Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

When we left Ezekiel yesterday, he was lying on his side for over a year and surviving on a small portion of food and water that mimicked a famine.

Today we'll pick up in chapter 5 with God telling Ezekiel to shave off all the hair of his head with a battle sword,

which makes for an awkward razor, then weigh it and divide it into thirds. He's supposed to burn a third,

strike a third with his sword, and scatter a third to the wind. But he's also supposed to hide part of it in his clothes, in his pockets basically. Then throw a third with his sword and scatter a third to the wind. But he's also supposed to hide part of it

in his clothes, in his pockets basically, then throw a part of that into the fire. God tells Ezekiel that

all this hair-cutting business pertains to his people back in Jerusalem. Just a reminder, in this particular

book of prophecy, we aren't yet to the place in the timeline where the destruction of Jerusalem has happened.

It's still a few years off.

We've had one round of deportation and exile, which is how Ezekiel got deported to Babylon, but there are still two more rounds to go.

While he's in Babylon, God calls him to do this sign act with cutting off and scattering the hair.

And God says these three

actions symbolize the three ways he'll respond to their rebellion, sword, pestilence, and famine.

These sound familiar because we've seen these punishments prophesied by other prophets. But what's

important to note is that these exact punishments were promised as the consequences for specific sins way back in the book of Leviticus

before Judah committed these sins. God isn't just making these punishments up on the spot. He's already told them what to expect in advance.

So Ezekiel is supposed to do this sign act as a warning about what's going to happen, but here's a potential problem.

It seems like Ezekiel is in Babylon at this point. So how would the people of Judah see and

perform these signs? Lots of commentators don't even address it, but some think it's possible that

there was some teleportation going on here, like we talked about yesterday, and that the

spirit of God

actually transported Ezekiel to Jerusalem. And if you think I haven't asked him to do that for me,

...