Ezekiel 5, Shaved Hair and Beard

Ezekiel has been told to set up a model of Jerusalem and then lie on his side next to it, counting off days for each year of Israel's sins.

Ezekiel 5:1-4, Shave your head and beard

"Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber's razor to shave your head and your beard. Then take a set of scales and divide up the hair. When the days of your siege come to an end, burn a third of the hair with fire inside the city. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city. And scatter a third to the wind. For I will pursue them with drawn sword.   

But take a few strands of hair and tuck them away in the  folds of your garment. Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire and burn them up. A fire will spread from there to the whole  house of Israel.   

Ezekiel is to shave his beard and hair. The hair will represent the people of Jerusalem. When the days representing the Jerusalem siege have been completed, one third of the hair is burned up, one third is struck with a sword, one third is scattered to the wind. But a few strands are saved. Thus the destruction of the city and the salvation of a small remnant are portrayed.

In the ANE, shaving one's head was a sign of mourning, see Ezekiel 27:30-31 and Amos 8:10. (It was similar to pulling out one's hair, Isaiah 22:12.) But a priest, like Ezekiel, was prohibited by the Mosaic Covenant from shaving his head or beard (Leviticus 21:5.) This is not the only time that Ezekiel is told to do something that violates his upbringing as a priest.

Ezekiel 5:5-10, More unruly than the pagan nations

"This is what the Sovereign LORD says: This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. Yet in her wickedness she has rebelled against my laws and decrees more than the nations and countries around her. She has rejected my laws and has not followed my decrees. 

"Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: You have been more unruly than the nations around you and have not followed my decrees or kept my laws. You have not even conformed to the standards of the nations around you.   

"Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will inflict punishment on you in the sight of the nations. Because of all your detestable idols, I will do to you what  I have never done before and will never do again.  Therefore in your midst fathers will eat their children, and children will eat their fathers. I will inflict punishment on you and will scatter all your survivors to the winds.   

The judgment against Jerusalem is coming. In the indictment, YHWH says that not even the other nations have stooped to the things Israel has done.

Ezekiel 5:11-14, Thirds

Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your vile images and detestable practices, I myself will withdraw my favor; I will not look on you with pity or spare you. A third of your people will die of the plague or perish by famine inside you; a third will fall by the sword outside your walls; and a third I will scatter to the winds and pursue with drawn sword.

"Then my anger will cease and my wrath against them will  subside, and I will be avenged. And when I have spent my  wrath upon them, they will know that I the LORD have spoken  in my zeal. "I will make you a ruin and a reproach among the nations around you, in the sight of all who pass by.   

The distribution of hair is explained. One-third of Jerusalem will perish by plague or famine, one-third killed by invading soldiers and one-third will be fleeing refugees.

Ezekiel 5:15-17, Reproach and taunt

You will be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and an object of horror to the nations around you when I inflict punishment on you in anger and in wrath and with stinging rebuke. I the LORD have spoken.

When I shoot at you with my deadly and destructive arrows of  famine, I will shoot to destroy you. I will bring more and more famine upon you and cut off your supply of food. I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep  through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I the  LORD have spoken." 

This destruction of Jerusalem will be horrible and visible to the nations around Jerusalem.

These results are promised in the Covenant Law in Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26. (In Leviticus 26. in the last few verses, 44-45, there is still a promise of faithful commitment by YHWH to His people.)