The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel
Ezekiel 5
Chapter V · Vol. III, pp. 1316–1317
1 Under the type of the prophet's hair, 5 is showed the judgment of Jerusalem for their rebellion, 12 by famine, sword, and dispersion.
1 And thou, son of man, atake thee a bsharp knife, take thee a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head, and upon thy beard; then take thee cbalances to weigh, and divide the hair.
2 Thoud shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the ecity, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part, and gsmite about it with a knife; and a third part thou shalt hscatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them.
4 Then jtake of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire,3 and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.
j 2 Ki.25.25. Je.xli.-xliv.; 52.30.
3 This fire was the conspiracy of Ishmael, which was fatal to the miserable remnant that were still left in Judea, Je.41.2-18; 43.12.—C.
5 Thus saith the Lord GOD, kThis is Jerusalem: lI have set it in the midst4 of the nations and countries that are round about her.5
k ch.4.1. Am.3.2.
l ch.16.14. 1 Ki.8.41,42. Mat.5.14. De.4.6.
4 'In the midst of the nations' familiarly known to one another by commercial intercourse.—C.
5 The reference here is to the spiritual rather than the temporal position of Jerusalem. Temporally Jerusalem was never a great centre of influence and power, like Babylon or Rome; but spiritually—viewed in relation to a revelation from God—Jerusalem stood first among the cities of the world.—P.
6 Andn 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 orefused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them.
n Je.2.10,11; 6.7; 4.14. Ro.1.23,25. Jude 4. ch.16.47,48,51. De.32.6,15-21. Ho.4.6. 2 Ki.xvi.xxi. Je.ii.-xviii. ch.xvi.xx.xxii.-xxiv. Is.i.ii.ix.lix. Mi.ii.iii.vii. Zep.i.iii.
o Ne.9.16,17. Je.5.3.
7 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, pBecause ye multiplied6 more than the nations that are round about you, qand have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments, neither have done according to the judgments7 of the nations that are round about you:
p De.32.15. ch.16.15. Ho.13.6.
6 Multiplied—either your idols or your sins—'more than the nations.'—C.
q De.32.15-21. 2 Ki.17.7-23. See ver.6.
A.M. cir. 3410. B.C. cir. 594.
7 Or, manners, ch.11.12; 16.47. Je.2.10,11. Mi.4.5.
8 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold rI, even I, am against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee, in the sight of the nations.
9 And I will do in thee sthat which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the like, because of all thine abominations.
10 Therefore the fathers tshall 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 uwill I scatter into all the winds.
11 Wherefore, vas I live, saith the Lord GOD, Surely, because thou hast xdefiled my sanctuary with all thy ydetestable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish8 thee; zneither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity.
v Am.8.7. He.3.11,18.
x ch.7.20; 8.5; 23.38; 44.7. Je.7.20; 11.13; 32.34. 2 Ki.23.12; 21.4. 2 Ch.36.14.
y ch.11.21. Je.44.4.
12 Aa 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 bscatter a third part into all the winds, and cI will draw out a sword after them.
13 Thusd shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and Ie will be comforted: and they shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in my gzeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them.
14 Moreover, hI will make thee waste, and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by.
15 So it shall be9 a reproach and a taunt, an instructioni and an astonishment unto the nations that are round about thee, when I shall executej judgments in thee, in anger and in fury, and in furious rebukes. I the LORD have spoken it.1
9 So it shall be. 'So ye shall be' (The Versions).—C.
i Is.26.9. 1 Co.10.11. La.4.12. Je.19.8; 22.8. De.29.22-28; 28.37.
j ch.25.17. Na.1.2. De.32.22,23. Is.66.15,16.
1 The general scope of this prophecy shows that it embraced a period extending into the distant future. The fulfilment commenced a few years after the words were uttered; it has been ever since progressing, and it is not yet complete. The portion of Israel, 'scattered in the wind,' has still the sword of God's wrath 'drawn out' after them. The Jewish prophets were able to look away down the long vista of Jewish history, and to depict it on the prophetic canvas, as a painter represents the windings of a long valley on the flat surface of his picture.—P.
