2 Thou shalt burn H1197 with fire H217 a third part H7992 in the midst H8432 of the city, H5892 when the days H3117 of the siege H4692 are fulfilled: H4390 and thou shalt take H3947 a third part, H7992 and smite H5221 about H5439 it with a knife: H2719 and a third part H7992 thou shalt scatter H2219 in the wind; H7307 and I will draw out H7324 a sword H2719 after H310 them.
Thou also, son H1121 of man, H120 take H3947 thee a tile, H3843 and lay H5414 it before H6440 thee, and pourtray H2710 upon it the city, H5892 even Jerusalem: H3389 And lay H5414 siege H4692 against it, and build H1129 a fort H1785 against it, and cast H8210 a mount H5550 against it; set H5414 the camp H4264 also against it, and set H7760 battering rams H3733 against it round about. H5439 Moreover take H3947 thou unto thee an iron H1270 pan, H4227 and set H5414 it for a wall H7023 of iron H1270 between thee and the city: H5892 and set H3559 thy face H6440 against it, and it shall be besieged, H4692 and thou shalt lay siege H6696 against it. This shall be a sign H226 to the house H1004 of Israel. H3478 Lie H7901 thou also upon thy left H8042 side, H6654 and lay H7760 the iniquity H5771 of the house H1004 of Israel H3478 upon it: according to the number H4557 of the days H3117 that thou shalt lie H7901 upon it thou shalt bear H5375 their iniquity. H5771 For I have laid H5414 upon thee the years H8141 of their iniquity, H5771 according to the number H4557 of the days, H3117 three H7969 hundred H3967 and ninety H8673 days: H3117 so shalt thou bear H5375 the iniquity H5771 of the house H1004 of Israel. H3478 And when thou hast accomplished H3615 them, H428 lie H7901 again H8145 on thy right H3233 H3227 side, H6654 and thou shalt bear H5375 the iniquity H5771 of the house H1004 of Judah H3063 forty H705 days: H3117 I have appointed H5414 thee each day H3117 H3117 for a year. H8141 H8141 Therefore thou shalt set H3559 thy face H6440 toward the siege H4692 of Jerusalem, H3389 and thine arm H2220 shall be uncovered, H2834 and thou shalt prophesy H5012 against it. And, behold, I will lay H5414 bands H5688 upon thee, and thou shalt not turn H2015 thee from one side H6654 to another, H6654 till thou hast ended H3615 the days H3117 of thy siege. H4692
For death H4194 is come up H5927 into our windows, H2474 and is entered H935 into our palaces, H759 to cut off H3772 the children H5768 from without, H2351 and the young men H970 from the streets. H7339 Speak, H1696 Thus saith H5002 the LORD, H3068 Even the carcases H5038 of men H120 shall fall H5307 as dung H1828 upon the open H6440 field, H7704 and as the handful H5995 after H310 the harvestman, H7114 and none shall gather H622 them.
Though they dig H2864 into hell, H7585 thence shall mine hand H3027 take H3947 them; though they climb up H5927 to heaven, H8064 thence will I bring them down: H3381 And though they hide H2244 themselves in the top H7218 of Carmel, H3760 I will search H2664 and take them out H3947 thence; and though they be hid H5641 from my sight H5869 in the bottom H7172 of the sea, H3220 thence will I command H6680 the serpent, H5175 and he shall bite H5391 them:
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Ezekiel 5
Commentary on Ezekiel 5 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 5
Eze 5:1-17. Vision of Cutting the Hairs, and the Calamities Foreshadowed Thereby.
1. knife … razor—the sword of the foe (compare Isa 7:20). This vision implies even severer judgments than the Egyptian afflictions foreshadowed in the former, for their guilt was greater than that of their forefathers.
thine head—as representative of the Jews. The whole hair being shaven off was significant of severe and humiliating (2Sa 10:4, 5) treatment. Especially in the case of a priest; for priests (Le 21:5) were forbidden "to make baldness on their head," their hair being the token of consecration; hereby it was intimated that the ceremonial must give place to the moral.
balances—implying the just discrimination with which Jehovah weighs out the portion of punishment "divided," that is, allotted to each: the "hairs" are the Jews: the divine scales do not allow even one hair to escape accurate weighing (compare Mt 10:30).
2. Three classes are described. The sword was to destroy one third of the people; famine and plague another third ("fire" in Eze 5:2 being explained in Eze 5:12 to mean pestilence and famine); that which remained was to be scattered among the nations. A few only of the last portion were to escape, symbolized by the hairs bound in Ezekiel's skirts (Eze 5:3; Jer 40:6; 52:16). Even of these some were to be thrown into the fiery ordeal again (Eze 5:4; Jer 41:1, 2, &c.; Jer 44:14, &c.). The "skirts" being able to contain but few express that extreme limit to which God's goodness can reach.
5, 6. Explanation of the symbols:
Jerusalem—not the mere city, but the people of Israel generally, of which it was the center and representative.
in … midst—Jerusalem is regarded in God's point of view as center of the whole earth, designed to radiate the true light over the nations in all directions. Compare Margin ("navel"), Eze 38:12; Ps 48:2; Jer 3:17. No center in the ancient heathen world could have been selected more fitted than Canaan to be a vantage ground, whence the people of God might have acted with success upon the heathenism of the world. It lay midway between the oldest and most civilized states, Egypt and Ethiopia on one side, and Babylon, Nineveh, and India on the other, and afterwards Persia, Greece, and Rome. The Phœnician mariners were close by, through whom they might have transmitted the true religion to the remotest lands; and all around the Ishmaelites, the great inland traders in South Asia and North Africa. Israel was thus placed, not for its own selfish good, but to be the spiritual benefactor of the whole world. Compare Ps 67:1-7 throughout. Failing in this, and falling into idolatry, its guilt was far worse than that of the heathen; not that Israel literally went beyond the heathen in abominable idolatries. But "corruptio optimi pessima"; the perversion of that which in itself is the best is worse than the perversion of that which is less perfect: is in fact the worst of all kinds of perversion. Therefore their punishment was the severest. So the position of the Christian professing Church now, if it be not a light to the heathen world, its condemnation will be sorer than theirs (Mt 5:13; 11:21-24; Heb 10:28, 29).
