Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 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].
1. a sharp knife ] lit. sword. The term may suggest the devouring divine sword, ch. Eze 21:8 seq.
take thee a barber’s rasor ] With R.V., as a barber’s razor shalt thou take it unto thee. Two weapons are not to be taken, the sword is to be used as a razor. Isaiah (ch. Isa 7:20) had already said: “In that day shall the Lord shave with the razor that is hired, even with the king of Assyria, the beard and the hair of the feet.” The land is likened to a man; the enemy sweeps off the population clean as the razor does the hair of the body.
balances to weigh ] The divine justice is accurate, assigning to each part its destined chastisement; Jer 15:2, “Such as are for death to death; and such as are for the sword to the sword; and such as are for the famine to the famine; and such as are for the captivity to the captivity.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ch. Eze 5:1-4. Symbol shewing the fate of the population during the siege and after it, and their dispersion among the nations
The prophet is commanded to take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor. With this he is to shave off the hair of his head and beard. He is then to take balances in order accurately to weigh the hair into three parts. One third is to be burned in the fire within the city; a second third to be cut to pieces with the sword round about the city; and the last third is to be strewn to all the winds, and pursued by the sword. Of these last a few were to be taken and bound in the skirts of the prophet’s garment; though of these again some were to be thrown into the fire and consumed. The sense of the symbol is clear; a third part of the population shall be consumed by pestilence and famine within the city ( Eze 5:12); a third shall fall by the sword round about the city, on its capture; and a third shall be scattered among all nations, pursued by the sword. Of these a few shall meantime escape, but shall be subjected anew to consuming judgments.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Second Section. Ch. Eze 3:22 to Eze 7:27
The second section of the Book contains these parts:
(1) Ch. Eze 3:22-27. A preface in which the prophet is commanded to confine himself to his own house, and abandon for a time his public ministry.
(2) Ch. Eze 4:1-4. A series of symbols representing the siege of Jerusalem, the scarcity during it, the pollution of the people in exile among the nations, and the terrible fate of the inhabitants on the capture of the city.
(3) Ch. Eze 5:5-17. Exposition of these symbols.
(4) Ch. 6. Prophecy against the mountains of Israel, the seats of Idolatry.
(5) Ch. 7. Dirge over the downfall of the state.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Translate it: take thee a sharp sword, for a barbers razor thou shalt take it thee. Even if the action were literal, the use of an actual sword would best enforce the symbolic meaning. The head represents the chief city, the hair the inhabitants – its ornament and glory – the hair cut from the head the exiles cast forth from their homes. It adds to the force of the representation that to shave the head was a token of mourning Job 1:20, and was forbidden to the priests Lev 21:5. Thus, in many ways, this action of Ezekiel the priest is significant of calamity and ruin. The sword indicates the avenging power; the shaving of the head the removal of grace and glory; the scales and weights the determination of divine justice. Compare Zec 13:8-9.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Eze 5:1-4
Take thee a sharp knife.
Gods judgments upon the wicked
1. Wicked men are of little worth; take a whole city of them, they are of no more account with God than a little hair of the head or beard.
2. It is the privilege of Christ to appoint whom and what instruments He pleases to execute His pleasure upon sinners.
3. When God hath been long provoked by a people, He comes with sharp and sweeping judgments amongst them.
4. There is no standing out against God; whatever our number or strength is, His judgments are irresistible.
5. The judgments and proceedings of God with sinners are not rash, but most carefully weighed.
6. There is no escaping of Gods judgments for hard-hearted sinners.
7. In great judgments and general destructions, God of His infinite mercy spares some few. Ezekiel must take a few and bind up in his skirts, all must not be destroyed; the fire and sword devoureth many, but the dispersion preserved some, and some few are left in Judah. God is just, and yet when He is in the way of His judgments, he forgets not mercy: a little of the hair shall be preserved, when the rest goes to the fire, sword, and wind.
8. The paucity preserved in common calamities are not all precious, truly godly. Reprobates for the present escape as well as elect vessels; some choice ones may be cut off, and some vile ones may be kept. In a storm cedars and oaks are smitten, when bushes and briers are spared; and yet after they are cut up and cast into the fire. Sinners may escape present wrath, but there is wrath to come (Luk 3:7).
9. God may take occasion, from the sin of some, to bring in judgment upon all. He must take of the remnant preserved, and throw into the fire, and out of that fire went forth fire into all the house of Israel. (W. Greenhill, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER V
In this chapter the prophet shows, under the type of hair, the
judgments which God was about to execute on the inhabitants of
Jerusalem by famine, sword, and dispersion, 14.
The type or allegory is then dropped, and God is introduced
declaring in plain terms the vengeance that was coming on the
whole nation which had proved so unworthy of those mercies with
which they had hitherto been distinguished, 5-17.
NOTES ON CHAP. V
Verse 1. – 4. Take thee a sharp knife] Among the Israelites, and indeed among most ancient nations, there were very few edge-tools. The sword was the chief; and this was used as a knife, a razor, c., according to its different length and sharpness. It is likely that only one kind of instrument is here intended a knife or short sword, to be employed as a razor.
Here is a new emblem produced, in order to mark out the coming evils.
1. The prophet represents the Jewish nation.
2. His hair, the people.
3. The razor, the Chaldeans.
4. The cutting the beard and hair, the calamities, sorrows, and disgrace coming upon the people. Cutting off the hair was a sign of mourning; see on Jer 45:5; Jer 48:37; and also a sign of great disgrace; see 2Sa 10:4.
5. He is ordered to divide the hair, Eze 5:2, into three equal parts, to intimate the different degrees and kinds of punishment which should fall upon the people.
6. The balances, Eze 5:1, were to represent the Divine justice, and the exactness with which God’s judgments should be distributed among the offenders.
7. This hair, divided into three parts, is to be disposed of thus:
1. A third part is to be burnt in the midst of the city, to show that so many should perish by famine and pestilence during the siege.
2. Another third part he was to cut in small portions about the city, (that figure which he had pourtrayed upon the brick,) to signify those who should perish in different sorties, and in defending the walls.
3. And the remaining third part he was to scatter in the wind, to point out those who should be driven into captivity. And,
4. The sword following them was intended to show that their lives should be at the will of their captors, and that many of them should perish by the sword in their dispersions.
5. The few hairs which he was to take in his skirts, Eze 5:3, was intended to represent those few Jews that should be left in the land under Gedaliah, after the taking of the city.
6. The throwing a part of these last into the fire, Eze 5:4, was intended to show the miseries that these suffered in Judea, in Egypt, and finally in their being also carried away into Babylon on the conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar. See these transactions particularly pointed out in the notes on Jeremiah, Jer 40, Jer 41, Jer 42. Some think that this prophecy may refer to the persecution of the Jews by Antiochus Epiphanes.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
It is not unlikely that this command was given to the prophet so soon as he had understood the former chapters vision.
Son of man: see Eze 2:1.
Take thee; procure it by any means.
A sharp knife; a sword or knife very sharp, as the Hebrew; so the grievous judgment is expressed Eze 21:9-11,14-16, and here the speedy, irresistible, and sweeping judgment against this people is aptly set forth.
A barbers razor: this in different words is the same thing, and explains the former, and makes the emblem more exact, for by hair shaved and destroyed is the destruction of Jerusalem and its people represented to us, Now, that this may appear in the certainty of it, both a sword for strength, and sharp for cutting, nay, a razor much sharper, that shaves close, leaves nothing behind it, and cannot be resisted by the weak hair, so shall it be here with this people.
Cause it to pass; a Hebraism, shave close with it.
Thy head; the chief, as king and rulers, the city.
Thy beard; the common citizens; or, the towns round about.
Balances; just and exact scales, an emblem of Divine justice and equity.
To weigh: the prophets weighing represents God weighing these men and their ways.
The hair; these light, vain, and worthless ones, inhabitants of this sinful city, 2Sa 10:4,5; Jer 41:5; 48:37. Thus foretell them their mourning, reproach, and deformity that is coming, for all this is signified by this shaving head and beard.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. knife . . . razorthe swordof the foe (compare Isa 7:20).This vision implies even severer judgments than the Egyptianafflictions foreshadowed in the former, for their guilt was greaterthan that of their forefathers.
thine headasrepresentative of the Jews. The whole hair being shaven off wassignificant of severe and humiliating (2Sa 10:4;2Sa 10:5) treatment. Especiallyin the case of a priest; for priests (Le21:5) were forbidden “to make baldness on their head,”their hair being the token of consecration; hereby it was intimatedthat the ceremonial must give place to the moral.
balancesimplying thejust discrimination with which Jehovah weighs out the portionof punishment “divided,” that is, allotted to each: the”hairs” are the Jews: the divine scales do not allow evenone hair to escape accurate weighing (compare Mt10:30).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife,…. Or, “sword” m. The word signifies any sharp instrument, by which anything is cut off, or cut asunder; what is here meant is explained by the following:
take thee a barber’s razor. The Septuagint and Arabic versions read this in conjunction with the former, thus, “take thee a knife”, or “sword, sharper than a barber’s razor”; and so the Syriac version, “take thee a sword sharp as a barber’s razor”; this sharp knife, sword, or razor, signifies, as Jarchi interprets it, Nebuchadnezzar; and very rightly; so the king of Assyria is called in Isa 7:20:
and cause [it] to pass upon thine head, and upon thy beard; the “head” was a symbol of the city of Jerusalem, the metropolis of Judea; the “beard”, of the cities, towns, and villages about it; and the “hair” of both, of the common people; compared to hair for their numbers, for their levity and unsteadiness, and for their being the beauty and ornament of the places where they lived; and the shaving of them denotes their disgrace and destruction, and mourning on account thereof:
then take thee balances to weigh and divide the [hair]. The Syriac version adds, “into three parts”; signifying, that several distinct punishments would be inflicted on them, and these according to the righteous judgment of God; balances being a symbol of justice.
m “gladium”, V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Polanus, Starckius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Representation of Jerusalem’s Ruin. | B. C. 594. |
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. 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: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them. 3 Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts. 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.
We have here the sign by which the utter destruction of Jerusalem is set forth; and here, as before, the prophet is himself the sign, that the people might see how much he affected himself with, and interested himself in, the case of Jerusalem, and how it lay to his heart, even when he foretold the desolations of it. He was so much concerned about it as to take what was done to it as done to himself, so far was he from desiring the woeful day.
I. He must shave off the hair of his head and beard (v. 1), which signified God’s utter rejecting and abandoning that people, as a useless worthless generation, such as could well be spared, nay, such as it would be his honour to part with; his judgments, and all the instruments he made use of in cutting them off, were this sharp knife and this razor, that were proper to be made use of, and would do execution. Jerusalem had been the head, but, having degenerated, had become as the hair, which, when it grows thick and long, is but a burden which a man wishes to get clear of, as God of the sinners in Zion. Ah! I will ease me of my adversaries, Isa. i. 24. Ezekiel must not cut off that hair only which was superfluous, but cut it all off, denoting the full end that God would make of Jerusalem. The hair that would not be trimmed and kept neat and clean by the admonitions of the prophets must be all shaved off by utter destruction. Those will be ruined that will not be reformed.
II. He must weigh the hair and divide it into three parts. This intimates the very exact directing of God’s judgments according to equity (by him men and their actions are weighed in the unerring balance of truth and righteousness) and the proportion which divine justice observes in punishing some by one judgment and others by another; one way or other, they shall all be met with. Some make the shaving of the hair to denote the loss of their liberty and of their honour: it was looked upon as a mark of ignominy, as in the disgrace Hanun put on David’s ambassadors. It denotes also the loss of their joy, for they shaved their heads upon occasion of great mourning; I may add the loss of their Nazariteship, for the shaving of the head was a period to that vow (Num. vi. 18), and Jerusalem was now no longer looked upon as a holy city.
III. He must dispose of the hair so that it might all be destroyed or dispersed, v. 2. 1. One third part must be burnt in the midst of the city, denoting the multitudes that should perish by famine and pestilence, and perhaps many in the conflagration of the city, when the days of the siege were fulfilled. Or the laying of that glorious city in ashes might well be looked upon as a third part of the destruction threatened. 2. Another third part was to be cut in pieces with a knife, representing the many who, during the siege, were slain by the sword, in their sallies out upon the besiegers, and especially when the city was taken by storm, the Chaldeans being then most furious and the Jews most feeble. 3. Another third 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; so that they were hurried, some one way and some another, like loose hairs in the wind. But, lest they should think that this dispersion would be their escape, God adds, I will draw out a sword after them, so that wherever they go evil shall pursue them. Note, God has variety of judgments wherewith to accomplish the destruction of a sinful people and to make an end when he begins.
IV. He must preserve a small quantity of the third sort that were to be scattered in the wind, and bind them in his skirts, as one would bind that which he is very mindful and careful of, v. 3. This signified perhaps that little handful of people which were left under the government of Gedaliah, who, it was hoped, would keep possession of the land when the body of the people was carried into captivity. Thus God would have done well for them if they would have done well for themselves. But these few that were reserved must be taken and cast into the fire, v. 4. When Gedaliah and his friends were slain the people that put themselves under his protection were scattered, some gone into Egypt, others carried off by the Chaldeans, and in short the land totally cleared of them; then this was fulfilled, for out of those combustions a fire came forth into all the house of Israel, who, as fuel upon the fire, kindled and consumed one another. Note, It is ill with a people when those are taken away in wrath that seemed to be marked for monuments of mercy; for then there is no remnant or escaping, none shut up or left.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
EZEKIEL – CHAPTER 5
SIGN OF THE SHARP KNIFE—FAMINE, PESTILENCE, AND SWORD
Verses 1-17:
Verse 1 states that the Lord again addressed Ezekiel as the “Son of man,” heir of humanity, a term repeatedly used of him and of Daniel once only, in the Old Testament, and of Jesus in the New Testament. He was God’s spokesman to all the house of Israel regarding their sins and redemption. He was directed to take him a knife, a sword-like knife, to use upon himself as a barber’s razor, Isa 7:20. With it he was to shave both his head and his beard. It was to make him appear as one in deep shame and humiliation, 2Sa 10:4-5, and as one unclean, Lev 21:5; Isa 7:20; Eze 44:20. It was forbidden to priests, Lev 21:5. Because it was a sign of reproach and mourning because of judgment. He was then directed to take balances or scales and weigh the hair, then divide it, Mat 10:30.
Verse 2 further directed him, “thou shalt burn a third part of it in the city”, or on the model of the city, when the days of the siege of Jerusalem had been fulfilled or come to an end. He was then to take a third part of the hair and smite about it with a knife, cutting it to pieces finer. Then the final third part of the hair he was to scatter in the wind. The first two thirds of the people of Jerusalem, it was thus signified, had been destroyed. The last third part, scattered in the wind, were those who escaped death in the Jerusalem siege, yet who would be scattered throughout the world, to suffer by the sword the Lord would draw out after them.
Verse 3 directs Ezekiel to take from the few hairs remaining in his skirts, and bind them there, in the ends of his garment as a very small remnant. This signifies God’s preservation of His covenant people, through much chastening for their rebellion, Jer 40:6; Jer 52:15-16.
Verse 4 directs Ezekiel to take again of their hair of his skirt, shorn from his own head, as the Son of man, and cast it into the fire and burn them up. All the house of Israel was to suffer the chastening judgment of God for their sins, not just Jerusalem only. Ezekiel, as the son of man, did not escape. Even our Lord’s shame and humiliation in judgment was not for His own sins, but for all men. Yet His covenant seed continued and continues to be preserved, reflecting the integrity of God, Eze 6:13; 1Pe 4:17. Judgment for sin must first begin at the “house of God,” among those who belong to God and have committed themselves to Him in a program of Divine worship and service. Such as obey that commitment receive Divine favors and such as flout or desert it receive his certain chastening judgment, Heb 12:5.
Verse 5 calls Ezekiel’s attention back to the blueprint of Jerusalem which he had sketched on the tile, Eze 4:1. The Lord then asserted that He had Himself put, placed, or set her as the city of peace, in the midst of the nations round about her. It is from there He shall one day rule and reign overt he nations, from the very city-area where He provided their eternal redemption. 1Pe 2:24; Heb 13:11-14.
Verse 6 charges Jerusalem and her rulers with having changed, perverted, or abused and distorted His judgments, laws, and statutes, even more wickedly than the nations (heathen) who surrounded them. They had become more base, as Jewish heathen, than the Gentile heathen about them, in willfully refusing to respect His laws, while piously claiming to be His people, Mar 7:1-9; Mat 15:1-20.
Verse 7 continues to give a Divine reason for the certain captivity judgment the house of Israel was then experiencing and more that was to come. God had multiplied and prospered them more than the other nations about them, He reminded them. Such should have led them to a walk of obedient service and gratitude, but they did not follow such a desired course. Instead they raged, whined, found fault with God and His laws, and lived as moral, ethical, and religious rebels more than the heathen nations about them, as also charged Eze 11:12. They simply went further in their sins, against the law of the Lord, than the heathen who knew less about it, Jas 4:17; Luk 12:47.
Verse 8 adds that God had announced that He “was against” the whole house of Israel! What a warrior to withstand, to defy! And every Gentile today who is not “with the Lord” is against Him, Luk 11:23. And He declared that He would execute or administer judgment upon Jerusalem and the whole rebellious house of Israel with the nations looking on. And he has done so, and is doing so still, as Jerusalem is still “trodden down of the Gentiles,” so long as the ancient Jewish temple area is unsanctified, unclean as heathenism, according to their own Jewish law, Luk 21:24; Deu 28:28-68.
Verse 9 warns that God would do in and to Jerusalem a judgment more severe than He had ever done before, because of her abominations, Lam 4:6; Dan 9:12. This seems to have reached ultimate judgment on the city and people of Israel who rejected Him, His Son, His church, and His laws until they dispersed among the nations A.D. 70, under the terrible punishment inflicted by Titus of Thespasia, Zec 13:8-9; Mat 24:21; Luk 21:24. See also Lam 4:6; Dan 9:12; Amo 3:2.
Verse 10 declares that Israel’s chastening should be so severe upon them, because of their sins and the sins of their fathers, that in starvation they would turn to cannibalism, eating their weakened fathers and mothers, eating their own children, even as they had been forewarned in the early giving of the Law, Lev 26:29. He then forewarned that the remnant of those who escaped starvation would be scattered into all the winds, or into all parts of the earth, as further certified, v. 12; Eze 12:14. These judgments should come upon them without excuse, because of these forewarnings, Jer 19:9; Lam 2:20; Lam 4:10.
Verse 11 firmly warns that as surely as God lived He would punish and diminish the population of Israel because they had defiled His sanctuary with detestable things and with their vile abominations, Deu 4:2. His eye was neither to spare nor have further pity upon them. His spirit would not always strive with men, Heb 6:3; Pro 1:22-30; Pro 29:1; Eze 7:4; Eze 7:9; Eze 8:18; Eze 9:10. This obstinate course Israel continued, even to our Lord’s coming, Joh 2:13-17.
Verse 12 explains that at the siege of Jerusalem, in her coming destruction by the Chaldeans: 1) one third would die by famine and pestilence that accompanied it, 2) one third would be slain in battle and subduing of the city, and 3) the latter third would be scattered by the Lord into all parts of the earth, to be followed and haunted by the sword, wherever they were scattered, v. 2, 20; Lev 26:33; Eze 6:8; Jer 9:16; Jer 15:2; Jer 21:9.
Verse 13 asserts that in this manner the living God’s righteous chastening judgment fury should rest upon the whole house of Israel until he was comforted, Isa 30:32. At that time He declared they would come to recognize or to know that He had spoken this judgment in His zeal, when He had fulfilled His righteous and just fury in them, Eze 36:6; Eze 39:19. God will not permit His holy laws to be trampled without chastening consequences upon those who trample them down, Psa 119:160; Gal 6:6-8. See also Deu 28:63; Pro 1:26; Isa 1:24.
Verse 14 adds that the Lord would make Jerusalem and Israel to be a waste and an object of reproach, among the nations round about her, before or in the sight of those who passed by, those who observed or looked upon her lowly state, even as warned, Lev 26:31-32; Neh 2:17. It was illustrated in the story of the Prodigal Son, Luk 15:15.
Verse 15 explains that (Jerusalem in particular) would come to be an object of taunting derision of their once glorious power, even before and by the heathen nations when the Lord executed His chastening judgment in fury and anger upon her. Because what the Lord decrees as corrective chastisement, He performs, without fail, Deu 28:37; 1Ki 9:7; Psa 79:4; Jer 24:9; Lam 2:15.
Verse 16 warns that the bitter and evil arrows that shall pierce Jerusalem with increasing, accumulative horror shall come in the form of famine upon famine, wave upon wave of starvation, hunger and thirst, to break her staff of bread, on which she and all men lean for survival of life as described Deu 32:23-24.
Verse 17 concludes that the Lord would also send carnivorous beasts, with the famine, such as devouring jackals, to bereave them. Pestilence of diseases and sword would also follow starvation, to bring further bloodshed and death upon rebellious Israel, in the once holy city, Deu 28:24-26. Wild beasts and the lion especially are sometimes used to symbolize heathen, destructive conquerors, Dan 7:4; Deuteronomy 24; 2Ki 17:25.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
By another vision God confirms what he had lately taught concerning the siege of Jerusalem. For he orders the Prophet to shave the hairs off his head and his beard, then to distribute them into three parts, and to weigh them in a balance. He mentions a just balance, that equity may be preserved, and that one portion may not surpass another. There is no doubt that by the hairs he understands the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as by the head he understands the seat itself of their dwelling-place. Then the application will follow; but this I shall pass by today, because I cannot proceed farther. It is sufficient to hold briefly, that men are here designated by hairs, for hair can scarcely be counted, indeed that of the beard is countless; such was the multitude at Jerusalem, for we know that the city was very populous. We know, again, that it took occasion for pride from this; when they saw that they were strong in the multitude of their people, they thought themselves equal, if not superior, to all enemies, and hence their foolish confidence, which destroyed them. God then commanded the Prophet to shave off all the hairs of his head and of his beard. Thus he taught that not even one man should escape the slaughter, because he says, make the sword pass, or pass it, over thy head, then over thy chin, so that nothing may remain. We see, then, how far the passing of the razor is to go — until no hair remains entire on either the head or beard. Whence it follows, that God will take vengeance on the whole nation, so that not one of them shall survive. As to his ordering three parts to be weighed, and a proportion to be kept between them, in this way he signifies what we have often seen in Jeremiah, (Jer 15:2) — Whosoever shall have escaped the sword shall perish by famine, and whosoever shall escape the famine shall perish by some other means. But here God explains at length the manner in which he was about to destroy all the Jews, although they were distributed into various ranks. For their condition might seem different when some had been put to flight, and others had betaken themselves to Egypt. But in this variety God shows that it detracts nothing from his power or intention of destroying them to a man.
Let us come to the words make a razor pass over thy head and over, thy beard; and then take scales מאזנים, maznim, is properly called a balance on account of its two ears. Take, therefore, a balance, or scales for weighing, and divide the hair. What this division means I have already explained, because all the Jews were not consumed by the same punishment,, and therefore those who had escaped one kind of destruction boasted that they were safe. Hence they were enraged against God. But this foolish confidence is taken away, when the Prophet is ordered to divide the hair extracted from his head and beard, Divide them, he says; afterwards he adds, a third part. As to God’s distributing the people into three parts, it is not done without the best reason for it; for a part was consumed by famine and distress before the city was taken. But because God marks all miseries by fire, therefore he orders a third part to be cast into the fire, and consumed there. Now because there were two parts remaining, every one promised himself life; for he who escapes present death thinks himself free from all danger, and hence confidence is increased; for we too often think ourselves safe when we have overcome one kind of death. For this reason, therefore, it is added, after thou hast burnt a third part in the fire, he says, take a third part and strike it with the sword Besides, he orders a third part to be burnt in the midst of the city. Ezekiel was then in Chaldea, and not near the city; but we said that all this took place by a prophetic vision. What is here said answers to the wrath of God, because before the siege of the city, a third part was consumed by pestilence, and famine, and distress, and other evils and slaughters; and all these miseries are here denoted by fire. For after the city had been taken, God orders a third part to be struck with the sword. We know this to have been fulfilled when the king with all his company was seized, as he was flying over the plain of Jericho, (2Kg 25:0) when meeting with the hostile army; because very many were killed there, the king himself was carried off, his sons murdered in his sight, while his eyes were put out, and he was dragged to Babylon bound in chains. Hence this is the third part, which he commanded the Prophet to strike with the sword, because that slaughter represented the slaughter of the city.
Now it is added, that he should take a third part and cast it to the wind: then follows the threat, I will unsheathe my sword after them Here it is spoken as well of the fugitives who had gone into various countries, as of the poor, who being dispersed after the slaughter of the city, protracted their life but a short time. For we know that some lay hid in the land of Moab, others in that of Ammon, more in Egypt, and that others fled to various hiding-places. This dispersion was as if any one should cast the shorn-off hairs to the wind. But God pronounces that their flight and dispersion would not profit them, because he will draw his sword against them and follow them up to the very last. We see therefore, although at first sight the citizens of Jerusalem differ, as if they were divided into three classes, yet the wrath of God hangs over all, and destroys the whole multitude.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
VOICING THE VENGEANCE OF GOD
Eze 5:1-17.
IN studying this dramatic volume, we have given a chapter to the Visions of God and a chapter to the Voice of God. I purposely pass over the 4th chapter of the volume. I do that on dual grounds: First, the symbolism is so strictly Oriental as to make it difficult for a Western audience to comprehend the same; and Secondly, if it were fully understood and properly applied it would be found to refer very largely to the same judgment from God against Israel to which this 5th chapter is devoted.
In fact, God, with whom wisdom is, puts into the Divine revelation those principles that men test out from time to time and discover to be true, and among them stands prominently this, namely, that there is power in repetition.
Israel might not comprehend a single symbol, or be brought to see herself as God saw her, by one, or even two, pictures of His purpose of judgment; but when the same thought has been presented from angle after angle, it will finally burn its way in, and this people will see, as the people of Jesus day saw, that God is angry with them, condemns their ways, and is preparing for a judgment that will surely come if they continue in impenitence.
The 5th chapter is more easy of comprehension, and yet covers a kindred ground with that involved in the 4th chapter. We propose to discuss it under
The Portrayal,
The Prophecy,
The Performance.
THE PORTRAYAL
The shaven head is the symbol of smitten Israel.
And, thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barbers razor, and came it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard.
Here the Lord is pleased to interpret Himself. That which is spoken in the first verse He interprets in the fifth:
Thus saith the Lord God; This is Jerusalem.
Dr. John Skinner, Professor of Old Testament Exegesis in the Presbyterian College of London, was selected by Robertson Nicoll to write the interpretation of Ezekiel 5: for the Expositors Bible. In speaking of this Scripture he says, The shaving of the Prophets head and beard is a figure-for the depopulation of the city and country.
Jerusalem, as the capital, stood for the country as well. It was, as the same writer had previously remarked, the heart and brain of the nation, the center of its life and its religion. Whatever, then, threatened Jerusalem, threatened Israel also, and this figure, if it had any significance at all, looks to the practical wiping out of Jerusalem. As the razor took the hairs from the head and face of the Prophet, leaving nothing but the pale skin behind, so the armies of aliens should sweep Jerusalem clean; her demolition should be complete.
The fate of his hair was the figure of her fiery experience.
Take the balances to weigh, and divide the hair.
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: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them (Eze 5:2).
Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts (Eze 5:3).
It was, indeed, a significant type of Israel yet to take place. The third part should be burned with the fire; the third part should perish with the sword; and the third part should be scattered to the uttermost ends of the earth.
When Christ was on earth He looked on this same city, conquered again and again, its inhabitants again and again carried away into captivity, its houses burned, its people smitten with the sword, and though it had recovered something of its original greatness He also, as another true Prophet of God, was compelled to foresee its coming captivities, and to foretell its coming sorrows.
There were two or three times in the life of Christ when He wept. Once was when He looked upon Jerusalem, and one never forgets His pathetic cry, as a cry of despair,
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the Prophets, and stohest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
In that last sentence He was doing exactly what Ezekiel is here doing. He was anticipating history. He was not so much forth-telling it as fore-telling it. He knew what the future held for Jerusalem;
He knew that the Roman soldiers would come and its walls would crumble, and its Temple would be destroyed, and its people would be enslaved, and that the sufferings of the past would be once again enacted because the sins of by-gone days had come back upon the same people and necessitated a repeated judgment.
There are a good many people in the world who do not seem to understand Gods judgments. They revolt against them as if they were unjustifiable. Even when they are pronounced against others they resent them, apparently entertaining the opinion that God, who is love, should never exact justice on anybody; and yet, when one studies the parables of Jesus as they relate to Divine judgment ones highest reason is compelled to approve.
John Watson in The Mind of the Master says, If Heaven and hellbe they places or states are made to hinge on the arbitrary will of the Almighty, or on the imperfect processes of human reason, then judgment will not be a fiasco, it will be an outrage. It will be a climax of irresponsible despotism, whose monstrous injustice would leave Heaven without blessing and hell without curse.
As we see it there is one fatal defect in such reasoning, namely, that the arbitrary will of the Almighty should for a moment be brought to the low level of the imperfect processes of human reason, or even identified with irresponsible despotism.
We believe that the arbitrary will of the Almighty is always and everywhere just, and right, and true and good; and when Watson continues further in the same discussion, Reason cannot disagree with the reading of Jesus, he comes on to safe ground, for, as he said, Jesus rested judgment on the firm foundation of what each man is in the sight of the Eternal. He anticipated no protest in His parables against the justice of this evidence: none has ever been made from any quarter. The wheat is gathered into the garner. What else could one do with wheat? The tares are burned in the fire. What else could one do with tares? When the net comes to the shore, the good fish are gathered into vessels; no one would throw them away. The bad are cast aside; no one would leave them to contaminate the good. The supercilious guests who did not value the great supper were left severely alone. If men do not care for Heaven, they will not be forced into it. The outcasts, who had never dared to dream of such a supper, were compelled to come. If men hunger for the best, the best shall be theirs. The virgins who had taken the trouble of bringing oil went in to the marriage; they were evidently friends of the bridegroom: the virgins who had made no preparation were shut out from the marriage; they were mere strangers. Had the foolish virgins been rejected because they were a few minutes late, they would have had just cause of complaint. When the bridegroom declined their company for the simple reason that he did not know them, they had no answer. It would be equally out of place either for friends to be refused, or strangers to force admission to a marriage. It is all fair and fittingexactly as things ought to be: Jesus judgment is the very apotheosis of reason.
Nothing could be more unkind on the part of God than to let a nation sink to lower and lower levels of iniquity and never correct them by judgment.
