The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel
Ezekiel 21
Chapter XXI · Vol. III, pp. 1341–1343
1 Ezekiel prophesieth against Jerusalem with a sign of sighing. 8 The sharp and bright sword, 18 against Jerusalem, 25 against the kingdom, 28 and against the Ammonites.
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, aset thy face toward Jerusalem, and bdrop thy word toward cthe holy places, and prophesy against the land of 1Israel,2
A.M. cir. 3412. B.C. cir. 592.
a ch.20.46; 4.7. Ep.6.19. Ac.4.19; 5.29.
b ch.20.46. De.32.2. Mi.2.6,11. Am.7.16. Job 29.22,23.
c Je.7.4. ch.7.20-24; 9.6. 1 Pe.4.17,18.
1 Judea, ch.6.2; 7.2; 20.46.
2 It will be seen that the subject of this prophecy is geographically distinct from the former. Jerusalem is here the chief place threatened.—P.
3 And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the LORD, Behold dI am against thee, and will draw forth emy sword out of his sheath, and willg cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.
4 Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall my hsword go forth out of his sheath iagainst all flesh from the south to the north;
h Ps.45.3.
i ch.20.47; 7.2; 6.11-14.
5 Thatj all flesh may know that I the LORD have drawn forth my sword out of his sheath: itk shall not return any more.
6 Sigh,l therefore, thou son of man, nwith the breaking of thy loins; and with bitterness sigh before otheir eyes.
7 And it shall be, when they say unto thee, Wherefore sighest thou? that thou shalt answer, Forp the tidings, because it cometh: and qevery heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water:3 behold, rit cometh, and shall be brought to pass, saith the Lord GOD.
8 Again, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
9 Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the LORD; Say, sA sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished:
10 It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter: it is furbished that it may glitter: tshould we then make mirth? 4it ucontemneth the rod of my son, as every tree.5
* Or, 'The rod of my son contemneth every tree.' 'The rod of my son' is not the rod which my son uses, or which belongeth to him; but the rod by which he is punished. Israel was God's son, and God's chastisement would visit all classes among the people, rulers (here symbolized by 'trees') as well as commoners.—P.
t ch.13.10. Is.22.12,13; 28.3,4,15,22; 5.14. ch.11.3; 12.22. Je.23.38,39. 2 Ch.36.16.
4 Or, it is the rod of my son, it despiseth every tree or sceptre.
u Ps.89.26. 2 Sa.7.14. ch.20.47; 19.11-14; ver.3,12,25-27.
5 See note * in first column.
11 And vhe hath given it to be furbished, that it may be handled: the sword is sharpened, and it is furbished, to give it into the hand of the slayer.
v Is.10.5,6. Je.25.9,33. ver.19.
12 Cryx and howl, son of man; for it shall be upon my people, it shall be upon all the princes of Israel: yterrors by reason of the sword shall be upon my people:6 smitez therefore upon thy thigh.
13 Because7 it is aa trial, and what if the sword contemn beven the rod? it shall be no more, saith the Lord GOD.8
† This verse is very obscure. The meaning may perhaps be:—'Surely it (the rod of chastisement; i.e. the Babylonian power) is tried; and what, if indeed the rod despise (if Nebuchadnezzar despise the Jewish power, and the resistance offered by it to his arms—what then would happen?)! It shall not be (i.e. the Jewish power thus venturing resistance shall not be—it shall fall and cease to exist), saith the Lord Jehovah.'—P.
7 Or, When the trial hath been, what then? shall they not also belong to the despising rod or sceptre?
a Mal.3.2,3. 1 Co.3.13. Job 9.23. 2 Co.8.2. He.11.36. Je.15.2. ver.12.
b ver.10,25-27; ch.xix. xii. xvii.
8 See note † in first column.
14 Thou, therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite thine hands together,9 and clet the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain: it is the sword of the great men that are slain, which entereth dinto their privy chambers.1
9 Heb. hand to hand, ver.12,17; ch.6.11. Nu.24.10.
c Je.xxxix. xli. lii. 2 Ki.xxv. Le.26.21.
d Am.9.2,3. 1 Ki.20.30; 22.25.
