Commentaries:
God's instruction to Ezekiel is that he was to shave his head and beard, and then the hair was to be precisely divided. It was not a matter of, "Well, divide it into three piles." No, He told Ezekiel to use balances, and what He wanted was for each of the piles to weigh exactly the same amount. So we have a very precise division or separation of the hairs of his head, which represent the population of the nations of Israel.
John W. Ritenbaugh
A Place of Safety? (Part 1)
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The hair represents the people of the nations of Israel. Most of the church is in the nations of Israel, primarily the United States and Canada. The church is represented in the "small number"—represented by the hair that he puts into his pocket—taken from the third group, which goes into captivity and is thrown to the "four winds," showing a measure of protection. However, he then takes a part from that group and throws it into the fire. Now hair is the most flammable part of the body, and surely, the fire must indicate death.
This can be connected with the fifth seal of Revelation 6: the martyrdom of the saints. One can also connect it with Revelation 3:10 and the "Philadelphians" who are kept from the hour of trial that comes upon the whole earth. The group that he took out of his pocket and threw into the fire (and are therefore consumed in the fires of tribulation) represents the Laodicean church. It surely seems to indicate that very few, if any, of them will survive through the Tribulation. Five separations are indicated here in Ezekiel 5, but only one very small amount is protected in the fold of his skirt.
John W. Ritenbaugh
A Place of Safety? (Part 1)
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The prophecy in this passage, explained in verse 12, seems to confirm that Israel is tithed, but what about the pinch of hair bound in the edge of the garment? It is an even smaller fraction of the whole—an almost insignificant number. More intriguing is that nothing further is mentioned of them. They are a small remnant of people in Israel—possibly the spiritual remnant?—who are protected in God's hip pocket. If these hairs do represent the spiritual remnant, then it is a very small number indeed.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
The Remnant
Other commentary entries containing this verse:
Jeremiah 31:1-5
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