This week, we shall continue the study of the book of Ezekiel in the Old
Testament.
The three parts of the 2nd symbolic act in chapter 4 depict the siege of Jerusalem. Now the 4th part of the act in chapter 5 depicts what would happen after the siege: Exile!
5:1-4—The 4th Part of the 2nd Symbolic Act
(1) What is the usual meaning behind the shaving of head and beard? (See 2 Sam. 10:4; Ezek. 7:18)
(2) Can a priest shave off his head or beard? (Lev. 21:5)
(3) What then does this act of shaving (by Ezekiel, a priest) signify?
(4) This act follows the 3-part symbolic act of the siege of the city of Jerusalem:
a. What is Ezekiel to do with ⅓ of the hair? (v. 2)
b. What is he to do with the second third of the hair?
c. What is he to do with the final third of the hair?
(5) A few strands of hair (likely from the third batch)
a. What is he to do with a few strands of hair? (v. 3)
b. But what is he to do with some of the strands that were initially tuck away? (v. 4)
5:5-17—The Message
(6) What was God’s original intention for putting Jerusalem “in the center of the nations”? (v. 5; Exod. 19:5-6)
(7) What has Jerusalem turned out to be compared to the nations around her? (vv. 6-7)
(8) The consequential punishment (vv. 8-11)
a. What is meant by “in the sight of the nations”? (v. 8)
b. How severe will the punishment be and what is the one sin that is cited as its cause? (v. 9)
c. The severity of the punishment includes:
i. Extreme famine: How extreme will it be? (v. 10a)
ii. What will happen to those who survive? (v. 10b)
d. What particular sin is being reiterated? Why will God not spare them? (v. 11)
(9) The symbolic act explained (vv. 12-13)
a. What does the first ⅓ of hair that was burnt signify?
b. What does the second third of hair struck with the sword signify?
c. What does the last third of hair that was scattered signify?
d. What will happen to the few strands that are tucked away? (v. 13; see Note below)
(10) The punishment elaborated (vv. 14-17)
a. How will their destruction be perceived by the nations then and now? (vv. 14-15)
b. What imagery is used by the Lord in describing the punishment that they will face? (v. 16) Why?
c. What are being highlighted to convey the severity of their plight? (vv. 16-17)
d. What are the words being repeated in this section? (vv.15, 17) Why?
(11) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Note:
It appears that the last part of the symbolic act, the burning of some
of
the hair tucked away, is not explained in the message itself. Keil opines
that
“a small number of the Israelites who are scattered to the winds, is saved, and that of those who are saved a part is still consumed with fire. From hence there can only come forth a fire of purification for the whole Israel, through which the remnant, as Isaiah had already predicted (6:12ff), is converted into a holy seed. In the last clause, consuming by fire is not referred to. The fire, however, has not merely a destructive, but also a cleansing, purifying and quickening power. To kindle such a fire on earth did Christ come (Lk. 12:49), and from Him the same goes out over the whole house of Israel.”
(K&D, Ezekiel, 50)
“Now son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor to shave your head and your beard...” (Ezek. 5:1)
We have previously considered how the Lord desires His servant to identity both with His own feelings and the plight of the people whom he serves. In this latest message of warning, after the warning of the impending siege of Jerusalem (in chapter 4), the Lord commands Ezekiel to convey the warning of the merciless punishment by the Lord: “I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again. Therefore in your midst fathers will eat their children and children will eat their fathers.” (5:9-10).
In so doing, Ezekiel has to shave his head and his beard, which is not only a sign of mourning, but an act of defilement in itself for Ezekiel, because Leviticus makes it clear that, “Priests must not shave their heads or shave off the edges of their beards or cut their own bodies. They must be holy to their God and must not profane the name of their God.” (Lev. 21:5-6).
Therefore this very act serves two purposes:
(1) To Ezekiel: He should not just shoot the message of punishment and destruction to the people, he has to grieve and mourn for them in the process—that is the heart of God and the plight of the people.
(2) To the people: For Ezekiel to openly defile himself and to bring open shame upon himself by violating the sacredness of the priesthood, they would understand the seriousness of the message and take particular notice of this message of warning which ends twice with these words, “I the Lord have spoken” (5:15, 17).
If we admire Ezekiel for the sacrifice that he is willing to make (for he would do almost anything told by the Lord to call his people to repentance), we should note that this particular symbolic act is nothing compared to what he will be asked to do as he continues his prophetic ministry (e.g. see 24:15ff). We might be tempted to ask, what motivates Ezekiel to endure the harshness of his ministry. Apart from his love and fear of the Lord, I have to say that he deeply loves his people as well.
