Symbolic Siege of Jerusalem, continued. Ezekiel 5:1-17

Transcription

1 1 Symbolic Siege of Jerusalem, continued Ezekiel 5:1-17

2 2 Symbolic Siege of Jerusalem, continued Text: Ezekiel 5:1-17, 1. Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber s razor to shave your head and your beard. Then take a set of scales and divide up the hair. 2. When the days of your siege come to an end, burn a third of the hair with fire inside the city. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city. And scatter a third to the wind. For I will pursue them with drawn sword. 3. But take a few strands of hair and tuck them away in the folds of your garment. 4. Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire and burn them up. A fire will spread from there to the whole house of Israel. 5. This is what the Sovereign Lord says: This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. 6. Yet in her wickedness she has rebelled against my laws and decrees more than the nations and countries around her. She has rejected my laws and has not followed my decrees. 7. Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: You have been more unruly than the nations around you and have not followed my decrees or kept my laws. You have not even conformed to the standards of the nations around you.

3 3 8. Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will inflict punishment on you in the sight of the nations. 9. Because of all your detestable idols, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again. 10. Therefore in your midst fathers will eat their children, and children will eat their fathers. I will inflict punishment on you and will scatter all your survivors to the winds. 11. Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your vile images and detestable practices, I myself will withdraw my favor; I will not look on you with pity or spare you. 12. A third of your people will die of the plague or perish by famine inside you; a third will fall by the sword outside your walls; and a third I will scatter to the winds and pursue with drawn sword. 13. Then my anger will cease and my wrath against them will subside, and I will be avenged. And when I have spent my wrath upon them, they will know that I the Lord have spoken in my zeal. 14. I will make you a ruin and a reproach among the nations around you, in the sight of all who pass by. 15. You will be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and an object of horror to the nations around you when I inflict punishment on you in anger and in wrath and with stinging rebuke. I the Lord have spoken. 16. When I shoot at you with my deadly and destructive arrows of famine, I will shoot to destroy you. I will bring more and more famine upon you and cut off your supply of food.

4 4 17. 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 the sword against you. I the Lord have spoken. (NIV 1984) Introduction: I. During Nebuchadnezzar s siege of Jerusalem, there would be a horrible shortage of food and water. A. This chapter speaks of God s attitude toward those in Jerusalem who had been so unfaithful to Him and what He was going to do to set things right. (See Smith.) B. Sin, contrary to what many people think of it, is an unspeakably bad thing and will destroy! 1. Hell is so bad because sin is so bad! II. Coffman quoting Dummelow observed that Ezekiel in these pantomimes played various roles, sometimes God, sometimes Israel, sometimes Jerusalem. A. These signs were messages from God to the Jews in exile in Babylon. (See McGee.) Commentary: Ezekiel 5:1, Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber s razor to shave your head and your beard. Then take a set of scales and divide up the hair. I. Now, son of man, take a sharp sword (knife, barber s razor) and use it as a barber s razor to shave your head and your beard.

5 5 A. The shaving of Ezekiel s head and beard was to occur near the end of the time Ezekiel was to lie on his sides, Fredenburg advised. 1. Shaving the head and beard was a sign of mourning among certain foreign nations, but Israelite men and especially priests were forbidden to cut their hair for the dead, Fredenburg wrote. a. Babylonian priests used hair to divine omens. (Hamilton) 2. God is the actual barber and Jerusalem is the one being shaved. (See Fredenburg.) a. Isaiah 15:2-3, Dibon goes up to its temple, to its high places to weep; Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba. Every head is shaved and every beard cut off. In the streets they wear sackcloth; on the roofs and in the public squares they all wail, prostrate with weeping. (NIV 1984) b. Jeremiah 41:5, eighty men who had shaved off their beards, torn their clothes and cut themselves came from Shechem, Shiloh and Samaria, bringing grain offerings and incense with them to the house of the Lord. (NIV 1984) c. Jeremiah 48:37, Every head is shaved and every beard cut off; every hand is slashed and every waist is covered with sackcloth. (NIV 1984) d. Leviticus 19:27, Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard. (NIV 1984)

