5 “As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword; take and [a]use it as a barber’s razor on your head and beard. Then take scales for weighing and divide [b]the hair. 2 One third you shall burn in the fire at the center of the city, when the days of the siege are completed. Then you shall take one third and strike it with the sword all around [c]the city, and one third you shall scatter to the wind; and I will unsheathe a sword behind them. 3 Take also a few in number from [d]them and bind them in the edges of your robes. 4 Take again some of them and throw them into the fire and burn them in the fire; from it a fire will [e]spread to all the house of Israel.
5 “Thus says the Lord [f]God, ‘This is Jerusalem; I have set her at the center of the nations, with lands around her. 6 But she has rebelled against My ordinances more wickedly than the nations and against My statutes more than the lands which surround her; for they have rejected My ordinances and have not walked [g]in My statutes.’ 7 Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Because you have more turmoil than the nations which surround you and have not walked in My statutes, nor observed My ordinances, nor observed the ordinances of the nations which surround you,’ 8 therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I, even I, am against you, and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations. 9 And because of all your abominations, I will do among you what I have not done, and the like of which I will never do again. 10 Therefore, fathers will eat their sons among you, and sons will eat their fathers; for I will execute judgments on you and scatter all your remnant to every wind. 11 So as I live,’ declares the Lord God, ‘surely, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable idols and with all your abominations, therefore I will also withdraw, and My eye will have no pity and I will not spare. 12 One third of you will die by plague or be consumed by famine among you, one third will fall by the sword around you, and one third I will scatter to every wind, and I will unsheathe a sword behind them.
As far as the demonstrations Ezekiel had to perform, this one seems a little odd, and also a little underwhelming. I mean, what are people supposed to think when he shaves his head with a sword, burns some, hacks at some with said sword, and then throws the rest into the wind? Yet the message that follows is anything but underwhelming.
Rather, it is catastrophic, but we’ve heard these things from other prophets before. What I don’t remember is this incredible statement in v. 7, “Because you have more turmoil than the nations which surround you… nor observed the ordinances of the nations which surround you…”
Think of that for a minute, these were God’s people, set “at the center of the nations”. They had every advantage over other nations, and were hand-picked by God Himself. They had His words and commands written down, His temple in their midst. Yet they could not even abide by the laws of pagan nations, let alone the laws of the Almighty.
For good reason then, they were filled with turmoil, as they should have been following God’s law, but had given themselves over to wickedness more even than the surrounding nations. Which is also an interesting thing, how did those nations have any laws worth following? We find an answer for that in Solomon’s writings (Ecc. 3:11), “He has also set eternity in their heart…”
Because our reason and logic and sense of justice are gifts from God, it should be no surprise that every civilization has laws against murder, theft, etc. Sure, some also have very barbaric customs, just like the nations surrounding Israel did. Yet because they clung to those instead of the good things, the law and justice that came from God, He would give them over to their wickedness and they would do even worse things before the siege would finally end.
If you don’t see echoes of all this in America, I don’t know what rock you’ve been hiding under. This is a nation that has prospered greatly, which has prided itself on a sense of justice and freedom and so much more. Yet so many give themselves over to the lusts of the flesh, and any moral compass we might have had is no more. It is thus all the more important that believers stand firm.
It isn’t something we can do on our own, any more than Ezekiel or Israel could follow God’s commands on their own. I was reminded the other day of Paul’s writing on the “armor of God” as he addressed the church in Ephesus. He writes, “Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.”
Israel’s real struggle wasn’t with foreign invaders, and our fight today isn’t against the people around us. There is a bigger battle being raged, and we need more than ever to “gird our loins with truth, put on the breastplate of righteousness, shodding our feet with the good news of peace, taking up the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation. Our world needs God now more than ever, as do we. The battle for hearts won’t be won by our amazing words or super strength, but by a people who know God’s truth and peace, putting our trust and faith in the Source of all that is good.