symbolic siege of jerusalem, continued ezekiel...

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Symbolic Siege of Jerusalem, continued

Ezekiel 5:1-17



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Symbolic Siege of Jerusalem, continued

Text:

Ezekiel 5:1-17,

1. “Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s

razor to shave your head and your beard. Then take a set of scales

and divide up the hair.

2. When the days of your siege come to an end, burn a third of the

hair with fire inside the city. Take a third and strike it with the

sword all around the city. And scatter a third to the wind. For I will

pursue them with drawn sword.

3. But take a few strands of hair and tuck them away in the folds of

your garment.

4. Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire and burn

them up. A fire will spread from there to the whole house of Israel.

5. “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: This is Jerusalem, which I

have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her.

6. Yet in her wickedness she has rebelled against my laws and

decrees more than the nations and countries around her. She has

rejected my laws and has not followed my decrees.

7. “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: You have been

more unruly than the nations around you and have not followed my

decrees or kept my laws. You have not even conformed to the

standards of the nations around you.



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8. “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself am

against you, Jerusalem, and I will inflict punishment on you in the

sight of the nations.

9. Because of all your detestable idols, I will do to you what I have

never done before and will never do again.

10. Therefore in your midst fathers will eat their children, and

children will eat their fathers. I will inflict punishment on you and

will scatter all your survivors to the winds.

11. Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord,

because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your vile images and

detestable practices, I myself will withdraw my favor; I will not look

on you with pity or spare you.

12. A third of your people will die of the plague or perish by famine

inside you; a third will fall by the sword outside your walls; and a

third I will scatter to the winds and pursue with drawn sword.

13. “Then my anger will cease and my wrath against them will

subside, and I will be avenged. And when I have spent my wrath

upon them, they will know that I the Lord have spoken in my zeal.

14. “I will make you a ruin and a reproach among the nations

around you, in the sight of all who pass by.

15. You will be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and an object of

horror to the nations around you when I inflict punishment on you

in anger and in wrath and with stinging rebuke. I the Lord have

spoken.

16. When I shoot at you with my deadly and destructive arrows of

famine, I will shoot to destroy you. I will bring more and more

famine upon you and cut off your supply of food.



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17. I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will

leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you,

and I will bring the sword against you. I the Lord have spoken. ”

(NIV 1984)

Introduction:

I. During Nebuchadnezzar’s siege of Jerusalem, there would be a

horrible shortage of food and water.

A. This chapter speaks of God’s attitude toward those in Jerusalem

who had been so unfaithful to Him and what He was going to do to

set things right. (See Smith.)

B. Sin, contrary to what many people think of it, is an unspeakably

bad thing and will destroy!

1. Hell is so bad because sin is so bad!

II. Coffman quoting Dummelow observed that Ezekiel in these

pantomimes played various roles, sometimes God, sometimes Israel,

sometimes Jerusalem.

A. These signs were messages from God to the Jews in exile in

Babylon. (See McGee.)

Commentary:

Ezekiel 5:1, “Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a

barber’s razor to shave your head and your beard. Then take a set

of scales and divide up the hair.

I. “Now, son of man, take a sharp sword (knife, barber’s razor) and use

it as a barber’s razor to shave your head and your beard.



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A. The shaving of Ezekiel’s head and beard was to occur near the

end of the time Ezekiel was to lie on his sides, Fredenburg advised.

1. Shaving the head and beard was a sign of mourning among

certain foreign nations, but Israelite men and especially

priests were forbidden to cut their hair for the dead,

Fredenburg wrote.

a. “Babylonian priests used hair to divine omens.”

(Hamilton)

2. God is the actual barber and Jerusalem is the one being

shaved. (See Fredenburg.)

a. Isaiah 15:2-3, Dibon goes up to its temple, to its

high places to weep; Moab wails over Nebo and

Medeba. Every head is shaved and every beard cut

off. In the streets they wear sackcloth; on the roofs

and in the public squares they all wail, prostrate

with weeping. (NIV 1984)

b. Jeremiah 41:5, eighty men who had shaved off

their beards, torn their clothes and cut themselves

came from Shechem, Shiloh and Samaria, bringing

grain offerings and incense with them to the house

of the Lord. (NIV 1984)

c. Jeremiah 48:37, Every head is shaved and every

beard cut off; every hand is slashed and every waist

is covered with sackcloth. (NIV 1984)

d. Leviticus 19:27, “‘Do not cut the hair at the sides

of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.

(NIV 1984)



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e. Leviticus 21:5, “‘Priests must not shave their

heads or shave off the edges of their beards or cut

their bodies. (NIV 1984)

f. Deuteronomy 14:1-2, You are the children of the

Lord your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave the

front of your heads for the dead, for you are a

people holy to the Lord your God. Out of all the

peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen

you to be his treasured possession. (NIV 1984)

g. Leviticus 26:33, I will scatter you among the

nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you.

Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie

in ruins. (NIV 1984)

3. Coffman wrote that the sword represents the armed might

of Babylon, the shaving of the head represents humiliation,

mourning and disaster, the balances symbolized God’s

justice, equity and righteousness, Ezekiel’s head represents

Jerusalem and the hair represents the citizens of Jerusalem

and the city’s glory.

4. McGee rightly observed that it was highly unusual for a

priest such as Ezekiel to shave his head and beard.

1. This certainly must have gained the attention of the

people.

2. Think of all the nicks, scrapes, scratches, and

abrasions that must have resulted from shaving with an

unwieldy sword.



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B. Clarke mentioned that the variety of sharp edged tools in

ancient Israel was limited and that the instrument in question here

was the short sword which was more easily handled than the long

battle sword.

1. “Knife” as used here in the AKJV is better translated as

“sword” in the NIV, LXX, Vulgate, et. al. (The Pulpit

Commentary)

C. Both Isaiah and Moses spoke of “razors.”

1. Isaiah 7:20, In that day the Lord will use a razor hired

from beyond the River —the king of Assyria —to shave

your head and the hair of your legs, and to take off your

beards also. (NIV 1984)

2. Leviticus 19:27, “‘Do not cut the hair at the sides of

your head or clip off the edges of your beard. (NIV 1984)

3. Leviticus 21:5, “‘Priests must not shave their heads or

shave off the edges of their beards or cut their bodies.

(NIV 1984)

4. “Once again Ezekiel is commanded to do a forbidden thing

as a symbolic act,” The Pulpit Commentary reads.

