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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Ezekiel 21:18 - 21:32
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The Sword of Babylon upon Judah and upon Ammon
v. 18. The word of the Lord came unto me again, saying,
v. 19. Also, thou son of man, appoint thee two ways, by means of a drawing or map showing a road branching off in two directions, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come, as his armies advanced to the conquest,—both twain shall come forth out of one land,—and choose thou a place, a finger-post, or pointer, to guide men aright; choose it at the head of the way to the city, placing it at the parting of the ways, so that no mistake as to directions would be possible.
v. 20. Appoint a way, pointing out the road, that the sword may come to Rabbath of the Ammonites, to destroy the capital with the nation, and to Judah in Jerusalem, the defensed, for the capital practically represented and included the entire nation.
v. 21. For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, literally, "at the mother of the way," undecided, for the moment, which way to take, at the head of the two ways, to use divination, to determine by supernatural means which road he should take first. He made his arrows bright, he consulted with images, he looked in the liver. These are the three ways in which he practiced divination, by shaking arrows together in a vessel and then making a drawing at random, by asking the teraphim, or household gods, whose will was made known in some strange manner, by inspecting the liver of certain sacrificial animals, the appearance or the position of the lobes determining the matter. We have here a graphic bit of description, which must have impressed all hearers with the certainty of the approaching doom.
v. 22. At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, that is, Nebuchadnezzar held up in his right hand the arrow marked "Jerusalem," to indicate that this was their goal, to appoint captains, rather, to place battering rams against' the city, to open the mouth in the slaughter, in murderous shouting, to lift up the voice with shouting, in a loud battle cry, to appoint battering-rams against the gates, the taking of which would mean the taking of the city, to cast a mount, to build trenches, and to build a fort, siege-towers.
v. 23. And it shall be unto them, namely, to the Jews, who were prone to yield to false hopes, as a false divination in their sight, they refused to believe that matters would come to such a pass, to them that have sworn oaths, literally, "oaths of oaths are to them," that is, they relied either upon the solemn promises of the Lord which He had made to their fathers, or they depended upon the oaths of allegiance sworn by them to the Chaldean king, forgetting that these oaths had been violated on their part; but He, either God or Nebuchadnezzar, will call to remembrance the iniquity, the violation of their oath of allegiance, that they may be taken, that their conquest may be accomplished.
v. 24. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Because ye have made your iniquity to be remembered, their chief transgression being their unfaithfulness to the covenant God, in that your transgressions are discovered, laid bare before the eyes of all men, so that in all your doings your sins do appear; because, I say, that ye are come to remembrance, the Lord's attention being directed to them time and again, ye shall be taken with the hand, namely, that of the king of Babylon.
v. 25. And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, Zedekiah, who had desecrated his office as the Lord's anointed by idolatry and perjury, whose day is come, the day of his punishment, when iniquity shall have an end, or, "at the time of the iniquity of the end. "
v. 26. Thus saith the Lord God, Remove the diadem, the high-priestly miter, with which Zedekiah was associated as the representative of a priestly people, and take off the crown, the symbol of kingly power; this shall not be the same, they will not remain as heretofore, Judah having lost its ancient position. Exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high, there will be a complete overthrow of conditions, particularly in the Messianic era.
v. 27. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it, and it shall be no more, the threefold repetition denoting the awful certainty of the event, until He come whose right it is, until the rightful Heir, the Messiah, would make His appearance; and I will give it Him, so that He would perform the functions both of priest and of king in the highest and truest sense of the terms. Until the time of His coming everything was preparatory and imperfect.
v. 28. And thou, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord God concerning the Ammonites and concerning their reproach, who were allied with Israel against the Babylonians, hut continued in their enmity toward Judah throughout, even say thou, The sword, the sword is drawn, ready to descend in punishment; for the slaughter it is furbished, to consume because of the glittering, as it falls with lightning-like flashes;
v. 29. whiles they see vanity unto thee, whiles they divine a lie unto thee, that is, while the false prophets were prophesying deception and falsehood to the Ammonites eager for such support, to bring thee upon the necks of them that are slain, of the wicked, that is, the sword would lay them low with the wicked already slaughtered, whose day is come when their iniquity shall have an end, "at the time of the iniquity of the end," that just preceding the final punishment.
v. 30. Shall I cause it to return into his sheath? namely, without having performed this work of vengeance; or, "Cause it to return to its sheath," the punishment being carried out with great rapidity, so that the very idea of defense is futile. I will judge thee in the place where thou wast created, in the land of thy nativity, so that Ammon would be destroyed in its own country, without being carried into exile.
v. 31. And I will pour out Mine indignation upon thee, as from an overturned vessel; I will blow against thee in the fire of My wrath, so that this fire would consume the children of Ammon, and deliver thee into the hand of brutish men, such as are fierce and cruel in warfare, and skilful to destroy.
v. 32. Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire, the land to he consumed by fire; thy blood shall be in the midst of the land, in their own homes, all weapons of defense being of no avail; thou shalt be no more remembered, be consigned to oblivion as a nation; for I, the Lord, have spoken it. Thus the Lord carries out His sentence of destruction upon the enemies of His people, even if He, at the same time, finds it necessary to punish His children severely.