Bible Commentaries
Ezekiel 5

Verses 1-17

Ezekiel 5:5 Thus saith the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.

Ezekiel 5:5 Comments - The “Promised Land” was strategically located where three continents join, Europe, Asia and Africa. It was to be a land where God’s people were to dwell forever, at the crossroads of all civilizations. God had literally set Israel “in the midst of the nations” (Ezekiel 5:5).

Ezekiel 5:5, “Thus saith the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.”

This means that when other nations traveled the long trade routes, they very often would need to pass through the land where God’s people dwelt. They would see the people of the covenant living in peace and prosperity and would hear the message of God’s covenant which brought this about. In this way, the Gospel could be more quickly spread throughout the inhabited world.

Not only did God use the central location of Israel to testify of God’s blessings. He also used it to demonstrate His judgment for all nations to see (Ezekiel 5:8). God told Ezekiel that Jerusalem would be judged in the sight of all that “pass by” (Ezekiel 5:14).

Ezekiel 5:8, “Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations.”

Ezekiel 5:14, “Moreover I will make thee waste, and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by.”

Ezekiel 5:10 Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds.

Ezekiel 5:10 “Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers” Comments - Note how this was a prophesied by Moses and Jeremiah as a punishment for their sins (Deuteronomy 28:53, Jeremiah 19:9).

Deuteronomy 28:53, “And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee:”

Jeremiah 19:9, “And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them.”

Note that this prophecy actually happened on more than one occasion to the children of Israel. It happened during the time of Elisha the prophet (2 Kings 6:28-29).

2 Kings 6:28-29, “And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow. So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son.”