21:1 The word of the Lord came to me:
In chapter 20, the Jewish people asked Ezekiel to quit speaking in parables. Therefore, Jehovah gave Ezekiel a plain message in which everyone in Judah would understand.
21:2 “Son of man, turn toward Jerusalem and speak out against the sanctuaries. Prophesy against the land of Israel
Instead of turning to the south and prophesying against Edom, Jeremiah was to turn to the north and prophesy against Jerusalem, the Jewish Temple, and the land of Israel.
21:3 and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look, I am against you. I will draw my sword from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked.
In the last chapter, the elders of Judah asked Ezekiel not to speak in parables, but in plain language in which they could understand. Therefore, Jehovah spoke to them in plain language. Jehovah told them that both the righteous and the wicked would be cut off from Jerusalem. The wicked would be cut off from Jerusalem by death or captivity. The righteous would be cut off by captivity.
21:4 Because I will cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked, my sword will go out from its sheath against everyone from the south to the north.
Jehovah mentioned in the last chapter that the Edomites in the south would die by the sword. He now mentioned that Judah in the north would die as well.
21:5 Then everyone will know that I am the Lord, who drew my sword from its sheath—it will not be sheathed again!’
When the judgment began, the people of Judah and Edom would know that Jehovah had drawn His sword against them.
21:6 “And you, son of man, groan with an aching heart and bitterness; groan before their eyes.
Jehovah commanded Ezekiel to weep to the extreme with tears before his people.
21:7 When they ask you, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you will reply, ‘Because of the report that has come. Every heart will melt with fear and every hand will be limp; everyone will faint and every knee will be wet with urine.’ Pay attention—it is coming and it will happen, declares the sovereign Lord.”
When the people of Judah asked Ezekiel why he was weeping, he was to tell them that they were about to be destroyed by the Babylonians. The people of Jerusalem would be so scared, that they would wet in their pants.
21:8 The word of the Lord came to me:
Since Judah asked Ezekiel to quit speaking in parables. Ezekiel gave them a second message which was plain and easy to understand.
21:9 “Son of man, prophesy and say: ‘This is what the Lord says: “ ‘A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also polished.
Ezekiel sang a song to Judah. Jehovah has sharpened and polished His sword.
21:10 It is sharpened for slaughter, it is polished to flash like lightning! “ ‘Should we rejoice in the scepter of my son? No!The sword despises every tree!
In this song, the son is Israel and her king. Jehovah will use the sharp sword to slaughter Israel and her king.
21:11 “ ‘He gave it to be polished, to be grasped in the hand— the sword is sharpened, it is polished— giving it into the hand of the executioner.
Jehovah sharpened and polished His sword and gave it to His executioner. Jehovah’s executioner is Babylon.
21:12 Cry out and moan, son of man, for it is wielded against my people; against all the princes of Israel. They are delivered up to the sword, along with my people. Therefore, strike your thigh.
Ezekiel was commanded to cry and moan for the king and for his people. They were to be delivered over to the sword. Striking the thigh was a symbol of grief and despair.
21:13 “ ‘For testing will come, and what will happen when the scepter, which the sword despises, is no more? declares the sovereign Lord.’
The sword had been tested. It was sharp enough and powerful enough to accomplish its goal. Testing upon Israel would come, because Jehovah is sovereign over all of history.
21:14 “And you, son of man, prophesy, and clap your hands together. Let the sword strike twice, even three times! It is a sword for slaughter, a sword for the great slaughter surrounding them.
Ezekiel was to prophesy to Jerusalem and warn them about their coming judgment. He was to clap his hands as a signal to start the slaughter. This was the sword of the third time. The first sword was that of the 605 BC. and the first deportation. The second sword was that of 597 B.C. of the second deportation. The third sword would be the one coming in 586 B.C. of the coming third deportation.
Some commentators look at these three swords as the prophetic future. The first sword would be that of the Babylonian Captivity in 586 B.C, because this date began the Time of the Gentiles. The second sword would be that of the Temple destruction in 70 A.D., because this date began the worldwide Jewish dispersion. The third sword would begin at the middle of the Great Tribulation to come.
21:15 So hearts melt with fear and many stumble. At all their gates I have stationed the sword for slaughter. Ah! It is made to flash, it is drawn for slaughter!
The Judean soldiers in Jerusalem would fear and stumble. There were Babylonian swords waiting to kill them at every gate.