The most unwise parent, the parent who is absolutely unfit for his parenthood, is that parent who fondles his children, pours out upon them a wealth of sentimentality, permits them to do exactly as they please, never corrects and never chastises; but stands helplessly by and not only watches them increase in mischief, grow insolent in iniquity, but actually, by his silence, consents to their degradation. God is not of that sort!
His fires are sent for cleansing; His whips are for correction; and neither of them voice so much of venom as of affection. The blows He administers are administered in love, and Israel today, scattered, harried and peeled as she is, without a nation, without a king, without a country, is a better people than she would have been had God continued to pour His favor upon her festering immorality.
THE PROPHECY
The prophecy of His judgment and, at the same time, the justification of it, is written into Eze 5:6-17.
When we began to study these prophecies we found, first,
The judgment against Israel will exceed that against the Gentiles.
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;
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.
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 (Eze 5:7-9).
Here again people have difficulty to understand. If Israel is better than the nations, why should her judgment be greater than is theirs? But that is not difficult to the paternal or material mind. On the contrary it is perfectly understood.
I have brought up my family of children in neighborhoods where I felt there were many children who far exceeded them in mischief. It is not strange, is it, that if I corrected or chastised my own occasionally, I never chastised the others? That was not because I was indifferent to them; not because I had no kinship with them; not because I was not concerned for their future, but it was because their relationship was not as close, and consequently my responsibility for their conduct not so great.
S. E. Herrick in his volume Some Heretics of Yesterday, writing on Latimer, tells of how when Henry VIII. was on the throne, and after two or three clashes between his views and Latimers, Latimer was finally prompted to write him a letter. These were his closing words,
Wherefore, gracious king, remember yourself: have pity upon your soul: and think that the day is even at hand when you shall give an account of your office, and of the blood that hath been shed by your sword. In the which day that your grace may stand steadfastly, and not be ashamed, but be clear and ready in your reckoning, and to have (as they say) your quietus est sealed with the blood of our Saviour Christ, which only serveth at that day, is my daily prayer to Him that suffered death for our sins, which also prayeth to His Father for grace to us continually, to whom be all honor and praise forever! Amen! The Spirit of God preserve your grace!
It is doubtful if Latimer would have written so frankly to any other king on earth. Why? Because he was his king. God is justified in correcting His own.
Dean Farrar was supposed to be liberal in theology, and yet Dean Farrar once said, This growing indifference to the thought of future punishment, this philosophy which is so treacherous and so timid, seems to me, and I say it deliberately, at once an aberration of the intellect and an infatuation of the will. Oh, better surely that a sinner should tremble with agony, as the last leaves of the aspen shudder in the late autumnal wind, than that he should thus falsely presume that he knows more of God than God Himself hath taught him and, seeing, as has been said, That wrath is written in Scripture against his way of life, should hope that it is not wrath, but mercy, and so rush upon the bosses of the Almightys buckler as the wild horse rusheth into the battle.
It is our judgment that no age preceding this has had greater need to face the final reckonings with fear than this age in which we live. We may imagine that we are the favorites of the most High, but it is clear that we have forgotten that whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.
Here natures forces were to execute furious judgment.
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.
Thus shall Mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause My fury to rest upon them (Eze 5:12-13).
Pestilence, famine, sword;How many times that trinity of furies have been called to the correction of the nations.
Did you ever stop to think of the worlds condition in the Spring of 1914? In Germany, militarism had triumphed; unwarranted ambition had taken possession of the people; beer guzzling and conceit were alike uniform, and the Darwin-Nietsche desire to conquer the earth was uppermost.
In Belgium, the Roman apostasy was rampant with bigotry; the oppression of blacks in Belgian Africa, in behalf of rubber and ivory, had reached the point where it enraged the civilized world.
In France, liquor and lust met nightly in high carnival, and a godless gaiety was the esprit de corps of the State.
In Russia the Czarist oppression had enslaved the people, burdened them with taxation, kept them in the night of ignorance, eventuating in corruption, private and public.
In England, the injustices in South Africa, and the opium trade in India, and the drink house at home constituted a trinity of infamy for which the nation should have, but did not, feel ashamed.
In America, an increasing luxury was fuel to lust; a legalized liquor traffic was cursing not only the home land, but every nation on earth with which we had commercial relations; and a growing indifference to God was inimical to the cause of Christianity.
While in the far Orient, in Turkey, Palestine, and the neighboring countries, and in all Southern Europe, God, when at all in their thoughts, was only there in corrupt definition and misty understanding.
Then the war broke, and famine, and pestilence, and the sword rode on the swift wings of death and chastised each nation in turn until, in penitence, it promised reform. But, that which we planned in the hour of our sorrow, we have failed to perform when the agony was over, and once more the nations of the earth are standing with their backs to God.
We have had Hague Councils, World Courts, and Leagues of Nations; they have spent hours upon hours in conference on world-improvement and world-peace, but up to the present we have no prospect whatever of either.
Why? God has been ignored; God has been excluded from the councils; the Word of God has been forgotten; the warnings of God have been despised; and once more it looks possible for pestilence, famine, and the sword to fly their ways throughout the world, executing further judgment. Is it strange? Yes, but the strangeness, existing in the circumstances, is impenitence, our utter failure to learn from past experiences, our utter indifference to the Divinely proffered guidance.
Oh, I know there are great men, philosophers and so-called statesmen, who will tell you these things must needs come, that they belong to natures ways, and the only explanation of them is in the circumstance that pestilence may break out at any moment; famine may strike any country at any season, and the sword be taken from its scabbard at any hour of the day or night; but the text does not indicate that these powers of death are free to execute their pleasure on the one hand, or are mere accidents of nature on the other hand. The truth is, as the last sentence of this study indicatesThe Lord is over all.
Mark the phrases,
So will I send upon 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.
He assumes the responsibility; He announces that He Himself, and not the forces of nature, is back of judgment.
Men may as well make up their minds to that fact. God is not inclined to set criminals free with a smile. God is not a Ma Ferguson who, for the sake of political office, would distribute these pardons to the most undeserving.
God is the moral governor of the universe, and as such He seeks morality for men, and even threatens the insubordinate with the furies. If it were not so, the world would be in a pandemonium. If it were not so, man would have long since destroyed himself from the face of it, and left behind him a history as black and charred as was Jerusalem herself when the siege of A. D. 70 was ended.
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
The last methods of punishment symbolised and interpreted (chap. Eze. 5:1-17)
EXEGETICAL NOTES.The requirements made of Ezekiel still proceed in his house. Already he has been a sign that Jerusalem would undergo a thorough siege; that specified periods of stringent suffering should be allotted to both portions of the house of Israel; that hunger, anxiety, and defilement would be encountered; and furthermore, he is to be a sign of the various forms of penalty which should be incurred as the closing manifestations of the Lords dealing justly with iniquities. In this case, as in the preceding three, we appear necessitated, by the very conditions of the requirement, to suppose that Ezekiel could not be expected to carry on literally the processes assigned to him. How could he, in the disabled state to which he must have been reduced if he had externally obeyed the previous requirements, shave his head and beard with a sword, or burn the appointed part of hair in Jerusalem itself? Even if it were certain that he could do so, it would be unbecoming to believe that the Lord Himself literally drew a sword after the third part of hair which was scattered to the wind. Notwithstanding these difficulties, we are sure that the actuality of the things signified was somehow conveyed to the minds of his captive countrymenthe method of doing so being unknown.
Eze. 5:1. And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp kniferather sword, as in the end of Eze. 5:2. He was not, besides the sword, to take a barbers razor, but he was to use the sword as a barbers razor. A closer rendering of the Hebrew warrants this explanation. A razor of barbers thou shalt take iti.e., the sword, as the gender intimatesto thee; and cause it to pass upon thine head and thy beard. In the hands of an earlier prophet the use of a razor had already been made significant of punishment by the Lord. In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired the head and the hair of the feet; and it shall also consume the beard (Isa. 7:20). Moreover, in accordance with biblical representations, shaving off the hair of the head and beard was one of the signs of mourning and reproach, and, besides, it was forbidden to priests (Lev. 21:5). God, enjoining a priest to reverse his own ritual observance, would give additional emphasis to the keenness of the calamity shadowed forth: then take thee balances to weigh and divide (lit.) them, i.e., the hair. An apportionment of distinct sufferings is to be carefully measured out, so that all may feel the judiciary providence of God. We modify the words of an old Latin commentator, and say, The sword or razor signifies divine vengeance, the head the city, the balances its equity, and the hair the people to whom punishments shall be distributed. Or, as Theodoret says, The sword indicates avenging power, the shaving of the beard the removal of grace and glory, the scales and weights the determination of divine justice.
Eze. 5:2. Ezekiel is commanded to arrange the hair in proportionate parts, and to dispose of each. Thou shalt burn with firein a flamea third part in the midst of the cityin the midst of the model of the besieged city which lay before himwhen the days of the siege are fulfilledwhen the days for his symbolical completion of the siege had come to an end; and thou shalt take a third part and smite about iti.e., the citywith a knife, or sword, as Eze. 5:1; and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind. The rest of the people have perished; this third alone survives. It must, therefore, include within itself both the poor, who might be left unsettled in Judea, as well as the numbers who had been dispersed among other countries. And there seems no valid objection against considering that it included the people of a more distant future than that which would be passed through by the living generation. The lot of the nation, as a nation, is involved in the action of the Lord. The next words show the symbol passing into a reality, while an intimation of sufferings in the land of exile is made: and I will draw out a sword after them. They shall not escape because of change of locality. By this procedure of Ezekiel three kinds of punishment are set forth. One part of the people dies in flamesEze. 5:12 interprets this of famine and disease; a second part dies in flight, sallies, battles; the surviving part becomes tribe of the wandering foot and weary breast. But the people will not be absorbed or obliterated.
Eze. 5:3. Thou shalt also take thereoffrom that scattered portiona few in number, and bind themthis very small remnant of hairsin thy skirts, ends of his garment. God has to fulfil His covenant of mercy; seed must be preserved as the instruments of His purposes; and Ezekiel is required to signify, by caring for the safety of a few, the eternal purpose of God. But even of this few not all would be delivered.
Eze. 5:4. Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the firea different word from that of Eze. 5:2, and signifying a somewhat diverse mode of suffering about to befall the reduced number of people. They were not all right in heart, the best were tainted and needed a purgation, a proof of how deplorable was the spiritual condition of the surviving people. This infliction would not be confined to the unfaithful among the gathered ones: thereoffrom this consuming fireshall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel: the doom of the few involves the doom of the whole people as such. Judgment must begin at the house of God, and what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? A striking parallel to this declaration to Ezekiel is found in Isaiah. And if there should yet be a tenth in it, this shall again be consumed; (yet), as the terebinth and the oak, though cut down, have their stock remaining, (even so) a sacred seed (shall be) the stock thereof (Eze. 6:13).Cheyne.
A divine interpretation of his symbolical action is given to Ezekiel. He hears words describing the guilt of and the judgments which shall fall upon Jerusalem and his people; and, first of all, there is conveyed a meaning which is to be attached to Jerusalem.
Eze. 5:5. Thus saith the Lord God; This Jerusalemit is unnecessary to supply isI have set it her, in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her. It has been common for nations, whose means of locomotion are neither convenient nor rapid, to consider their country the central point around which other countries are clustered. Such a notion might have been accepted by the Jews in reference to Judea; but it is not with such a reference-that the situation of Jerusalem is specified here. In explaining this reference it is not requisite to point out how the Holy Land stands in relation to Egypt and Syria, to Assyria and the Isles of the Gentiles. We decline the merely local limitations as not expressive of the fact intimated, while we still perceive, in the then active influences of the world, certain advantages adhering to the site which Jerusalem occupied. The true interpretation is elsewhere. It is thus stated by Keil: Jerusalem is described as forming the central point of the earth, neither in an external, geographical, nor in a purely typical sense, as the city that is blessed more than any other, but in a historical sense, in so far as Gods people and city actually stand in the central point of the God-directed world-development and its movements; or, in relation to the history of salvation, as the city in which God hath set up His throne of grace, from which shall go forth the law and the statutes for all nations, in order that the salvation of the whole world may be accomplished.
Eze. 5:6. And she hath changedthe ordinary usage of the word changed refers to murmuring, opposing, rebelling against, or some such action, and often with a statement of the object, as here, against which the act operatesshe rebelled against my judgmentsthough they were known, yet were they so disregarded as to incur the crime of turning them into wickedness more than the nationsto a degree of evil which even the heathen could not be charged with, and she rebelled against my statutes more than the countries that are round about her; for theyof this Jerusalemhave refused my judgmentswith a kind of disdainand my statutes they have not walked in them. The penalty of such a course follows.
Eze. 5:7. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; but before announcing the doom an emphatic presentation of their unhallowed conduct is made: Because ye multiplieda somewhat infelicitous rendering of a difficult term, for which a translation like ye raged is better, i.e., made a turmoil in acting as rebelsmore 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 judgmentslaws and ways of living and worshippingof the nations that are round about you. Further on (chap. Eze. 11:12) Ezekiel accuses the people thus, Ye have done after the manners (lit. judgments) of the heathen that are round about you. There is no real contradiction between the two representations. The heathen pursued courses which were opposed to Gods will, and Israel did the same; but the former showed also that the word of the law was written in their heart, and, so far as they had obeyed that transcript, they had done that which Israel had not done. Israel had resisted both revealed and natural obligations.
Eze. 5:8. Therefore thus saith the Lord Godthe suspended threatening is now pronouncedBehold I, even I, am against theea solemn asseveration that the covenanted relationship to the Lord, however boasted of, would not shield from the punishment due to Israel for their violation of the covenant. He would prove that He was not a dead Goda mere name of power and holinessand will execute judgments in the midst of themthe means of punishment shall be forthcoming and effective in the sight of the heathen nations. Thus one aspect of retributive justice is unfoldedit will be public: the heathen shall know that He is Lord by the judgment which He executeth. Another is presentedit is exceptional.
Eze. 5:9. And I will do in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the likethere would be peculiarities in the woes which should befall Israel that would be marked as unique throughout all time. If acts as shocking as those referred to in next verse are observed in the distressed periods of other nations, we must remember that when a wife or child is expelled from the home, the calamity, though similar, is far worse than when a guest or servant is expelled. Such was the relation of Israel to God that their punishment had elements of horror in it which the same suffering happening to another people had not. The primary reference of the threatening is clearly to the then existing Israel, but seems to be applied by the Lord Jesus to that generation of the Jews who were subjected to terrible calamities when Jerusalem was besieged and destroyed by the Romans. Then the tribulation shall be such as was not since the beginning of the world, nor ever shall be (Mat. 24:21)because of all thine abominationsa frequently used word, expressing actions and habits which, however common and palliated, were such as the Lord could not endure to hear and see in His professed peopleeach sin had done harm and each would be reckoned in.
Eze. 5:10. The punishment will be characterised by such intensity of suffering that family ties will be ruthlessly disrupted. The fathers shall eat the sons, as had been predicted should come to pass if they would not hearken to the Lord, but walked contrary to Him (Lev. 26:29), and the sons shall eat their fathers, and all who survive will I scatter into all the winds.
Eze. 5:11. From this verse to the end of the chapter the punishment is more fully announced as from the Lord. The emphatic therefore (Heb.), which is prefixed to several of the declarations of this chapter, is here followed by the solemn oath, As I live, saith the Lord God. I, the Living One, shall die if these judgments are not executed. This oath is sustained by His self-existencethat which is the basis of all truth and reality, and a guarantee that there will be no revocation, no reversion: He can swear by no greater. Surely because thou hast defiled my sanctuary. They had entered into the place where His honour tabernacled, and taken a course there which proved how completely they had cast off His supremacy. They had not been restrained by any reverence or attachment. They had occupied it with all thy detestable things and with all thine abominationswickedness of all kinds had been practised, and the way in which it was carried on is shown in chap. 8. We shall mistake this accusation if we confine its reference solely to the employment of the Temple for idolatrous proceedings. The Temple was the ideal heart of the theocracy. All spiritual energy proceeded from it; all objects of that energy reacted on it. So that if the people indulged in evil elsewhere, and came impenitent into the courts of the Lords house, they defiled the sanctuary, and their ears were made to tingle with the indignant remonstrance of Isaiah, Who hath required this at your hands to tread my courts? or with that of Ezekiel afterwards, Should I be inquired of at all by them? The glory due unto the name of the Lord had been polluted, and He will take steps to clear it. I will also diminish, our English version supplies thee. In comparing Deu. 4:2, where this same Hebrew word is employed, Ye shall not add to this word which I command you and ye shall not diminish from it, the expression seems sufficient without adding thee. As the Israelites had taken away from the rights of God to His sanctuary, so He will diminish the benefits He had hitherto bestowed on them.
Eze. 5:12. An explanation is now given of the symbolical actions prescribed in Eze. 5:2. From this it is made clear that the fire there is to represent disease and starvation as among the destructive agencies affecting the sinful people.
Eze. 5:13. The menaced penalties being carried out, mine anger shall be accomplished; its full force will be brought to act so as to inflict every item of the penalties due to such transgressors. And I will cause my fury to rest upon them; it will find its goal in those who suffer from it, and there come to an end: it will have finished His strange work. And I will be comforted. We might translate, in accordance with another signification of the Hebrew, I repent myself. It is preferable to retain the translation of our version, as better expressing the idea that the old has ended and that the ground for a new procedure will be laid. (Vide Isa. 10:24-27, in reference to Assyria.) This betokens one mode of the divine life. It is a highly figurative, and, of course, imperfect token; but, so far as we can explain, it shows that the Lord receives satisfaction in vengeance accomplished, since the violators of His honour are fairly punished and His rights are fully vindicated. A God who could not assert and maintain, at any cost, His own just and perfect authority, would be only an idol-god. Nor is it Himself alone whom the finished punishment concerns. They, the next verse is proof that it is other nations who shall know that I the Lord have spoken in my zeal, and not the prophet in over-eagerness or factiousness. The words are again repeated in Eze. 5:15; Eze. 5:17, and show that Ezekiel was speaking by direction of the living God of Israel, who would not allow His righteous laws to be trampled under mens feet. History has become a guarantee for the divine origin of the threatenings.
Eze. 5:14 is a further statement of the penalty which was to be executed on the devoted city. Waste and a reproach, a reproach among the nations that are round about, and waste in the sight of all that pass by.
Eze. 5:15. So itJerusalemshall be a reproach, &c. Inferences of several kinds will be drawn from the sad and ruined state of the punished people, and lessons of moral worth become distincter.
Eze. 5:16. According to the ground-text, Deu. 32:23, the evil arrows here are those of famine, which shall be bitter and destructive and accumulative in its horrors: I will increase the famine; hunger upon hunger will come upon you.
Eze. 5:17. Another element of terror is mentioned for the first time, evil beasts. We may suppose that they are to be taken literally; but it is difficult to see how they could be a noticeable ingredient in the cup of misery which was to be drank by a beleaguered city, and Hengstenberg is probably right in referring the phrase to the heathen, on the ground that the designation of brutalised men, who have no breath from God, as beasts is deeply rooted in the Scriptures. And pestilence and bloodsome terrific diseasesshall pass through thee. A solemn appeal to the certainty of the accomplishment comes in, as already, on the ground of the Lord being the speaker in reality. Repetition of the same expression is a characteristic of Ezekiels style.
HOMILETICS
WHERE MUCH IS GIVEN, MUCH IS REQUIRED (Eze. 5:5-17)
As each stage of a physical process manifests another condition of the materials which are under the action of forces, so each stage in national affairs expresses a changed aspect of the relations between the Creator and the creature, the great King and His subjects, the Holy and the unholy. If the punitive treatment of the Jews was painfully startling, the presentation of it, which the prophet is commissioned to make, is meant to unfold, to the existing and other generations, a fresh development of the thoughts and ways of God. These verses may be held to show that the sorest penalties will be a consequence of privileges set at naught. In them observe
I. The advantages conferred.
1. A favourable position: Set in the midst of the nations. It is obvious that certain countries, certain cities, are distinguished above others by climate, materials for traffic, openings to surrounding people. In some such beneficial conditions the ancient Jerusalem was situated; but above them, and of greater importance still, was the fact that there was His sanctuarythe place where His honour dwelt. Both temporal and spiritual benefits come from God, and each advantage should be regarded as enforcing a higher obligation.
2. The personal interest of God. It is He who condescends to speak to them, to punish them Himself. He did not treat them on the same lines as He did the other tribes of men. No nation had God so nigh it as this people. They were the children of Abraham, His friend. He bare them and carried them all the days of old. Whosoever touched them touched the apple of His eye. Their offences were offences against Himnot against some vague accusation of their own consciences. It is well to come to that position from which we see that God is with us in a wider sense than Israel surmised, that in Christ He reconciles the world unto Himself, that we stand amid the light of that life which is given to whosoever will.
3. Opportunity for influencing others. To fancy that this Jewish people was chosen simply to be the worshippers of the only true God is to suppose that which would not accord with other manifestations in His realm. His sun exhales vapour from water, the vapour is turned into showers, the showers fall upon the earth and make it bring forth and bud. So is it that every person is to contribute to the good of others, and so His chosen nation was to be instrumental in making known His way and saving health among the people sitting in darkness. His purposes to bless that we may be blessings are not changed. He works to form vessels fit for His use, and one of the most potent influences, with souls which have been made alive to God through Jesus Christ, should be thisthe Lord my God supplies me with grace, and I should live so as to promote His holy and good claims over men. Alas! so many do not realise their position as stewards of God, and many, like the Jews, cause His name to be blasphemed instead of honoured. Yet much has been given.
II. The unhallowed disposition cherished by the advantaged. That they who have known the true God should change His judgments into wickedness and should not walk in His statutes, evidences their disposition to be
1. Marked with contempt for God. Their own judgments are preferred to His. And even where there might be a formal agreement with His revealed will, it is, on their part, no submission to Him, but a carrying out of their own desires. They act as if God were of less consideration than themselves. They will not have Him to reign over them. They feel at liberty to make that which He intended for good into a means for doing wickedly. Prayers will be repeated, public worship will be patronised, and still the heart will continue to cherish its selfish, worldly pursuits, as if God could be mocked and overcome.
2. More guilty than that of the heathen. The Jews gloated over the ignorance and low hopes of the uncovenanted peoples, and yet the latter had been more faithful to their streaks of light than the Jews to their dayspring. There is no monopoly by the Jewish people of this inconsistency. Not a few among Christians take pleasure in telling of the cruelties, falsehoods, lusts which are observed among the tribes and people who are not Christian, and turn such sad aspects into a means of setting off how much purer and better a state is their own. The comparison is often very unfairly made. And even if it were notif the sins of heathendom were gross and numerous beyond those of Christendomthe rules of Christ are too often toned down and laid aside, both in the practice of Churches and the conduct of individuals. Their guilt in tampering with duty is far more offensive than that of the heathen can be. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida!
III. The severe punishment which manifests the guiltiness of those who have received much. When favoured children go out of the ways of their Holy Father, they walk upon hard, thorny, desolate tracts, where they perish.
1. In those troubles they are treated by the Lord Himself. Behold I, even I, am against thee. Secondary agents will be employed, but in poverty or losses, diseases or hostile actions by other people, are to be recognised weapons wielded by the Lord against whom we have sinned. He does not abdicate His authority to things which cause pain and ruin, so that they do their will. We receive evil from His hand as well as good. And emphatically so if we have been living in open sins against Him. It is always a difficult matter to say what the sins are which bring about special stripes from the Lord; but there need be no difficulty in acknowledging that He will execute judgments in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes, and that those judgments need not be the same for the same sins. Dishonesties, untruths, intemperance, will produce misery sooner or later, but the misery which comes in consequence of such transgressions is very different in its actions upon the individual sinners and their families. God knows how to deal out in perfect wisdom the sufferings appropriate to the several cases, and the keenest pang of their suffering ought to be this, My King, my Father, has become mine enemy, and fights against me.
2. The punishment is intense. I will do that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the like. Neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity. There will not be a grain of excessiveness in the punishment: it will be balanced to a hairs weight by the amount of sin. The perfect Judge alone can so accurately poise the scales; but none who know the right will fail to see that, however unparalleled the severity may seem, it is altogether proportioned to the offences, and will exhibit the magnitude of the guilt incurred.
3. The lesson is intended to be widely taught. The Lord will not do His strange work in secret. Other souls must be made to hear and fear, and His judgments shall be shown to the nations round about in the sight of all that pass by. They will be differently affected by the lesson. Some will utter reproaches, others will frame taunts, and others will be instructed; but in some sort of dim form those proceedings against sin will make their principle enter into the thoughts of men, and contribute to the shaping of that unwritten law, with its penalty for wrong-doing, which has become established among nations who have lived in different spheres of growth. Where do we not find the maxim, that the heavier the punishment, the greater the guilt?
IV. The continued maintenance of the justice of Gods rule. I the Lord have spoken ithowever unlike it may appear that He should punish so, however awful the sufferings inflicted may be. The divine righteousness remains always equally energetic.Heng. Ezekiel is a medium for conveying the denunciations, but below those denunciations it is to be believed that righteousness and truth stand. They will not be moved by the assaults of men, let men beat against them as they will. And the prophet is a pattern from whom all preachers and teachers may learn to let the thoughts of God so enter into them, that when they do tell, as tell they must if they will be faithful servants, of the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth which shall be endured by those who make light of the Son of God, they should do it, not with extravagance or with mitigation, but with the strictest adherence to the manifestation made of the terror of the Lord. The gospel enters into no terms with those who forsake the Lord; it insists on repentance or destruction. If He is not willing that any should perish, He would sooner see them perishing than that they should continue persistently to defile His holy presence. In Churches and out of them the solemn asseveration holds sway, He that despised Moses law died without mercy under two or three witnesses; of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite to the Spirit of grace?
GODS COMFORT IN PUNISHMENT ACHIEVED
I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted (Eze. 5:13)
There are conventional ideas about God, just as there are about what is proper procedure in society. Conventionalisms cannot hold their ground in the latter when a strong, clear impulse from the realities of life breaks upon them; and, in the former, superficial conceptions regarding divine procedure will be tested and remodelled when men, who see visions of God, set forth their impressions of Him who ruleth by His power for ever. Their utterances may sound as if bordering on what is harsh and untenable, or as if altogether too familiar; but they will lay open aspects of the Almighty which, from one cause or other, have been dimmed and disturbed. Thus it might happen that deep convictions of the pity of the Lord for suffering, and His patience with wrong-doers, would foster a mode of speaking of His dealings with people whom He had favoured, as if He could be nothing but soft and soothing and pleading, as if in His nature there were no materials for an unflinching resolution to see right done, even though the punishment of the wrong-doers was unexampled. Then a holy man will exclaim, in the word of the Lord, I will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh; or, Ah! I will ease me of mine adversaries. Lax notions are shaken off, and we learn to think that our God is a consuming fire, who is comforted when His fury has found a resting-place. Making allowance for the somewhat figurative turn of these words, we can perceive in them
I. All punishments are measured. He that maketh the stormy wind to fulfil His word, that says to the sea, Hitherto thou shalt come and no further, He says to every consequence of sin, Thou shalt not put a hairs weight of distress more than I appoint. Men may talk of the germs of disease which settle upon a vine as if they will increase so as to destroy it, unless checked by human appliances; politicians may speak of armies invading a country as if they would ravage it till it was made waste, unless human diplomacy intervene. It is not often considered that behind every disease and every army the Divine Will means to control each, and exactly fix what it shall do. We are under a Lawgiver whose prerogative can never be contravened, and who claims to define every event by His hidden or revealed decree. Every sufferer may believe that he bears just what and just as is suitable to perfect righteousness and wisdom.
II. Right is vindicated. When the evil ways of men have taken them into woe then the Judge of the earth is satisfied, for they have received the due reward of their deeds. This means more than is often understood by the expression, Sin is its own punishment. If that were all the punishment, then every prosperous tyrant, every unconfessing murderer, every successful mercantile swindler, every unabashed liar would have endured all possible suffering. The sin, the very thing which stands out as the worst of evils to a holy mind, being regarded as an advantageous proceeding by the unholy, could hardly be punished in the actor, since he delights in it or is unimpressed by its vileness. Thus viewed there would be little in sin to fear; it could be made a subject for despisal; and the moral order would be abandoned. It is not, however. Gods rule is not so feeble and uncertain in its operation as to let it be. He sitteth on the throne judging right, and He executes punishments which prove that there are retributions attached to the committal of sin entirely independent of the thoughts of sinners about their conduct. These retributions will find out their appropriate objects, as a resting-place is found, and will remain till the just award has been measured off. It is an awful fact for those who have sinned and have not repented. To neglect its bearing, to refuse to face its reality may be common, but the sentence against evil will not be annulled. Let those who reject Christ Jesus realise the solemn contents of the words, He that believeth not, the wrath of God abideth on himHis fury rests upon them. Then, when bitter wrong has been righted, when vengeance has placed its marks upon the rebellious, when the hideous past has been swept over by an obliterating storm of justice, then the Holy One sees that right has proved its power to crush wrong and maintain its supremacy, and He is comforted.
III. The ground is cleared for a new movement. The Lord is not comforted merely because He sees the flaunting edifices of wrong utterly in ruins. Withered, scattered leaves form materials for the growth of a coming spring; the refuse of fallen buildings becomes a location in which plants and insects make a home, and the desolation of a country or the depression of a people gives an opening through which stirring influences may enter. Gibbons statement in The Decline and Fallthat when the fierce giants of the North broke in upon an enervated people who were but a race of pigmies, they mended the puny broodasserts this principle. By Ezekiels time the Israelites had become boasters, sensual, hypocrites; the covenant God made with their fathers had been shivered into fragments; what good could accrue from the continuance of such a state of things? Abolish it or suspend it, and a way will be opened for operating in new methods of righteousness, wisdom, and grace. That opening is a comfort to the Lord. He will enter upon a course from which higher and better results will be attained. The old has vanished, the new will arrive. So the Lord Jesus refers to Jerusalem and says, Behold, your house is left unto you desolatethat is the close of the bad pastand He goes on to add, Ye shall not see Me henceforth till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lordthat is the pledge of better movements.
1. The Lord reigneth, let the people tremble. He will execute judgment upon all, and convince all that are ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed.
2. The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice. However long His will may be disobeyed, yet a King shall reign in righteousness. Also unto Thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy, for Thou renderest to every man according to his work. Judgment and mercy shall complete the purposes of Him who inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
IV. PARABLE OF THE NATIONS FATE 5:14
TRANSLATION
(1) And as for you, son of man, take to yourself a sharp sword, for a barbers razor, take it, and cause it to pass over your head and your beard, and take to yourself balances, and divide them. (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 take a third part, smite with the sword around about her. And a third part you shall scatter to the wind. And I will unsheath a sword after them. (3) And take a few in number, and bind them in the hem of your garment. (4) And from them take again, and cast them into the midst of the fire and burn them; from it a fire shall go out into all the house of Israel.
