Take thee a barber's razor— The balances were a symbol of the divine justice, as the razor was of the divine anger; the former signifying his equity, the hairs the Jews, and the dividing of the hair the punishment inflicted upon individuals. The author of the Observations has remarked, that among the Arabs there cannot be a greater stamp of infamy, than to cut off any one's beard; and that many among them would prefer death to this kind of punishment. And as they would think it a grievous affliction to lose it, so they carry things so far as to beg for the sake of it; "By your beard, by the life of your beard, do." In like manner, some of their benedictions are, "God preserve your blessed beard; God pour his blessings on your beard;" and when they would express their value for a thing, they say, "It is worth more than his beard." I must confess, continues this writer, that I never had so clear an apprehension as after I had read these accounts, of the intended energy of the thought of Ezekiel in the verse before us, when the inhabitants of Jerusalem are compared to the hair of the prophet's head and beard. The passage seems to signify, that, though the inhabitants of Jerusalem had been as clear to God as the hair of an Indian beard to its owner, yet that they should be taken away and consumed; one part by pestilence and famine, another part by the sword, and the third by the calamities of exile. See Observations, p. 261.
Related Commentaries of Ezekiel 5:1
Ezekiel 5:1
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.