II. Then take a set of scales and divide up the hair.

A. The shorn hair was divided into three parts, McGee explained:

1. One third of the hair he took and burned within the model

city Ezekiel had made. This hair represented the people who

were killed (burned) inside the city at the time of its

destruction.



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2. The second third of the hair he smote repeatedly. People

who survived the siege were killed by the sword.

3. The (last) third was scattered which includes those who

went to Babylon as exiles as well as those who went to

Egypt, as did Jeremiah, et. al.

a. Leviticus 26:17, 24-25, I will set my face against

you so that you will be defeated by your enemies;

those who hate you will rule over you, and you will

flee even when no one is pursuing you. I myself will

be hostile toward you and will afflict you for your

sins seven times over. And I will bring the sword

upon you to avenge the breaking of the covenant.

When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a

plague among you, and you will be given into enemy

hands. (NIV 1984)

4. “The small remnant of God’s people who eventually

returned to the city is pictured by the few hairs that were

bound up in Ezekiel’s skirts,” McGee wrote.

a. Ezekiel 11:16-21, “Therefore say: ‘This is what

the Sovereign Lord says: Although I sent them far

away among the nations and scattered them among

the countries, yet for a little while I have been a

sanctuary for them in the countries where they have

gone.’ “Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign

Lord says: I will gather you from the nations and

bring you back from the countries where you have

been scattered, and I will give you back the land of

Israel again.’ “They will return to it and remove all

its vile images and detestable idols. I will give them

an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I

will remove from them their heart of stone and give



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them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my

decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be

my people, and I will be their God. But as for those

whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and

detestable idols, I will bring down on their own

heads what they have done, declares the Sovereign

Lord.” (NIV 1984)

B. This was Ezekiel’s message and it was absolutely clear to all,

McGee stated.

C. Clarke cited the following representations:

1. Ezekiel represents the Jewish nation.

2. Ezekiel’s hair represents the people of Judah and

Jerusalem.

3. The razor (sword, knife) represents the Chaldeans.

4. The cutting of the beard and hair represents the calamities,

sorrows, and disgrace that were coming upon the people.

a. Jeremiah 45:5, Should you then seek great things

for yourself? Seek them not. For I will bring disaster

on all people, declares the Lord, but wherever you

go I will let you escape with your life.’” (NIV 1984)

b. Jeremiah 48:37, Every head is shaved and every

beard cut off; every hand is slashed and every waist

is covered with sackcloth. (NIV 1984)

c. 2 Samuel 10:4, So Hanun seized David’s men,

shaved off half of each man’s beard, cut off their



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garments in the middle at the buttocks, and sent

them away. (NIV 1984)

5. The three divisions into which the shorn hair was separated

allowed for identifying the different types of punishment

which would befall the people.

6. The balances, scales represented Divine justice, and the

exactness with which God’s judgments would be distributed

among the offenders.

D. This hair was to be divided into three parts and was to be

disposed of as follows, Clarke wrote:

1. One third was to be burned in the midst of the model city

representing the famine and pestilence during the siege.

2. A second third was to be cut in small pieces representing

those killed defending the walls of Jerusalem during the

Babylonian attack.

3. A final third was to be scattered in the wind representing

those who would be taken into captivity or otherwise driven

away from Palestine.

4. The sword following them was intended to show that their

lives would be subject to the will of their captors and that

many would perish in the process.

5. The few hairs which he was to place in his clothing

represented the few Jews that would remain in the land of

Judah-Jerusalem after the fall of the city under the rule of

Gedaliah.



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6. The hairs thrown into the fire showed the miseries that

those who remained in Judea, journeyed to Egypt or were

taken captive to Babylon would suffer.

Ezekiel 5:2, When the days of your siege come to an end, burn a

third of the hair with fire inside the city. Take a third and strike it

with the sword all around the city. And scatter a third to the wind.

For I will pursue them with drawn sword.

I. When the days of your siege come to an end, burn a third of the hair

with fire inside the city.

A. This cannot refer to literal Jerusalem because, as captive exiles

in Babylon, they could not decide to take a trip to Jerusalem.

1. Ezekiel 4:1, 5-6, “Now, son of man, take a clay tablet,

put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it.

I have assigned you the same number of days as the years

of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the

house of Israel. “After you have finished this, lie down

again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the

house of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for

each year. (NIV 1984)

B. Smith suggests, “the days of your siege” refer to the 430 days

Ezekiel was to lie on his sides and the burning of hair inside the

city, striking hair with a sword around the city and scattering hair

to the wind refers to the model/drawing of the city of which we

studied in chapter 4.

C. Fredenburg wrote that Babylonian priests sought guidance from

their gods by manipulating locks of hair.

1. Ezekiel’s behavior must have confused the Jewish exiles

who observed Ezekiel’s behavior.



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D. The hair that would be burned represents those who will die (by

famine and pestilence (Coffman)) during the siege of Jerusalem.

(Fredenburg)

II. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city.

A. There are those who would be killed during the military capture

of Jerusalem. (Fredenburg)

III. And scatter a third to the wind.

A. These are those who will flee in the confusion of battle

associated with the fall of Jerusalem some of whom would be

deported as exiles.

IV. For I will pursue them with drawn sword.

A. No one will escape! (See Fredenburg.)

1. These would be chased by the Babylonian military, God’s

agents on this occasion.

Ezekiel 5:3, But take a few strands of hair and tuck them away in

the folds of your garment.

I. But take a few strands of hair and tuck them away in the folds of your

garment.

A. A righteous remnant of Jerusalem, this figure indicates, would

survive the siege, but even the remnant would suffer persecution.

(See Smith.) (See also Fredenburg.)

1. Ezekiel 11:16-21, “Therefore say: ‘This is what the

Sovereign Lord says: Although I sent them far away



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among the nations and scattered them among the

countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for

them in the countries where they have gone.’ “Therefore

say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will gather

you from the nations and bring you back from the

countries where you have been scattered, and I will give

you back the land of Israel again.’ “They will return to it

and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. I will

give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in

them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and

give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my

decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my

people, and I will be their God. But as for those whose

hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable

idols, I will bring down on their own heads what they

have done, declares the Sovereign Lord. ” (NIV 1984)

Ezekiel 5:4, Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire

and burn them up. A fire will spread from there to the whole house

of Israel.

I. Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire and burn them

up.