COMMENTS
During the days of his symbolic siege of Jerusalem, Ezekiel performed another act. He shaved his head and beard with a sharp sword which he used like a barbers razor.[161] The sword symbolizes the invading Chaldean army. Ezekiel symbolizes the land of Judah. Though shaving of the head was forbidden in the Law (Lev. 19:27 f; Lev. 21:5), the act was universally practiced as a sign of mourning (Isa. 3:24; Isa. 22:12). The coming invader would scrape the land bare (cf. Isa. 7:20), and bring upon it disgrace and mourning. Here again Ezekiel was commanded to violate the ceremonial law so as to make a prophetic application. Such shaving was forbidden to a priest like Ezekiel and ordinarily meant the loss of priestly status and position. The hair of the priest was a mark of his consecration to Gods service (Lev. 21:5; Lev. 19:27).
[161] Grammatically it is difficult to determine whether Ezekiel took a sword or a razor-sharp knife symbolizing a sword. In either case the message here is the same.
The hairs removed from face and head were to be divided by weight into three parts. The balances which Ezekiel was to use may symbolize justice just as is still the case today. Gods judgment is measured, accurate and fair (cf. Jer. 15:2).
Ezekiels shorn hair symbolizes the population of Jerusalem; the manner of the disposal of the hair indicated the various fates which awaited those rebellious Jews. A third of the hair was to be burned in the midst of the city, i.e., on the tile which depicted the city of Jerusalem.[162] These hairs symbolized those who would die in the horrors of warfare fire, sword, famine and pestilence when the city was besieged.[163]
[162] Another view is that the actual city of Jerusalem is meant. If all these action Parables are visionary this could be a possible interpretation.
[163] For a similar prophecy of a much later time, see Zec. 13:8-9.
Another third of the hairs were to be smitten with the sword round about her, viz., the city. This symbolized the fate of those who tried to escape the city either during or after the fall. A prime example is King Zedekiah and his associates (cf. 2Ki. 25:4 ff.).
The last third of the hairs was to be scattered to the wind. The hairs symbolize those who would be dispersed to foreign lands. Though they had escaped the holocaust at Jerusalem they would not find peace for I will unsheath a sword after them (Eze. 5:2). Jeremiah predicted the same fate for the exiles (Jer. 9:15), as did Moses before him (Lev. 26:33).[164]
[164] Cf. Jeremiah 40-44 and the trials which befell the Jewish remnant in Egypt.
In this bleak passage there is another hint of hope. A few of the hairs presumably those that had been scattered to the wind were to be retrieved and bound in the hem of Ezekiels garment (Eze. 5:3). A remnant of those carried off to exile would survive. Yet their situation would be desperate. From the hairs retrieved, Ezekiel was to take some and cast them into the fire. The fire here may represent persecution through which some of the Jewish remnant would die. On the other hand, the fire may represent the fire which would destroy Babylon, and would represent the fate of some who refused to heed the prophetic admonition to flee Babylon.[165]
[165] The remnant theme can be traced through the following references: 2Ki. 25:22; Isa. 6:13; Isa. 10:22; Jer. 23:3; Eze. 6:8-10; Eze. 9:8; Eze. 11:13; Zec. 13:8-9.
Thus the general drift of this parable is clear. Ezekiel foresees the total destruction and dispersion of Jerusalems populace. But true faith would survive in a faithful remnant.
The expression from them fire shall go out into all the house of Israel (Eze. 5:4) is difficult. Perhaps the thought is that even the faithful remnant in Babylon would suffer new hardships because of the suicidal rebellion launched by the leadership in Jerusalem.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) Take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barbers razor.Rather, take thee a sharp sword, as a barbers razor shalt thou take it to thee. The word knife is the same as that used twice in Eze. 5:2, and translated once by knife and once by sword. It is occasionally used for any sharp-cutting instrument, but is most commonly taken, as here, for a sword. The English version also neglects to notice the pronoun in the second clause. The thought is plainly that the prophet is to take a sword, on account of its symbolism, and use it instead of a razor.
Upon thine head, and upon thy beard.The cutting off the hair was a common mark of mourning (see Job. 1:20; Isa. 22:12; Jer. 7:29); but the allusion here seems to be rather to Isa. 7:20, in which God describes his coming judgments upon Israel as a shaving, with a razor that is hired . . . by the king of Assyria, of the head and the beard. The symbolism was the more marked because Ezekiel was a priest, and the priests were expressly forbidden in the law to shave either the head or the beard (Lev. 21:5). The shaving, therefore, of a priests head and beard with a sword betokened a most desolating judgment.
Then take thee balances to weigh is not a mere detail introduced to give vividness to the symbolism, but seems designed to show the absolute certainty of the impending judgment.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1. A sharp knife, a barber’s razor The prophet uses a knife (literally, sword) as a razor or, less probably, his razor is called a sword (Ewald) to make the meaning more plain that the people are to be cut off by the sword, which Isaiah previously in this connection had actually called “a razor” (Isa 7:20). The hair in all oriental symbolism stands for the life. To sacrifice the hair is to symbolically sacrifice the life. (See note Eze 16:21, and Oneil’s Night of the Gods, 1:312.) The priests were forbidden by law to shave (Lev 19:27; Lev 21:5); this therefore was another act which, when he saw it in the future, had made him “hot” and “bitter” (Eze 3:14).
Balances to weigh No slightest inaccuracy is permitted. The exact judicial punishment must be executed (Deu 16:20; Dan 5:27).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Significance of His Shaven Beard and Head.
“And you, son of man, you take a sharp sword. As a barber’s razor you will take it to you. And you will cause it to pass over your head and on your beard. Then take for yourself balances to weigh and divide the hair. A third part you will burn with fire in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled. And you will take a third part and smite with the sword round about it. And a third part you will scatter to the wind, and I will draw out a sword after them.”
Shaving the head or beard was a sign of mourning (Eze 7:18; Isa 15:2; Isa 22:12; Jer 48:37; Amo 8:10), or even of disgrace (2Sa 10:4). It was also the sign of the end of a person’s separation to God (Num 6:5; Num 6:18). Ezekiel’s act in doing so was an indication that Jerusalem would be shorn, as a sign of disgrace, as a sign of mourning, and as a sign of the end of its separation to God.
The hair then had to be weighed and divided and separated into three parts. The weighing indicated that Jerusalem had been weighed and had been found wanting (compare Pro 21:2; Dan 5:27). Then one third he had to burn in the midst of his model city, a third part he had to smite with a sword round about the city, chopping them in pieces, and a third part had to be scattered to the wind. This was to take place once he had finished his days of depicting the period of the siege. This signified that one third of the inhabitants of Jerusalem would die in the siege through pestilence and famine, one third in the fighting round about and that one third would be scattered among the nations (Eze 5:12; compare Jer 15:2). But even these latter would still be subject to further judgments from God. ‘I will draw out a sword after them’. They would be constantly harried, and many would die because of their evil ways.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eze 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.
Eze 5:5
Eze 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.”
This means that when other nations traveled the long trade routes, they very often would need to pass through the land where God’s people dwelt. They would see the people of the covenant living in peace and prosperity and would hear the message of God’s covenant which brought this about. In this way, the Gospel could be more quickly spread throughout the inhabited world.
Not only did God use the central location of Israel to testify of God’s blessings. He also used it to demonstrate His judgment for all nations to see (Eze 5:8). God told Ezekiel that Jerusalem would be judged in the sight of all that “pass by” (Eze 5:14).
Eze 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.”
Eze 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.”
Eze 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.
Eze 5:10
Deu 28:53, “And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee:”
Jer 19:9, “And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them.”
Note that this prophecy actually happened on more than one occasion to the children of Israel. It happened during the time of Elisha the prophet (2Ki 6:28-29).
2Ki 6:28-29, “And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow. So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Sign Itself
v. 1. And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, v. 2. Thou shalt burn with fire a third part, v. 3. Thou shalt also take thereof, v. 4. Then take of them again,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Eze 5:1
Take thee a barber’s razor, etc. The series of symbolic acts is carried further. Recollections of Isaiah and Leviticus mingle strangely in the prophet’s mind. The former had made the “razor” the symbol of the devastation wrought by an invading army (Isa 7:20). The latter had forbidden its use for the head and beard of the priests (Le Lev 19:27; Lev 21:5). Once again Ezekiel is commanded to do a forbidden thing as a symbolic act. He is, for the moment, the representative of the people of Jerusalem, and there is to be, as of old, a great destruction of that people as “by a razor that is hired.” The word for “barber” (perhaps “hair cutter”) does not occur elsewhere in the Old Testament, but its use may be noted as showing that then, as now, the “barber” was a recognized institution in every Eastern town. The word for “knife” (Jos 5:2; 1Ki 18:28) is used in verse 2, and commonly throughout the Old Testament, for “sword,” and is so translated here by the LXX. and Vulgate. The prophet is to take a “sword” and use it as a razor, to make the symbolism more effective.
Eze 5:2
Thou shalt burn with fire, etc. The symbolism receives its interpretation in Eze 5:12. A third part of the people (we need not expect numerical exactness) was to perish in the city of pestilence and famine, another to fall by the sword in their attempts to escape, yet another third was to be scattered to the far off land of their exile, and even there the sword was to follow them. The words, in the midst of the city, and the days of the siege, find their most natural explanation in Eze 4:1, Eze 4:5, Eze 4:6.
Eze 5:3, Eze 5:4
Thou shalt also take, etc. The words may point
(1) either to those in Jerusalem who had escaped the famine and the sword, and were left in the land (2Ki 25:22; Jer 40:6; Jer 40:6); or
(2) to those who should go into exile, and yet even there suffer from the “fire” of God’s chastening judgments. They were, if saved at all, to be saved “so as by fire” (1Co 3:15), to be as “brands plucked from the burning” (Amo 4:11; Zec 3:2). Isaiah’s thought of the “remnant” (Isa 10:20-22; Isa 11:11-16) seems hardly to come in here. The whole utterance is one of denunciation. The act of “binding in the skirts” implies only a limited protection. Omit “for,” and for “thereof” read “therefrom,” s.c. from the fire (Revised Version).
Eze 5:5
This is Jerusalem, etc. The strange acted parables cease, and we have the unfigurative interpretation. The words that follow point to the central position of Jerusalem in the geography, and therefore in the history, of the ancient East: Egypt to the south, Assyria and Babylon to the north, and in the nearer distance Moabites and Ammonites, and Edomites, and Phoenicians, and Philistines; to all of these Jerusalem might have been as a city set on a hill, as the light of the Gentiles. That had been her ideal position from the first, as in the visions of Mic 4:1 and Isa 2:1 it was to be in its ideal future. The words are not without interest, as probably having suggested the thought, prominent in mediaeval geography (Dante, ‘Inf.,’ 34.115, and the Hereford ‘Mappa Mundi’), that Jerusalem was physically the central point of the earth’s surface. So Moslems believe Mecca to be the earth’s centre, and the Greek word omphalos was applied to Delphi as implying the same belief
Eze 5:6
She hath changed, etc. To that calling Jerusalem had been unfaithful. Corruptio optimi pessima, and she had sunk to a lower level than the nations round about her. For changed my judgments into wickedness, read, with the Revised Version, hath rebelled against my judgments in doing wickedness. The pronoun refers, not to the nations, but to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and so in the next clause.
Eze 5:7
Because ye multiplied, etc.; better, with the Revised Version, because ye are turbulent. The vereb is cognate with the noun translated “tumult” in 1Sa 4:14; Psa 65:7; Isa 33:3, though it is more commonly rendered “multitude.” It is not (as stated by Currey and Gardiner) the verb rendered “rage” in Psa 2:1. The former meaning fits in fairly here, hot some critics (Smend) suppose that the text is corrupt. A conjectural emendation gives, “ye were counted with the nations.” Neither have done according to the judgments; better, with the Revised Version, ordinances. Taking the words as they stand, the words find their explanation in Jer 2:10, Jer 2:11. In doing as the nations (Eze 11:12; Eze 16:47), Jerusalem had not done as they did, for they were at least true to tile gods whom they worshipped, and she had rebelled against her God. Some Hebrew manuscripts and some versions omit the negative, but this is probably a correction made in order to bring about a verbal agreement with Eze 11:12.
Eze 5:8
Therefore, etc. The conjunction is emphatic. It was because Jerusalem, in her high estate had sinned so conspicuously that her punishment was to be equally conspicuous (comp. Lam 4:6; Amo 3:2).
Eze 5:9
I will do in thee, etc. The like words were spoken by our Lord of the destruction of the city that was then future (Mat 24:21); but the war, Is of Ezekiel manifestly refer to that which was within the horizon of his vision, and find their parallel in Dan 9:12; Lam 1:12; Lam 2:13.
Eze 5:10
The fathers shall eat their sons, etc. An echo from Le 26:29 and Deu 28:53. The words of Jer 19:9 and Lam 4:10 imply that horrors such as these occurred during the siege of the city by the Chaldeans, as they had occurred before in the siege of Samaria (2Ki 6:28, 2Ki 6:29), and were to occur afterwards in that by the Romans (Josephus, ‘Bell Jud.,’ 6.4. 4). The whole remnant, etc. (comp. verse 2).
Eze 5:11
Because thou hast defiled my sanctuary, etc. For the full account of the nature of the abominations which are thus spoken of, see notes on Eze 8:1-18. This was, after all, the root evil of all other evils. Pollution of worship, the degradation of the highest element in man’s nature, passed into pollution and degradation of his whole life. Even in our Lord’s acted teaching, in Joh 2:15, Joh 2:16 and Mat 21:12, we have the same principle implied. Therefore will I also diminish thee, etc. The italics show that the last word is not in the Hebrew. The Revised Version margin suggests two other renderings.
(1) Therefore will I also withdraw mine eye that it shall not spare; and
(2) Therefore will I hew thee down. To these we may add the LXX. I will reject, and the Vulgate I will break in pieces, which apparently, like (2), imply a different reading. Most recent critics suggest conjectural emendations of the text. I incline to rest satisfied with the Authorized Version, and to explain it by Eze 16:27. The word implies not only the decrease, but the entire withdrawal of Jehovah’s favour. Possibly there is an implied reference to the command of Deu 4:2; Deu 12:32. Jerusalem had “diminished” from the Law of God, had, as it were, erased the commandments which were of supreme obligation, and therefore, as by a lex talionis, God would diminish her. Neither will I have any pity. The words are, of course, anthropomorphic, and have therefore to be received with the necessary limitations. As the earthly minister of justice must not yield to a weak pity which would be incompatible with the assertion of the eternal law of righteousness, so neither will the Supreme Judge. There is a time for all things, and justice must do its work first, in order that there may be room for pity afterwards. For other assertions, which seems strange to us, of trials unpitying character of God, see Eze 7:4, Eze 7:9; Eze 8:18; Eze 9:10, et al.; Jer 13:14.
Eze 5:12
A third part of thee, etc. (see note on Eze 5:2). The strange symbolic act is now interpreted. I will draw out a sword, etc. The phrase recurs in Eze 12:14, and is found in Le 26:33an echo, like so many other passages in Ezekiel, from what seems to have been his favourite storehouse of thought and language (Leviticus 17-26.).
Eze 5:13
I will cause my fury to rest upon them, etc.; Revised Version, I will satisfy, etc. The phrase meets us again in Eze 16:42; Eze 21:17; Eze 24:13. To “rest” here is to “repose” rather than to “abide.” The thought is that a righteous anger, like that of Jehovah, rests (i.e. is quieted) when it has done its work, and that in this sense God is “comforted,” either as rejoicing in the punishment of evil for its own sake (as in Deu 28:63; Isa 1:24), or because the punishment does its work in leading men to repentance. Israel may be comforted, because God is comforted as he sees that his judgments have done their work, and that his wrath can find repose. Have spoken in my zeal. The thought implied is that what is spoken in the earnest purpose of “zeal” will assuredly be carried into execution (comp. Isa 9:7; Isa 37:32). Men might deride the prophet’s warning as an idle threat. It would prove itself to have come from God.
Eze 5:14
In the sight of them that pass by. The phrase reminds us of Lam 1:12; Lam 2:15 : and the latter was probably a conscious reproduction of it. The scorn and mockery of the heathen who rejoiced in her humiliation were to be the keenest pang in the punishment of the guilty city.
Eze 5:15
A reproach and a taunt, etc. An echo of Deu 28:37. The accumulation of synonyms in both clauses of the verse is eminently characteristic of Ezekiel’s style. Word follows word, like the strokes of a sledge hammer. The word for “instruction” is that which occurs so often in the Book of Proverbs (Pro 1:2, Pro 1:3, and in twenty-two other passages). In Deu 11:12; Isa 53:5; Jer 30:14, the Authorized Version renders it “chastisement,” and that sense is manifestly implied here. Jerusalem was, as it were, to be the great object lesson in God’s education of mankind. And the final stroke of all is that the words were not the prophet’s own, but “I the Lord have spokes it.” The words reappear in Jer 30:17.
Eze 5:16
The evil arrows of famine, etc. The thought of the “arrows” of God’s judgment may have been taken from Deu 32:23, Deu 32:42, and occurs frequently also in the Psalms (Psa 7:13; Psa 38:2, et al.). Clothed in the language of poetry, the attributes of Jehovah included those of the Far-darter of the Greeks. Which shall be for their destruction, etc.; better, as Revised Version, that are for destruction. Ewald looks on the noun as a personification, like Abaddon, also translated “destruction” in Job 28:22 and Pro 15:11, and renders the words, “that are from hell;” but there seems no special reason for assuming such a meaning here. It is noticable that, as in the symbolism of Eze 4:9-17, the laminae is more prominent in Ezekiel’s thoughts than the other punishments.
Eze 5:17
Evil beasts, etc. These appear in like connection in Ezekiel’s favourite textbooks (comp. Le Eze 26:6, 22; Deu 32:24). They reappear in Eze 14:15, Eze 14:21. Historically, we have an example of the suffering thus caused in the lions of 2Ki 17:25, when towns and villages were deserted, and the unburied carcases of those who had died by famine, or pestilence, or the sword, were everywhere to attract them from afar. This was, of course, the natural and inevitable result. Pestilence and blood, etc. As this is followed by the work of the sword, “blood” probably points to some special form of plague, possibly dysentery (Act 28:8, Revised Version), or carbuncles, like Hezekiah’s boil (Isa 38:21). The same combination appears in Eze 14:19; Eze 28:23.
HOMILETICS.
Eze 5:1-4
A barber’s razor.
The coming siege and destruction of Jerusalem are described under the image of the prophet shaving his head and then disposing of his hair in various ways. The razor stands for the Divine judgment, the hair for the people, the different treatment of the hair for the difference in the doom of the people.
I. DIVINE JUDGMENT IS KEEN AS A RAZOR. Some judgments crush, others cut. The latter do not dispose of their victims at a blow. More is reserved for the hair that has been shaved off; for it is to be burnt, etc. But first of all the head is shorn. Thus judgment is progressive. Now, the first stage throws down pride, breaks up the established order, and casts the miserable sufferers into a state of dismay. This is irresistible. Slender hair cannot resist sharp steel. Feeble man cannot stand up against the penetrating judgment of Heaven.
II. IN PUNISHING A NATION GOD PUNISHES INDIVIDUALS. Each hair is a separate growth, and in shaving the whole head the razor cuts through individual hairs. It is too commonly imagined that burdens can be shifted from the individual to the nation. But if this were universally done there would be no gain, as the tuition is nothing more than the aggregate of the individuals that compose it; and if it were only partially done, injustice would be inflicted on the many for the relief of the few. In Divine judgments there is no escaping on account of the wholesale and national character of what happens. Great general wars lay homesteads desolate, bring mourning to separate households, impoverish private businesses, kill individual men.
III. IN A GENERAL JUDGMENT THERE ARE VARIETIES OF DOOM. The hair is to be divided out, and the several portions are then to be dealt with in different ways. The siege of Jerusalem results in a variety of dreadful calamities. Some of the citizens perish from fire, famine, or disease; some are killed by the sword; some are driven into exile. No doubt there will be varieties of doom in the future world. All will not suffer the same penalties, and yet the just punishment of sin must be unspeakably awful in every instance.
IV. IN THE MOST HEAVY JUDGMENT SOME ARE SPARED. Ezekiel is to take a few hairs and bind them in his skirts. Eight people were saved from the Flood. Three were saved from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The Christians who fled to Pella escaped the horrors of the Roman siege of Jerusalem. Thus the doctrine of the “remnant” is repeatedly exemplified. None are so obscure as to be overlooked by God. He is not indiscriminate in his judgment. The faithful are safe in the most overwhelming destruction. Those who are God’s true people are well guarded and cared for by him. Such have no occasion to fear any future judgment day.
V. ESCAPE FROM ONE JUDGMENT IS NO ASSURANCE OF FINAL SAFETY. Verse 4 seems to teach that some who escaped from the horrors of the siege would yet be cut off by some later calamity. God’s forbearance is no excuse for man’s indifference. Judgment deferred is not judgment destroyed. It is possible to turn aside from God in one’s later days after serving him truly in one’s earlier life, and then the safety of the Fast must give place to peril
Eze 5:5
A central position.
Jerusalem was in a central position. Palestine was in the wry midst of the nations. The highway between Assyria and Egypt ran through her territory. Seated on the shores of the Mediterranean, she was midway between the great empires of the East and the mysterious world of the West. England is now in a position like that of ancient Palestine, but with a much larger sweep of circumference. This island looks eastward to Europe and Asia, and it is in the highway from the Old World to America. London is the commercial capital of the world. England, more than any other country, has interests and influence in the four quarters of the globe. Then there are individual men in central positions. This is so of all persons in posts of authority. It is also true in a very real sense of everybody. Each man is the centre of his own horizon; the range of his vision and voice extend in a circle all round him. Throw a atone where you will into a pond, and at once it becomes a centre of spreading circles of wavelets. We are all centres of influence. This central position involves great consequences.
I. A HIGH PRIVILEGE. Jerusalem was privileged in her position; so is England today. The products of all the world pone into our markets. The garnered experience of the ages and the wide wealth of thought that grows in many minds are at our disposal. Jerusalem in the days of the prophets had many faults, but narrow mindedness was not one. We see her seated on the great plain of the world’s history. In like manner there is a happy richness, a variety and breadth of knowledge, of which we in England today are able to avail ourselves. As individuals, we are in the midst of many enriching sources. Tennyson’s Ulysses says, “I am a part of all that I have met.” We are able to profit by multitudinous influences from many quarters. We should not stultify these influences by parochial narrowness, but welcome and use all the helps God sends, e.g. in good books, inspiriting lives, wise and good public movements.
II. A UNIQUE POSITION. Jerusalem was in the midst of the nations, yet she was separate from them. She was not to follow the example of her neighbours. She was called to a unique destiny. Alone knowing the true God, she was to serve him in the full blaze of the world, but in separation from the contamination of neighbouring religions. This is the Christian destiny; not to forsake society and cultivate religion in seclusion, but to live in the world, yet free from the spirit of the worlda citizen of heaven residing as God’s ambassador on earth.
III. A GREAT MISSION. Jerusalem was planted in the midst of the nations to be a power for good among them. God did not convey his chosen people to some distant “Isles of the Blessed.” They were set down in the centre of the great stage of the world’s history. They were a separate people, it is truea sort of Belgium between Egypt and Assyriathe France and Germany of those days. But they had their mission in the end, to give the true religion to all nations. England is most advantageously situated for blessing other nations. We of all peoples should be a missionary nation. The Church of Christ is in the midst of the people, not like Noah’s ark, only destined to secure the safety of those shut up inside it, but like leaven put into the, meal to leaven the whole lump. Every Christian Church is in the midst of the people, in a neighbourhood for which it should be a centre of light. So also individual men, according as they are in any sort of central positions, are there for the good they can confer. No life can be pure in its purpose or strong in its strife, and all life not be purer and stronger thereby.
IV. A HEAVY RESPONSIBILITY. Jerusalem is called to account. England will have her day of reckoning. We shall all be judged, especially as to our conduct in places of privilege and influence.
1. We are responsible for our privileges. Assyria was not judged as Judaea; Africa and England will not be measured by the same standard. Much is expected of them to whom much has been given.
2. We are responsible for our influence. The effects of our work, word, and example will come back upon our own heads in blessings or in curses.
V. A SHAMEFUL FAILURE. Jerusalem missed her great mission and fell from her high estate. The fall of favoured Palestine is a warning to favoured England. It is possible to have every advantage and yet to make shipwreck. Then the bigger the ship the greater the wreck. There is something inspiriting in the thought of a mission. It helps one to make the, best use of life. The idea that we are useless will certainly lead to indifference and paralyze our energies. But to accept a place of influence and its privileges and then to fall, is the most culpable of all things.
Eze 5:8
Opposed by God.
We are more familiar with the idea of our opposition to God than with that of his opposition to us, because he is long suffering and slow to anger, while we are rebellious and self-willed. But there is a point where infinite patience cannot restrain just wrath; where, indeed, without any conflict of Divine attributes, the very love of God must acquiesce in his resistance to our sinful conduct by stern measures. Then God is against us!
I. GOD‘S OPPOSITION IS PROVOKED BY MAN‘S REBELLION.
1. God is not originally opposed to any of his creatures. “He hateth nothing that he hath made.” Nor can we suppose that God turns against his children for reasons of his own apart from their conduct. There is no caprice in the heart of the Immutable. It seems to some men in their deepening adversity, as blow after blow falls upon them, that God has become their enemy. This is a trial to faith; but true faith should survive and cry in the tempest of trouble, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.”
2. The cause of God‘s opposition lies in men alone. Ours is the change, not his. The Israelites in the wilderness “provoked” him to wrath. As he is always graciously inclined, it always lies with us to determine whether he shall be our Friend or our Enemy. It is fearful to make an Enemy of our best Friend. But can we expect that persistent neglect, deepening into disobedience, and disobedience pushed to the extremity of rebellion, should be regarded with indifference by the Lord of heaven and earth?
II. THE OPPOSITION OF GOD IS UNSPEAKABLY DREADFUL. It is dangerous for man to run counter to the will of God; it is fatal for God to rouse himself in opposition to man. The man who falls on the chosen Stone is bruised, but he on whom it falls will be ground to powder (Mat 21:44). There is in this a Divine activity. The sinner does not suffer only negatively, by privation, by the loss of Divine grace. His doom is more than to be cast into the outer darkness, and to be left there in a God-deserted solitude. That would be bad enough. But it must be remembered that God is active, and is ever making his will felt by his children. If a man swallows arsenic, the poison will work in him by the exercise of its own corrosive properties. In opposing the laws of nature we bring those laws into active play against us. It is like running in face of an express train. The result is incomparably worse than running against a dead wall. The dreadfulness of the Divine opposition thus encountered is only to be measured by the might and energy of God. The very fact that he loves us, instead or mitigating the horror of the opposition, must heighten it, for no plea can soften the blow when love itself acquiesces in it. If a hard master punished we might hope to soften him, but if a God of love is against us there is no further appeal.
III. THE DIVINE OPPOSITION IS A LESSON FOR ALL WHO WITNESS IT. The judgments were to be executed “in the sight of the nations.” This would add to the humiliation of the Jews. It would be a shock to the self-complacency that was founded on the notion that for the sake of his own honour among the heathen God would uphold his chosen people. That notion was a delusion. God’s honour is not maintained by protecting his people in their sin. It is more manifest in the impartial execution of justice without any rebate on the ground of favouritism. God is not honoured now by the simple security of his Church, but by the purity of it. It is better for the cause of righteousness that fallen Christians should be shamed and cast out, than that they should be petted and spared and their wickedness hushed up. The fall and judgment of the Jews proclaimed to all the world the unbiassed righteousness of God. Certainly, if the chosen people were not spared, no sinners can hope to escapeexcept by the way of deliverance God has made through Christ.
Eze 5:9
A unique event.
No doubt the intention of this prophecy is to express the horror of a judgment that is so exceptionally dreadful that history may be searched in vain for a precedent, and futurity will never behold its equal. But the very possibility of such an event suggests truths of wider significance. There are principles involved. in this prediction which the modern reverence for the uniformity of law has led us to pass by too hastily.
I. THERE ARE UNIQUE FACTS AND EVENTS. Many things happen but once. They appear as novelties to surprise us, and they perish without issue. The world is full of singularity, individuality, and consequent variety. There is but one Niagara, one ‘Iliad,’ one Shakespeare. Innocence can be lost but once; the soul’s fall is an event by itself, not to be compared with innumerable subsequent sins. Jesus said, “Ye must be born again”not many times; for one act of regeneration suffices, though many experiences of forgiveness and purification may follow. “It is appointed unto men once to die.” That dread Jordan has to be crossed but once. There is one Christ, and “none other Name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved” (Act 4:12). “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many” (Heb 9:28).
II. THIS UNIQUENESS IS NOT CONTRARY TO THE UNIFORMITY OF LAW NOR TO THE IMMUTABILITY OF GOD.
1. Laws may converge to one result. It might be according to regular laws that slowly gathering fires should suddenly burst out into one great final conflagration, or that, after vast ages of slow approach, two worlds should at length rush into violent collision. Such awful occurrences would be unique, but would involve no breach of uniformity.
2. Varying circumstances will bring out new and singular, effects. With changeless laws we see changing events. The novel situation gives a new bearing to the old law.
3. Human wills lead to new conditions. We cannot abrogate any law of nature; but we can change the venu of the forces that surround us, as the steersman may alter the course of the ship by turning the rudder, although he cannot shift the direction of the wind by a point. If, then, God works through uniform laws and so proves to us his eternal constancy, he may yet send novel events without precedent and without following.
III. THIS UNIQUENESS OF FACTS AND EVENTS SHOULD WIDEN OUR CONCEPTION OF THE DIVINE ACTIVITY.
1. It opens a door for miracles. We cannot explain the cause and process of a miracle, but we may see that the most tremendous and unparalleled events might happen by some novel Divine action without any breach of natural laws, perhaps even through the operation of them. It will then be no less of God, forevery act of nature and law is Divine. It will be above nature still, for the very conception of a miracle involves the thought of a specially purposed Divine action. Yet it may be in harmony with law and uniformity of method.
2. This uniqueness warns us against a slavish adherence to the inductive method in theology. It shows that here an induction can never be perfect. There may be facts left out of account. Therefore we cannot in all cases predict what God will do in the future by considering what he has done in the past. Assuredly he will be consistent with himself. But in entirely novel circumstances he may reveal entirely fresh forms of judgment or redemption.
3. This uniqueness should strengthen our faith in special providence. God does not feed his children on fixed rations. To some he may send exceptional chastisement, to others peculiar blessings. Justice does not imply equality; it means fairness. It would not be lair to give the same allowance to all. Here is scope for God’s discriminating action, and therefore room for our individual prayer, faith, and hope.