6 6 e. Leviticus 21:5, Priests must not shave their heads or shave off the edges of their beards or cut their bodies. (NIV 1984) f. Deuteronomy 14:1-2, You are the children of the Lord your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead, for you are a people holy to the Lord your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be his treasured possession. (NIV 1984) g. Leviticus 26:33, I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins. (NIV 1984) 3. Coffman wrote that the sword represents the armed might of Babylon, the shaving of the head represents humiliation, mourning and disaster, the balances symbolized God s justice, equity and righteousness, Ezekiel s head represents Jerusalem and the hair represents the citizens of Jerusalem and the city s glory. 4. McGee rightly observed that it was highly unusual for a priest such as Ezekiel to shave his head and beard. 1. This certainly must have gained the attention of the people. 2. Think of all the nicks, scrapes, scratches, and abrasions that must have resulted from shaving with an unwieldy sword.

7 7 B. Clarke mentioned that the variety of sharp edged tools in ancient Israel was limited and that the instrument in question here was the short sword which was more easily handled than the long battle sword. 1. Knife as used here in the AKJV is better translated as sword in the NIV, LXX, Vulgate, et. al. (The Pulpit Commentary) C. Both Isaiah and Moses spoke of razors. 1. Isaiah 7:20, In that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the River the king of Assyria to shave your head and the hair of your legs, and to take off your beards also. (NIV 1984) 2. Leviticus 19:27, Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard. (NIV 1984) 3. Leviticus 21:5, Priests must not shave their heads or shave off the edges of their beards or cut their bodies. (NIV 1984) 4. Once again Ezekiel is commanded to do a forbidden thing as a symbolic act, The Pulpit Commentary reads. II. Then take a set of scales and divide up the hair. A. The shorn hair was divided into three parts, McGee explained: 1. One third of the hair he took and burned within the model city Ezekiel had made. This hair represented the people who were killed (burned) inside the city at the time of its destruction.

8 8 2. The second third of the hair he smote repeatedly. People who survived the siege were killed by the sword. 3. The (last) third was scattered which includes those who went to Babylon as exiles as well as those who went to Egypt, as did Jeremiah, et. al. a. Leviticus 26:17, 24-25, I will set my face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you. I myself will be hostile toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over. And I will bring the sword upon you to avenge the breaking of the covenant. When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be given into enemy hands. (NIV 1984) 4. The small remnant of God s people who eventually returned to the city is pictured by the few hairs that were bound up in Ezekiel s skirts, McGee wrote. a. Ezekiel 11:16-21, Therefore say: This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone. Therefore say: This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again. They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give

9 9 them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols, I will bring down on their own heads what they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord. (NIV 1984) B. This was Ezekiel s message and it was absolutely clear to all, McGee stated. C. Clarke cited the following representations: 1. Ezekiel represents the Jewish nation. 2. Ezekiel s hair represents the people of Judah and Jerusalem. 3. The razor (sword, knife) represents the Chaldeans. 4. The cutting of the beard and hair represents the calamities, sorrows, and disgrace that were coming upon the people. a. Jeremiah 45:5, Should you then seek great things for yourself? Seek them not. For I will bring disaster on all people, declares the Lord, but wherever you go I will let you escape with your life. (NIV 1984) b. Jeremiah 48:37, Every head is shaved and every beard cut off; every hand is slashed and every waist is covered with sackcloth. (NIV 1984) c. 2 Samuel 10:4, So Hanun seized David s men, shaved off half of each man s beard, cut off their

10 10 garments in the middle at the buttocks, and sent them away. (NIV 1984) 5. The three divisions into which the shorn hair was separated allowed for identifying the different types of punishment which would befall the people. 6. The balances, scales represented Divine justice, and the exactness with which God s judgments would be distributed among the offenders. D. This hair was to be divided into three parts and was to be disposed of as follows, Clarke wrote: 1. One third was to be burned in the midst of the model city representing the famine and pestilence during the siege. 2. A second third was to be cut in small pieces representing those killed defending the walls of Jerusalem during the Babylonian attack. 3. A final third was to be scattered in the wind representing those who would be taken into captivity or otherwise driven away from Palestine. 4. The sword following them was intended to show that their lives would be subject to the will of their captors and that many would perish in the process. 5. The few hairs which he was to place in his clothing represented the few Jews that would remain in the land of Judah-Jerusalem after the fall of the city under the rule of Gedaliah.