A. These represent the people who would die during the siege,

(Fredenburg)

B. Coffman observed that not all the righteous remnant would

escape the disaster that would befall the entire nation.

1. Even some of the righteous would fall away, (Coffman)

C. Reference here may be to those in Jerusalem who had escaped

death by famine and the sword and were left in the land and/or to



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those who would go into exile but even there would not be able to

escape God’s judgments. (The Pulpit Commentary)

1. 2 Kings 25:22, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon

appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan,

to be over the people he had left behind in Judah. (NIV

1984)

2. Jeremiah 40:6, So Jeremiah went to Gedaliah son of

Ahikam at Mizpah and stayed with him among the people

who were left behind in the land. (NIV 1984)

3. Jeremiah 52:16, But Nebuzaradan left behind the rest

of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards

and fields. (NIV 1984)

4. 1 Corinthians 3:15, If it is burned up, he will suffer

loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping

through the flames. (NIV 1984)

5. Amos 4:11, “I overthrew some of you as I overthrew

Sodom and Gomorrah. You were like a burning

stick snatched from the fire, yet you have not returned to

me,” declares the LORD. (NIV 1984)

6. Zechariah 3:2, The LORD said to Satan,

“The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD, who has

chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning

stick snatched from the fire?” (NIV 1984)

II. A fire will spread from there to the whole house of Israel.

A. The suffering for sin would not be isolated, but would spread

throughout the whole house of Israel.



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1. There is no escape for the unrepentant sinner!

Note: The Lord now explains why these actions against Jerusalem are

necessary.

Ezekiel 5:5, “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: This is

Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with

countries all around her.

I. This is what the Sovereign Lord says: …

A. The Lord explained the reasons for the siege and then described

the results of the siege.

B. Three oracles are pronounced on Jerusalem and extend to all the

surrounding land of Judah. (See Fredenburg.)

1. Ezekiel 5:5-17: Jerusalem. “This is what the

Sovereign Lord says: This is Jerusalem, which I have set

in the center of the nations, with countries all around

her. Yet in her wickedness she has rebelled against my

laws and decrees more than the nations and countries

around her. She has rejected my laws and has not

followed my decrees. “Therefore this is what the

Sovereign Lord says: You have been more unruly than

the nations around you and have not followed my decrees

or kept my laws. You have not even conformed to the

standards of the nations around you. “Therefore this is

what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself am against you,

Jerusalem, and I will inflict punishment on you in the

sight of the nations. Because of all your detestable idols, I

will do to you what I have never done before and will

never do again. Therefore in your midst fathers will eat

their children, and children will eat their fathers. I will

inflict punishment on you and will scatter all your



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survivors to the winds. Therefore as surely as I

live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because you have

defiled my sanctuary with all your vile images and

detestable practices, I myself will withdraw my favor; I

will not look on you with pity or spare you. A third of

your people will die of the plague or perish by famine

inside you; a third will fall by the sword outside your

walls; and a third I will scatter to the winds and pursue

with drawn sword. “Then my anger will cease and my

wrath against them will subside, and I will be

avenged. And when I have spent my wrath upon them,

they will know that I the Lord have spoken in my zeal. “I

will make you a ruin and a reproach among the nations

around you, in the sight of all who pass by. You will be a

reproach and a taunt, a warning and an object of horror

to the nations around you when I inflict punishment on

you in anger and in wrath and with stinging rebuke. I

the Lord have spoken. When I shoot at you with my

deadly and destructive arrows of famine, I will shoot to

destroy you. I will bring more and more famine upon you

and cut off your supply of food. I will send famine and

wild beasts against you, and they will leave you childless.

Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will

bring the sword against you. I the Lord have spoken.”

(NIV 1984)

2. Ezekiel 6:1-14: The Mountains on which Jerusalem was

Built. The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, set

your face against the mountains of Israel; prophesy

against them and say: ‘O mountains of Israel, hear the

word of the Sovereign Lord. This is what the

Sovereign Lord says to the mountains and hills, to the

ravines and valleys: I am about to bring a sword against

you, and I will destroy your high places. Your altars will

be demolished and your incense altars will be smashed;



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and I will slay your people in front of your idols. I will lay

the dead bodies of the Israelites in front of their idols, and

I will scatter your bones around your altars. Wherever

you live, the towns will be laid waste and the high

places demolished, so that your altars will be laid waste

and devastated, your idols smashed and ruined, your

incense altars broken down, and what you have made

wiped out. Your people will fall slain among you, and you

will know that I am the Lord. “‘But I will spare some, for

some of you will escape the sword when you are scattered

among the lands and nations. Then in the nations where

they have been carried captive, those who escape will

remember me—how I have been grieved by their

adulterous hearts, which have turned away from me, and

by their eyes, which have lusted after their idols. They

will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for

all their detestable practices. And they will know that I

am the Lord; I did not threaten in vain to bring this

calamity on them. “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:

Strike your hands together and stamp your feet and cry

out “Alas!” because of all the wicked and detestable

practices of the house of Israel, for they will fall by the

sword, famine and plague. He that is far away will die of

the plague, and he that is near will fall by the sword, and

he that survives and is spared will die of famine. So will I

spend my wrath upon them. And they will know that I am

the Lord, when their people lie slain among their

idols around their altars, on every high hill and on all the

mountaintops, under every spreading tree and every leafy

oak —places where they offered fragrant incense to all

their idols. And I will stretch out my hand against them

and make the land a desolate waste from the desert to

Diblah—wherever they live. Then they will know that I

am the Lord. ’” (NIV 1984)



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3. Ezekiel 7:1-27: The Entire Land of Judah. The word of

the Lord came to me: “Son of man, this is what the

Sovereign Lord says to the land of Israel: The end! The

end has come upon the four corners of the land. The end

is now upon you and I will unleash my anger against you.

