Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Ezekiel 5:1

Clarke's Commentary

CHAPTER V

In this chapter the prophet shows, under the type of hair, the

judgments which God was about to execute on the inhabitants of

Jerusalem by famine, sword, and dispersion, 14.

The type or allegory is then dropped, and God is introduced

declaring in plain terms the vengeance that was coming on the

whole nation which had proved so unworthy of those mercies with

which they had hitherto been distinguished, 5-17.

NOTES ON CHAP. V

Verse Ezekiel 5:1-4. Take thee a sharp knife — Among the Israelites, and indeed among most ancient nations, there were very few edge-tools. The sword was the chief; and this was used as a knife, a razor, c., according to its different length and sharpness. It is likely that only one kind of instrument is here intended a knife or short sword, to be employed as a razor.

Here is a new emblem produced, in order to mark out the coming evils.

1. The prophet represents the Jewish nation.

2. His hair, the people.

3. The razor, the Chaldeans.

4. The cutting the beard and hair, the calamities, sorrows, and disgrace coming upon the people. Cutting off the hair was a sign of mourning; see on Jeremiah 45:5; Jeremiah 48:37; and also a sign of great disgrace; see 2 Samuel 10:4.

5. He is ordered to divide the hair, Ezekiel 5:2, into three equal parts, to intimate the different degrees and kinds of punishment which should fall upon the people.

6. The balances, Ezekiel 5:1, were to represent the Divine justice, and the exactness with which God's judgments should be distributed among the offenders.

7. This hair, divided into three parts, is to be disposed of thus:

1. A third part is to be burnt in the midst of the city, to show that so many should perish by famine and pestilence during the siege.

2. Another third part he was to cut in small portions about the city, (that figure which he had pourtrayed upon the brick,) to signify those who should perish in different sorties, and in defending the walls.

3. And the remaining third part he was to scatter in the wind, to point out those who should be driven into captivity. And,

4. The sword following them was intended to show that their lives should be at the will of their captors, and that many of them should perish by the sword in their dispersions.

5. The few hairs which he was to take in his skirts, Ezekiel 5:3, was intended to represent those few Jews that should be left in the land under Gedaliah, after the taking of the city.

6. The throwing a part of these last into the fire, Ezekiel 5:4, was intended to show the miseries that these suffered in Judea, in Egypt, and finally in their being also carried away into Babylon on the conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar. See these transactions particularly pointed out in the notes on Jeremiah, Jeremiah 40:0, Jeremiah 41:0, Jeremiah 42:0. Some think that this prophecy may refer to the persecution of the Jews by Antiochus Epiphanes.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Jerusalem destroyed (5:1-17)

The last of this group of four acted parables was again concerned with the siege of Jerusalem. It dealt more specifically with the dreadful fate that awaited the citizens.
Ezekiel shaved his hair, weighed it, then divided it into three equal parts. One part he burnt on his model city (the brick), symbolizing the death of one third of the city’s people through famine and disease. The second part he scattered around the model city, then chopped up the hair with a sword, symbolizing the slaughter of many in fighting around the city. The third portion he scattered to the wind, symbolizing those who would be taken captive to Babylon or otherwise scattered among the nations. Many of those who attempted to flee the city would be ruthlessly killed by the enemy (5:1-2; see v. 12).
In a symbolic expression of hope, Ezekiel then picked up a few of the scattered hairs and put them in his clothing, indicating that a remnant would be saved. But even some of these would perish (3-4).
Jerusalem was the centre of God’s chosen nation, but its people had behaved worse than the people of heathen nations round about (5-6). God would therefore punish Jerusalem with a terrible judgment (7-9). Starvation during the siege would make the people so desperate for food that some would kill their children and eat them. They would experience the horrors of famine, disease, slaughter and captivity that Ezekiel had pictured (10-12). God would act as he saw fit. His judgment would be a punishment on Jerusalem and a warning to other nations (13-17).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

SYMBOLIC SIEGE OF JERUSALEM CONTINUED

As Dummelow noted, Ezekiel's part in these pantomimes is variable. Part of the time he represents God, and at other times he stands for Israel. Here he stands for Jerusalem, his head particularly, standing for city; but again, in the burning of the hair in the midst of the city (that is, in the middle of the map of the city on the tile), he enacts the part God would play in the destruction of Jerusalem.

