Ezekiel 5

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Dave Burnette's Commentary

Ezekiel Chapter 5

Written By: God through Inspiration
Penned By: Ezekiel
Date Penned: (571 BC)
Overview: To Announce God's Judgement and Salvation (c 1-5)
Theme: Messages of Doom (c 1-24)
Message: Jerusalem Will be a Public Example (v 1-17)

Ezekiel 5 Commentary

(5:1) Mourning - Shaving 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). God asked Ezekiel to use dramatic visual images along with verbal prophecies 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, your unique story can creatively communicate the Good News about God to people in our lost generation.

(5:3) A Small Remnant - The few strands of hair Ezekiel put in his garment 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 are safe are not. Make sure your commitment to the Lord is genuine.

(5:7) Wickedness - The people's wickedness was so great that they couldn't even be compared favorably with the pagan nations around them, not to mention the measuring stick of God's laws.

(5:11) Defiled - To defile the temple, God's sanctuary, by worshiping idols and practicing evil within its very walls was a serious sin. In the New Testament, we learn that God now makes his • home within those who are his. Your body is God's temple (see 1 Corinthians 6:19). We defile God's temple today by allowing gossip, bitterness, love of money, lies, or any other wrong actions or attitudes to dwell within us. By asking for the Holy Spirit's help, we can keep from defiling his temple.

(5:13) Empty Threats - Have 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 God's warnings today, treating them as empty threats. But what God threatens, he does. Don't make the mistake of thinking God doesn't really mean what he says.

David Burnette's Life Application

High Standards

Each day we walk through the Bible chapter by chapter making an application of our text to help us grow in the Lord. Many applications can be made from each day's text. Today we continue the Book of Ezekiel with Chapter 5. In our text today we see Jerusalem being a made a public example as God's people are held to a high standard with their open sin. In making application we see that those who have been saved are God's people and have been engrafted into the family of God. Being part of the family we are held to a higher standard sin which causes our heavenly Father to be quick to discipline us. Today we have many believing that we can live in sin since we live in a day of grace but the truth is we represent the Lord since He lives in us. How about you? Do you see that the Lord holds us to a high standard when it comes to sin after we are saved? Let us learn from our text today to see that our lives affect others and others are watching us so we need to let the Lord shine through us as we share the Lord with a lost and dying world.

Ezekiel 5

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Ezekiel 5

¹And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair.

²Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them.

³Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts.

⁴Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.

⁵Thus saith the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.

⁶And she hath changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are round about her: for they have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them.

⁷Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments, neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you;

⁸Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations.

⁹And I will do in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the like, because of all thine abominations.

¹⁰Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds.

¹¹Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD; Surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee; neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity.

¹²A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.

¹³Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them.

¹⁴Moreover I will make thee waste, and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by.

¹⁵So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment unto the nations that are round about thee, when I shall execute judgments in thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I the LORD have spoken it.

¹⁶When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:

¹⁷So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee: and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the LORD have spoken it.

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