Ezekiel 5:1-17

Ezekiel: ‘They shall know that I am God’

The *Sin of Judah and the Judgement of God

Ezekiel Chapter s 1 to 24

Ian Mackervoy

Chapter 5

Ezekiel cuts and divides his hair – Ezekiel 5:1-4

v1 ‘Now, *son of man, take a sharp sword. Use it as a razor to shave your head and your beard. Then weigh and divide the hair. v2 Burn one-third of the hair with fire in the middle of the city. Do this when the days of the attack on Jerusalem are over. Then take one third of the hair and strike it with the sword all about the city. Scatter the last third of the hair to the wind. This is how I will chase the *Israelites with a sword. v3 But take a few of these hairs and tie them in your clothes. v4 Also, take a few more of the hairs. Throw them into the fire and burn them up. This fire will spread to all the *Israelites.’

Verse 1 The *Lord told Ezekiel to shave his head and his beard. Instead of a razor, he had to use a sharp sword. This was to show that the *Lord would use a sword (in other words, war) against the people. This sword meant the army of the king of Babylon. The king of Babylon was the agent of God to punish the people in Judah.

To shave the head was a sign of shame. For a priest to shave his head meant that he was not holy. He could not act as a priest. But Ezekiel obeyed God and he shaved his head and his beard. He showed that the people in Judah were not now holy to the *Lord.

Ezekiel weighed the hair and he divided it into three parts. This shows the judgement of God. He will divide the people in Judah into three groups. And he will punish them.

Verse 2 When Ezekiel had finished the battle for Jerusalem then he must burn a third of the hair. He burned them on the brick that was his Jerusalem (see Ezekiel 4:1). A third of the people in Jerusalem would die by fire.

Ezekiel must strike a third of the hair with his sword. A third of the people in Jerusalem would die by the sword. That is, the *Babylonian army would kill them.

The third that remained Ezekiel threw to the wind. It blew away. The last third of the people in Jerusalem would go into *exile.

God would use the army of Babylon to punish his people.

Verses 3-4 The final third would not all escape. Some of them would die by fire and some would die by the sword. So most of these families would never return to *Israel. But the few hairs in the clothes are safe. Some of the *exiles would escape and they would be safe. God still had a special plan for these few *Israelites. He would protect them in Babylon. And, in time, he would bring them back to *Israel.

About 4 years later Zedekiah *broke his promise to the king of Babylon. The king of Babylon attacked Jerusalem and the events in this *prophecy happened. The *prophecy was to prepare the *exiles with Ezekiel for the *disaster that would soon happen.

The *Lord will punish Jerusalem – Ezekiel 5:5-17

v5 ‘This is what the *LORD your King says. This is Jerusalem. It is as if I have put Jerusalem at the centre of the nations. And I have put other countries all about Jerusalem. v6 But Jerusalem’s inhabitants have refused to obey my laws. And Jerusalem’s inhabitants have been more evil than the nations that are about Jerusalem. The people in Jerusalem have refused my laws and they have not lived by my rules.

v7 Therefore, this is what the *LORD your King says. You have caused more trouble than the nations about you. You have not followed my rules. You have not obeyed my laws. You have not even lived by the standards of the nations about you.

v8 So, this is what the *LORD your King says to Jerusalem and its inhabitants. I myself am against you, Jerusalem. I will punish you and the nations will see it. v9 I will do in you what I have not done before. And I will never do these things again. You do the things that I hate. Therefore, I will punish you. v10 Parents among you will eat their children. Children will eat their parents. So, I will punish you. Those who remain alive I will scatter. They will go in all directions, like hair that blows in the wind. v11 Therefore I, the *LORD your King, am declaring this to you. And it is certain, even as I live. You have made my *temple an *unclean place. You have put false gods in it and you do evil things there. Because of this, I also will leave you. I will not pity you, and I will not save you. v12 A third of your people will die of disease or hunger inside the city. A third of your people will fall by the sword outside the city walls. And a third I will scatter in every direction. I will chase them with a sword.

v13 I will *pour out my anger on them and then my anger will end. This will satisfy me. Then they will know that I, the *LORD, have spoken. They will see my anger. And they will know how much I hate their *sin.

v14 I will ruin you and I will make you into a waste place. I will make you ashamed among the nations. All who pass by will see this. They will see what I have done to you. v15 I will punish you because I am so angry with you. Then terror will spread through the nations that are about you. They will look at you with disgust and they will insult you. I, the *LORD, have spoken this to you. v16 I will cause your crops to fail. I will send a time of hunger to kill you. I will cut off the supply of food to you and you will starve. v17 I will cause there to be a lack of food among you. Wild animals will come and attack you. They will take away your children. Many of you people will be sick and many will die. And I will bring the sword against you to kill you. I, the *LORD, have spoken this to you.’

Verses 5-7 God loved Jerusalem. He had chosen that city for himself. He describes it as ‘the centre’ of the earth. In other words, he considered it more important than any other city. He had given his law to Jerusalem and to the *Israelites by Moses. That law contains promises for those who obeyed its rules. And it contains punishments for those who did not obey them.