I will judge you according to your conduct and repay you

for all your detestable practices. I will not look on you

with pity or spare you; I will surely repay you for your

conduct and the detestable practices among you. Then

you will know that I am the Lord. “This is what the

Sovereign Lord says: Disaster! An unheard-of disaster is

coming. The end has come! The end has come! It has

roused itself against you. It has come! Doom has come

upon you—you who dwell in the land. The time has come,

the day is near; there is panic, not joy, upon the

mountains. I am about to pour out my wrath on you and

spend my anger against you; I will judge you according to

your conduct and repay you for all your detestable

practices. I will not look on you with pity or spare you; I

will repay you in accordance with your conduct and the

detestable practices among you. Then you will know that

it is I the Lord who strikes the blow. “The day is here! It

has come! Doom has burst forth, the rod has budded,

arrogance has blossomed! Violence has grown into a rod

to punish wickedness; none of the people will be left, none

of that crowd—no wealth, nothing of value. The time has

come, the day has arrived. Let not the buyer rejoice nor

the seller grieve, for wrath is upon the whole crowd. The

seller will not recover the land he has sold as long as both

of them live, for the vision concerning the whole crowd

will not be reversed. Because of their sins, not one of them

will preserve his life. Though they blow the trumpet and

get everything ready, no one will go into battle, for my

wrath is upon the whole crowd. “Outside is the sword,



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inside are plague and famine; those in the country will die

by the sword, and those in the city will be devoured by

famine and plague. All who survive and escape will be in

the mountains, moaning like doves of the valleys, each

because of his sins. Every hand will go limp, and every

knee will become as weak as water. They will put on

sackcloth and be clothed with terror. Their faces will be

covered with shame and their heads will be shaved. They

will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will

be an unclean thing. Their silver and gold will not be able

to save them in the day of the Lord’s wrath. They will not

satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs with it, for it

has made them stumble into sin. They were proud of their

beautiful jewelry and used it to make their detestable

idols and vile images. Therefore I will turn these into an

unclean thing for them. I will hand it all over as

plunder to foreigners and as loot to the wicked of the

earth, and they will defile it. I will turn my face away

from them, and they will desecrate my treasured place;

robbers will enter it and desecrate it. “Prepare chains,

because the land is full of bloodshed and the city is full of

violence. I will bring the most wicked of the nations to

take possession of their houses; I will put an end to the

pride of the mighty, and their sanctuaries will be

desecrated. When terror comes, they will seek peace, but

there will be none. Calamity upon calamity will come, and

rumor upon rumor. They will try to get a vision from the

prophet; the teaching of the law by the priest will be lost,

as will the counsel of the elders. The king will mourn, the

prince will be clothed with despair, and the hands of the

people of the land will tremble. I will deal with them

according to their conduct, and by their own standards I

will judge them. Then they will know that I am

the Lord. ” (NIV 1984)



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C. Each of these oracles begins with, “This is what the Sovereign

Lord says,” and ends with, “I the Lord have spoken.” (See

Fredenburg.)

II. This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with

countries all around her.

A. Palestine was situated in a crossroads position between Africa

and Asia. (See Smith.)

1. Israel’s geographical position made it vulnerable to attack

by surrounding nations.

2. Micah 4:1, In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s

temple will be established as chief among the mountains;

it will be raised above the hills, and peoples will stream to

it. (NIV 1984)

3. Isaiah 2:1, This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw

concerning Judah and Jerusalem: (NIV 1984)

B. Israel was also placed as the center of the nations spiritually

with the duty to proclaim righteousness to the nations.

1. In this they totally failed!

2. Exodus 19:5-6, Now if you obey me fully and keep my

covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured

possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be

for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are

the words you are to speak to the Israelites.” (NIV 1984)

Ezekiel 5:6, Yet in her wickedness she has rebelled against my laws

and decrees more than the nations and countries around her. She

has rejected my laws and has not followed my decrees.



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I. Yet in her wickedness she has rebelled against my laws and decrees

more than the nations and countries around her.

A. Israel was in a position to be a great influence for good, but they

rebelled against God and became more evil than the surrounding

heathen nations they were to influence for righteousness. (See

Smith.)

B. Jerusalem was to have been a godly example to the surrounding

nations, but the people of Jerusalem became the very opposite.

1. Jerusalem’s doom was inevitable! (See Coffman.)

2. Instead of reflecting God’s righteousness, they showed the

world the devil’s wickedness.

3. Clarke wrote that, “This is the common case of

backsliders: they frequently, in their fall, become tenfold

more the children of wrath than they were before.”

II. She has rejected my laws and has not followed my decrees.

A. Jerusalem had profaned the Lord. Now he would be vindicated

by the judgments he unleashed against the city. (See Smith.)

Ezekiel 5:7, “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: You

have been more unruly than the nations around you and have not

followed my decrees or kept my laws. You have not even conformed

to the standards of the nations around you.

I. “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: …

A. What the Lord said was perfectly clear!

B. God’s will for us is clear!



22

1. Obedience leads to life.

2. Disobedience leads to destruction!

3. Choose this day whether you will obey and live or disobey

and die!

II. You have been more unruly than the nations around you and have not

followed my decrees or kept my laws.

A. In comparison with the surrounding nations, Israel had behaved

itself more wickedly, more turbulently, more without regard for

God’s rules.

1. Ezekiel 11:12, And you will know that I am

the Lord, for you have not followed my decrees or kept

my laws but have conformed to the standards of the

nations around you. ” (NIV 1984)

III. You have not even conformed to the standards of the nations around

you.

A. Israel had not observed either God’s laws or the standards of

common decency recognized by the surrounding nations.

B. The Pulpit Commentary suggested the heathen nations

surrounding Israel at least followed the guidance of their corrupt

gods.

1. Israel did not do even this; that is, live up to the standards

of Yahweh, their God.



23

Ezekiel 5:8, “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I

myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will inflict punishment on

you in the sight of the nations.

I. “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: …

A. Therefore, in view of Israel’s wickedness, the Lord pronounces

divine judgment.

1. Lamentations 4:6, The punishment of my people is

greater than that of Sodom, which was overthrown in a

moment without a hand turned to help her. (NIV 1984)

2. Amos 3:2, “You only have I chosen of all the families of

the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins. ”

(NIV 1984)

II. I myself am against you, Jerusalem, and …

A. Leviticus 26:17, I will set my face against you so that you

will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule

over you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you.

(NIV 1984)

B. Because of their multiplied sins over many, many years, God

gave up on them and decreed their destruction!

III. I will inflict punishment on you in the sight of the nations.

A. All the surrounding nations will see God’s punishment on

Israel.

1. God would make a permanent and public example of them.

2. We are even now studying their example.



24

Ezekiel 5:9, Because of all your detestable idols, I will do to you

what I have never done before and will never do again.

I. Because of all your detestable idols, I will do to you what I have never

done before and will never do again.

