Under the type of hair, 1-4, is shown the judgment of Jerusalem for their rebellion, 5-11; by famine, sword, and dispersion, 12-17.
1 "And you, son of man, take a sharp knife, take a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon your head and upon your beard. Then take balances to weigh and divide the hair. 2 You shall burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city when the days of the siege are fulfilled. And you shall take a third part and smite around it with a knife. And a third part you shall scatter in the wind, and I will draw out a sword after them. 3 You shall also take from them a few in number and bind them in your skirts. 4 Then take from them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire and burn them in the fire, from which a fire shall come forth into all the house of Israel.
5 "Thus says the Lord GOD: 'This is Jerusalem. I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are around her. 6 And she has changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are around her, for they have refused my judgments and my statutes. They have not walked in them.' 7 Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD: 'Because you multiplied more than the nations that are around you and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments, neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that are around you,' 8 Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD: 'Behold, I, even I, am against you and will execute judgments in the midst of you in the sight of the nations. 9 And I will do in you that which I have not done, and the like to which I will not do anymore, because of all your abominations. 10 Therefore, the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of you and the sons shall eat their fathers. And I will execute judgments in you and scatter the whole remnant of you into all the winds. 11 Therefore, as I live,' says the Lord GOD, 'surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your abominations, therefore I will also diminish you. My eye shall not spare, neither will I have any pity. 12 A third part of you shall die with the pestilence, and with famine they shall be consumed in the midst of you. And a third part shall fall by the sword around you. And I will scatter a third part into all the winds and draw out a sword after them.
13 'Thus my anger shall be accomplished, and 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 in them. 14 Moreover, I will make you waste and a reproach among the nations that are around you in the sight of all who pass by. 15 So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment, to the nations that are around you when I execute judgments in you in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I, the LORD, have spoken it. 16 When I send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction and which I will send to destroy you, I will increase the famine upon you and will break your staff of bread. 17 Thus I will send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave you. Pestilence and blood shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword upon you. I, the LORD, have spoken it.'"
Matthew Henry Commentary - Ezekiel, Chapter 5[➚]
John Gill's Chapter Summary:
This chapter is of the same argument with the former, and contains a type of Jerusalem's destruction, an explanation of that type, what were the reasons of God's judgments on that city, and the nature, rise, and end of them. The type (Ezekiel 5:1-4); the explanation of that type (Ezekiel 5:5); the reasons of the severe judgments threatened are changing the statutes of the Lord and not walking in them, and defiling the sanctuary with their abominations (Ezekiel 5:6-11); an account of the judgments of God, answerable to each of the parts in the type (Ezekiel 5:12); the ends of these judgments are, with respect to God, the accomplishment of his anger and the satisfaction of his justice, with respect to the Jews, bringing them to an acknowledgment that he had spoken in his zeal, and, with respect to the nations, their instruction and astonishment (Ezekiel 5:13-15); and the chapter is concluded with an assurance that these judgments would be sent (Ezekiel 5:16-17).