Ezechiel 5:1

Romanian Cornilescu Translation

,,Şi tu, fiul omului, ia o sabie ascuţită, ia -o ca brici de ras, şi trece -o peste cap şi barbă. Ia apoi o cumpănă de cîntărit, şi împarte părul.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

son: In this expressive emblem, the prophet represents the Jewish nation; his hair, the people; the razor, the Chaldeans; the cutting of the hair, the calamities and disgrace coming upon them; the balances, the exact distribution of the Divine judgments; the third part of the hair burnt, those destroyed in the city; the third part smitten with a knife, those slain in attempting to escape; the third part scattered to the winds, those who escaped to other countries; the few hairs in his skirt, those left with Gedaliah; and the burning of these, their destruction in Egypt.

take: Ezekiel 44:20, Leviticus 21:5, Isaiah 7:20

then: Daniel 5:27

Reciprocal: 2 Kings 13:18 - Smite Jeremiah 18:2 - and go Jeremiah 24:9 - to be removed Jeremiah 43:9 - great Ezekiel 2:1 - Son Ezekiel 4:1 - take Ezekiel 21:19 - General

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife,.... Or, "sword" m. The word signifies any sharp instrument, by which anything is cut off, or cut asunder; what is here meant is explained by the following:

take thee a barber's razor. The Septuagint and Arabic versions read this in conjunction with the former, thus, "take thee a knife", or "sword, sharper than a barber's razor"; and so the Syriac version, "take thee a sword sharp as a barber's razor"; this sharp knife, sword, or razor, signifies, as Jarchi interprets it, Nebuchadnezzar; and very rightly; so the king of Assyria is called in Isaiah 7:20:

and cause [it] to pass upon thine head, and upon thy beard; the "head" was a symbol of the city of Jerusalem, the metropolis of Judea; the "beard", of the cities, towns, and villages about it; and the "hair" of both, of the common people; compared to hair for their numbers, for their levity and unsteadiness, and for their being the beauty and ornament of the places where they lived; and the shaving of them denotes their disgrace and destruction, and mourning on account thereof:

then take thee balances to weigh and divide the [hair]. The Syriac version adds, "into three parts"; signifying, that several distinct punishments would be inflicted on them, and these according to the righteous judgment of God; balances being a symbol of justice.

m חרב "gladium", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Polanus, Starckius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Translate it: take thee a sharp sword, for a barber’s razor thou shalt take it thee. Even if the action were literal, the use of an actual sword would best enforce the symbolic meaning. The “head” represents the chief city, the “hair” the inhabitants - its ornament and glory - the “hair cut from the head” the exiles cast forth from their homes. It adds to the force of the representation that “to shave the head” was a token of mourning Job 1:20, and was forbidden to the priests Leviticus 21:5. Thus, in many ways, this action of Ezekiel “the priest” is significant of calamity and ruin. The sword indicates the avenging power; the shaving of the head the removal of grace and glory; the scales and weights the determination of divine justice. Compare Zechariah 13:8-9.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER V

In this chapter the prophet shows, under the type of hair, the

judgments which God was about to execute on the inhabitants of

Jerusalem by famine, sword, and dispersion, 14.

The type or allegory is then dropped, and God is introduced

declaring in plain terms the vengeance that was coming on the

whole nation which had proved so unworthy of those mercies with

which they had hitherto been distinguished, 5-17.

NOTES ON CHAP. V

Verse Ezekiel 5:1-4. Take thee a sharp knife — Among the Israelites, and indeed among most ancient nations, there were very few edge-tools. The sword was the chief; and this was used as a knife, a razor, c., according to its different length and sharpness. It is likely that only one kind of instrument is here intended a knife or short sword, to be employed as a razor.

Here is a new emblem produced, in order to mark out the coming evils.

1. The prophet represents the Jewish nation.

2. His hair, the people.

3. The razor, the Chaldeans.

4. The cutting the beard and hair, the calamities, sorrows, and disgrace coming upon the people. Cutting off the hair was a sign of mourning; see on Jeremiah 45:5; Jeremiah 48:37; and also a sign of great disgrace; see 2 Samuel 10:4.

5. He is ordered to divide the hair, Ezekiel 5:2, into three equal parts, to intimate the different degrees and kinds of punishment which should fall upon the people.

6. The balances, Ezekiel 5:1, were to represent the Divine justice, and the exactness with which God's judgments should be distributed among the offenders.

7. This hair, divided into three parts, is to be disposed of thus:

1. A third part is to be burnt in the midst of the city, to show that so many should perish by famine and pestilence during the siege.

2. Another third part he was to cut in small portions about the city, (that figure which he had pourtrayed upon the brick,) to signify those who should perish in different sorties, and in defending the walls.

3. And the remaining third part he was to scatter in the wind, to point out those who should be driven into captivity. And,

4. The sword following them was intended to show that their lives should be at the will of their captors, and that many of them should perish by the sword in their dispersions.

5. The few hairs which he was to take in his skirts, Ezekiel 5:3, was intended to represent those few Jews that should be left in the land under Gedaliah, after the taking of the city.

6. The throwing a part of these last into the fire, Ezekiel 5:4, was intended to show the miseries that these suffered in Judea, in Egypt, and finally in their being also carried away into Babylon on the conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar. See these transactions particularly pointed out in the notes on Jeremiah, Jeremiah 40:0, Jeremiah 41:0, Jeremiah 42:0. Some think that this prophecy may refer to the persecution of the Jews by Antiochus Epiphanes.