Ezekiel 5:1-7

God’s Razor of Judgment

1 “Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor to shave your head and your beard. Then take a set of scales and divide up the hair.
2 When the days of your siege come to an end, burn a third of the hair inside the city. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city. And scatter a third to the wind. For I will pursue them with drawn sword.
3 But take a few hairs and tuck them away in the folds of your garment.
4 Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire and burn them up. A fire will spread from there to all Israel.
5 “This is what the Sovereign LORD says: This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her.
6 Yet in her wickedness she has rebelled against my laws and decrees more than the nations and countries around her. She has rejected my laws and has not followed my decrees.
7 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: You have been more unruly than the nations around you and have not followed my decrees or kept my laws. You have not even[a] conformed to the standards of the nations around you.

Ezekiel 5:1-7 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 5

This chapter is of the same argument with the former; and contains a type of Jerusalem's destruction; an explanation of that type; what were the reasons of God's judgments on that city; and the nature, rise, and end of them. The type is in Eze 5:1-4; the explanation of that type is in Eze 5:5; the reasons of the severe judgments threatened are changing the statutes of the Lord, and not walking in them, and defiling the sanctuary with their abominations, Eze 5:6-11; an account of the judgments of God, answerable to each of the parts in the type, Eze 5:12; the ends of these judgments are, with respect to God, the accomplishment of his anger, and the satisfaction of his justice; with respect to the Jews, bringing them to an acknowledgment that he had spoken in his zeal; and, with respect to the nations, their instruction and astonishment, Eze 5:13-15; and the chapter is concluded with an assurance that these judgments would be sent, Eze 5:16,17.

Cross References 12

  • 1. S Numbers 6:5; Isaiah 7:20
  • 2. Ezekiel 44:20
  • 3. S Leviticus 21:5; S 2 Samuel 10:4
  • 4. Zechariah 13:8
  • 5. Jeremiah 21:10; Ezekiel 15:7
  • 6. ver 10; Jeremiah 13:24
  • 7. ver 12; S Leviticus 26:33; S Jeremiah 9:16; S Jeremiah 39:1-2
  • 8. 2 Kings 25:12; S Psalms 74:11; Jeremiah 39:10
  • 9. Ezekiel 10:7; Ezekiel 15:7
  • 10. S Deuteronomy 4:6; S Lamentations 1:1; Ezekiel 16:14
  • 11. S 2 Kings 17:15; Nehemiah 9:17; Jeremiah 11:10; S Ezekiel 2:3; Ezekiel 16:47-51; Zechariah 7:11
  • 12. S 2 Kings 21:9; S 2 Chronicles 33:9; Jeremiah 2:10-11; Ezekiel 16:47

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Most Hebrew manuscripts; some Hebrew manuscripts and Syriac "You have"
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