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Ezekiel, part 17, This is Jerusalem

Ezekiel 5:5 says,

⁵ Thus says the Lord God, “This is Jerusalem; I have set her at the center of the nations, with lands around her.”

Jerusalem occupied a strategically central position among the nations, near the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe. Therefore, it was well positioned to extend the Abrahamic blessing to the surrounding nations—if, indeed, the covenant people had been willing and able to do so. Jerusalem was pivotal in the divine plan under the Old Covenant, but that covenant itself was destined to fail and become “obsolete” (Hebrews 8:13). Paul explains in Galatians 4:22-30 that the Old Covenant was Hagar, corresponding to the earthly city and that it had to be “cast out” in order to give way for the New Covenant—Sarah, representing the heavenly Jerusalem.

Hence, also, we read that Abraham, the father of the New Covenant, sought a heavenly country and a city not made with hands (Hebrews 11:10, 16). There are, then, two Jerusalems, as its name indicates, for the Hebrew Yerushalayim is a dual that literally means “two Jerusalems.” When Scripture mentions Jerusalem, we must discern which city is being referenced.

Just as the earthly Jerusalem was “at the center of the nations” geographically, so now the heavenly Jerusalem is the pivot point in fulfilling the Abrahamic calling. Those who look to the earthly city to fulfill this calling are, in effect, putting their faith in the Old Covenant and allegorically expecting “Hagar” to bring forth the promises of God.

Jerusalem’s Failure

“This is Jerusalem” explains the preceding signs in regard to the prophetic siege and also the prophet’s divided hair. These portray the fate of the earthly Jerusalem and its inhabitants. God now states why this judgment is coming. The nation was called to display His character to the surrounding peoples, but the Old Covenant and its capital city had failed.

Even so, it appears that it will take three major destructions to complete the casting out of allegorical “Hagar” and her children of the flesh before Jeremiah 19:10, 11 is fulfilled.

Ezekiel 5:6 says,

⁶ “But she has rebelled against My ordinances more wickedly than the nations and against My statutes more than the lands which surround her; for they have rejected My ordinances and have not walked in My statutes.

The surrounding nations were almost entirely idolatrous, but God considered Jerusalem to be more wicked than all the other nations. In fact, Judah and Jerusalem, on account of their religious hypocrisy, were even worse than the House of Israel. Jeremiah 3:11 says, “faithless Israel has proved herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.”

More Wicked Than the Nations

Ezekiel 5:7-9 continues,

⁷ “Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Because you have more turmoil than the nations which surround you and have not walked in My statutes, nor observed My ordinances, nor observed the ordinances of the nations which surround you,’ ⁸ therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I, even I, am against you, and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations. ⁹ And because of all your abominations, I will do among you what I have not done and the like of which I will never do again.”

Ezekiel 5:7–9 explains why Jerusalem’s privileged position “in the midst of the nations” brought such severe accountability. The city entrusted with God’s law had become an example of rebellion rather than righteousness.

God charges the people with failing to walk in His statutes or observe His ordinances. The NASB describes them as having “more turmoil than the nations” surrounding them. In context, this points to disorder expressed in rebellion against God.

The final charge—that they had not even observed the surrounding nations’ ordinances—requires comparison with verse 6, which says their rebellion exceeded that of the nations. God was not commanding Israel to adopt pagan religion. Rather, Jerusalem’s conduct had fallen beneath even the standards observed by her neighbors. Greater revelation had produced greater responsibility, yet her behavior contradicted what she knew.

A similar accusation appears in Jeremiah 2:10–11: other nations remained loyal to their gods, although those gods were false, while Israel exchanged the glory of the true God for what could not profit.

In verse 8, God Himself becomes Jerusalem’s adversary. The declaration, “I, even I, am against you,” overturns the people’s assumption that possessing Jerusalem and the temple guaranteed protection. In fact, it contradicted the idea that tracing their genealogy back to Abraham somehow gave them a free pass by which they would avoid divine judgment. The God whose presence was their greatest privilege would now execute judgment against them.

