committed (2 Kings 6: 2529).

Ezekiel 5:11

Ezekiel 5:11. The defilement refers to the practice of idolatry which the people of Jerusalem had mixed with the worship prescribed by the Lord. Will diminish thee, was a prediction of the overthrow of the city, both as to its power or authority and also materially in that it was destined to be taken and burned.

Ezekiel 5:12

Ezekiel 5:12. These three means of reducing the great capital city would fulfill tlie symbolic prediction that was made by the acting of the prophet in verse 2. The three items would logically result in the almost total destruction of the nation. Pestilence and famine are tied together as one because a serious scarcity of food generally breeds disease. Some of the citizens tried to resist the enemy by fighting but were defeated in battle. Some escaped immediate death on the battle field and fled into distant regions, hut they could not run away from God and the sword caught up with them.

Ezekiel 5:13

Ezekiel 5:13. I wall be comforted could not mean that God takes personal joy out of the suffering of his people. The thought is that the Lord will he satisfied with bis work of reproving the nation through the severe chastisement.

Ezekiel 5:14

Ezekiel 5:14. National “pride” is not endorsed by the Lord at any time, for pride is always condemned wherever it exists. Yet it is a strong punishment upon any nation to humiliate it before the eyes of other nations, and that was to be one form of divine judgment upon Jerusalem and her people.

Ezekiel 5:15

Ezekiel 5:15. There was a twofold purpose in punishing the people of Israel in the sight of other nations. One was to bring Israel to repentance and the other was to serve as a warning to those heathen groups. The like object was in the divine mind in recording the facts of ancient times for Lhe use of men in the days of the Christian Dispensation (1 Corinthians 10:11; Romans 15:4). Such is the meaning of this ver3e by including the word instruction which was lo apply to the heathen observers.

Ezekiel 5:16

Ezekiel 5:16. When God sends his judgments on Israel, it should be a lesson to them (the heathen) and cause them to improve their national ways.

Ezekiel 5:17

Ezekiel 5:17. The items threatened are a repetition of what has previously been slated. An important declaration is connected with it, 1 the Lord have spoken it.