A Witness to Judgement.
Ezekiel 5: 1-17
1 "And you, son of man, take a sharp sword, take it as a barber's razor, and pass it over your head and your beard; then take scales to weigh and divide the hair.
2 You shall burn with fire one-third in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are finished; then you shall take one-third and strike around it with the sword, and one-third you shall scatter in the wind: I will draw out a sword after them.
3 You shall also take a small number of them and bind them in the edge of your garment.
4 Then take some of them again and throw them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire. From there a fire will go out into all the house of Israel.
5 "Thus says the Lord God: 'This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the midst of the nations and the countries all around her.
6 She has rebelled against My judgments by doing wickedness more than the nations, and against My statutes more than the countries that are all around her; for they have refused My judgments, and they have not walked in My statutes.'
7 Therefore thus says the Lord God: 'Because you have multiplied disobedience more than the nations that are all around you, have not walked in My statutes nor kept My judgments, nor even done according to the judgments of the nations that are all around you'--
8 therefore thus says the Lord God: 'Indeed I, even I, am against you and will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nations.
9 And I will do among you what I have never done, and the like of which I will never do again, because of all your abominations.
10 Therefore fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments among you, and all of you who remain I will scatter to all the winds.
11 Therefore, as I live,' says the Lord God, 'surely, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your abominations, therefore I will also diminish you; My eye will not spare, nor will I have any pity.
12 One-third of you shall die of the pestilence, and be consumed with famine in your midst; and one-third shall fall by the sword all around you; and I will scatter another third to all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.
13 'Thus shall My anger be spent, and I will cause My fury to rest upon them, and I will be avenged; and they shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it in My zeal, when I have spent My fury upon them.
14 Moreover I will make you a waste and a reproach among the nations that are all around you, in the sight of all who pass by.
15 So it shall be a reproach, a taunt, a lesson, and an astonishment to the nations that are all around you, when I execute judgments among you in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I, the Lord, have spoken.
16 When I send against them the terrible arrows of famine which shall be for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, I will increase the famine upon you and cut off your supply of bread.
17 So I will send against you famine and wild beasts, and they will bereave you. Pestilence and blood shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I, the Lord, have spoken.' "
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Ezekiel wasn’t only to preach against the Israelites, God also told him to act out His threats of vengeance against them.
It is well known that we retain more when we see and hear.
Edgar Dale (American educator) said:
We remember 10% of what we read 20% of what we hear 30% of what we see 50% of what we see and hear 70% of what we discuss with others 80% of what we personally experience 95% or what we teach others.
God wanted the sinful Israelites to both see and hear what the prophet said.
Ezekiel had done this in chapter 4 as well.
God had told him to draw the city of Jerusalem on a tile, and act out the siege of Jerusalem.
The Siege of Jerusalem Symbolised
Eze 4:1 Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and portray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:
Eze 4:2 And lay siege against it,
He also told him to lie on his left side for 390 days and lie on his right side for 40 days. 430 days in total.
Eze 4:4 Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity.
Eze 4:5 For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
Eze 4:6 And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.
This represented a day for every year that the prophecy was relating to.
Ezekiel was told to eat very little food and drink little water for all that time. Imposing on himself a fast.
It was as if Ezekiel was to symbolically bear the iniquity of Israel for 430 years.
Eze 4:5 For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity,
Jeremiah prophesied, that Israel would return from captivity after 70 years, which they did.
So, Jeremiah’s prophecy doesn’t seem to fit the prophecy of Ezekiel.
However, sometime after 445BCE when the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt, or possibly as late as 391BCE there was silence. There was the famine for hearing the word of God.
We read this in the prophecy of Amos.
Amos 8:11-13 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it. In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.
The prophecy said that the Word of God would not be heard, even though they search for it.
From the time of the Prophet Malachi to the next time the word was heard by Zachariah the priest in the course of Abia when he was in the Temple.
Luk 1:13 But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
Up until this time, there is a gap of at least 390 years and possibly up to 430 years.
This was a time of silence until the announcement of John the Baptist.
It appears that this is the fulfilment of Ezekiel’s prophecy.
In our text in Ezekiel chapter 5, we see God telling Ezekiel to act out a prophecy again.
1 "And you, son of man, take a sharp sword, take it as a barber's razor, and pass it over your head and your beard; then take scales to weigh and divide the hair.
The people of Israel must have wondered what this crazy prophet would do next but at least his actions would grab their attention.
Here was a priest cutting off his hair and beard, this would not be heard of in Israel.
God told Ezekiel to act out another prophecy. Now, here is the prophecy concerning the hair that Ezekiel cut off.
2 You shall burn with fire one-third in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are finished; then you shall take one-third and strike around it with the sword, and one-third you shall scatter in the wind: I will draw out a sword after them.
3 You shall also take a small number of them and bind them in the edge of your garment.
What did this prophecy mean?
In the midst of the city, meaning Jerusalem, represented by the drawing on the clay tile.
