Ezekiel 5 Study Notes: The Shaved Hair and Jerusalem’s Judgment
Ezekiel shaves his head and beard and splits the hair into three parts, picturing death by plague and famine, death by the sword, and scattering. God charges Jerusalem with rebelling worse than her neighbors and defiling His sanctuary, and vows famine, plague and war that will make her a warning to the nations.
General
What would Jerusalem become for the surrounding nations, according to 5:14-15?
Answer: A desolate example that would horrify them
When God had spent His anger, the people would know that it was the LORD who had spoken in His zeal, that is, His jealous devotion to His holiness and to His covenant people (5:13). Jerusalem would be laid waste and shamed before the surrounding nations and everyone passing by, becoming a thing to mock and taunt, a warning that would fill them with dread, when God carried out His judgments in anger (5:14-15). Moses foretold that the nations would ask why the LORD had ruined the land and would be told it was because Israel abandoned His covenant (Deuteronomy 29:24-25). Solomon was warned that if Israel turned to other gods, the temple would become a heap that appalled all who passed (1 Kings 9:7-9). At Sinai the LORD had called Himself a jealous God, forbidding His people to bow down to idols (Exodus 20:5). The chapter closes with famine, wild beasts, plague and the sword sent against the city (5:16-17).
- Ezekiel 5:13 (BSB)“And when My anger is spent and I have vented My wrath against them, I will be appeased. And when I have spent My wrath on them, they will know that I, the LORD, in My zeal have spoken.”Once God’s wrath has run its course, the people will recognize that the LORD’s words came from His zeal.
- Ezekiel 5:14-15 (BSB)“I will make you a ruin and a disgrace among the nations around you, in the sight of all who pass by. So you will be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and a horror to the nations around you, when I execute judgments against you in anger, wrath, and raging fury. I, the LORD, have spoken.”Jerusalem will lie waste and serve as a dreadful warning to the surrounding nations.
- Ezekiel 5:16-17 (BSB)“When I shower you with the deadly arrows of famine and destruction that I will send to destroy you, I will intensify the famine against you and cut off your supply of food. I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring a sword against you. I, the LORD, have spoken.””The chapter ends with famine, wild beasts, plague and the sword sent against Jerusalem.
- Deuteronomy 29:24-25 (BSB)“So all the nations will ask, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?’ And the people will answer, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.”Moses foretold that the nations would ask why the land was ruined and be told that Israel forsook the LORD’s covenant.
- 1 Kings 9:7-9 (BSB)“then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and I will banish from My presence this temple I have sanctified for My Name. Then Israel will become an object of scorn and ridicule among all peoples. And when this temple has become a heap of rubble, all who pass by it will be appalled and will hiss and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ And others will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the LORD their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—because of this, the LORD has brought all this disaster upon them.’””Solomon was warned that if Israel turned to other gods, the temple would become rubble that appalled every passer-by.
- Exodus 20:5 (BSB)“You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,”At Sinai the LORD calls Himself a jealous God who forbids the worship of idols.
Theological
What does 5:14-15 say Jerusalem would become in the eyes of the surrounding nations?
Answer: A desolate example that would horrify them
The judgment ends in knowledge: when His wrath is spent, Israel will know that the LORD has spoken in His zeal, the jealous holiness with which He guards His covenant (5:13; compare Exodus 20:5). Jerusalem will be desolated and disgraced before the nations and every passer-by, a byword of reproach and mockery, a dread warning, as He executes judgment in fury (5:14-15). The covenant had anticipated precisely this: the nations asking why the LORD had dealt so with His land and receiving the answer that Israel forsook His covenant (Deuteronomy 29:24-25), and the temple itself made a heap that appalls those who pass by (1 Kings 9:7-9). The oracle closes with famine, wild beasts, plague and sword let loose on the city (5:16-17).
- Ezekiel 5:13 (BSB)“And when My anger is spent and I have vented My wrath against them, I will be appeased. And when I have spent My wrath on them, they will know that I, the LORD, in My zeal have spoken.”Once God’s wrath has run its course, the people will recognize that the LORD’s words came from His zeal.