We have seen that of all the sins of the Israelites, the one highlighted in the last message focused on their idolatry (5:9). Here (likely a continuation of the last message), one aspect of their sin of idolatry is being pointed out, as Ezekiel is commanded to set his face against the mountains of Israel and prophesy:
6:1-7—The Prophecy against the Mountains of Israel
(1) As Ezekiel is now in Babylon, how can he set his face against the mountains of Israel, and how will the people know what he is doing?
(2) As the people hear his words “to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys”, what might be the picture conjured up in their minds concerning their past practices (which were still being practiced by those in Judah)? (vv. 3-4)
(3) How will God deal with their altars and those who worshipped idols? (vv. 5-7)
(4) What is the consequence they should expect from such practices? (Deut. 29:16-28; 30: 15-20)
(5) Do you think such a punishment is too harsh? Why or why not?
6:8-10—Some Will be Spared
(6) When this punishment comes to pass, how will God spare some of them?
(7) What is the reason for sparing some of them? (v. 9)
(8) Have you ever experienced being spared by the Lord (of some discipline you deserved)?
(9) What lesson might you have learned?
6:11-14—Ezekiel to Strike Hands and Stamp Feet
(10) In this reiteration of the punishment, what aspect of its severity is emphasized (even though “the wilderness of Diblah is unknown” according to Keil)?
(11) In
asking Ezekiel to strike his hands and stamp his feet (v. 11), do you think the
Lord wishes him to express the following?
a. “violent excitement…to make known the displeasure of the Lord at the horrible idolatry of the people” (Keil)
b. “to demonstrate the remorse and derision He was to show toward Israel because of her sin and the coming judgment” (Alexander)
c. Why?
(12) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“I will destroy our high places. Your altars will be demolished and your incense altars will be smashed and I will slay your people in front of your idols.” (Ezek. 6:3-4)
"The English Bible readers are often bewildered by the regular reference to the ‘high places’ of Israel. The Hebrew word for ‘high place’ is bamah (lit. ‘height’). The term refers to local open-air shrines that were frequently described as being located on a hill but could in reality have been found anywhere, including a city gate or valley (Jer. 7:31)…In Israel’s early history in Canaan, high places became venues for the offering of animal sacrifices and incense to Yahweh (1 Sam 9:12ff). The rationale offered was that people 'were still sacrificing at the high places, because a temple had not yet been built for the Name of the Lord' (1 Ki. 3:2)…Once worship of the Lord had been centralized in Jerusalem, however, high places came to pose a threat to the purity of Israel’s faith. When Israelites worshipped the Lord away from the temple and its priestly oversight, they were at risk of being influence by local, pagan cults and traditions. Prophets attacked high places for their syncretism. They were all too frequently located at which the gods Molech, Chemosh and Asherah were worshipped, indiscriminately, alongside the God of Israel (1 Ki. 11:7-8; 2 Ki. 23:13). High places were regarded as centers of apostasy because they competed with Jerusalem for Israel’s devotion (2 Ki. 17:9-11).
"In the historical narratives kings are routinely evaluated by whether or not they demolished these sanctuaries. Josiah’s reforms dealt a powerful blow to the high places (2 Ki. 23:15-20); even so, attachment to them survived. These locations of temptation are cited specifically as the cause of God’s judgment upon Judah (Ezek. 6:3-7).”
(Archaeological Study Bible, 1318)
Following the prophecy against the mountains (representing the most widespread form of idolatry in the land), the word of the Lord comes to Ezekiel pronouncing judgment on “the land of Israel” with the repeated emphasis of “the end”:
7:1-4—1st Alarming Announcement
(1) What does the emphasis on “the end” mean to the exiles who still have hope for the deliverance of Jerusalem?
(2) Will any part of the kingdom be preserved, as it is the case at the moment? (7:2)
(3) What is being reiterated as the cause for the end of the land? (vv. 3-4)
7:5-9—2nd Alarming Announcement
(4) As “the end” is repeated in the message here, what language is used to heighten its urgency and severity?
(5) The same reason for their punishment is given here: the verb being emphasized is “repay”: What does it signify? (vv. 8, 9)
7:10-13—3rd Alarming Announcement (I)
(6) What analogy does the Lord use to depict the self-inflicted nature of their doom? (vv. 10-11)
(7) How fitting is it?
