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HIS chapter is a continuation of
the last one. Here it is recorded that God required Ezekiel to shave his head
and his face. This would have been quite a strange sight in Ezekiel's day,
considering his priestly position. But, while the prophet's baldness might have
been a conspicuous attraction, it was what he did with his hair that was
actually significant. First, he divided it into 3 perfectly equal piles. He
burned a third of it on the brick, stabbed at one of the piles with his knife
and scattered the third pile into the wind. This illustration represented the
plight of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. See, the Babylonians took Jerusalem in
phases. And at this point, the conquest was yet to be completed. But hard days
were ahead for those who remained at rest in Palestine (verse 4).
So, many would die in Jerusalem
during the siege, many would die in the inevitable fall of the city and many
would die in foreign lands after being scattered to the ends of the earth by
God's wrath. And believe it, God was angry (Ezekiel 5:11, 13 & 15). Yet,
tucked quietly away in Ezekiel 5:3 is the shadow of a marvelous measure of
God's mercy and grace. Not every strand of Ezekiel's hair was to be burned,
chopped or scattered. He was expected to take a few of those hairs, and to tie
them up in the hem of his robe. While the hairs that were destroyed would have
been in numberless clumps, the number of hairs that Ezekiel "saved"
would have been small enough that he could have counted them without trouble. Only
a very few Jews would escape from God's wrath unscathed. God wasn't obligated
to save anybody, but He did save some. And by the way, those few weren’t any
less worthy of death either.
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