11 11 6. The hairs thrown into the fire showed the miseries that those who remained in Judea, journeyed to Egypt or were taken captive to Babylon would suffer. Ezekiel 5:2, When the days of your siege come to an end, burn a third of the hair with fire inside the city. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city. And scatter a third to the wind. For I will pursue them with drawn sword. I. When the days of your siege come to an end, burn a third of the hair with fire inside the city. A. This cannot refer to literal Jerusalem because, as captive exiles in Babylon, they could not decide to take a trip to Jerusalem. 1. Ezekiel 4:1, 5-6, Now, son of man, take a clay tablet, put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the house of Israel. After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the house of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year. (NIV 1984) B. Smith suggests, the days of your siege refer to the 430 days Ezekiel was to lie on his sides and the burning of hair inside the city, striking hair with a sword around the city and scattering hair to the wind refers to the model/drawing of the city of which we studied in chapter 4. C. Fredenburg wrote that Babylonian priests sought guidance from their gods by manipulating locks of hair. 1. Ezekiel s behavior must have confused the Jewish exiles who observed Ezekiel s behavior.

12 12 D. The hair that would be burned represents those who will die (by famine and pestilence (Coffman)) during the siege of Jerusalem. (Fredenburg) II. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city. A. There are those who would be killed during the military capture of Jerusalem. (Fredenburg) III. And scatter a third to the wind. A. These are those who will flee in the confusion of battle associated with the fall of Jerusalem some of whom would be deported as exiles. IV. For I will pursue them with drawn sword. A. No one will escape! (See Fredenburg.) 1. These would be chased by the Babylonian military, God s agents on this occasion. Ezekiel 5:3, But take a few strands of hair and tuck them away in the folds of your garment. I. But take a few strands of hair and tuck them away in the folds of your garment. A. A righteous remnant of Jerusalem, this figure indicates, would survive the siege, but even the remnant would suffer persecution. (See Smith.) (See also Fredenburg.) 1. Ezekiel 11:16-21, Therefore say: This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Although I sent them far away

13 13 among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone. Therefore say: This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again. They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols, I will bring down on their own heads what they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord. (NIV 1984) Ezekiel 5:4, Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire and burn them up. A fire will spread from there to the whole house of Israel. I. Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire and burn them up. A. These represent the people who would die during the siege, (Fredenburg) B. Coffman observed that not all the righteous remnant would escape the disaster that would befall the entire nation. 1. Even some of the righteous would fall away, (Coffman) C. Reference here may be to those in Jerusalem who had escaped death by famine and the sword and were left in the land and/or to

14 14 those who would go into exile but even there would not be able to escape God s judgments. (The Pulpit Commentary) 1. 2 Kings 25:22, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to be over the people he had left behind in Judah. (NIV 1984) 2. Jeremiah 40:6, So Jeremiah went to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah and stayed with him among the people who were left behind in the land. (NIV 1984) 3. Jeremiah 52:16, But Nebuzaradan left behind the rest of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields. (NIV 1984) 4. 1 Corinthians 3:15, If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. (NIV 1984) 5. Amos 4:11, I overthrew some of you as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. You were like a burning stick snatched from the fire, yet you have not returned to me, declares the LORD. (NIV 1984) 6. Zechariah 3:2, The LORD said to Satan, The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire? (NIV 1984) II. A fire will spread from there to the whole house of Israel. A. The suffering for sin would not be isolated, but would spread throughout the whole house of Israel.

