Ezekiel 5:1

1 “Son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a razor to shave your head and beard. Use a scale to weigh the hair into three equal parts.

Ezekiel 5:1 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 5:1

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 ( Isaiah 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.

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 (brx) "gladium", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Polanus, Starckius.

Ezekiel 5:1 In-Context

1 “Son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a razor to shave your head and beard. Use a scale to weigh the hair into three equal parts.

2 Place a third of it at the center of your map of Jerusalem. After acting out the siege, burn it there. Scatter another third across your map and chop it with a sword. Scatter the last third to the wind, for I will scatter my people with the sword.

3 Keep just a bit of the hair and tie it up in your robe.

4 Then take some of these hairs out and throw them into the fire, burning them up. A fire will then spread from this remnant and destroy all of Israel.

5 “This is what the Sovereign LORD says: This is an illustration of what will happen to Jerusalem. I placed her at the center of the nations,