FRAMEWORKS:
Ezekiel 5: God's
Razor of Judgment
[Preliminary
Comment: The prophecy that follows is devastating. After
an almost gentle beginning with prophetic action pieces, now comes
a further action piece and its accompanying devastating word:
Jerusalem is condemned for its idolatry and because of it judgment
will fall in the forms of famine, plague and sword.]
v.1-4
Ezekiel provides a prophetic picture of God shaving Israel
v.5-7
Jerusalem's Failure Declared
v.8-18
Jerusalem's awful punishment
v.11-13
God's ‘shaving' of the people
v.14,15
Jerusalem to become a reproach
v.16,17
The destruction of the peoples
v.1-4
Ezekiel provides a prophetic picture of God shaving Israel
v.1
“Now, son of
man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber's razor to shave
your head and your beard. Then take a set of scales and divide
up the hair.
v.2
When
the days of your siege come to an end, burn a third of the hair
inside the city. Take a third and strike it with the sword all
around the city. And scatter a third to the wind. For I will pursue
them with drawn sword.
v.3
But take a
few hairs and tuck them away in the folds of your garment.
v.4
Again, take
a few of these and throw them into the fire and burn them up.
A fire will spread from there to all Israel.
[Notes:
The
prophetic action pieces continue with Ezekiel being required to
shave his head and beard and carefully divide up the hair, all
this presumably in the sight of others who would no doubt gossip
what he was doing. He still has his large model of Jerusalem and
so he is to burn a third of the hair on the model [inside the
city], scatter a third of the hair around the outside of the model
and lay about it with a sword, and then simply take the remaining
third outside and let the wind blow it away. But he is to save
a few hairs and of these then throw a few into the fire. Remember
this is a one-off action prophecy, presumably carried out in the
presence of other members of the exile community. The explanation
will follow.]
v.5-7
Jerusalem's Failure Declared
v.5
“This
is what the Sovereign LORD says: This is Jerusalem, which
I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around
her.
v.6
Yet in her
wickedness she has rebelled against my laws and decrees more than
the nations and countries around her. She has rejected my laws
and has not followed my decrees.
v.7
“Therefore
this is what the Sovereign LORD says: You have been more unruly
than the nations around you and have not followed my decrees or
kept my laws. You have not even conformed to the standards
of the nations around you.
[Notes:
This
appears to be the first prophetic word that is specifically for
speaking out. It highlights the Lord's displeasure with the sin
of disobedience of Jerusalem.]
v.8-18
Jerusalem's awful punishment
v.8
“Therefore
this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself am against you,
Jerusalem, and I will inflict punishment on you in the sight of
the nations.
v.9
Because
of all your detestable idols, I will do to you what I have never
done before and will never do again.
v.10
Therefore
in your midst parents will eat their children, and children will
eat their parents. I will inflict punishment on you and will scatter
all your survivors to the winds.
[Notes:
The
result of His displeasure will be His judgment on the idolatry
in the city, seen in the form of a most terrible famine [no doubt
as a result of the siege] that the people of Jerusalem will experience.]
v.11-13
God's ‘shaving' of the people
v.11
Therefore
as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, because you
have defiled my sanctuary with all your vile images and detestable
practices, I myself will shave you; I will not look on you with
pity or spare you.
v.12
A
third of your people will die of the plague
or perish by famine inside you; a third
will fall by the sword outside your walls; and
a third I will scatter to the winds and pursue
with drawn sword.
v.13
“Then
my anger will cease and my wrath against them will subside, and
I will be avenged. And when I have spent my wrath on them, they
will know that I the LORD have spoken in my zeal.
[Notes:
The
‘hair-cutting' picture is now applied: a third to die of plague
or famine in the city, a third killed by the sword outside it
and a third – probably fleeing – killed at a distance. When it
is all over, they will know this was an act of God's judgment.]
v.14,15
Jerusalem to become a reproach
v.14
“I will
make you a ruin and a reproach among the nations around you, in
the sight of all who pass by.
v.15
You will be
a reproach and a taunt, a warning and an object of horror to the
nations around you when I inflict punishment on you in anger and
in wrath and with stinging rebuke. I the LORD have spoken.
[Notes:
The
result will be a ruined city mocked by passers-by.]
v.16,17
The destruction of the peoples
v.16
When I shoot
at you with my deadly and destructive arrows of famine, I will
shoot to destroy you. I will bring more and more famine upon you
and cut off your supply of food.
v.17
I
will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will leave
you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and
I will bring the sword against you. I the LORD have spoken.”
[Notes:
The
judgments of famine, plague, wild beasts, and the sword WILL decimate
the people.]
[Concluding
Note:
This first spoken prophecy is absolute and clear: the sin of Jerusalem
– idolatry – WILL bring the judgment of God, complete destruction
of the city and of its inhabitants.]
Continue
to Chapter 6