Context for Ezekiel 3:22-5:17
The Jews in exile still hoped for the redemption of Jerusalem, not because they had ended their rebellion against God and repented, but because they believed some clever scheme could still be devised by Jerusalem’s leaders to save the city even as they were in exile hundreds of miles away. God sent Ezekiel to remind them of why the were where they were to begin with and to reinforce the promise of destruction He had already begun to deliver.
It was not enough that God caused some of Judah’s finest, including her king and the priests to the royal house, to be carried off because of Judah’s continued rebellion against Him. Even on the banks of the Kebar River, hundreds of miles from home and a lifetime from the hope of seeing their homeland again, Judah’s finest continued their rebellion, trying to conceive of ways that the current leaders of Jerusalem could defy their earthly rulers and their Heavenly King and avoid the disaster that was sure to befall them.
Into this continued denial of the truth God sent Ezekiel with a message that the Jews in exile along the Kebar River could not ignore. In a public performance to last 430 days, Ezekiel would conduct a mock siege against Jerusalem, illustrating with painful clarity the fate that was about to befall that city and its people because of their continued disbelief. Then, after the siege was ended, Ezekiel was to cut off his hair with a sword and dispose of it, little by little, until only a remnant remained, safely tucked into his robe.
This drama captured the reality about to overwhelm Jerusalem and the Jews and stood as a stark warning against their continued rebellion and disbelief. God’s warning through Ezekiel was clear: He would besiege Jerusalem and destroy it and none but a tiny remnant of the Jews would survive. That moment was the last one for the people of Jerusalem and Judah, God’s chosen people, to repent and return to their God. After that came oblivion.
Ezekiel’s warning should remind us of our own faithful journey toward Heaven. Just like God was trying to remind the Jews, He is trying to remind us that there is only one way to Heaven, through the faith we receive by grace through the Word. Any other way, no matter how appealing it may appear or sure it may seem, can grant us forgiveness and the assurance of eternity. This is a difficult truth, but it is the truth that we must hold dear for the preservation of our faith. Any other way, and we are scattered like Ezekiel’s hair away from Heaven.