The sword is a symbol of the judgement as it would come upon Israel.
The hair represents those people left in the city of Jerusalem.
This message powerfully contradicted the false promises of deliverance spoken by false prophets, who were saying that Israel would be delivered back to Jerusalem despite the fact that they were unrepentant.
In actual fact, this is exactly what happened in Jerusalem when Babylon invaded.
One third of the Jews were burned in the midst of the city of Jerusalem.
One third of the Jews were struck with the sword.
One third were scattered in the wind.
Eze 5:3 A small number, a remnant, will be saved.
God always keeps a remnant, but some of the remnant will suffer, symbolised by throwing some of the hair into the fire..
Eze 5:4 Then take some of them again and throw them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire. From there a fire will go out into all the house of Israel.
Eze 5:5 “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘This is Jerusalem;
This points back to the prophecy in Eze 4:1-3, where God told Ezekiel to draw Jerusalem on a clay tile and act out the siege against the city.
Eze 4:1-3 “You also, son of man, take a clay tablet and lay it before you, and portray on it a city, Jerusalem.
Lay siege against it, build a siege wall against it, and heap up a mound against it; set camps against it also, and place battering rams against it all around. Moreover take for yourself an iron plate, and set it as an iron wall between you and the city. Set your face against it, and it shall be besieged, and you shall lay siege against it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel..
God was disgusted with the people. Not only were they iniquitous people but they exceeded the wickedness of the surrounding nations.
Eze 5:11 Therefore, as I live,' says the Lord God, 'surely, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your abominations, therefore I will also diminish you; My eye will not spare, nor will I have any pity.
The prophecy in Eze 4, shows God’s anger and disgust.
Eze 4:6 She (meaning Jerusalem) has rebelled against My judgments by doing wickedness more than the nations, and against My statutes more than the countries that are all around her; for they have refused My judgments, and they have not walked in My statutes.'
7 Therefore thus says the Lord God: 'Because you have multiplied disobedience more than the nations that are all around you, have not walked in My statutes nor kept My judgments, nor even done according to the judgments of the nations that are all around you'--
8 therefore thus says the Lord God: 'Indeed I, even I, am against you and will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nations.
9 And I will do among you what I have never done, and the like of which I will never do again, because of all your abominations.
10 Therefore fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments among you, and all of you who remain I will scatter to all the winds.
Never had God brought such a severe judgement on His people.
Eze 5:12 One-third of you shall die of the pestilence, and be consumed with famine in your midst; and one-third shall fall by the sword all around you; and I will scatter another third to all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.
Israel was a privileged nation; they were chosen of God, they had received the oracles of God. God had sent the prophets to Israel. God had given Israel the Law. God had delivered them time and time again. Israel had seen the power of God.
When those who are so privileged come under the discipline of God, the punishment is much harder.
To whom much is given, much will be required (Luke 12:48).
If you have heard that line of wisdom, you know it means we are held responsible for what we have. If we have been blessed with truth, talents, wealth, knowledge, time, and the like, it is expected that we use it to benefit others.
It is not to be thrown back into God's face.
Feinberg quote:
“Israel, suffering for her sins under God’s righteous wrath, would be an object lesson to the nations. The heathen would be amazed because they had not seen a national deity so deal with a people who professed his worship.”
End of quote.
Eze 9 And I will do among you what I have never done, and the like of which I will never do again, because of all your abominations.
Terrible things would happen in Jerusalem as a result of their sin. There would be great famine throughout the city.
Those remaining in Jerusalem would end up eating their own children and the children would eat their fathers, as a result of starvation.
Eze 10 Therefore fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers;
Did it happen?
From the writings of Rabbi Pete Tobias, rabbi at The Liberal Synagogue, Elstree
The most horrific section is when the people are told that a nation will come from the north and besiege their cities. The inhabitants will starve. Such will be their hunger that they will be forced to eat their own babies.
No wonder this section is read in an undertone. But what is something so unpleasant doing in our holy scripture?
The answer lies in recognising for whom this section of Deuteronomy was written. Its target audience was exiles from Judah, who had recently been brought to Babylon by their captors.
The Babylonians were the enemy from the north who besieged the cities of Judah – specifically Jerusalem – starving those who lived there.
Deuteronomy 28 – indeed the entire book of Deuteronomy – was intended to explain to the people in exile that they were there because they had not obeyed God’s instructions.
When they heard the consequences of not listening to God’s voice, Judah’s exiles understood why they had been taken from their land.
His recognition of their failing was an essential first step on their journey that would eventually take them back home.
Deu 28:53 And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee:
Could this really happen, could a mother do such a thing?
According to scripture, the answer is yes.
Isaiah 49:15 says, “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.”
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Not only that but it happens again.
Prophecy is cyclical.
It appears that prophecies have multiple fulfilments. Prophets spoke for their own time, the time of Christ and the last days.
Early rabbinic interpretation connected the curse of child eating with the description of the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in Lamentations and the Roman destruction of the Second Temple.
