Ezekiel 5:1 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Ezekiel 5:1
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.
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine singular construct
man
אָדָ֜ם'a.Dam
H120
ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species · noun, common masculine singular absolute
take
קַחkach-
H3947
to take (in the widest variety of applications) · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
sharp
חַדָּ֗הcha.Dah
H2299
sharp · adjective, feminine singular absolute
knife
חֶ֣רֶבChe.rev
H2719
drought · noun, common feminine singular absolute
take
תִּקָּחֶ֣נָּהti.ka.Che.nah
H3947
to take (in the widest variety of applications) · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
barber’s
הַגַּלָּבִים֙ha.ga.la.Vim
H1532
a barber · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
razor
תַּ֤עַרTa.'ar
H8593
a knife or razor (as making bare) · noun, common both genders singular construct
pass
וְהַעֲבַרְתָּ֥ve.ha.'a.var.Ta
H5674
to cross over · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
head
רֹאשְׁךָ֖ro.she.Kha
H7218
the head (as most easily shaken) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
beard
זְקָנֶ֑ךָze.ka.Ne.cha
H2206
the beard (as indicating age) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
take
וְלָקַחְתָּ֥ve.la.kach.Ta
H3947
to take (in the widest variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
balances
מֹאזְנֵ֥יmoz.Nei
H3976
(only in the dual) a pair of scales · noun, common masculine dual construct
weigh
מִשְׁקָ֖לmish.Kal
H4948
weight (numerically estimated) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
divide
וְחִלַּקְתָּֽםve.chi.lak.Tam
H2505
to be smooth (figuratively) · conjunction + verb, piel sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Leviticus 21:5 They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.
Isaiah 7:20 In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, namely, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the…
Ezekiel 44:20 Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only poll their heads.
Daniel 5:27 TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 5:1-4
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 (Eze 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 judg…
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 Jer 45:5 (note); Jer 48:37 (n…
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 c…
The Church Fathers
(Chapter 5, verses 1 onwards) And you, son of man, take for yourself a sharp sword, like a barber's razor, and pass it over your head and your beard; then take scales for weighing and divide them. One third you shall burn in the midst of the city when the days of the siege are completed, one third you shall strike with the sword all around it, and one third you shall scatter to the wind; and I will unsheathe a sword after them. And you shall take from there a small number, and bind them at the top of the cloak, and take them out again and throw them into the midst of the fire, and burn them. From there a fire will come out into all the house of Israel. For three parts of hair and wool, one of which is burned in the midst of the city, another is cut with a sword around it, the third is scattered to and fro by the wind, of which a small part is taken and bound at the edge of the cloak, and again a little of the third part is thrown into the fire, from which a flame comes out into all the house of Israel. Seventy-four parts have been interpreted. And when they had said: Burn the fourth part with fire in the midst of the city, and cut the fourth part with a sword all around it, and scatter the fourth part to the wind, for there remained another fourth part to them, they added from their own: And take the fourth part and burn it in the midst of the city: as if it is not the same as the first, and something else was said in the first, something different in this one that was added. Finally, even in the following, the Lord Himself explained the riddle of the divided hairs into three parts through the Prophet, saying: The third part of you will die by pestilence, and be consumed by famine in your midst, signifying famine and pestilence as fire; and the third part of you will fall by the sword all around you, describing external killings and wars. But, he says, I will scatter your third part to every wind, showing those who are to be led into captivity. After them, he says he will lay bare or pour out his sword, so that captivity is not the last of their evils; and he will take from those dispersed and captive, and bind to the top of his cloak those who are to return from captivity to Jerusalem, and he will also take some part from them, and consume it with fire and flame, signifying the Macedonians under whom the inhabitants of Judaea, and especially Jerusalem,…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Barber — Found only once, in Ezek. 5:1, where reference is made to the Jewish custom of shaving the head as a sign of mourning. The Nazarites were untouched by the razor from their birth (Num. 6:5). Comp.…
Handicraft — (Acts 18:3; 19:25; Revelation 18:22) A trade was taught to ail the Jewish boys as a necessary part of their education. Even the greatest rabbis maintained themselves by trades (Delitzsch). Says Rabbi…
Knife — (1.) Heb. hereb, “the waster,” a sharp instrument for circumcision (Josh. 5:2, 3, lit. “knives of flint;” comp. Ex. 4:25); a razor (Ezek. 5:1); a graving tool (Ex. 20:25); an axe (Ezek. 26:9). (2.)…
Razor — The Nazarites were forbidden to make use of the razor (Num. 6:5; Judg. 13:5). At their consecration the Levites were shaved all over with a razor (Num. 8:7; comp. Ps. 52:2; Ezek. 5:1).
Art · .Of the barber — .Of the barber
Balances · Used for weighing — Used for weighing
Barber · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Beard · David — David
Beard, The · Shaving, illustrative of severe judgments — Shaving, illustrative of severe judgments
Ezekiel · .Shaves himself — .Shaves himself
Hair · Symboli — Symboli
Prophets · Frequently in their actions, &c were made signs to the people — Frequently in their actions, &c were made signs to the people
Ezekiel 5:1-4
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
1. Et tu, fili hominis, sume tibi gladium acutum, novaculum tonsorum, sume eum tibi, et transire fac, [105] super caput tuum, et super barbam tuam: et sume tibi stateram ponderis, [106] et divide illa. [107]
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.
2. Tertiam partem…
The prophet was required to perform two further sign acts. First, he used a sharp sword . . . as a razor to shave his head and beard, tangibly demonstrating the destruction described in ch 4 (cp. Isa 7:20). Shaving off a man’s hair implied the loss of his manhood and was a gesture of dishonor (see 2 Sam 10:4-5). Second, Ezekiel weighed the hair he had shaved off into three equal parts to show that God’s measured judgment would take three different forms.
Rashi on Ezekiel 5:1
a sharp sword symbolizing the sword of Nebuchadnezzar.
a cobbler’s razor Heb. הַגַלָבִים, the cobblers. It is Greek, and some say that it is parcheminer in Old French, cobbler, saddler. However, Menachem (p. 56) defines תַעַר הַגַלָבִים as, the barber’s razor. No similar word exists in Scripture.
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
