Ezekiel 5
The Sign of the Sword
Read…
Ezek. 4:1 “You also, son of man, take a clay tablet and lay it before you, and portray on it a city, Jerusalem.
Ezek. 4:2 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.
Ezek. 4:3 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.
Pray
Intro
√ The Sign of the Sword
You’ll recall from our last study that God introduced some new ways of getting the people’s attention through the use of…
…signs
All with the hope that the rebellious Jewish people would open their ears to God’s Word as they saw God’s word portrayed before their eyes through signs.
In chapter 4 God told Ezekiel to build a model of Jerusalem by which he would portray the…
Fact of the siege
Length of the siege
Severity of the siege
This week we pick up the story in chapter 5 as God uses a sword as a sign to communicate the impending judgment upon the people of Jerusalem…
The sign of the sword
The reason for the sword
The meaning of the sword
…all with the purpose of bringing the Jewish people to repentance.
Ap. Pray for our nation
But for the Grace of God the USA will end up like every other nation in history…
…corrupted and filled with ungodliness that will bring about God’s judgment.
The Sign of the Sword (vs. 1-4)
Ezek. 5:1 “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.
Ezek. 5:2 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.
Ezek. 5:3 You shall also take a small number of them and bind them in the edge of your garment.
Ezek. 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.
√ The sign of the sword
Once again I’m thankful that God hasn’t called me to be a prophet!
I don’t even like razors!
I only use electric razors because I don’t like the sight of blood!
Here’s poor Ezekiel having to shave off his beard and hair using a SWORD for a razor!!!
What’s it all mean?
Shaving in the Bible, with a sword or razor, is a sign and symbol of….
Mourning ~ Job
“Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped.” ~ Job 1:20
Humiliation ~ David’s servants
“Therefore Hanun took David’s servants, shaved off half of their beards, cut off their garments in the middle, at their buttocks, and sent them away. When they told David, he sent to meet them, because the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, “Wait at Jericho until your beards have grown, and then return.” ~ 2 Sam. 10:4-5
Repentance ~ men of Israel
“…certain men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, eighty men with their beards shaved and their clothes torn, having cut themselves, with offerings and incense in their hand, to bring them to the house of the LORD.” ~ Jer. 41:5
By using a sword instead of a razor God was communicating through Ezekiel the severity of the coming judgment.
That is, if shaving with a razor is a sign of mourning, humiliation and repentance…
…how much greater will be the mourning, humiliation and repentance experienced by the rebellious people in Jerusalem!
The sword is mentioned 83 times in Ezekiel ~ lots of judgment coming!
So, you can picture Ezekiel in his front yard, sitting next to his little model of Jerusalem surrounded by a siege…
…then shaving the hair off his head and the beard off his face while everyone watches!
√ The sign of the scale
After he shaves off his hair and beard God tells Ezekiel to weigh it on a scale.
The purpose?
A sign that God has already passed judgment upon the people of Jerusalem!
Remember Belshazzar in Daniel 5? (note ~ chronologically he lived after the judgment on Jerusalem).
“You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting” ~ Dan. 5:27
It’s the same picture here!
The Jewish people had been weighed on God’s scale of righteousness and came up wanting!
Their sin and rebellion had tipped the scales of judgment against them and now they would be destroyed like Belshazzar would be after them.
√ The sign of the hair
Finally, Ezekiel takes the hair off the scales and…
Burns 1/3 with fire
Hacks up 1/3 with the sword
Throws 1/3 to the wind
…but, God tells him to take a small amount of his hair and hide it in the hem of his clothes!
The hair represents the people in the city of Jerusalem, but we’ll hold off on the interpretation until we get to vs. 12.
Bottom line, God uses the sign of the sword to capture the attention of the people so that Ezekiel can speak God’s Word to them.
The reason for the Sword (vs. 5-9)
Ezek. 5:5 “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the midst of the nations and the countries all around her.
Ezek. 5:6 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.’
Ezek. 5:7 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’—
Ezek. 5:8 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.
Ezek. 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.
√ The reason for the sword
You can imagine that by the time Ezekiel has made his model of Jerusalem, built a siege against it, shaved off his hair and beard with a sword, weighed his hair, burned his hair (that would smell good!), hacked up some of it, through some into the wind and hid a tiny amount of hair in the hem of his clothing…
…that he might have quite a crowd!
And now that he has an audience, God gives him a word to speak to the people so that they cannot miss the meaning of these signs.
Note vs. 5…
“Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘This is Jerusalem”
The point is that if anyone had doubts about what these signs meant…
…God makes it clear with the first words out of Ezekiel’s mouth!
This is what’s going to happen to Jerusalem and the people within her walls!
Why?
God tells us because the people in Jerusalem had used the privileged place that He had given them to excel in darkness…
…rather than shining as a light to the lost peoples around them.
Note Jerusalem’s place…
“Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the midst of the nations and the countries all around her.” Vs. 5
That is, God’s choice of Jerusalem for His Name, His Temple and His people was strategic.
Jerusalem would be in the middle of all the nations so that it could be a light to the world that would point the way to God!
Jerusalem occupied a unique place standing in the midst of all the ancient trade routes that connected Asia, Europe and Africa.
God’s plan was that people from all over the world would be drawn to Him by the testimony of the Jewish people…
…and their worship of God in His Temple.