A. God’s punishments of Jerusalem was unprecedented because

their abominable, detestable sins of corrupt and immoral idolatry

were unprecedented.

1. Jerusalem fell at other times after 586 B.C., but this was its

worst destruction to that time. (See Smith.)

2. The people of Jerusalem grievously sinned and God

severely punished them.

a. Daniel 9:12, You have fulfilled the words spoken

against us and against our rulers by bringing upon

us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing

has ever been done like what has been done to

Jerusalem. (NIV 1984)

b. Lamentations 1:12, “Is it nothing to you, all you

who pass by? Look around and see.

Is any suffering like my suffering that was inflicted

on me, that the Lord brought on me in the day of his

fierce anger? (NIV 1984)

c. Lamentations 2:13, What can I say for you? With

what can I compare you, O Daughter of Jerusalem?

To what can I liken you, that I may comfort you, O

Virgin Daughter of Zion? Your wound is as deep as

the sea. Who can heal you? (NIV 1984)



25

3. These sins, abominations, included more than “detestable

idols” and, according to Fredenburg, included “all forms of

rebellion, disregard, and contempt for Yahweh’s

commandments, values, and wishes.”

4. God’s punishment will also be unprecedented!

(Fredenburg)

a. Nebuchadnezzar’s destruction of Jerusalem and the

destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in A.D. 70

were truly horrendous.

b. Clarke wrote, “These two sackings of that city have

no parallel in the history of mankind.”

i. Matthew 24:21, For then there will be great

distress, unequaled from the beginning of the

world until now—and never to be equaled

again. (NIV 1984)

ii. Of course, Clarke wrote before the bombing of

Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

Ezekiel 5:10, Therefore in your midst fathers will eat their children,

and children will eat their fathers. I will inflict punishment on you

and will scatter all your survivors to the winds.

I. Therefore, in your midst fathers will eat their children, and children

will eat their fathers.

A. Cannibalism would show how horrible the conditions were

during the siege of Jerusalem. (See Smith.)

1. Deuteronomy 28:53-57, Because of the suffering that

your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will



26

eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and

daughters the Lord your God has given you. Even the

most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no

compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his

surviving children, and he will not give to one of them any

of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all

he has left because of the suffering your enemy will inflict

on you during the siege of all your cities. The most gentle

and sensitive woman among you—so sensitive and gentle

that she would not venture to touch the ground with the

sole of her foot—will begrudge the husband she loves and

her own son or daughter the afterbirth from her womb

and the children she bears. For she intends to eat

them secretly during the siege and in the distress that

your enemy will inflict on you in your cities. (NIV 1984)

2. Leviticus 26:29, You will eat the flesh of your sons and

the flesh of your daughters. (NIV 1984)

3. 2 Kings 6:28-29, Then he asked her, “What’s the

matter?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give

up your son so we may eat him today, and tomorrow we’ll

eat my son.’ So we cooked my son and ate him. The next

day I said to her, ‘Give up your son so we may eat him,’

but she had hidden him.” (NIV 1984)

4. Lamentations 2:20, “Look, O Lord, and consider:

Whom have you ever treated like this?

Should women eat their offspring, the children they have

cared for? Should priest and prophet be killed in the

sanctuary of the Lord? (NIV 1984)

5. Lamentations 4:10, With their own hands

compassionate women have cooked their own children,



27

who became their food when my people were destroyed.

(NIV 1984)

6. Jeremiah 19:9, I will make them eat the flesh of their

sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh

during the stress of the siege imposed on them by the

enemies who seek their lives.’ (NIV 1984)

II. I will inflict punishment on you and will scatter all your survivors to

the winds.

A. A second especially horrible aspect of this destruction of

Jerusalem was the scattering of its people in all directions, many to

Babylon, but others to various remote parts of the Babylonian

empire.

Ezekiel 5:11, Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign

Lord, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your vile

images and detestable practices, I myself will withdraw my favor; I

will not look on you with pity or spare you.

I. Therefore, as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, …

A. This pronouncement is absolutely certain of fulfillment

because…

1. God swore by his own life!

a. Genesis 22:16, and said, “I swear by

myself, declares the LORD, that because you have

done this and have not withheld your son, your only

son, (NIV 1984)

b. Hebrews 6:13-14, When God made his promise to

Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to



28

swear by, he swore by himself, saying, “I will surely

bless you and give you many descendants.” (NIV

1984)

II. because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your vile images and

detestable practices, I myself will withdraw my favor; …

A. By defiling the temple, Judah had repudiated any special

relationship they may have had with the Lord. (See Smith.)

1. In response, God removed his favor from them.

a. They were no longer God’s special people, be shown

any pity nor be spared from the atrocities of war.

(Smith)

b. Ezekiel 16:23-24, “‘Woe! Woe to you, declares the

Sovereign LORD. In addition to all your other

wickedness, you built a mound for yourself and

made a lofty shrine in every public square. (NIV

1984)

2. Fredenburg wrote that withdrawing God’s favor means

God would withdraw all His covenant blessings!

a. God has finally had more than enough!

i. Exodus 34:6-7, And he passed in front of

Moses, proclaiming, ”The Lord, the Lord, the

compassionate and gracious God, slow to

anger, abounding in love and

faithfulness, maintaining love to

thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion

and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty

unpunished; he punishes the children and their



29

children for the sin of the fathers to the third

and fourth generation.” (NIV 1984)

B. Israel’s sins were not limited to wickednesses associated with

the temple.

1. Deuteronomy 12:32, See that you do all I command

you; do not add to it or take away from it. (NIV 1984)

2. Coffman reminds us of the human sacrifices made in the

valley of the Sons of Hinnom as an example of other horrible

sins of Israel.

C. Jesus demonstrated his severe anger because the temple had

been corrupted, made into “a den of thieves.”

1. John 2:15-16, So he made a whip out of cords, and

drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he

scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned

their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these

out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a

market!” (NIV 1984)

2. Matthew 21:12, Jesus entered the temple area and

drove out all who were buying and selling there. He

overturned the tables of the money changers and the

benches of those selling doves. (NIV 1984)

III. I will not look on you with pity or spare you.

A. Consider how absolutely hopeless man would be without God’s

pity, and with His promise to have no mercy.

1. Things can’t get any worse than that!



30

2. God will have no mercy on those sinners. His favor had

been withdrawn.