15 15 1. There is no escape for the unrepentant sinner! Note: The Lord now explains why these actions against Jerusalem are necessary. Ezekiel 5:5, This is what the Sovereign Lord says: This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. I. This is what the Sovereign Lord says: A. The Lord explained the reasons for the siege and then described the results of the siege. B. Three oracles are pronounced on Jerusalem and extend to all the surrounding land of Judah. (See Fredenburg.) 1. Ezekiel 5:5-17: Jerusalem. This is what the Sovereign Lord says: This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. Yet in her wickedness she has rebelled against my laws and decrees more than the nations and countries around her. She has rejected my laws and has not followed my decrees. Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: You have been more unruly than the nations around you and have not followed my decrees or kept my laws. You have not even conformed to the standards of the nations around you. Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will inflict punishment on you in the sight of the nations. Because of all your detestable idols, 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. I will inflict punishment on you and will scatter all your

16 16 survivors to the winds. Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your vile images and detestable practices, I myself will withdraw my favor; I will not look on you with pity or spare you. A third of your people will die of the plague or perish by famine inside you; a third will fall by the sword outside your walls; and a third I will scatter to the winds and pursue with drawn sword. Then my anger will cease and my wrath against them will subside, and I will be avenged. And when I have spent my wrath upon them, they will know that I the Lord have spoken in my zeal. I will make you a ruin and a reproach among the nations around you, in the sight of all who pass by. You will be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and an object of horror to the nations around you when I inflict punishment on you in anger and in wrath and with stinging rebuke. I the Lord have spoken. When I shoot at you with my deadly and destructive arrows of famine, I will shoot to destroy you. I will bring more and more famine upon 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 the sword against you. I the Lord have spoken. (NIV 1984) 2. Ezekiel 6:1-14: The Mountains on which Jerusalem was Built. The word of the Lord came to me: Son of man, set your face against the mountains of Israel; prophesy against them and say: O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Sovereign Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys: I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places. Your altars will be demolished and your incense altars will be smashed;

17 17 and I will slay your people in front of your idols. I will lay the dead bodies of the Israelites in front of their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars. Wherever you live, the towns will be laid waste and the high places demolished, so that your altars will be laid waste and devastated, your idols smashed and ruined, your incense altars broken down, and what you have made wiped out. Your people will fall slain among you, and you will know that I am the Lord. But I will spare some, for some of you will escape the sword when you are scattered among the lands and nations. Then in the nations where they have been carried captive, those who escape will remember me how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from me, and by their eyes, which have lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their detestable practices. And they will know that I am the Lord; I did not threaten in vain to bring this calamity on them. This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Strike your hands together and stamp your feet and cry out Alas! because of all the wicked and detestable practices of the house of Israel, for they will fall by the sword, famine and plague. He that is far away will die of the plague, and he that is near will fall by the sword, and he that survives and is spared will die of famine. So will I spend my wrath upon them. And they will know that I am the Lord, when their people lie slain among their idols around their altars, on every high hill and on all the mountaintops, under every spreading tree and every leafy oak places where they offered fragrant incense to all their idols. And I will stretch out my hand against them and make the land a desolate waste from the desert to Diblah wherever they live. Then they will know that I am the Lord. (NIV 1984)

18 18 3. Ezekiel 7:1-27: The Entire Land of Judah. The word of the Lord came to me: Son of man, this is what the Sovereign Lord says to the land of Israel: The end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land. The end is now upon you and I will unleash my anger against you. I will judge you according to your conduct and repay you for all your detestable practices. I will not look on you with pity or spare you; I will surely repay you for your conduct and the detestable practices among you. Then you will know that I am the Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Disaster! An unheard-of disaster is coming. The end has come! The end has come! It has roused itself against you. It has come! Doom has come upon you you who dwell in the land. The time has come, the day is near; there is panic, not joy, upon the mountains. I am about to pour out my wrath on you and spend my anger against you; I will judge you according to your conduct and repay you for all your detestable practices. I will not look on you with pity or spare you; I will repay you in accordance with your conduct and the detestable practices among you. Then you will know that it is I the Lord who strikes the blow. The day is here! It has come! Doom has burst forth, the rod has budded, arrogance has blossomed! Violence has grown into a rod to punish wickedness; none of the people will be left, none of that crowd no wealth, nothing of value. The time has come, the day has arrived. Let not the buyer rejoice nor the seller grieve, for wrath is upon the whole crowd. The seller will not recover the land he has sold as long as both of them live, for the vision concerning the whole crowd will not be reversed. Because of their sins, not one of them will preserve his life. Though they blow the trumpet and get everything ready, no one will go into battle, for my wrath is upon the whole crowd. Outside is the sword,