Instead, the Jews adopted the wicked life styles and religions of the people around them and took them another step by worshipping false gods in the Temple itself!
“She has rebelled against My judgments by doing wickedness more than the nations…” ~ vs. 6
…”and against My statutes more than the countries that are all around her.” ~ vs. 6
“Because you have multiplied disobedience more than the nations that are all around you…” ~ vs. 7
So, God spoke by the signs of the Siege and the Sword and now by His Word through Ezekiel…
…that Jerusalem was destined for destruction because of her sin.
Ex. They were a religious people
One might think that God was bringing judgment upon them because they weren’t a religious people.
But in fact they were very religious!
What made God angry to the point of bringing His judgment was that they were worshipping every god and goddess except Him…
…the One true God (ref. Ezekiel 8).
At the North Gate of God’s Temple woman wept for Tammuz
On the walls of the courtyard of God’s Temple they had craved images of false gods
In the outer court God’s Temple the 70 elders burned incense to those false gods
In the inner courtyard of God’s Temple 25 men worshipped the Sun with their backs toward the Holy of Holies ~ God’s throne!
They tried to find peace, power and comfort from every source expect their God!
Ap. We’re a religious people
But our nation in her mad quest to be politically correct has embraced the false hope of pluralism believing that faith is more important that who we place our faith in!
The saddest part is that the only God not welcome in our nation is the One true God Himself…
…Jesus Christ!
Ex. Virginia Tech’s Memorial
If you watched the painful service you observed…
1st Speaker: A Muslim cleric invoking the name of Allah and quoting the Quran.
2nd Speaker: A Buddhist Community Leader preaching that mankind is basically 'good.'
3rd Speaker: A Female speaker from the Jewish Community quoting Ecclesiastes: 'There is a time for everything.'"
4th Speaker: A Liberal Lutheran Minister talking about 'healing,' etc. and how everyone needs to come together (blah, blah, blah…)
But not one evangelical Christian pastor or preacher was invited! No one invoked the Name of Jesus the One who alone can bring peace and comfort!
Even President Bush failed to call on, or to point people to Jesus, instead he opted for the generic “God” and left the identity of that “God” to the imagination of the mourners!
The reality is that there is no comfort, there is no hope, there is no power in…
Allah
Buddha
Dali Lama
Christ-less Christianity
The speakers at the memorial are false prophets…
Extending hope were hope does not exist
Invoking a form of godliness but denying His power
Speaking in the name of God, but God was not speaking through them.
God help our nation’s leaders for the One True God Who made Himself known through His Son Jesus Christ will not share a platform with any other!
If He removes His hand of protection our nation will fall.
Ex. No Jesus ~ no help
Psa. 127:1 Unless the LORD guards the city,
The watchman stays awake in vain.
Like Jerusalem of old, the United States today welcomes every God except the One who can protect us…
…without Him we have no means to keep the “Babylonians” out.
Come quickly Lord Jesus!
The meaning of the Sword (vs. 10-17)
Ezek. 5:10 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.
Ezek. 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.
Ezek. 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.
Ezek. 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.
Ezek. 5:14 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.
Ezek. 5:15 “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.
Ezek. 5:16 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.
Ezek. 5:17 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.’ ”
√ The meaning of the Sword
After describing the horrible conditions that the siege would bring upon the people of Jerusalem God provides the interpretation of the sword and the hair…
“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.” ~ vs. 12
The hair that Ezekiel shaved off of his head and face represents the people of Jerusalem, a third of which he…
Burned with fire = death by famine & pestilence
Hacked with sword = killed in battle
Tossed to the wind = carried off as slaves
All of this God says would be a lesson to the nations around Israel to teach them to fear the Lord…
…because if this is how He disciplines His own people, then Nebuchadnezzar and the rest better take care to obey God!
√ Hairy lining
You’ve probably heard of a “silver lining”? A “hairy lining” is the few hairs that Ezekiel kept from the fire, the sword and the wind and…
…hid in the hem of his clothing!
Ezek. 5:3 You shall also take a small number of them and bind them in the edge of your garment.
Ezek. 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.
They represent the “remnant” of Israel that God always maintains.
That is in the midst of judgment and destruction when it looks like all of Israel will be wiped out…
…God preserves a seed of hope.
This is probably the group of Jewish people who were being held in captivity in Babylon and were later released so that they might return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city and the Temple (ref. Nehemiah and Ezra).
Note they don’t all escape the “fire” (vs. 5) ~ may be a reference to the persecution they would endure while in captivity (ref. fiery furnace, lions den & Haman).
So, the “hairy lining” pictures the work of God to preserve the line of Messiah so that despite the sin of the Jewish people God would still be able to keep the promises He made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David.
To bring forth a King who would rule the world in peace and righteousness!
So, in the midst of all the hopelessness and destruction God held out a glimmer of hope for the future!
Close
√ The Sign of the Sword
The disobedience of the Jewish people brought judgment upon Jerusalem.
God sent prophets over a period of 400 years to warn them of the consequences of their sin.
Their rejection of His call to repentance brought upon them the terrible destruction of the Babylonians.
Ap. Coming judgment
The Bible is filled with warnings to the people of every nation that God will bring about a final judgment on the earth.
He’s given us thousands of years to repent and turn to Him.
His patience is running out.
Judgment is coming ~ heed His warning!