- Ezekiel 5:14-15 (BSB)“I will make you a ruin and a disgrace among the nations around you, in the sight of all who pass by. So you will be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and a horror to the nations around you, when I execute judgments against you in anger, wrath, and raging fury. I, the LORD, have spoken.”Jerusalem will lie waste and serve as a dreadful warning to the surrounding nations.
- Ezekiel 5:16-17 (BSB)“When I shower you with the deadly arrows of famine and destruction that I will send to destroy you, I will intensify the famine against you and cut off your supply of food. I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring a sword against you. I, the LORD, have spoken.””The chapter ends with famine, wild beasts, plague and the sword sent against Jerusalem.
- Deuteronomy 29:24-25 (BSB)“So all the nations will ask, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?’ And the people will answer, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.”Moses foretold that the nations would ask why the land was ruined and be told that Israel forsook the LORD’s covenant.
- 1 Kings 9:7-9 (BSB)“then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and I will banish from My presence this temple I have sanctified for My Name. Then Israel will become an object of scorn and ridicule among all peoples. And when this temple has become a heap of rubble, all who pass by it will be appalled and will hiss and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ And others will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the LORD their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—because of this, the LORD has brought all this disaster upon them.’””Solomon was warned that if Israel turned to other gods, the temple would become rubble that appalled every passer-by.
- Exodus 20:5 (BSB)“You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,”At Sinai the LORD calls Himself a jealous God who forbids the worship of idols.
General
After Ezekiel shaved his head and beard and weighed the hair into three parts, what was he told to do with them (Ezekiel 5:1-2)?
Answer: Burn one inside the city, cut one with the sword, scatter one to the wind
God told Ezekiel to use a sharp sword like a barber’s razor to shave his head and beard and then weigh the hair on scales and divide it (5:1). Once the acted-out siege was over, he was to burn one third inside the city, slash another third with a sword on every side of the city, and toss the last third into the wind, with God sending a sword after it (5:2). Isaiah had also used shaving as a picture of judgment, with Assyria’s king as a razor the Lord would hire (Isaiah 7:20). God Himself explains the three parts later in the chapter (5:12), and the image of scattering with a sword in pursuit returns in Ezekiel’s later message about the prince’s troops (12:14).
- Ezekiel 5:1-2 (BSB)““As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword, use it as a barber’s razor, and shave your head and beard. Then take a set of scales and divide the hair. When the days of the siege have ended, you are to burn up a third of the hair inside the city; you are also to take a third and slash it with the sword all around the city; and you are to scatter a third to the wind. For I will unleash a sword behind them.”Ezekiel shaves with a sword, weighs the hair into thirds, and deals with each third differently.
- Isaiah 7:20 (BSB)“On that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the Euphrates—the king of Assyria—to shave your head and the hair of your legs, and to remove your beard as well.”Isaiah pictured Assyria’s king as a razor the Lord would hire to shave His people, an image of judgment.
- Ezekiel 5:12 (BSB)“A third of your people will die by plague or be consumed by famine within you, a third will fall by the sword outside your walls, and a third I will scatter to every wind and unleash a sword behind them.”God Himself explains what each third of the hair represents.
- Ezekiel 12:14 (BSB)“And I will scatter to every wind all the attendants around him and all his troops, and I will draw a sword to chase after them.”God uses the same picture of dispersal in every direction, with a sword in pursuit, for the prince’s attendants and troops.
Theological
What was Ezekiel to do with the three weighed portions of his shaved hair (Ezekiel 5:1-2)?
Answer: Burn one inside the city, cut one with the sword, scatter one to the wind
Using a sword like a barber’s blade, Ezekiel shaves head and beard and divides the hair by weight (5:1). At the close of the enacted siege, one third is burned within the city, one third struck with the sword around it, and one third scattered to the wind with the LORD’s sword drawn after it (5:2). Isaiah had already used shaving as an image of judgment, with Assyria’s king as the razor the Lord hires (Isaiah 7:20). The sign is explicitly interpreted in 5:12, and the motif of dispersion under a pursuing sword recurs in the oracle against the prince’s troops (12:14).
