Major Prophets · Chapter 5 of 48

Ezekiel 5

Commanded to shave his head and beard with a sword-sharp razor, Ezekiel weighs and divides the hair into three parts: a third burned, a third struck with the knife, a third scattered to the wind. The sign portrays Jerusalem's fate under siege. Set among the nations to display God's ways, she rebelled worse than the heathen, so the Lord Himself now stands against her.

What happens in Ezekiel 5

The Lord tells Ezekiel to take a sharp razor over head and beard, then balances to weigh the shorn hair. He burns a third inside the city, strikes a third around it with a knife, and scatters a third to the wind, drawing a sword after them. A few hairs he binds in his skirts, then casts some into the fire. God interprets: this is Jerusalem, set in the midst of the nations, who changed His judgments into wickedness more than the surrounding peoples.

Because she refused His statutes, He declares Himself against her and will execute unprecedented judgments in the sight of the nations. Fathers will eat sons and sons fathers, and the remnant will be scattered to every wind. Because she defiled His sanctuary with detestable things, His eye will not spare. A third dies by pestilence and famine, a third by sword, a third scattered, until His fury rests.

Ezekiel 5 in context

Ezekiel prophesies among the Judean exiles by the river Chebar in Babylon, around 592 BC, before Jerusalem's final fall in 586. This razor sign-act follows the earlier siege drama, dramatizing the coming destruction. Jerusalem, uniquely privileged as God's chosen city among the nations, is charged with greater guilt precisely because of greater light.

The threefold division echoes the covenant curses of Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28.

Main themes of Ezekiel 5

Ezekiel 5 (KJV)

1And 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. 2Thou 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. 3Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts. 4Then 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. 5Thus saith the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her. 6And 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. 7Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; 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; 8Therefore 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. 9And 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. 10Therefore 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. 11Wherefore, 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. 12A 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. 13Thus 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 the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them. 14Moreover I will make thee waste, and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by. 15So 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. 16When 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: 17So 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.

Verses to carry from Ezekiel 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.”Ezekiel 5:5

“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.”Ezekiel 5:11

“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 the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them.”Ezekiel 5:13

Reflection

It is possible to be near holy things and still far from a holy heart. Jerusalem held the sanctuary yet defiled it. Ask where familiarity with sacred things has dulled reverence in you. God takes worship seriously because He takes us seriously, and the mercy that spares a remnant invites return before judgment falls.

A prayer from Ezekiel 5