Ezekiel · chapter 5 of 48
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Ezekiel 5 narrates the sign of the hair: the prophet shaves his head and beard with a sword, weighs the hair and divides it in three parts, standing for the people of Jerusalem burned, struck by the sword and scattered to the wind. God explains that Jerusalem, set at the center of the nations, rebelled more than they did and will receive judgment by famine, sword, wild beasts and pestilence.
Ezekiel 5 continues the sign-acts of chapter 4 and gives a more direct explanation of them. The center of the message is hard: the city God chose and placed among the nations, to be a witness, has become worse than they are. The chapter shows both the weight of judgment and the grief of God.
The Lord tells Ezekiel to take a sword sharp as a barber's razor and run it over his head and beard. Then he must weigh the hair on scales and divide it in three: a third he will burn in the city when the days of the siege are complete; another third he will strike with the sword all around the city; and the last third he will scatter to the wind, with a sword drawn out after it.
From that last part he must take a few hairs and bind them in the hem of his robe, and from those throw some into the fire. This announces that a small remnant will survive, but that even among them some will face further judgment.
The Lord explains: Jerusalem, whom he set in the midst of the nations, has rejected his rules and statutes with more wickedness than they, and so he himself will be against her. Before the eyes of the nations he will carry out judgments such as he has not done before and will not do again: fathers will eat their children and children their fathers. His sanctuary was defiled with idols and abominations.
A third of the city will die of plague or famine, another will fall by the sword and another will be scattered. God will withdraw his eye of pity. Then the city will know that he is the Lord, who spoke in his zeal, and Jerusalem will become a taunt and a horror among the nations.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Ezekiel must shave with a sword, a gesture that was humiliating for a priest and recalled mourning. The hair weighed on the scales shows that God's judgment is measured and precise.
Jerusalem is at the center of the nations, with countries all around her. It was a position of privilege and of responsibility: she was expected to reflect God before her neighbors.
God accuses Jerusalem of being more unruly than the nations around her and of not even living by their standards. The accusation shows that her problem was the unfaithfulness of the one who had received the most.
When God's fury is spent, the people will know that the Lord spoke in his zeal. The judgment is not caprice but the response of a God who commits himself to his people and will not tolerate betrayal.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: A sharp sword, like a barber's razor. — Ezekiel 5:1
Answer: Three parts, after weighing it on scales. — Ezekiel 5:1-2
Answer: The Lord will unsheathe a sword after them. — Ezekiel 5:2
Answer: In the midst of the nations, with countries all around her. — Ezekiel 5:5
Answer: Fathers would eat their children and children their fathers. — Ezekiel 5:10
Answer: Famine, wild beasts, pestilence and the sword. — Ezekiel 5:17
The chapter is harsh, but it teaches that closeness to God brings responsibility. Jerusalem had the temple, the law and a history with the Lord, and for that very reason her rebellion was graver. Christians who grew up in church can humbly ask how much of what they received has turned into routine.
It also teaches us not to see judgment as cold. The Lord speaks with zeal and with pain, and he leaves a remnant. In a small group, talk about how to speak of God's judgment with both seriousness and hope, remembering that in Christ there is forgiveness for anyone who turns to him.
Ezekiel 5 presents the judgment on Jerusalem as a sign and as a consequence of her unfaithfulness. Chapter 6 directs the prophecy to the mountains of Israel, where the altars of the idols stood.
The text's own explanation assigns one part to those who would die of plague and famine inside the city, another to those who would fall by the sword around it and another to those scattered with the sword after them. The few hairs kept in the robe point to a preserved remnant.
It is a warning of the extreme famine of a siege, something other parts of the Bible also mention among the covenant curses (for example, Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28) and that Lamentations 4 recalls as a painful reality. It is harsh language but not gratuitous: it shows how far the breaking of the covenant would go.