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp sword; as a barber's razor shalt thou take it unto thee, and shall cause it to pass upon thy head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh and divide the hair. A third part shalt thou burn in the fire in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled; and thou shalt take a third part and smite with the sword round about it; and a third part shalt thou scatter to the wind, and I will draw out a sword after them. And shall take thereof a few in number and bind them in thy skirts. And of these again shalt thou take, and cast them into the midst of the fire; therefore shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel."

As regarded the destiny of Jerusalem, the symbols introduced here were extremely distressing. The sword stood for the armed might of Babylon. The shaving of the head stood for humiliation, mourning, disaster, the loss of sanctity, catastrophe. The balances were a symbol of the justice and righteousness of God and the equity of his judgments. Ezekiel's head represented Jerusalem; the hair represented the population of it, the glory, and honor, and ability of the city. These were all to disappear in the destruction.

The various uses of the three-thirds of the hair, only a part of the last third being accorded a special treatment, indicated the various ways in which the population of Jerusalem would be killed. The burning in the midst of the city refers to their death by famine and pestilence; the smiting of a third of it with the sword "round about the city" represents those who would fall to the sword of Babylon; and the scattering of a third of it to the winds represented the scattering of the Israelites among all nations.

Apparently the mandate to smite some of the hair "round about the city" refers to his smiting of it symbolically around the tile that had the map of Jerusalem engraved upon it.

"And thou shalt take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts" Yes indeed, right here is that same glorious doctrine of the righteous remnant so prominent in the works of Isaiah and Jeremiah. "There are some who deny the doctrine of the remnant is in Ezekiel, but that view is untenable in the light of this verse 3."Charles Lee Feinberg in Ezekiel (Moody Press), p. 35. It is clear enough here that the small portion of that final third which was bound in the skirts of God's prophet was an eloquent testimony that not all of Israel would be destroyed.

"And of these again shalt thou take and cast them… into the fire" This shows that not all of the "righteous remnant" would escape the disasters to fall upon the Whole nation. Even from them also there would be those who fell away.

Having in these dramatic pictures foretold the terrible destruction of Jerusalem, Ezekiel in the following paragraph explained the necessity for the coming judgment.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Translate it: take thee a sharp sword, for a barber’s razor thou shalt take it thee. Even if the action were literal, the use of an actual sword would best enforce the symbolic meaning. The “head” represents the chief city, the “hair” the inhabitants - its ornament and glory - the “hair cut from the head” the exiles cast forth from their homes. It adds to the force of the representation that “to shave the head” was a token of mourning Job 1:20, and was forbidden to the priests Leviticus 21:5. Thus, in many ways, this action of Ezekiel “the priest” is significant of calamity and ruin. The sword indicates the avenging power; the shaving of the head the removal of grace and glory; the scales and weights the determination of divine justice. Compare Zechariah 13:8-9.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

