Ezekiel 5:7-10

B. The First Threat 5:7-10

TRANSLATION

(7) Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD: Because you are more tumultuous than the nations which are round about you in My statutes you have not walked, and My judgments you have not done, nor have you done according to the judgments of the nations which are round about you; (8) therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold I, even I, am against you, and I will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nations. (9) And I will do in you that which I have not done and the likes of which I will not do again, because of all your abominations. (10) Therefore, fathers shall eat sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in You, and I will scatter all your remnant to every wind.

COMMENTS

1. The basis of the threat (5.7). Because Jerusalem was more tumultuous than surrounding nations (Ezekiel 5:7) she would have to have the judgment of God. The word translated tumultuous (hamanchem) is of uncertain meaning.[167] It seems to be connected with the noun hamon which means a tumultuous crowd. They raged in their opposition against God. Such a description is appropriate to these lawless ones who rejected the judgments and statutes of the Lord. In fact, Judah had not even measured up to the standards of heathen nations nor have you done according to the judgments of the nations round about you (Ezekiel 5:7). Judah had sunk even deeper into wickedness than pagan nations. The thought here may be that of Jeremiah 2:10 f, viz., that the heathen were more loyal to their non-gods than was Israel to the God of creation.

[167] KJV if multiplied more than the nations. ASV. We are turbulent than the nations.

2. The specifics of the threat (Ezekiel 5:8-10). Five specific details concerning the forthcoming judgment of God are set forth in Ezekiel 5:8-10.

(1) The future judgment is the work of the sovereign ruler of Judah (Ezekiel 5:8 a). Yahweh is -adonay, sovereign. It is He who has become the adversary of Judah. The formula I am against you seems to be derived from the background of hand to hand combat. The dreadful thought that God has entered into mortal combat against Jerusalem is underscored by the emphasis on the first person pronoun I, even I, am against you. This great sovereign God not only declares in Ezekiel 5:8 His hostility toward Jerusalem, He announces His intention to execute judgments in the midst of that city (Ezekiel 5:8). The last expression is repeated in Ezekiel 5:10.

(2) The future judgment will take place in the sight of the nations (Ezekiel 5:8). Repeatedly Ezekiel emphasizes this thought.[168] Judah had publicly profaned the honor of God, and thus the Holy One of Israel must be publicly vindicated. The death of Judah would be a hideous example to others.

[168] See Ezekiel 20:9; Ezekiel 20:14; Ezekiel 20:22; Ezekiel 20:41; Ezekiel 22:16; Ezekiel 28:25; Ezekiel 38:23; Ezekiel 39:27.

(3) The judgment would be unprecedented. The abominations of Judah were without precedent, so also would be the mani festation of God's judgment (Ezekiel 5:9). Modern students find it easy to criticize the spiritual blindness and obduracy of Israel in refusing to believe the prophetic threats that Jerusalem would be overthrown. This verse should serve to explain in part the bewilderment and incredulity which this message of destruction produced. There was no precedent to prepare for the disaster. Currey observes that

The punishments of God are cumulative. The calamities of the Babylonian were surpassed by the Roman siege (Matthew 24:21), and these again were but a foreshadowing of still more terrible destruction at the last day.[169]

[169] Currey, BC, p. 37.

(4) The judgment would result in horrible barbarisms. In the extremities of the forthcoming siege cannibalism would be practiced in Jerusalem. That children would be devoured during that brutal period had been prophesied already.[170] The gruesome fulfillment is recorded in Lamentations 4:10. But Ezekiel here goes beyond previous threats in that he predicts that sons shall eat their fathers. Human plight can know no greater depths.[171]

[170] Leviticus 26:29; Deuteronomy 28:53; Jeremiah 29:9.

[171] Feinburg, PE, p. 38.

(5) The judgment would involve the scattering of God's people. In Ezekiel 5:10 Ezekiel alludes to those Jews who would flee from the Babylonian invasion as well as those who would be carried off to Babylon or sold into slavery in distant lands.