- Ezekiel 5:1-2 (BSB)““As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword, use it as a barber’s razor, and shave your head and beard. Then take a set of scales and divide the hair. When the days of the siege have ended, you are to burn up a third of the hair inside the city; you are also to take a third and slash it with the sword all around the city; and you are to scatter a third to the wind. For I will unleash a sword behind them.”Ezekiel shaves with a sword, weighs the hair into thirds, and deals with each third differently.
- Isaiah 7:20 (BSB)“On that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the Euphrates—the king of Assyria—to shave your head and the hair of your legs, and to remove your beard as well.”Isaiah pictured Assyria’s king as a razor the Lord would hire to shave His people, an image of judgment.
- Ezekiel 5:12 (BSB)“A third of your people will die by plague or be consumed by famine within you, a third will fall by the sword outside your walls, and a third I will scatter to every wind and unleash a sword behind them.”God Himself explains what each third of the hair represents.
- Ezekiel 12:14 (BSB)“And I will scatter to every wind all the attendants around him and all his troops, and I will draw a sword to chase after them.”God uses the same picture of dispersal in every direction, with a sword in pursuit, for the prince’s attendants and troops.
General
What charge does the LORD bring against Jerusalem, the city He placed among the nations (Ezekiel 5:5-7)?
Answer: She defied His laws even worse than the peoples nearby
God points to Jerusalem as the city He had set in the middle of the nations, surrounded by other lands (5:5). With such a privileged place she should have shown the world God’s ways, yet she rebelled against His ordinances and statutes with more wickedness than the peoples around her, and did not even live up to their standards (5:6-7). Moses had told Israel that keeping God’s righteous laws would display their wisdom to the watching peoples (Deuteronomy 4:6-8). Instead, under King Manasseh, Judah outdid in evil the peoples God had wiped out (2 Kings 21:9). Greater privilege brings greater accountability: because God had chosen to know Israel alone among all peoples, He would hold it to account for its sins (Amos 3:2).
- Ezekiel 5:5-7 (BSB)“This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. But she has rebelled against My ordinances more wickedly than the nations, and against My statutes worse than the countries around her. For her people have rejected My ordinances and have not walked in My statutes.’ Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘You have been more insubordinate than the nations around you; you have not walked in My statutes or kept My ordinances, nor have you even conformed to the ordinances of the nations around you.’”God sets Jerusalem among the nations and charges her with rebelling against His laws more than they did.
- Deuteronomy 4:6-8 (BSB)“Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the peoples, who will hear of all these statutes and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” For what nation is great enough to have a god as near to them as the LORD our God is to us whenever we call on Him? And what nation is great enough to have righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law I set before you today?”Israel’s keeping of God’s righteous laws was meant to display its wisdom before the watching peoples.
- 2 Kings 21:9 (BSB)“But the people did not listen and Manasseh led them astray, so that they did greater evil than the nations that the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites.”Under Manasseh, Judah outdid in evil the peoples God had driven out ahead of Israel.
- Amos 3:2 (BSB)““Only you have I known from all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.””Because God had chosen Israel alone among all peoples, He would hold it accountable for its sins.
Theological
Of what does the LORD accuse Jerusalem, whom He set in the midst of the nations (Ezekiel 5:5-7)?
Answer: She defied His laws even worse than the peoples nearby
Jerusalem stood in the middle of the nations (5:5), and the covenant people were meant to display the wisdom of God’s righteous statutes before the surrounding peoples (Deuteronomy 4:6-8). Instead she rebelled against His ordinances and statutes with greater wickedness than the nations, rejecting His laws and not even matching the standards of her neighbors (5:6-7). The charge echoes Judah’s history under Manasseh, when the people surpassed in evil the nations dispossessed before them (2 Kings 21:9). Covenant privilege heightens covenant accountability: because the LORD had known Israel alone, He would call it to account for its sins (Amos 3:2).
