Ezekiel
Ezekiel 21
1Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 2“Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and preach toward the sanctuaries, and prophesy against the land of Israel. 3Tell the land of Israel, ‘Yahweh says: “Behold, I am against you, and will draw my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked. 4Seeing then that I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore my sword will go out of its sheath against all flesh from the south to the north. 5All flesh will know that I, Yahweh, have drawn my sword out of its sheath. It will not return any more.” ’
6“Therefore sigh, you son of man. You shall sigh before their eyes with a broken heart and with bitterness. 7It shall be, when they ask you, ‘Why do you sigh?’ that you shall say, ‘Because of the news, for it comes! Every heart will melt, all hands will be feeble, every spirit will faint, and all knees will be weak as water. Behold, it comes, and it shall be done, says the Lord Yahweh.’ ”
8Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 9“Son of man, prophesy, and say, ‘Yahweh says:
13“For there is a trial. What if even the rod that condemns will be no more?” says the Lord Yahweh.
18Yahweh’s word came to me again, saying, 19“Also, you son of man, appoint two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come. They both will come out of one land, and mark out a place. Mark it out at the head of the way to the city. 20You shall appoint a way for the sword to come to Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and to Judah in Jerusalem the fortified. 21For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination. He shook the arrows back and forth. He consulted the teraphim. He looked in the liver. 22In his right hand was the lot for Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast up mounds, and to build forts. 23It will be to them as a false divination in their sight, who have sworn oaths to them; but he brings iniquity to memory, that they may be taken.
24“Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Because you have caused your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your doings your sins appear; because you have come to memory, you will be taken with the hand.
25“ ‘You, deadly wounded wicked one, the prince of Israel, whose day has come, in the time of the iniquity of the end, 26the Lord Yahweh says: “Remove the turban, and take off the crown. This will not be as it was. Exalt that which is low, and humble that which is high. 27I will overturn, overturn, overturn it. This also will be no more, until he comes whose right it is; and I will give it.” ’
28“You, son of man, prophesy, and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says this concerning the children of Ammon, and concerning their reproach:
Commentary
No commentary on this chapter yet.
What others are saying
5 commentators · 91 notes on this chapter
Matthew Henry4
Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.
Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.
The prophet had faithfully delivered the message he was entrusted with, in the close of the foregoing chapter, in the terms wherein he received it, not daring to add his own comment upon it; but, when he complained that the people found fault with him for…
Here is another prophecy of the sword, which is delivered in a very affecting manner; the expressions here used are somewhat intricate, and perplex interpreters. The sword was unsheathed in the foregoing verses; here it is fitted up to do execution, which the…
The prophet, in the verses before, had shown them the sword coming; he here shows them that sword coming against them, that they might not flatter themselves that by some means or other it should be diverted a contrary way. I. He must see and show the…
John Gill32
The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.
Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.
And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying. Upon the above excuse or complaint about speaking in parables; wherefore the prophet is ordered to speak in plainer language to the people. It is very probable that the prophet delivered the prophecy recorded in…
Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem,.... Which shows that this city was meant by "the south", Ezekiel 20:46, and drop thy word toward the holy places; which also are meant by the south in the passage referred to, even the holy land, holy city, and holy…
And say to the land of Israel,.... The inhabitants of it, signified by the "forest of the south field", Ezekiel 20:47, thus saith the Lord, behold, I am against thee; and sad it is to have the Lord against a people, a nation, a city, or a family, or a…
Adam Clarke23
The linguist of this set. Expect Hebrew and Greek word study, oriental custom, and geography — and an Arminian reading of grace and free will where Gill or Henry would read election. Note one real divergence: Clarke denied the eternal sonship of Christ, a position most of the tradition rejects, so read him closely on the person of Christ.
Why this voice is here: Where you want to know what a word actually says, Clarke is the one who will tell you — with the caveat above on Christ’s sonship.
Set thy face toward Jerusalem - This is a continuation of the preceding prophecy; and in this chapter the prophet sets before them, in the plainest language, what the foregoing metaphors meant, so that they could not complain of his parables.
Behold, I am against thee - Dismal news! When God is against us, who can be for us? And will draw forth my sword - War. And will cut off from thee - The land of Judea. The righteous and the wicked - All shall be removed from thee. Some shall be cut off…
From the south to the north - The whole land shall be ravaged from one end to the other.
Keil & Delitzsch5
The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.
Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.
The Sword of the Lord and Its Disastrous Effects Eze 21:1. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Eze 21:2. Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and trickle over the holy places, and prophesy over the land of Israel, Eze 21:3. And say to the land…
The Sword is Sharpened for Slaying Eze 21:8. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Eze 21:9. Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith Jehovah, A sword, a sword sharpened and also polished: Eze 21:10. That it may effect a slaughter is it sharpened; that…
The sword of the king of Babylon will smite Jerusalem, and then the Ammonites also. - Eze 21:18. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Eze 21:19. And thou, son of man, make to thyself two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come by them; out…
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown27
The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.
Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.
righteous . . . wicked--not contradictory of Eze 18:4, Eze 18:9 and Gen 18:23. Ezekiel here views the mere outward aspect of the indiscriminate universality of the national calamity. But really the same captivity to the "righteous" would prove a blessing as a…
The "sword" did not, literally, slay all; but the judgments of God by the foe swept through the land "from the south to the north."
with the breaking of thy loins--as one afflicted with pleurisy; or as a woman, in labor-throes, clasps her loins in pain, and heaves and sighs till the girdle of the loins is broken by the violent action of the body (Jer 30:6).
World English Bible — Public domain