Commentary - Ezekiel 5:1-4

Bird's-eye view

In this passage, we are confronted with one of the most visceral and disturbing sign-acts in all of prophetic literature. God commands Ezekiel, a priest, to perform a piece of street theater that would have been deeply shocking to his fellow exiles. He is to take a sharp sword, a weapon of war, and use it as a barber's razor to shave his head and beard completely. This act, a flagrant violation of the priestly code which forbade such mourning rituals, was a powerful symbol of the coming defilement, shame, and destruction of Jerusalem. The hair, representing the people of the covenant city, is then meticulously weighed and divided into three parts, each destined for a different form of covenantal judgment: fire, sword, and scattering. This is not arbitrary; it is a precise, measured, and just sentence. Yet, in the midst of this terrifying display of wrath, a tiny sliver of hope is preserved. A few hairs, a remnant, are to be bound up in the prophet's robe, signifying God's unwavering commitment to His covenant promise to preserve a people for Himself. This entire drama is a living parable of the covenant lawsuit God is prosecuting against His unfaithful people, a lawsuit that finds its ultimate resolution and fulfillment in the judgment borne by Christ and the preservation of His church.

The central message is that sin has consequences, and for the covenant people, unrepentant sin brings about a holy and terrifying judgment. God is not mocked. His warnings through the prophets are not idle threats. The destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians was not a geopolitical accident; it was the righteous visitation of God. Ezekiel embodies the fate of his people, taking their coming shame upon himself symbolically. The sword, the fire, the scattering, these are the curses threatened in the law, now coming to pass. But God's grace is also present, even in the midst of wrath. The remnant is His gracious provision, the seed of a future restoration, a theme that runs from Genesis to Revelation.

Outline

Context In Ezekiel

This passage follows directly on the heels of another elaborate sign-act in chapter 4, where Ezekiel depicted the siege of Jerusalem on a clay brick and lay on his side for 390 days and then 40 days to bear the iniquity of Israel and Judah. The prophet's body has become the stage upon which the drama of God's judgment is enacted. These actions are not the ravings of a madman; they are divinely commanded performances intended to communicate God's coming judgment in a way that mere words could not. Ezekiel is in exile in Babylon, but his prophecies are directed at the still-standing city of Jerusalem, which was filled with a false sense of security. The exiles, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, needed to be shaken out of their complacency. They believed that the presence of the Temple guaranteed their safety. Ezekiel's bizarre and humiliating actions were designed to show them that their sin had become so grievous that God Himself was orchestrating their downfall. This chapter serves as the visual overture to the detailed verbal pronouncements of judgment that will follow, explaining the "why" behind this shocking display.

Key Issues

Prophetic Street Theater

We moderns, particularly we respectable evangelicals, tend to be uncomfortable with this kind of thing. We like our religion tidy, cerebral, and contained within the four walls of a church building. But the biblical prophets were not tidy. God often commanded them to engage in what we might call prophetic street theater. Isaiah walked around naked and barefoot for three years as a sign against Egypt and Cush (Isa. 20:3). Jeremiah wore an ox yoke to symbolize submission to Babylon (Jer. 27:2). Hosea married a prostitute to embody Israel's infidelity (Hos. 1:2). These were not just illustrations; they were embodiments of the message. The prophet, in his own body and life, became the message.

Ezekiel is perhaps the master of this form. His actions are a living, breathing sermon. By shaving his head and beard, he is not just talking about shame; he is shame. He is not just describing defilement; he is defiled. This is God's way of breaking through the calloused indifference of His people. They had stopped listening to words, so God gave them a picture they could not ignore. This is a crucial lesson for us. The truth of God is not an abstract set of propositions; it is a living reality that ought to shape our entire existence. Sometimes, to be faithful, we must be willing to look foolish in the eyes of the world, to embody the truth in ways that are disruptive and unsettling.

Verse by Verse Commentary

1 “Now as for you, son of man, take a sharp sword; take and use it as a barber’s razor on your head and beard. Then take scales for weighing and divide the hair.