3. No hope and without God in the world!

B. Related Scriptures:

1. Ezekiel 7:4, 9, I will not look on you with pity or spare

you; I will surely repay you for your conduct and the

detestable practices among you. Then you will know that

I am the LORD. (NIV 1984)

2. Ezekiel 8:18, Therefore I will deal with them in anger; I

will not look on them with pity or spare them. Although

they shout in my ears, I will not listen to them.” (NIV

1984)

3. Ezekiel 9:10, So I will not look on them with pity or

spare them, but I will bring down on their own heads

what they have done. ” (NIV 1984)

4. Ezekiel 13:14, I will tear down the wall you have

covered with whitewash and will level it to the ground so

that its foundation will be laid bare. When it falls, you

will be destroyed in it; and you will know that I am

the LORD. (NIV 1984)

Ezekiel 5:12, A third of your people will die of the plague or perish

by famine inside you; a third will fall by the sword outside your

walls; and a third I will scatter to the winds and pursue with drawn

sword.

I. A third of your people will die of the plague or perish by famine inside

you; …



31

A. One-third of the people would die by famine or plague.

1. Verses 12-13 explain verses 1-4.

II. a third will fall by the sword outside your walls; and …

A. A third of the people would be killed by the sword outside the

city walls.

1. Ezekiel 12:14, I will scatter to the winds all those

around him—his staff and all his troops—and I will

pursue them with drawn sword. (NIV 1984)

2. Leviticus 26:33, I will scatter you among the

nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you.

Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in

ruins. (NIV 1984)

III. a third I will scatter to the winds and pursue with drawn sword.

A. A third of the people would be scattered to the winds and

chased with drawn sword.

Note: Three areas would be impacted by the siege and fall of Jerusalem

identified by the words, “I the Lord have spoken.” (verses 13, 15, 17)

Ezekiel 5:13, “Then my anger will cease and my wrath against them

will subside, and I will be avenged. And when I have spent my wrath

upon them, they will know that I the Lord have spoken in my zeal.

I. Then my anger (fury) will cease and my wrath against them will

subside, and I will be avenged.



32

A. Result one would be the end of God’s wrath toward these

rebellious people and may lead to their appreciating the true nature

of God! (Smith)

B. The prophets of old spoke vividly of the wrath of God!

1. Coffman wrote that the modern idea of God is that of a

loving old grandpa who overlooks sin and hardly ever

punishes anybody.

2. This is not like the biblical view of the nature of God.

3. Behold the goodness and the severity of God, not just the

goodness of God.

II. And when I have spent my wrath upon them, they will know that I the

Lord have spoken in my zeal.

A. God did not just “throw fits.”

1. God’s wrath was designed to bring Israel to repentance.

B. When Israel by God’s punishments had been led to repentance,

God’s anger had achieved its purpose.

1. God’s anger, therefore, subsided.

a. Ezekiel 16:42, Then my wrath against you will

subside and my jealous anger will turn away from

you; I will be calm and no longer angry. (NIV 1984)

b. Ezekiel 21:17, too will strike my hands together,

and my wrath will subside. I the LORD have

spoken. ” (NIV 1984)



33

c. Ezekiel 24:13, “‘Now your impurity is lewdness.

Because I tried to cleanse you but you would not be

cleansed from your impurity, you will not be clean

again until my wrath against you has subsided. (NIV

1984)

d. Deuteronomy 28:13, The LORD will make you the

head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the

commands of the LORD your God that I give you

this day and carefully follow them, you will always

be at the top, never at the bottom. (NIV 1984)

e. Isaiah 1:24, Therefore the Lord, the Lord

the Lord Almighty, the Mighty One of Israel,

declares: “Ah, I will get relief from my foes and

avenge myself on my enemies. (NIV 1984)

C. God had spoken in his zeal, earnestly.

1. The fact that God’s words were fulfilled to the letter shows

that God had spoken thoughtfully and meaningfully.

a. He meant what he had said.

b. Isaiah 9:7, Of the increase of his government and

peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s

throne and over his kingdom, establishing and

upholding it with justice and righteousness from

that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD

Almighty will accomplish this. (NIV 1984)

c. Isaiah 37:32, For out of Jerusalem will come a

remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of

survivors. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will

accomplish this. (NIV 1984)



34

Ezekiel 5:14, “I will make you a ruin and a reproach among the

nations around you, in the sight of all who pass by.

I. “I will make you a ruin and a reproach among the nations around you,

in the sight of all who pass by.

A. The way Jerusalem suffered for its sins was to be a lesson for

all who saw it.


1. Lamentations 1:12, “Is it nothing to you, all you who

pass by? Look around and see. Is any suffering like my

suffering that was inflicted on me, that the LORD brought

on me in the day of his fierce anger? (NIV 1984)

2. Lamentations 2:15, All who pass your way clap their

hands at you; they scoff and shake their heads at the

Daughter of Jerusalem: “Is this the city that was

called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole

earth?” (NIV 1984)

Ezekiel 5:15, You will be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and an

object of horror to the nations around you when I inflict

punishment on you in anger and in wrath and with stinging rebuke.

I the Lord have spoken.

I. You will be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and an object of horror

to the nations around you when I inflict punishment on you in anger and

in wrath and with stinging rebuke.

A. Result two would be the impact God’s action would have on the

surrounding nations. (Smith)



35

1. Deuteronomy 28:37, You will become a thing of

horror and an object of scorn and ridicule to all the

nations where the LORD will drive you.

2. What happened to Jerusalem could happen to them.

(Smith)

B. God had always intended for Israel to be a beacon of light for

righteousness to all nations.

1. At this time they had shown themselves to be the very

opposite of a godly influence among the nations.

