Ezekiel 5:1-4 – To disobey God is to court trouble

Ezekiel’s messages to the nation of Israel were not given in a series of oral presentation but in a series of dramatizations. The prophet literally acted out his messages to Israel. In the first dramatization, he used a brick and created a model to depict the siege of Jerusalem. He also took a metal grill and put it between him and the model to symbolize the separation between God and them. This was to say that their plea for divine intervention would be pointless for God would not hear them.

The second dramatization was when he was made to lie down for a total 430 days. He was to lie on the left for 390 days and on the right for 40 days. These 430 days signify the duration in terms of years for what the people of Israel would have to go through in God’s judgment. Three hundred and ninety years in severe judgment and 40 years in prepare to get them ready to re-enter the promised land.

The third dramatization was to show the scarcity of food and drink as they were undergoing siege. Food that Ezekiel was to eat was meager. The picture was to show that not only would this deprivation happen in the siege but also when they were taken into exile. Besides the scarcity of food, they would also be made to eat unclean food.

In Ezekiel 5:1-4, we come to the fourth dramatization depicting the message of the horrific outcome that awaited them in the siege. Here, Ezekiel was instructed to take a sword and used it as a razor to shave off his hair and beard. While the nations would customarily shave their heard and beard to mourn the dead, but this was not a custom practice by the priest. Besides, no one uses a sword to shave, yet the prophet was asked to do so. This was to signify God’s judgment.  

Ezekiel was then asked to use a weighing scale and divide the shaved hairs into three equal parts. A third of it would be burn in the model to depict that one third of the people would die in the city, either through famine or diseases.  The second third he would take it and strike it with around the city to portray that many would be slaughtered in battle around the city.  The final third portion would be tossed and scattered in the wind to show that they would be taken captives by nations. Even then the sword will be wielded to ruthlessly kill those attempting to escape.  

As a prophetic message contain an element of hope, Ezekiel was asked to take some of the shaved hairs and bucked them in the hem of his robe.  This was to indicate the preservation of a remnant.  Yet even among the remnant some would also eventually perish.

While God is patient, prolong resistance to His patience can wear thin His gracious overtures. When that happens, His irresistible judgment will descend like a sharp unexpected razor. God’s dealing with us are never rash but carefully and rationally weighted. Don’t test the patience of God. When we discern the voice of God, respond to Him immediately unhesitatingly.