By another vision God confirms what he had lately taught concerning the siege of Jerusalem. For he orders the Prophet to shave the hairs off his head and his beard, then to distribute them into three parts, and to weigh them in a balance. He mentions a just balance, that equity may be preserved, and that one portion may not surpass another. There is no doubt that by the hairs he understands the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as by the head he understands the seat itself of their dwelling-place. Then the application will follow; but this I shall pass by today, because I cannot proceed farther. It is sufficient to hold briefly, that men are here designated by hairs, for hair can scarcely be counted, indeed that of the beard is countless; such was the multitude at Jerusalem, for we know that the city was very populous. We know, again, that it took occasion for pride from this; when they saw that they were strong in the multitude of their people, they thought themselves equal, if not superior, to all enemies, and hence their foolish confidence, which destroyed them. God then commanded the Prophet to shave off all the hairs of his head and of his beard. Thus he taught that not even one man should escape the slaughter, because he says, make the sword pass, or pass it, over thy head, then over thy chin, so that nothing may remain. We see, then, how far the passing of the razor is to go — until no hair remains entire on either the head or beard. Whence it follows, that God will take vengeance on the whole nation, so that not one of them shall survive. As to his ordering three parts to be weighed, and a proportion to be kept between them, in this way he signifies what we have often seen in Jeremiah, (Jeremiah 15:2) — Whosoever shall have escaped the sword shall perish by famine, and whosoever shall escape the famine shall perish by some other means. But here God explains at length the manner in which he was about to destroy all the Jews, although they were distributed into various ranks. For their condition might seem different when some had been put to flight, and others had betaken themselves to Egypt. But in this variety God shows that it detracts nothing from his power or intention of destroying them to a man.

Let us come to the words make a razor pass over thy head and over, thy beard; and then take scales מאזנים,maznim, is properly called a balance on account of its two ears. Take, therefore, a balance, or scales for weighing, and divide the hair. What this division means I have already explained, because all the Jews were not consumed by the same punishment,, and therefore those who had escaped one kind of destruction boasted that they were safe. Hence they were enraged against God. But this foolish confidence is taken away, when the Prophet is ordered to divide the hair extracted from his head and beard, Divide them, he says; afterwards he adds, a third part. As to God’s distributing the people into three parts, it is not done without the best reason for it; for a part was consumed by famine and distress before the city was taken. But because God marks all miseries by fire, therefore he orders a third part to be cast into the fire, and consumed there. Now because there were two parts remaining, every one promised himself life; for he who escapes present death thinks himself free from all danger, and hence confidence is increased; for we too often think ourselves safe when we have overcome one kind of death. For this reason, therefore, it is added, after thou hast burnt a third part in the fire, he says, take a third part and strike it with the sword Besides, he orders a third part to be burnt in the midst of the city. Ezekiel was then in Chaldea, and not near the city; but we said that all this took place by a prophetic vision. What is here said answers to the wrath of God, because before the siege of the city, a third part was consumed by pestilence, and famine, and distress, and other evils and slaughters; and all these miseries are here denoted by fire. For after the city had been taken, God orders a third part to be struck with the sword. We know this to have been fulfilled when the king with all his company was seized, as he was flying over the plain of Jericho, (2 Kings 25:0) when meeting with the hostile army; because very many were killed there, the king himself was carried off, his sons murdered in his sight, while his eyes were put out, and he was dragged to Babylon bound in chains. Hence this is the third part, which he commanded the Prophet to strike with the sword, because that slaughter represented the slaughter of the city.

Now it is added, that he should take a third part and cast it to the wind: then follows the threat, I will unsheathe my sword after them Here it is spoken as well of the fugitives who had gone into various countries, as of the poor, who being dispersed after the slaughter of the city, protracted their life but a short time. For we know that some lay hid in the land of Moab, others in that of Ammon, more in Egypt, and that others fled to various hiding-places. This dispersion was as if any one should cast the shorn-off hairs to the wind. But God pronounces that their flight and dispersion would not profit them, because he will draw his sword against them and follow them up to the very last. We see therefore, although at first sight the citizens of Jerusalem differ, as if they were divided into three classes, yet the wrath of God hangs over all, and destroys the whole multitude.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 5

Now the fourth thing that he uses as an illustration.

Take a sharp knife, sharpen it like a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon your head and upon your beard ( Ezekiel 5:1 ).

