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Ezekiel Chapter
Five
Ezekiel 5
Chapter Contents
A type of hair, showing the judgments about to come upon
the Jews. (1-4) These awful judgments are declared. (5-17)
Commentary on Ezekiel 5:1-4
(Read Ezekiel 5:1-4)
The prophet must shave off the hair of his head and
beard, which signifies God's utter rejecting and abandoning that people. One
part must be burned in the midst of the city, denoting the multitudes that
should perish by famine and pestilence. Another part was to be cut in pieces,
representing the many who were slain by the sword. Another part was to be
scattered in the wind, denoting the carrying away of some into the land of the
conqueror, and the flight of others into the neighbouring countries for
shelter. A small quantity of the third portion was to be bound in his shirts,
as that of which he is very careful. But few were reserved. To whatever refuge
sinners flee, the fire and sword of God's wrath will consume them.
Commentary on Ezekiel 5:5-17
(Read Ezekiel 5:5-17)
The sentence passed upon Jerusalem is very dreadful, the
manner of expression makes it still more so. Who is able to stand in God's
sight when he is angry? Those who live and die impenitent, will perish for ever
unpitied; there is a day coming when the Lord will not spare. Let not persons
or churches, who change the Lord's statutes, expect to escape the doom of
Jerusalem. Let us endeavour to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all
things. Sooner or later God's word will prove itself true.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Ezekiel》
Ezekiel 5
Verse 1
[1] And
thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber's razor, and
cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to
weigh, and divide the hair.
Take — Thus
foretel the mourning, reproach, and deformity that are coming, for all this is
signified by shaving the head and beard.
Verse 2
[2] Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the
days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part, and smite
about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I
will draw out a sword after them.
A third part —
Described on the tile, chap. 4:1, a type of what should be done in Jerusalem.
The days —
When the three hundred and ninety days of thy lying against the portrayed city
shall be ended.
With a knife — To
signify them that fall by the sword.
Scatter — To
typify them that fell to the Chaldeans, or fled to Egypt, or other countries.
Verse 3
[3] Thou
shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts.
Take — Of
the last third.
Bind — As
men tied up in the skirt of their garment what they would not lose: to signify
the small remnant.
Verse 4
[4] Then
take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in
the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.
Of them —
Out of that little remnant.
In the fire —
For their sin against God, their discontents at their state, and conspiracies
against their governor, another fire shall break out which shall devour the
most, and be near consuming all the houses of Israel.
Verse 5
[5] Thus saith the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of
the nations and countries that are round about her.
This is Jerusalem —
This portrayed city, is typically Jerusalem.
The midst —
Jerusalem was set in the midst of the nations, to be as the heart in the body,
to invigorate the dead world with a divine life, as well as to enlighten the
dark world with a divine light.
Verse 6
[6] And
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
refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them.
More —
More than the heathen.
Verse 7
[7]
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye multiplied more than the nations
that are round about you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept
my judgments, neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that
are round about you;
Multiplied — In
idols, superstitions, and wickedness.
Neither —
You have exceeded them in superstition and idolatry, and fallen short of them
in moral virtues.
Verse 9
[9] And
I will do in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any
more the like, because of all thine abominations.
Not done —
Though the old world perished by water, and Sodom by fire, yet neither one or
other was so lingering a death.
Verse 10
[10]
Therefore the fathers shall 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 will I scatter into all the winds.
Scatter —
This was verified when they were fetched away, who were left at the departure
of the besiegers, and when the very small remnant with Johanan fled into Egypt.
Verse 11
[11]
Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD; Surely, because thou hast defiled my
sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations,
therefore will I also diminish thee; neither shall mine eye spare, neither will
I have any pity.
Sanctuary — My
temple.
Detestable things —
Thy idols.
Verse 13
[13] Thus
shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them,
and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in
my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them.
Comforted — In
executing my vengeance.
In my zeal —
For my own glory.
Verse 15
[15] So
it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment unto the
nations that are round about thee, when I shall execute judgments in thee in
anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I the LORD have spoken it.
Taunt — A
very proverb among them.
Instruction —
Sinners shall learn by thy miseries, what they may expect from me.
Verse 17
[17] So
will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee; and
pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and I will bring the sword upon
thee. I the LORD have spoken it.
Bereave thee — Of
your children, friends, and your own life.
Pestilence and blood — Thy land shall be the common road for pestilence and blood. Tho' this
prophecy was to be accomplished presently, in the destruction of Jerusalem by
the Chaldeans; yet it may well be supposed to look forward, to the final
destruction of it by the Romans, when God made a full end of the Jewish nation,
and caused his fury to rest upon them.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Ezekiel》
05 Chapter 5
Verses 1-17
Verses 1-4
Take thee a sharp knife.
