EZEKIEL 5
A
Bible Study - Commentary by Jim Melough
Copyright
2003 James Melough
5:1. “And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a
barber’s razor and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard: then
take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair.”
“... take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber’s razor” is more accurately
translated, “take thee a sharp sword, and use it as a barber’s razor.”
Ezekiel was to use it to shave all the hair from his head and face; and he was
then to divide the hair into three parts by weighing it, a small quantity
being kept separate for use as described in verse 3.
A shaved head was a sign of mourning, but in the present context may signify
also the removal of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and of the whole land.
The shorn hair represents Israel; and the balances are the symbol of Divine
judgment, e.g., God’s words to Belshazzar, “Thou art weighed in the balances,
and art found wanting,” Dan 5:27.
5:2. “Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city,
when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part,
and smite about it with a knife (sword): and a third part thou shalt scatter
in the wind.”
The siege was that mounted by the Babylonians in 586 BC, which ended with
their doing what was symbolically portrayed in what Ezekiel did with his shorn
hair, as explained in verse 12: the third part which he burned represented
those who died of hunger or disease; the third part cut with the sword
depicted those who were slain; and the third part scattered to the wind
symbolized those who were carried captive to Babylon.
5:3. “Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in
thy skirts.”
The prophet was also to take a few strands of the shorn hair and bind (fasten,
tie) them to the edge of his robe. They appear to represent the few who may
have managed to escape in the confusion, or who may have surrendered to the
Babylonians when the siege began, see Jer 38:19.
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.”
Some of the few remaining strands of hair were then to be taken and burned,
signifying that the sword of the Lord would follow and slay some of the few
who would escape death at the hand of the Babylonians. Most of that wicked
generation were to perish.
5:5. “Thus saith the Lord God; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the
midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.”
Jerusalem here represents the whole nation. This is generally understood to
be the introduction to God’s summation of Israel’s wickedness which had made
her the object of His destruction rather than His blessing. He had placed her
amongst the nations to live to His glory, a center from which was to radiate
the knowledge of Him to the whole earth; but she had dishonored Him by her
wickedness, thereby robbing herself of blessing, and sealing her own doom.
5:6. “And she hath changed my judgments into wickedness more than the
nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are round about her: for
they have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them.”
“... judgments” are rules or laws in general; and statutes are virtually the
same, except that in the present context they seem to relate specifically to
God’s appointed laws governing worship. Israel, in brazen rebellion, had
deliberately refused to obey His laws, and had changed them to accommodate
their own sinful desires. The countries around Israel also had judgments and
statutes for the common well-being, but of their own making, yet even they
were more obedient to those rules than was Israel to God’s.
5:7. “Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye multiplied more
than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in my statutes,
neither have kept my judgments, neither have done according to the judgments
of the nations that are round about you;”
“... more turbulent: more rebellious” are preferable translations of
“are multiplied.” The enormity of Israel’s wickedness may be gauged by the
fact that they had not only failed to live according to God’s laws; but even
by the low standards of the surrounding nations they were utterly depraved.
They are described in The Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary as
having “an extravagant rage for idols.”
5:8. “Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, am against
thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the
nations.”
Rebel Israel had not only incurred the condemnation of her neighbors, but now
finally also of God, thus making Him her enemy rather than her benefactor, and
forfeiting blessing in exchange for castigation. And as she had dishonored
Him before the nations, so would they, the nations, now witness her dishonor
and punishment at His hand, as it is written, “... them that honor me I will
honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed,” 1 Sa 2:30.
5:9. “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.”
5:10. “Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee,
and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in thee,
and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds.”
What God had not done to them before was what He did to them in their conflict
with Babylon. He caused them to be besieged, so that multitudes died of
famine and disease, the scarcity of food becoming so great that they resorted
to cannibalism, and it is instructive to note that Moses had foretold just
such a calamity in Le 26:29, “And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the
flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.”
