Ezekiel5
New King James Version
1“And you, son of man, take a sharp sword, take it as a barber’s razor, and pass it over your head and your beard; then take scales to weigh and divide the hair.
2You shall burn with fire one-third in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are finished; then you shall take one-third and strike around it with the sword, and one-third you shall scatter in the wind: I will draw out a sword after them.
3You shall also take a small number of them and bind them in the edge of your garment.
4Then take some of them again and throw them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire. From there a fire will go out into all the house of Israel.
5“Thus says the Lord God: ‘This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the midst of the nations and the countries all around her.
6She has rebelled against My judgments by doing wickedness more than the nations, and against My statutes more than the countries that are all around her; for they have refused My judgments, and they have not walked in My statutes.’
7Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Because you have multiplied disobedience more than the nations that are all around you, have not walked in My statutes nor kept My judgments, nor even done according to the judgments of the nations that are all around you’—
8therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Indeed I, even I, am against you and will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nations.
9And I will do among you what I have never done, and the like of which I will never do again, because of all your abominations.
10Therefore fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments among you, and all of you who remain I will scatter to all the winds.
11‘Therefore, as I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘surely, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your abominations, therefore I will also diminish you; My eye will not spare, nor will I have any pity.
12One-third of you shall die of the pestilence, and be consumed with famine in your midst; and one-third shall fall by the sword all around you; and I will scatter another third to all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.
13‘Thus shall My anger be spent, and I will cause My fury to rest upon them, and I will be avenged; and they shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it in My zeal, when I have spent My fury upon them.
14Moreover I will make you a waste and a reproach among the nations that are all around you, in the sight of all who pass by.
15‘So it shall be a reproach, a taunt, a lesson, and an astonishment to the nations that are all around you, when I execute judgments among you in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I, the Lord, have spoken.
16When I send against them the terrible arrows of famine which shall be for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, I will increase the famine upon you and cut off your supply of bread.
17So I will send against you famine and wild beasts, and they will bereave you. Pestilence and blood shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I, the Lord, have spoken.’ ”
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Ezekiel 5.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: A type of hair, showing the judgments about to come upon the Jews. (1-4). These awful judgments are declared. (5-17).
vv1-4
The prophet must shave off the hair of his head and beard, which signifies God's utter rejecting and abandoning that people. One part must be burned in the midst of the city, denoting the multitudes that should perish by famine and pestilence. Another part was to be cut in pieces, representing the many who were slain by the sword. Another part was to be scattered in the wind, denoting the carrying away of some into the land of the conqueror, and the flight of others into the neighbouring countries for shelter. A small quantity of the third portion was to be bound in his shirts, as that of which he is very careful. But few were reserved. To whatever refuge sinners flee, the fire and sword of God's wrath will consume them.
vv5-17
The sentence passed upon Jerusalem is very dreadful, the manner of expression makes it still more so. Who is able to stand in God's sight when he is angry? Those who live and die impenitent, will perish for ever unpitied; there is a day coming when the Lord will not spare. Let not persons or churches, who change the Lord's statutes, expect to escape the doom of Jerusalem. Let us endeavour to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. Sooner or later God's word will prove itself true.
Key Words
אַתָּה: thou and thee, or (plural) ye and you
בֵּן: a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)
אָדָם: ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species, mankind, etc.)
לָקַח: to take (in the widest variety of applications)
חַד: sharp
חֶרֶב: drought; also a cutting instrument (from its destructive effect), as a knife, sword, or other sharp implement
גַּלָּב: a barber
תַּעַר: a knife or razor (as making bare); also a scabbard (as being bare, i.e. empty)
עָבַר: to cross over; used very widely of any transition (literal or figurative; transitive, intransitive, intensive, causative); specifically, to cover (in copulation)
עַל: above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applications
Cross References
Ezekiel 5Prophetic imagery of a razor hired to shave the head/beard represents humiliating judgment through a foreign king.
Supported by JFB
Priests were forbidden to make baldness; shaving the priestly prophet shows the ceremonial yielding to moral judgment.
Supported by JFB
Daniel confirms that the catastrophe upon Jerusalem was a unique judgment, unequaled under the whole heaven.
Supported by JFB
Lamentations verifies that Jerusalem's punishment surpassed even the sudden, historic overthrow of Sodom.
Supported by JFB
Fulfills the horrific covenant curse of parents eating their children during extreme siege conditions.
Supported by John Calvin
Parallel distribution of the people to specific appointed destines: death, sword, famine, and captivity.
Supported by John Calvin
Jeremiah remaining with Gedaliah represents the tiny remnant bound in the prophet's skirts.
Supported by JFB
The Chaldean captain left a small number of the poorest of the land as a remnant.
Supported by JFB
Ishmael's conspiracy represents the fire coming out from the remnant to consume others.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
The nations did not change their false gods, but Israel shamefully changed their true Glory.
Supported by JFB
Detailed Pentateuchal warning of cannibalism during the desperate straits of a hostile siege.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The covenant curse of being scattered among the heathen while God draws out a sword after them.
Supported by John Calvin
Moses warns of God breaking the staff of bread, leaving the people hungry despite eating.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The Song of Moses lists God spending His arrows of judgment and famine upon rebellious Israel.
Supported by Matthew Poole