21:16 Cut sharply on the right! Swing to the left, wherever your edge is appointed to strike.
The Babylonians would swing their swords both right and left, killing everything in their path.
21:17 I too will clap my hands together, I will exhaust my rage; I the Lord have spoken.”
Jehovah would also clap His hands in anger and signal the attack.
21:18 The word of the Lord came to me:
Since Jerusalem claimed that they could not understand Ezekiel’s parables, then the people of Jerusalem asked Ezekiel to speak to them plainly. Jehovah gave a third prophecy to Ezekiel in plain, simple language. The people of Judah would not like this message. It did not tickle their ears.
21:19 “You, son of man, mark out two routes for the king of Babylon’s sword to take; both of them will originate in a single land. Make a signpost and put it at the beginning of the road leading to the city.
Jerusalem, Tyre, and Ammon were three independent cities who were seeking independence from Babylon. As King Nebuchadnezzar traveled from Babylon to subdue these three cities, he came to a fork in the road. At this fork in the road, he would have to choose which of these three cities to attack. Since Tyre would be the most difficult to attack, then she was eliminated. Ezekiel was to make a signpost which would entice King Nebuchadnezzar to attack Jerusalem first.
21:20 Mark out the routes for the sword to take: “Rabbah of the Ammonites” and “Judah with Jerusalem in it.”
Since Tyre was eliminated, King Nebuchadnezzar must make a choice of which city to attack first. He could either head down the coastal highway and attack Judah or head down the Transjordanian highway and attack Rabbah (the capital of Ammon). Rabbah is the modern city of Jordan.
21:21 For the king of Babylon stands at the fork in the road at the head of the two routes. He looks for omens: He shakes arrows, he consults idols, he examines animal livers.
King Nebuchadnezzar came to a fork on the road. He would use three types of divination to discover which city to attack first.
The first type of divination was belomancy. King Nebuchadnezzar wrote the names of both cities on the two different arrows. He placed the two arrows in a quiver. He shook the quiver. The first arrow to fall out would be the city which he would attack.
The second type of divination was the teraphim. Teraphim were household statue idols, usually of deceased people. King Nebuchadnezzar would consult the dead, possibly through a seance or Ouija board. He would ask the dead spirits to choose the route of his attack. This type of occult practice was also known as necromancy. The medium would possibly fake the decision of the deceased person . Another possibility is that demons would disguise themselves as dead people. Beware of Ouija boards, because demons can disguise themselves as the deceased. They can physically control the movement of the locator.
The third type of divination used by Nebuchadnezzar was called hepatoscopy. The occultists believed that the liver was the seat of life, because it was filled with blood. They would slaughter a sheep or goat and look at its liver. The priests would make a decision, based upon the color or marks of the liver. In the movie Masada, the Romans used this divination practice to decide what they would do for each day. Roman leaders were being led by demonic sources.
21:22 Into his right hand comes the portent for Jerusalem—to set up battering rams, to give the signal for slaughter, to shout out the battle cry, to set up battering rams against the gates, to erect a siege ramp, to build a siege wall.
All three of these occultic rituals pointed right towards Jerusalem. It is very possible that the demonic world wanted Jerusalem destroyed. If so, then they would use their evil free will to fulfill God’s will. Another possibility is that God caused all three omens to point towards Jerusalem.
21:23 But those in Jerusalem will view it as a false omen. They have sworn solemn oaths, but the king of Babylon will accuse them of violations in order to seize them.
The people inside of Jerusalem saw Nebuchadnezzar setting up his equipment for the siege, but they thought that it was a false omen. They had been listening to the false prophets. They did not think that God would allow the Babylonians to take His capital city and destroy His temple. The Assyrians could not take Jerusalem. One hundred eighty five thousand soldiers were killed by the Angel of the Lord. The Jerusalem citizens looked upon the Jewish temple as their good luck charm. They did not think that God would allow the capital city of Jerusalem to be taken. They did not think that Jehovah would allow His temple to be destroyed.
21:24 “Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘Because you have brought up your own guilt by uncovering your transgressions and revealing your sins through all your actions, for this reason you will be taken by force.
Jehovah is sovereign over all of history. The righteous people of Judah had already been transported willingly to Babylon. Jehovah told them that their only chance of survival was to leave Jerusalem and accept the Babylonian captivity. The righteous messianic Jews listened to God’s prophets and accepted their captivity.
