Ezekiel 5:1,2

The Significance of His Shaven Beard and Head.

“And you, son of man, you take a sharp sword. As a barber's razor you will take it to you. And you will cause it to pass over your head and on your beard. Then take for yourself balances to weigh and divide the hair. A third part you will burn with fire in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled. And you will take a third part and smite with the sword round about it. And a third part you will scatter to the wind, and I will draw out a sword after them.”

Shaving the head or beard was a sign of mourning (Ezekiel 7:18; Isaiah 15:2; Isaiah 22:12; Jeremiah 48:37; Amos 8:10), or even of disgrace (2 Samuel 10:4). It was also the sign of the end of a person's separation to God (Numbers 6:5; Numbers 6:18). Ezekiel's act in doing so was an indication that Jerusalem would be shorn, as a sign of disgrace, as a sign of mourning, and as a sign of the end of its separation to God.

The hair then had to be weighed and divided and separated into three parts. The weighing indicated that Jerusalem had been weighed and had been found wanting (compare Proverbs 21:2; Daniel 5:27). Then one third he had to burn in the midst of his model city, a third part he had to smite with a sword round about the city, chopping them in pieces, and a third part had to be scattered to the wind. This was to take place once he had finished his days of depicting the period of the siege. This signified that one third of the inhabitants of Jerusalem would die in the siege through pestilence and famine, one third in the fighting round about and that one third would be scattered among the nations (Ezekiel 5:12; compare Jeremiah 15:2). But even these latter would still be subject to further judgments from God. ‘I will draw out a sword after them'. They would be constantly harried, and many would die because of their evil ways.