Eze 5:11
Diminishment.
The wicked nation is to be punished by being diminished (i.e. if we accept the Authorized Version, confirmed as it is by the majority of the Revisers).
II. POPULATION IS DIMINISHED. After the exile Palestine was thrown back almost to the condition of a wilderness, and lions came up from the desert to the once thickly peopled country (2Ki 17:25). But even before the exile, war, famine, and plague reduced the population. Professor Seeley has shown that the chief cause of the overthrow of Rome by the Teutonic invaders was the great depopulating of Italy that took place under the empire. France is now threatened by decreasing population. The strength of a nation is in its people more than in its wealth.
II. GLORY IS DIMINISHED. Instead of the growth of honour and fame among the nations which was seen under Solomon, the Hebrew nation is now to shrink in importance, and so to fall into a position of insignificance. This has happened to Greece, Rome, Spain, Holland. It may happen to England. We have no assurance that our proud British flag shall always float in glory. For our national sins God may permit it to be trampled in the mire.
III. POWER IS DIMINISHED. In regard to national movements this runs parallel with the previous thought, but in individuals it has a wider scope. The final punishment of sin is death. The prior penalties of sin are dying, i.e. a reduction of spiritual life, activity, and power. The once fruitful tree is now barren. He who was most successful in spiritual work now feels himself failing in all he attempts. His influence shrinks into insignificance. Sin has paralyzed his soul.
IV. THE VISION OF TRUTH IS DIMINISHED. Doubts succeed to the formerly growing knowledge of truth. The eyes of the soul become dim. God, who was once near, seems to withdraw himself into the darkness. The whole spiritual world, which had shone on the soul in full-orbed splendors, wanes and fades, and passes in gloom out of sight. The things unseen and eternal, which had been the very universe of existence, melt into vague shadows, and float out of consciousness like the summer clouds that disappear while we gaze at them.
V. THE JOY OF SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE IS DIMINISHED. That joy can only be bright when the soul’s life is fresh and strong. A dull apathy comes with the reduced spirituality. A very weariness succeeds to the old earnest gladness of service. The May time of the soul has gone, and a November gloom has taken its place.
CONCLUSION. There is hope still. Diminution is not extinction. The tree is hewn down, but the stump may sprout (Isa 6:13). The Jews diminished by Nebuchadnezzar were restored under Cyrus. It is good in some way to feel diminution if pride is thereby also diminished. In the humility of shame the penitent may hope for his restoration to a new and more sound vigour by the merciful Saviour, who will not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax (Isa 42:3).
Eze 5:14, Eze 5:15
The shame of moral shipwreck, and its lessons.
All the nations round about were to be witnesses of the shipwreck of Israel. The eyes of the world are upon the Church. No single Christian man can fall without his ruin being observed by many neighbor’s. The city set on a hill cannot be hid in its prosperity and splendour; much less will it be unnoticed when it is wrapped in flames, and even later when its melancholy ruins tell the world a tale of fallen greatness. The spectacle is striking; the thoughts which it suggests should be instructive. Let us note four things about this moral shipwreck.
I. IT IS CULPABLE. The condition of Israel is to be “a reproach,” i.e. blame will be attached to it. Nations must stand the chance of war, in which the most just and brave may suffer grievous loss; and yet history rarely, if ever, shows an instance of a people crushed and exterminated without any fault of its own. Moral corruption precedes total national overthrow. This was certainly the case with Israel, which fell in its wickedness, and was scattered for its sin. Misfortune may visit the Church, or an individual good mansuch as Jobwithout guilt on the part of the sufferer, because a wholesome discipline or some other high and distant Divine purpose of love is to be wrought out through this means. But utter shipwreck of life does not come without moral delinquency. Unhappily, the reproach does not cease with the guilty person; it is laid against the cause of Christ, and it brings dishonour on his Name. This new “reproach of Christ” is the greatest hindrance to the progress of the gospel, and far more of a stumbling block than the old shame of the cross.
II. IT IS SHAMEFUL AND DEGRADING. The evil condition of the fallen nation will be “a taunt.” Contempt will succeed to the old respect. The Church may expect to meet with opposition from the world, but she is indeed in an evil state when she has earned its contempt. To be despised wrongfully through the pride and superficial judgment of ethers is a fate which brave men can learn to endure. But to merit contempt is to lie in abject wretchedness. When Christian men fall from their pure profession, they sink into this most shocking ignominy. Even godless people can look clown upon them, and taunt them with their high pretensions and boasted attainments and prized privileges.
III. IT IS INSTRUCTIVE. The condition of the people will be “an instruction.” As “no man liveth to himself,” so also “no man dieth to himself.” The ruin of nations is a lesson to the world. History is studded with beacon warnings. The greatest nations have been defeated and destroyed. The prosperity of the Church in one age has been succeeded by corruption and shame in another. Men called “pillars” of the Church have fallen. People praised as “ornaments” of society have left tarnished reputations. Such sights not only warn us against pride and self-assurance; in searching for the explanation of them we may learn many a lesson as to the causes of success and failure, e.g. that secret sin leads to open shame, that past prosperity will not prevent present failure, that a good name is not an impregnable bulwark, that to forsake God is to court ruin.
IV. IT IS ASTONISHING. Israel’s state will be “an astonishment.”
1. It surprises the sufferers. They never expected such a fall. Living m a fool’s paradise, they spent their days at their ease till the crash came. Careless Christians are surprised at their own shipwreck.
2. It surprises the onlookers. It is contrary to expectation founded on previous observation and confident pretensions. Can the long successful nation fall, and the people favoured of Heaven be abandoned to ruin? There will be many surprises in the future judgment, because ignorance of the awful power of moral law and of the just retribution of God destroys men’s expectations of the punishment of sin. To some it will come with a shock of amazement, unless they now turn to the redemption of Christ.
HOMILIES BY J.R. THOMSON
Eze 5:5, Eze 5:6
Privileges abused.
Himself an exile, and far from the city which was the glory of his nation and the seat of the worship of his God, Ezekiel nevertheless felt keenly and bitterly the reproach which was coming upon the metropolis, the ruin which the sins of her kings and her citizens had brought upon her, the forsaking of her God, her abandonment to her foes. Yet he would not question the justice discernible in these calamities. Jerusalem was her own enemy and her own destruction.
I. THE PECULIAR AND PRE–EMINENT ADVANTAGES OF JERUSALEM.
1. Political. “Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth,” was Mount Zion. “In the midst of the nations, and the countries are round about her.” The commanding position of the city of the great King strikes every beholder who looks at its walls and towers from the hill of Olivet, over the intervening valley. And whoever studies the map will recognize how central a station Jerusalem occupies: “Egypt to the south, Syria to the north, Assyria to the east, and the isles of the Gentiles in the Great Sea to the west.” There were providential purposes in the selection of such a site, and in the consequent contact of the Jewish state, now with one neighbour and anon with another. What lessons Judah might learn from such associations!
2. Religious. In this regard, what nation of antiquity could compare with the Hebrew people? In Jewry God was known; his Name was great in Israel. God dealt not so with any people. In Jerusalem stood the temple, where sacrifices were offered and festivals were celebrated. Here lived and ministered the priests, who maintained the visible intercourse between God and man; the prophets, who now and again spoke as the representatives of Jehovah, especially in critical times, and whose words were often as the fire, and as the hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces; the scribes, whose profession it was to preserve and to expound the Law of God for the enlightenment and admonition of the people. Signal were the privileges enjoyed by Jerusalem, and by the people who gloried in Jerusalem as their metropolis.
II. THE ABUSE OF PRIVILEGES WITH WHICH JERUSALEM WAS CHARGEABLE. By his prophet the Lord brought home this fault to the guilty nation. Jerusalem is charged:
1. With rejection of God and of his judgments.
2. With rebellion in doing wickedness.
3. With error from God’s ways.
The language is strong, but not too strong for the case, for the circumstances. The Eternal was Israel’s King; and his lawful subjects, though distinguished by his favour and exalted to honour by his clemency and condescension, had turned against the Sovereign to whom they owed everything that they possessed and gloried in. In the circumstances, reprobation could not be too severe.
III. COMPARISON WITH OTHER CITIES AND OTHER NATIONS ENHANCED THE GUILT OF JERUSALEM.
1. Their privileges had been inferior in kind and fewer in number. Politically, indeed, they were in several instances great; but religiously they stood upon a distinctly lower level than did the Jews.
2. Their guilt was not so enormous. These nations round about sinned indeed, but they sinned against the light of nature, not against the clearer light of revelation. They did not break the written Law, for they did not possess it; they did not blaspheme Jehovah, for they knew not his Name; they did not despise his prophets, for the prophets were not sent to them. All these comparisons serve to aggravate the heinous guilt of the people of Judah and Jerusalem. When attention is given to the pre-eminent position of Jerusalem in comparison with surrounding cities and countries, the justice of the denunciations of the prophets is unquestionable.
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
Exalted once on high,
Thou favoured home of God on earth,
Thou heaven beneath the sky!”
IV. GOD‘S OBSERVATION OF JERUSALEM‘S SIN AND FOLLY, AND HIS PURPOSES OF RETRIBUTION.
1. The Lord represents himself as pained by the contempt with which Jerusalem has treated his distinguishing mercy and favour.
2. He is displeased with those who have shown so little appreciation of all that he has done for their well being.
3. He threatens judgments upon the disobedient, rebellious, and impenitent.T.
Eze 5:8
Divine antagonism.
That is a lawless state of society in which every man’s hand is against his neighbour. Yet no observer of human life is insensible to the prevalence of enmity, rivalry, opposition of various kinds, among all communities of men. “There are many adversaries” is a complaint which every man has made in his time. Men become accustomed to this, and regard it as a natural accompaniment of social life. But it is something very different when the almighty and righteous Lord addresses a man or a community, and says, “Behold I, even I, am against thee.”
I. THE STRANGENESS AND WONDER OF THIS ATTITUDE. That the heathen, who construct the character of their gods upon the lines of their own character, should depict them as hostile, seems natural enough. But that enlightened theists should be surprised at such a representation as that of the text, is a consequence of the conceptions which reason and revelation alike have taught them to form of God. Is not God on our side? Does he not represent himself as favourable to the sons of menusing his power for their protection, their deliverance, their aid? How, then, can a merciful and benevolent God be in any sense against us?
II. THE EXPLANATION AND REASONABLENESS OF THIS ATTITUDE. It is clear that the Creator and Lord of all cannot be expected to alter the principles of his government in order to accommodate himself to the follies and the caprices of his creatures. If a man throws himself into mid-ocean, or into the crater of a burning volcano, nature is against him, and he must perish. If a man by his own action contracts disease, he must suffer. Gravitation is not to be suspended because a foolhardy fanatic flings himself from a tower. Nor are chemical laws to be abolished because one ignorantly swallows poison. In all such cases, we may say with reverence, “God is against those who act in such and such a manner.” Similarly in the moral realm. The spiritual universe is so constituted that men cannot violate moral law without suffering, cannot defy God with impunity. Those who sin must sooner or later learn the fact, which no reasoning of theirs can affect, that God is against them.
III. THE IMMEDIATE PURPOSE OF THIS ATTITUDE. It is evident that, if all things were made easy and pleasant for the sinner, if there were no check and no chastisement for his sin, such an arrangement would not be for the sinner’s real good. On the contrary, he would be encouraged to persevere in his evil courses. But the sinner, finding that God is against him, is in many cases by this very fact led to consider his ways. His experience “gives him pause.” There follows from this consciousness of punishment the state of mind known as “conviction of sin,” and conviction of sin may lead to repentance and to submission. Finding that, by setting himself against God, the sinner sets God against him, he may be led to submission; he may ask himself, “Why should I not have God with me instead of against me?” The beginning of the process may partake of a selfish regard for his own interests, but he may be led on to see something better than thisto discern the justice, the propriety, the moral excellence of subjection to and harmony with the will which ever accords with perfect righteousness, wisdom, and love.
IV. THE ULTIMATE CONSEQUENCE AND RESULT OF THIS ATTITUDE. No one who reflects upon the character of the God of infinite justice and benevolence can suppose that he can take a pleasure in a posture of antagonism and hostility against anything that he has made, far less against man, whom he created in his own likeness, to show forth his own glory. His aim is ever to bring his intelligent and voluntary creatures into harmony with his own nature; to recover and restore, not to overwhelm with destruction; to bring his children to exclaim, “If God be for us, who can be against as?”T.
Eze 5:14, Eze 5:15
A reproach and a lesson.
The symbolical prediction recorded m this chapter was evidently intended to convey to the minds of the Jews the Divine purpose that their city should be destroyed, and their nation dispersed and politically extinguished. A third part should perish by pestilence and famine, a third part should be slain, and the remaining third part should be scattered throughout the earth. So far, all seems vengeance. There appears, for the present, no ray of light to irradiate the gloom, i.e. so far as the once favoured and now depressed and threatened Hebrew people are concerned. But, however calamity may affect the Jews, the prophet was assured that it should not be in vain with respect to neighbouring nations. They should learn the lesson, whether the scourged and scattered seed of Jacob would hear or forbear, This purpose, at least, the fate of Jerusalem and the calamities of the Jews in their exile and dispersion should not fail to accomplish; a lesson should be taught to the nations of the earth concerning the sinfulness of sin and the justice and truth of God, which should not be forgotten down to the end of time.
I. THE DESOLATION OF JERUSALEM WAS DESIGNED TO BE A REPROACH AND A TAUNT, AND THUS AN EXHIBITION TO ALL THE NATIONS OF THE DIVINE JUSTICE. The attribute of justice has its punitive side; and this was displayed in the fate of the proud and once highly favoured city. If this purpose was answered by the fall of Jerusalem and the calamities which followed, it may surely be acknowledged that the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, which followed upon the rejection of the Divine Messiah, and the dispersion of the Jews during the following centuries of history, have constituted a lesson of similar import for the warning of mankind.
II. THE SAME EVENT WAS AN INSTRUCTION AND AN ASTONISHMENT, AND THUS AN INCULCATION UPON THE NATIONS OF THE DIVINE LAW AND AUTHORITY. Justice has its distributive as well as its corrective side. Not only is Law to be vindicated by the sanction of penalty inflicted upon the disobedient; the excellence and glory of the Law has to be displayed as the proper rule for the moral guidance and government of mankind. Thus the nations were not only to wonder and to tremble, when they beheld the just indignation of outraged Divine authority manifest itself in a city’s siege, capture, and subjection; they were to learn to inquire into the Law which had been broken, the authority which had been defied. There is an aspect of construction, as well as an aspect of destruction, in the government of the world. It is the part of wisdom, not merely to recognize the power which avenges infraction of Divine decrees, but to admire the holy Law, to submit to the righteous Lawgiver, to forsake evil, and to do good.T.
HOMILIES BY J.D. DAVIES
Eze 5:1-4
The prophetic office involves self-sacrifice.
The prophet in every age has to be himself a sign. It is not so much what he says, not so much what he does, but what he is, that impresses others. In this enterprise character is everything. Ezekiel was a servant of God to the very core. He completely identified himself with the nation. Its misery became his misery. Thus he became a type and symbol of the Saviour; and, in his measure, suffered vicariously for the people.
I. THE SURRENDER OF PERSONAL BEAUTY A SIGN OF NATIONAL DEGRADATION. The hair and beard are man’s natural adornments. To be shorn of these, in earlier times, was a signal mark of dishonour. No greater contempt could the King of Ammon have cast upon King David, than to despoil his ambassadors of their beards. But the ornaments of nature may well be sacrificed for moral advantages. It is an act of genuine wisdom to make the body servant to the soul. If bodily mortifications will deepen our sense of sin, sever the roots of pride and worldliness, or impress others with our zeal for righteousness, it is a wise expenditure. To save men from sin, it is worth while to sacrifice much that we hold dear.
II. THE SENSE OF GRIEF WAS DEEPENED BY THE DESTINATION OF HIS HAIR. Every hair had been the workmanship of God, and all the hairs of his head had been numbered by God. They were not lightly to be sacrificed. Every hair was to be a sermon. It declared that God was willing to sacrifice what was of lesser value, if thereby he could save what was incomparably more precious. The various destinations of the prophet’s hair were pregnant with moral significance. We cannot too much admire the condescension of God in employing such simple methods for instructing and impressing men. If, to any modern readers, these methods should seem childish, we can only say that other methods would have missed the end. The methods by which God seeks to educate and bless men now may equally seem condescensions to other races of intelligent life. To fire, to the sword, to dispersion, was the bulk of the nation doomed!
III. THE ACCURATE ALLOTMENT OF RIGHTEOUS PENALTY WAS FORESHADOWED. Even amid the hurly-burly of war, there is no miscarriage of Divine justice. With an invisible shield, God covers, in the day of battle, those whom he designs to save. Those who are destined for the flame will not perish by the sword, and those who may escape from Nebuchadnezzar’s hand do not escape from the hand of Almighty justice. The eye of man may not be keen enough to detect the exact admeasurements of God’s penalties; this matters not. But a clearer eye might discern that there was an accurate weighing out of desert to unrighteousness. In the invisible hand of God there is a balance exquisitely true, absolutely exact; and the day will yet dawn when human intelligence having developed, and human conscience being quickened in its action, men will join in saying, “Just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.”
IV. PRESENT PROTECTION DOES NOT SECURE FINAL SAFETY. The prophet was enjoined to deal in a different manner with a few of these hairs. They were to be bound carefully in the skirt of his robe. This would be understood by all to imply that, in the midst of judgment, God would not forget mercy. A remnant should be spared. Yet this was only a temporary and an external privilege. So long as the hearts of the people remained rebellious and obdurate, deliverance was impossible. Prosperity cannot last that does not spring from the root of righteousness. To be spared in the day of general disaster, and then to be overtaken by a worse calamity, is tenfold more grievous. This is equivalent to being first lifted up and then thrown down. Yet the intention was to bless. God will not neglect any possibility of doing good to men. If there be on our part the least disposition to receive, there is on his part the readiest disposition to give. But take heed! To spare now does not secure, of necessity, final salvation!D.
Eze 5:5-10
Abused privilege produces condign punishment.
This doctrine is repeated and emphasized in myriad forms. It is written, not in sand, but on rock, and written with a pen of steel. If the men of England do not read this lesson, the reason is evidentthey are wantonly blind.
I. WE HAVE HERE AN INSTANCE OF EMINENT PRIVILEGE. Jerusalem was placed in a most central position. What the heart is to the body, what the sun is to the solar system, Palestine was among ancient empires. Hers was special advantage for getting good and for doing good. She was within easy reach of the civilization of Egypt, the martial power of Babylon, the science and art of Greece, the commercial enterprise of Phoenicia, the law making might of Rome. On every side there were patterns to be imitated, follies to be avoided. Of all the intellectual, moral, and commercial life of primitive man, the Jews occupied a central place. Intercourse between the distant nations passed, in large measure, through Palestine. Hence she had splendid opportunities for diffusing the light of true religion far and wide. Inquirers after God ought to have found at Jerusalem a solution of all their doubts.
II. PRIVILEGE ENTAILS RESPONSIBILITY. Every man lives under the wise and righteous government of God, and every possession he holds he holds in trust. He is a steward, who holds and uses his Master’s goods. In proportion to the good he enjoys is the service he is required to render. Forevery faculty of body and of mind, forevery special advantage and gift, he is accountable to his Maker. God has never intended that any donation of his should terminate in the man himself. We receive in order that we may give. The wealthy man has more service to render than the poor man. The sage has more to account for than the fool. A man is not in the same position morally at the close of the sabbath as at the dawn. He must, in the nature of things, be either better or worse forevery advantage he obtains. The tree that does not bear good fruit is something worse than useless. Each man adds something to the piety, or to the impiety, of the age. As God had dowered the Hebrews with special privilege, he rightly expected from them fruitful service.
III. RESPONSIBILITY ABUSED CREATES DEADLY SIN. The sin of the Hebrews was inexcusable. They rebelled against the lightthe light of nature, the light of conscience, the light of supernatural revelation.
1. There was base neglect. God had made known to them his infallible wisdom; but they preferred their own foolishness. God had deigned to weigh difficult matters for them, and to give them the benefit of his superior judgment; but they refused to follow. They would, at all risks, fling off restraint, and yield to none but self.
2. There was positive perversion of God‘s goodness. They changed his judgments into wickedness. They made even religious ordinances an occasion of sin. They transmuted truth into falsehood, the house of prayer into a den of thieves. Better, far better, not to have the sabbath, than to profane its sacred hours. Better not to have a message of kindness than to treat it with scorn.
3. Their guilt was extraordinary. It exceeded that of the nations round about them. While they enjoyed special restraints, they not only went to the same lengths of profane idolatry as other nations, they went beyond them! Although the fact of one spiritual Deity was clearly made known among them, yet they borrowed the idol deities of every adjacent nation, until their Reprover could declare, “According to the number of thy cities are thy idols, O Israel!”
4. Public warnings were lost upon them. That God had spoken by the mouth of prophets was clear, because their predictions had come to pass. That God was uniformly faithful in maintaining his Word, no sane mind could question. His judgments had fallen, like hail, upon all the surrounding empires, and manifestly, because of idolatry; therefore nothing short of sheer insensibility of mind prevented their taking heed. What more could God do for them, to bring them to repentance, than he had done? Every mouth is silent. Their guilt had come to a head, had reached a final climax.
IV. SPECIAL GUILT BEARS ITS PROPER FRUITAGE OF PUNISHMENT. It is not possible that anything can sever the link between sin and punishment. That link has been wrought by Eternal Justice.
1. This punishment should manifestly proceed from God. “They shall know that I the Lord have spoken it,” etc. Too often men regard their sufferings as chance effects, misfortunes that have come about in a haphazard way. Not so here. Even those who would not believe that God had done them former kindness, and sent them faithful monitorseven these shall be compelled to feel that this punishment is from God. It shall be so public, so severe, so intimately connected with the sin, so precisely in accordance with prophetic warning, that God shall at length be acknowledged as the righteous Author. So self-willed are some children that nothing but the rod will induce submission.
2. This retribution shall be public. Though the sin be done in secret, the chastisement shall be public. In every age, impartial justice has sought the fullest light for its deeds. Among the ancients, law was administered, and wisely so, in the gate. God has nothing to conceal. To the extent that his creatures have capacity to understand, he is prepared to reveal. It is his intention that the universe shall behold the retributions of guilt and be awed thereby. The destruction of one may thus turn to the salvation of many.
3. This punishment shall be extremely severe. “I will do in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the like,” etc. Yet, though severe, it was not too severe. It was not more severe than the case required. The cause of justice would not have been satisfied with less. When God holds the scales, punishment will be exact; it will neither be too great nor too lenient. Guilt is proportionate to previous advantage, and retribution is in precise measure with guilt. If we prove unfaithful, the higher we have been lifted up by acts of kindness, the deeper will be our fall. Capernaum and Bethsaida deserve a heavier sentence than Tyre and Sidon. “There are first that shall be last.”
4. The guilty are to be the executors of their own fate. “The fathers shall eat the sons and the sons shall eat their fathers.” The famine shall press sore; but this is not the worst feature in the doom. Natural affection shall so decay that the father will not shrink from slaying his own boy, and feeding on the human flesh. Sons shall be so far lost to filial reverence that they will do the like to their fathers. When once love to our heavenly Father is dead, love to our natural kin soon decays. Man, cut off from God, becomes a monster. The beasts of the field never sink so low as man does in his last depravity. It is an impressive fact that guilty men often execute God’s judgments upon themselves, while yet they know it not. A heavenly glory emanates from the cross of Jesus Christ, but eternal shame encircles forever the gallows of Judas.D.
Eze 5:11-17
The Divine Remonstrator.
It is clear as daylight that the root sin of the Jews was unbelief. Although the prophets of Jehovah brought incontestable evidence that they spake in God’s Name, and spake only words of truth, the people closed their ears, and treated the warning with contempt. They were in love with sin, and were resolved not to part from it. Proofs that God spake through the lips of these prophets were abundant.
I. THERE WAS THE REPEATED ASSERTION OF HONEST MEN THAT GOD SPAKE BY THEM. Ezekiel was known to be a true man. It was known that he had no private interests to serve. It was acknowledged that in all the relations of human life he was honourable and faithful. He was known to be a devout man, a man of prayer. What other explanation, therefore, could men put upon his earnest, heart-stirring appeals than that God spoke by him? If his reproof of sin was true, then God spoke through him. If he made known the might and righteousness of Jehovah, Jehovah spoke through him. If his purpose was to deter from sin and induce repentance, it was evident to every honest mind that it was true, as Ezekiel said, “I the Lord have spoken it!”
II. THE PARTICULARIZATION OF COMING JUDGMENTS PROVED THAT THE MESSENGER SPAKE IN GOD‘S NAME. The retribution was not announced in vague, general terms. There was revealed a wise discrimination in dealing out judgment to wrong doers. “A third part shall die with the pestilence;” “A third part shall fall by the sword;” “I will scatter a third part into all the winds.” Severe as the threatening was, there was nothing improbable or unnatural in it. Pestilence was a common disaster, and if a hundred families, now and again, were carried off by its virulence, why may not a third of the nation? So with famine; so with the sword. In a time of severe drought, famine and pestilence often went hand in hand. The flower of the nation being destroyed, some martial neighbour would gladly seize the opportunity for invasion. Resistance would end in terrible defeat; and, for the residue, banishment was decreed. Both man and nature are the servants of God; often are they combined to execute his will. If we escape one minister of vengeance, it is only to be overtaken by another.
III. THE REVEALED PURPOSE OF THE RETRIBUTION WAS TO SATISFY GOD‘S RIGHTEOUSNESS. “Then shall mine anger be comforted.” God accommodates himself, in his speech, to the manners of men. There can be no rest for him so long as guilt stalks abroad unpunished. There is disturbance in his moral universe. There is pain in every loyal angel’s breast. Fallen spirits are encouraged in their rebellion. The moral force of law is weakened. His own veracity is at stake while sin is unpunished. Therefore, to maintain the interests of universal justice, to maintain in tranquillity his own throne, to uphold order everywhere, sin must be stamped out. There is disease in the system, and no rest can be enjoyed until health be restored. The principles and attributes of God’s nature can only then settle into complete harmony when sin is chastised.
IV. THE EVIDENT INTENTION OF THE REMONSTRANCE PROVED THAT IT WAS FROM GOD. “I the Lord have spoken it.” No sane mind could doubt that the motive of such repeated remonstrance was lovewise and far reaching love. The ancient Greeks had a proverb, “The gods have feet of wool.” They were supposed to overtake men noiselessly and without warning. Not so Jehovah. In his most severe retributions kindness is yet manifest. Faithful expostulation and tearful warning precede final destruction. The good of his creatures is a superlative motive in his bosoma motive that reigns side by side with the maintenance of law. If the good of the sinner himself be hopeless, then the good of others is sought. These earnest pleadings with men declare most emphatically his condescension, his patience, his self-sacrificing love. This is not after the manner of men. If offenders against God would only reflect, they would confess that such remonstrance was a remonstrance of eternal Lovethe counsel of the living God.D.
HOMILIES BY W. JONES
Eze 5:1-4
The sword of the Divine judgment.
“And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber’s razor,” etc. In this paragraph the prophet represents both Jehovah and the people. In taking the sharp sword he represents the former; and in having his hair shaved off, the latter. Notice
I. THE EXERCISE OF THE DIVINE JUDGMENT. “And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp sword, as a barber’s razor thou shalt take it, and cause it to pass upon thy head and upon thy beard.” Here is a picture of She judgment of God upon his sinful people (cf. Deu 32:41, “If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment, I will Vender vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me”). When God’s will has long been set at nought by any people, and his forbearance has long been exercised towards them, and they still persist in rebellion against him, he will arise to the exercise of judgment upon them. There are stern aspects of the Divine character, which we are sometimes in danger of overlooking. God is good and kind; he is also just and terrible. We may see this in nature. We have the beautiful and the beneficentthe warm and brilliant sun, genial airs, lovely flowers, enchanting scenes, and bountiful harvests. We have also the dreary and the destructivewintry skies, dreadful tempests, devastating floods, engulfing earthquakes, and depopulating famines. If we turn to the providence of God, here also we discover evidences not only of his goodness, but also of his severity. The sword of Divine justice has sharply smitten corrupt nations. Inveterate moral depravity has born quickly succeeded by national ruin. History abounds in examples of the stern exercise of the judgment of God. And his judgments are awful and irresistible. He executes them with a sharp sword. “Thou, even thou, art to be feared; and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?” “Who can stand before his indignation?” etc. (Nah 1:6; Rom 2:2-11).
II. THE SUBJECTS OF THE DIVINE JUDGMENT. The judgments of the text were to be inflicted upon the house of Israel. The head of the prophet which was to be shaved probably represents Jerusalem; and the hair certainly represents those of the people who yet remained in their own land. Upon them the avenging hand of God was about to descend. If the people of God become obstinate in rebellion against him, he will not fail to send against them the the sword of punishment. “If his children forsake my Law, and walk not in my judgments; if they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes” (Psa 89:30-32). When those who have been exalted in privileges become persistent in wickedness, their exaltation, so far from protecting them from punishment, renders their fall the greater and the doom the more terrible (cf. Mat 11:20-24). Religious privileges should prove an incentive and aid to holiness of character and usefulness of life, and not an encouragement to presumption and sin.