- Ezekiel 5:5-7 (BSB)“This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. But she has rebelled against My ordinances more wickedly than the nations, and against My statutes worse than the countries around her. For her people have rejected My ordinances and have not walked in My statutes.’ Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘You have been more insubordinate than the nations around you; you have not walked in My statutes or kept My ordinances, nor have you even conformed to the ordinances of the nations around you.’”God sets Jerusalem among the nations and charges her with rebelling against His laws more than they did.
- Deuteronomy 4:6-8 (BSB)“Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the peoples, who will hear of all these statutes and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” For what nation is great enough to have a god as near to them as the LORD our God is to us whenever we call on Him? And what nation is great enough to have righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law I set before you today?”Israel’s keeping of God’s righteous laws was meant to display its wisdom before the watching peoples.
- 2 Kings 21:9 (BSB)“But the people did not listen and Manasseh led them astray, so that they did greater evil than the nations that the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites.”Under Manasseh, Judah outdid in evil the peoples God had driven out ahead of Israel.
- Amos 3:2 (BSB)““Only you have I known from all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.””Because God had chosen Israel alone among all peoples, He would hold it accountable for its sins.
General
What reason does the LORD give in 5:11 for withdrawing His favor and refusing to spare Jerusalem?
Answer: They had polluted His sanctuary with their vile idols
God declares that He Himself is against Jerusalem and will carry out judgments in her while the nations watch, a judgment unlike anything He has ever done or will ever repeat, because of all her abominations, meaning her detestable practices (5:8-9). Verse 10 then speaks of the horrors of the siege famine (5:10). Under oath, God gives His reason: they had defiled His sanctuary, the temple, with their vile idols and abominations, so He would withdraw His favor and show them no pity (5:11). Ezekiel is later shown those abominations inside the temple (8:6), and God repeats that He will not spare (7:4). Chronicles tells the same story: leaders and people defiled the LORD’s house and mocked His messengers until His wrath could not be turned back (2 Chronicles 36:14-16).
- Ezekiel 5:8-9 (BSB)“Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I Myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations. Because of all your abominations, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again.”God declares He is against Jerusalem and will judge her as never before because of her abominations.
- Ezekiel 5:11 (BSB)“Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable idols and abominations, I Myself will withdraw My favor; I will not look upon you with pity, nor will I spare you.”Under oath God gives the reason: His sanctuary has been defiled, so He will neither pity nor spare.
- Ezekiel 8:6 (BSB)““Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see what they are doing—the great abominations that the house of Israel is committing—to drive Me far from My sanctuary? Yet you will see even greater abominations.””Ezekiel is later shown the detestable practices in the temple that would push God away from His sanctuary.
- Ezekiel 7:4 (BSB)“I will not look on you with pity, nor will I spare you, but I will punish you for your ways and for the abominations among you. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”God repeats that He will neither pity nor spare, but will punish the people for their ways.
- 2 Chronicles 36:14-16 (BSB)“Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people multiplied their unfaithful deeds, following all the abominations of the nations, and they defiled the house of the LORD, which He had consecrated in Jerusalem. Again and again the LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to His people through His messengers because He had compassion on them and on His dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD against His people was stirred up beyond remedy.”Chronicles records that leaders and people defiled the LORD’s house and scorned His prophets until His wrath could not be turned back.
Theological
On what ground does the LORD swear in 5:11 to withdraw His favor and refuse to spare Jerusalem?
Answer: They had polluted His sanctuary with their vile idols
The LORD sets Himself against Jerusalem and promises an unprecedented judgment before the nations on account of her abominations (5:8-9); verse 10 then speaks of the horrors of the siege famine (5:10). The ground is stated under oath: they had defiled His sanctuary with their vile idols and abominations, and therefore He would withdraw His favor and neither pity nor spare (5:11). The profanation of His dwelling is the decisive offense, as the temple vision of chapter 8 will expose (8:6), and the withholding of pity is reaffirmed (7:4). The Chronicler’s verdict is the same: defilement of the LORD’s house and contempt for His prophets until there was no remedy (2 Chronicles 36:14-16).
- Ezekiel 5:8-9 (BSB)“Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I Myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations. Because of all your abominations, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again.”God declares He is against Jerusalem and will judge her as never before because of her abominations.