(8) In emphasizing that none in the crowd and no wealth will be left, the message is directed to the buyers and the sellers of land (vv. 12-13)
a. Under the Law of Moses (Lev. 25), when can the seller expect to recover the land he sold previously?
b. Why will such not be the case anymore?
(9) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“The day is here! It has come! Doom has burst forth, the rod has budded, arrogance has blossomed.” (Ezek. 7:10)
In pronouncing the inevitable and imminent judgment of His people, the Lord uses a botanical analogy—that of a budding staff. Of course, when the audience of Ezekiel hears this expression, they would immediately think of Aaron’s staff that had sprouted, produced buds and blossomed and was placed in front of ark of the covenant (Num. 17:8-11). As a result, the use of this analogy conveys the powerful message that they are just the opposite of Aaron’s staff—they have been rejected and are no longer part of the covenant. More than that, their punishment is self-inflicted and they should have expected it. Their arrogance in despising the Word of God and His warning has eventually blossomed and is yielding its fruit—complete destruction. However, Calvin is right in pointing out that the use of the rod also depicts God’s patience and forbearing in that only when their arrogance has come into full bloom that it leaves Him with no choice but to inflict the punishment they deserve.
It is the same with us today. If we are bent on living a life of sin in disobedience to God’s will, we cannot blame God for the consequence we suffer. Like the budding of a rod, it is only a matter of time, not only can our sin not be hidden; we have to face the discipline of God’s wrath. However, the good news is, not only is God patient with us, His discipline is meant to produce the fruit of righteousness in us (Heb. 12:11).
3rd Alarming Announcement (II)
(1) Nowhere to hide (vv. 14-18): The doom that will fall upon the whole crowd is heightened by the fact that they cannot fight but flee (v. 14)
a. What about the outside of the city? (v. 15)
b. What about fleeing to the country? (v. 15)
c. What about staying in the city? (v. 15)
d. What about taking refuge in the mountains (which should be inaccessible to the foes)? (vv. 16-18)
(2) Wealth is utterly useless (vv. 19-22)
a. What will they do to the silver? Why? (v. 19)
b. How will they look upon their gold? Why? (v. 19)
c. What have they used their jewelry for? (v. 20)
d. What will happen to their jewelry? What does it mean?
e. What will God allow the wicked of the earth (presumably means the Babylonians) to do? (vv. 21-22)
(3) It will be too late (vv. 23-27)
a. Where will they be led to in chains? (v. 23)
b. Why? (vv. 23-24)
c. What will they be seeking at that time? (vv. 25-26)
d. Is it a good thing that they finally seek peace, vision, the law and counsel? Why or why not?
e. What does it mean that the Lord will judge them “by their own standards”? (v. 27)
(4) What is the message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“When terror comes they will seek peace, but there will be none.” (Ezek. 7:25)
With the emphasis on God’s love these days, there are those who think such a loving God cannot and will not put sinners into hell, and there are also those who think that since God is a God of second chances, perhaps, even Satan could repent and be saved.
The truth of the matter is God is indeed a God of love, but His absolute holiness means that sinners cannot come into His presence. So, it is not so much God is so unloving that He delights in sending sinners into hell. John 3:17-18 has made this clear:
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
In other words, we are all born with the same fate as sinners: we are condemned already, except that God, in His great love, has provided us a way out in His Son Jesus Christ. The choice is ours, whether to “believe in Him (and) shall not perish, but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16), or not believe in Him and continue to “stand condemned”. But this choice is only confined to this life, and if we die without making that choice to repent and believe in Christ, it will be too late. The warning by Ezekiel to the people of Israel about their “doom’s day” powerfully conveys this message when he warns, “When terror comes they will seek peace, but there will be none” (Ezek. 7:25), or Keil would translate, “Ruin has come, they seek salvation, but there is none.” (K&D, Ezekiel, 64).
8:1-6—The 3rd Vision’s Setting and the 1st Scene (the idol that provokes jealousy)
(1) When was the 3rd vision given and what was its setting? (you may consult the timeline chart in the lesson for Ezekiel 1:1-14, Year 5 Week 31 Day 211)
(2) What does Ezekiel see as the hand of the Lord is upon him? (v. 2; see 1:26-28 as well)
(3) Who lifted him up and where is he transported to? (v. 3)
(4) Although
we do not know exactly what that idol is ...
a. ... where it is placed? (v. 3)
b. ... why is it called “the idol that provokes to jealousy”?