III. THE EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION OF THE DIVINE JUDGMENT. “Then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair. Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city,” etc. The balances to weigh symbolize the righteousness with which the punishment is allotted (cf. Isa 28:17). And as to the three portions into which the hair was divided, the third part which was to be burnt in the midst of the city represents those who perished in Jerusalem during the siege. In those days famine and pestilence claimed many for their prey (Eze 5:12). The second third part, which was to be smitten about by the prophet with the sword, represents those who were slain in fight during the siege, or in the endeavour to escape when the city was taken (Jer 52:5-11). And the last third part, which was to be scattered to the wind, represents those who, after Jerusalem was taken, were dispersed in foreign lands; some of them fled and escaped, and many others were taken as captives by the Chaldeans. Of this part some are represented by a few hairs bound ib the skirts of the prophet’s garment. These are they who were left in the land by their conquerors. “Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land for vine dressers and for husbandmen” (Jer 52:16). Over these the King of Babylon made Gedaliah governor. But even of this poor remnant some were to be “cast into the midst of the fire;” i.e. they had yet to pass through severe trials; they had not yet done with the judgment of the Lord. The fulfilment of this is recorded in Jeremiah 40-43; and is thus briefly stated by Dr. Milman: “The miserable remnant of the people were placed under the command of Gedaliah, as a pasha of the great Assyrian monarch; the seat of government was fixed at Mizpeh. Yet ambition could Look with envy even on this eminence. Gedaliah was assassinated by Ishmael, a man of royal blood. Johanan attempted to avenge his death. Ishmael, discomfited, took refuge with the Ammonites; but Johanan and the rest of the Jews, apprehensive lest they should be called in question for the murder of Gedaliah, fled to Egypt, and carried Jeremiah with them.” And even they were doomed to sufferings and shame and death (Jer 44:11-14). Now, in this distribution of punishment the Lord acted righteously. The hair was weighed; the triple division was accurately made; and the appropriate retribution assigned to each portion. We cannot always discover the equitableness of the Divine judgments in individual cases. But let us remember that there is much of suffering in this world which is not of the character of judgment or punishment; and in this the good often share as largely, or even more largely, than the wicked. There is also a suffering with others and for others; and in this Christians, like their great Lord and Exemplar, deeply participate. And if there be painful retributions, which involve saint and sinner in one common outward doom, let us give due weight to the precious fact that such outward suffering comes to them with essentially different spiritual significance. And for the rest, we rejoice that though “clouds and darkness are round about the Lord, righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.” And in the distribution of awards in the great future, God “will render to every man according to his deeds” (Rom 2:6 : cf. Mat 16:27; Luk 12:47, Luk 12:48; 2Co 5:10).W.J.
Eze 5:5-17
Pre-eminent privilege, perversity, and punishment.
“Thus saith the Lord God; This is Jerusalem,” etc. In these and some succeeding verses we have the interpretation of the symbolism of the previous part of the chapter; or “an authoritative commentary on the preceding allegory.” The text presents to our notice
I. A POSITION OF PRE–EMINENT PRIVILEGE. “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.” The position here stated may be viewed:
1. Geographically. We are not to interpret this as asserting that Jerusalem was situated in the centre of the earth. But Palestine really occupied “a central position with regard to that group, or those groups, of nations which to it practically constituted the world.” On the north of it was Syria, on the south Egypt, on the east Assyria, on the west Europe. “It stood midway between the two great seats of ancient empire, Babylon and Egypt.” And, as Fairbairn observes, “viewing the world as it existed at the time of Israel’s settlement in Canaan, and for a thousand years afterwards, we believe it would be impossible to fix upon a single region so admirably fitted, at once to serve as a suitable dwelling place for such a people, and to enable them, as from a central and well chosen vantage ground, to act with success upon the heathenism of the world.”
2. Religiously. The Israelites were placed in the midst of the nations, as in a position of honour by their possession of higher and fuller religious privileges. They had been blessed with more illustrious men than other nations; mightier and more wonderful deeds had been done for them than for any other people; a clearer and brighter revelation of God had been given to them; a purer and nobler worship had been instituted amongst them.
3. Influentially. The Israelites had been thus favoured and stationed, in order that they might be a blessing to other nations. Not selfishly were they to enjoy their privileges, but for the benefit of others. Their light was to shine for the illumination of other peoples. They were specially blessed, that others might be blessed through them. With unmistakable clearness is this expressed in the sixty-seventh psalm: “God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; that thy way may be known upon earth,” etc. (cf. Deu 4:5-8; Joh 4:22). In like manner, Christians are called to be “the salt of the earth,” and “the light of the world;” and they are exhorted, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Mat 5:13-16; cf. 1Pe 2:9).
II. SINS OF PRE–EMINENT WICKEDNESS.
1. Their rejection of God‘s commands, “She hath changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations,” etc. (Eze 5:6, Eze 5:7). The word “judgment” is here equivalent to “commands” or “ordinances.” Two degrees of rebellion against the Divine will are clearly indicated.
(1) Disobedience of Divine commands. “They have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them Ye have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments.”
(2) Hostility to the Divine commands. “She hath changed my judgments into wickedness” is not an accurate translation. Hengstenberg renders it, “She opposed my judgments worse than the heathen;” and Schroder, “She quarreled with my judgments more wickedly than the (heathen) nations.” The spirit of disobedience had grown daring and defiant. The seventh verse presents the same idea: “Ye multiplied more than the nations that are round about you.” Here also the translation is incorrect. Hengstenberg, “Ye raged more than the heathen who are round about you.” There is a reference to Psa 2:1, “Why do the heathen rage?” The chosen people had grown more fierce in their rebellion against God, even than the heathen nations.
2. Their desecration of God‘s sanctuary. “Thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations” (Psa 2:11). Heathen idols, altars, and ceremonies had been introduced into the temple and worship of the Lord Jehovah. We have some account of these abominations in Psa 8:1-9. and 2Ki 16:10-18; 2Ki 23:4-14. The favoured Israelites had corrupted their highest and holiest things.
3. Their exceeding even the heathen in wickedness. “She quarrelled with my judgments more wickedly than the (heathen) nations,” etc. (2Ki 23:6); “Ye raged more than the (heathen) nations which are round about you” (2Ki 23:7). In two ways the house of Israel had exceeded the heathen in wickedness,
(1) Because they sinned against greater and clearer light. The heathen had the light of conscience, “the law written in their hearts” (Rom 2:14, Rom 2:15); but Israel had the Law in statutes and ordinances. The will of God had been made known to them by lawgiver and seer, by poet and prophet. They sinned against the Law of God, both as spoken within themselves and as proclaimed by inspired men.
(2) Because their standard of moral attainment was lower than that of the heathen. “Neither have ye done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you.” The charge conveyed in these words seems to be” that the Israelites have not even been as faithful to their one true God as the nations have been to their false gods.” The heathen clung to their worthless idols, while Israel forsook the living God, who had so mightily wrought for them and so richly blessed them (cf. Jer 2:11-13). Thus mournfully had the exalted people fallen; thus wickedly had the highly favoured people rebelled against their gracious Lord God.
III. PUNISHMENT OF PRE–EMINENT SEVERITY. “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,” etc.
1. The great Agent in this punishment. Jehovah represents himself as inflicting every form of the dread judgment upon his sinful people. From 2Ki 23:8 unto the end of the chapter, every verse contains a distinct statement showing that the punishments were to proceed from him. He is the great Agent throughout. The Chaldeans were but instruments unconsciously working out his purposes. How inexpressibly terrible is it when the Lord God declares, “I, even I, am against thee”! When he is against any one, what can profit such a one? When he makes bare his arm for judgment, who can stand against its strokes?
2. The nature of this punishment. It takes three chief forms.
(1) Famine. “A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee” (2Ki 23:12, 2Ki 23:16, 2Ki 23:17). And the famine was to be of dread severity, bringing in pestilence and leading of the most horrible cannibalism (2Ki 23:10). It is to be feared that such revealing actions were not infrequent in the sieges of antiquity (cf. Le 26:29; Deu 28:53; 2Ki 6:28, 2Ki 6:29; Jer 19:9; Lam 2:20).
(2) Sword. “A third part shall fall by the sword round at out thee” (cf. 2Ki 23:2; Jer 15:2, Jer 15:3).
(3) Dispersion. “And I will scatter a third part into all the winds.” The majority were carried captives into Chaldea; some were “scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of” the Persian empire (Est 3:8; Est 9:2); and others went down into Egypt (Jer 43:4-7). And even when thus scattered, it is said of them, “And I will draw out a sword after them,” indicating that even in the country of their exile the Divine judgments would still afflict them.
3. The retributionary character of this punishment. We have seen (in 2Ki 23:6, 2Ki 23:7) how resolutely the Israelites had set themselves against the Lord God: “Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, am against thee.” He had set them “in the midst of the nations,” to be an example unto them of his righteousness and kindness; they had utterly tailed in this respect; therefore he “will execute judgments in the midst of them in the sight of the nations,” and they shall be an example of his righteous retributions. Again, they had exceeded the heathen in wickedness, and he would bring upon them judgments exceeding in their severity anything before or after (cf. 2Ki 23:9; Mat 24:21). This retributionary character of the Divine dealings is affirmed by the prophets (Isa 3:10, Isa 3:11), by our Lord (Mat 10:32, Mat 10:33), and by St. Paul (Gal 6:7, Gal 6:8; 2Ti 2:12).
4. The exemplary aspect of this punishment. “I will make thee waste, and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by,” etc. (2Ki 23:14, 2Ki 23:15). The design of the Lord in placing his people in the land which he gave unto them was that they should be patterns of excellence to the neighbouring nations; too often they had been the opposite of this; for this reason he would make them, as the bearers of his wrath, a warning (Authorized Version, “instruction”) to those nations. They would not be patterns, therefore they shall be beacons. If they who have extraordinary privileges fail to walk in a manner worthy of them, God will probably make them a warning to less-favoured peoples, by reason of the just judgments which overtake them. The punishment which some suffer because of their sins should powerfully admonish others that they sin not.
5. The awful certainty of the punishment. This is stated with great impressiveness. “As I live, saith the Lord God; Surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary,” etc. (2Ki 23:11). And at the close of the dread announcements of this chapter, we have the solemn asseveration, “I the Lord have spoken it.” Thus “God subscribes the threatening with the royal monogram of his Name.” By his own existence, and his own Word, the Lord binds himself to fulfil the awful declarations of this chapter. Nothing is more certain than this, that the sinner, unless he forsake his sins, must receive the righteous retribution of them. God’s Word declares this; his holiness necessitates it, and human experience confirms it.
CONCLUSION. Our subject is charged with solemn admonition to those who have great privileges. Our advantages involve corresponding obligations; and unless they are faithfully improved, they will be to us the occasion of terrible condemnation (cf. Mat 11:20-24; Luk 12:47, Luk 12:48).W.J.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Eze 5:1. Take thee a barber’s razor The balances were a symbol of the divine justice, as the razor was of the divine anger; the former signifying his equity, the hairs the Jews, and the dividing of the hair the punishment inflicted upon individuals. The author of the Observations has remarked, that among the Arabs there cannot be a greater stamp of infamy, than to cut off any one’s beard; and that many among them would prefer death to this kind of punishment. And as they would think it a grievous affliction to lose it, so they carry things so far as to beg for the sake of it; “By your beard, by the life of your beard, do.” In like manner, some of their benedictions are, “God preserve your blessed beard; God pour his blessings on your beard;” and when they would express their value for a thing, they say, “It is worth more than his beard.” I must confess, continues this writer, that I never had so clear an apprehension as after I had read these accounts, of the intended energy of the thought of Ezekiel in the verse before us, when the inhabitants of Jerusalem are compared to the hair of the prophet’s head and beard. The passage seems to signify, that, though the inhabitants of Jerusalem had been as clear to God as the hair of an Indian beard to its owner, yet that they should be taken away and consumed; one part by pestilence and famine, another part by the sword, and the third by the calamities of exile. See Observations, p. 261.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
CHAPTER 5
1And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp sword; as a barbers razor shalt thou take it; and thou causest it to pass over thine head and over thy chin, and 2takest thee weighing-balances, and dividest them [the hair]. A third part thou burnest in the flame in the midst of the city, as the days of the siege are fulfilled [when they are complete]; and thou takest the [second] third part, with the sword shalt thou smite round about it [the city]; and the [third] third part shalt thou 3scatter to the wind; and I will draw out the sword after them. And thou takest 4thereof a few in number, and bindest them in thy skirts. And thou shalt take of them farther, and thou castest them into the midst of the fire, and burnest them in the fire; therefrom shall fire go forth to the whole house of Israel. 5Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: This [city] Jerusalem, in the midst of the [heathen] 6nations I placed her, and the countries round about her. And she quarrelled with My judgments more wickedly than the [heathen] nations, and with My statutes more than the countries which are round about her; for they despised My judgments, and walked not in My statutes. 7Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because ye raged more than the [heathen] nations which are round about you, walked not in My statutes, and did not My judgments, and [also] did not after the judgments of the [heathen] nations which are round about you. 8Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee, even I, and I 9execute judgments in thy midst before the eyes of the [heathen] nations. And I do in thee what I have not done, and the like of which I will not do any more, 10because of all thine abominations. Therefore fathers shall eat sons in thy midst, and sons shall eat their fathers; and I execute judgments in thee, and scatter 11thy whole remnant to every wind. Therefore, as I live, sentence of the Lord Jehovah: Surely, because thou didst defile My sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations, I also will cut off; neither shall Mine eye spare, neither will I show pity. 12A third part of theeof the pestilence shall they die, and with the famine shall they perish in the midst of thee; and the [second] third partby the sword shall they fall round about thee; and the [third] third part will I scatter to every wind, and the sword will I draw out after 13them. And Mine anger is accomplished, and I cause My fury to rest upon them, and I breathe again; and they shall know that I, Jehovah, have spoken in My 14zeal, while I accomplish My fury on them. And I will give thee to desolation and to mockery among the [heathen] nations which are round about thee, before 15the eyes of every passer-by. And it is a reproach and a taunt, a warning and an astonishment, to the [heathen] nations which are round about thee, when I execute judgments in thee in anger and in fury, and in furious rebukes: I, Jehovah, have 16spoken. When I send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which are for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, and I will increase famine upon 17you, and I break for you the staff of bread; And I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they make thee childless; and pestilence and blood press upon thee; and a sword will I cause to come upon thee. I, Jehovah, have spoken.
Eze 5:2. Sept.: To …, . . . , . .
Eze 5:4. …. . .
Eze 5:6. K. , .
Eze 5:7. Sept.: … . (Anoth. read.: without Syr.)
Eze 5:11. Anoth. read.: .
Eze 5:12. To . . . . . . . . . . . .
Eze 5:14. … .
Eze 5:15. Anoth. read.: ; Sept., Arab., Vulg.: in gentibus.
Eze 5:17. et bestias pessimas usque ad internecionem
EXEGETICAL REMARKS
Eze 5:1-4.The Fourth Sign. Eze 5:5-17.The Divine Interpretation of the same
What follows may be called a second sign, inasmuch as the three preceding symbolical acts fit into each other as parts of one symbolical whole. There is also the indication of the new section, just as in Eze 4:1 : And thou, son of man. Eze 5:1-4, however, is not without reference to Ezekiel 4. If, then, Eze 4:13 already carried us beyond the siege of Jerusalem as such, so much the more readily may the (numerically) fourth sign which the prophet is to perform place us in the midst of the conquest of the city. For it is with this that Eze 5:1 begins. The whole of the lively action revolves round the sword, which now does its work victoriously; what follows is a threefold act of the sword. Comp. Deu 32:41. Ezekiel, just as in Ezekiel 4, also represents therein both God and the people. What he is to take to himself is what God will take to Himself in the person of the king of Babylon, whose sword of execution is that of God, here that of Ezekiel. Comp. Isa 7:20. (The mere image becomes a symbolically isolating action; where others only speak of shaving the head as a sign of deepest grief, Ezekiel takes a sword, etc.Umbreit.) Ewalds translation appears to invert the matter, where, namely, the razor is to serve as a sharp sword. Ezekiel is rather to take a sharp sword as a razor. (The purposely-emphasized sharpness of the sword ought to relieve Hengst. of the difficulty which the outward execution causes him. Of smooth shaving, so that no hairs at all are left, nothing is said; and what shall one say, when Hengst. makes the task still more difficult by adding: especially for a man of predominant subjectivity, who is usually not skilled in such manipulations. Such a thing sounds ridiculous, but not what Ezekiel is to do.) is the instrument that devastates, destroys, not (at all events, in the context of our chapter): a cutting tool in general, knife (Hitzig), although it has to serve as a barbers razor.Head and bearded chin come into consideration, neither as being the capital nor as being the head of the nation, the king, in contrast with the land or the people, but solely in reference to the hair, which, therefore, we are also to understand in the clause: and dividest them: they mean the innumerable (Psa 40:12) individuals of Israel,in its fulness (the flowing ornament, just as it is the manly strength, of the oriental) the ornament and the strength of a nation,conceived of especially as inhabitants of Jerusalem. (In Lev 21:5, the shaving off of the hair is specially forbidden to the priest, Hv.)The weighing balances (dual) symbolize the divine justice, as it weighs out the punishment (Isa 28:17), and render possible the division into three parts of equal weight which follows.
Eze 5:2 puts us back into Ezekiel 4 : the prophet is to burn a third part of his hair which he has cut off , in the flame of a fire kindled for this purpose. The flame as an emblem represents, not Jerusalem rising up in flames (as Hengst.), but, according to Eze 5:12, the consuming violence of the pestilence and the famine (Lam 5:10). Hengst. gives himself unnecessary trouble to make the dead bodies be consumed by the flames. Keil correctly refers to that Jerusalem which is portrayed upon the brick which Ezekiel is besieging (Eze 4:1 sqq.). Klief.: he is to burn this third part upon the stone. The fourth symbolical action has a common sphere with the three preceding ones. The fulfilling of the days of the siege is thereby put in connection with (, Jer 25:12) Eze 4:6-8comp. thereso that we have to think of the remainder of the time, specially the 40 days. In this period, as the 390 days of the siege are at an end, he has to perform what is here commanded him. The lying on the right side is therefore, according to this statement also (comp. on Eze 4:12), to be understood in a looser sense. refers to the portrayed city, round about which, as respects the second third part, Ezekiel is to smite with the sword (comp. Eze 5:12), in this way (while, for the first third part, the siege was still kept hold of) forming a transition to the subject which follows, viz. the capture of Jerusalem. Either in general: what is slaughtered at the capture in the environs of the city, when fleeing out of the same, or more specially: with reference to the flight of Zedekiah (Jer 52:7-8) and his attendants (?). Grot.: during the various sallies of the besieged. Hengst.: while seeking for subsistence or attempting flight (?).The action with the last third symbolizes (Eze 5:12) the scattering in the fullest sense, and that alike to all the four winds, and in such a way that the wind can make its sport therewith as it will (), Isa 41:16. (Exo 15:9) constructio prgnans, a quotation from Lev 26:33, consequently not the hairs, but what is signified by them: the Jews, partly those who can flee, in still larger number those who are taken prisoners. Ewald: even then still pursued by the sword, so that only very few after repeated testings (?) ultimately remain over, Isa 6:13. (Jer 42:15 sqq., Eze 43:10 sqq., Eze 44:11 sqq.) The LXX. have from Eze 5:12where pestilence, famine, sword, and wind occurintroduced a fourfold division here, against which both the textthat they had a better before them does not appearand the symbolical meaning of the number three for the divine recompense testify, as also, besides, Zec 13:8-9; Revelation 8.
Eze 5:3-4 contain a continuation (Keil) or rather the completion of the symbolical transaction. , from there, because the last third, remaining as it does in life, is conceived of as locally somewhere in the figure and in the reality. It is the third part scattered to the wind that is spoken of, as in every case of such scattering, some part remains lying on the ground, another part comes to rest somewhere farther on.A few in number. This even indicates a certain care, but still more the symbolic binding (not a collecting, but a preserving) of the hairs in the skirt of the garment. (Hos 4:19 does not belong to this category.) That the Lord will gather the remnant of His people from their dispersion, and lead them back to their native land (Hengst.) is not said: on the contrary, in Eze 5:4 there is also another () taking of them (), i.e. of those that were taken, the few, counted hairs; and, in fact, not only are those thus taken cast into the midst of the fire and burnt therein, but , i.e. from the midst of the fire (), in which they are burning, there shall fire go forth to the whole house of Israel. Neither in connection with these words nor from Eze 5:13 sqq. can the thought arise of testings, of a fire of purification. Nor is it, as Umbreit: that the most pungent grief over the mournful lot of the besieged of Jerusalem shall seize all Israel. The fire symbolizes throughout the judgment of the wrath of God, at last annihilating the people as a whole. (Jer 4:4; Zep 3:8.) Jer 29:21-22 is not to be quoted here as Raschi does; but we must rather go back with Grot. to Jeremiah 40 sqq.: these fugitives gathering together in the land may at least easily be compared to the hairs which fell to the earth immediately around the prophet (Eze 5:3); and their destiny also corresponds (Jer 52:30). Hv., Hengst. think of those brought back from Babylon down to the burning of Jerusalem by the Romans. It is still farther fetched, with Kliefoth, Keil, to drag in Luk 12:49 here: where, pray, has a cleansing, purifying, and quickening power gone forth from Christ over the whole house of Israel? There remains certainly a remnant from Eze 5:3-4, only it is neither characterized as a holy seed (Isa 6:13), nor even as in Eze 6:8 sqq.: it is left between the lines. [Ewald (1st edit.) translated: from me shall a fire, etc., as if it were . Keil, after Hitzig, would refer it (therefrom) to the whole transaction described in Eze 5:3-4. But Hitzig makes the sin to be a fire (Job 31:12), and also the prophecy threatening destruction a fire pent up (Jer 23:29), which breaks forth into flame at the moment of its accomplishment. To refer directly to is prevented, of course, by the feminine construction . Hengst.: from it, i.e. from them, the numerical multiplicity being combined into an ideal unity with reference to the uniting bond of the evil disposition. Have the LXX. with their thought of the city?] Comp. besides, Jdg 9:15; Jdg 9:20.
Inasmuch now as in Eze 5:5 the divine interpretation begins with , what is said in Eze 3:26 (comp. Eze 3:27), as well as a purely symbolical prophesying in Eze 4:7, is thereby modified. To prophesy (comp. Ezekiel 37) is also, primarily, to speak in the spirit, as that usually takes place by divine direction. But the divine interpretation begins with the meaning of Jerusalem. This city portrayed upon the tile, viz. Jerusalem, the word of Jehovah points out as placed by Him in the midst of the heathen nations, of course not in a local sense, like Delphi, the navel of the earth. Already the Chinese empire of the centre points as such to the maxims as to the ethical equilibrium prevailing in the Chinese system. But this is the central position as regards the history of salvation of Israelrepresented by its capital, hence in local symbolismfor the history of the world, so that from it all the rays go forth to the world as a circumference. Joh 4:22. (Lam 2:15.) In its position, so distinguished by Gods grace, we get the measure of the guilt of Jerusalem, i.e. of those whom it represents, inasmuch as they have come so far short of the obligation therein implied, that
Eze 5:6in Gods sight they appear even more wicked than the heathen (2Ki 21:9). Ewald reads unnecessarily (because of ) , from ,, which in Hiph. is read with ; and , according to him, means originally: to cause to totter, hence: to exchange something against () something else, so that it gives way before this latter. (Raschi: changed My judgments into wickedness. Similarly Chald. and Syr.) is simply imperf. apoc. from Hiph. (an allusion to Exo 15:23 sqq., the first resistance of the newly-saved people.) Comp. Deu 1:26; Deu 1:43; Deu 9:7; Deu 9:24, etc. Like a technical term for Israels rebelliousness., in a comparative sense: more than, leaving the heathen behind them. , unto wickedness; as an adverb: wickedly. (Hitz. infin.: so that they sinned more grievously.) brings into prominence the condition which makes Israel appear worse comparatively than the heathen; hence is most connected with it. Unsuitably, Hengst. compares 1 Corinthians 5., where the question is not about the what, but about a how. Neither have Isa 2:6 and Jer 2:10 any connection with this passage. But the more wicked character of Israel is intelligible, partly as contrasted with the grace of God which they have experienced, partly therefore from the circumstance that they were acting contrary to the express will of God. The comparison is, in a general sense, possible, because the heathen also, by means of conscience, know about the divine will, have a law written in their hearts. Rom 2:14-15. inasmuch as they so acted, they were rebels convicted by law and statute, apart from conscience, common to them with the heathen.
Eze 5:7. (on account of such things), as usual, at the beginning of a weighty, and, for the most part, of a threatening consequence. But before the threatening of punishment there is a second emphasizing of their greater guilt. [Instead of Ewald reads , from , to count; Hitz.: it stands for , because of your driving; Hv., after the Syr.: because ye were more careless than the heathen (?). Most simply, as also Ges., from , or as Frst, from , going back to : because of your raging, with significant reference to Psa 2:1.]With there is inserted an energetic parenthesis of direct address, taking up again the close of Eze 5:6 backwards, in which the (to push away, to reject) is changed into , and in this way occasion is given for the following statement with . Ewald and others strike out the latter, and that also because of Eze 11:12. If Eze 5:9 manifestly threatens Israel with a heavier punishment than ever before the eyes of the heathen, then it is but too plain we must understand Eze 5:6-7 of a wickedness on the part of Israel greater than that of the heathen; and such acting more wickedly than the heathen is intensified in Eze 5:7 merely with respect to the natural law of conscience; in other words, this reference still left unexpressed in Eze 5:6 is expressly brought in afterwards. Gods laws and statutes they rejected, neither did they act in accordance with the natural laws belonging to the standpoint of the heathen conscience. In yet another application, Eze 16:47. In Eze 11:12 the connection and the reproof is a different one; there is nothing said there of a being worse than the heathen.
In Eze 5:8 we have, with (Eze 5:7) repeated, the threatening of punishment, first of all generally, then, in what follows, in a form more and more concrete. ; comp. Amo 7:9; Rev 2:5. marks out the interposition of God as being a retribution: hitherto, thou, now I, yes, even I, with a mode of acting corresponding to thine own (Mat 10:33; 2Ti 2:12).As in Eze 5:7, so also here: , illustrated by the fundamental passage Exo 12:12 (Num 33:4).Because Israel has not made itself a pattern to the heathen, an example in what is right and becoming (the negative side to Eze 5:6 is brought in afterwards), God on His part makes it a spectacle for the heathen. The laws (Rechte) of God become judgments (Gerichte) of God. This is the one element of retribution; the other in Eze 5:9 : because Israel has gone beyond the heathen in wickedness, His punishment also will go beyond anything in the past or future. is the resumption of (Eze 5:8). = the like of which I will not do again (Mat 24:21).
Eze 5:10 A more concrete exemplification of what is thus threatened. The thought thereby expressed is the breaking up alike of natural family ties and of the theocratic bond of Israel as a nation, this being what has never taken place in the past, and, having once happened, what is not to be repeated in the future. Comp. Lev 26:29; Deu 28:53; Jer 19:9; Lam 2:20; Lam 4:10; 2Ki 6:28-29 (Luk 12:53). (Eze 5:15), penal judgments, more exactly defined as in Eze 5:8.; comp. Eze 5:2; Eze 5:12.
Eze 5:11. The repeated is exceedingly impressive. , the adjective being made to precede, properly: living I. Deu 32:40. He will show Himself to them as being the Living One. Corresponding to the climax of the discourse in the oath, there is the solemn earnestness of the part. pass. constr. from ( ), low, secret speaking; therefore: utterance = speaks a. parenthetical noun-clause.The desecration with which Israel is charged in Ezekiel 8 has respect to the temple, but to that as being the abode of Jehovahs glory. The avenging judgment (with a reference to Eze 5:1) holds out in prospect the cutting off (another reading: , Isa 15:2) of this noblest ornament of the people, where Jehovah meets with His people, and they with Him. [, in this its simplest sense, too readily suggests itself for us to have recourse, with Hengst., to the fundamental passage Deu 4:2 (Eze 13:1): to take therefrom of that which God has promised to give them, or, like Hv.: I also will withdraw from the people what is theirs, or, with Ges., to supply the following : I also will draw off mine eye, or, like Ewald, to read, from Eze 24:14, : I will not neglect. Hitz.: I also will sweep you away (, 2Ki 21:13), or (): I also will let myself alone, leave myself scope to do as I please. Keil, like Ges. (Job 36:7), takes adverbially: that it may not feel compassion, and understands the last accordingly.] stands emphatically without an object; if it is allowable to refer it to the temple, the following transition (Jer 13:14) to Eze 5:12-13 sqq. announces certainly something more general, more comprehensive. Comp. Eze 9:6.
Eze 5:12. After this reference to Eze 5:1, as already in Eze 5:10, we have now the more detailed divine interpretation of Eze 5:2. Comp. besides, Jer 29:17; Jer 16:4; Jer 15:7. By means of what is threatened, the anger of God is accomplished
Eze 5:13inasmuch as it is fully poured out. The full realization is its accomplishment. Up to the point of causing it to rest upon them, and, at the same time, in them, so that they have the consciousness thereof, comp. Joh 3:36. [To give vent to His fury upon them suits badly, after the anger is accomplished.] Comp. besides, Eze 16:42; Eze 21:22 [17]. perf. Hithp., by syncope for . The meaning of the Niphal (to have compassion) does not suit the context, especially in what follows. is properly: to take draughts of air, to draw in and send forth the breath, whence the Piel: to comfort, Hithp.: to comfort oneself (so also the Niphal). The meaning: to be revenged, does not suit here. Comp. Isa 1:24. The accomplishing of anger comes therefore to mean also the bringing of it to an end; one might say: grace recovers breath again. The extremely anthropomorphic style of our passage is a highly figurative mode of representing the personal life and acting of God., knowledge as the result of experience. twice again (Eze 5:15; Eze 5:17). In the word spoken in zeal we have a guarantee of the certainty of the deed. [The different division of the words by Ew., who takes as a formula of swearing, is unjustifiable.]
Eze 5:14. Like , the devastator (in this section of the sword of God), is the devastation, the desert, wilderness. Lev 26:31; Lev 26:33; Jer 7:34; Lam 2:1 sqq. Alliteratively therewith, : the tearing in pieces; in other words: the dishonouring, derision. Jer 24:9; Eze 36:34. The divine interpretation from here onwards touches on what is said in Eze 5:4the national annihilation of Israel.
Eze 5:15. , viz. Jerusalem, to which the discourse returns, as in Eze 5:8 (Eze 5:5). (Deu 28:37; Lam 5:1.). Declamatorily in the third person. , rebukes in actual fact, from , to reprove, to chastise. Comp. besides, Deu 29:24.
Eze 5:16. Famine is the predominating element. Because sent forth among them by the Lord, its operations are compared to the arrows of a bow. Deu 32:23; Deu 32:42; Lam 3:12-13.As in Eze 5:15 , so now .The evil arrows, because they are , from , which is explained by what follows.The description of the famine rises to a climax; first it strikes like single arrowsdestruction is present; then it increases, accumulatesthe arrows from all sides become thicker; at length the staff of bread is broken (comp. Eze 4:16).
Eze 5:17. The famine is again referred to, in order to connect with it what remains, after the manner of the Pentateuch and of Jeremiah; comp. Eze 14:15; Deu 32:24; Lev 26:22; Lev 26:25; Eze 28:23. Hengst. understands the evil beasts figuratively of the heathen. Isa 56:9; Jer 12:9. Famine and evil beasts, in parallel with pestilence and blood (not = amp; bloody pestilence, as Ew.). Correspondingly with the beginning of the chapter, it comes to an end at last with the sword.
DOCTRINAL REFLECTIONS
1. It belongs to the prevailing aspect of judgment, that those who are to be saved appear like a minimum, which is indicated, indeed, but not described more fully. This also is characteristic, that their salvation is made dependent wholly on their being concealed and spared (Eze 5:4), without any reference to their subjective state. As judgment reigns on the one hand, so unconditional free grace on the other.