- Ezekiel 5:11 (BSB)“Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable idols and abominations, I Myself will withdraw My favor; I will not look upon you with pity, nor will I spare you.”Under oath God gives the reason: His sanctuary has been defiled, so He will neither pity nor spare.
- Ezekiel 8:6 (BSB)““Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see what they are doing—the great abominations that the house of Israel is committing—to drive Me far from My sanctuary? Yet you will see even greater abominations.””Ezekiel is later shown the detestable practices in the temple that would push God away from His sanctuary.
- Ezekiel 7:4 (BSB)“I will not look on you with pity, nor will I spare you, but I will punish you for your ways and for the abominations among you. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”God repeats that He will neither pity nor spare, but will punish the people for their ways.
- 2 Chronicles 36:14-16 (BSB)“Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people multiplied their unfaithful deeds, following all the abominations of the nations, and they defiled the house of the LORD, which He had consecrated in Jerusalem. Again and again the LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to His people through His messengers because He had compassion on them and on His dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD against His people was stirred up beyond remedy.”Chronicles records that leaders and people defiled the LORD’s house and scorned His prophets until His wrath could not be turned back.
General
What happened to the small number of hairs Ezekiel tucked into the folds of his garment (Ezekiel 5:3-4)?
Answer: Some of them were later thrown into the fire as well
Ezekiel was to take a small number of hairs and tuck them into his clothing, a picture of a few people being kept back. But even from these he was to take some and cast them into the flames, and from that fire judgment would spread to all Israel (5:3-4). Being among the few who survived the first blow did not mean being safe; judgment would keep reaching even the survivors. Ezekiel later makes the same point: those who escape one fire will be consumed by another (15:7). Isaiah likewise saw that even a remaining tenth would be burned again, though a holy seed would remain like a stump (Isaiah 6:13). Yet in the very next message God promises that He will leave some survivors among the nations (6:8).
- Ezekiel 5:3-4 (BSB)“But you are to take a few strands of hair and secure them in the folds of your garment. Again, take a few of these, throw them into the fire, and burn them. From there a fire will spread to the whole house of Israel.”A few hairs are tucked into Ezekiel’s garment, but some of these are then burned, and fire spreads to all Israel.
- Ezekiel 15:7 (BSB)“And I will set My face against them. Though they may have escaped the fire, yet another fire will consume them. And when I set My face against them, you will know that I am the LORD.”Those who escape one fire are consumed by another, the same point in a different picture.
- Isaiah 6:13 (BSB)“And though a tenth remains in the land, it will be burned again. As the terebinth and oak leave stumps when felled, so the holy seed will be a stump in the land.””Isaiah saw even the remaining tenth burned again, though a holy seed remained like a stump.
- Ezekiel 6:8 (BSB)“Yet I will leave a remnant, for some of you will escape the sword when you are scattered among the nations and throughout the lands.”In the next message God promises that He will still leave some survivors among the nations.
Theological
What became of the few hairs tucked into Ezekiel’s clothing (Ezekiel 5:3-4)?
Answer: Some of them were later thrown into the fire as well
The handful of hairs secured in the prophet’s garment pictures a preserved few, but the sign does not end there: some of them are taken out and burned, and from that fire judgment spreads to all Israel (5:3-4). Survival of the initial catastrophe is no guarantee of safety; the fire pursues even the escaped (compare 15:7). Isaiah’s commission held the same pattern, a remaining tenth burned again, with a holy seed nevertheless surviving as a stump (Isaiah 6:13). Any remnant that remains will be God’s own doing, as His promise in 6:8 makes clear: He Himself will leave survivors among the nations.
- Ezekiel 5:3-4 (BSB)“But you are to take a few strands of hair and secure them in the folds of your garment. Again, take a few of these, throw them into the fire, and burn them. From there a fire will spread to the whole house of Israel.”A few hairs are tucked into Ezekiel’s garment, but some of these are then burned, and fire spreads to all Israel.
