Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 5:16
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:
16. arrows of famine ] Cf. Deu 32:23-24.
shall be for their destruction ] as R.V., that are for destruction.
I will increase ] lit. add, i.e. send famine upon famine upon you. On “staff of bread” cf. ch. Eze 4:14.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 16. The evil arrows of famine] Famine and pestilence are represented as poisoned arrows, inflicting death wherever they wound. The ancients represented them in the same way.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I shall send; it is a messenger that goes not till God sends, and ever goes when he sendeth; he sends cleanness of teeth.
The evil arrows; either because thunder, tempests, locusts, blastings, &c., which cause famine, are sent by him, and fly like arrows; or because, like arrows shot forth, they pierce deep and kill.
Shall be for their destruction; is mortal and destructive in its nature.
To destroy you; that it may be sure to destroy and attain that effect, I design it for that very end. To make sure work against such,
I will increase the famine, either by sweeping away the little supplies expected, or continuing it longer than ordinary. Or, I will summon in penury as an army against you.
Break your staff of bread; withdraw the strengthening property of your bread. See Eze 4:16.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. arrows of faminehail,rain, mice, locusts, mildew (see Deu 32:23;Deu 32:24).
increase thefamineliterally, “congregate” or “collect.”When ye think your harvest safe because ye have escaped drought,mildew, &c., I will find other means [CALVIN],which I will congregate as the forces of an invading army,to bring famine on you.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famines,…. Either famine itself, which is as an arrow; it is taken out of the quiver of the Lord of hosts, and is shot by him; and moves swiftly when it has a commission; and is very destructive: or arrows which bring on a famine, such as drought, excessive rains, blasting, mildew, locusts, c. or arrows which the famine brings, as leanness, faintness, blackness, and death and, in either sense, are evil ones; and are sent of God for the following end:
which shall be for [their] destruction, [and] which I will send to destroy you; God’s design in sending them was to destroy, and that was answered; and a very destroying arrow famine is, and therefore called evil:
and I will increase the famine upon you; or “gather y [it] upon”, or “against you”; as if it was an army with bows and arrows:
and will break your staff of bread: take away the virtue from the little they had, that that should not nourish and satisfy;
[See comments on Eze 4:16].
y “famen congregabo, super vos”, V. L. Pagninus; “famen colligam super vos”, Montanus, Polanus, Starckius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He illustrates the sentiment which we have seen, but not after the manner of rhetoricians, who affect splendor and ornament of speech; but his only design was to penetrate the minds of the people, like stones or iron. This, then, is the reason why he uses such variety here, and adorns his teaching with various figures. For he now compares God to an archer, who points his arrows against them; but he speaks metaphorically concerning the arrows of God; for he calls them arrows of famine and evil, that is, deadly and death-bearing. Since, then, I shall hurl evil arrows against them, they shall cause their destruction, says he; that is, they shall not escape death, because they shall be struck with mortal wounds. A person might be struck by the blow of an arrow, and yet become convalescent; but God pronounces the arrows of which he speaks deadly, so that whoever is struck by them has no hope of safety left. Besides, by arrows of famine we may understand such barrenness of soil as flies, locusts, and other scourges of God — at one time scorching, at another mildew dries up the corn-field, now rains make the wheat rot, now heat burns it up, as many sources of corruption and pestilence as these are to the crops, so many are the arrows of God which transfix men’s hearts, and that too by a deadly wound. If so subtle an explanation does not please any one, he is at liberty to take it otherwise; yet if any one properly attends, he will confess that God darts his own arrows as often as he causes famine, or deprives men of sustenance. He adds, which shall become corruption He confirms what we said was denoted by the epithet הרעים, hergnim. He says, therefore, that these arrows would be destructive, because they should be for perdition and destruction. Another confirmation follows: which I will send, says he, against them to destroy them Here God distinctly affirms that he would dart forth those arrows, and repeats again what we saw before, and that, too, in the same verse. But we have taught you why the Prophet insists, in many words, on a matter by no means obscure. He adds, and