The judgment would occur “in the sight of the nations.” This directly reverses the purpose of Jerusalem’s central position in verse 5. The nations should have witnessed the wisdom of God’s law through Israel’s obedience (Deuteronomy 4:6); instead, they would witness the consequences of violating it.

Their exceptional privilege of being entrusted with “the oracles of God” (Romans 3:2) also brought exceptional judgment. They had turned those oracles into “dung” by teaching the traditions of men. God announces a calamity of unprecedented severity because of Jerusalem’s abominations. Verse 11 identifies the defilement of His sanctuary as central to the offense, while verse 10 describes the horrific famine conditions that would follow.

The language about what God had never done and would never do again emphasizes the extraordinary character of this judgment. It should be read alongside the similar siege language in the law of tribulation found in Deuteronomy 28:53–57: Ezekiel is announcing the fulfillment of covenant warnings already given through Moses.

Divine judgment on Jerusalem was partial and temporary in the days of Ezekiel and Jeremiah, for the people were allowed to return after just 70 years to rebuild the city. Judgment was greater the second time in 70 A.D., when the people were expelled (as a whole) for about 1,900 years. The third judgment that is now approaching appears to be the final one, where the destruction would be irreparable (Jeremiah 19:11).

Once again, God is exposing the wickedness of the Israeli state. The nations are horrified by the overt genocide taking place in Gaza, the West Bank, and in southern Lebanon. God is exposing their hearts “in the sight of the nations” in order to justify the coming destruction. This final judgment will be unprecedented, and will not need to be repeated, God says in verse 9. That moment will mark a major end point as we transition from the Old Covenant to the New.

Cannibalism as God’s Judgment

Ezekiel 5:10 says,

¹⁰ “Therefore, fathers will eat their sons among you, and sons will eat their fathers; for I will execute judgments on you and scatter all your remnant to every wind.”

The cannibalism fulfills the covenant warnings given through Moses. Leviticus 26:29 warned that Israel would eat the flesh of its sons and daughters. Deuteronomy 28:53–57 described this happening under the desperate conditions of an enemy siege. Ezekiel therefore announces the enforcement of an existing covenant sentence.

The horror lies partly in the reversal of the family’s purpose. Parents ordinarily nourish and protect their children; here, starvation would turn family members into food. Jerusalem’s rejection of God’s order would culminate in the collapse of the relationships that sustain life.

This was more than figurative language. Jeremiah reports in Lamentations 4:10 that compassionate women cooked their own children during Jerusalem’s destruction.

¹⁰ The hands of compassionate women boiled their own children; they became food for them, because of the destruction of the daughter of My people.

That passage confirms the reality of cannibalism in the siege. Even earlier, in 2 Kings 6:24–29, during the Aramean siege of Samaria, a woman tells the king that she and another woman boiled and ate her son. This was an earlier event in the northern kingdom, distinct from Jerusalem’s destruction.

In Josephus’ account in The Jewish War, Book 6, chapter 3, section 4, he records that during the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., a woman named Mary killed, roasted, and ate her infant.

We do not yet know the extent of the final judgment upon Jerusalem in our time. Will some again literally eat their family members? There is more than one way to fulfill the prophecy in the law of tribulation. Micah 3:1-3 tells us,

¹ And I said, “Hear now, O heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, is it not for you to know justice? ² You who hate good and love evil, who tear off the skin from them and their flesh from their bones, ³ who eat the flesh of My people, strip off their skin from them, break their bones and chop them up as for the pot and as meat in a kettle.”

Micah expresses injustice and oppression in cannibalistic terms. To eat, or consume, was also a Hebrew expression that denoted conquest (Numbers 14:9; Deuteronomy 7:16). Hence, Micah was showing how the leaders and rulers had figuratively consumed the common people.

“Scatter all your remnant to every wind” returns to the divided hair in verses 1–4. Here, “remnant” means those left alive after the destruction, but the apostle Paul applies the term also to the remnant of grace which actually carried the Abrahamic calling. These were the true “chosen” ones (Romans 11:7), based on faith rather than genealogy. Although they numbered just 7,000 in the days of Elijah, these chosen ones remained to carry out the promise of God. In this way, God’s purpose remained intact in spite of His judgment upon the nation as a whole.