Shave your head and your beard. He must surely have been a colorful sight there to these people. No doubt they took notice. They would have a hard time not observing.

then take balances to weigh, and divide your hair. And you shall burn with fire a third part in the middle of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and you shall take a third part, and cut it [chop it up] with a knife: and a third part you're to scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them. And thou shalt take thereof a few [a few of these hairs]in number, and bind them in your skirts. Then take those again, and cast them [those that you bound in your skirt] in the midst of the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth unto all the house of Israel. 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. And she hath changed my judgments into wickedness ( Ezekiel 5:1-6 )

They've taken the judgments of God, the law of God, and they've turned it into wickedness. Look at our nation today, how we have taken the laws of God and turned them into wickedness. How that the laws today are supporting wickedness. It's exactly what they had done. God's judgment is coming forth upon them. God's judgment will surely come upon our land just as sure as God's judgment came upon Israel. God's judgment is coming upon our land because of taking the laws and making them support evil, wickedness.

and they have done so more than all of the nations, and my statutes they've changed more than all of the countries that are round about her: for they have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them. Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, you've not walked in my statutes, neither have you kept my judgments, neither have you done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you; Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and I will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of all the nations. And I will do in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do anymore the like, because of all your abominations ( Ezekiel 5:6-9 ).

I'm going to do something to you like I've never done before, but it's because of the abominations.

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 ( Ezekiel 5:10 ),

They'll cannibalize each other before the whole thing is over.

the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds. Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD; Surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all of the detestable things, and with all your abominations, therefore will I diminish thee; neither shall my eyes spare, neither will I have any pity. A third part of thee ( Ezekiel 5:10-12 )

Now here's the hair divided into three parts, a third part is burned.

So a third part of thee will be consumed by the pestilence [the burning pestilence], and the famine within the city ( Ezekiel 5:12 ):

Before Babylon conquers the city, a third part of the people will have already died because of the disease and the famine that exists within Jerusalem.

and then a third part of them will be destroyed by the sword ( Ezekiel 5:12 )

When the Babylonian army comes in, another third part of them will be wiped out with the sword, and then the remaining third part will be scattered around, but God will bring the sword after them. And they will be destroyed. But there will be a small remnant that God will preserve and out of that small remnant, God will start over and He will ultimately bring them back into the land.

Thus my anger be accomplished, I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury upon them. 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 5:13-14 ).

Speaking against Jerusalem.

So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment unto the nations that are round about thee, when I shall execute judgments in thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I the LORD have spoken it ( Ezekiel 5:15 ).

So the judgment of God upon them would be for instruction to these nations as they are astonished at what God has done.

And when I shall send upon them the evil arrows of my famine, which shall be for their destruction, which I will send to destroy you: and will increase the famine upon you, and break your staff of bread: So will I send upon you famine, and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the LORD have spoken it ( Ezekiel 5:16-17 ).

So God speaks of the judgment that is going to come, warning the people, "Hey, don't think that Jerusalem is going to conquer. Don't think that you're going to be delivered soon." God's judgment is not yet complete. He is going to bring utter devastation unto the city of Jerusalem. It's to be destroyed, those that remain there to the present time, a third of them will be killed with the famine, a third will be destroyed by the sword, the third that escape will also be destroyed, for He'll send out a sword against them.

And so then he makes a prophecy as we move on against the mountains of Israel. Now as we get to chapter 34, again, a prophecy to the mountains of Israel, but in chapter 34, it's God beginning His work of restoration. Remember the devastation is going to come, but after the devastation in time to come, God is going to restore. And so we are living in those days now, when God has begun His work of restoration. And as you read the thirty-fourth chapter and read of what God is going to do, "cause the mountains" --he's speaking here of the curses that are going to come upon the mountains because they've built altars upon them. They're going to be barren and so forth, and thus they were for centuries, for millenniums. But then in chapter 34, the prophecies again to the mountains and the restoration, and God is going to put trees on them and there'll be vineyards on them and so forth. And you go to Israel today, you can see the fulfillment of chapter 34 as God has begun His work of restoration in the land.

So the book of Ezekiel is exciting, because it tells, you know, of the judgment, which did come, but it also tells of the future restoration, which is happening today. And so the book of Ezekiel goes from the past history, but it will come right up to current events and then it'll go on into the future and gets ahead of us, even from where we are at this point. And so, you're going to find it an extremely fascinating book as we go through it.