I will multiply famine against them. Here he signifies that he was armed with different weapons, so that if men perceive themselves to have fallen, they may perceive that God has other hidden weapons, which he has not yet brought into use. By the word “ multiply ” the Prophet expresses what we have already seen, by means of arrows, for he uses the plural number, but the impious restrict as much as they can the power of God. “If God wills” they say, “he can indeed ruin the corn-fields with continual rain, he can also burn them up by too much heat, if we have escaped the frost and the hail, the storm, and the rain., and the drought, it will have already gone well with us.” Thus the impious harden themselves in their security. And why? because they restrict God’s arrows to a fixed and certain number. This is the reason why he says, I will multiply famine upon them; that is, when they think their yearly produce safe, because they have escaped drought, and rain, and mildew, and storm, and hail, I will find, says he, other modes unknown to them, by which I will bring famine upon them. And he expresses one manner of doing so — I will break the staff of bread, concerning which form of speaking we have spoken previously. I do not subscribe to their opinion who say, that the staff of bread is broken when God sends a deficiency of corn; for in the greatest plenty the staff of bread is broken, as we saw in Moses, when God takes away the nourishing quality of bread, and makes it vanish, (Deu 8:3,) because man lives not by bread alone, but by that secret inspiration which God has implanted in the bread. Hence we may eat more than fourfold the usual quantity, and yet not be satisfied, as this form of speech often occurs with the Prophets, which they take from Moses. Thou shalt eat, and not be satisfied, say they. (Lev 26:26; Isa 9:20; Eze 7:0; Hos 4:10; Mic 6:14.) So also here the Prophet repeats what we saw in the last chapter — that God breaks the staff of bread, that is, takes away its nourishing quality, so that he who feeds upon it does not feel that he has recovered new rigor. It follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
E. The Third Threat 5:1617
TRANSLATION
(16) When I send against them the evil arrows of famine that are for destruction which I shall send against you to destroy you; and I shall increase famine upon you and I shall shatter your staff of bread; (17) and I will send against you famine and wild beasts and they shall bereave you; and pestilence and blood shall pass through you; and I will bring a sword upon you. I the LORD have spoken it.
COMMENTS
In the third threat of this discourse Ezekiel enumerates six calamities which will befall Judah!
1. God was about to send against His people the evil arrows of famine, i.e., blasting, mildew, locusts and other plagues which would lead to a scarcity of food.
2. On top of this God would increase the famine. He would withhold the rain. Thus would He shatter the staff of bread (Eze. 5:16; cf. Eze. 4:16).
3. In addition to famine, God would send other disasters against His wayward people. The land would become so de populated that wild beasts would be a problem. They would especially attack children and thus would the wicked mothers and fathers be bereaved.
4. Pestilence plagues against man and beast would also take their toll.
5. Others would die by violence as blood would pass through their midst
6. Finally, they would face the sword of divine retribution, the Chaldean enemy.
It should be noted that three times in this first discourse Ezekiel stressed the fact that I the Lord have spoken (Eze. 5:13; Eze. 5:15; Eze. 5:17). It is not the existence of the Lord that is being stressed, but the identity of the speaker as Yahweh. It is really Yahweh, the God of revelation and redemption, who has made these threats. He is a God who reveals Himself in acts as well as in words In fact His acts accredit and validate His words. The dire threats of this chapter were certain to befall Judah.
In summarizing the first discourse, three stages of backsliding can be observed (1) the Jews had rebelled against the ordinances of God in their hearts (Eze. 5:6); (2) they ceased to walk in Gods statutes in the outer life (Eze. 5:6); and finally, (3) they were so brazen that they defiled Gods sanctuary (Eze. 5:11). With regard to Jerusalems punishments again a threefold progression is observable: (1) God was against His people (Eze. 5:8); (2) God would execute judgments on His people (Eze. 5:8); and finally (3) those judgments would be executed in anger and wrath (Eze. 5:15).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
“When I shall send on them the hurtful arrows of famine, which are for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, and I will increase the famine on you and will break your staff of bread, and I will send on you famine and evil beasts, and they will bereave you, and pestilence and blood will pass through you, and I will bring the sword on you. I, Yahweh, have spoken it.”
