Ezekiel 5:1

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, etc., 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 (note); Jeremiah 48:37 (note); and also a sign of great disgrace; see 2 Samuel 10:4.

5. He is ordered to divide the hair, 2 Samuel 10:2, into three equal parts, to intimate the different degrees and kinds of punishment which should fall upon the people.

6. The balances, 2 Samuel 10:1, 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, 2 Samuel 10:3, was intended to represent those few Jews that should be left in the land under Gedaliah, after the taking of the city.

continued...

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.

5:1 Take - Thus foretel the mourning, reproach, and deformity that are coming, for all this is signified by shaving the head and beard.