Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadEzekiel, Jonah, and Pastoral Epistles by Patrick Fairbairn - Ezekiel 21:8 - 21:17
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Eze_21:8. And the word of the Lord came to me, sayinng,
Eze_21:9. Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith Jehovah, Say a sword, a sword sharpened, and also furbished!
Eze_21:10. Sharpened in order that it may kill, kill; furbished in order that it may glitter as lightning. (Literally, that the lightning-flash may belong to it. It was to look terrible, as well as to execute fearful desolations. The language evidently has respect to Deu_32:41, where the Lord also speaks of “whetting his glittering sword, and his hand taking hold of judgment.”) Perchance the sceptre of my son rejoiceth; it (the sword) despiseth every tree. (We have here only a choice of difficulties. The sentence is so enigmatical, that the greater part of commentators have supposed the text to be corrupted, and suggest alterations of various kinds. The LXX. express an entirely different sense from what can be made out by any construction from the present text. But the arbitrary change made at Eze_21:3 clearly shows that the Greek translator was not scrupulous in making a plain sense when he thought the original did not afford it. He renders here, óöá ́ æå , å ̓ îïõäå ́ íåé á ̓ ðï ́ èïí ðá ͂ í îõ ́ ëïí , slay, set at nought, despise every tree. Jerome notices this strange rendering of the LXX., and himself translates with more regard to the Hebrew, but still with some licence, qui moves sceptrum filii mei, succidisti omne lignum,—thou that shakest the sceptre of my son, hast felled all wood. The modern versions are endlessly varied. Of those which take the text as it stands, perhaps the nearest to our authorized version is De Wette’s,—“or shall we rejoice ourselves? the rod of my son despises all wood;” a rendering, however, which is grammatically inadmissible, and, besides, makes no very intelligible sense. Hävernick translates, “or shall, on the other hand, my son’s sceptre bear itself proudly, else despising every wood?” not only coupling the masculine ùֵׁáֵè with the feminine îֹàֶñֶú but giving also a quite arbitrary meaning to ðָùִׂéùׂ . The meaning I have given has, at least, the merit of doing no violence to the existing text, or to the received import of the words: “perchance (a quite common meaning of àåֹ ) the sceptre (rod) of my son rejoiceth,” or is glad—spoken, as I take it, ironically, as if the king of Judah, proudly presuming on being God’s son (2Sa_7:12; 2Sa_7:14), could afford to exult at the display of God’s sword, because either expecting it to be drawn on behalf of his throne, or so, at least, as not to overthrow it. But the vain confidence is dispelled as soon as conceived. It (the sword, çֶøֶá , the only feminine nominative in the preceding context to agree with îִàֶñֶú ) despises every tree, or all wood. It has no respect to the rod or sceptre of Judah, no more than if it were a piece of ordinary wood. And accordingly he goes on to say, that it is to be used against both the princes and the people of Judah.)
Eze_21:11. And it is given to be furbished, that it may be taken into the hand; it is a sword sharpened and furbished, that it may be put into the hand of the destroyer.
Eze_21:12. Cry and howl, son of man; for it shall be upon my people, upon all the princes of Israel, who are given up (The word îְâåּøֵé , as is now commonly admitted, is the participle from îָâַø , to fall to, or throw. The princes of Israel were thrown to the sword, or given up to it.) to the sword with my people; therefore smite upon thy thigh.
Eze_21:13. For it makes trial (or impersonally, trial is made), and what if it (the sword) despise also the sceptre? It (the sceptre) shall not be (i.e. shall cease to exist), saith the Lord Jehovah. (Here, again, the expression is very abrupt and difficult. Numberless modes of solution have been proposed, which it is needless to recount. The rendering adopted above is at once the simplest and the most easily understood. According to it, the prophet represents the sword of the Lord as the instrument by which all were to be subjected to a stern ordeal; such an ordeal as would not respect the very sceptre of the king, and hence would bring it to nothing. This, no more than other things, could stand the severe process of judgment, but should be made to disappear.)
