Ezekiel 5:1-17  Jerusalem will be Destroyed

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Audio Download

Ezekiel 5:1-17  Jerusalem will be Destroyed

[Study Aired February 19, 2025]

Introduction

Today’s study will focus on the impending judgment of Judah and Jerusalem because of their sins. Again, Ezekiel is used by the Lord to demonstrate the judgment that was to fall on Jerusalem. In demonstrating the Lord’s judgment on His people, Ezekiel was required to shave his hair and then divide the hair into various parts to be destroyed by various means. The question is, “Why would the Lord require Ezekiel to shave his hair?”  It is because unshaved hair represents our consecration to the Lord while shaved hair represents the end of our consecration to the Lord. It also means that we have rejected the authority of Christ. 

Num 6:5  All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the LORD, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. 

Num 6:18  And the Nazarite shall shave the head of his separation at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall take the hair of the head of his separation, and put it in the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings.

As we are aware, the Lord always seeks an occasion to come to us with His judgment. It is when we have separated ourselves from our commitment or consecration to the Lord or have rejected His authority over us and have done evil in His sight that He comes with His judgment to correct us. Thus, Ezekiel shaving his hair is the Lord speaking in parables to those who have not been called and chosen. To us, it is the Lord opening our eyes to see and our ears to hear the mysteries of the kingdom as we come to see the end of our walk in Babylon (Jerusalem) and the beginning of our judgment. As we saw in Numbers 6:18, when a Nazarite ends his vow, he is required to shave his hair and put the hair in the fire. The fire here represents our judgment. Ezekiel shaving his hair means we have ended our commitment to Christ which was based on what we can do and not what the Lord will do for us (Nazarite vow). It is at this point that the Lord comes to judge us.  

Jdg 14:1  Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines. 
Jdg 14:2  Then he came up and told his father and mother, “I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife.” 
Jdg 14:3  But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.”
Jdg 14:4  His father and mother did not know that it was from the LORD, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.

As we go through Ezekiel chapter 5, we shall see the reason the Lord is judging His people and what the Lord’s judgment means to us His elect.

Ezekiel Must Shave His Head

Eze 5:1  And 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.
Eze 5:2  Thou 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.

As the bride of Christ, not shaving our heads signifies not rejecting the headship of the Lord. In other words, being separated unto the Lord signified by the Nazarite vow involves being absolutely under the authority of our head who is Christ.  

1Co 11:3  But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. 
1Co 11:4  Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, 
1Co 11:5  but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven. 
1Co 11:6  For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head. 
1Co 11:7  For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. (ESV)

Ezekiel shaving his head demonstrates that as the wife of Christ, we have rejected the authority of Christ and His words through defilement, which was the result of accepting the false teachings of our spiritually dead leaders in Babylon. The burning of the hair with fire speaks about the judgment of our old man. The fact that the fire burns a third part of the hair at a time is to make us aware that our judgment is not a one-time thing but a gradual process which is carried out by the Lord throughout our lives here on earth. This is confirmed in the Book of Revelation and that of Zechariah where our judgment is carried out gradually throughout our lives here on earth as follows:

Rev 8:8  And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; 
Rev 8:9  And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
Rev 8:10  And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; 
Rev 8:11  And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter. 
Rev 8:12  And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.

Zec 13:9  And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.

In verse 2, our days of siege signify the period of time of our walk in Babylon where we were under famine of the word of the Lord. The fact that the burning in fire was to take place when our days of siege were fulfilled is to let us know that it is when we leave Babylon as we are given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven that our judgment begins. 

Isa 52:9  Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem. 
Isa 52:10  The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. 
Isa 52:11  Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD.
Isa 52:12  For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward.

Verse 2 also shows us the Lord’s four sore judgments of famine, sword, noisome beast and pestilence. The number four means that it is the whole of the Lord’s judgment on display. 

Eze 14:21  For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast? 

Eze 5:3  Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts. 
Eze 5:4  Then 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.

