Ezekiel 5:10 Kommentar

In this chapter we have a further, and no less terrible, denunciation of the judgments of God, which were coming with all speed and force upon the Jewish nation, which would utterly ruin it; for when God judges he will overcome. This destruction of Judah and Jerusalem is here, I. Represented by a sign, the cutting, and burning, and scattering of hair (Eze 5:1-4). II. That sign is expounded, and applied to Jerusalem. 1. Sin is charged upon Jerusalem as the cause of this desolation - contempt of God's law (Eze 5:5-7) and profanation of his sanctuary (Eze 5:11). 2 Wrath is threatened, great wrath (Eze 5:8-10), a variety of miseries (Eze 5:12, Eze 5:16, Eze 5:17), such as should be their reproach and ruin (Eze 5:13-15).

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 5 This chapter is of the same argument with the former; and contains a type of Jerusalem's destruction; an explanation of that type; what were the reasons of God's judgments on that city; and the nature, rise, and end of them. The type is in Eze 5:1; the explanation of that type is in Eze 5:5; the reasons of the severe judgments threatened are changing the statutes of the Lord, and not walking in them, and defiling the sanctuary with their abominations, Eze 5:6; an account of the judgments of God, answerable to each of the parts in the type, Eze 5:12; the ends of these judgments are, with respect to God, the accomplishment of his anger, and the satisfaction of his justice; with respect to the Jews, bringing them to an acknowledgment that he had spoken in his zeal; and, with respect to the nations, their instruction and astonishment, Eze 5:13; and the chapter is concluded with an assurance that these judgments would be sent, Eze 5:16.

Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee,.... Which was long ago threatened by the Lord, and prophesied of by Moses, Lev 26:27; and was fulfilled at several times in the people of Israel, as at the siege of Samaria, Kg2 6:28; at the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, Lam 4:10; and at the siege of the same city by Titus Vespasian, as Josephus (w) relates; for though these instances only show that mothers ate their children, yet no doubt the fathers took part with them; and if mothers, who are naturally more tender, could do this, it is much more reasonable to suppose that fathers did the same: and the sons shall eat their fathers; this, though nowhere recorded, yet doubtless was done; it being as reasonable to think that a son might eat his father as a father his son, though both monstrously shocking: and I will execute judgments in thee; punishments, such as pestilence, famine, and sword, after mentioned: and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds; that is, those that remain, and are not cut off, by the above judgments, shall be carried captive into Babylon, or be dispersed in to Egypt, Ammon, Moab, and other places: this had a full accomplishment in the dispersion of the Jews into the several parts of the world, when they were destroyed by the Romans. (w) De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 3. sect. 4. Ed. Hudson.

(Verse 10.) Therefore, fathers will eat their sons in your midst, and sons will eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments on you and scatter all your remnants to every wind. This is in accordance with what was said before: Because you have surpassed the nations that surround you, or because your behavior is like the nations that surround you, you have not walked in my commandments and have not kept my judgments. This is why it is repeated for the third time. First, thus: Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am coming to you, and I myself will bring judgments in your midst. Second: Therefore, fathers will eat their sons in your midst. Third: Therefore, as I live, says the Lord God; if you have violated my sanctuary in all your offenses, and the rest. However, it should be noted that where there are beautiful and honorable things, and according to the merit of those who uphold them, God professes to act for their sake. But where there are sad and unworthy things for God, he indeed says that they happen, but not by his own doing, as at present: Therefore, fathers will eat their sons in your midst, and sons will eat their fathers. For he did not say, 'I will make the fathers eat their sons in your midst, and the sons eat their fathers.' But what was proper and not unworthy of the majesty of God, he says he will do. For it follows: 'And I will execute judgments in you, and I will scatter all your remnant to every wind.' We can expect such a thing to come in curses in Deuteronomy, especially in that place: 'Those who glorify me I will glorify, but those who despise me will be brought to nothing.' (Deuteronomy XXVIII). For he who glorifies himself, glorifies himself. But those who despise him will not be despised by the Lord, or be reduced to nothingness (for it followed that he said), but absolutely, they will be reduced to nothingness: not by God, but by their own merits and sins. We read in the Book of Kings, driven by the necessity of hunger, a mother devoured her son (2 Kings 6). Josephus also recounts many such acts in the siege of Jerusalem. However, the story does not tell when fathers eat their sons or when sons eat their fathers, except perhaps in many desperate situations, it must be believed that these things have also happened. This can also be applied to our Jerusalem: when teachers are against their students, that is, fathers against sons, and students against teachers, that is, sons against fathers, they are stirred up by mutual rebellion, and what is said by the Apostle is fulfilled: But if you bite and devour one another, take heed that you are not consumed by one another (Gal. 5:15). And so the Prophet sang in mystical speech: When they drew near against me, who afflict me, to eat my flesh (Psalm 26:2). And Job speaks something similar: But if my handmaids have said: Who will give us of his flesh, that we may eat (Job 31). And concerning the leaders who seek profit from the disciples and have no concern for their salvation, it is said: Who devour my people as bread (Psalm 52:5). And concerning these, the Apostle says: 'And they devour the houses of widows' (Luke 20; Matthew 23). We can understand, fathers, that those who have eaten their children and children who have eaten their fathers, not only in Babylon, but also in the Roman siege. However, what is said, 'I will scatter all your remnants to every wind,' pertains more to the Roman captivity, when they were dispersed throughout the whole world. And this is the scattering to every wind of hair and beard.

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, Eze 5:14. 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, Eze 5:5-17.

The fathers shall eat the sons - Though we have not this fact so particularly stated in history, yet we cannot doubt of it, considering the extremities to which they were reduced during the siege. The same is referred to by Jeremiah, Lam 4:10. Even the women, who were remarkable for kindness and humanity, boiled their own children, and ate them during the siege. Will I scatter into all the winds - Disperse you, by captivity, among all the nations of the earth.

VISION OF CUTTING THE HAIRS, AND THE CALAMITIES FORESHADOWED THEREBY. (Eze. 5:1-17) knife . . . razor--the sword of the foe (compare Isa 7:20). This vision implies even severer judgments than the Egyptian afflictions foreshadowed in the former, for their guilt was greater than that of their forefathers. thine head--as representative of the Jews. The whole hair being shaven off was significant of severe and humiliating (Sa2 10:4-5) treatment. Especially in the case of a priest; for priests (Lev 21:5) were forbidden "to make baldness on their head," their hair being the token of consecration; hereby it was intimated that the ceremonial must give place to the moral. balances--implying the just discrimination with which Jehovah weighs out the portion of punishment "divided," that is, allotted to each: the "hairs" are the Jews: the divine scales do not allow even one hair to escape accurate weighing (compare Mat 10:30).

fathers . . . eat . . . sons--alluding to Moses words (Lev 26:29; Deu 28:53), with the additional sad feature, that "the sons should eat their fathers" (see Kg2 6:28; Jer 19:9; Lam 2:20; Lam 4:10).