19 19 inside are plague and famine; those in the country will die by the sword, and those in the city will be devoured by famine and plague. All who survive and escape will be in the mountains, moaning like doves of the valleys, each because of his sins. Every hand will go limp, and every knee will become as weak as water. They will put on sackcloth and be clothed with terror. Their faces will be covered with shame and their heads will be shaved. They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will be an unclean thing. Their silver and gold will not be able to save them in the day of the Lord s wrath. They will not satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs with it, for it has made them stumble into sin. They were proud of their beautiful jewelry and used it to make their detestable idols and vile images. Therefore I will turn these into an unclean thing for them. I will hand it all over as plunder to foreigners and as loot to the wicked of the earth, and they will defile it. I will turn my face away from them, and they will desecrate my treasured place; robbers will enter it and desecrate it. Prepare chains, because the land is full of bloodshed and the city is full of violence. I will bring the most wicked of the nations to take possession of their houses; I will put an end to the pride of the mighty, and their sanctuaries will be desecrated. When terror comes, they will seek peace, but there will be none. Calamity upon calamity will come, and rumor upon rumor. They will try to get a vision from the prophet; the teaching of the law by the priest will be lost, as will the counsel of the elders. The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with despair, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble. I will deal with them according to their conduct, and by their own standards I will judge them. Then they will know that I am the Lord. (NIV 1984)

20 20 C. Each of these oracles begins with, This is what the Sovereign Lord says, and ends with, I the Lord have spoken. (See Fredenburg.) II. This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. A. Palestine was situated in a crossroads position between Africa and Asia. (See Smith.) 1. Israel s geographical position made it vulnerable to attack by surrounding nations. 2. Micah 4:1, In the last days the mountain of the Lord s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. (NIV 1984) 3. Isaiah 2:1, This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem: (NIV 1984) B. Israel was also placed as the center of the nations spiritually with the duty to proclaim righteousness to the nations. 1. In this they totally failed! 2. Exodus 19:5-6, Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites. (NIV 1984) Ezekiel 5:6, Yet in her wickedness she has rebelled against my laws and decrees more than the nations and countries around her. She has rejected my laws and has not followed my decrees.

21 21 I. Yet in her wickedness she has rebelled against my laws and decrees more than the nations and countries around her. A. Israel was in a position to be a great influence for good, but they rebelled against God and became more evil than the surrounding heathen nations they were to influence for righteousness. (See Smith.) B. Jerusalem was to have been a godly example to the surrounding nations, but the people of Jerusalem became the very opposite. 1. Jerusalem s doom was inevitable! (See Coffman.) 2. Instead of reflecting God s righteousness, they showed the world the devil s wickedness. 3. Clarke wrote that, This is the common case of backsliders: they frequently, in their fall, become tenfold more the children of wrath than they were before. II. She has rejected my laws and has not followed my decrees. A. Jerusalem had profaned the Lord. Now he would be vindicated by the judgments he unleashed against the city. (See Smith.) Ezekiel 5:7, Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: You have been more unruly than the nations around you and have not followed my decrees or kept my laws. You have not even conformed to the standards of the nations around you. I. Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: A. What the Lord said was perfectly clear! B. God s will for us is clear!

22 22 1. Obedience leads to life. 2. Disobedience leads to destruction! 3. Choose this day whether you will obey and live or disobey and die! II. You have been more unruly than the nations around you and have not followed my decrees or kept my laws. A. In comparison with the surrounding nations, Israel had behaved itself more wickedly, more turbulently, more without regard for God s rules. 1. Ezekiel 11:12, And you will know that I am the Lord, for you have not followed my decrees or kept my laws but have conformed to the standards of the nations around you. (NIV 1984) III. You have not even conformed to the standards of the nations around you. A. Israel had not observed either God s laws or the standards of common decency recognized by the surrounding nations. B. The Pulpit Commentary suggested the heathen nations surrounding Israel at least followed the guidance of their corrupt gods. 1. Israel did not do even this; that is, live up to the standards of Yahweh, their God.