1 Where they had fled to hide themselves, 1 Ki.22.25.—C.
15 I have set the point2 of the sword eagainst all their gates, that their heart may faint, and their ruins be multiplied. Ah, it is made bright, it is wrapped3 up for the slaughter.
2 Or, glittering or fear.
e ch.5.13; 7.2-15; 20.47; 15.7; ver.3,7,10,12,28; ch.22.14.
3 Or, sharpened.
16 gGo4 thee one way or other, either on the right hand, or on the left,5 whithersoever thy face is set.
g ch.14.17. Is.10.5,6. ch.20.47; 16.46; ver.4,20.
4 This is addressed to the sword as commissioned to destroy either north or south.—C.
5 Heb. set thyself, take the left hand.
17 Ih will also smite mine hands together, and iI will cause my fury to rest: I the LORD have said it.
18 The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying,
19 Also, thou son of man, jappoint thee two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come: both twain shall come forth out of one land; and choose thou a place, choose it at the head of the way to the city.
A.M. cir. 3412. B.C. cir. 592.
j ch.4.1,2. Je.1.10; 18.7; 25.9,18,21.
20 Appoint a way, that the sword may come to kRabbath of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem lthe defenced.
21 Forn the king of Babylon stood at the parting6 of the way, at the head of the two ways,7 to use divination: he made his arrows bright,8 he consulted with images,9 he looked in the liver.
n Is.41.22; 48.14. Ho.4.12. Pr.16.10,33. Is.46.10,11.
6 Heb. mother.
7 It would appear that the king of Babylon would march to a certain point where one path would lead to Jerusalem and another to Rabbath-ammon. There can be little doubt that the point indicated was Riblah. There we know he established his head-quarters. The route for an army from Babylon to Palestine could only cross the desert by Palmyra, or at a point farther north. Riblah is on the line of march, and being situated in the midst of a fertile plain on the bank of the Orontes, no better position could be selected for the encampment of a large army. From Riblah three roads branch to the southwards:—one runs along the eastern base of Anti-lebanon, by Damascus and Bashan, direct to Rabbath-ammon; another runs down the valley of Cœle-Syria to Central Palestine and Jerusalem; the third passes the northern end of Lebanon, enters Phœnicia, and follows the coast to Philistia and Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar was encamped at Riblah when the Jewish king and princes were brought to him after the capture of Jerusalem.—P.
8 Or, he mingled his arrows.
9 Heb. teraphim, Ju.17.5; 18.14,20. Ho.3.4. 2 Ki.23.24. Zec.10.2.
22 At his right hand1 was the divination for Jerusalem, to appoint captains,2 to open the mouth in the slaughter, oto lift up the voice with shouting, to appoint battering rams against the gates, to cast a mount, and to build a fort.
23 And it shall be unto them pas a false divination in their sight, to them that have sworn oaths:3 but he4 will call to remembrance the iniquity,5 that they may be taken.
p ver.10; ch.11.3; 12.22. Is.22.12,13. Job 18.3.
3 Or, for the oaths made unto them, ch.17.6,13,15.
4 Nebuchadnezzar, 2 Ki.24.20; xxv. 2 Ch.36.13-20. Je.xxxix.lii.; or God, Je.16.17,18. Am.8.7. Nu.32.23.
5 The breach of the oath of allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar, ch.17.19.—C.
24 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Because ye have qmade your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are discovered, so that in rall your doings your sins do appear; because, I say, that ye are come to remembrance, sye shall be taken with the hand.6
25 And thou, tprofane wicked prince of Israel,7 whose uday is come, when iniquity shall have an end,
t Je.52.2. 2 Ki.24.19,20. 2 Ch.36.13. ch.17.6,13-19. 1 Sa.13.13. 1 Ki.18.18. 2 Ki.3.13,14.
7 Zedekiah, a perjured idolater.—C.
u ver.29; ch.7.6; 17.19,24; 30.3; 35.5. Job 18.20. Ps.37.13.
26 Thus saith the Lord GOD, vRemove the diadem, and take off the crown; this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high.
v Je.39.6,7; 52.10,11,31. 2 Ki.25.6,7,17,28. ch.17.24. Ps.75.7. 1 Sa.2.8. Lu.1.52.