The command is startling in its specifics. First, Ezekiel is to take a sharp sword. This is not a tool of grooming but an instrument of death and warfare. The fact that he is to use it as a razor signifies that the coming judgment will be an act of war, executed with brutal sharpness. He is to shave both his head and his beard. For a Hebrew man, a full beard was a sign of dignity and manhood. For a priest like Ezekiel, shaving the head and the corners of the beard was explicitly forbidden by the Mosaic law as a pagan mourning practice (Lev. 21:5). This act, therefore, is a symbol of profound humiliation, mourning, and, most shockingly, a deliberate, commanded profanation. Ezekiel is embodying the spiritual state of Jerusalem. The city that was meant to be holy, set apart for God, has become profane, and so its glory and dignity will be violently shaved off. The command to then take scales and weigh the hair shows that this is not an act of chaotic rage. God's judgment is precise, measured, and perfectly just. Every hair is accounted for, just as every sin is.

2 One-third you shall burn in the fire at the center of the city when the days of the siege are fulfilled. Then you shall take one-third and strike it with the sword all around the city, and one-third you shall scatter to the wind; and I will unsheathe a sword behind them.

The divided hair now represents the people of Jerusalem, and their fate is threefold, a picture of comprehensive destruction. The first third is burned with fire at the center of the city. This points to the pestilence, famine, and internal collapse that would consume many during the siege itself. The city would become a funeral pyre for its own inhabitants. The second third is to be struck with the sword all around the city. This represents those who would be killed in battle, trying to fight their way out or being cut down by the conquering Babylonian army. The third portion is scattered to the wind, symbolizing the exile and dispersion of the survivors. But their flight is not an escape. God says, I will unsheathe a sword behind them. Even in exile, the judgment would pursue them. There is no escape from the presence of a holy God who is prosecuting a covenant lawsuit. This tripartite judgment of internal collapse, external assault, and pursued exile is a direct fulfillment of the curses threatened in Leviticus 26.

3 You shall also take a few in number from them and bind them in the edges of your robes.

Here, in the midst of this terrifying panorama of judgment, is the first glimmer of grace. From the mass of hair destined for destruction, a few in number are to be separated. This is the doctrine of the remnant. God, in His sovereign mercy, always preserves a people for Himself. They are not saved because they are better than the others, but because of God's elective grace. Ezekiel is to bind them in the edges of your robes. The hem or edge of a garment was a place of personal identity and authority. By binding this remnant to his person, Ezekiel the priest is symbolically placing them under God's personal, protective care. They are precious to Him, kept close, and identified with His servant. Though the nation as a corporate entity is being judged, God does not lose a single one of His elect.

4 Take again some of them and throw them into the fire and burn them in the fire; from it a fire will spread to all the house of Israel.

This final verse is a sobering clarification. The remnant is not exempt from suffering. Even from the small portion tucked into his robe, Ezekiel is to take some and cast them into the fire. This signifies that the preserved remnant will itself be purified through trial and suffering. The exile would be a refining fire even for the faithful. Their preservation did not mean a life of ease. Furthermore, this act of judgment on the remnant would itself be a catalyst. From it a fire will spread to all the house of Israel. This likely means that the judgment that begins with the remnant will serve as a warning and a purifying agent for the entire scattered nation. The trials of the faithful few would be a testimony to the whole, demonstrating the holiness of God and the seriousness of sin, ultimately leading to the repentance described later in the book.

Application

This passage should strike us with a holy fear. It teaches us that God takes sin, particularly the sin of His covenant people, with utmost seriousness. We who are in the new covenant must not presume upon the grace of God. Our churches can become as defiled as Jerusalem was, filled with pride, idolatry, and hypocrisy. When they do, we should not be surprised when God takes up a sharp sword. Judgment begins at the house of God (1 Pet. 4:17). The fire, the sword, and the scattering are not just ancient threats; they are patterns of divine judgment that can fall upon unfaithful churches in any era, through internal collapse, external persecution, or doctrinal confusion that scatters the flock.

But the central application for the Christian is to see this entire drama fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus Christ. On the cross, Jesus became the ultimate object of this covenant lawsuit. His head was crowned with thorns, a symbol of the curse. He was stripped, shamed, and publicly humiliated, enduring the ultimate "shaving." He bore the full, tripartite curse on our behalf. He endured the fire of God's wrath against sin. He was pierced by the sword of divine justice. He was forsaken, scattered from the presence of the Father, crying out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He endured this so that we, the true remnant, might be spared. We are the few hairs, taken from the mass of condemned humanity and bound up in the robes of our Great High Priest, Jesus. We are kept safe in Him. And though we too must pass through refining fires in this life, we are held secure by the one who took the full force of the flame for us. Our only proper response is to cling to Him in faith, and to walk in holiness, remembering the terrible price that was paid to ransom us from this just and holy judgment.