23 23 Ezekiel 5:8, Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will inflict punishment on you in the sight of the nations. I. Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: A. Therefore, in view of Israel s wickedness, the Lord pronounces divine judgment. 1. Lamentations 4:6, The punishment of my people is greater than that of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment without a hand turned to help her. (NIV 1984) 2. Amos 3:2, You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins. (NIV 1984) II. I myself am against you, Jerusalem, and A. Leviticus 26:17, I will set my face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you. (NIV 1984) B. Because of their multiplied sins over many, many years, God gave up on them and decreed their destruction! III. I will inflict punishment on you in the sight of the nations. A. All the surrounding nations will see God s punishment on Israel. 1. God would make a permanent and public example of them. 2. We are even now studying their example.

24 24 Ezekiel 5:9, Because of all your detestable idols, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again. I. Because of all your detestable idols, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again. A. God s punishments of Jerusalem was unprecedented because their abominable, detestable sins of corrupt and immoral idolatry were unprecedented. 1. Jerusalem fell at other times after 586 B.C., but this was its worst destruction to that time. (See Smith.) 2. The people of Jerusalem grievously sinned and God severely punished them. a. Daniel 9:12, You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. (NIV 1984) b. Lamentations 1:12, Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around and see. Is any suffering like my suffering that was inflicted on me, that the Lord brought on me in the day of his fierce anger? (NIV 1984) c. Lamentations 2:13, What can I say for you? With what can I compare you, O Daughter of Jerusalem? To what can I liken you, that I may comfort you, O Virgin Daughter of Zion? Your wound is as deep as the sea. Who can heal you? (NIV 1984)

25 25 3. These sins, abominations, included more than detestable idols and, according to Fredenburg, included all forms of rebellion, disregard, and contempt for Yahweh s commandments, values, and wishes. 4. God s punishment will also be unprecedented! (Fredenburg) a. Nebuchadnezzar s destruction of Jerusalem and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in A.D. 70 were truly horrendous. b. Clarke wrote, These two sackings of that city have no parallel in the history of mankind. i. Matthew 24:21, For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now and never to be equaled again. (NIV 1984) ii. Of course, Clarke wrote before the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Ezekiel 5:10, Therefore in your midst fathers will eat their children, and children will eat their fathers. I will inflict punishment on you and will scatter all your survivors to the winds. I. Therefore, in your midst fathers will eat their children, and children will eat their fathers. A. Cannibalism would show how horrible the conditions were during the siege of Jerusalem. (See Smith.) 1. Deuteronomy 28:53-57, Because of the suffering that your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will

26 26 eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you. Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children, and he will not give to one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all he has left because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of all your cities. The most gentle and sensitive woman among you so sensitive and gentle that she would not venture to touch the ground with the sole of her foot will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughter the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. For she intends to eat them secretly during the siege and in the distress that your enemy will inflict on you in your cities. (NIV 1984) 2. Leviticus 26:29, You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters. (NIV 1984) 3. 2 Kings 6:28-29, Then he asked her, What s the matter? She answered, This woman said to me, Give up your son so we may eat him today, and tomorrow we ll eat my son. So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, Give up your son so we may eat him, but she had hidden him. (NIV 1984) 4. Lamentations 2:20, Look, O Lord, and consider: Whom have you ever treated like this? Should women eat their offspring, the children they have cared for? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord? (NIV 1984) 5. Lamentations 4:10, With their own hands compassionate women have cooked their own children,

27 27 who became their food when my people were destroyed. (NIV 1984) 6. Jeremiah 19:9, I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another s flesh during the stress of the siege imposed on them by the enemies who seek their lives. (NIV 1984) II. I will inflict punishment on you and will scatter all your survivors to the winds. A. A second especially horrible aspect of this destruction of Jerusalem was the scattering of its people in all directions, many to Babylon, but others to various remote parts of the Babylonian empire. Ezekiel 5:11, Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your vile images and detestable practices, I myself will withdraw my favor; I will not look on you with pity or spare you. I. Therefore, as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, A. This pronouncement is absolutely certain of fulfillment because 1. God swore by his own life! a. Genesis 22:16, and said, I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, (NIV 1984) b. Hebrews 6:13-14, When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to