27 I will overturn, overturn, overturn it;8 and it shall be no more, until he9 come whose right it is; and I will give it him.
28 And thou, son of man, prophesy, and say, xThus saith the Lord GOD concerning the Ammonites, and concerning their reproach;1 even say thou, The sword, the sword is drawn; for the slaughter it is furbished, to consume because of the glittering;
x ver.9,10; ch.25.1-7. Zep.2.8-10. Je.49.1-5. Am.1.13-15.
1 Their reproach. Their insults, ch.25.2-6.—C.
29 Whilesy they see vanity unto thee, whiles they divine a lie unto thee, to zbring thee upon the necks of them that are slain, of the wicked, whose day is come, when their iniquity shall have an end.
30 Shall I cause it to return2 into his sheath? I will ajudge thee in the place where thou wast created, in the land of thy nativity.
31 And bI will pour out mine indignation upon thee; cI will blow against thee in the fire of my wrath, and deliver thee into the hand of brutish3 men, and skilful to destroy.
b ch.5.13; 7.8; 14.19.
c Is.30.30,33. ch.20.47; 22.20-22.
3 Or, burning, Je.4.7; 6.22,23; 25.9,21; 50.20,21. Is.14.4,6. ch.7.24. Hab.1.6-10.
32 Thoud shalt be for fuel to the fire; ethy blood shall be in the midst of the land; gthou shalt be no more remembered; for I the LORD have spoken it.4
d Mal.4.1. ch.20.47,48.
e Is.34.3,7.
g ch.25.10. Je.49.2. Zep.2.9. Am.1.15.
4 These words refer to Ammon. It was doomed to final destruction. The Jews were to be taken captive, restored again, and re-established in their kingdom; but the Ammonites were to perish in their own land, and their kingdom was to cease for ever. The prophecy was fulfilled.—P.
Notes
Ver. 10-13. The king and princes shall be no more able to resist or avoid the Chaldean sword than the meanest of the common people. That terrible calamity will so disgrace the royal power of David's family, that none of them shall ever afterwards sway an earthly sceptre; and when the Chaldeans have executed my judgments on others, they themselves shall be destroyed. 19. Mark on a tile, or on the ground, two ways, one leading from Babylon to Jerusalem, and the other leading to Rabbath, the capital of the Ammonites; and pitch on a proper place for Nebuchadnezzar to consult which way he should go first. 23. The Jews, who have perfidiously violated their oath of subjection to Nebuchadnezzar, will contemn and deride his divinations: but he will quickly punish them for their treacheries, by murdering or taking them captives. 25-27. Thou wicked Zedekiah, who hast profanely broken thine oath to Nebuchadnezzar, shalt now be punished, and an end put to thy idolatry, perfidy, and other abominations, in thy destruction. Thou shalt be disgracefully dethroned, and the whole nation and royal family turned upside down; Jehoiakim, now in prison, shall be exalted, and thou shalt be debased. Dreadfully shall the nation be overturned by the Chaldeans, Syro-Grecians, and Romans, &c. Nor shall it ever attain its wonted lustre and dignity, or any of the family of David wear a sceptre, till Christ take his spiritual kingdom in the gospel church, nay, in the millennium. 29. Your diviners falsely promise you safety and happiness, and that you shall tread down the Jews, whose wickedness hath made them fully ripe for punishment: but they will really bring you into the same miserable condition with these wicked Jews.
Ver. 3. The righteous and the wicked may die together. To the righteous, calamity being a purification, 2 Co. 4. 16-18, and death a deliverance; while to the wicked, calamity is a punishment, and death a curse, Ro. 6. 21, 23. C.
Ver. 6. With the breaking of thy loins. So as to make the prophet bow his head and bend his loins, as one overwhelmed with sorrow of heart. Gill interprets it of sighing till the girdle of his loins should burst; but such an effect seems scarcely possible by any muscular exertion, unless the girdle were so frail as to render its disrupture but little emblematic of the intensity of the prophet's distress. C.
Ver. 10. My son the king, of whom Jerusalem was called mother, ch. 19. 2. The rod—the sceptre, ch. 19. 11. As every tree—holdeth the kingly sceptre in no more respect than the branch of a tree by the way-side. C.