Eze_21:14. And thou, son of man, prophesy, and let hand strike against hand, and the sword shall be doubled threefold; (I have simply given the literal rendering of the passage; but it is hard to say what is meant by the doubling of the sword threefold. De Wette gives, “Let it be repeated for the third time;” and Häv., “Let it be multiplied into threefold.” But ëּôַì occurs elsewhere only in the sense of doubling (Exo_26:9; Exo_28:16), etc. Perhaps it maybe taken as a pregnant construction,—The sword shall be doubled, shall even go into threefold, ùְּׁìִéùִׁúָä —the ä indicating motion towards, the tendency in this direction: into twofold, as far even as threefold, according to the works of judgment to be executed.) it is the sword of the pierced-through, it is the sword of one pierced through, even of the mighty (the singular, pointing more especially to the king), that penetrates to them. (So the older Hebrew interpreters substantially understood the expression, äַúֹãֶøֶä ìָäֶí . They took the verb as a denominative from çֶãֶø , penetralia, or inner chamber; hence gave it the meaning of penetrating into, or reaching within. The explanation has recently been somewhat modified from the Aramaic, where the noun has the import of a shut in, an enclosed place; and so Ewald, and after him Häv., Hitzig, render the expression in the text, “that encloses them.” The other seems to me to be more natural, both as suiting the fierce action of the sword, and also because of the preposition ì , which seems to denote motion of some sort towards, up to.)
Eze_21:15. In order that the heart may faint, and that ruins (literally, stumbling-blocks) may be multi plied, against all their gates do I appoint the glance (or whirl) of the sword; (The expression àִáְçַúÎçָøֶá is the glance or whirl of the sword. It occurs nowhere else. But àִáְçַú is understood to be = àִáְëַú , from àָáַêְ , to turn, or involve itself. It may indicate either the whirling glance, or the whirling motion of the sword, as going to be presented at all the gates. The one shade of meaning is preferred by some, and the other by others.) ah, it is made for flashing, prepared for the slaughter. (The only ascertained meaning of òָèַä is to veil or cover; hence ìְèָáַä îְòֻîָּä should be covered for the slaughter. Häv. gives from the Arabic, “drawn for slaughter.” The LXX. have åõ ̓͂ ãå ́ ãïíåí . It seems to be used in some secondary sense, denoting fitness or preparation for the terrible work.)
Eze_21:15. Concentrate thyself (addressing the sword) on the right, set thyself on the left, whither soever thy face is directed.
Eze_21:17. I also will strike my hands together, and I will cause my fury to rest; I Jehovah have said it.
While these verses abound with critical difficulties, there is very little that calls for special remark in respect to the train of thought. The passage, as a whole, is descriptive of the fearful devastation that was to be made by the Lord’s sword of vengeance, and of the painful and agitated feelings thence produced in the bosom of the prophet. The coming judgment is represented as a sweeping calamity, taking the circuit of the whole land, and reaching even to the highest personages within it, its king and princes. And as if the desolation were already proceeding under the eye of the prophet, he is called upon to howl and strike his hands together the natural indications of excessive and violent grief. But in this he acted only as the representative of God, and so Jehovah himself is spoken of as in like manner striking his hands together, on account of the mournful desolations that had taken place; while still there was no excess of evil, when viewed in respect to the occasion that called it forth, all was needed in order to make the Lord’s fury, or his indignation on account of sin, to cease.
The prophet now proceeds to indicate more expressly the nature of the visitation which was to be employed as the Lord’s sword of vengeance. And the connection in this respect, as well in regard to the subsequent as to the preceding context, is so justly stated by Hävernick, that we shall here simply translate his words: “The question might now naturally arise, Whither shall the sword of Jehovah turn itself? Shall the punishment be altogether confined to the theocracy? Shall the enemies of this escape? An opportunity was thus furnished to the prophet for drawing a parallel between Judah and Ammon. This parallel exhibits the punishment in respect to its more internal and profound meaning, by discovering wherein these two nations resembled each other, and wherein they differed: Judah has, like Ammon, become an enemy of God, therefore the same judgment alights on both. Nay, the apostate covenant-people first fall under the stroke of the Divine sword. By God’s command, Nebuchadnezzar, the instrument of Jehovah’s anger, must first be sent against Jerusalem, and then against Ammon. Both fall through the hand of one slayer. A sword lights upon their head that had long been destined to this end by God. Again, both similarly despised the threatening judgment, held God’s hand to be mere delusion and vanity (Eze_21:23 and Eze_21:29); they show themselves after the same manner, sinners and daring rebels against God. Judah’s sin is brought into remembrance even by the Chaldean monarch; for Ammon, the theocracy is an object only of scorn and emnity (Eze_21:23, Eze_21:28, and Eze_21:30). So that in both alike the measure of iniquity is full: the end must come to them. But this very end is what also marks the great difference between the two. The theocracy is devoted to the sword, robbed of its splendour and its king; but still the old promises do not on that account perish. Through the awful process of deep humiliation and indescribable misery, Judah reaches the consummation of its height and glory. But the end of Ammon stands in sharp contrast to this; it perishes without hope; its end is an end of terrors, out of which no new state arises; it is devoted to absolute destruction.”