Is forgiveness possible - for a nation, for a city?
Can there be no mercy for Jerusalem under Babylon’s sword?
Ezekiel’s message to the exiled Judeans in Babylon, homesick and worried about their city’s fate, is as sharp as a sword - it is indeed too late.
Like Jeremiah before him, but from a distance, the prophet will witness the final years of the House of David in Jerusalem.
The countdown has begun. The divine wrath is coming - there’s nothing left to do but lament.
And to illustrate this brutal message to his fellow-exiles, either as a warning and/or as a sign of mourning, Ezekiel performs a forbidden public ritual:
He shaves his entire head and beard.
It’s forbidden because he will be using a razor -a biblical prohibition, and it’s extraordinary because in both Judean and Babylonian society men never shaved their heads or beards.
Ezekiel’s action seems quite unique, although men’s Shaving rituals are known to exist in different parts of the world. According to the Greek historian Herodotus, for instance, Egyptian priests in the 6th century BCE would shave their entire bodies every other day as part of a ritual cleansing. In other parts of the world, similar shaving rites were often associated with healing - such as the treatment of lepers, or mourning loved ones. Of unclear origin is the Indian Tonsure - practiced by Hindu males to complete the last rites of an immediate family member. Curiously, there does not seem to be indication of such ceremonies in Babylonian or Judean culture.
But it isn’t just the act of shaving that stands out here -- but what he will do with the hair. What’s the meaning and the purpose of this strange display?
“And you, O mortal, take a sharp sword; use it as a barber’s razor and pass it over your head and beard. Then take scales and divide the hair. When the days of siege are completed, destroy a third part in fire in the city, take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city, and scatter a third to the wind and unsheathe a sword after them. Take also a few hairs from there and tie them up in your skirts. And take some more of them and cast them into the fire, and burn them in the fire. From this a fire shall go out upon the whole House of Israel.”
This hair-ritual, carefully executed to simulate the destruction of Jerusalem and the awful fates of its people is intended for the prophet -- but most likely also to be viewed and witnessed by the other refugees. Is there mystical meaning to the gesture? Why weigh the hair and then divide it into three parts?
Unlike most of his other prophetic acts this one has a clear explanation in the verses that follow:
“One-third of you shall die of pestilence or perish in your midst by famine, one-third shall fall by the sword around you, and I will scatter one-third in every direction and will unsheathe the sword after them.”
Imagine the horror of his listeners as they visualize the fates of their loved one, represented, almost magic-like, by the bald prophet’s hair, holding the sword turned razor, perhaps bleeding, in his hand. The chapter ends with the final words of his chilling transmission: “ I will bring the sword upon you. I, YHWH, have spoken.”
Frozen by fear, horrified by these visions, the refugees of Judah disperse. Ezekiel remains there, beardless, hairless, holding a sword. The smell of burnt hair lingers. The countdown has begun.
The sword is once again upon us. May the bloodshed stop, the peace prevail, and the healing happen for all.
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Amen!