The hairs that were bound in the skirts of Ezekiel are to demonstrate to us that it is the Lord’s elect who are being judged. As indicated in the previous study, Ezekiel represents Christ. His skirt therefore represents the righteousness of Christ of which we, His elect, are partakers as shown in the following scripture:

Eze 16:8  Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine.

Verse 4 is another way of saying that judgment shall begin in the house of the Lord. 

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? 
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? 
1Pe 4:19  Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

Eze 5:5  Thus saith the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her. 
Eze 5:6  And 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. 
Eze 5:7  Therefore 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; 
Eze 5:8  Therefore 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. 

Verse 5 signifies Jerusalem which is in bondage with her children. We have served our time in Babylon where we refused the Lord’s judgments. As a result, we became worse off and therefore deserve the Lord’s judgment on our old man. 

Job 40:8  Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

Our lives in Babylon were characterized by lack of the truth of the word of the Lord as we took refuge in false doctrines thinking they were the truth. These false doctrines made us worse off, and we’re like dogs that have turned to their own vomit again.

2Pe 2:18  For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. 
2Pe 2:19  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 
2Pe 2:20  For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
2Pe 2:21  For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
2Pe 2:22  But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

This is how the Psalmist describes our situation in Babylon:

Psa 79:1  A Psalm of Asaph. O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.
Psa 79:2  The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth. 
Psa 79:3  Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them.
Psa 79:4  We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us. 
Psa 79:5  How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry forever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire? 
Psa 79:6  Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name. 
Psa 79:7  For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place. 
Psa 79:8  O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low. 
Psa 79:9  Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake.

The heathen in Psalm 79:1 refers to our old man who sits in our temple calling himself as God because we think we make our own decisions based on our false doctrine of having our own will. Verse 2 of Psalm 79 shows us how we all become spiritually dead as we become meat for the devil while we were living in Babylon. All that happened to us served as an occasion for the Lord to come into our lives to judge our old man so we can learn righteousness.

Isa 26:8  Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Eze 5:9  And 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.
Eze 5:10  Therefore 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.

In verse 9, we are told that the Lord will do unto us what He has not done and is not going to do it again. What the Lord was going to do to us because of our abominations is to judge us. Since we are the first to be judged in this life, what the Lord is doing to us has not been done before, and once we are judged in this life, we are not going to be judged again. In other words, we are not going to suffer the second death which relates to being judged in the lake of fire. 

Rev 2:11  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 
Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 
Rev 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

In verse 10, we are told one of the tools the Lord is using to judge us is one of His four sore judgments – sword. The negative aspect of sword is the words that are spoken which destroy us. The sword refers to the lying words and false doctrines of the adversary. This means that the fathers shall eat the sons in our midst and the sons shall eat their fathers in verse 10 means that the fathers shall destroy their sons with their bitter words and false doctrines, and the sons will do the same to their fathers. 

2Ti 2:17  And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; 
2Ti 2:18  Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.

Psa 64:2  Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity: 
Psa 64:3  Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:

These negative words spoken are one of the tools that the Lord uses to cause people to speak bitter words to us, His elect. 

Eze 38:21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.

Jdg 7:22 And the three hundred [men with Gideon] blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man’s sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host [of the Midianites]: and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath.

As we have seen, these words of the Lord were addressed to Jerusalem which is Babylon of which we were part. The Lord scattering the whole remnant of the people of Israel into all the winds in verse 10 signifies the Lord causing us to be carried away by every wind of doctrine while we were in Babylon. 

Eph 4:14  That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

However, in the fullness of time, the Lord remembered us and raised up various ministers in the body, to perfect us such that we all come in the unity of the faith and knowledge of Christ and are no longer tossed by every wind of doctrine.

Eph 4:11  And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 
Eph 4:12  For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 
Eph 4:13  Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

Eze 5:11  Wherefore, 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. 
Eze 5:12  A 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. 
Eze 5:13  Thus 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.

