Ezekiel5

Ezekiel is commanded to perform a symbolic act involving shaving his hair, dividing it, and subjecting it to fire, sword, and scattering, representing God's impending judgment on Jerusalem. The Lord declares that Jerusalem, having rebelled against His laws more than the surrounding nations, will face severe and unprecedented punishments. These judgments include death by pestilence, famine, and sword, with a remnant scattered among the nations. Ultimately, Jerusalem will become a reproach and astonishment to the surrounding peoples.

The Symbolic Act of Shaving and Dividing Hair

1
You, son of man, take a sharp sword; You shall take it as a barber’s razor to you, and shall cause it to pass on your head and on your beard: then take balances to weigh, and divide the hair. ​
2
A third part you shall burn in the fire in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled; and you shall take a third part, and strike with the sword around it; and a third part you shall scatter to the wind, and I will draw out a sword after them. ​
3
You shall take of it a few in number, and bind them in your skirts.
4
Of these again you shall take, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; from it shall a fire come out into all the house of Israel. ​

Jerusalem's Unique Status and Condemnation

5
Thus says the Lord GOD: This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the midst of the nations, and countries are around her. ​
6
She has rebelled against my ordinances in doing wickedness more than the nations, and against my statutes more than the countries that are around her; for they have rejected my ordinances, and as for my statutes, they have not walked in them. ​
7
Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you are turbulent more than the nations that are around you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my ordinances, neither have done after the ordinances of the nations that are around you;

God Declares Unprecedented Judgment

8
therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, even I, am against you; and I will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nations. ​
9
I will do in you that which I have not done, and which I will not do any more the like, because of all your abominations. ​
10
Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in your midst, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments on you; and the whole remnant of you will I 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 will I also diminish you; neither shall my eye spare, and I also will have no pity. ​
12
A third part of you shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in your midst; and a third part shall fall by the sword around you; and a third part I will scatter to all the winds, and will draw out a sword after them. ​

The Fulfillment of Divine Wrath

13
Thus shall my anger be accomplished, and I will cause my wrath toward them to rest, and I shall be comforted; and they shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken in my zeal, when I have accomplished my wrath on them. ​
14
Moreover I will make you a desolation and a reproach among the nations that are around you, in the sight of all that pass by.
15
So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment, to the nations that are around you, when I shall execute judgments on you in anger and in wrath, and in wrathful rebukes; (I, the LORD, have spoken it;) ​
16
when I shall send on them the evil arrows of famine, that are for destruction, which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine on you, and will break your staff of bread; ​
17
and I will send on you famine and evil animals, and they shall bereave you; and pestilence and blood shall pass through you; and I will bring the sword on you: I, the LORD, have spoken it. ​

Study Notes for Ezekiel 5

Verse 1

The prophet is instructed to shave his hair and beard, an act symbolizing profound humiliation, mourning, and the defilement of the consecrated priestly status. The razor represents the destructive force of Babylon.

Verse 2

The hair is divided into three equal parts, foreshadowing the three ways the inhabitants of Jerusalem will perish: one-third dying within the city (by fire/siege), one-third killed outside the city (by the sword), and one-third scattered into exile (in the wind).

Verse 4

The small remnant saved in the skirt represents the few survivors taken into exile. The subsequent instruction to burn even these few hairs shows that the exile itself is a painful purging and judgmental fire for the nation.

Verse 5

Jerusalem had a unique covenant status, placed 'in the midst of the nations' to be a spiritual center and a witness to God’s law. This central position heightens her guilt, as her visibility made her failure a greater offense.

Verse 6

The charge is that Jerusalem sinned more grievously than the pagan nations around her. Israel’s possession of the divine law and covenant knowledge made their refusal to obey a greater wickedness than the idolatry of the uninformed nations.

Verse 8

The declaration 'I, even I, am against thee' is a formal statement of God acting as the divine judge and adversary. The judgment will be executed publicly, in the sight of the nations, demonstrating God’s sovereignty.

Verse 9

The judgment is described using hyperbole as 'unprecedented.' This emphasizes the exceptional horror and severity of the destruction of the Holy City and the Temple, necessitated by the extent of their 'abominations.'

Verse 10

Cannibalism was the ultimate curse for covenant disobedience (Deut. 28:53) and represents the total breakdown of societal order and the extremity of the famine brought by the siege.

Verse 11

The defilement of the sanctuary (the Temple) was the breaking point. The presence of idols and detestable practices within the holy place necessitated God’s withdrawal of presence and the subsequent destruction of the city.

Verse 12

This verse confirms the literal application of the symbolic distribution of the hair from verse 2. The three primary methods of destruction—pestilence/famine, sword, and scattering/exile—are divinely decreed and precise.

Verse 13

God’s statement that he will be 'comforted' (or satisfied) is an anthropomorphism indicating that divine justice requires a full response to sin. The execution of judgment fulfills the demands of his holiness and zeal.

Verse 15

Jerusalem’s destruction will serve as a terrifying object lesson ('reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment') to the nations, demonstrating God’s unwavering commitment to justice, even toward his own covenant people.

Verse 16

The 'evil arrows of famine' refers to the devastating effects of starvation during the siege, which God controls and uses as a weapon against the city. 'Breaking the staff of bread' is a metaphor for cutting off the food supply.

Verse 17

God lists four covenant curses (Lev. 26:22): famine, evil beasts (which would prey on the weak or the remnant), pestilence, and the sword. These judgments work in concert to complete the devastation.

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