5:1-10Shaving one’s head and beard signified mourning, humiliation, and repentance. God told Ezekiel to shave his head and beard and then to divide the hair into three parts, symbolizing what was going to happen to the people in Jerusalem (see 5:12). Along with verbal prophecies, God asked Ezekiel to use dramatic visual images to command the people’s attention and to burn an indelible impression on their minds. Just as God gave Ezekiel Creative ways to communicate his message to the exiles, we can Creatively communicate the Good News about God to a lost generation.
Life Application Study BibleEzekielChapter 5
Ezekiel 5
New Living Translation · Life Application Study Bible · Original pages: 1312, 1313, 1314
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5Ezekiel 5
A Sign of the Coming Judgment
15 “Son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a razor to shave your head and beard. Use a scale to weigh the hair into three equal parts. 2Place a third of it at the center of your map of Jerusalem. After acting out the siege, burn it there. Scatter another third across your 4:10 Hebrew 20 shekels (228 grams]. 4:11 Hebrew 1 of a hin [about 1 pint or 0.6 liters]. map and chop it with a sword. Scatter the last third to the wind, for I will scatter my people with the sword. 3Keep just a bit of the hair and tie it up in your robe. 4Then take some of these hairs out and throw them into the fire, burning them up. A fire will then spread from this remnant and destroy all of Israel. 5“ This is what the Sovereign LORD says: This is an illustration of what will happen to Jerusalem. I placed her at the center of the nations, ® but she has rebelled against my regulations and decrees and has been even more wicked than the surrounding nations. She has refused to obey the regulations and decrees I gave her to follow. 7*Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: You people have behaved worse than your neighbors and have refused to obey my decrees and regulations. You have not even lived up to the standards of the nations around you. 6Therefore, I myself, the Sovereign Lor, am now your enemy. I will punish you publicly while all the nations watch. 9Because of your detestable idols, I will punish you like I have never punished anyone before or ever will again. 10Parents will eat their own children, and children will eat their parents. I will punish you and scatter to the winds the few who survive. 11“As surely as I live, says the Sovereign LORD, I will cut you off completely. I will show you No pity at all because you have defiled my Temple with your vile images and detestable sins. 12A third of your people will die in the city from disease and famine. A third of them will be slaughtered by the enemy outside the city walls. And I will scatter a third to the winds, chasing them with my sword. 'SThen at last my anger will be spent, and I will be satisfied. And when my fury against them has subsided, all Israel will know that I, the LORD, have spoken to them in my jealous anger. 14“So I will turn you into aruin,a mockery in the eyes of the surrounding nations and to all who pass by. You will become an object of mockery and taunting and horror. You will be a warning to all the nations around you. They will see what happens when the LORD punishes anation in anger and rebukes it, says the LORD. 16“I will shower you with the deadly arrows of famine to destroy you. The famine will become more and more severe until every crumb of food is gone. 17And along with the famine, wild animals will attack you and rob you of your children. Disease and war will stalk your land, and I will bring the sword of the enemy against you. I, the LORD, have spoken!” Judgment against Israel's Mountains.
Life Application Notes 5 notes
5:3,4The few strands of hair Ezekiel put in his robe symbolized the small remnant of faithful people whom God would preserve. But even some from this remnant would be judged and destroyed because their faith was not genuine. Where will you stand in the Coming judgment? Matthew 7:22, 23 warns that many who believe they will be saved won't be. Make sure your commitment to the LORD is genuine.
5:7The people’s wickedness was so great that they couldn't even be compared favorably with the pagan nations around them, not to mention how they would appear with respect to God’s laws.
5:11It was a Serious sin to defile the Temple, God’s sanctuary, by worshiping idols and practicing evil within its very walls. In the New Testament, we learn that God now makes his home within those who are his. Our body is God’s temple (see 1 Corinthians 6:19). We defile God’s temple today by allowing gossiping, bitterness, love of money, lying, or any other wrong actions or attitudes to be a part of our life. By asking the Holy Spirit's help, we can keep from defiling his temple, our body.
5:13Have you ever seen someone try to discipline a child by saying, “If you do that one more time...”? If the parent doesn’t follow through, the child learns not to listen. Empty threats backfire. God was going to punish the Israelites for their blatant sins, and he wanted them to know that he would do what he said. The people learned the hard way that God always follows through on his word. Too many people ignore Gad’s warnings, treating them as empty threats. Don't make the mistake of thinking God doesn’t really mean what he says.
Charts, profiles & sidebars from the printed pages
Personality profile · page 1313
Profile: Ezekiel
Although Ezekiel’s visions and prophecies were clear and vivid, very little is known about the prophet’s personal life. He was among the thousands of young men deported from Judah to Babylon when King Jehoiachin surrendered. Until those tragic days, Ezekiel was being trained for the priesthood. But during the exile in Babylon, God called Ezekiel to be his prophet during one of Israel’s darkest times. Ezekiel experienced the same kind of shocking encounter with God that Isaiah had reported 150 years earlier. Like tsaiah, Ezekiel was never the same after his personal encounter with God. Although God’s messages through both these prophets had many points in common, the conditions under which they lived were very different. Isaiah warned of the coming storm; Ezekiel spoke in the midst of the storm of national defeat that devastated his people. He announced that even Jerusalem would not escape destruction. In addition, during this time Ezekiel had to endure the pain of his wife’s death. God's description of Ezekiel as a watchman on the walls of the city captures the personal nature of his ministry. A watchman’s job was dangerous. If he failed at his post, he and the entire city might be destroyed. His own safety depended on the quality of his work. The impor- tance of each person’s accountability before God was a central part of Ezekiel’s message. He taught the exiles that God expected personal obedience and worship from each of them. As in Ezekiel’s day, it is easy for us today to forget that God has a personal interest in each one of us. We may feel insignificant or out of control when we look at world events. But know- ing that God is ultimately in control, that he cares, and that he is willing to be known by us can bring a new sense of purpose to our lives. How do you measure your worth? Are you valuable because of your achievements and potential or because God, your Creator and Designer, declares you valuable? Strengths and e Was a priest by training, a prophet by God’s call accomplishments e Received vivid visions and delivered powerful messages
• Served as God’s messenger during Israel's captivity in Babylon
• Became a tough and courageous man so he could reach a hard and stubborn people (Ezekiel 3:8)
• Even the repeated failures of his people will not prevent God’s plan for the world from being fulfilled
• Each person's response to God determines his or her eternal destiny
• God has people through whom he can work even in seemingly hopeless situations
Lessons from his life
• Where: Babylon © Occupation: Prophet to the captives in Babylon
• Relatives: Father: Buzi. Wife: Unknown
• Contemporaries: Jehoiachin, Jeremiah, Jehoiakim, Nebuchadnezzar
Vital statistics
“Then he added, ‘Son of man, let all my words sink deep into your own heart first. Listen to them carefully for yourself. Then go to your people in exile and say to them, “This is what the Sovereign LORD says!” Do this whether they listen to you or not’” (Ezekiel 3:10, 11).
Key verses
Ezekiel’s story is told in the book of Ezekiel and 2 Kings 24:10-17.
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