6. changed … into—rather, "hath resisted My judgments wickedly"; "hath rebelled against My ordinances for wickedness" [Buxtorf]. But see on Eze 5:7, end.
7. multiplied—rather, "have been more abundantly outrageous"; literally, "to tumultuate"; to have an extravagant rage for idols.
neither have done according to the judgments of the nations—have not been as tenacious of the true religion as the nations have been of the false. The heathen "changed" not their gods, but the Jews changed Jehovah for idols (see Eze 5:6, "changed My judgments into wickedness," that is, idolatry, Jer 2:11). The Chaldean version and the Masora support the negative. Others omit it (as it is omitted in Eze 11:12), and translate, "but have done according to the judgments," &c. However, both Eze 11:12 and also this verse are true. They in one sense "did according to the heathen," namely, in all that was bad; in another, namely, in that which was good, zeal for religion, they did not. Eze 5:9 also proves the negative to be genuine; because in changing their religion, they have not done as the nations which have not changed theirs, "I (also) will do in thee that which I have not done."
8. I, even I—awfully emphatic. I, even I, whom thou thinkest to be asleep, but who am ever reigning as the Omnipotent Avenger of sin, will vindicate My righteous government before the nations by judgments on thee.
9. See on Eze 5:7.
that which I have not done—worse than any former judgments (La 4:6; Da 9:12). The prophecy includes the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and the final one by Antichrist (Zec 13:8, 9; 14:2), as well as that by Nebuchadnezzar. Their doom of evil was not exhausted by the Chaldean conquest. There was to be a germinating evil in their destiny, because there would be, as the Lord foresaw, a germinating evil in their character. As God connected Himself peculiarly with Israel, so there was to be a peculiar manifestation of God's wrath against sin in their case [Fairbairn]. The higher the privileges the greater the punishment in the case of abuse of them. When God's greatest favor, the gospel, was given, and was abused by them, then "the wrath was to come on them to the uttermost" (1Th 2:16).
10. fathers … eat … sons—alluding to Moses' words (Le 26:29; De 28:53), with the additional sad feature, that "the sons should eat their fathers" (see 2Ki 6:28; Jer 19:9; La 2:20; 4:10).
11. as I live—the most solemn of oaths, pledging the self-existence of God for the certainty of the event.
defiled my sanctuary—the climax of Jewish guilt: their defiling Jehovah's temple by introducing idols.
diminish—literally, "withdraw," namely, Mine "eye" (which presently follows), that is, My favors; Job 36:7 uses the Hebrew verb in the same way. As the Jews had withdrawn from God's sanctuary its sacredness by "defiling" it, so God withdraws His countenance from them. The significance of the expression lies in the allusion to De 4:2, "Ye shall not diminish aught from the word which I command you"; they had done so, therefore God diminishes them. The reading found in six manuscripts, "I will cut thee off," is not so good.
12. Statement in plain terms of what was intended by the symbols (Eze 5:2; see Eze 6:12; Jer 15:2; 21:9).
draw out … sword after them—(Le 26:33). Skeptics object; no such thing happened under Zedekiah, as is here foretold; namely, that a third part of the nation should die by pestilence, a third part by the sword, and a third be scattered unto all winds, and a sword sent after them. But the prophecy is not restricted to Zedekiah's time. It includes all that Israel suffered, or was still to suffer, for their sins, especially those committed at that period (Eze 17:21). It only received its primary fulfilment under Zedekiah: numbers then died by the pestilence and by the sword; and numbers were scattered in all quarters and not carried to Babylonia alone, as the objectors assert (compare Ezr 1:4; Es 3:8; Ob 14).
pestilence … and famine—signified by the symbol "fire" (Eze 5:2). Compare Isa 13:8; La 5:10; plague and famine burning and withering the countenance, as fire does.
13. cause my fury to rest upon them—as on its proper and permanent resting-place (Isa 30:32, Margin).
I will be comforted—expressed in condescension to man's conceptions; signifying His satisfaction in the vindication of His justice by His righteous judgments (De 28:63; Pr 1:26; Isa 1:24).
they shall how—by bitter experience.
14. reproach among the nations—They whose idolatries Israel had adopted, instead of comforting, would only exult in their calamities brought on by those idolatries (compare Lu 15:15).
15. instruction—literally, "a corrective chastisement," that is, a striking example to warn all of the fatal consequences of sin. For "it shall be"; all ancient versions have "thou," which the connection favors.
16. arrows of famine—hail, rain, mice, locusts, mildew (see De 32:23, 24).
increase the famine—literally, "congregate" or "collect." When ye think your harvest safe because ye have escaped drought, mildew, &c., I will find other means [Calvin], which I will congregate as the forces of an invading army, to bring famine on you.
17. beasts—perhaps meaning destructive conquerors (Da 7:4). Rather, literal "beasts," which infest desolated regions such as Judea was to become (compare Eze 34:28; Ex 23:29; De 32:24; 2Ki 17:25). The same threat is repeated in manifold forms to awaken the careless.
sword—civil war.