Ezekiel 21

3. My sword. Nebuchadrezzar and his army, the instrument of God’s judgement.

6 with the breaking of thy loins. The loins were regarded as the seat of strength (Job xl. 16), and the expression indicates the prostration due to intense grief.

10. It contemneth the rod of My son. According to the rendering in the text, the clause means that the sword shall not spare even royalty (“the sceptre”) more than others. Cp. ver. 13.

13. Because [it is] a trial, etc. “For it is a trial, and what if the contemning sceptre shall be no more?” The sword did, in fact, humble the royalty of Judah.

14 smite thine hands together. A sign of indignation.

let the sword be doubled the third time. Let the stroke be repeated twice and thrice; i.e., often (see Job xxxiii. 29).

It is the sword of the great [men], etc. “It is the sword of the great one pierced through, the sword of the great one pierced through; it encompasseth them”: see R.V. marg. The “great one” is probably the royal house, now to be smitten; hence the plural in the second clause.

16. Go thee one way or other. Rather, “Unite thyself (i.e., concentrate thy powers) on the right hand, turn to the left, whithersoever thine edge is appointed.” The words are addressed to the sword.

17. I will cause My fury to rest. i.e., by satisfying it; by inflicting severe punishment.

19 both twain shall come, etc. i.e., both ways or roads shall proceed from the same point. This the prophet exhibits in some graphic portrayal, as he had depicted the siege of Jerusalem on a tile, or brick, iv. 1.

choose thou a place. Rather, “make a hand,” i.e., a finger-post, pointing to Rabbath and Jerusalem.

20. Jerusalem the defenced. Jerusalem is so called because the people of Judah confided in its natural strength and its fortifications.

21 the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way. The prophet was to represent in his sketch the position of Nebuchadrezzar looking down the two roads from the point where they met. Shall he march upon Jerusalem to the right, or upon Rabbath to the left? He resorts to auguries to decide his course.

he made [his] arrows bright. Rather, “He shook the arrows to and fro” (R.V.). Jerome tells us that the Chaldeans, before a warlike expedition, marked several arrows with the names of the cities which they intended to assault, put them together in a quiver, shook them and drew them out, as lots are drawn. They then marched against the city whose arrow was first drawn, believing that their gods had directed them to destroy it.

Images. Lit., “the teraphim,” R.V.

he looked in the liver. A mode of divination familiar to the Greeks and Romans, as well as to the Orientals. The liver of the animal sacrificed was the first part inspected; and if this presented very unfavourable signs, no further observations were made.

22 to open the mouth in the slaughter. i.e., to raise the war-ery of death.

battering rams. These instruments of war are represented in many of the sculptures discovered at Nineveh. They are often placed on inclined planes of stone.

23 unto them. i.e., to the Jews. They shall despise as vain the auguries of the Assyrians.

to them that have sworn oaths. i.e., who have sworn oaths of submission to the Assyrians (see xvii. 13 and 2 Chron. xxxvi. 13). These oaths are referred to in the next clause: “But he (Nebuchadrezzar) will call to mind the iniquity (i.e., treachery which the Jews have practised), that they may be taken.”

24 ye shall be taken with the hand. i.e., with the well-known hand or power of Nebuchadrezzar.

25. And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel. Or, “And thou, O pierced, wicked prince of Israel.” See R.V. Moffatt translates, “O prince of Israel to be slain.”

when iniquity [shall have] an end. i.e., “when [thine] iniquity shall have its appropriate issue”; its appropriate recompense or retribution: see xxxv. 5.

26 the diadem. Rather, “turban”; or, “mitre” (R.V.); the head-dress of the high priest: see Exod. xxviii. 36-38.

this [shall] not [be] the same. Lit., “This shall not be thus”; i.e., the glory of priest and king shall cease.

him that is low, etc. Or, as R.V., “that which is low,” etc. Cp. the words of the Magnificat, Luke i. 52.

27 whose right it is. The nation shall be unsettled, until the appearing of Him to whom the dominion (“the crown,” ver. 26) belongs. Thus the prophecy against Jerusalem and its wicked king Zedekiah ends with a declaration of the Messianic hope.

28 the Ammonites. Although the divining lot had determined Nebuchadrezzar to proceed first against Jerusalem (see 22), the turn of the Ammonites would also come.

their reproach. i.e., the reproach which the Ammonites cast upon the Jews in their distress: see xxv. 3, 6; Zeph. ii. 8.

to consume because of the glittering. Rather, “to consume, to flash” (as lightning); see 10.

29. Whiles they divine a lie unto thee. i.e., “while they utter false prophecies for thee,” i.e., to buoy up thy hopes.

To bring thee upon the necks. i.e., “To add thee to the number of those who are already slain in Judæa (see 14), and to make thy condition like theirs.”

30. Shall I cause it to return into his [its] sheath. Or, as some render, “Return it (i.e., the sword) into its sheath”; i.e., make no resistance, for it will be of no avail: cp. R.V.