(5) While Ezekiel saw the glory of the Lord, what does the Lord say that such “detestable things” will do to His glory? (v. 6)
8:7-13—The 2nd Scene (the 70 elders)
(6) Where is the next place Ezekiel was brought to? (v. 7)
(7) The next room has to be reached through the digging of a larger hole in the wall: What might it signify? (v. 8; see Note below)
(8) What does he see on the walls? (v. 10)
(9) Who are inside the room and what are they doing? (v. 11)
(10) What do the 70 leaders and Jaazaniah represent? (Although we do not know exactly who Jaazaniah is, see Num. 11:16)
(11) Why do they choose to do it in “darkness”? (v. 12)
(12) What excuses do they have? (v. 12)
(13) Why can’t these excuses justify their detestable practices?
(14) What is the message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Note:
“The room in question may have been originally designed as a storage room for temple vessels or furniture (1 Ki. 6:5), but had been converted into an actual cult center.”
(NICOT, Ezekiel I, 289)
“In the sixth year, in the sixth month on the fifth day, while I was sitting in my house and the elders of Judah were sitting before me, the hand of the Sovereign Lord came upon me.” (Ezek. 8:1)
“Ezekiel, by laying 430 days on his two sides, acted out the siege which would come upon the city. One year and two months has passed (cf. 1:1-3; 8:1) and now Ezekiel was fulfilling the picture lesson of forty days on his side for the iniquity of Judah…It is not by chance that this vision occurred during the time in which Ezekiel was lying on his right side depicting the judgment for Judah’s iniquity. As [sic] this time only Judah was left in the land of Canaan, and the forth coming vision would concern Judah’s capital city, Jerusalem, the city chosen by God for His habitation (cf. 2 Sam. 7; Ps. 132), was the central sanctuary of Israel, her unifying center where the tribal units were to express their obedience and loyalty to Yahweh. But in Ezekiel’s day this city center has become the rotten core of Israel’s apostasy. The corruption of the leaders and the sanctuary itself (cf. 9:6) had to be exposed and judged as the major problem of the nation.” (Alexander, 29); hence the revelation of the several scenes of blatant acts of idolatry.
These scenes combined to show the following:
- Idolatry is not only practiced by a certain segment of the nation but it involves the king (who, like Manasseh, is responsible for bringing the Canaanite idol image into the inner court of the temple), the people (as represented by the 70 elders), the priests (as represented by the 25 priests who alone could have access to the place between the portico and the altar) and the families (as represented by the women who mourned for Tammuz). Everybody in Judah is guilty of these detestable practices, and thus none can be spared.
- The increasing degree of their idolatrous acts, is highlighted by the repeated statements, “You will see them doing things that are even more detestable” (8:6, 13, 15). The reason for their increasing wickedness is captured by the words of the 70 elders: “The Lord does not see us; the Lord has forsaken the land” (8:12). The defeats at the hand of Nebuchadnezzar have not awakened them of their need to return to the Lord, but have served as their excuse to increase their wickedness—it was kind of like a rebellious child seeking revenge against the chastisement of the parent.
- The inevitability of the wrath of the Lord as depicted by this vivid metaphor: “Look at them, sticking the branch up my nose” (8:17, NICOT, 297). The Lord could not help but sneeze His wrath at them without pity!
At the reading of this vision, one cannot help but think of the world today and recognize that the world is also “sticking the branch” up the nose of our Lord with its wholesale rebellion against Him!
8:14-15—The 3rd Scene (the mourning women)
(1) Where is the next place Ezekiel was brought to? (v. 14)
(2) Who are the idolaters?
(3) We are not sure exactly who or what Tammuz is: Some opine that it is a form of mourning, some translate it as Adonis — a beloved of Venus, and some see it as having a Sumerian origin. In any case, what kind of perversion is it that the women are mourning over another deity (or after the fashion of some Canaanite superstitious mourning) in the “forecourt of the temple” (NICOT, 294)?
8:14-16—The 4th Scene (25 sun-worshippers)
(4) Where is the next place Ezekiel was brought to? (v. 16; see Note below)
(5) Who are the idolaters, given the place they are performing their detestable practice? (v. 16)
(6) What kind of idolatrous act do they perform? (v. 17)
(7) How wicked is their action?
8:17-18—Sum Total of Their Wicked Idolatrous Acts
(8) How many types of people are represented by the above four scenes?
