Ezekiel 5

Again Ezekiel has to give the message in a dramatic form. First he had to shave his head and beard. What he did with the hairs would represent what would happen to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Many would die within the city of Jerusalem, many would flee but be killed by the sword, and many would be spread around the nations as exiles.

Political commentators often remark on the position of Israel in the middle east, and its impact on history. This is no accident. God deliberately placed Israel where He did. It is on purpose that Jerusalem is central to Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Jerusalem was meant to be a shining example, but instead the people rebelled against God. In fact Israel's behaviour was worse than the nations around her. Now this is not the only place in the Bible where this sort of thing is said, and it is remarkable that the book the Jews adhere to is so condemning of their behaviour. There really is no way the Bible could have been made up by the Jews to serve their own ends, for it is so critical of the Jews themselves.

God Himself would be against Jerusalem because of their vile behaviour. Terrible things would come upon them, and indeed these things did happen during the Babylonian siege. The nations around them would see what God had done to Jerusalem.