2. Judgment must prevail where the national standpoint is that of the law. This lies as a consequence in the character of the law. It is only his having a certain position towards, or betaking himself to, the person of the Lawgiver that can preserve the transgressor, the sinner, from the sentence of death pronounced by the law. But Israel as a whole stands in opposition to Jehovah, not merely with its unlawful outward conduct, but as regards its thorough ungodliness of heart. Thus compassion ceases, as is expressly mentioned in Eze 5:11. That Jehovah is engaged in the most personal way is attested by the very form of the expression in Eze 5:13.
3. The lost condition morally of the people as such is significantly brought before us, in Eze 5:11, in the profanation of the sanctuary. For this is the most express local symbol of the personal presence of Jehovah in the midst of Israel, with which, besides, the most perfect indwelling of God in the fulfilment (Joh 2:19 sqq.) is identified.
4. The judgment threatens the national existence of Israel. But if the nationality of Israel is the holy nationality of the people of God, then it is as intelligible, that the peculiar form, the symbolical body, of this idea which is to be realized may perish in the judgment of God, as it is certain that the idea will be realized, in however few it may be; in reality, there has been but One Israel, that was alike sacrifice and priest, people and king.
5. Hv., Hengst., and others find in our chapter the announcement of yet a second penal judgment, viz. the last by the hand of the Romans, as already Theodoret, Jerome. The truth is, that the more complete (the expulsion of the ten tribes was a partial thing) unfolding of judgment involved in the Chaldean destruction of Jerusalem is not finished till the judgment of the world on the last day (Mat 24:21). The judgment which still farther diminishes the small number in the skirt of the garment in Eze 5:3 thus finds in the contextwhere a transition is made from the numerical element to the substance of the matterits goal in the consuming of the whole of Israel (Eze 5:4). In the Chaldean judgment, Israels nationality perished; at that early period, not first by the hand of the Romans. We have no king but Csar is the answer of the leading men of Israel already in John 19.
6. On Eze 5:9 Hv. remarks: Alone of its kind, and to be compared with nothing else, is the judgment of the Lord which runs through the history of the kingdom of God; it is a judgment continually rising higher and higher, as compared with which what goes before always appears an insignificant one, and in this its unceasing progress paving the way for the culminating point of the last judgment. Hengst. calls the judgment on Israel a thing unique in the history of the world. Only one must not choose to read the true fulfilment in Josephus first, but as and because the Chaldean destruction of Jerusalem was the first judgment of the kind, so it remains, as to its essence also, the only one. For where is there a second nation, to which God has stood so near, driven forth in such a way from its land of promise since the days of the fathers, judged and, as being judged, preserved? But as this political mummification serves the world-purpose of the Anointed One, so it is in the same direction that we are to seek the meaning of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, viz. not as a repetition, but merely as an application of the Chaldean judgment to the last period of the world beginning with Christ, to the last day. Hence the general eschatological character of the discourses of Jesus in the Gospels bearing on the subject.
7. For the central position of Jerusalem, in a theological point of view, Hengstenberg quotes Jeshurun, the congregation of the upright, the pattern nation prepared by God, which was to send forth its light into the surrounding heathen darkness, to honour its God, and to draw others to Him. Deu 4:5-6; Isa 42:19. Comp. Mat 5:14; 1Pe 2:9.
8. Judgment is, in every decisive moment of the history of salvation (in the history of the world), the goal, the end. Crisis is the name given to it when one contemplates history from a remedio-pathological point of view.
HOMILETIC HINTS
Eze 5:1 sqq. By means of the similitude of the hair, the Lord would intimate His exact connection with Israel, how they have received from Him all nourishment and supplies; from which fellowship He now cuts them off like hair (B.B.).On account of its much hair, i. e. its great population, Jerusalem was so proud and full of vain confidence (C).And what an impression must it make, when Ezekiel, who was of the priestly class, contrary to Leviticus 21, shaved head and beard! (L.)The judgments of God have their stages, and come at last, when the measure of sins is full, in a crowd, so that he who escapes the one falls into the other (Tb. B.). Men and all creatures become sharp swords, when God makes use of them in judgment (Stck.).Behold an example of divine providence! God does not strike blindly in His judgments, but, in the midst of the greatest confusion of human affairs, weighs, as it were with scales, all that is to happen to every one (W.).Not even a hair shall be wanting to us; but neither shall a hair escape with the just God (B. B.).God is just, but He is also merciful: let us betake ourselves to His mercy (L.).If one does not himself in time cut off his vanities and bad habits, then must a razor belonging to another make the eyes water, and cut in such a way, that of skin and hair nothing remains (B. B.).In the judgment learn Gods justice, in the foretelling of it His goodness; but sins loathsomeness brings on the judgment (Stck.).If one does not fear before the sword of the Spirit or Gods word (Ephesians 6.; Hebrews 4), then must the sword of the enemy come and hew down the barren trees (B. B.).Gods judgments: (1) sharp, (2) without respect of persons, but (3) just.
Eze 5:2. Exile is honourable if it happens to us for Christs sake; the man who has to endure it because of sin cannot comfort himself therewith (Stck.).These were certainly thoroughly scattered sheep, because they had forsaken their Shepherd! He that will not allow himself to be gathered under the wings of Jesus, will be carried away by the wind of the divine wrath down to hell. And let a man flee whither he will, if he wants a good conscience, then the vengeance of God follows; there is no possibility of escape from Him (B. B).Under the sword of God: (1) the man whom the flame in the inner man, the fire of conscience, does not consume, (2) is struck down by the outward calamities of life, (3) or he is carried away by every gust of windof pleasure, of opinion, etc., in the world, and so is lost.
Eze 5:3. Divine providence and goodness remembers mercy in the midst of wrath, because of the Messiah, who was to be born of this seed (Stck.).Otherwise it would have happened as in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah (L.).Think how we are first bound up in the skirt of the righteousness of Jesus Christ! And no one will pluck us out of His hand.
Eze 5:4. This is not to be literal fire, but something much more real even than this, the fire of the wrath of God, when He gives them over to the curse, and to the everlasting torment of an evil conscience; and this fire is to take hold of all Israel, with the exception of those preserved in the skirt of the garment (Cocc.).
Eze 5:5 sqq. The greater the benefit, the greater ought to be the gratitude.In the Church, greater sins are often committed than outside of it (St.).After the manner of Jerusalem, those cities acted in later times, where most of Jesus miracles were wrought (Matthew 11).Outward advantages, without the inward disposition to correspond, are tow for the fire.We have therefore to see to it, that we bear the pleasure (the burden) of prosperity with a strong mind (C.).To whom much is given, of him much may be required, and much is required; and yet there shall only be required faithfulness in stewardship, and that gratitude which is so easily understood of itself.He that knows his Lords will, and does it not, sins more grievously, and has more grievous punishment to expect, Luk 12:47 (O.).Perversion of the true doctrine and of the true worship and unholy living draw the judgments of God after them (Tb. Bib.).
Eze 5:6 sqq. The heterodox often show in their worship more zeal, earnestness, and stedfastness than the orthodox (St.).Their vices we often adopt from the heathen, and in what is good allow them the advantage. They ought to have learnt from us, and we may learn even from them (B. B.).
Eze 5:8 sqq. As it is the comfort of the pious: if God be for us, who can be against us? so it is the terror of the ungodly: since God is against you, who will be for you? (Stck.)The divine judgments in the world are a mirror for the world.
Eze 5:9. The individuality of the judgments of God an interesting historical theme.
Eze 5:10. Famine has no eyes, no ears, no hands, but teeth. It has no respect of persons, nor does it listen to anything, nor does it give, but is cruel and unmerciful (Stck.).Fathers often enough devour their children by the bad example which they give them. And children devour their fathers by their covetousness, want of affection, disobedience, by the grief which they prepare for them.
Eze 5:11. In him that does not sanctify God, God sanctifies Himself.I live, and ye shall live also. But it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. These are contrasts.How many profane the sanctuary of God by sleep, by extravagance in dress, by their distracted worldly thoughts!
Eze 5:13. There thou seest how zealous love can be. This causes the jealousy of Him who is Israels Husband.Therefore we ought to hear betimes, lest we be compelled to feel when it is too late.
Eze 5:14. How many such monuments of divine retribution stand on our life-path! We walk past, yes, alas! past them. Into the mirror of the judgments of God we look in vain, just as into that of the divine law.If love cannot improve us, then must we feel the iron sceptre (B. B.).
Eze 5:17. All the creatures are ready for vengeance, and wait merely for Gods command (Stck.).If men do not terrify us, then there are the beasts (Stck.).Thus there is a chain of divine punishments; one takes the others hand.In the end, it is God with whom we have to do. Be not, then, like the dog which bites the stone, and not the hand which threw it! (Stck.)God subscribes the threatening with the royal monogram of His name (a L.).
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
The Prophet in this Chapter, is still carrying on his instruction by similitudes. Under the type of hair shaven from the head, and beard, is shown, how the Lord will bring under close punishment the people of Jerusalem.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The type is very expressive, and full to the purpose. And if we consider the judgment here spoken of spiritually, (and no doubt it was so intended,) the head and the hair, represent Christ and his Church. During the separation of the people by captivity, they were as hair shaven off and carried away: and the Lord’s anger is most strongly expressed under the image and figure. The relief to the soul under this view the Holy Ghost hath given, Rom 11:15-23 . I would have the Reader look at Christ’s commendation of his Church, under the similitude, Son 7:5 . The different exercises of the Church, are as strongly represented, under the threefold sentence of the hair. See Zec 13:9 . And I cannot forbear adding, that according to my view of this scripture, the few in number, the Prophet was commended to bind in his skirts, carries with the precept a strong presumption, that the Lord thereby referred to that few chosen, which in the worst of times the Lord hath reserved among the remnant of his people. Isa 11:16 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The Ministry of Symbolism
Eze 4
In the fourth chapter there begins a series of symbols utterly impossible of modern interpretation. The prophet is commanded to take a tile, and portray upon it the city of Jerusalem, and to conduct certain military operations against that city; then he is commanded to take an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between himself and the city; having done so he is to lay siege against Jerusalem. Afterwards he is commanded to lie upon his left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: this symbolic act is to be followed by lying upon his right side, in signification of burning the iniquity of the house of Judah forty years. He is afterwards commanded to take wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and fitches, and put them into one vessel, and to make bread thereof, according to the number of days he was to lie upon his side; certain instructions are then given regarding the wheat, and the way in which he is to eat it; and water, and the way in which he is to drink it: and so the instruction proceeds from stage to stage, full of what to us, and probably was to Ezekiel himself, dark image and troubled symbol. This ministry of symbolism has still a place in all progressive civilisation. Every age, of course, necessitates its own emblems and types, its own apocalypse of wonders and signs, but the meaning of the whole is that God has yet something to be revealed which cannot at the moment be expressed in plain language. If we could see into the inner meaning of many of the controversies in which we are engaged, we should see there many a divinely drawn symbol, curious outlines of thought, parables not yet ripe enough for words. The whole year, from spring to winter, is a long parable, a curious symbol, a marvellous revelation of divine purpose: he that hath eyes to see, let him see; he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. The difficulty of the prophet begins precisely at this point, forasmuch as he has the genius that can read interior thought, and can forecast purpose before it has taken the shape of words: hence he is a madman, a fanatic, a loose-minded person, or at best he is credited with being an eccentric genius, who is always seeing something that nobody else can see, and always talking in a style which to commonplace observers is inflated, bombastic, or intensely conceited and affected. Prophets always go up and down the ages as madmen. It must have been an awful thing to have been a prophet of the Lord, to have secrets entrusted to the heart which were to be put into human language, to have symbolism set before the eye which was to be translated into the common language of the day.
How manifold is human life! How innumerable are the workers who are toiling at the evolution of the divine purpose in things! One man can understand nothing but what he calls bare facts and hard realities; he has only a hand to handle, he has not the interior touch that can feel things ere yet they have taken shape. Another is always on the outlook for what pleases the eye; he delights in form and colour and symmetry, and glows almost with thankfulness as he beholds the shapeliness of things, and traces in them a subtle geometry. Another man gets behind all this, and hears voices, and sees sights excluded from the natural senses; he looks upon symbolism, upon the ministry of suggestion and dream and vision; he sees best in the darkness; the night is his day; in the great cloud he sees the ever-working God, and in the infinite stillness of religions solitude he hears, rather in echoes than in words, what he is called upon to tell the age in which he lives. Here again his difficulty increases, for although he can see with perfect plainness men, and can understand quite intelligibly all the mysteries which pass before his imagination and before his spiritual eyes, yet he has to find words that will fit the new and exciting occasion; and there are no fit words, so sometimes he is driven to make a language of his own, and hence we come upon strangeness of expression, eccentricity of thought, weirdness in quest and sympathy, a most marvellous and tumultuous life; a great struggle after rhythm and rest and fullest disclosure of inner realities, often ending in bitter disappointment, so that the prophet’s eloquence dissolves in tears, and the man who thought he had a glorious message to deliver is broken down in humiliation when he hears the poor thunder of his own inadequate articulation. He has his “tile” and his iron pan; he lays upon his left side, and upon his right side; he takes unto him wheat and barley, beans and lentils; he weighs out his bread, and measures out his water, and bakes “barley cakes” by a curious manufacture; and yet when it is all over he cannot tell to others in delicate enough language, or with sufficiency of illustration, what he knows to be a divine and eternal word.
In the fifth chapter Ezekiel is commanded to take a sharp knife, a barber’s razor, and to cause it to pass upon his head and upon his beard; then he is to take balances to weigh and divide the hair; he has to burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled; then he is to take another third part, and smite it about with a knife, and the final third part he is to scatter in the wind; and so the new commission rolls on like a series of wind-driven clouds, now full of terror, now lighted up with beauty, now significant of great change and judgment and progress. The Lord is determined that the small remnant of his people left after the great Captivity should be regarded with favour, yet even some of these were to perish to be cast into the midst of the fire. The result of the whole was the utter cleansing of Judaea, the utter banishment of the chosen people. Here the prophet is allowed to rest awhile. He has seen strange things, and heard strange voices, and now for a little time he is permitted to descend to commonplace thought and utterance. He will hardly know himself, coming out of this wonder and perilous excitement. This is the action of God in training his ministers and prophets. He takes them to great heights, shows them scenes of transfiguration, delights their vision, excites their wonder to the point of rapture, thrills them with a consciousness of the larger possibilities of life, and then almost suddenly he brings them down the hill to talk their mother tongue, and do the ordinary business of men.
How much our prophets endure on our account! There is a sense in which the prophet is the priest of his age, for on account of that age he suffers much: he is the instrument chosen of God through whom to express divine thoughts and commands; he is both the divinely chosen instrument and the servant who is to carry out his own messages in practical life. Who can tell all he knows? Who has language that will go with him through all the winding mazes of his highest thought? This is true of our common intellectual life, apart from special excitements and inspirations. We suppose ourselves to be writing our whole mind, yet, as we have often said, the only thing that is most certain is, that we have not yet begun to express our deepest thoughts. When the spirit of the Lord seizes us, and causes cur whole nature to enter into a state enthusiastic, rapturous, and almost bodiless, we cannot come back and tell the experience through which we have passed. We blunder, we hesitate, we correct ourselves, we go in quest of larger and truer words, and cannot find them, and then we seek to eke out our meaning by invented phrases, and sometimes by perverted and tortured language. There is no room on the earth for the stars. The poor little earth is only large enough to hold a few flowers, and even these flowers overflow with poetic meaning, and prophetic symbol, and instructive suggestion. The stars we must keep high up in heaven, and can only see a little twinkling and gleaming of them now and then. They are so distant we cannot measure their fulness, and yet we are assured of their majesty and splendour. So it is with our thinking: we have a few flower-words that we can make use of, a few things that we can say in tolerably plain language; yet how few they are! On the other hand, we have star-thoughts, great planetary contemplations, marvellous impressions regarding the vastness of things, and the immanence of God in his universe: here our eloquence breaks down, and we betake ourselves to the higher eloquence of hesitation, self-correction, and agony of endeavour, not always ending fruitlessly, but often the more fruitful in that it apparently fails in its great purpose. There are failures that are grand. Some defeats are assurances of future victories.
At the fifth verse of the fifth chapter there is quite a change of communication. Instead of high prophetic language we have comparative simplicity and directness, until another vision begins with the eighth chapter. The Lord brings a great moral charge against Jerusalem; he says:
“I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her. 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” ( Eze 5:5-6 ).
“Set in the midst of the nations”: Egypt and Ethiopia on the south; the Hittites, the Syrians, and Assyrians, from time to time, on the north; on the coast, southern and northern, were the Philistines and the Phoenicians; whilst on the deserts of the east, and in the near south, were the Ishmaelites going to and fro, and keeping up intercourse with all the nations. It is thought that Solomon himself established commercial relations with the nations of India. So situated, what opportunities Israel had of presenting the aspect of a people well instructed in the divine law, and sweetly obedient to the divine will and purpose; how without so much as uttering one word of mere exhortation she might have preached with the eloquence of unimpeachable consistency and generous beneficence: Jerusalem was called upon to be the great expositor of monotheism in the ancient world. Yet how wondrously was Jerusalem separated by natural barriers from all other lands or nations by deserts, by the sea on the west, by the northern mountains; how in this geographical solitude Israel might have cultivated to perfection the worship of the one true God! When the Israelites failed in this high purpose they seemed to dry up the sea, and create a high-road through the desert, and break down the mountains, that they might not only allow, but almost invite, the surrounding nations to come in and reduce them to subjection, making a prey of the very treasure of God’s heart. While the judges judged Israel, Israel was continually falling under the power of some of the petty tribes on the confines of the Holy Land, When the empire of Solomon was broken up, in consequence of the sins of the people, the Israelites had no defence against the powerful nations that assailed them: Judaea and Chaldaea made sport of the Israelites. How is the fine gold become dim! how is the giant of God reduced to the feebleness of childhood! how are the mighty fallen! All this apostasy was moral; not because the surrounding nations had better arms, or better military training, did Israel fail in the war, but because Israel had wickedly resisted divine judgment. Immortality is always weakness. When conscience ceases to take part in the battle of life, the battle has already ended in ruin.
What is true of the Israelites is true of all other peoples; and what is true of peoples in their collective capacity is true of the individual man: he goes up or down according to his moral temperament, his moral discipline, his moral purpose in life. How tremendous is the judgment of God as revealed in such words as these:
“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. 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” ( Eze 5:11-12 ).
And so the judgment passes on from thunder to thunder, and the last grand note of that judgment-thunder is, “I the Lord have spoken it.” It was impossible for Ezekiel to invent all these moral judgments. We feel that they must have come up from eternity, because they express what never entered into the heart of man to conceive concerning the proper desert and issue of sin. Hell itself is a revelation. Make of that part of the invisible state what we may, it surely never entered into the heart of man to invent it. We may have perverted the idea; by our foolish exaggerations we may have distorted the divine revelation; but the great central fact of judgment, of burning indignation, of unquenchable anger against sin, we must always recognise as one of the unchangeable realities of true religion. It is clear that all judgment was not future in the Old Testament. There was an immediate degradation, and an immediate infliction of tremendous penalty. “I will make thee waste, and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by”; “I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine”; “I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread”; “So will I send upon 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.” These were immediate visitations. In the New Testament we are supposed to come upon a prediction rather than a realised judgment. What we have to suffer for our sins is supposed to be in the future, whilst here we may enjoy ourselves in the very act of drinking goblets of iniquity, and sitting down to partake of the festivities of darkness. All this is an error on our part. Under the New Testament dispensation, as under the Old, judgment is immediate, penalty is now impending, our very next step may be into a burning pit They allegorise who postpone judgment, not they who immediately feel it and respond to it penitentially. Every serpent that bites the hedge-breaker is but a hint of the still greater punishment that awaits us when all life is looked at by a judicial eye and pronounced upon by a judicial voice. Blessed are they who take counsel of immediate dispensations and providences, and who have the spiritual eye that in all these can see symbols of something infinitely more appalling. The Lord does not fail to set forth the great truth that the bread and the water are his, and that in his hands are all the issues of the immediate time. It is not man that makes the sword; it is the Lord that fashions it: it is not a mere failure in the arrangement of accidents that ends in physical disaster; it is a plan of the Most High by which he brings us to religious considerateness, to penitence, to self-renunciation, and to that high state of being which is best expressed by the word Faith.
Prayer
Almighty God, we bless thee for thy house. The tabernacle of God is with men upon the earth. Where there is no tabernacle thou art thyself the more accessible; thou art as a sanctuary in the wilderness, thou art a pavilion from the heat and from the storm. We thank thee that neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem alone shall men worship the Father; thou thyself art everywhere present to be adored and spoken to, and to receive our thanksgivings because of the multitudinousness of the blessings of thy right hand. May we find thee in the wilderness, and find thee in the city; at midnight do thou speak unto us in whispers, at midday do thou come to us with all the glory of light: wherever we are, whatever our estate or condition, let it please thy condescending love to visit us, and minister unto us, and comfort us with exceeding succour. Thou hast been with us all our lifetime; thou hast left no empty day upon all the record; specially hast thou been with us in the day of trouble; thou didst ask us; to come to thee on that dark day and tell thee all about the calamity and the sorrow of our life. Thou didst heal us and comfort us, and in renewed strength thou didst send us back to the vineyard and to the battlefield. We bless thee for thy Son Jesus, who told us all about thee and taught us to call thee Father. From the cradle to the Cross he was always the Christ, the Anointed One, the Bright One, the Centre of Light, the Fountain of Blessing, the Alpha and Omega, beyond whom there is no space, beyond whose duration there is no time. We thank thee for the cradle, for the Cross, for the crown of Christ. In Christ our souls begin their everlasting heaven. The Lord hear us when we cry for pardon, listen to us when we sue for help and added joy, and multiply his blessing upon us in the time of broken-heartedness. Amen.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
XV
PROPHECIES ON THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM
Ezekiel 4-14
Jeremiah was preaching in Jerusalem while Ezekiel was preaching in a similar strain to the exiles in Babylon. Jeremiah found that the people thought that Jerusalem, the center of Jehovah worship, could not and would not be destroyed. Ezekiel found the same conditions in Babylon. In the time of Isaiah, when the Assyrians were close at hand, God protected them and swept away 185,000 of their army and saved Jerusalem with the Temple. Their confidence in the perpetuity of their city seemed to be fixed. So they did not believe their city, their Temple, and their country would be destroyed. “It is God’s nation, God’s people, and God’s Temple,” they said. Moreover, they had false prophets in Jerusalem, prophets who were preaching the safety of the city, also false prophets in Babylon among the exiles, preaching the same thing. They preached that the exiles should speedily return; that the power of Babylon would be destroyed. There was one lone man in Judah, and one lone man in Babylon, preaching the destruction of the nation. This gives us some idea of Ezekiel’s task, the tremendous task that he had, to make those people believe that their nation, their city and their Temple were going to be destroyed. In order to get them to believe that, he made use of all these symbols, metaphors, and other figures which we have in this great section. He made use of these symbols, or symbolic actions, to make his preaching more vivid and more impressive, and he began this series of symbolic actions about four and a half years before the city was surrounded by Nebuchadnezzar, about six years before it fell, for the siege lasted one and a half years.
The symbol of the siege of Jerusalem and its interpretation are found in Eze 4:1-3 . The great truth he wanted to impress upon them was that Jerusalem would be besieged and would be taken and destroyed; so he was commanded by Jehovah to take a tile, or a brick, a tablet in a plastic condition, and to draw thereon a picture of a city, representing mounds cast up against the city on every side, from which the enemy could shoot their arrows down into the city and at the defenders on the walls. He was also told to set a camp round about it representing the soldiers encamped; he was to place battering rams there. These were huge beams of wood with iron heads which were pushed with great force by a large number of men, and thus driven against the walls and would soon make great holes in them. Then he was told to take an iron pan and put that between himself and this miniature city to represent the force that was surrounding it, and as that iron pan was impenetrable, so this besieging force was impenetrable, hard, and relentless, and would inevitably take and destroy the city without mercy.
Then he was told to lie upon his left side as if a burden was upon him. He was to do this according to the number of the years of the iniquity of Israel. He was to be bound while lying thus on his left side and he was to remain in that position 390 days. Then he was to lie upon his right side and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days, representing the forty years of their iniquity; these, of course, are symbolic numbers in both cases. The commentators have been greatly baffled to figure out these periods which apply to Israel and Judah. The best explanation seems to be that of Hengstenberg who makes the 390 years refer to Israel’s sin of idolatry beginning with Jeroboam and going down to the final captivity; likewise, the forty years, to Judah’s iniquity beginning forty years prior to the same captivity. According to this reckoning Israel’s period of iniquity was much longer than that of Judah and this accords with the facts of their history.
The scarcity and pollution of their food during the siege and after is symbolized in Eze 4:9-17 . Ezekiel was to take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, various kinds of cheap grains that the very poorest of the people ate, mix them together and cook them on a fire made with the most disgusting and loathsome kind of fuel possible, and eat about twenty shekels per day and drink a little more than a pint of water. Twenty shekels would be probably about a pound of our bread, one pound of this cheap, coarse bread, and a little over a pint of water a day. His soul revolted at such loathsome fuel and he was promised a better kind of fuel used by very poor people at that time. This again is a literary symbolism, the idea being to bring before those people the fact that terrible scarcity was before them, great depredation, and almost starvation, and when they were carried into the various nations their food would be unclean and polluted and they would be compelled to eat this unclean food.
The fate of the population by the siege and their dispersion is symbolized in Eze 5:1-4 . Ezekiel was told to take a sword, make it as sharp as a barber’s razor, cut off the hair upon his head, take balances and divide it into three equal portions. Evidently Ezekiel must have resembled Elijah more than he did Elisha. A third part of it was to be put in the fire in the midst of the city; a third part, to be smitten with the sword round about, evidently hacking it to pieces; and a third part, to be scattered to the winds, and the sword was to go after it and hack it to pieces.
What is the meaning? One-third of the inhabitants of their beloved city should perish with famine and pestilence; one-third should be slain in the siege; the other third should be scattered among all the nations of the earth, and even this third the sword should pursue and nearly all of them should be cut off. These arc striking symbols, full of meaning. They must have had some effect upon the hearers.
The interpretation of the foregoing symbols, as given by the prophet in Eze 5:5-17 , is that this is Jerusalem. Eze 5:5 says: “I have set her in the midst of the nations, and countries are round about her.” The remainder of this section goes on to show how Judah had sinned, how she had revolted, how she had forsaken God, and Eze 5:8 says, “Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I, even I, am against thee; and I will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations.” Verse Eze 5:10 : “Therefore the father shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments on thee; and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter unto all the winds . . . and will draw out a sword after them.” Verse Eze 5:13 : “Thus shall mine anger be accomplished . . . and I shall satisfy my fury upon them.”
The prophecies of Eze 6:1-7 ; Eze 6:11-14 are prophecies against the mountains of Israel, that is, the seats of idolatry. All the kings that sought to create a reformation among the people had to deal with the high places. Hezekiah removed many of them, and at last Josiah removed all of them. They were renewed in the reign of Jehoiachim and doubtless in the reign of Zedekiah. It was against these high places that the prophets had been uttering their denunciations for centuries. Ezekiel, from the plains of Babylon, looks across the vast distance and sees the mountaintops and the hills with their shrines and altars and idols and he utters his prophecies against them. In the latter part of Eze 6:3 he says, “I will destroy her high places,” and in Eze 6:5 he gives a terrible picture: “I will lay the dead bodies of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones around about your altars,” and then he pictures the destruction of the idolatrous symbols of worship.
But hope is held out to Israel. In Eze 6:8 is the gleam of hope through this awful picture of destruction: “Yet will I leave a remnant, in that ye shall have some that escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries.” And then he says that many of those scattered through the countries shall remember God and regent, verse Eze 6:9 : “And those of you that escape shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captive,” and the last part of Eze 6:9 says, “And they shall loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.” There was hope for the people throughout the countries that some of them would survive. There was scarcely a ray of hope for the city that any should escape. So Ezekiel preaches the doctrine of the remnant as does Isaiah, Amos, Hosea, Jeremiah, and all the other prophets of this period.
Eze 7 is a lament, or dirge, over the downfall of the kingdom of Judah, and it is divided into four parts, thus:
1. The end is come upon the four corners of the land (Eze 7:1-4 )
2. The end is come upon the inhabitants of the land (Eze 7:5-9 )
3. The ruin is come unto all classes and is universal (Eze 7:10-13 )
4. The picture of the dissolution of the state (Eze 7:14-27 ) The theme of Eze 8 is, Israel’s many idolatries, which have profaned the Lord’s house and have caused him to withdraw from it. The date of this prophecy is fourteen months after the previous sections we have studied, in the sixth month, 591 B.C., which corresponds to our October.
Then the prophet sees what he calls the image of jealousy in the Temple (Eze 8:1-6 ). He sees a new vision of the Lord, and the one who sat above that firmament whose appearance was like unto fire, appears to Ezekiel again and, strange to say (we have to interpret this as a vision in symbol), took him by a lock of the hair of his head and carried him all the way from Babylon to Jerusalem. The Spirit took him thus and set him down at the door of the gate of the inner court and there he saw what he calls an “image of jealousy.” It was not jealousy pictured, but an image of some of their deities, some form of Baal set up in the very Temple of Jehovah, which provoked him to jealousy. Thus, he pictures the idolatry of the people as existing in the very Temple and its sacred precincts made place for their idols.
The prophet now sees another vision, the secret idolatry of the elders in the chambers of the gateway (Eze 8:7-13 ). The images there were worshiped by the people at large. Now the elders, the leaders, are engaged in it, and he says in Eze 8:10 , “So I went in and saw; and behold, every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about.” Eze 8:11 : “And there stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel; and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, every man with his censor in his hand; and the odor of the cloud of incense went up.” All this is used to represent the elders, the leaders of the people of Jerusalem, who were idolaters in secret, if not openly.
The women were lamenting and weeping for Tammuz, or Adonis, a heathen solar mythical being, nature personified and represented in winter as perishing or languishing, and in spring, reviving. Some writers think it represents the hot season of the year, as nature is all dead and withered, and is revived later on. Here the women are described, the ladies, the society ladies of Jerusalem, weeping as the heathen women did, because the force of nature, represented in this physical being, was apparently dead. It was a strange sort of worship indeed. It is not known as to just what the nature of this worship was, but it was something like that.
Then Ezekiel was shown the sun worship (Eze 8:10-18 ). The latter part of Eze 8:16 says: “about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of Jehovah, and their faces toward the east; and they were worshiping the sun toward the east.” This gives us some idea as to the depths to which the people had gone in their idolatrous worship, even in Jerusalem and the Temple.