28 28 swear by, he swore by himself, saying, I will surely bless you and give you many descendants. (NIV 1984) II. because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your vile images and detestable practices, I myself will withdraw my favor; A. By defiling the temple, Judah had repudiated any special relationship they may have had with the Lord. (See Smith.) 1. In response, God removed his favor from them. a. They were no longer God s special people, be shown any pity nor be spared from the atrocities of war. (Smith) b. Ezekiel 16:23-24, Woe! Woe to you, declares the Sovereign LORD. In addition to all your other wickedness, you built a mound for yourself and made a lofty shrine in every public square. (NIV 1984) 2. Fredenburg wrote that withdrawing God s favor means God would withdraw all His covenant blessings! a. God has finally had more than enough! i. Exodus 34:6-7, And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their

29 29 children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation. (NIV 1984) B. Israel s sins were not limited to wickednesses associated with the temple. 1. Deuteronomy 12:32, See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it. (NIV 1984) 2. Coffman reminds us of the human sacrifices made in the valley of the Sons of Hinnom as an example of other horrible sins of Israel. C. Jesus demonstrated his severe anger because the temple had been corrupted, made into a den of thieves. 1. John 2:15-16, So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father s house into a market! (NIV 1984) 2. Matthew 21:12, Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. (NIV 1984) III. I will not look on you with pity or spare you. A. Consider how absolutely hopeless man would be without God s pity, and with His promise to have no mercy. 1. Things can t get any worse than that!

30 30 2. God will have no mercy on those sinners. His favor had been withdrawn. 3. No hope and without God in the world! B. Related Scriptures: 1. Ezekiel 7:4, 9, I will not look on you with pity or spare you; I will surely repay you for your conduct and the detestable practices among you. Then you will know that I am the LORD. (NIV 1984) 2. Ezekiel 8:18, Therefore I will deal with them in anger; I will not look on them with pity or spare them. Although they shout in my ears, I will not listen to them. (NIV 1984) 3. Ezekiel 9:10, So I will not look on them with pity or spare them, but I will bring down on their own heads what they have done. (NIV 1984) 4. Ezekiel 13:14, I will tear down the wall you have covered with whitewash and will level it to the ground so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it falls, you will be destroyed in it; and you will know that I am the LORD. (NIV 1984) Ezekiel 5:12, A third of your people will die of the plague or perish by famine inside you; a third will fall by the sword outside your walls; and a third I will scatter to the winds and pursue with drawn sword. I. A third of your people will die of the plague or perish by famine inside you;

31 31 A. One-third of the people would die by famine or plague. 1. Verses explain verses 1-4. II. a third will fall by the sword outside your walls; and A. A third of the people would be killed by the sword outside the city walls. 1. Ezekiel 12:14, I will scatter to the winds all those around him his staff and all his troops and I will pursue them with drawn sword. (NIV 1984) 2. Leviticus 26:33, I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins. (NIV 1984) III. a third I will scatter to the winds and pursue with drawn sword. A. A third of the people would be scattered to the winds and chased with drawn sword. Note: Three areas would be impacted by the siege and fall of Jerusalem identified by the words, I the Lord have spoken. (verses 13, 15, 17) Ezekiel 5:13, Then my anger will cease and my wrath against them will subside, and I will be avenged. And when I have spent my wrath upon them, they will know that I the Lord have spoken in my zeal. I. Then my anger (fury) will cease and my wrath against them will subside, and I will be avenged.

32 32 A. Result one would be the end of God s wrath toward these rebellious people and may lead to their appreciating the true nature of God! (Smith) B. The prophets of old spoke vividly of the wrath of God! 1. Coffman wrote that the modern idea of God is that of a loving old grandpa who overlooks sin and hardly ever punishes anybody. 2. This is not like the biblical view of the nature of God. 3. Behold the goodness and the severity of God, not just the goodness of God. II. And when I have spent my wrath upon them, they will know that I the Lord have spoken in my zeal. A. God did not just throw fits. 1. God s wrath was designed to bring Israel to repentance. B. When Israel by God s punishments had been led to repentance, God s anger had achieved its purpose. 1. God s anger, therefore, subsided. a. Ezekiel 16:42, Then my wrath against you will subside and my jealous anger will turn away from you; I will be calm and no longer angry. (NIV 1984) b. Ezekiel 21:17, too will strike my hands together, and my wrath will subside. I the LORD have spoken. (NIV 1984)