Jeremiah wrote in Lamentations:
Lamentations 4:10 The hands of the compassionate women have cooked their own children; They became food for them In the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Leviticus tells us:
Lev 26:29 You shall eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters.;
Deuteronomy says:
Deut 28:53-57 you shall eat your own issue, the flesh of your sons and daughters that YHWH your God has assigned to you, because of the desperate straits to which your enemy shall reduce you.
1. The time of the prophet Ezekiel:
The Siege of Jerusalem was a military campaign carried out by Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon, in 597 BC. In 605 BC, It is reported that this cannibalism occurred because of starvation.
Eze 4:10 Therefore fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers;
2. The time of the 1st coming of Christ
The story of Mary of Bethezuba is a story of cannibalism told by Josephus in his “Jewish War” (VI,193) which occurred as a consequence of famine and starvation during the siege of Jerusalem in August AD 70 by Roman legions commanded by Titus.
3. The end times.
Prophecy tells us that it will happen again in the last days.
There will in the last days be an attack on Jerusalem by the armies from the North, Gog and Magog.
This is prophesied in Ezekiel 38 and 39.
Whether it will act out in the same way, we don’t know..
This was the same with Daniel and we can see this in Daniels interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the statue in Dan 2:31.
This also is a cyclical prophecy.
1. Nebuchanezzar erected a statue and ordered the Jews to bow down before it.
2. This was recapitulated in 168 BC, the Greek king Antiochus IV Epiphanes invaded Jerusalem and captured the city. He marched into the Jewish temple, erected a statue of the Greek god Zeus.
3. The Roman emperor Gaius (Caligula) ruled from March 37 to January 41 AD. In the last part of his reign a serious conflict developed be- tween the emperor and the Jews in Palestine. ... A statue of Gaius was to be erected in the temple. However this was blocked by a revolt.
4.This will also occur again in the last days, when the Antichrist will erect a statue of himself and demand worship.
Daniels prophecy says:
Daniel 9:27 In the middle of the week, he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate.
In Matt 24 Jesus referred to this prophecy.
Matthew 24:15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place”— the Jewish temple in Jerusalem—“whoever reads [the book of Daniel], let him understand” .
Jesus understood the fulfilment in the time of Daniel but also links it to future events in the end times.
3. The fulfilment of this prophecy can be read in the book of Revelation.
Revelation 13:14–15 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the Beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the Beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the Image of the Beast, that the Image of the Beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the Image of the Beast to be killed.
The order to kill all those who refuse to worship the Image of the Beast is given at the beginning of the Great Tribulation. This meshes with the Scriptures about the Abomination of Desolation being set up at exactly the same time. So this Image and the Abomination of Desolation is the same thing.
The Image of the Beast will be able to not only speak, but also kill—or cause to be killed somehow. It’s apparent that it will be a real wonder, and could really be worshipped by many. It will be the ultimate in idolatry: Man worshipping an abominable demon-possessed machine that desolates the world.
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Eze 5:13 'Thus shall My anger be spent, and I will cause My fury to rest upon them, and I will be avenged; and they shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it in My zeal, when I have spent My fury upon them.
14 Moreover I will make you a waste and a reproach among the nations that are all around you, in the sight of all who pass by.
15 So it shall be a reproach, a taunt, a lesson, and an astonishment to the nations that are all around you, when I execute judgments among you in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I, the Lord, have spoken.
16 When I send against them the terrible arrows of famine which shall be for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, I will increase the famine upon you and cut off your supply of bread.
17 So I will send against you famine and wild beasts, and they will bereave you. Pestilence and blood shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I, the Lord, have spoken.' "
Eze 5:13 'Thus shall My anger be spent.
God was indeed angry.
God had shown His anger before when He saw the wickedness of man on the earth and He poured out His anger and wrath by the great deluge of Noah. He saved a remnant, the righteous Noah and his family.
We see here that God was to do something He had not done before, execute wrath and judgement against His chosen people.
5:9 And I will do among you what I have never done, and the like of which I will never do again, because of all your abominations.
Here we see an angry God.
Hebrews 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
What can we learn from this passage?
God will not tolerate disobedience; however these truths are not to drive us to despair but to push us towards repentance and the love and forgiveness of God.
God satisfied His anger and wrath against sin when our sins were laid on Jesus on the cross at Calvary.
Forgiveness is available to all who come to Him in true repentance.
God may allow trial in our life as a discipline but we are not appointed to wrath.
1 Thess 5:9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Because of what Jesus did on the cross, we will not come under God’s wrath, for we are declared righteous in Christ.
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
God’s wrath will be visited on those who refuse God’s offer of salvation through grace and faith in Jesus.
Rev 6:15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
Rev 6:16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
Rev 6:17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
Another thing we learn from passages such as Ezekiel 5, is that God’s word is true. What God says, He will do.
Prophecy has been proven throughout history and there is no reason to believe that those prophecies that remain unfulfilled will indeed come to pass.
