CHAPTER 21

(593 B.C.)

THE SIGN OF THE DRAWN SWORD: COMPLETE DESTRUCTION

¹And the Word of the LORD came unto me, saying (this is a part of the Prophecy of the previous Chapter, which continues without interruption),

²Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and drop your word toward the Holy Places, and prophesy against the land of Israel (this Verse is very similar to Verse 46 of the previous Chapter, with the words, Jerusalem and Holy Places, replacing the word south in that Verse. The words, Holy Places, refer to the Temple in Jerusalem),

³And say to the land of Israel, Thus says the LORD; Behold, I am against you, and will draw forth My Sword out of his sheath, and will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked. (As in the previous Verse, the words, the righteous and the wicked, replace the green tree and the dry tree of Verse 47 in the previous Chapter. Thus says the LORD; Behold I am against you, records Judahs doom, as nothing else!)

⁴Seeing then that I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall My Sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the south to the north (Against all flesh from the south to the north, refers to total destruction of the country, leaving no part untouched, and having no mercy on the old, or even on little children):

⁵That all flesh may know that I the LORD have drawn forth My Sword out of his sheath: it shall not return any more. (My Sword proclaims the fact of Gods independent Action.)

CONVULSIVE SIGHING, A SIGN OF SUFFERING

⁶Sigh therefore, you son of man, with the breaking of your loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes. (The phrase, Sigh therefore, you son of man, refers to Ezekiel being so burdened with the portent of this coming disaster that it breaks his loins, i.e., breaks his heart.)

⁷And it shall be, when they say unto you, Wherefore sighest you? that you shall answer, For the tidings; because it comes: and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water: behold, it comes, and shall be brought to pass, says the Lord GOD. (What Ezekiel now experiences will be exactly what will happen to the entirety of the Exiles some four years later, when word was received of the fall and destruction of Jerusalem. This is emphasized in the words, For the tidings. These tidings will be awful indeed!)

THE SHARPENED SWORD: FOR JUDGMENT

⁸Again the Word of the LORD came unto me, saying (the Holy Spirit will now go into great detail regarding the coming carnage, which is meant to portray to the people the severity of the Judgment, and hopefully to instigate Repentance; however, the Repentance never materialized!),

⁹Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the LORD; Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished (this Verse speaks of the Divine mission of the Chaldean sword, i.e., the Babylonian army, and its success against Judah and against Ammon; this Prophecy preceded the destruction of Judah by some four or five years, and of Ammon, by ten years.

The minuteness of detail in these predictions, years before they actually became history, is one of the striking facts of Inspiration):

¹⁰It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter; it is furbished that it may glitter: should we then make mirth? it contemns the rod of My Son, as every tree. (It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter, refers to the Lord handing the sharpened sword to the Chaldean slayer in order that it may be used against the Judean wrongdoer.)

¹¹And He has given it to be furbished, that it may be handled: this sword is sharpened, and it is furbished, to give it into the hand of the slayer. (The Babylonian Monarch no doubt thought himself to be a free agent. But long before his campaign against Judah, his victory over Zedekiah, his recourse to divination at the parting of the high roads in northern Israel, and his victory over the Ammonites, all were foretold here.)

¹²Cry and howl, son of man: for it shall be upon My People, it shall be upon all the princes of Israel: terrors by reason of the sword shall be upon My People: smite therefore upon your thigh. (In Verse 10, the Holy Spirit uses the phrase, My Son, as He uses it in this Verse, My People. The Grace and Love that recognizes here idolatrous Judah in this capacity awaken wonder and worship in the heart.)

¹³Because it is a trial, and what if the sword contemn even the rod? it shall be no more, says the Lord GOD. (The meaning of this Passage is that a test of strength between Nebuchadnezzar and Zedekiah will soon commence; the latter will be defeated, his scepter forever broken.)

¹⁴You therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite your hands together, and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain: it is the sword of the great men who are slain, which enters into their privy chambers. (And let the sword be doubled the third time, predicts the third and final campaign against Jerusalem. The first invasion took place in 605 B.C., the second happened in 597 B.C., and the last occurred in 586 B.C., which was some four or five years in the future.)

¹⁵I have set the point of the sword against all their gates, that their heart may faint, and their ruins be multiplied: ah! it is made bright, it is wrapped up for the slaughter. (Judah had many opportunities to repent, but instead they hardened their hearts. Each time they refused the admonishment of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, they multiplied the Judgment that was coming, thereby multiplying the ruins.)

¹⁶Go you one way or other, either on the right hand, or on the left, whithersoever your face is set. (The idea of this Verse is that the sword is promised success here in whatever direction it turns. Such is demanded by the Lord.)

¹⁷I will also smite My Hands together, and I will cause My Fury to rest: I the LORD have said it. (And I will cause My Fury to rest, refers to the truth that His Fury will not rest until every single prediction is fulfilled concerning the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem. To emphasize the certitude of this action, the Holy Spirit says, I the LORD have said it.)

GOD USES BABYLON AS A SWORD OF JUDGMENT

¹⁸The Word of the LORD came unto me again, saying (Ezekiel sees, as in a Vision, Nebuchadnezzar and his army on the march),

¹⁹Also, you son of man, appoint you two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come: both twain shall come forth out of one land: and choose you a place, choose it at the head of the way to the city. (Appoint you two ways, refers to two different roads. When Nebuchadnezzar reached Damascus [or somewhere nearby], there was an intersection; one road led to Rabbath, the capital of the Ammonites [Deut. 3:11; II Sam. 11:1], and the other road led to Jerusalem.