The people in Jerusalem had not been loyal to God. They did not obey his laws. They did not even behave as well as the nations round them. They were more wicked than their neighbours. They *worshipped and served false gods. And they turned away from the real God.

Verses 8-9 God himself turned against Jerusalem. The nations will watch as God punishes the city. God has never done this before and he will never do it again. But he will punish them for all the evil things that they had done.

The rest of this chapter is a message from God to Jerusalem and its inhabitants. So, sometimes the word ‘you’ means the city. And sometimes ‘you’ means the inhabitants of the city.

Verse 10 There will not be enough food in the city when the army of Babylon surrounds it. The hunger will be so bad that the people will even kill each other for food. Parents will eat their children. And children will eat their parents.

God will scatter those who remain alive. A small number will go into *exile. But most of the people will die as God punishes them.

Verse 11 The *temple should have been the place where the people would go to *worship God. But the people had brought false gods into the *temple. They did evil things in God’s holy *temple. It was not fit for the *worship of God. God would leave the *temple and he would destroy it.

The people had made the *temple an *unclean place. So, God would *destroy the people. He would not save them from the *disaster to come.

Verse 12 Hunger and disease will kill a third of the people. The *Babylonian army will kill a third of the people. Zedekiah and his men will try to escape but the soldiers will catch them. Those who escape from the city will not be safe. The *Lord will pursue them and many of them will die.

Verse 13 God was angry because of all their *sin. God hates *sin. When he has punished them, his anger will end. Then they will know that he is the *Lord. They will know that he has spoken.

Verses 14-17 The *Lord by Ezekiel gives a list of the *disasters that are to happen in Jerusalem soon. God will destroy Jerusalem. People from other nations will know that the *Lord has done it. They will know that God was so angry with his people. They will know that the *Israelites were not loyal to their God. Because of this, the people from other nations will blame and insult the *Israelites.

The crops will fail and many people will starve to death. Wild animals will attack and kill some of them. Animals will take away children for their food. Many people will die because they are sick. Then the army of Babylon will kill most of those people who are still alive.

God said that all this would happen. And in just a few years, it did.

Enemies will destroy the country called Judah – Ezekiel 6:1-7

• God told Ezekiel about the awful punishment that the people in Judah would suffer. They would suffer because of their *sin, especially the *worship of false gods. They would die because of war, disease and hunger. Those people who did not die would become *exiles. But they would know that the *Lord is God.

• The events in this *prophecy happened in the year 586 *BC, when the *Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem.

sin ~ Sin means the wrong things that we do. To sin is to do wrong, bad or evil deeds and not to obey God. People are called sinners because of their sins.'son of man ~ Ezekiel. ‘Son of man’ was the title that God used for Ezekiel. It emphasised that Ezekiel was a mere man. Ezekiel would have to depend on God’s Spirit to make him strong. Only then could Ezekiel do what God told him to do.
Israelites ~ the people whose ancestors are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
Lord ~ a title for God, to show that he is over all people and things.
LORD ~ ‘LORD’ is the special name that God gave to himself. It probably means ‘always God’. This name has a relationship with the special promises that God gave to his people.
Babylonian ~ a person from the nation called Babylon or anything that has a relationship with Babylon.
exile ~ When people have to live in a foreign country they are in exile. Such a person is called an exile.
Israel ~ Israel is the nation whose ancestors were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The country in which they live is called Israel. Israel became the name of the northern nation when it separated from Judah. However, Ezekiel sometimes uses the word ‘Israel’ to refer to Judah.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
prophecy ~ a message from God; a gift of the Holy Spirit.
disaster ~ when something very bad happens.
Lord ~ a title for God, to show that he is over all people and things.
LORD ~ ‘LORD’ is the special name that God gave to himself. It probably means ‘always God’. This name has a relationship with the special promises that God gave to his people.
temple ~ a special building for the worship of God or other gods. The Jews had one in Jerusalem for the worship of the real God.
worship ~ an act to give honour to God (or to a false god). When people praise and thank God.
Jews ~ another name for the Israelites.
Israelites ~ the people whose ancestors are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
unclean ~ unfit for sacred purposes. Unclean food is food that the Jews should not eat because of their religion. When the temple was unclean, it was not right for the worship of God.
Jews ~ another name for the Israelites.
temple ~ a special building for the worship of God or other gods. The Jews had one in Jerusalem for the worship of the real God.
worship ~ an act to give honour to God (or to a false god). When people praise and thank God.
Israelites ~ the people whose ancestors are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
sin ~ Sin means the wrong things that we do. To sin is to do wrong, bad or evil deeds and not to obey God. People are called sinners because of their sins.
worship ~ an act to give honour to God (or to a false god). When people praise and thank God.
destroy ~ to carry out the most severe punishment possible; to cause someone to suffer; to kill everyone in a nation.
BC ~ years before Christ was born.