A Strange Haircut

In the book of Ezekiel God commanded his prophet to give himself an unusual shave and haircut. The Lord said, “And you, son of man, take a sharp sword, take it as a barber’s razor, and pass it over your head and your beard; then take scales to weigh and divide the hair(5:1).” 

This was a strange shave and haircut because a sword was not commonly used as a barber’s razor. In fact, the law given to Moses has precise instructions about the way a beard should be trimmed and the hair cut, and for priests like Ezekiel, there was a second warning to follow the law in this regard. Ezekiel was told to use a sword because it symbolized the coming invasion from the Babylonian army, and the swords they would use to bring judgment on the idolatrous Jews. But the haircut becomes even stranger when we see what God told him to do with the hair. Using scales, Ezekiel was told to carefully divide the hair into three equal parts. 

One third of the hair was to be burned in fire, one third was to be attacked with the sword, and the final third was to be scattered in the wind. These actions symbolized the fact that some of the Israelites would die when Jerusalem was sieged, some would die at the hands of the Babylonians, and some would be taken into captivity and scattered. This was a grim prophecy, but it was the end result of 390 years of national rebellion against God. In this dark prophecy there is still a glimmer of hope at the end. 

Ezekiel was told to hold back a small part of his hair and “bind them in the edge of your garment (v.3).” The edge of the garment referred to the tassels that Jewish men wore at the bottom of their cloaks. Some translations say he tied the hair into the hem of his garment. These few pieces of hair were a picture of the few Jews who would repent of their sin and put their trust in the Lord, and they would eventually return home from captivity. 

Because of this picture in Ezekiel Jews believed that when the Messiah came, there would be healing and protection in the hem of His garment. That is why the woman with the bleeding disorder in Matthew 9 reached out touched the hem of Jesus garment—the tassels at the bottom of His cloak. This act of faith showed that she believed Jesus was God’s Messiah, the promised Deliverer who had healing in the hem of His garment. She stretched out a feeble hand and Jesus did the rest. She was healed immediately, but more importantly, her sins were forgiven. If you are still separated from God under the weight of your sin, reach out your hand to Jesus, and He will do the rest.