Father, we thank You for Thy Word. Oh, God help us that we might devour Thy Word. That it might become a part of our lives. That we'll be able, then Lord, to speak Thy Word even as You have commanded us. In Jesus' name. Amen.

May the Lord bless and keep you through the week. And may you live after the Spirit, walk after the Spirit, follow after the Spirit, be filled with the Spirit. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Therefore, let a man examine himself, for if we will judge ourselves, then we will not be judged of God. For I speak to you in the name of the Lord, if you are living and walking after the flesh and indulging in the areas and the things of the flesh, God will bring you into judgment. It will destroy you. You need to walk after the Spirit and may God guide and help you. In Jesus' name. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The prophet was to shave the hair of his head and beard with a sword symbolizing the defilement and humiliation that would come on Jerusalem because of her sin. Shaving the head and beard was forbidden for Israelites in their law (Deuteronomy 14:1). It was a pagan practice that expressed great grief and humiliation (cf. Ezekiel 9:3; Ezekiel 27:31; 2 Samuel 10:4-5; Isaiah 15:2; Isaiah 22:12; Jeremiah 16:6; Jeremiah 41:5-6; Jeremiah 48:37; Amos 8:10). If an Israelite priest shaved his head, he was defiled and no longer holy to the Lord (Leviticus 21:5-6). Thus Ezekiel’s action pictured the unclean condition of Israel before the Lord as well as its removal in judgment by Babylon’s king (cf. Isaiah 7:20).

Then Ezekiel was to divide his cut hair using a scale to measure it in three equal piles. Weighing symbolized discriminating evaluation and impending judgment (cf. Proverbs 21:2; Jeremiah 15:2; Daniel 5:27). When the days of the siege were over, after 430 days (Ezekiel 4:5-6), he was to burn one-third of the hair in the center of the model of Jerusalem that he had built with the brick (Ezekiel 4:1). He should chop up another third of the hair with his sword outside the model city. The remaining third he was to throw up into the air so the wind would blow it away. This represented the fate of the Jews in Jerusalem during the siege. One third would die in the burning and destruction of the city (cf. 2 Kings 25:9), another third would die at the hand of the Babylonian soldiers outside the city (cf. 2 Kings 25:18-21; 2 Chronicles 36:17), and one third would go into captivity (cf. 2 Kings 25:11; 2 Kings 25:21) driven by soldiers that Yahweh would send after them.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The hair 5:1-4

Ezekiel was also to do something else during the time he was dramatizing the siege of Jerusalem with his model (ch. 4).

"After Ezekiel represented the fact of the siege (first sign [Ezekiel 4:1-3]), the length of the siege (second sign [Ezekiel 4:4-8]), and its severity (third sign [Ezekiel 4:9-17]), he demonstrated the results of the siege (fourth sign [Ezekiel 5:1-4])." [Note: Dyer, "Ezekiel," p. 1236.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife,.... Or, "sword" m. The word signifies any sharp instrument, by which anything is cut off, or cut asunder; what is here meant is explained by the following:

take thee a barber's razor. The Septuagint and Arabic versions read this in conjunction with the former, thus, "take thee a knife", or "sword, sharper than a barber's razor"; and so the Syriac version, "take thee a sword sharp as a barber's razor"; this sharp knife, sword, or razor, signifies, as Jarchi interprets it, Nebuchadnezzar; and very rightly; so the king of Assyria is called in Isaiah 7:20:

and cause [it] to pass upon thine head, and upon thy beard; the "head" was a symbol of the city of Jerusalem, the metropolis of Judea; the "beard", of the cities, towns, and villages about it; and the "hair" of both, of the common people; compared to hair for their numbers, for their levity and unsteadiness, and for their being the beauty and ornament of the places where they lived; and the shaving of them denotes their disgrace and destruction, and mourning on account thereof:

then take thee balances to weigh and divide the [hair]. The Syriac version adds, "into three parts"; signifying, that several distinct punishments would be inflicted on them, and these according to the righteous judgment of God; balances being a symbol of justice.

m חרב "gladium", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Polanus, Starckius.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair.   2 Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them.   3 Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts.   4 Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.