The first act of divine judgment, the slaughter of the inhabitants, is presented in Eze 9 . Jehovah is represented as crying out and calling seven men, supernatural beings, six of them armed with a sword, and the seventh one armed with an inkhorn. These come forth into the Temple area and from there into the streets of the city. The man with the inkhorn set his mark upon all that should not be slain. Thus they entered the Temple; Ezekiel sat still in the vision and in a short while six supernatural men cut down a vast number. When they cut down all the Temple force they went out into the city and the slaughter went on. Eze 9:8 says, “And it came to pass, while they were smiting, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord Jehovah! wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel in thy pouring out of thy wrath upon Jerusalem?” Ezekiel saw that if these six angelic beings went through the city, not many would be left. He cried out but it was of no avail. The second act of divine judgment is symbolized in Eze 10 . Here Ezekiel sees the same glorious vision of God that he saw at first, and the voice came from him above the firmament saying to a man clothed in linen, “Take some fire” from that central place among the cherubim “take some of that divine fire and scatter it over the city.” Then we have the description of how one of the cherubim, with one of those arms, took some of the fire and handed it out to this other being and he went abroad and scattered that fire over the inhabitants of the city. That is a symbol also. The latter part of Eze 10 is simply an extended description of the same vision recorded in Eze 1 . We have a threat of destruction and a promise of restoration in Eze 2 . The occasion of the destruction of Jerusalem was virtually the revolt on the part of the princes against Nebuchadnezzar. It was the princes of Judah that led Zedekiah into revolt, the princes that were so obnoxious to Jeremiah, the princes of Judah that caused the downfall of the city and tried to put Jeremiah out of the way. Ezekiel, in vision, sees those princes and he sees them counseling and planning to make a league with Egypt and revolt against Nebuchadnezzar. He denounced them. Eze 10:2 says, “And he said unto me, Son of man, these are the men that devise iniquity and that give wicked counsel in this city; that say, The time is not near to build houses.” If we are going to fight, this city will be a caldron and we will be the flesh, and it is better to be in the frying pan than in the fire. This city, the capital, may be destroyed; the time of war has come; let us fight and stay inside.” They did so, and in the remainder of the chapter we have the denunciation of Ezekiel. He says, “I will bring you forth out of the midst thereof, and deliver you into the hands of strangers.” And that actually happened, for Nebuchadnezzar captured all these princes with Zedekiah; they were brought before him at Riblah and every one slain with the sword.
The latter part of the chapter states that there will be some left; a remnant will be saved among the exiles. There shall be a few found faithful, and in Eze 10:17-19 is a marvelous promise: “I will gather you out of all the countries where you have been scattered,” and in Eze 10:19 , he anticipates Christianity, saying, “I will give them a new heart, and put a new spirit within them, and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep mine ordinances, and do them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.” The hope of the nation was in the exiles, not in the people that were left in Jerusalem. Immediately following that, the cherubim that had appeared near the house of Jehovah, were removed east on the Mount of Olives and departed thus from the city, signifying that Jehovah had abandoned Jerusalem.
There are two symbolic actions described in Eze 12 . Ezekiel is told to gather up such things as be would require to take with him if he were going into exile, just as one would pack his trunk or grip to go to another place. So Ezekiel packs up his goods in the sight of the people in the daytime, and has them all ready. That night he goes to the wall of the city and digs a hole through, and with his goods upon his shoulder makes his way through that hole of the wall to go out. It was a symbolic action, performed to impress the people. He interprets his action thus: The people of Jerusalem shall take their belongings and go into exile, and Zedekiah, the prince of Jerusalem, will dig a hole through the wall of the city and with his goods upon his shoulders will try to escape. He actually tried to do that, but was taken. Eze 12:11 says, “Say, I am your sign: like as I have done, so shall it be done unto them; they shall go into captivity.” Verse Eze 12:12 : “And the prince that is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the dark and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby: he shall cover his face, because he shall not see the land with his eyes.” This is a mild way of expressing the truth that Zedekiah tramped all the way to Babylon with his eyes having been bored out by Chaldean spears.
Another symbolic action is recorded in Eze 12:18-19 , as to the eating of bread and drinking of water, and then Ezekiel quotes a proverb, “The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth.” They were saying that the visions and prophecies did not come true. He answers, “Thus saith the Lord God: I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the fulfilment of every vision.”
The false prophets and prophetesses are characterized in Eze 13 . Jeremiah had to contend with the false prophets, but Ezekiel had to contend with the false prophets and prophetesses. They are described thus:
1. The false prophets are described as jackals burrowing in the ground, and making things worse instead of better (Eze 13:1-7 ).
2. They whitewash the tottering walls that the people built and they daub them with untempered mortar (Eze 13:8-16 ). The people built up walls of defense by their foolish plans and the false prophets agreed with them. They tried to smooth the danger over, saying, “Peace for her.”
3. The denunciation of the false prophetesses (Eze 13:17-23 ). These women deceived the people. Verse Eze 13:18 : “Thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the women that sew pillows upon all elbows, and make kerchiefs for the head of persons of every stature to hunt souls!” These pillows were little cushions fastened on the joints of their hands and arms to act as charms. The custom exists today in the East. Ezekiel denounces them in verse Eze 13:20 : “Wherefore, thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms; and I will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly.” These were the spiritualists of that day. They are with us yet, only their methods are different.
The answer of Jehovah to idolaters who inquire of him is found in Eze 14 :
1. The answer is this, Put away your idols or look out for the judgment of God. There is no use in coming to inquire of Jehovah through me if you are idolaters in heart (Eze 14:1-11 ).
2. The principle of divine judgment is found in Eze 14:12-23 . It is this: Righteous men shall not save sinners, only their own souls. Notice verse Eze 14:14 : “Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness.” Verse Eze 14:16 : “Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they should deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only should be delivered, but the land should be desolate.” So no matter how many righteous men there may be, and how righteous they may be, only they themselves shall be saved in the terrible sack of the city. Thus, the righteous could not save Jerusalem, any more than Lot could save Sodom.
QUESTIONS
1. What the problem of Ezekiel in Babylon and what prophet with
2. What encouragement did the people have both in Jerusalem and in Babylon to believe in the safety of their holy city and nation, and what Ezekiel’s method of impressing upon the exiles the fallacy of such an argument?
3. What the symbol of the siege of Jerusalem and what its interpretation? (Eze 4:1-3 .)
4. How are the people bearing their sins here symbolized and what the interpretation? (Eze 4:4-8 .)
5. How is the scarcity and pollution of their food, during the siege and after, symbolized in Eze 4:9-17 ?
6. How is the fate of the population by the siege and their dispersion symbolized? (Eze 5:1-4 .)
7. What is the interpretation of the foregoing symbols, as given by the prophet in Eze 5:5-17 ?
8. What are the prophecies of Eze 6:1-7 ; Eze 6:11-14 and what is the history of these high places?
9. What hope is held out to Israel amid this awful picture?
10. What the theme of Eze 7 and what its parts?
11. What was the theme and date of Eze 8 ?
12. What was the “Image of Jealousy” seen by Ezekiel (Eze 8:1-6 ), and what the particulars of this vision?
13. What is the prophet’s vision of the elders and what its interpretation (Eze 8:7-13 )?
14. What was the abomination of Tammuz? (Eze 8:14-15 .)
15. What of the sun worship? (Eze 8:16-18 .)
16. How is the first act of divine judgment and slaughter of the inhabitants represented? (Eze 9 .)
17. How was the second act of divine judgment symbolized? (Eze 10 .)
18. Explain the threat of destruction and the promise of restoration in Eze 11 .
19. What two symbolic actions described in Eze 12 , and what their interpretation?
20. How are the false prophets and prophetesses characterized in Eze 13 ?
21. What is the answer of Jehovah to idolaters who inquire of him and what the divine principle of judgment? (Eze 14 .)
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Eze 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].
Ver. 1. And thou, son of man. ] See on Eze 2:1 .
Take thee a sharp knife.
Take thee a barber’s razor.] Not a “deceitful razor,” as Psa 52:2 but one that will do the deed – sharp and sure. Pliny b telleth us, out of Varo, that the Romans had no barbers till 454 years after the city was built; ante intonsi fuere.
And cause it to pass upon thy head and upon thy beard.
Then take the balances to weigh.
And divide the hair.
a Turkish History, 885.
b Lib. vii. cap. 59.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Ezekiel Chapter 5
Chapter 5 adds fresh particulars of unsparing and destructive judgment; for the preceding chapter had not gone beyond the Chaldean siege of Jerusalem with its attendant though most distressing miseries.
“And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, a barber’s razor be taken to thee, and cause it to pass upon thy head and upon thy beard, and take to thee weighing balances, and divide the hair. 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: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them. Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts. 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.” (Vers. 1-4) The application is certain and immediate, being furnished in the following words of the prophet: “Thus saith the Lord Jehovah; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her. 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.” (Vers. 5, 6)
The form in which the God of Israel communicated the dismal lot and unsparing destruction about to fall on the Jews is the more impressive, because both in the manner in which the prophet was ordered to bake his bread and to shave off his hair, there was a departure from ceremonial in a way which could not be justified otherwise than by the authority of God Himself or the moral exigencies of His people. Here no doubt it could be, though assuredly Ezekiel as a priest would feel all deeply. The converse of this one has in the vision of Simon Peter, where we see the deeply-rooted prejudices of the Jew, though in a trance, but overruled of God, who would save from among the Gentiles and bring about communion with such of Israel as believed. In our prophecy it is not grace going out to meet and welcome and bless the heathen by proclaiming to them the only Saviour, but judgment falling on Jerusalem, and this persistently and without relenting – a strange tale for Israel to hear and believe. For reverses hitherto had been but temporary chastenings, and pity’s stream kept ever flowing down its accustomed bed, and the mass of Israelites fondly hoped that so it must be, and that God at least was bound to them, though well they knew how often and habitually the people dishonoured Him. Let them see and hear from the abased prophet what was very soon to be fearfully realised according to his message from Jehovah. It was the high and central position of Israel, of Jerusalem above all, among the peoples and lands round about which made their rebellion and idolatry so grievous, so impossible to be overlooked or spared more.
“Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, because ye multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, and you 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. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations. 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 thy abominations. Therefore the fathers shall eat their 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. Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah; 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. 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.” (Vers. 7-10)
We clearly see then the divine dealing. A third was to perish by plague and famine inside the besieged city; a third to fall by the sword round about Jerusalem; and the remaining third to be scattered to all the winds with a sword drawn after them by God. Here too we see how those of Jerusalem under the circumstances represent “all the house of Israel,” no account being taken in this place of the ten tribes already carried to the East. The defilement of Jehovah’s sanctuary by heathen abominations brought in by kings and priests and people made Jerusalem intolerable.
“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 Jehovah have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them. 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.” (Vers. 13, 14) Their judgment should be in the sight of those nations who had beheld their infidelity to the true God, their God. “So it shall 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 Jehovah have spoken it.” (Ver. 15) The heathen themselves were astonished; for they had no notion of a national deity so dealing with the people who professed that worship. “When I shall send upon them 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: so will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee; and I will bring the sword upon thee. I Jehovah have spoken it.” (Vers. 16, 17)
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Eze 5:1-4
1As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword; take and use it as a barber’s razor on your head and beard. Then take scales for weighing and divide the hair. 2One third you shall burn in the fire at the center of the city, when the days of the siege are completed. Then you shall take one third and strike it with the sword all around the city, and one third you shall scatter to the wind; and I will unsheathe a sword behind them. 3Take also a few in number from them and bind them in the edges of your robes. 4Take again some of them and throw them into the fire and burn them in the fire; from it a fire will spread to all the house of Israel.
Eze 5:1 son of man See note at Eze 2:1.
take a sharp sword The VERB (BDB 542, KB 534, Qal IMPERATIVE) is a command. The normal instrument for shaving was a razor (BDB 1074, cf. Num 6:5; Num 8:7). However, here a sword (BDB 352, Eze 5:1-2[twice], 12[twice], 17) is used. It was a symbol of the coming judgment (cf. Eze 6:3; Eze 6:8; Eze 6:11-12; Eze 7:15). This same judgment is alluded to in Isa 7:20, using the word razor. Shaving the hair and beard was a sign of shame (cf. 2Sa 10:4). The sword was a symbol of death and devastation. Judah would reap a divine judgment for her sins (i.e., Nebuchadnezzar’s army).
scales for weighing This is a Hebrew CONSTRUCT (BDB 24 and 1054). Scales were used in weighing the purchase of agricultural items. When used in an unfair way it became an idiom of exploitation and unfairness. In contrast, God’s scales (i.e., of justice) were fair and reliable. Judah was weighed by YHWH and found wanting! Judah deserved both
1. shame (i.e., shaving)
2. judgment (i.e., scales)
Eze 5:2-4 Ezekiel’s hair (usually a sign of religious devotion, cf. Numbers 6; Judges 16-17; 2Sa 10:4-5) was to be shaved, divided, and disposed of in specific ways.
1. one-third burned at the center of the city (i.e., the model of Jerusalem of chapter 4) when Jerusalem falls, Eze 5:2
2. one-third cut with the sword all around the city (i.e., the model of Jerusalem of chapter 4), Eze 5:2
3. one-third scattered to the wind, Eze 5:2
4. a few hairs were tied into Ezekiel’s robe, Eze 5:3
5. a few hairs put in a fire, which will spread to all Israel, Eze 5:4 (fire is often used in Ezekiel as a judgment of God, cf. Eze 5:2; Eze 5:4; Eze 10:2; Eze 10:6-7; Eze 15:4-7; Eze 16:41; Eze 19:12; Eze 19:14; Eze 20:47-48; Eze 21:31-32; Eze 23:25; Eze 23:47; Eze 24:10; Eze 24:12; Eze 30:8; Eze 30:14; Eze 30:16; Eze 39:6. See Special Topic: Fire ).
The symbolic act seems to mean that one-third of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will be killed by the sword, one-third will be killed by famine and one-third will be scattered among the nations (cf. Eze 5:2). In Eze 5:3 the concept of remnant appears, which occurs throughout the OT in God’s dealing with His rebellious people (cf. 2Ki 25:22; Isa 6:13; Isa 10:22; Jer 23:3; Eze 5:3; Eze 6:8-10; Eze 11:13; Zec 13:8-9).
SPECIAL TOPIC: THE REMNANT, THREE SENSES
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
son of man. See note on Eze 2:1.
knife = sword, as in Eze 5:12, and Eze 11:8, Eze 11:10
take thee a barber’s rasor = as a barber’s rasor shalt thou take it. This is the sign of the Assyrian army; Isa 7:20).
thee. The 1611 edition of the Authorized Version reads “the”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 5
Now the fourth thing that he uses as an illustration.
Take a sharp knife, sharpen it like a barber’s razor, and cause it to pass upon your head and upon your beard ( Eze 5:1 ).
Shave your head and your beard. He must surely have been a colorful sight there to these people. No doubt they took notice. They would have a hard time not observing.
then take balances to weigh, and divide your hair. And you shall burn with fire a third part in the middle of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and you shall take a third part, and cut it [chop it up] with a knife: and a third part you’re to scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them. And thou shalt take thereof a few [a few of these hairs]in number, and bind them in your skirts. Then take those again, and cast them [those that you bound in your skirt] in the midst of the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth unto all the house of Israel. 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. And she hath changed my judgments into wickedness ( Eze 5:1-6 )
They’ve taken the judgments of God, the law of God, and they’ve turned it into wickedness. Look at our nation today, how we have taken the laws of God and turned them into wickedness. How that the laws today are supporting wickedness. It’s exactly what they had done. God’s judgment is coming forth upon them. God’s judgment will surely come upon our land just as sure as God’s judgment came upon Israel. God’s judgment is coming upon our land because of taking the laws and making them support evil, wickedness.
and they have done so more than all of the nations, and my statutes they’ve changed more than all of the countries that are round about her: for they have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them. Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, you’ve not walked in my statutes, neither have you kept my judgments, neither have you done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you; Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and I will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of all the nations. And I will do in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do anymore the like, because of all your abominations ( Eze 5:6-9 ).
I’m going to do something to you like I’ve never done before, but it’s because of the abominations.
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 ( Eze 5:10 ),
They’ll cannibalize each other before the whole thing is over.
the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds. Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD; Surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all of the detestable things, and with all your abominations, therefore will I diminish thee; neither shall my eyes spare, neither will I have any pity. A third part of thee ( Eze 5:10-12 )
Now here’s the hair divided into three parts, a third part is burned.
So a third part of thee will be consumed by the pestilence [the burning pestilence], and the famine within the city ( Eze 5:12 ):
Before Babylon conquers the city, a third part of the people will have already died because of the disease and the famine that exists within Jerusalem.
and then a third part of them will be destroyed by the sword ( Eze 5:12 )
When the Babylonian army comes in, another third part of them will be wiped out with the sword, and then the remaining third part will be scattered around, but God will bring the sword after them. And they will be destroyed. But there will be a small remnant that God will preserve and out of that small remnant, God will start over and He will ultimately bring them back into the land.
Thus my anger be accomplished, 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 upon them. 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 ( Eze 5:13-14 ).
Speaking against Jerusalem.
So it shall 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 ( Eze 5:15 ).
So the judgment of God upon them would be for instruction to these nations as they are astonished at what God has done.
And when I shall send upon them the evil arrows of my famine, which shall be for their destruction, which I will send to destroy you: and will increase the famine upon you, and break your staff of bread: So will I send upon 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 ( Eze 5:16-17 ).
So God speaks of the judgment that is going to come, warning the people, “Hey, don’t think that Jerusalem is going to conquer. Don’t think that you’re going to be delivered soon.” God’s judgment is not yet complete. He is going to bring utter devastation unto the city of Jerusalem. It’s to be destroyed, those that remain there to the present time, a third of them will be killed with the famine, a third will be destroyed by the sword, the third that escape will also be destroyed, for He’ll send out a sword against them.
And so then he makes a prophecy as we move on against the mountains of Israel. Now as we get to chapter 34, again, a prophecy to the mountains of Israel, but in chapter 34, it’s God beginning His work of restoration. Remember the devastation is going to come, but after the devastation in time to come, God is going to restore. And so we are living in those days now, when God has begun His work of restoration. And as you read the thirty-fourth chapter and read of what God is going to do, “cause the mountains” –he’s speaking here of the curses that are going to come upon the mountains because they’ve built altars upon them. They’re going to be barren and so forth, and thus they were for centuries, for millenniums. But then in chapter 34, the prophecies again to the mountains and the restoration, and God is going to put trees on them and there’ll be vineyards on them and so forth. And you go to Israel today, you can see the fulfillment of chapter 34 as God has begun His work of restoration in the land.
So the book of Ezekiel is exciting, because it tells, you know, of the judgment, which did come, but it also tells of the future restoration, which is happening today. And so the book of Ezekiel goes from the past history, but it will come right up to current events and then it’ll go on into the future and gets ahead of us, even from where we are at this point. And so, you’re going to find it an extremely fascinating book as we go through it.
Father, we thank You for Thy Word. Oh, God help us that we might devour Thy Word. That it might become a part of our lives. That we’ll be able, then Lord, to speak Thy Word even as You have commanded us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
May the Lord bless and keep you through the week. And may you live after the Spirit, walk after the Spirit, follow after the Spirit, be filled with the Spirit. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Therefore, let a man examine himself, for if we will judge ourselves, then we will not be judged of God. For I speak to you in the name of the Lord, if you are living and walking after the flesh and indulging in the areas and the things of the flesh, God will bring you into judgment. It will destroy you. You need to walk after the Spirit and may God guide and help you. In Jesus’ name. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Eze 5:1-4
SYMBOLIC SIEGE OF JERUSALEM CONTINUED
As Dummelow noted, Ezekiel’s part in these pantomimes is variable. Part of the time he represents God, and at other times he stands for Israel. Here he stands for Jerusalem, his head particularly, standing for city; but again, in the burning of the hair in the midst of the city (that is, in the middle of the map of the city on the tile), he enacts the part God would play in the destruction of Jerusalem.
Eze 5:1-4
“And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp sword; as a barber’s razor shalt thou take it unto thee, and shall cause it to pass upon thy head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh and divide the hair. A third part shalt thou burn in the fire in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled; and thou shalt take a third part and smite with the sword round about it; and a third part shalt thou scatter to the wind, and I will draw out a sword after them. And shall take thereof a few in number and bind them in thy skirts. And of these again shalt thou take, and cast them into the midst of the fire; therefore shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.”
As regarded the destiny of Jerusalem, the symbols introduced here were extremely distressing. The sword stood for the armed might of Babylon. The shaving of the head stood for humiliation, mourning, disaster, the loss of sanctity, catastrophe. The balances were a symbol of the justice and righteousness of God and the equity of his judgments. Ezekiel’s head represented Jerusalem; the hair represented the population of it, the glory, and honor, and ability of the city. These were all to disappear in the destruction.
The various uses of the three-thirds of the hair, only a part of the last third being accorded a special treatment, indicated the various ways in which the population of Jerusalem would be killed. The burning in the midst of the city refers to their death by famine and pestilence; the smiting of a third of it with the sword “round about the city” represents those who would fall to the sword of Babylon; and the scattering of a third of it to the winds represented the scattering of the Israelites among all nations.
Apparently the mandate to smite some of the hair “round about the city” refers to his smiting of it symbolically around the tile that had the map of Jerusalem engraved upon it.
“And thou shalt take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts …” (Eze 5:3) Yes indeed, right here is that same glorious doctrine of the righteous remnant so prominent in the works of Isaiah and Jeremiah. “There are some who deny the doctrine of the remnant is in Ezekiel, but that view is untenable in the light of this verse 3.” It is clear enough here that the small portion of that final third which was bound in the skirts of God’s prophet was an eloquent testimony that not all of Israel would be destroyed.
“And of these again shalt thou take and cast them … into the fire …” (Eze 5:4) This shows that not all of the “righteous remnant” would escape the disasters to fall upon the Whole nation. Even from them also there would be those who fell away.
Having in these dramatic pictures foretold the terrible destruction of Jerusalem, Ezekiel in the following paragraph explained the necessity for the coming judgment.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
In this chapter we have the description of the last of the four signs. The prophet was commanded to take a sword, sharpened as a barber’s razor, and therewith to cut off his hair and his beard. The hair thus taken was to be weighed, and divided into three parts. The first was to be burned in the midst of the city at the expiration of the siege; the second was to be smitten with the sword round about the city; and the third to be scattered to the wind. Finally, a few hairs were to be gathered and bound in his skirt, and of them some were to be cast into the fire.
The explanation of the sign was then given at length to Ezekiel. Jerusalem, set in the midst of the nations, had rebelled against Jehovah, and for this He was against her. A third part of the people was to die by pestilence in the midst of the city, another third would die in battle round about her; the remaining third would be scattered to the winds.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Chapter Five
Threatenings Of Providential Judgments
A fourth object lesson opens the present chapter, the illustration of the sharp sword used as a barbers razor.
And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp sword; as a barbers razor shalt thou take it unto thee, and shalt cause it to pass upon thy head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair. A third part shalt thou burn in the fire in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled; and thou shalt take a third part, and smite with the sword round about it; and a third part thou shalt scatter to the wind, and I will draw out a sword after them. And thou shalt take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts. And of these again shalt thou take, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; therefrom shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel-vers. 1-4.
The sharp sword was a readily understood symbol of bloody warfare and told of the ruthless and victorious Chaldean armies which God in His providential judgment had permitted to overrun the land of Judah, and against which the people of Israel had no power to stand because of their apostate condition.
Using this keen-edged sword as one would use a barbers razor, the prophet was to shave off the hair of his head and his beard, and he was then instructed to divide the hairs into three parts, one part to be burned in fire, another to be smitten by the sword, and the third part to be scattered to the wind, thus typify- ing or illustrating what should befall the Jews because of their rebellion against God. One third were to be destroyed in the siege of Jerusalem, another third mercilessly cut down by Nebuchadnezzars cohorts, and the rest to be scattered over the earth among all nations, according as they had been warned many times before. But a small remnant would be preserved even in the hour of Jehovahs indignation, because they sought His face and kept His testimonies. These were pictured by the few hairs reserved and bound in the skirt of the prophets mantle, but even these were cast into the midst of the fire afterwards, for the righteous in Israel have had to suffer with the unrighteous during the long years of their exile from the land. All this is made clear in the verses that follow:
Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the midst of the nations, and countries that are round about her. And she hath rebelled against Mine ordinances in doing wickedness more than the nations, and against My statutes more than the countries that are round about her; for they have rejected Mine ordinances, and as for My statutes, they have not walked in them. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because ye are turbulent more than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in My statutes, neither have kept Mine ordinances, neither have done after the ordinances of the nations that are round about you; therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I, even I, am against thee; and I will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations. 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. Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments on thee; and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter unto all the winds. Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, 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, and I also will have no pity. 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 a third part I will scatter unto all the winds, and will draw out a sword after them-vers. 5-12.
Jerusalem, the city where Jehovah had set His name and which was designated the holy city, had gone so far from God, following the ways of the heathen who knew Him not, that she had become as a stench in His nostrils and an abhorrence instead of a delight. Jerusalem was guiltier far than those nations, because they had never been favored with such knowledge as Israel. They worshipped idols because they knew not the one true and living God. Israel knew Him but forsook Him, spurned the holy law He had given, and ignored the entreaties of His prophets; consequently, He whom they had repudiated could deal with them only in judgment. He who loved them so tenderly had to become as their enemy. They must learn in suffering and anguish the bitterness of departure from His testimonies and from obedience to Him who had redeemed them from bondage and had borne with their manners for so long. Now his patience was at an end, and judgment must take its course. His eye would no longer spare nor His heart pity. They must eat the bitter fruit of the seed they had sown. It is a solemn instance of the principle that runs all through Scripture, which shows that whatsoever is sown must be reaped.
Thus shall Mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause My wrath toward them to rest, and I shall be comforted: and they shall know that I, Jehovah, have spoken in My zeal, when I have accomplished My wrath upon them. Moreover I will make thee a desolation and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by. So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment, unto the nations that are round about thee, when I shall execute judgments on thee in anger and in wrath, and in wrathful rebukes (I, Jehovah, have spoken it); when I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, that are for destruction, which I will send to destroy you. And I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread; and I will send upon 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, Jehovah, have spoken it-vers. 13-17.
Thus Jerusalem not only would be punished for her own sins, but also she would become an object lesson to the nations roundabout, giving them to see that sin always brings trouble and sorrow, and that only as nations walk before God in righteousness will they have His approval and blessing. Israel is today such an object lesson to the whole world if men but have eyes to see and hearts to understand.
Though God must deal with sin in His people, He never gives them up. Israel is still His by covenant, and in a coming day He will draw the remnant back to Himself and comfort them in their affliction. He will not keep His anger forever, but when they turn to Him in repentance He will own them once more as His elect and bring them again into blessing even greater than they have known in the past. Meantime, they are destined to be a desolation and a reproach among the nations as they have been for some twenty-five centuries of sad and awful affliction.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Eze 5:1-4. The sharp knife is the symbol of the king of Babylon. (See Isa 7:20.) He was Gods instrument in the execution of His wrath; the people are represented by the hair. The third part of the hair burned with fire pictures the fate of a part of the people during the siege. The pestilence and the famine were also to consume them. Only a few in number, a small remnant, were to be preserved, as indicated when Ezekiel took a few hairs and bound them in his skirt.
Eze 5:5-17. These solemn words should be carefully read. In connection with them there ought to be read Jeremiahs lamentations, for Jeremiahs outburst of sorrow shows the literal fulfillment of this message. (See Eze 5:10 and compare with Lam 4:10.)
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
son: In this expressive emblem, the prophet represents the Jewish nation; his hair, the people; the razor, the Chaldeans; the cutting of the hair, the calamities and disgrace coming upon them; the balances, the exact distribution of the Divine judgments; the third part of the hair burnt, those destroyed in the city; the third part smitten with a knife, those slain in attempting to escape; the third part scattered to the winds, those who escaped to other countries; the few hairs in his skirt, those left with Gedaliah; and the burning of these, their destruction in Egypt.
take: Eze 44:20, Lev 21:5, Isa 7:20
then: Dan 5:27
Reciprocal: 2Ki 13:18 – Smite Jer 18:2 – and go Jer 24:9 – to be removed Jer 43:9 – great Eze 2:1 – Son Eze 4:1 – take Eze 21:19 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 5:1. The prophet was directed to do some more acting to which reference has been made frequently. The head is the most important part of the body, and the Lord selected that part of Ezekiel’s person in the present drama. The weighing of the hairs was necessary in order to make the equal divisions that were called for.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Eze 5:1. Take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barbers razor The latter expression explains the former; and cause it to pass upon thy head, &c. Hair being then accounted an ornament, and baldness a token of sorrow, therefore shaving denoted calamity or desolation. Among the Arabs, says Harmer, chap. 6. observ. 23, there cannot be a greater stamp of infamy than to cut off any ones beard: and many among them would prefer death to this kind of punishment. And as they would think it a grievous calamity to lose it, so they carry things so far as to beg for the sake of it, By your beard, by the life of your beard, do. In like manner some of the benedictions are, God preserve your blessed beard, God pour his blessings on your beard. And when they would express their value for a thing, they say, It is worth more than his beard. I never had so clear an apprehension, I must confess, as after I had read these accounts, of the intended energy of that thought of Ezekiel, where the inhabitants are compared to the hair of the prophets head and beard. The passage seems to signify, that though the inhabitants of Jerusalem had been dear to God, as the hair of an eastern beard to its owner, yet that they should be taken away and consumed, one part by pestilence and famine, another part by the sword, and a third by the calamities of an exile. See note on 2Sa 10:4. And then take the balances, &c. A symbol of Gods justice, as the razor was of his wrath; to weigh and divide the hair What the prophet is here commanded to do was by way of another emblematical representation of what was to happen to the inhabitants of Judea and Jerusalem. The hair signified the Jewish people; shaving the hair with a razor, the divine vengeance; the weighing of the hair in the balances, the divine equity, which metes out to every one what is just and right; the dividing of the hair, the punishments allotted to different persons of them.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Eze 5:1-2. Son of man, take thee a sharp knifea barbers razor. Clip thy hair, and shave thy beard. Then divide and subdivide the hair into twenty four parts, and take eight parts, precisely the third, and burn the hair within thy beautiful configuration or model-city. Cut the second portion in pieces, to designate the slaughter of the people by sword and famine. Scatter the third part in the wind, towards Egypt and the southern nations, after whom I will send the sword of the Chaldean, as stated in the latter chapters of Jeremiah.
Eze 5:3-4. Thou shalt also take of the hairs a few in number sewed in the hem of thy toga, and carry them about, and burn the others, to portend the wanderings of the few remaining ten tribes, pursued by incessant calamities.