33 33 c. Ezekiel 24:13, Now your impurity is lewdness. Because I tried to cleanse you but you would not be cleansed from your impurity, you will not be clean again until my wrath against you has subsided. (NIV 1984) d. Deuteronomy 28:13, The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. (NIV 1984) e. Isaiah 1:24, Therefore the Lord, the Lord the Lord Almighty, the Mighty One of Israel, declares: Ah, I will get relief from my foes and avenge myself on my enemies. (NIV 1984) C. God had spoken in his zeal, earnestly. 1. The fact that God s words were fulfilled to the letter shows that God had spoken thoughtfully and meaningfully. a. He meant what he had said. b. Isaiah 9:7, Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. (NIV 1984) c. Isaiah 37:32, For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. (NIV 1984)

34 34 Ezekiel 5:14, I will make you a ruin and a reproach among the nations around you, in the sight of all who pass by. I. I will make you a ruin and a reproach among the nations around you, in the sight of all who pass by. A. The way Jerusalem suffered for its sins was to be a lesson for all who saw it. B. Related Scriptures: 1. Lamentations 1:12, Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around and see. Is any suffering like my suffering that was inflicted on me, that the LORD brought on me in the day of his fierce anger? (NIV 1984) 2. Lamentations 2:15, All who pass your way clap their hands at you; they scoff and shake their heads at the Daughter of Jerusalem: Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth? (NIV 1984) Ezekiel 5:15, You will be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and an object of horror to the nations around you when I inflict punishment on you in anger and in wrath and with stinging rebuke. I the Lord have spoken. I. You will be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and an object of horror to the nations around you when I inflict punishment on you in anger and in wrath and with stinging rebuke. A. Result two would be the impact God s action would have on the surrounding nations. (Smith)

35 35 1. Deuteronomy 28:37, You will become a thing of horror and an object of scorn and ridicule to all the nations where the LORD will drive you. 2. What happened to Jerusalem could happen to them. (Smith) B. God had always intended for Israel to be a beacon of light for righteousness to all nations. 1. At this time they had shown themselves to be the very opposite of a godly influence among the nations. C. Ezekiel 5 contains at least five phrases and expressions (quotes) found in Leviticus 26. (Greenberg via Coffman) 1. Leviticus 26:1-46, Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the LORD your God. Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the LORD. If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit. Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land. I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove savage beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before

36 36 you. I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. You will still be eating last year s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new. I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high. But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant, then I will do this to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and drain away your life. You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it. I will set my face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you. If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over. I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze. Your strength will be spent in vain, because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of the land yield their fruit. If you remain hostile toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over, as your sins deserve. I will send wild animals against you, and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so few in number that your roads will be deserted. If in spite of these things you do not accept my correction but continue to be hostile toward me, I myself will be hostile toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over. And I will bring the sword upon

37 37 you to avenge the breaking of the covenant. When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be given into enemy hands. When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will be able to bake your bread in one oven, and they will dole out the bread by weight. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied. If in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to be hostile toward me, then in my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over. You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters. I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars and pile your dead bodies on the lifeless forms of your idols, and I will abhor you. I will turn your cities into ruins and lay waste your sanctuaries, and I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings. I will lay waste the land, so that your enemies who live there will be appalled. I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins. Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate and you are in the country of your enemies; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it. As for those of you who are left, I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them. They will stumble over one another as though fleeing from the sword, even though no one is pursuing them. So you will not be able to stand before your enemies. You will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you. Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies

38 38 because of their sins; also because of their fathers sins they will waste away. But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their fathers their treachery against me and their hostility toward me, which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. For the land will be deserted by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will pay for their sins because they rejected my laws and abhorred my decrees. Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking my covenant with them. I am the LORD their God. But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the LORD. These are the decrees, the laws and the regulations that the LORD established on Mount Sinai between himself and the Israelites through Moses. (NIV 1984) II. I the Lord have spoken. A. That s that! God has spoken! There is no appeal to God s decree! What God said will be! Ezekiel 5:16, When I shoot at you with my deadly and destructive arrows of famine, I will shoot to destroy you. I will bring more and more famine upon you and cut off your supply of food. I. When I shoot at you with my deadly and destructive arrows of famine, I will shoot to destroy you.