---
title: "Clarke"
description: "Verse Ezekiel 5:1-4. Take thee a sharp knife — Among the Israelites, and indeed among most ancient nations, there were very few edge-tools. The sword was"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/ezekiel/5"
---

Verse [Ezekiel 5:1-4](../../../kjv/ezekiel/5/1-4). ***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*, c., 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](../../../kjv/jeremiah/45/5); [Jeremiah 48:37](../../../kjv/jeremiah/48/37); and also a sign of great *disgrace*; see [2 Samuel 10:4](../../../kjv/2-samuel/10/4).
5. He is ordered to divide the hair, [Ezekiel 5:2](../../../kjv/ezekiel/5/2), into *three equal* parts, to intimate the *different degrees* and *kinds* *of punishment* which should fall upon the people.
6. The *balances*, [Ezekiel 5:1](../../../kjv/ezekiel/5/1), 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, [Ezekiel 5:3](../../../kjv/ezekiel/5/3), was intended to represent those few Jews that should be left in the land under *Gedaliah*, after the taking of the city.
6. The throwing a part of these last into the fire, [Ezekiel 5:4](../../../kjv/ezekiel/5/4), was intended to show the miseries that these suffered in *Judea*, in *Egypt*, and finally in their being also carried away into *Babylon* on the conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar. See these transactions particularly pointed out in the notes on Jeremiah, [Jeremiah 40](../../../kjv/jeremiah/40), [Jeremiah 41](../../../kjv/jeremiah/41), [Jeremiah 42](../../../kjv/jeremiah/42). Some think that this prophecy may refer to the persecution of the Jews by *Antiochus Epiphanes*.

Verse [Ezekiel 5:2](../../../kjv/ezekiel/5/2). [Ezekiel 5:1](../../../kjv/ezekiel/5/1).

Verse [Ezekiel 5:3](../../../kjv/ezekiel/5/3). [Ezekiel 5:1](../../../kjv/ezekiel/5/1).

Verse [Ezekiel 5:4](../../../kjv/ezekiel/5/4). [Ezekiel 5:1](../../../kjv/ezekiel/5/1).

Verse [Ezekiel 5:5](../../../kjv/ezekiel/5/5). ***This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the**********nations*** — I have made this city the most eminent and the most illustrious in the world. Some think that these words refer to its *geographical situation*, as being equally in *the centre of the* *habitable world*. But any point on a globe is its centre, no matter where laid down; and it would not be difficult to show that even this *literal sense* is tolerably correct. But the point which is the *centre* of the greatest portion of land that can be exhibited on one hemisphere is the capital of the *British empire*. See my *Sermon on the universal spread of the Gospel*.

Verse [Ezekiel 5:6](../../../kjv/ezekiel/5/6). ***She hath changed my judgments*** — God shows the reason why he deals with Jerusalem in greater severity than with the surrounding nations; because she was more wicked than they. Bad and idolatrous as they were, they had a greater degree of *morality* among them than the Jews had. Having fallen from the true God, they became *more abominable* than others in proportion to the height, eminence, and glory from which they had fallen. This is the common case of *backsliders*; they frequently, in their fall, become tenfold more the children of wrath than they were before.

Verse [Ezekiel 5:9](../../../kjv/ezekiel/5/9). ***I will do in thee that which I have not done*** — The destruction of Jerusalem by *Nebuchadnezzar* was one of the greatest calamities that ever fell on any nation or place *before*; and that by the Romans under Titus exceeded all that has taken place *since*. These two sackages of that city have no parallel in the history of mankind.

Verse [Ezekiel 5:10](../../../kjv/ezekiel/5/10). ***The fathers shall eat the sons*** — Though we have not this fact so particularly stated in *history*, yet we cannot doubt of it, considering the extremities to which they were reduced during the siege. The same is referred to by Jeremiah, [Lamentations 4:10](../../../kjv/lamentations/4/10). Even the *women*, who were remarkable for *kindness* and *humanity,* *boiled* their own children, and ate them during the siege.
***Will I scatter into all the winds.*** — Disperse you, by captivity, among all the nations of the earth.

Verse [Ezekiel 5:12](../../../kjv/ezekiel/5/12). ***A third part of thee*** — See Clarke's notes on [Ezekiel 5:1-4](../../../kjv/ezekiel/5/1-4).

Verse [Ezekiel 5:13](../../../kjv/ezekiel/5/13). ***I will cause my fury to rest*** — My displeasure, and the evidences of it, shall not be *transient*; they shall be *permanent* upon you, and among you. And is not this dreadfully true to the present day?

Verse [Ezekiel 5:16](../../../kjv/ezekiel/5/16). ***The evil arrows of famine*** — Famine and pestilence are represented as *poisoned arrows*, inflicting death wherever they *wound*. The ancients represented them in the same way.

Verse [Ezekiel 5:17](../../../kjv/ezekiel/5/17). ***So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and**********they shall bereave thee*** — Wild beasts always multiply in depopulated countries. In England, *wolves* abounded when the country was thinly peopled, it is now full of inhabitants, and there is not one wolf in the land. Nebuchadnezzar and his Chaldeans may be called here *evil beasts*. He is often compared to a *lion*, [Jeremiah 4:7](../../../kjv/jeremiah/4/7); [Daniel 7:14](../../../kjv/daniel/7/14); on account of the ravages made by him and his Chaldean armies.

```json
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/ezekiel/5#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/images/missing.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/images/missing.jpg","width":640,"height":370,"caption":"Clarke's Commentary -  Ezekiel 5"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/ezekiel/5#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/ezekiel/5","name":"Clarke's Commentary -  Ezekiel 5","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/ezekiel/5#primaryimage"},"datePublished":null,"dateModified":null,"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Verse Ezekiel 5:1-4. Take thee a sharp knife — Among the Israelites, and indeed among most ancient nations, there were very few edge-tools. The sword was","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/ezekiel/5#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/ezekiel/5"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/ezekiel/5#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries","name":"Commentaries"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary","name":"Clarke's Commentary"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/ezekiel","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/ezekiel","name":"Ezekiel"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/ezekiel/5","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/ezekiel/5","name":"5"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]}
```