Ezekiel 5
OUTLINE:
I. \\#Eze 1:1-23:49\\ Before the Siege (c.593-587)
A. \\#Eze 1:1-3:15\\ The First Message
1. \\#1:1-28\\ God
a. \\#1-3\\ The Setting
b. \\#4-28\\ The Glory of the Lord
c. \\#4\\ The Cloud
d. \\#5-14\\ The Four Living Creatures
e. \\#15-21\\ The Four Wheels
f. \\#22-25\\ The Firmament
g. \\#26-28\\ The One Above
h. \\#28\\ Ezekiel’s Reaction
2. \\#2:1-3:15\\ The Commission of Ezekiel
a. \\#2:1-2\\ God’s Strengthening
b. \\#2:3-3:15\\ God’s Calling
(1) \\#2:3-5\\ Go to God’s People
(2) \\#2:6-3:3\\ Go with God’s Words
(3) \\#3:4-11\\ Go with God’s Equipping
(4) \\#3:12-15\\ Go with God’s Spirit
B. \\#Eze 3:16-7:27\\ The Second Message
1. \\#3:16-21\\ Go as God’s Watchman
2. \\#3:22-3:27\\ Hardships for Ezekiel
a. \\#3:22-24\\ A Shift in Location
b. \\#3:24-27\\ Three Commands Given
3. \\#4:1-5:17\\ Signs of Jerusalem’s Siege
a. \\#4:1-3\\ A Besieged City
b. \\#4:4-8\\ A Sinful City
c. \\#4:9-17\\ A Hungry City
d. \\#5:1-17\\ A Defeated City
\\#Eze 3:16-7:27\\ The Second Message, Signs of Jerusalem’s Siege
\\#5:1-17\\ A Defeated City
I. \\#1-4\\ Ezekiel’s Sign
A. \\#1\\ "sharp knife… barber’s razor… balances" - Ezekiel
was to gather the tools needed for a very detailed task.
B. "cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard" - He was
to cut the hair off his head and face.
C. \\#2\\ "a third part" - Afterward, he was to divide the hair
into 3 parts, each part representing what would happen to the
residents of Jerusalem. The interpretation of the actions is
given in \\#12\\.
1. 1/3 was cast into the fire to symbolize those who would be
killed by the consequences of the siege (starvation,
sickness).
2. 1/3 were to be hacked up with a knife to symbolize those
who would be killed with the sword.
3. 1/3 were to be cast into the wind to symbolize those who
would flee or somehow survive.
a. The highest number of survivors in Jerusalem would be
1/3 of its original population. 2/3’s would die as a
direct result of the siege and many of the 1/3 that
did survive would die in the aftermath of the siege.
b. The last 1/3 probably included those who fled before
the siege began, those who survived to remain as the
poorest of the land, and those who were taken
captive.
c. These have an added prophecy.
d. "I will draw out a sword after them" - God would
continue to hunt the survivors down through other
means to kill them.
D. \\#3-4\\ "take… a few… and bind them in thy skirts"
1. These represent only those who would be taken captive.
2. They were very, very few in number but were being
preserved by God as symbolized by being placed inside
Ezekiel’s skirts.
Eze 5:4 Then take of them again, and cast them
into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the
fire….
3. Even so they would be diminished in numbers by God’s
wrath.
4. We do not know all that happened to the captives but just
because they were alive to be carried away does not mean
they all survived.
a. There would have been hardships of getting to Babylon
that likely diminished their numbers.
b. Then there was the wrath of Nebuchadnezzar and the
subsequent monarchs who almost killed Daniel,
Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego on numerous occasions.
c. Then there was the naturally rebellious nature of the
Jews who likely earned the wrath of their new
oppressors.
d. Being taken captive did not mean the fire of God’s
judgment was over.
II. \\#5-17\\ Ezekiel’s Sermon
A. \\#5-10\\ General Condemnation of Jerusalem
1. \\#5\\ "This is Jerusalem" - These prophecy statistics
relate to the siege of the capitol city.
2. \\#6\\ "she hath changed my judgments" - God had intended
to do Jerusalem good, but the evil of the people changed
that.
3. Specifically, "for they have refused my judgments and my
statues."
4. \\#7\\ "Because ye multiplied" - Their multiplication was
in sin. They did not increase in sins even as the wicked
nations around them but multiplied their number of sins.
5. \\#8\\ "Therefore" - Because of what Israel had done, God
would remove the blessings and give them judgments.
6. \\#9\\ "And I will do in thee that which I have not done"
And because Israel had grown in their sins like no other
nation, God would do to them what He had done to no
other nation. God would do two things:
a. \\#10\\ "the fathers shall eat the sons… the sons
shall eat their fathers"
(1) This is a reference to the cannibalism that
occurred during the days of the siege.
(2) This was fulfilled as Jeremiah recorded.
La 4:10 The hands of the pitiful women have
sodden their own children: they were their meat
in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
(3) This prophecy is not to say this is the only time
such evil occurred for it is not
\\#2Kings 6:28-29\\; however, it was the first
time God had let this evil occur to His people
in Jerusalem.
b. "the whole remnant of thee will I scatter"
(1) Another first for Jerusalem.
(2) God would scatter all that survived.
B. \\#11-17\\ The Interpretation of Ezekiel’s Actions
1. \\#11\\ "will I also diminish thee" - Israel’s population
was to be severely reduced.
2. "neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any
pity." - What a sad state when God no longer pities the
sinner.
3. \\#12\\ The fire represented those who would die by
"pestilence and …famine". The knife is the sword. The
wind those would be scattered and afterward afflicted by
more violence.
4. \\#13\\ "Thus shall mine anger be accomplished" - This was
how God had determined to deal with Jerusalem’s sin.
5. "they shall know that I the Lord have spoken… when I
have accomplished my fury" - The reason God spoke the
future BEFORE it happened was so the people would know
AFTER it was fulfilled that it was the work of God.
NOTE - If such violence by the merciful God bothers you, consider how
sin must bother God. God’s wrath and judgment are not flaws in God’s
character. They are just recompenses for the disobedience we have
committed. The fact that we cannot comprehend God’s "extreme"
judgment against sinners only indicates that we cannot comprehend the
wickedness of our sins which produces it.
6. \\#14-15\\"Moreover, I will make thee waste, and a
reproach… \\#15\\ a taunt, an instruction, and an
astonishment" - God was to spoil the city.
7. "I shall execute judgments… in anger, in fury, and in
furious rebukes." - Sin makes God angry.
8. \\#17\\ "I send… famine… evil beasts… pestilence and
blood… the sword upon thee." God caused every evil to
come upon Jerusalem.
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