The desolations were now spelled out. Firstly famine. This would be like hurtful arrows (Deu 32:23), arriving suddenly, destroying men when no one was near. And the famine would increase and get worse, and the provisions on which they had leant for so long would be taken from them. They would no longer have anything to depend on.
And, as was inevitable with such famine, starving evil beasts would seek human flesh in order to survive, resulting in many bereavements, and pestilence and blood would follow on people starved of nourishment. Note the combination of ‘pestilence and blood’. The two words in Hebrew are an alliteration, ‘deber wa dam’. Elsewhere ‘blood’ often signifies pestilence. Then on top of this will come the sword. Men of violence would take advantage of the weakness resulting from their parlous state. And all this would come on them because Yahweh had allowed it. It is Yahweh Who says so.
Famine, wild beasts, pestilence, sword, these types of the judgment of God are fairly common in Scripture. See especially ‘God’s four sore judgments’ (Eze 14:21); ‘God’s seven times more plagues’ (Lev 26:21-26); see also Deu 32:23-25; Rev 6:8. They are His ‘reward’ for covenant unfaithfulness.
Throughout this passage we are made aware of Ezekiel’s profound sense of the holiness of God, of the awfulness and sublimity of the divine King, of the greatness of His glory, accentuated by his great vision, and of his awareness of the sacredness and authority of the Law, the divine instruction, so that all disobedience totally outraged him. It may be that we live in the age of mercy and abundant salvation, but we need to be aware that God has not changed. He still hates sin just as bitterly.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eze 5:16 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:
Ver. 16. When I shall send upon you the evil arrows of famine. ] Not to warn you, as Jonathan’s arrows did David, but to wound you to the heart, and to lay you heaps upon heaps. Deu 32:23-24
And break your staff of bread.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
I shall sand, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Deu 32:23, Deu 32:24).
which: or, who.
break your staff of bread, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Lev 26:26). App-92. Compare Eze 4:13.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the evil: Deu 32:23, Deu 32:24, Psa 7:13, Psa 91:5-7, Lam 3:12
and will: Eze 4:16, Eze 14:13, Lev 26:26, 2Ki 6:25, Isa 3:1
Reciprocal: Psa 104:15 – bread Lam 1:11 – seek Lam 2:19 – that faint
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 5:16. When God sends his judgments on Israel, it should be a lesson to them (the heathen) and cause them to improve their national ways.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
5:16 When I shall send upon them the evil {h} 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:
(h) Which were the grasshoppers, mildew and whatever were opportunities for famine.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Lord would send famine-like arrows against His people to destroy them. Also wild beasts, plague, hemorrhage (associated with disease) or possibly cannibalism, [Note: Ibid., p. 215.] and war would be His instruments to judge them (cf. Lev 26:21-26). These are standard curses for covenant unfaithfulness referred to frequently in the Mosaic Law (e.g., Lev 26:22; Lev 26:26; Lev 26:29; Deu 28:21; Deu 28:53-56; Deu 32:23-25; Deu 32:42; cf. Lam 1:7-14; Lam 2:20-22; Lam 4:4-10). All this Yahweh solemnly promised to do.
"The categorical imperative that rested on Ezekiel to carry out this task of watchman is reminiscent of that of Paul to ’warn everyone and teach everyone’ (Col 1:24-29, esp. 5:28). This imperative, both prophetic and apostolic, underscores the need for God’s people to covet a strong sense of his will in matters of their own hearts and habits." [Note: Allen, p. 80.]