God’s judgments upon the wicked
1. Wicked men are of little worth; take a whole city of them, they
are of no more account with God than a little hair of the head or beard.
2. It is the privilege of Christ to appoint whom and what instruments
He pleases to execute His pleasure upon sinners.
3. When God hath been long provoked by a people, He comes with sharp
and sweeping judgments amongst them.
4. There is no standing out against God; whatever our number or
strength is, His judgments are irresistible.
5. The judgments and proceedings of God with sinners are not rash,
but most carefully weighed.
6. There is no escaping of God’s judgments for hard-hearted sinners.
7. In great judgments and general destructions, God of His infinite
mercy spares some few. Ezekiel must take a few and bind up in his skirts, all
must not be destroyed; the fire and sword devoureth many, but the dispersion
preserved some, and some few are left in Judah. God is just, and yet when He is
in the way of His judgments, he forgets not mercy: a little of the hair shall
be preserved, when the rest goes to the fire, sword, and wind.
8. The paucity preserved in common calamities are not all precious,
truly godly. Reprobates for the present escape as well as elect vessels; some
choice ones may be cut off, and some vile ones may be kept. In a storm cedars
and oaks are smitten, when bushes and briers are spared; and yet after they are
cut up and cast into the fire. Sinners may escape present wrath, but there is
wrath to come (Luke 3:7).
9. God may take occasion, from the sin of some, to bring in judgment
upon all. He must take of the remnant preserved, and throw into the fire, and
out of that fire went forth fire into all the house of Israel. (W.
Greenhill, M. A.)
Verse 5
This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations.
Jerusalem in the midst of the nations
Jerusalem was designed to have a good influence upon the nations
and countries round about, and was set in the midst of them as a candle upon a
candlestick to spread the light of Divine revelation, which she was blessed
with, to all the dark corners of the neighbouring nations, that from them it
might diffuse itself further, even to the ends of the earth. Jerusalem was set
in the midst of the nations, to be as the heart in the body, to invigorate this
dead world with a Divine life, to be an example of everything that is good. (M.
Henry.)
Verse 11
As I live, saith the Lord God.
The Divine oath
I. The form of the
Divine oath. When men swear, they do it “by the greater” (Hebrews 6:16). God cannot do this. So He
swears by Himself.
II. The use of the
Divine oath. God utters His word clearly and plainly, calling on men to believe
it. When they will not, He tries a new expedient, backing it up with an oath.
Was ever grace more conspicuous, and forbearance more extraordinary?
III. Examples of the
Divine oath.
1. The oath used in connection with the Priesthood of Christ (Psalms 110:4, as interpreted in Hebrews 7:1-28).
2. The oath used in connection with the believer’s safety (Hebrews 7:17-18). Blessed safeguard!
3. The oath used in connection with the sincerity of the Gospel call
(Ezekiel 33:11). Must not God be terribly
in earnest?
4. The oath used in connection with the ultimate triumph of the
Christian cause (Isaiah 45:23). Can such a purpose be
defeated? Encouraged by this, let the Church go forward.
5. The oath used in connection with the doom of the unbelieving (Psalms 95:11). Then, “Acquaint now
thyself,” etc. (Job 22:21). “Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ,” etc. (Acts 16:31). (John Burnett, B. D.)
Verse 13
Thus shall Mine anger be accomplished.
God’s anger against sinners
1. God goes on by degrees in His wrath against a people. He had in
times past corrected them like a father, He would now execute them like a
judge; the drops of His wrath had done no good, now they should have the full
vials.
2. Wrath let out against a sinful people, ofttimes lies long upon
them. “I will cause My fury to rest upon them.” They were seventy years under
God’s displeasure in Babylon.
3. God takes pleasure in executing judgment, in accomplishing His
wrath, and causing His fury to rest upon impenitent and incurable sinners, He
will be comforted in it (Proverbs 1:26).
4. The Word of God may be preached among a people, and they, through
ignorance and malice, not know it, nor entertain it.
5. Wicked men shall be convinced, and left without excuse. “They
shall know that I the Lord have spoken”; they eyed men and not Me, they deemed
it man’s voice, not Heaven’s; but they shall find that it was the voice of God
amongst them.
6. God will justify His servants in their zealous labours for Him.
“They shall know that I have spoken it in My zeal.” It is God speaks in the
prophets; it is His zeal they express. Let men be zealous against sin, the
iniquities of the times, they are counted mad, fiery fellows, troublers of
Israel, seditious, factious, etc.
7. The Lord is intense, and will not recall His indignation, when He
deals with unfaithful, covenant-breaking persons. As in God’s zeal there is
intense love towards His Church (when God promises mercy to His people, it is
sealed with this, “The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do it,” 2 Kings 19:31), so here is intense
hatred, wrath against His enemies. (W. Greenhill, M. A.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》