(9) The Lord accuses them of looking upon their deeds as “trivial”. What does He mean? (v. 17)
(10) Apart from blatant acts of idolatry, what else does the Lord accuse them of? (v. 17)
(11) What serious consequences will the continuous practice of all these sins lead to, especially expressed by the metaphorical use of the phrase, “putting the branch to their noise”? (v. 18)
(12) What does the last statement of the Lord signify? (v. 18)
(13) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Note:
“After Ezekiel has seen the idolatrous abominations in the outer court, or the place of the people, he is taken back into the inner court, or court of the priests, to see still greater abominations there. Between the porch of the temple and the altar of burnt-offering, the most sacred spot therefore in the inner court, which the priests alone were permitted to tread (Joel 2:17)…”
(K&D, 72)
“Have you seen this son of man? Is it a trivial matter for the house of Judah to do the detestable things?” (Ezek. 8:17)
In the midst of his commentary on the increasing rebellious acts of the house of Judah in chapter 8, instead of having a sense of indignant righteousness, Calvin could not help but see how we should focus on our sins, and not on the sins of the Israelites and offers this prayer of repentance:
“Grant, Almighty God, since Thou hast treated us so indulgently and when provoked by our iniquities, hast yet shown Thyself a propitious Father to us, that we may no longer abuse Thy patience, but return directly to Thy way and submit ourselves to Thee — and, being humbled by a true sense of penitence, grant that we may be so dissatisfied with our sins, that we may devote ourselves to Thee with our whole heart, and follow the direction of Thy holy calling; until after finishing the pursuits of this life, we may arrive at that happy repose which Thine only begotten Son has acquired for us by His blood.—Amen"
(Calvin’s Commentaries, IX, 283)
Within the same vision, no sooner did the Lord avow to show no pity to the house of Judah, did He give command to summon the executioners forward:
(1) Who are those summoned by the Lord to carry out the execution? (vv. 1-2)
(2) Before their execution, what is the one with the writing kit to do? (v. 4)
(3) What are the rest of the men (who are obviously angels) to do? (vv. 5-6)
a. Why should they start with the elders?
b. Why does the Lord spare those who have marks on their foreheads? (see Rev. 7:3; 14:1 and Exod. 12:13, 22ff)
c. What might be its message to us today?
(4) How does the Lord defile His own temple courts and why? (v. 7)
(5) How does the prophet react to this vision and why? (v. 8)
(6) How does the Lord respond to the prophet’s intercession?
(7) Reflect on the excuses of the people in v. 9 (a repeat of what is said in 8:12):
a. How does this vision refute the second excuse?
b. Does this vision seek to affirm their first excuse? Why or why not?
(8) No sooner had the Lord given His reply than the man in linen came back to give his report (v. 11).
a. What is the message to the elders who are sitting before Ezekiel? (8:1)
b. What is the message to the world today?
(9) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.” (Ezek. 9:4)
In view of the blatant and widespread scorn of God and His Word in our culture today, we often feel disheartened, thinking, “What can we do?” or “What is the use of grieving over the wickedness around us?” The vision of the angel with the writing kit in Ezekiel 9 gives us great encouragement to know that not only does the Lord see and hear our grief, but it serves to be our protection in the time of God’s judgment. However, it is interesting to note that in the original Hebrew language:
“Those who exhibit this response (in Ezek. 9:4) are to be marked with a taw on the forehead. Taw is the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet. In the archaic cursive script it had the shape of an X or a cross, a form that remained essentially unchanged from the early stages of the evolution of the alphabet until the adoption of the square Aramaic script. It is preserved to this day in Western script as T.”
(NICOT, Ezekiel, 307)
And thus, Keil opines the following:
“And this was the reason why ‘taw' was to be marked upon the forehead, the most visible portion of the body; the early Christians, according to a statement in Origen, looked upon the sign itself as significant, and saw therein a prophetic allusion to the sign of the cross as the distinctive mark of Christians. A direct prophecy of the cross of Christ is certainly not to be found here, since the form of the letter taw was the one generally adopted as a sign…Nevertheless, as Schmieder has correctly observed, there is something remarkable in this coincidence to the thoughtful observer of the ways of God, whose counsel has carefully considered all beforehand, especially when we bear in mind that in the counterpart to this passage (Rev. 7:3), the seal of the living God is stamped upon the foreheads of the servants of God, who are to be exempt from the judgment, and that according to Rev. 14:1 they had the name of God written upon their foreheads.”
(K&D, Ezekiel, 75-76)
Food for thought, indeed!