- Ezekiel 15:7 (BSB)“And I will set My face against them. Though they may have escaped the fire, yet another fire will consume them. And when I set My face against them, you will know that I am the LORD.”Those who escape one fire are consumed by another, the same point in a different picture.
- Isaiah 6:13 (BSB)“And though a tenth remains in the land, it will be burned again. As the terebinth and oak leave stumps when felled, so the holy seed will be a stump in the land.””Isaiah saw even the remaining tenth burned again, though a holy seed remained like a stump.
- Ezekiel 6:8 (BSB)“Yet I will leave a remnant, for some of you will escape the sword when you are scattered among the nations and throughout the lands.”In the next message God promises that He will still leave some survivors among the nations.
General
When God explained the sign in 5:12, what did the portion of hair burned inside the city stand for?
Answer: Those killed by disease and hunger within the walls
In 5:12 God explains the hair sign. A third of Jerusalem’s people would die of plague, a deadly disease, or waste away from hunger inside the city, matching the hair burned within it. Another third would be killed by the sword beyond the walls, matching the hair struck around the city. The last third God would scatter in every direction with a sword chasing them, matching the hair thrown to the wind (compare 5:2). The same trio of plague, sword and famine returns in the next chapter (6:12), and God later lists them among His dire judgments on Jerusalem (14:21). Jeremiah delivered a similar grim message about the people’s fates (Jeremiah 15:2).
- Ezekiel 5:12 (BSB)“A third of your people will die by plague or be consumed by famine within you, a third will fall by the sword outside your walls, and a third I will scatter to every wind and unleash a sword behind them.”God explains the three thirds: death inside the city, death in battle beyond the walls, and dispersal.
- Ezekiel 6:12 (BSB)“He who is far off will die by the plague, he who is near will fall by the sword, and he who remains will die by famine. So I will vent My fury upon them.”Plague, sword and famine appear together again as the means of judgment.
- Ezekiel 14:21 (BSB)“For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem My four dire judgments—sword, famine, wild beasts, and plague—in order to cut off from it both man and beast?”God lists four dreadful judgments on Jerusalem, among them war, hunger and disease.
- Jeremiah 15:2 (BSB)“If they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ you are to tell them that this is what the LORD says: ‘Those destined for death, to death; those destined for the sword, to the sword; those destined for famine, to famine; and those destined for captivity, to captivity.’”Jeremiah announced a similar set of fates for the people: death, sword, famine and captivity.
Theological
In the interpretation of 5:12, what corresponds to the portion of hair burned within the city?
Answer: Those killed by disease and hunger within the walls
The LORD’s own interpretation in 5:12 maps the sign precisely: the third burned within the city corresponds to those who perish by plague or famine inside Jerusalem; the third struck around the city, to those slain by the sword beyond the walls; and the third scattered to the wind, to those dispersed with the sword unsheathed behind them (compare 5:2). Nothing in the sign is random; every portion of the population falls under a judgment God has appointed. The same triad of plague, sword and famine recurs (6:12; 14:21), and Jeremiah announces similar apportioned fates (Jeremiah 15:2).
- Ezekiel 5:12 (BSB)“A third of your people will die by plague or be consumed by famine within you, a third will fall by the sword outside your walls, and a third I will scatter to every wind and unleash a sword behind them.”God explains the three thirds: death inside the city, death in battle beyond the walls, and dispersal.
- Ezekiel 6:12 (BSB)“He who is far off will die by the plague, he who is near will fall by the sword, and he who remains will die by famine. So I will vent My fury upon them.”Plague, sword and famine appear together again as the means of judgment.
- Ezekiel 14:21 (BSB)“For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem My four dire judgments—sword, famine, wild beasts, and plague—in order to cut off from it both man and beast?”God lists four dreadful judgments on Jerusalem, among them war, hunger and disease.
- Jeremiah 15:2 (BSB)“If they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ you are to tell them that this is what the LORD says: ‘Those destined for death, to death; those destined for the sword, to the sword; those destined for famine, to famine; and those destined for captivity, to captivity.’”Jeremiah announced a similar set of fates for the people: death, sword, famine and captivity.