C. Ezekiel 5 contains at least five phrases and expressions (quotes)

found in Leviticus 26. (Greenberg via Coffman)

1. Leviticus 26:1-46, “‘Do not make idols or set up an

image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a

carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am

the LORD your God. “‘Observe my Sabbaths and have

reverence for my sanctuary. I am the LORD. “‘If you

follow my decrees and are careful to obey my

commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the

ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their

fruit. Your threshing will continue until grape harvest

and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and

you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in

your land. “‘I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie

down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove

savage beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass

through your country. You will pursue your enemies, and

they will fall by the sword before you. Five of you will

chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten

thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before



36

you. “‘I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful

and increase your numbers, and I will keep my

covenant with you. You will still be eating last year’s

harvest when you will have to move it out to make room

for the new. I will put my dwelling place among you, and

I will not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your

God, and you will be my people. I am the LORD your

God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no

longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your

yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high. “‘But

if you will not listen to me and carry out all these

commands, and if you reject my decrees and abhor my

laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate

my covenant, then I will do this to you: I will bring upon

you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will

destroy your sight and drain away your life. You will

plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it. I will

set my face against you so that you will be defeated by

your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and

you will flee even when no one is pursuing you. “‘If after

all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your

sins seven times over. I will break down your stubborn

pride and make the sky above you like iron and the

ground beneath you like bronze. Your strength will be

spent in vain, because your soil will not yield its crops,

nor will the trees of the land yield their fruit. “‘If you

remain hostile toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will

multiply your afflictions seven times over, as your sins

deserve. I will send wild animals against you, and they

will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and

make you so few in number that your roads will be

deserted. “‘If in spite of these things you do not accept my

correction but continue to be hostile toward me, I myself

will be hostile toward you and will afflict you for your

sins seven times over. And I will bring the sword upon



37

you to avenge the breaking of the covenant. When you

withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you,

and you will be given into enemy hands. When I cut off

your supply of bread, ten women will be able to bake

your bread in one oven, and they will dole out the bread

by weight. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied. “‘If

in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to

be hostile toward me, then in my anger I will be

hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your

sins seven times over. You will eat the flesh of your sons

and the flesh of your daughters. I will destroy your high

places, cut down your incense altars and pile your dead

bodies on the lifeless forms of your idols, and I will

abhor you. I will turn your cities into ruins and lay

waste your sanctuaries, and I will take no delight in the

pleasing aroma of your offerings. I will lay waste the

land, so that your enemies who live there will be

appalled. I will scatter you among the nations and will

draw out my sword and pursue you. Your land will be

laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins. Then the land

will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies

desolate and you are in the country of your enemies; then

the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. All the time that

it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have

during the sabbaths you lived in it. “‘As for those of you

who are left, I will make their hearts so fearful in the

lands of their enemies that the sound of a windblown

leaf will put them to flight. They will run as though

fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no

one is pursuing them. They will stumble over one

another as though fleeing from the sword, even though no

one is pursuing them. So you will not be able to stand

before your enemies. You will perish among the nations;

the land of your enemies will devour you. Those of you

who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies



38

because of their sins; also because of their fathers’ sins

they will waste away. “‘But if they will confess their

sins and the sins of their fathers —their treachery against

me and their hostility toward me, which made me

hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of

their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts are

humbled and they pay for their sin, I will remember my

covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my

covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the

land. For the land will be deserted by them and will enjoy

its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will

pay for their sins because they rejected my laws and

abhorred my decrees. Yet in spite of this, when they are

in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or

abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking

my covenant with them. I am the LORD their God. But for

their sake I will remember the covenant with their

ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the

nations to be their God. I am the LORD.’” These are the

decrees, the laws and the regulations that

the LORD established on Mount Sinai between himself

and the Israelites through Moses. (NIV 1984)

II. I the Lord have spoken.

A. That’s that! God has spoken! There is no appeal to God’s

decree! What God said will be!

Ezekiel 5:16, When I shoot at you with my deadly and destructive

arrows of famine, I will shoot to destroy you. I will bring more and

more famine upon you and cut off your supply of food.

I. When I shoot at you with my deadly and destructive arrows of famine,

I will shoot to destroy you.



39

A. Deuteronomy 22:23, If a man happens to meet in a town a

virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, (NIV

1984)

B. “Famine and pestilence are represented as poisoned arrows,

inflicting death,” Clarke wrote.

1. Deuteronomy 32:23, 42, “I will heap calamities upon

them and spend my arrows against them. (NIV 1984)

2. Psalm 7:13, He has prepared his deadly weapons; he

makes ready his flaming arrows. (NIV 1984)

3. Psalm 38:2, For your arrows have pierced me, and

your hand has come down upon me. (NIV 1984)

II. I will bring more and more famine upon you and cut off your supply

of food.

A. The famine would become more and more severe.

1. Famine and starvation were prominent in Ezekiel’s lists of

afflictions which would befall sinful Israel. (See The Pulpit

Commentary.)

Ezekiel 5:17, I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and

they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep

through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I the Lord have

spoken. ”

I. I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will leave you

childless.

A. Result three would be that plague, violent death and destruction

would devastate Jerusalem and its citizens and kill their children.



40

1. 2 Kings 17:27, Then the king of Assyria gave this

order: “Have one of the priests you took captive from

Samaria go back to live there and teach the people what

the god of the land requires.” (NIV 1984)

2. “Wild beasts always multiply in depopulated countries,”

Clarke wrote.

3. Clarke also noted that Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans

may be referenced as evil beasts.

a. Jeremiah 4:7, A lion has come out of his lair; a

destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his place

to lay waste your land. Your towns will lie in

ruins without inhabitant. (NIV 1984)

b. Daniel 7:14, He was given authority, glory and

sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of

every language worshiped him. His dominion is an

everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and

his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

(NIV 1984)


1. Leviticus 26:6,22, “‘I will grant peace in the land, and

you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will

remove savage beasts from the land, and the sword will

not pass through your country. I will send wild

animals against you, and they will rob you of your

children, destroy your cattle and make you so few in

number that your roads will be deserted. . (NIV 1984)



41

2. Deuteronomy 32:24, I will send wasting famine against

them, consuming pestilence and deadly plague; I will send

against them the fangs of wild beasts, the venom of

vipers that glide in the dust. (NIV 1984)

3. Ezekiel 14:15,21, “Or if I send wild beasts through that

country and they leave it childless and it becomes desolate

so that no one can pass through it because of the beasts,

“For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: How much

worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem my four

dreadful judgments —sword and famine and wild beasts

and plague —to kill its men and their animals! (NIV

1984)

4. 2 Kings 17:25, When they first lived there, they did not

worship the LORD; so he sent lions among them and they

killed some of the people. (NIV 1984)

II. Plague (pestilence) and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will

bring the sword against you.