Ver. 13. 'For it (the sword) is tried, and what if it despise the sceptre? This (the rod—sceptre) shall not remain, saith Jehovah' (Boothroyd). And though 'the sceptre'—the power of self-government—'shall not depart from Judah'—from the tribe—'till Shiloh come,' yet no king of David's line shall reign in Jerusalem 'till he shall come whose right it is,' ver. 27. C.
Ver. 14. Smite thine hands together. By some it has been interpreted as a sign of encouragement to the Chaldeans; and certainly clapping the hands is a mode of call common in the East. Others have regarded it as a form of oath, intimating the certainty of the judgment. But Scripture is rather to be interpreted by comparison with Scripture, than by any reference to oriental manners or customs; and, viewed in this light, the action prescribed is either a form of confirmation or oath, see ver. 17; ch. 22. 13, or else a token of the prophet's grief at the judgment he was commanded to foretell. See ch. 6. 11. C.
Ver. 19. Appoint thee two ways. Describe or draw a plan or map, as in ch. 4. 1, of two roads, one for the invasion of Judah, the other for the invasion of Ammon, ver. 20. C.
Ver. 21. He made his arrows. 'Mingled his arrows' (Boothroyd). A heathenish mode of divination in war, which consisted in writing the name of each city to be assailed upon an arrow, shaking the whole in a quiver, and deciding upon priority of attack by the order of drawing.—He looked in the liver. The heathen priests pretended to foretell future events by examining the entrails of beasts slain in sacrifice—and particularly by the liver—and by disease, wounds, the form of the lobes, &c., they augured good or evil to the person inquiring. Such are specimens of the manner in which Satan has continued to deceive, and succeeded in persuading men to follow a dark and baseless superstition, while rejecting the sunlight evidence of divine revelation. C.
Ver. 23. As a false divination. The Jews will despise this mode of divination; and because they know the mode to be a mere pretence, will conclude the prediction to be false.—Note. The success of such divinations is no more evidence of their divine origin than would be the success of a prophecy that the sun would rise. That rising is foretold by experience anticipating the uniform course of nature. Even so—they can never err that prophesy evil against evil men: it is the uniform course of Providence. C.
Ver. 26. This shall not be the same. This man shall no longer wear the crown; or this crown shall no longer be a badge of royalty, ver. 27. C.
Ver. 27. Until he come, &c. Until Messiah come, whose right the government is, by creation, as God; by descent, as man, Jn. 1. 3; Ac. 2. 30. C.
Ver. 29. To bring thee—Rabbath, the capital of the Ammonites, ver. 20; ch. 25. 2-6. The slain—the Jews, whom, being slain, the Ammonites would be incited to plunder. C.
Reflections.—There is great need that ministers should use great plainness of speech in dealing with souls; should observe God's hand in his public judgments, in which even the godly share with the wicked; and should deny themselves, and be affected with their messages, in order to edify others. Alas! infinite is their danger who have God against them. Nothing can defend them from his righteous and terrible judgments. And while wicked men abound everywhere, his wrath shall follow without restraint. Nor is it proper to be jovial, but penitent, when his judgments are abroad in the earth, in order to vindicate his perfections. But it is matter of comfort to saints that all judgments are managed by Christ, the Son of God, and their friend and Saviour: and that to them they are but corrective trials, not blows aimed for their destruction.—God can easily force the most proud and crafty plotters on earth to court his direction in their concerns, and lead them, even by events apparently fortuitous, to his proper work. None are more ready to despise God's warnings than perfidious and profane swearers. And in none do these sins look worse than in magistrates and ministers who profess the true religion. But if men despise the warnings and offers of God's grace, they shall be seized by his judgment and none are so high but God can debase them, nor any so low but he can exalt them. Pride goes before destruction; and before honour is humility. At what pains and cost do men destroy one another! But if all overturnings in the world make way for Christ, the rightful Sovereign of nations and churches, and his gracious designs, let us be therewith content.—Nevertheless, let the proud reproachers and oppressors of God's people, who wish to extirpate his and their name from the world, remember their iniquities will but draw similar judgment on themselves, and neither rights nor possessions on earth will avail them anything.