      We have here the sign by which the utter destruction of Jerusalem is set forth; and here, as before, the prophet is himself the sign, that the people might see how much he affected himself with, and interested himself in, the case of Jerusalem, and how it lay to his heart, even when he foretold the desolations of it. He was so much concerned about it as to take what was done to it as done to himself, so far was he from desiring the woeful day.

      I. He must shave off the hair of his head and beard (Ezekiel 5:1; Ezekiel 5:1), which signified God's utter rejecting and abandoning that people, as a useless worthless generation, such as could well be spared, nay, such as it would be his honour to part with; his judgments, and all the instruments he made use of in cutting them off, were this sharp knife and this razor, that were proper to be made use of, and would do execution. Jerusalem had been the head, but, having degenerated, had become as the hair, which, when it grows thick and long, is but a burden which a man wishes to get clear of, as God of the sinners in Zion. Ah! I will ease me of my adversaries,Isaiah 1:24. Ezekiel must not cut off that hair only which was superfluous, but cut it all off, denoting the full end that God would make of Jerusalem. The hair that would not be trimmed and kept neat and clean by the admonitions of the prophets must be all shaved off by utter destruction. Those will be ruined that will not be reformed.

      II. He must weigh the hair and divide it into three parts. This intimates the very exact directing of God's judgments according to equity (by him men and their actions are weighed in the unerring balance of truth and righteousness) and the proportion which divine justice observes in punishing some by one judgment and others by another; one way or other, they shall all be met with. Some make the shaving of the hair to denote the loss of their liberty and of their honour: it was looked upon as a mark of ignominy, as in the disgrace Hanun put on David's ambassadors. It denotes also the loss of their joy, for they shaved their heads upon occasion of great mourning; I may add the loss of their Nazariteship, for the shaving of the head was a period to that vow (Numbers 6:18), and Jerusalem was now no longer looked upon as a holy city.

      III. He must dispose of the hair so that it might all be destroyed or dispersed, Ezekiel 5:2; Ezekiel 5:2. 1. One third part must be burnt in the midst of the city, denoting the multitudes that should perish by famine and pestilence, and perhaps many in the conflagration of the city, when the days of the siege were fulfilled. Or the laying of that glorious city in ashes might well be looked upon as a third part of the destruction threatened. 2. Another third part was to be cut in pieces with a knife, representing the many who, during the siege, were slain by the sword, in their sallies out upon the besiegers, and especially when the city was taken by storm, the Chaldeans being then most furious and the Jews most feeble. 3. Another third part was to be scattered in the wind, denoting the carrying away of some into the land of the conqueror and the flight of others into the neighbouring countries for shelter; so that they were hurried, some one way and some another, like loose hairs in the wind. But, lest they should think that this dispersion would be their escape, God adds, I will draw out a sword after them, so that wherever they go evil shall pursue them. Note, God has variety of judgments wherewith to accomplish the destruction of a sinful people and to make an end when he begins.

      IV. He must preserve a small quantity of the third sort that were to be scattered in the wind, and bind them in his skirts, as one would bind that which he is very mindful and careful of, Ezekiel 5:3; Ezekiel 5:3. This signified perhaps that little handful of people which were left under the government of Gedaliah, who, it was hoped, would keep possession of the land when the body of the people was carried into captivity. Thus God would have done well for them if they would have done well for themselves. But these few that were reserved must be taken and cast into the fire,Ezekiel 5:4; Ezekiel 5:4. When Gedaliah and his friends were slain the people that put themselves under his protection were scattered, some gone into Egypt, others carried off by the Chaldeans, and in short the land totally cleared of them; then this was fulfilled, for out of those combustions a fire came forth into all the house of Israel, who, as fuel upon the fire, kindled and consumed one another. Note, It is ill with a people when those are taken away in wrath that seemed to be marked for monuments of mercy; for then there is no remnant or escaping, none shut up or left.