In our time in Babylon, we had defiled the sanctuary of the Lord which is our bodies as the man of sin or the beast within us had dominated us and called himself God, sitting on the throne of our hearts and mind. The old man or the beast within us therefore had to be diminished or destroyed when Christ came to us with the spirit of His mouth and the brightness of His coming (His words). As we have indicated, the Lord will use His four sore judgements to judge our old man. In verse 12, three of the four sore judgements are mentioned – pestilence, famine and sword. Pestilence comes from the Hebrew word “deber” which means murrain or plague. Murrain means destruction and the only place the word was used in the Bible was in the fifth plague in Egypt when there was widespread destruction of cattle of the Egyptians. 

Exo 9:1  Then the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. 
Exo 9:2  For if thou refuse to let them go, and wilt hold them still, 
Exo 9:3  Behold, the hand of the LORD is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous murrain.
Exo 9:4  And the LORD shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt: and there shall nothing die of all that is the children’s of Israel. 
Exo 9:5  And the LORD appointed a set time, saying, To morrow the LORD shall do this thing in the land.
Exo 9:6  And the LORD did that thing on the morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt died: but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one. 

The judgment of the Lord of our old man will result in a grievous murrain of our old man. That is to say that our old man shall be utterly destroyed. Famine as one of the four sore judgments of the Lord means absence of the truth of the word of the Lord which makes us worse off as we wander from sea to sea. 

Amo 8:11  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:
Amo 8:12  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.
Amo 8:13  In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst. 

Through famine, we come to see who we truly are – that is, we are beast before the Lord. Thus, our proud old man is brought low when the Lord comes to us as we come to cherish the truth of the word of the Lord.

Psa 73:21  Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. 
Psa 73:22  So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.
Psa 73:23  Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand.
Psa 73:24  Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.

As we have indicated earlier, the sword in its negative application represents the bitter words spoken against us as well as false doctrines as the Lord causes every man’s sword to be against us.

Eze 38:21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.

In verse 13, we are made aware that the Lord will accomplish His fury in us through His zeal. It is the same as saying that He who has begun a good work in us shall surely bring it to completion.

Php 1:6  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Eze 5:14  Moreover I will make thee waste, and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by. 
Eze 5:15  So 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. 
Eze 5:16  When 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: 
Eze 5:17  So 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.

In verses 14 to 17, the Lord again indicated His use of the four sore judgments to bring about righteousness in us. As we have already talked about famine, pestilence and sword, we shall focus on the evil beast as a tool in the hands of the Lord to accomplish His purpose in us.  The evil beast is the same as noisome beast since the word “noisome” means evil. As we have learned over the years, this evil beast is what we see when we look in a mirror! In other words, this evil beast represents you and I. However, if we are the Lord’s elect, then this evil beast does not dominate us as the Lord is destroying him in our lives. On the other hand, for those who do not know Christ, this evil beast is alive and well within them and therefore dominates them. It is these people that the Lord is using as one of His tools to judge us.

Ecc 3:18  I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

Paul suffered so much at the hands of men who wanted to kill Him for His doctrines. These were evil beasts that the Lord was using to judge Paul.

1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. 
1Co 15:32  If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die.

Peter also talked about these evil beasts as follows:

2Pe 2:12  But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption; 
2Pe 2:13  And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;

In spite of the need for us to be judged as the means to put our old man to death, the Lord is merciful and compassionate towards us and will not suffer us to be tempted more than we can bear. Our confidence is that He who has started this good work in us shall bring it to completion, and in all that we go through, not a single hair on our head shall be lost just as the three Hebrew men went through the fire but did not lose a single hair!! 

Dan 3:22  Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Dan 3:23  And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. 
Dan 3:24  Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. 
Dan 3:25  He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. 
Dan 3:26  Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire. 
Dan 3:27  And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king’s counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them. 
Dan 3:28  Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God. 

Are you afraid of what you are going through now thinking it will destroy you? Well, I have good news for you! Just like the three Hebrew young men, you are destined to survive the flames of fire that you are going through!! Just remember that our Lord is merciful and compassionate towards you and will not let you be tempted more than you can bear!!

1Co 10:13  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

May His name be praised!! Amen!!

Other related posts