Eze 5:5. This is Jerusalem. I have set it in the midst of the nations. A city chosen of God, a city favoured above all with the victories of David, with the glorious peace of Solomon, and whose fame reached to the ends of the earth. It was grace that raised Jerusalem to glory; it was sin that covered her with shame. Pale and bloody was the wane of her moon.
Eze 5:7. Because ye multiplied more than the nations. The increase of the Hebrew population was great in Egypt; it was equally so in the time of David, and during the reign of Solomon. Reliance may therefore be placed in the characteristic blessings of the covenant, and all the promises of the everliving and faithful God.
Eze 5:10. The fathers shall eat the sons. This is noted in Jer 19:9, and Lam 4:10. The hands of delicate women boiled their sons for meat. St. Jerome states, that the siege under the Romans was more severe than the siege under the Chaldeans. In these awful extremities the words of Moses were fulfilled. Deu 28:53.
REFLECTIONS.
The Lord is now lenient to christian ministers. We are not building models of sieges, nor baking our bread under hedges with dried dung. We are not lying like the devotees of India in doleful postures of penance. Ours, being halcyon days, let them be days of holiness, and of the most vigorous exertions in the ministry; and the more so, as we do not know how soon a cloud may over-spread our sun. Alas, we do but little for souls, compared with the battles and labours of the Hebrew prophets.
The Israelites, planted in the midst of the nations, and more blessed than they, are reproached as the most ungrateful of the humankind for apostasy. Is not this a voice to Britain? Alas, our auditories are crowded with backsliders. And as a nation, what are our mercies? The finest of countries, ranges of mountains full of mines and streams, of which the manufactories have taken possession, as of a soil congenial to their growth. Of the seas we have the controul, of commerce we take the lead, in colonies we abound. Our bankers and merchants, countless in number, are princes. Our manufacturers keep their equipage, while the poor are pressed, if not severely.
But what are our returns? In what respects is our moral character better than our continental neighbours? We surpass them in pride; in atheism we tread on their heels. In profanations, desecrations of the sabbath, and blasphemy, we excel. Our streets are crowded with harlots; our general character wanes to effeminacy, and to degeneracy in every form.If Jerusalem, once boasted by the prophets as the glory of the whole earth, was given up to fire and sword, what can the wicked expect! Oh let me run to duty, and like the ancient prophets, obtain a reprieve for our country.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Eze 5:1-4. (D) The Fate of the Besieged.Yet the last symbol is perhaps the most terrible of all; it suggests the all but irretrievable completeness of the destruction. Ezekiel is commanded to take a sharp sword, and use it, like a razor, upon his head and beardsuggesting how clean the city will be swept of its population. The hair removed is to be scrupulously weighedthere is a deadly accuracy in the Divine justiceand divided into three portions, destined to be burned, smitten, and scattered respectively, symbolic (as we learn from Eze 5:12) of the fate of those within the city (the fire stands for pestilence and famine), of those caught near it, cruelly cut down in their efforts to escape, and of those who will be swept away to exile. Of these last a few, symbolised by a little hair caught in the folds of Ezekiels garment, shall escape, but even this remnant is to be decimated by further disaster. (Perhaps the last sentence of Eze 5:4 should be deleted.)
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
5:1 And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber’s razor, and cause [it] {a} to pass upon thy head and upon thy beard: then take to thee balances to weigh, and divide the [hair].
(a) To shave your head and your beard.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The hair 5:1-4
Ezekiel was also to do something else during the time he was dramatizing the siege of Jerusalem with his model (ch. 4).
"After Ezekiel represented the fact of the siege (first sign [Eze 4:1-3]), the length of the siege (second sign [Eze 4:4-8]), and its severity (third sign [Eze 4:9-17]), he demonstrated the results of the siege (fourth sign [Eze 5:1-4])." [Note: Dyer, "Ezekiel," p. 1236.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The prophet was to shave the hair of his head and beard with a sword symbolizing the defilement and humiliation that would come on Jerusalem because of her sin. Shaving the head and beard was forbidden for Israelites in their law (Deu 14:1). It was a pagan practice that expressed great grief and humiliation (cf. Eze 9:3; Eze 27:31; 2Sa 10:4-5; Isa 15:2; Isa 22:12; Jer 16:6; Jer 41:5-6; Jer 48:37; Amo 8:10). If an Israelite priest shaved his head, he was defiled and no longer holy to the Lord (Lev 21:5-6). Thus Ezekiel’s action pictured the unclean condition of Israel before the Lord as well as its removal in judgment by Babylon’s king (cf. Isa 7:20).
Then Ezekiel was to divide his cut hair using a scale to measure it in three equal piles. Weighing symbolized discriminating evaluation and impending judgment (cf. Pro 21:2; Jer 15:2; Dan 5:27). When the days of the siege were over, after 430 days (Eze 4:5-6), he was to burn one-third of the hair in the center of the model of Jerusalem that he had built with the brick (Eze 4:1). He should chop up another third of the hair with his sword outside the model city. The remaining third he was to throw up into the air so the wind would blow it away. This represented the fate of the Jews in Jerusalem during the siege. One third would die in the burning and destruction of the city (cf. 2Ki 25:9), another third would die at the hand of the Babylonian soldiers outside the city (cf. 2Ki 25:18-21; 2Ch 36:17), and one third would go into captivity (cf. 2Ki 25:11; 2Ki 25:21) driven by soldiers that Yahweh would send after them.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
THE END FORETOLD
Eze 4:1-17 – Eze 7:1-27
WITH the fourth chapter we enter on the exposition of the first great division of Ezekiels prophecies. The chaps, 4-24, cover a period of about four and a half years, extending from the time of the prophets call to the commencement of the siege of Jerusalem. During this time Ezekiels thoughts revolved round one great theme-the approaching judgment on the city and the nation. Through contemplation of this fact there was disclosed to him the outline of a comprehensive theory of divine providence, in which the destruction of Israel was seen to be the necessary consequence of her past history and a necessary preliminary to her future restoration. The prophecies may be classified roughly under three heads. In the first class are those which exhibit the judgment itself in ways fitted to impress the prophet and his hearers with a conviction of its certainty; a second class is intended to demolish the illusions and false ideals which possessed the minds of the Israelites and made the announcement of disaster incredible; and a third and very important class expounds the moral principles which were illustrated by the judgment, and which show it to be a divine necessity. In the passage which forms the subject of the present lecture the bare fact and certainty of the judgment are set forth in word and symbol and with a minimum of commentary, although even here the conception which Ezekiel had formed of the moral situation is clearly discernible.
I.
The certainty of the national judgment seems to have been first impressed on Ezekiels mind in the form of a singular series of symbolic acts which he conceived himself to be commanded to perform. The peculiarity of these signs is that they represent simultaneously two distinct aspects of the nations fate-on the one hand the horrors of the siege of Jerusalem, and on the other hand the state of exile which was to follow.
That the destruction of Jerusalem should occupy the first place in the prophets picture of national calamity requires no explanation. Jerusalem was the heart and brain of the nation, the centre of its life and its religion, and in the eyes of the prophets the fountain-head of its sin. The strength of her natural situation, the patriotic and religious associations which had gathered round her, and the smallness of her subject province gave to Jerusalem a unique position among the mother-cities of antiquity. And Ezekiels hearers knew what he meant when he employed the picture of a beleaguered city to set forth the judgment that was to overtake them. That crowning horror of ancient warfare, the siege of a fortified town, meant in this case something more appalling to the imagination than the ravages of pestilence and famine and sword. The fate of Jerusalem represented the disappearance of everything that had constituted the glory and excellence of Israels national existence. That the light of Israel should be extinguished amidst the anguish and bloodshed which must accompany an unsuccessful defence of the capital was the most terrible element in Ezekiels message, and here he sets it in the forefront of his prophecy.
The manner in which the prophet seeks to impress this fact on his countrymen illustrates a peculiar vein of realism which runs through all his thinking. {Eze 4:1-3} Being at a distance from Jerusalem, he seems to feel the need of some visible emblem of the doomed city before he can adequately represent the import of his prediction. He is commanded to take a brick and portray upon it a walled city, surrounded by the towers, mounds, and battering-rams which marked the usual operations of a besieging army. Then he is to erect a plate of iron between him and the city. and from behind this, with menacing gestures, he is as it were to press on the siege. The meaning of the symbols is obvious. As the engines of destruction appear on Ezekiels diagram, at the bidding of Jehovah, so in due time the Chaldaean army will be seen from the walls of Jerusalem, led by the same unseen rower which now controls the acts of the prophet. In the last act Ezekiel exhibits the attitude of Jehovah Himself, cut off from His people by the iron wall of an inexorable purpose which no prayer could penetrate.
Thus far the prophets actions, however strange they may appear to us, have been simple and intelligible. But at this point a second sign is as it were superimposed on the first, in order to symbolise an entirely different set of facts-the hardship and duration of the Exile (Eze 4:4-8). While still engaged in prosecuting the siege of the city, the prophet is supposed to become at the same time the representative of the guilty people and the victim of the divine judgment. He is to “bear their iniquity”-that is, the punishment due to their sin. This is represented by his lying bound on his left side for a number of days equal to the years of Ephraims banishment, and then on his right side for a time proportionate to the captivity of Judah. Now the time of Judahs exile is fixed at forty years, dating of course from the fall of the city. The captivity of North Israel exceeds that of Judah by the interval between the destruction of Samaria (722) and the fall of Jerusalem, a period which actually measured about a hundred and thirty-five years. In the Hebrew text, however, the length of Israels captivity is given as three hundred and ninety years-that is, it must have lasted for three hundred and fifty years before that of Judah begins. This is obviously quite irreconcilable with the facts of history, and also with the prophets intention. He cannot mean that the banishment of the northern tribes was to be protracted for two centuries after that of Judah had come to an end, for he uniformly speaks of the restoration of the two branches of the nation as simultaneous. The text of the Greek translation helps us past this difficulty. The Hebrew manuscript from which that version was made had the reading a “hundred and ninety” instead of “three hundred and ninety” in Eze 4:5. This alone yields a satisfactory sense, and the reading of the Septuagint is now generally accepted as representing what Ezekiel actually wrote. There is still a slight discrepancy between the hundred and thirty-five years of the actual history and the hundred and fifty years expressed by the symbol; but we must remember that Ezekiel is using round numbers throughout, and moreover he has not as yet fixed the precise date of the capture of Jerusalem when the last forty years are to commence.
In the third symbol (Eze 4:9-17) the two aspects of the judgment are again presented in the closest possible combination. The prophets food and drink during the days when he is imagined to be lying on his side represents on the one hand, by its being small in quantity and carefully weighed and measured, the rigours of famine in Jerusalem during the siege-“Behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with anxiety; and drink water by measure, and with horror” (Eze 4:16); on the other hand, by its mixed ingredients and by the fuel used in its preparation, it typifies the unclean religious condition of the people when in exile-“Even so shall the children of Israel eat their food unclean among the heathen” (Eze 4:13). The meaning of this threat is best explained by a passage in the book of Hosea. Speaking of the Exile, Hosea says: “They shall not remain in the land of Jehovah; but the children of Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and shall eat unclean food in Assyria. They shall pour out no wine to Jehovah, nor shall they lay out their sacrifices for Him: like the food of mourners shall their food be; all that eat thereof shall be defiled: for their bread shall only satisfy their hunger; it shall not come into the house of Jehovah”. {Hos 9:3-4} The idea is that all food which has not been consecrated by being presented to Jehovah in the sanctuary is necessarily unclean, and those who eat of it contract ceremonial defilement. In the very act of satisfying his natural appetite a man forfeits his religious standing. This was the peculiar hardship of the state of exile, that a man must become unclean, he must eat unconsecrated food unless he renounced his religion and served the gods of the land in which he dwelt. Between the time of Hosea and Ezekiel these ideas may have been somewhat modified by the introduction of the Deuteronomic law, which expressly permits secular slaughter at a distance from the sanctuary. But this did not lessen the importance of a legal sanctuary for the common life of an Israelite. The whole of a mans flocks and herds, the whole produce of his fields, had to be sanctified by the presentation of firstlings and firstfruits at the Temple before he could enjoy the reward of his industry with the sense of standing in Jehovahs favour. Hence the destruction of the sanctuary or the permanent exclusion of the worshippers from it reduced the whole life of the people to a condition of uncleanness which was felt to be as great a calamity as was a papal interdict in the Middle Ages. This is the fact which is expressed in the part of Ezekiels symbolism now before us. What it meant for his fellow exiles was that the religious disability under which they laboured was to be continued for a generation. The whole life of Israel was to become unclean until its inward state was made worthy of the religious privileges now to be withdrawn. At the same time no one could have felt the penalty more severely than Ezekiel himself, in whom habits of ceremonial purity had become a second nature. The repugnance which he feels at the loathsome manner in which he was at first directed to prepare his food, and the profession of his own practice in exile, as well as the concession made to his scrupulous sense of propriety (Eze 4:14-16), are all characteristic of one whose priestly training had made a defect of ceremonial cleanness almost equivalent to a moral delinquency.
The last of the symbols {Eze 5:1-4} represents the fate of the population of Jerusalem when the city is taken. The shaving of the prophets head and beard is a figure for the depopulation of the city and country. By a further series of acts, whose meaning is obvious, he shows how a third of the inhabitants shall die of famine and pestilence during the siege, a third shall be slain by the enemy when the city is captured, while the remaining third shall be dispersed among the nations. Even these shall be pursued by the sword of vengeance until but a few numbered individuals survive, and of them again a part passes through the fire. The passage reminds us of the last verse of the sixth chapter of Isaiah, which was perhaps in Ezekiels mind when he wrote: “And if a tenth still remain in it [the land], it shall again pass through the fire: as a terebinth or an oak whose stump is left at their felling: a holy seed shall be the stock thereof.” {Isa 6:13} At least the conception of a succession of sifting judgments, leaving only a remnant to inherit the promise of the future, is common to both prophets, and the symbol in Ezekiel is noteworthy as the first expression of his steadfast conviction that further punishments were in store for the exiles after the destruction of Jerusalem.
It is clear that these signs could never have been enacted, either in view of the people or in solitude, as they are here described. It may be doubted whether the whole description is not purely ideal, representing a process which passed through the prophets mind, or was suggested to him in the visionary state but never actually performed. That will always remain a tenable view. An imaginary symbolic act is as legitimate a literary device as an imaginary conversation. It is absurd to mix up the question of the prophets truthfulness with the question whether he did or did not actually do what he conceives himself as doing. The attempt to explain his action by catalepsy would take us but a little way, even if the arguments adduced in favour of it were stronger than they are. Since even a cataleptic patient could not have tied himself down on his side or prepared and eaten his food in that posture, it is necessary in any case to admit that there must be a considerable, though indeterminate, element of literary imagination in the account given of the symbols. It is not impossible that some symbolic representation of the siege of Jerusalem may have actually been the first act in Ezekiels ministry. In the interpretation of the vision which immediately follows we shall find that no notice is taken of the features which refer to exile, but only of those which announce the siege of Jerusalem. It may therefore be the case that Ezekiel did some such action as is here described, pointing to the fall of Jerusalem, but that the whole was taken up afterwards in his imagination and made into an ideal representation of the two great facts which formed the burden of his earlier prophecy.
II.
It is a relief to turn from this somewhat fantastic, though for its own purpose effective, exhibition of prophetic ideas to the impassioned oracles in which the doom of the city and the nation is pronounced. The first of these (Eze 5:5-17) is introduced here as the explanation of the signs that have been described, in so far as they bear on the fate of Jerusalem; but it has a unity of its own, and is a characteristic specimen of Ezekiels oratorical style. It consists of two parts: the first (Eze 5:5-10) deals chiefly with the reasons for the judgment on Jerusalem, and the second (Eze 5:11-17) with the nature of the judgment itself. The chief thought of the passage is the unexampled severity of the punishment which is in store for Israel, as represented by the fate of the capital. A calamity so unprecedented demands an explanation as unique as itself. Ezekiel finds the ground of it in the signal honour conferred on Jerusalem in her being set in the midst of the nations, in the possession of a religion which expressed the will of the one God, and in the fact that she had proved herself unworthy of her distinction and privileges and tried to live as the nations around. “This is Jerusalem which I have set in the midst of the nations, with the lands round about her. But she rebelled against My judgments wickedly more than the nations, and My statutes more than [other] lands round about her: for they rejected My judgments, and in My statutes they did not walk. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, even I am against you; and I will execute in thy midst judgments before the nations, and will do in thy case what I have not done [heretofore], and what I shall not do the like of any more, according to all thy abominations” (Eze 5:5-9). The central position of Jerusalem is evidently no figure of speech in the mouth of Ezekiel. It means that she is so situated as to fulfil her destiny in the view of all the nations of the world, who can read in her wonderful history the character of the God who is above all gods. Nor can the prophet be fairly accused of provincialism in thus speaking of Jerusalems unrivalled physical and moral advantages. The mountain ridge on which she stood lay almost across the great highways of communication between the East and the West, between the hoary seats of civilisation and the lands whither the course of empire took its way. Ezekiel knew that Tyre was the centre of the old worlds commerce, (See chapter 27) but he also knew that Jerusalem occupied a central situation in the civilised world, and in that fact he rightly saw a providential mark of the grandeur and universality of her religious mission. Her calamities, too, were probably such as no other city experienced. The terrible prediction of Eze 5:10, “Fathers shall eat sons in the midst of thee, and sons shall eat fathers,” seems to have been literally fulfilled. “The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of My people.” {Lam 4:10} It is likely enough that the annals of Assyrian conquest cover many a tale of woe which in point of mere physical suffering paralleled the atrocities of the siege of Jerusalem. But no other nation had a conscience so sensitive as Israel, or lost so much by its political annihilation. The humanising influences of a pure religion had made Israel susceptible of a kind of anguish which ruder communities were spared. The sin of Jerusalem is represented after Ezekiels manner as on the one hand transgression of the divine commandments, and on the other defilement of the Temple through false worship. These are ideas which we shall frequently meet in the course of the book, and they need not detain us here. The prophet proceeds (Eze 5:11-17) to describe in detail the relentless punishment which the divine vengeance is to inflict on the inhabitants and the city. The jealousy, the wrath, the indignation of Jehovah, which are represented as “satisfied” by the complete destruction of the people, belong to the limitations of the conception of God which Ezekiel had. It was impossible at that time to interpret such an event as the fall of Jerusalem in a religious sense otherwise than as a vehement outburst of Jehovahs anger, expressing the reaction of His holy nature against the sin of idolatry. There is indeed a great distance between the attitude of Ezekiel towards the hapless city and the yearning pity of Christs lament over the sinful Jerusalem of His time. Yet the first was a step towards the second. Ezekiel realised intensely that part of Gods character which it was needful to enforce in order to beget in his countrymen the deep horror at the sin of idolatry which characterised the later Judaism. The best commentary on the latter part of this chapter is found in those parts of the book of Lamentations which speak of the state of the city and the survivors after its overthrow. There we see how quickly the stern judgment produced a more chastened and beautiful type of piety than had ever been prevalent before. Those pathetic utterances, in which patriotism and religion are so finely blended, are like the timid and tentative advances of a childs heart towards a parent who has ceased to punish but has not begun to caress. This, and much else that is true and ennobling in the later religion of Israel, is rooted in the terrifying sense of the divine anger against sin so powerfully represented in the preaching of Ezekiel.
III.
The next two chapters may be regarded as pendants to the theme which is dealt with in this opening section of the book of Ezekiel. In the fourth and fifth chapters the prophet had mainly the city in his eye as the focus of the nations life; in the sixth he turns his eye to the land which had shared the sin, and must suffer the punishment, of the capital. It is, in its first part (Eze 6:2-10), an apostrophe to the mountain land of Israel, which seems to stand out before the exiles mind with its mountains and hills, its ravines and valleys, in contrast to the monotonous plain of Babylonia which stretched around him. But these mountains were familiar to the prophet as the seats of the rural idolatry in Israel. The word bamah, which means properly “the height,” had come to be used as the name of an idolatrous sanctuary. These sanctuaries were probably Canaanitish in origin; and although by Israel they had been consecrated to the worship of Jehovah, yet He was worshipped there in ways which the prophets pronounced hateful to Him. They had been destroyed by Josiah, but must have been restored to their former use during the revival of heathenism which followed his death. It is a lurid picture which rises before the prophets imagination as he contemplates the judgment of this provincial idolatry: the altars laid waste, the “sun-pillars” broken, and the idols surrounded by the corpses of men who had fled to their shrines for protection and perished at their feet. This demonstration of the helplessness of the rustic divinities to save their sanctuaries and their worshippers will be the means of breaking the rebellious heart and the whorish eyes that had led Israel so far astray from her true Lord, and will produce in exile the self-loathing which Ezekiel always regards as the beginning of penitence.
But the prophets passion rises to a higher pitch. and he hears the command “Clap thy hands, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Aha for the abominations of the house of Israeli.” These are gestures and exclamations, not of indignation, but of contempt and triumphant scorn. The same feeling and even the same gestures are ascribed to Jehovah Himself in another passage of highly charged emotion. {Eze 21:17} And it is only fair to remember that it is the anticipation of the victory of Jehovahs cause that fills the mind of the prophet at such moments and seems to deaden the sense of human sympathy within him. At the same time the victory of Jehovah was the victory of prophecy, and in so far Smend may be right in regarding the words as throwing light on the intensity of the antagonism in which prophecy and the popular religion then stood. The devastation of the land is to be effected by the same instruments as were at work in the destruction of the city: first the sword of the Chaldaeans, then famine and pestilence among those who escape, until the whole of Israels ancient territory lies desolate from the southern steppes to Riblah in the north.
Chapter 7 is one of those singled out by Ewald as preserving most faithfully the spirit and language of Ezekiels earlier utterances. Both in thought and expression it exhibits a freedom and animation seldom attained in Ezekiels writings, and it is evident that it must have been composed under keen emotion. It is comparatively free from those stereotyped phrases which are elsewhere so common, and the style falls at times into the rhythm which is characteristic of Hebrew poetry. Ezekiel hardly perhaps attains to perfect mastery of poetic form, and even here we may be sensible of a lack of power to blend a series of impressions and images into an artistic unity. The vehemence of his feeling hurries him from one conception to another, without giving full expression to any, or indicating clearly the connection that leads from one to the other. This circumstance, and the corrupt condition of the text together, make the chapter in some parts unintelligible, and as a whole one of the most difficult in the book. In its present position it forms a fitting conclusion to the opening section of the book. All the elements of the judgment which have just been foretold are gathered up in one outburst of emotion, producing a song of triumph in which the prophet seems to stand in the uproar of the final catastrophe and exult amid the crash and wreck of the old order which is passing away.
The passage is divided into five stanzas, which may originally have been approximately equal in length, although the first is now nearly twice as long as any of the others.
1. Eze 7:2-9 -The first verse strikes the keynote of the whole poem; it is the inevitableness and the finality of the approaching dissolution. A striking phrase of Amo 8:2 is first taken up and expanded in accordance with the anticipations with which the previous chapters have now familiarised us: “An end is come, the end is come on the four skirts of the land.” The poet already hears the tumult and confusion of the battle; the vintage songs of the Judaean peasant are silenced, and with the din and fury of war the day of the Lord draws near.
2. Eze 7:10-13 -The prophets thoughts here revert to the present, and he notes the eager interest with which men both in Judah and Babylon are pursuing the ordinary business of life and the vain dreams of political greatness. “The diadem flourishes, the sceptre blossoms, arrogance shoots up.” These expressions must refer to the efforts of the new rulers of Jerusalem to restore the fortunes of the nation and the glories of the old kingdom which had been so greatly tarnished by the recent captivity. Things are going bravely, they think; they are surprised at their own success; they hope that the day of small things will grow into the day of things greater than those which are past. The following verse is untranslatable; probably the original words, if we could recover them, would contain some pointed and scornful antithesis to these futile and vainglorious anticipations. The allusion to “buyers and sellers” (Eze 7:12) may possibly be quite general, referring only to the absorbing interest which men continue to take in their possessions, heedless of the impending judgment. {cf. Luk 17:20-30} But the facts that the advantage is assumed to be on the side of the buyer and that the seller expects to return to his heritage make it probable that the prophet is thinking of the forced sales by the expatriated nobles of their estates in Palestine, and to their deeply cherished resolve to right themselves when the time of their exile is over. All such ambitions, says the prophet, are vain-“the seller shall not return to what he sold, and a man shall not by wrong preserve his living.” In any case Ezekiel evinces here, as elsewhere, a certain sympathy with the exiled aristocracy, in opposition to the pretensions of the new men who had succeeded to their honours.
3. Eze 7:14-18 -The next scene that rises before the prophets vision is the collapse of Judahs military preparations in the hour of danger. Their army exists but on paper. There is much blowing of trumpets and much organising, but no men to go forth to battle. A blight rests on all their efforts; their hands are paralysed and their hearts unnerved by the sense that “wrath rests on all their pomp.” Sword, famine, and pestilence, the ministers of Jehovahs vengeance, shall devour the inhabitants of the city and the country, until but a few survivors on the tops of the mountains remain to mourn over the universal desolation.
4. Eze 7:19-22 -At present the inhabitants of Jerusalem are proud of the ill-gotten and ill-used wealth stored up within her, and doubtless the exiles cast covetous eyes on the luxury which may still have prevailed amongst the upper classes in the capital. But of what avail will all this treasure be in the evil day now so near at hand? It will but add mockery to their sufferings to be surrounded by gold and silver which can do nothing to allay the pangs of hunger. It will be cast in the streets as refuse, for it cannot save them in the day of Jehovahs anger. Nay, more, it will become the prize of the most ruthless of the heathen (the Chaldaeans); and when in the eagerness of their lust for gold they ransack the Temple treasury and so desecrate the Holy Place, Jehovah will avert His face and suffer them to work their will. The curse of Jehovah rests on the silver and gold of Jerusalem, which has been used for the making of idolatrous images, and now is made to them an unclean thing.
5. Eze 7:23-27 -The closing strophe contains a powerful description of the dismay and despair that will seize all classes in the state as the day of wrath draws near. Calamity after calamity comes, rumour follows hard on rumour, and the heads of the nation are distracted and cease to exercise the functions of leadership. The recognised guides of the people-the prophets, the priests, and the wise men-have no word of counsel or direction to offer; the prophets vision, the priests traditional lore, and the wise mans sagacity are alike at fault. So the king and the grandees are filled with stupefaction; and the common people, deprived of their natural leaders, sit down in helpless dejection. Thus shall Jerusalem be recompensed according to her doings. “The land is full of bloodshed, and the city of violence”; and in the correspondence between desert and retribution men shall be made to acknowledge the operation of the divine righteousness. “They shall know that I am Jehovah.”
IV.
It may be useful at this point to note certain theological principles which already begin to appear in this earliest of Ezekiels prophecies. Reflection on the nature and purpose of the divine dealings we have seen to be a characteristic of his work; and even those passages which we have considered, although chiefly devoted to an enforcement of the fact of judgment, present some features of the conception of Israels history which had been formed in his mind.
1. We observe in the first place that the prophet lays great stress on the world-wide significance of the events which are to befall Israel. This thought is not as yet developed, but it is clearly present. The relation between Jehovah and Israel is so peculiar that He is known to the nations in the first instance only. as Israels God, and thus His being and character have to be learned from His dealings with His own people. And since Jehovah is the only true God and must be worshipped as such everywhere, the history of Israel has an interest for the world such as that of no other nation has. She was placed in the centre of the nations in order that the knowledge of God might radiate from her through all the world; and now that she has proved unfaithful to her mission, Jehovah must manifest His power and His character by an unexampled work of judgment. Even the destruction of Israel is a demonstration to the universal conscience of mankind of what true divinity is.
2. But the judgment has of course a purpose and a meaning for Israel herself, and both purposes are summed up in the recurring formula “Ye [they] shall know that I am Jehovah,” or “that I, Jehovah, have spoken.” These two phrases express precisely the same idea, although from slightly different starting-points. It is assumed that Jehovahs personality is to be identified by His word spoken through the prophets. He is known to men through the revelation of Himself in the prophets utterances. “Ye shall know that I, Jehovah, have spoken” means therefore, Ye shall know that it is I, the God of Israel and the Ruler of the universe, who speak these things. In other words, the harmony between prophecy and providence guarantees the source of the prophets message. The shorter phrase “Ye shall know that I am Jehovah” may mean Ye shall know that I who now speak am truly Jehovah, the God of Israel. The prejudices of the people would have led them to deny that the power which dictated Ezekiels prophecy could be their God; but this denial, together with the false idea of Jehovah on which it rests, shall be destroyed forever when the prophets words come true.
There is of course no doubt that Ezekiel conceived Jehovah as endowed with the plenitude of deity, or that in his view the name expressed all that we mean by the word God. Nevertheless, historically the name Jehovah is a proper name, denoting the God who is the God of Israel. Renan has ventured on the assertion that a deity with a proper name is necessarily a false god. The statement perhaps measures the difference between the God of revealed religion and the god who is an abstraction, an expression of the order of the universe, who exists only in the mind of the man who names him. The God of revelation is a living person, with a character and will of His own, capable of being known by man. It is the distinction of revelation that it dares to regard God as an individual with an inner life and nature of His own, independent of the conception men may form of Him. Applied to such a Being, a personal name may be as true and significant as the name which expresses the character and individuality of a man. Only thus can we understand the historical process by which the God who was first manifested as the deity of a particular nation preserves His personal identity with the God who in Christ is at last revealed as the God of the spirits of all flesh. The knowledge of Jehovah of which Ezekiel speaks is therefore at once a knowledge of the character of the God whom Israel professed to serve, and a knowledge of that which constitutes true and essential divinity.
3. The prophet; in Eze 6:8-10, proceeds one step further in delineating the effect of the judgment on the minds of the survivors. The fascination of idolatry for the Israelites is conceived as produced by that radical perversion of the religious sense which the prophets call “whoredom”-a sensuous delight in the blessings of nature, and an indifference to the moral element which can alone preserve either religion or “human love from corruption. The spell shall at last be broken in the new knowledge of Jehovah which is produced by calamity; and the heart of the people, purified from its delusions, shall turn to Him who has smitten them, as the only true God. When your fugitives from the sword are among the nations, when they are scattered through the lands, then shall your fugitives remember Me amongst the nations whither they have been carried captive, when I break their heart that goes awhoring from Me, and their whorish eyes which went after their idols.” When the idolatrous propensity is thus eradicated, the conscience of Israel will turn inwards on itself, and in the light of its new knowledge of God will for the first time read its own history aright. The beginnings of a new spiritual life will be made in the bitter self-condemnation which is one side of the national repentance. “They shall loathe themselves for all the evil that they have committed in all their abominations.”