PHIL HARRIS | Seeker of Truth |
Introduction
In the previous chapter Ezekiel gave demonstrations of God’s coming judgment upon the city of Jerusalem. Now, acting out God’s instructions in full view of the people, God is giving Ezekiel new commands for demonstrating what will happen to those who refuse to repent.
Prophecy of the Thirds
“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. 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. You shall also take a few in number from them and bind them in the edges of your robes. 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.—Ezekiel 5:1–4
In Chapter Five we have another demonstration of God’s judgment. This time Ezekiel has to use a sharp sword to cut off the hair from his face and head.
The people who witnessed what he was doing would have been shocked because Levitical priests of God would ordinarily never remove their hair. In Leviticus 21:1–9 we learn that to do so would be to profane the name of their God.
They shall not make any baldness on their heads nor shave off the edges of their beards nor make any cuts in their flesh. They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God, for they bring near the offerings to Yahweh by fire, the food of their God; so they shall be holy.—Leviticus 21:5–6
As for Ezekiel’s demonstration, the message is that by not repenting of their sins they are profaning the name of God. The use of a sword instead of a razor foreshadows the coming siege that will be God’s judgment on their apostasy.
Ezekiel takes a balance scale and separates most of his hair into three equal parts. This hair represents the Israelites. Ezekiel is now to burn one-third of his hair in the center of the city when the coming siege is over. One-third is to be struck by the sword all around the city—Jerusalem—and the last one-third is scattered to the wind.
Ezekiel is to take a few of the cut hairs and secure them into the edges of his robe, and these hairs he will burn in the coming fire. From those hairs burning, a fire will spread to “all the house of Israel”. This small number of hairs appears to allude to a remnant of Israelites who will escape the onslaught of killing which is soon to come. Ezekiel 6:8 says that a small remnant will escape the sword and be scattered among the nations. This remnant will eventually remember the Lord as they languish in captivity.
Judgment Against Jerusalem
“Thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘This is Jerusalem; I have set her at the center of the nations, with lands all around her. But she has rebelled against My judgments more wickedly than the nations and against My statutes more than the lands which are all around her; for they have rejected My judgments and have not walked in My statutes.’—Ezekiel 5:5-6
God is saying that Jerusalem, meaning the Hebrew people, has been set as a witness to all nations, yet they have rebelled and sinned in greater ways than the surrounding pagan nations. Since their God is the one and only true God they are in serious trouble.
Therefore, thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Because you have more turmoil than the nations which are all around you and have not walked in My statutes, nor done My judgments, nor done the judgments of the nations which are all around you,’ therefore, thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Behold, I, even I, am against you, and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations.—Ezekiel 5:7-8
God declares that He will execute his judgment among them as a warning to all the other nations.
And I will do among you what I have not done and the like of which I will never do again because of all your abominations. Therefore, fathers will eat their sons among you, and sons will eat their fathers; for I will execute judgments on you and scatter all your remnant to every wind.—Ezekiel 5:9-10
Ezekiel’s audience should be trembling in shock and fear by what they see him doing. While it doesn’t appear to have been recorded in historical accounts God declared that the horrible act of cannibalism would occur during the siege of Jerusalem. God would bring on them the horror of the human sacrifices they had been offering to the pagan gods. They would cannibalize each other as they were cut off from food.
You Have Defiled My Sanctuary
So as I live,’ declares Lord Yahweh, ‘surely, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable idols and with all your abominations, therefore I will also withdraw, and My eye will have no pity, and I will not spare. One-third of you will die by the plague or be consumed by the famine among you, one-third will fall by the sword around you, and one-third I will scatter to every wind, and I will unsheathe a sword behind them. —Ezekiel 5:11-12
It is because of how the Hebrew people have defiled God’s sanctuary that we have what is called the “Prophecy of the Thirds” where Ezekiel the priest is commanded to cut off his hair. His shame is really the shame of the people:
- One third of the people will die of plague and famine.
- One third of the people will fall by the sword.
- One third of the people will be scattered to every wind with an unsheathed sword following them.
You Will Know that I Have Spoken
‘Thus My anger will be spent, and I will cause My wrath against them to be at rest, and I will be appeased; then they will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken in My zeal when I have spent My wrath upon them. Moreover, I will make you a ruin and a reproach among the nations which are all around you, in the sight of all who pass by.—Ezekiel 5:13-14
The pronouns such as ‘them’ and ‘they’ indicates that God’s wrath will finally be at rest and appeased concerning those who are suffering within Jerusalem because they will know that I, their God, have spoken. However, the surrounding nations will view Israel as “a ruin and a reproach”.
Just prior to the Hebrew people entering into the Promised Land, Moses repeated the giving of the law which included a warning not to adopt the evil practices of the nations around them:
“When you enter the land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not learn to [imitate the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices soothsaying or one who interprets omens or a sorcerer, or one who is an enchanter or a medium or a spiritist or one who inquires of the dead. For whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh; and because of these abominations Yahweh your God will dispossess them from before you. You shall be blameless before Yahweh your God. For those nations, which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice soothsaying and to diviners, but as for you, Yahweh your God has not allowed you to do so. “Yahweh your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers; you shall listen to him.—Deuteronomy 18:9-15
A Warning to the Surrounding Nations
So it will be a reproach, a reviling, a chastisement, and a desecration to the nations who are all around you when I execute judgments against you in anger, wrath, and wrathful reproofs. I, Yahweh, have spoken. When I send against them the deadly arrows of famine which were for the destruction of those whom I will send to destroy you, then I will also intensify the famine upon you and break the staff of bread. Moreover, I will send on you famine and wild beasts, and they will bereave you of children; plague and bloodshed also will pass through you, and I will bring the sword on you. I, Yahweh, have spoken.’”—Ezekiel 5:15-17
Israel had been intended by God to be a witness to their neighbors of the need to repent of their evil practices. Instead of doing so, God’s covenant people lusted ofter and adopted the evil practices the surrounding pagans were doing.
What is happening to Jerusalem and the people within it serves as a warning to the surrounding nations that they, too, are in mortal danger of suffering what is happening to Jerusalem.
Summary
- This prophecy began in the previous chapter where Ezekiel portrays the forthcoming siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians with the people within the city having no way of escape.
- God declares that the reason He is so upset with these unrepentant people is that they have defiled His sanctuary with their detestable idols and abominations.
- Using a sword Ezekiel is now instructed by God to cut off all the hair from his head. Most of the hair is divided into three equal portions which represent the people trapped within Jerusalem. One third of them would die of plague and famine. Another third would die by the sword. The remaining third of the people would be scattered “to every wind” with an unsheathed sword following them.
- Ezekiel’s actions were performed within the full view of these unrepentant exiles. They should have humbled themselves and repented at least by 586bc when Jerusalem fell, destroyed by the Babylonians just as was foretold in this prophecy.
- This chapter culminates with a warning to Israel’s surrounding pagan nations that this will be “a reproach, a reviling, a chastisement, and a desecration” directed towards them also.
—All references unless otherwise stated are taken from the LSB.
- Ezekiel 5: Prophecy of the Thirds - July 2, 2026
- Ezekiel 4: Ezekiel Bears Israel’s Iniquity - May 14, 2026
- Ezekiel 3: God’s Watchman - March 26, 2026