God’s promise, “I will not do any more the like,” has been kept: there is no
record of Israel’s ever again having resorted to cannibalism. But in AD 70 He
did scatter them amongst the nations, that Diaspora leaving them still exiled
to this day, apart from the few who have been returning to the land since
1948, that ongoing return being the clearest indication that the end of the
age is upon us, as foretold by the Lord Himself in Mt 24 where Israel is
portrayed under the symbol of a fig tree, the Lord’s assurance being, “This
generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” We are the
generation that has witnessed the budding of the “fig tree.”
5:11. “Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord God; 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, neither will I have any pity.”
God’s threat was immutable. That wicked generation would be destroyed without
either pity or mercy.
“... diminish” is also translated cut you down.
Since the defilement of the sanctuary is described in detail in chapter 8, it
will be discussed more fully in our study of that section.
“... detestable ... abominations” are also translated unclean: hated:
loathsome: disgusting: horrible: filthy: vile.
5:12. “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 I will scatter a third part into all
the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.”
This interprets what is declared symbolically in verse 2.
5:13. “Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury
to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the
Lord have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them.”
Only when the Lord had executed all his threats against the guilty nation
would His furious anger cease and He be satisfied; and only then, too late,
would the guilty rebels know that the One they had brazenly defied was the
omnipotent Creator.
Tragically too late, every unrepentant rebel will learn that same truth in the
eternal torment of hell and the lake of fire.
5:14. “Moreover I will make thee waste, and a reproach among the
nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by.”
“... waste” is also translated a desolation: desolate ruin, some
understanding this to be descriptive of the land emptied of its inhabitants,
and untended, rather than of the people; but both, in fact are true. The fall
of the once favored and exalted people would evoke the contempt of the
surrounding nations.
5:15. “So shall it be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an
astonishment unto the nations that are round about thee, when I shall execute
judgments in thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I the Lord
have spoken it.”
Many manuscripts have “So shall you be a reproach,” rather than “So
shall it ...,” the latter clearly being the better translation.
Under His chastisement Israel would become not only an object of mockery and
contempt, but also a warning against trifling with God, His punishment of His
own disobedient people causing shock and consternation amongst the surrounding
nations, and teaching people in every age that, “It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God,” Heb 10:31.
5:16. “When I shall send upon them (rebel Israel) the evil arrows of
famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy
you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of
bread:”
The “you” and “your” in the latter half of this verse are used rather than
“them” and “their,” not because Ezekiel was rebellious, but because, like many
another obedient believer down through the ages, he too would have to endure
the same suffering as the rebel majority of his nation. Believers are not
exempt from having to share in the earthly common lot of their unsaved
neighbors.
When we remember that bread is used symbolically in Scripture to represent the
written Word, the application of the lesson to us becomes apparent, for
Christendom has followed all too faithfully in Israel’s disobedient footsteps,
and only blind eyes will fail to see that we too are in the midst of a
spiritual famine.
This is not to say that the written Word is not available in greater measure
than at any other time in the history of the world. It is. Bibles at minimal
cost pour off the presses daily. But it is necessary to understand that
Scripture becomes spiritual food only as it is read and studied under the
guidance of the Holy Spirit, unquenched and ungrieved, as it is written, “...
the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are
foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned,” 1 Cor 2:14
The disobedient believer, however, by his very insubordination puts himself in
the same position as the unbeliever, his rebellion quenching and grieving the
Holy Spirit, and cutting off His ministry of enlightenment, so that to that
man Scripture becomes little more than just another piece of literature. And
who can deny that disobedience characterizes the lives of multitudes of
professed believers today, their spiritual state being advertized, not only in
their lifestyles, but in their inability to understand the symbolic language
of the OT!
5:17. “So will I send you famine and evil beasts, and they shall
bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and I will
bring the sword upon thee. I the Lord have spoken it.”
In addition to famine, wild animals would also be multiplied throughout the
land, and would kill some of their children, while disease and warfare would
further increase the death toll, the certainty of war being conveyed in the
words, “I will bring the sword upon thee,” and the immutability of the dire
prediction being pledged in the words, “I the Lord have spoken it.”
[Ezekiel 6]