Chapter 5

1 Under the type of hair, 5 is shewed the judgment of Jerusalem for their rebellion, 12 by famine, sword, and dispersion.

1. Barber’s razor. The passage reads literally, “take to thee a sharp sword, a razor of barbers thou shalt take it to thee.” Obviously the idea is that the prophet is to take a sword because of its symbolism, and to use it as a razor. On the figure of the razor see Isa. 7:20, where the instrument is used as a symbol of the devastation wrought by an invading army.

Note that ch. 5 continues the prophetic narrative begun in ch. 4:1, without interruption.

Upon thine head. Ezekiel is instructed to perform a forbidden act as a symbolic representation. It was unlawful for the priest to shave either his head or his beard (Lev. 21:5). This time Ezekiel makes no protest (see Eze. 4:14). He knows when it is legitimate for him to request a modification or a reversal of a divine command and when to render unquestioning obedience.

Balances. Possibly representing the fairness and carefulness with which God deals with every soul. So carefully will every soul be weighed, and the rewards be assigned, that when at the end of the age the judgments of God are revealed, not a single voice of dissent will be heard in all the vast creation. From the least to the greatest all will be forced to confess, “Just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints” (Rev. 15:3; see GC 669).

2. Midst of the city. That is, in the midst of the portrayal that Ezekiel had made (ch. 4:1). The third part that was burned symbolized those in the city who would perish of pestilence and famine (ch. 5:12). The third part to be smitten with a knife (better, “sword”), “about it,” that is, round about the city, represents those who would fall by the sword in their attempts to escape, as, for example, Zedekiah’s sons and the rest of the king’s retinue (Jer. 52:10). The third which is scattered signifies the small part of the people who, escaping destruction, would be scattered among the heathen. Even there the sword was to follow them (see Eze. 5:12).

3. In thy skirts. This symbolizes the limited protection that the remnant who remained in the land under Gedaliah were to receive (see 2 Kings 25:22; Jer. 40:5, 6).

4. Midst of the fire. Many of the remnant that were left were to perish by violence, which was tragically fulfilled in the conspiracy of Ishmael against Gedaliah and the calamities that followed in its wake (Jer. 40; 41). This was the occasion for many going down into Egypt, where they were consumed according to the prophecy of Jeremiah (Jer. 42:13–17). Those who remained in the land suffered a further removal by Nebuzar-adan (Jer. 52:30), so that the ultimate result was the entire emptying of the land.

5. Midst of the nations. Here is set forth the strategic position of Jerusalem, situated as it was in the midst of the nations of the Near East and at the crossroads of ancient travel. Its unique location constituted one of the great opportunities for Israel. To the south lay Egypt; to the northeast Assyria and Babylon, and to the north the Syrians. On the coast were the Philistines, and farther north the Phoenicians. Nearby to the east were the Moabites and Ammonites, and to the south the Edomites.

God placed His people in the “midst of the nations” and purposed that they should constitute a great evangelizing force through which a knowledge of the true God was to spread to the whole world. It was His desire that the nation of Israel be a clear demonstration of the superiority of true religion over all false systems of worship. The experience and prosperity of Israel were to be exhibited as so attractive that all nations would seek after the God of Israel (see pp. 26–30).

The lesson is for us. As individual Christians, God has placed us as a light to our neighbors. He expects of us also a demonstration of the vast superiority and advantages of Christianity. He desires us to make our religion so attractive that others will seek after it.

6. Changed my judgments into wickedness. Better, “she hath rebelliously resisted my judgments.” Rebellion is a willful act, premeditated and planned.

More than the nations. This must be understood in the sense that the Israelites had sinned against greater light. God judges men on the basis of the light and opportunities they have had or might have had if they had sought after them. Those who constitute the church of God in the present age have the accumulated light of the ages concentrated upon them. God expects a higher standard of them than of men in any previous age. If they refuse and rebelliously resist as did Israel, their guilt will be proportionately greater.

7. Multiplied. The Hebrew verb is of uncertain meaning. According to some authorities, the clause may be rendered, “Because ye were in agitation [against God] more than the nations that are round about you.”

Neither have done. A number of Hebrew manuscripts omit the negative. The meaning is thus made entirely clear. If the negative is retained, this part of the text may be understood to mean that Israel had not done as the other nations, for they, at least, were true to the gods they worshiped, whereas Israel rebelled against her God.

9. I have not done. It is not clear with what the impending calamities were to be compared, whether perhaps to the great catastrophes of the past, the Flood or the destruction of Sodom. It is true that neither of these represented so lingering a death as the one forecast in v. 10. What seems clear is that Israel had received higher opportunities and privileges than those entrusted to other nations. Consequently the punishment for their sin would be proportionately more severe and more conspicuous than that which God had inflicted or would inflict on any other nation.

10. Eat the sons. Moses, and later Jeremiah, had threatened this terrible judgment (Lev. 26:29; Deut. 28:53; Jer. 19:9). The prediction met a grim fulfillment in the Syrian siege of Samaria (2 Kings 6:28, 29), in the Chaldean siege of Jerusalem (Lam. 4:10), and in the final siege of the city by the Romans (Josephus Wars vi. 3. 4). Moses had also threatened the scattering “into all the winds” (Deut. 28:64).

11. As I live. A solemn oath occurring 14 times in Ezekiel.

Defiled my sanctuary. The defiling is more fully described in ch. 8.

Diminish. A number of Hebrew manuscripts and several ancient versions read “cut off,” “break to pieces.”

12. A third part of thee. An explanation of the symbolical actions of the earlier part of this chapter now begins. The fire (v. 2) signifies famine and pestilence.

13. I will be comforted. Heb. nacham. The original meaning has been generally understood to be, “to draw the breath forcibly,” “to pant,” “to sigh,” “to groan.” The corresponding Arabic word signifies “to breathe pantingly.” It is difficult for us to conceive of God’s taking comfort in the execution of such fearful judgments. Ezekiel himself later declared, “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked” (ch. 33:11). Isaiah speaks of the act of destruction as a “strange act” (Isa. 28:21). Hosea thus represents the heart of God in the face of necessary judgment: “How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together” (Hosea 11:8). In the light of these considerations it seems more natural to think of nacham as signifying the sigh of grief or relief at the completion of necessary punishment, that such should have been the outcome of a program planned so differently.

14. Waste. Compare Lev. 26:31.

15. Instruction. Or, “warning.” Jerusalem was to have been the great object lesson in God’s education of mankind (see pp. 27–30). Her strategic position brought her to the attention of many nations. Now her calamity, with its accompanying unfavorable reflection on the true character of her religion, was also widely known.

16. Famine. Verses 16, 17 recapitulate Jerusalem’s sorrows. God’s judgments are elsewhere represented as arrows (Deut. 32:23; Ps. 7:13; 64:7). Evil beasts were a judgment threatened against the Jews, along with other desolating forces (Lev. 26:22; Deut. 32:24). Wild animals, such as lions and bears, multiplied in the land when it was uninhabited (see 2 Kings 17:25). “Blood” doubtless denotes a violent death.