A. “Plague” refers to terrible disease that would afflict the people.

1. Acts 28:8, His father was sick in bed, suffering from

fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after

prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him. (NIV

1984)

2. Isaiah 38:21, Isaiah had said, “Prepare a poultice of

figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.” (NIV

1984)

3. Ezekiel 14:19, “Or if I send a plague into that land and

pour out my wrath upon it through bloodshed, killing its

men and their animals, (NIV 1984)



42

4. Ezekiel 28:23, I will send a plague upon her and make

blood flow in her streets. The slain will fall within her,

with the sword against her on every side. Then they will

know that I am the LORD. (NIV 1984)

III. I the Lord have spoken.”

A. That’s it! The exiles who believed the captivity would be short

and that they were not responsible for their condition had now

been set straight!

B. The Lord had spoken!

Conclusion:

I. Israel was God’s chosen people to take the word of God in word and

deed to the world.

A. In this they utterly failed and were surely punished.

II. The church is now God’s chosen people to take the word of God in

word and deed to the world.

A. In this, will the church succeed or fail?

III. This is what the Sovereign Lord says! (verses 5, 7, 8, 11) I the Lord

have spoken.

A. Judah and Jerusalem did not listen.

B. They were destroyed!

C. Are you going to listen and obey or be destroyed?



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Questions

on

Ezekiel 5:1-17

(Questions based on NIV text.)

1. Describe conditions in Jerusalem during the Babylonian siege.

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2. What was God’s attitude toward the people in Jerusalem who

had been unfaithful to him? _____________________________

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3. ____________, contrary to what many ____________ think

of it, is an ____________ ____________ ____________ and

will ____________. ____________ is so ____________

because ____________ is so ____________!



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4. What parts did Ezekiel play in the pantomimes described in

chapter 5? ___________________________________________

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5. These ____________ were ____________ from

____________ to the ____________ in ____________ in

____________.

6. Describe the sword with which Ezekiel was to shave his head

and beard. ___________________________________________

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7. What was the significance of shaving the head and beard

among Israelites, Israelite priests, foreign nations? ___________

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8. What quandary did Ezekiel face when he was told to shave

his head and beard? ___________________________________



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9. What was God saying by commanding Ezekiel to shave his

head and beard? ______________________________________

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10. The shorn hair was divided into three parts by weight. What

did the first third represent? _____________________________

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What did the second third represent? ______________________

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What did the third third represent? _______________________



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11. What did the few hairs that were bound up in Ezekiel’s

clothing represent? What was done with these few hairs? _____

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12. In what ways do the opinions of commentators such as

McGee, Smith, Fredenburg, Clarke, et. al. agree and disagree on

the meaning of the divisions of hair from Ezekiel’s shaving his

head and beard? ______________________________________

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13. What does, “A fire will spread from these to the whole house

of Israel,” mean? _____________________________________

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14. How many times in Ezekiel 5 do the statements, “This is

what the Sovereign Lord says,” “Therefore as surely as I live,

declares the Sovereign Lord,” “I the Lord have spoken,” appear?

What is the significance of these statements? _______________

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15. What is an oracle? What oracles are found in Ezekiel 5? ___

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16. In what way(s) and why did God set Jerusalem in the center

of the nations? What was the purpose of this placement? ______

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17. What was Jerusalem’s response to being placed in the center

of the nations? _______________________________________

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18. What was God’s response to Jerusalem’s behavior? _______

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19. What the ____________ said then was ____________

____________! ____________’s ____________ for

____________ is ____________! ____________ leads to

____________. ____________ leads to ____________!

____________ this ____________ whether you will

____________ and ____________ or ____________ and

____________!

20. How did Jerusalem’s conduct compare with the behavior of

the surrounding heathen nations? Provide specifics. __________

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21. Because of the ____________ ____________ of

____________ over ____________, ____________ years,

____________ gave up on them and ____________ their

____________. ____________ was ____________

____________ and determined to ____________ ____________

on them in the ____________ of the ____________.

22. What did God promise to do to Jerusalem because of their

detestable sins he had never done before and would never do

again? Give details. ___________________________________

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23. Why did God remove his favor from Jerusalem? Of what

sins were they guilty? __________________________________

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24. What did the removal of God’s favor mean? What was the

result of God’s not looking with pity on Jerusalem and

promising not to spare the people of Judah? ________________



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25. How and to where did God scatter the people to the winds?

How did he pursue them with a drawn sword? ______________

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26. When would God’s anger, fury and wrath against Israel

cease? What caused God’s anger to cease? _________________

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27. What is the biblical view of the nature of God? What is the

modern view of the nature of God (Coffman)? ______________

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28. What would it take for the sinful people of Jerusalem to

repent, to know that God’s commands must be obeyed? _______

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29. The fact that ____________’s ____________ were

____________ to the ____________ shows that ____________

had ____________ ____________ and ____________.

____________ ____________ what he had ____________.

30. God had promised Jerusalem, “I will make you a

____________ and a ____________ among the ____________

around you, in the ____________ of ____________ who

____________ by.”

31. “You will be a ____________ and a ____________, a

____________ and an ____________ of ____________ to the

____________ ____________ you when ____________

____________ ____________ on you in ____________ and in

____________ and with ____________ ____________.”

32. List the phrases and expressions which are found in both

Ezekiel 5 and Leviticus 26. _____________________________

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33.”I the Lord have spoken.” What difference has the fact made

in your life? _________________________________________

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34. Does God “shoot to kill”? (See verse 16.) _______________

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35. ____________ would ____________ at the sinful Israelites

with ____________ and ____________ ____________ at

____________, I will ____________ to ____________ you. I

will bring ____________ and ____________ ____________

upon you and cut off your ____________ of ____________. I

will send ____________ and ____________ ____________

against you, and they will ____________ you ____________.

____________ (____________) and ____________ will

____________ through you, and I will bring the ____________

against you. ____________ the ____________ have

____________.”



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36. ____________ was ____________’s ____________

____________ to take the ____________ of ____________ in

____________ and ____________ to the ____________. In this

they ____________ ____________ and were ____________

____________.

37. The ____________ is now ____________’s ____________

____________ to take the ____________ of ____________ in

____________ and ____________ to the ____________. In this,

will the ____________ ____________ or ____________?

38. This is what the ____________ ____________

____________! ____________ the ____________ have

____________. ____________ and ____________ did not

____________. They were ____________! Are you going to

____________ and ____________ or be ____________?

39. In your opinion, what are the three most important lessons

taught in Ezekiel 5? ___________________________________

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40. God covenanted with Abraham to make his descendants the

means by which all the nations of the world would be blessed. In

what ways has your life been a blessing to others? In what ways

has your life been harmful to others? ______________________

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