The Exiles and the people of Judah thought that Rabbath would be Nebuchadnezzars destination and, therefore, Judah would be spared. It was not to be that way!)

²⁰Appoint a way, that the sword may come to Rabbath of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the defenced. (The balance of this Passage actually speaks of the sword coming to both cities, but now the decision is to be made as to which city comes first!)

²¹For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: he made his arrows bright, he consulted with images, he looked in the liver. (Two arrows, one marked Ammon and the other marked Jerusalem, were placed in a quiver by Nebuchadnezzar. Whichever one the king drew was accepted as an omen. As well, the liver of a beast or a fowl offered in sacrifice was also examined; its healthy or unhealthy condition accepted as favorable or unfavorable.

However, and unknown to Nebuchadnezzar, the Lord would make the choice.)

²²At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to appoint Captains, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to appoint battering rams against the gates, to cast a mount, and to build a fort. (Nebuchadnezzar placed his hand into the quiver to pull out one of the arrows; he looked at it; he saw that it signified Jerusalem.

The phrase, To appoint Captains, referred to orders and instructions being given for the siege of Jerusalem.)

²³And it shall be unto them as a false divination in their sight, to them who have sworn oaths: but He will call to remembrance the iniquity, that they may be taken. (And it shall be unto them as a false divination in their sight, refers to the false prophets in Jerusalem, who still continued to preach peace and prosperity, causing the king and the people to believe that Nebuchadnezzar was not going to come to Jerusalem.

To them who have sworn oaths, referred to Zedekiah, who had sworn an oath to Nebuchadnezzar but had dallied with the Egyptian faction, conspiring to throw off their subjugation. In fact, Zedekiah went to Babylon in 593 B.C., possibly to allay suspicion concerning his involvement in the plot [Jer. 51:59].)

JUDGMENT ON JUDAH

²⁴Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Because you have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are discovered, so that in all your doings your sins do appear: because, I say, that you are come to remembrance, you shall be taken with the hand. (This Verse further emphasizes the treachery of Zedekiah. The iniquity, the transgression, and the sin was this breach of the oath of allegiance taken in the Name of Jehovah. The plural of majesty is used here to emphasize that great transgression and that great sin.)

²⁵And you, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end. (The Holy Spirit calls Zedekiah a wicked prince of Israel.)

²⁶Thus says the Lord GOD; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him who is low, and abase him who is high. (Remove the diadem, refers to the Mitre of the High Priest, who would no longer have a Temple nor an avenue for his services. And take off the crown, refers to the Throne of Judah being abolished by Nebuchadnezzar. The Mitre and the Crown shall alike pass away taken from their unworthy wearers.)

²⁷I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until He come Whose right it is; and I will give it Him. (I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it, refers to Judah being destroyed as a nation, and especially its supreme authority and its throne never again being established, at least not until He come Whose right it is. This is the despised Jesus of Nazareth, Who will return. To Him shall the diadem be given, Whose right it is. Meanwhile, God overturns all efforts to give that Crown to another.)

JUDGMENT ON THE AMMONITES

²⁸And you, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord GOD concerning the Ammonites, and concerning their reproach; even say you, The sword, the sword is drawn: for the slaughter it is furbished, to consume because of the glittering (Thus says the Lord GOD concerning the Ammonites, refers to these ancient enemies of Israel. When Nebuchadnezzar took the road to Jerusalem instead of coming to Rabbath, the Ammonites thought surely they had escaped the Judgment. This Prophecy proclaims differently!

And concerning their reproach, concerns their rejoicing at the destruction of Jerusalem. However, some five years after the fall of Jerusalem, the Chaldeans invaded Ammon; they destroyed it so effectually that it ceased to exist as a nation):

²⁹While they see vanity unto you, while they divine a lie unto you, to bring you upon the necks of them who are slain, of the wicked, whose day is come, when their iniquity shall have an end. (The phrase, While they see vanity unto you, refers to the pride of Ammon. While they divine a lie unto you, refers to the soothsayers among them who divined that Nebuchadnezzar would not attack them as he would Jerusalem, but that they would be spared. The Holy Spirit called their divination a lie.)

³⁰Shall I cause it to return into his sheath? I will judge you in the place where you were created, in the land of your nativity. (I will judge you in the place where you were created, refers to Nebuchadnezzar bringing his army directly into the land, and so destroying Ammon that she would no more exist.)

³¹And I will pour out My Indignation upon you, I will blow against you in the fire of My Wrath, and deliver you into the hand of brutish men, and skilful to destroy. (No mercy would be shown by the Babylonians to Ammon. This was because of their gloating over the fall of Judah and Jerusalem.)

³²You shall be for fuel to the fire; your blood shall be in the midst of the land; you shall be no more remembered: for I the LORD have spoken it. (You shall be no more remembered, refers to all hope of restoration being dashed. Therefore, it seems that God judged them more severely even than He did Sodom [Ezek. 16:53]. The Prophecy spelled their eternal doom.

However, their destruction was not instantaneous. They survived into the Second Century B.C., which was about 300 years after this Prophecy. Today there are no more Ammonites and there will never be again.)