16 When I shall send upon them2 the evil karrows of famine,3 which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and lwill break your staff of bread:
2 Upon them. 'Upon you.'—Boothroyd.
* Evil arrows of famine. Drought, blight, mildew, storm, hail, rain, locusts, caterpillars, &c., so often the swift and irresistible 'arrows of famine' and harbingers of pestilence.—C.
A.M. cir. 3410. B.C. cir. 594.
k De.32.23,24. Ps.7.13; 64.7; 91.5.
3 See note * in first column.
17 So will I send upon you famine and nevil beasts, and they shall bereave thee; and opestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and I pwill bring the sword upon thee. I the LORD have spoken it.
n Le.26.22. Je.15.3. De.32.24. Ex.23.29, with ch.14.21; 33.27; 34.25,28. 2 Ki.17.25.
o ver.12; ch.14.19; 38.22.
p ch.6.2; 23.47; 21.3.
Notes
Ver. 1-4. This imports that Jerusalem, which had been the head of the nation, full of inhabitants, and numerous, but now weak, as hairs, should undergo the foulest disgrace and bitterest grief; and being weighed in the balances of God's justice, should have punishment answerable to their guilt: the city should be taken and burned; one-third of the inhabitants consumed in the flames, or by the pestilence and famine; another slain during the siege, or in attempting to escape; the other be led captive to Chaldea, or flee for refuge to Egypt, Moab, and Ammon, whither the sword of the Chaldeans would pursue them. A few of them seemed about to escape, but the slaughter of Gedaliah their governor, and others, and their flight into Egypt, not only issued in their own ruin, but provoked the Chaldeans to further cruelties against the remains of their nation.
Ver. 2. Thou shalt burn, &c. Either actually in the midst of the city, when the days of his recumbency were completed, or emblematically, in the midst of the plan of the city and siege which the prophet had portrayed on the tile, ch. 4. 1.—Burning may represent the pestilence or burning fever, the usual attendant upon famine, La. 5. 10, or the actual burning of the city, Je. 52. 13.—The knife represents destruction by the sword.—The scattering represents the captivity and dispersion. C.
Ver. 6. They (the nations) have refused—but merely refused—but Israel speciously accepted and falsely covenanted to obey, then lightly changed and wickedly rejected my judgments and my statutes, and so were worse than the heathen. C.
Ver. 7. Neither have done, &c. Neither have ye done so well as the nations—they have tenaciously adhered to the gods of their idolatrous fathers—ye have lightly forsaken the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They have been comparatively moral with a false religion; you have followed lies though in possession of the oracles of truth. C.
Ver. 17. Evil beasts. Either actually wild beasts, driven from the rivers by inundations, from the mountains by storms, or from the deserts by hunger; or figuratively, the Chaldeans, whose untamed ferocity justly entitled them to be called 'evil beasts.' C.
Reflections.—If men will not be reformed, they must certainly be ruined: and with great ease, and by a vast variety of judgments, God can accomplish the destruction of obstinate sinners. It is very awful when those who should have remained as monuments of mercy fall because of their sins: and highly criminal when such as had been singularly privileged with God's favours, oracles, and ordinances, for promoting the welfare of all around them, become a plague, and the vilest monsters in wickedness: and yet often apostate professors become more abandoned than heathens! How awful it is when idols and their services are admitted into God's land, his temple, his church, and the heart formed for himself! The immediate agents in the ruin of sinners are all the instruments of an angry God: and when his wrath is kindled, who can abide it! It is dreadful to contemplate that by our sins we may come to destruction. And, alas! in what awful condition must the impenitent perish for ever! If public reproofs cannot restrain public wickedness, public judgments must follow at last. Some will be destroyed and should become a warning to others. And if God bear long with us in our sins, his judgments must be the severer when they are inflicted. And the most incredulous will at length be forced to believe his Word, though it should be by their own everlasting destruction.