The unbelieving Jews did not want to give up their wealth and power in Jerusalem. They disobeyed the true prophets of God and remained in the city. God informed these rebels that they would be killed or removed by force. Most of them would die by sword, starvation, or disease. God would allow some of them to live, so that they could be transported to Babylon. He wanted the righteous Jews who had already been transported to Babylon to observe how evil these rebels could be. The righteous would then know that these evil rebels deserved this judgment.
21:25 “ ‘As for you, profane and wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come, the time of final punishment,
The Hebrew for “profane” is חָלָ֣ל (halal), meaning pierced to death, killed, slain, profaned, or wounded.
The Hebrew for “the time of final punishment” is יֹומֹ֔ו בְּעֵ֖ת עֲוֹ֥ן קֵֽץ (yomo bast won katz), meaning literally “your day of appointed time of sin will end.”
In Hebrew, this verse reads “As for you, slain and evil prince of Israel, your day of your appointed time of evil will come to an end.”
According to the Book of Daniel, the last prince of Israel is the Antichrist. This cannot be King Zedekiah or King Nebuchadnezzar, because they were not slain. According to the Book of Revelation, the Antichrist will be slain and then be raised from the dead. For this reason, the third and final sword must be the Antichrist.
21:26 this is what the sovereign Lord says: Tear off the turban, take off the crown! Things must change! Exalt the lowly, bring down the proud!
Jehovah is sovereign over all of history. The turban was worn by the High Priest. The crown was worn by the king. The crown was removed at the first deportation by the first sword. The turban was removed at the second deportation by the second sword. Some very good commentators teach that this dethronement is that of the Antichrist at the end of the Great Tribulation. When the Lord Jesus Christ returns, then He will bring down the proud (the Antichrist) and exalt the lowly (the Jewish people).
21:27 A total ruin I will make it! It will come to an end when the one arrives to whom I have assigned judgment.’
The Davidic monarchy will be temporarily destroyed. It will not be revived until the Messianic King arrives to establish the Millennial Kingdom. Jesus rode into Jerusalem on an unbroken donkey to claim His throne, but His subjects called Him demon-possessed and crucified Him. Jesus declared that He would not return and establish the Millennial Kingdom until the Jews cry out, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”
It is important to note that some commentators teach that this is a prophecy of King Messiah arriving at His Second Coming. The kingdom of the Antichrist will not be removed until “the one who arrives to whom I have assigned judgment.” The one who brings final judgment is King Messiah.
21:28 “As for you, son of man, prophesy and say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says concerning the Ammonites and their coming humiliation; say: “ ‘A sword, a sword drawn for slaughter, polished to consume, to flash like lightning—
Ezekiel was called the “son of man,” because the offspring of sinful human beings give birth to other sinful human beings. When a woman brings a child into the world, then she is biblically considered unclean. The birth of her child caused her a lot of physical pain and anguish. Why? The reason is that she has brought another sinner into the world. Jehovah is sovereign over all of history.
The Ammonites are currently modern central Jordan. They descended from the incestuous affair between Lot and his youngest daughter Ammon. The Ammonites allied with Judah against Babylon. They were very happy that Babylon chose to attack Israel rather than them. However, Jehovah was preparing a sword for Ammon as well.
21:29 while seeing false visions for you and reading lying omens for you— to place that sword on the necks of the profane wicked, whose day has come, the time of final punishment.
Ammon was looking to the occult to save her, but she was receiving lies from the demonic world.
21:30 Return it to its sheath! In the place where you were created, in your native land, I will judge you.
Jehovah was very angry with Ammon. The Babylonians defeated Jerusalem and appointed Governor Gedaliah to rule the city. The Ammonites sent assassins to kill him. The Ammonite's hope was that Babylonian would ignore her and attack Jerusalem again. Jehovah made it clear that Ammon would not escape God’s judgment.
21:31 I will pour out my anger on you; the fire of my fury I will blow on you. I will hand you over to brutal men, who are skilled in destruction.
Jehovah's fire of fury would burn the Ammonites. Jehovah would hand the Ammonites over to a brutal foreign power.
21:32 You will become fuel for the fire— your blood will stain the middle of the land; you will no longer be remembered, for I, the Lord, have spoken.’ ”
The fire of Jehovah in Jerusalem will extend to Ammon and consume them as well. The Ammonites will be exterminated and no longer be remembered until they are regenerated in the Millennial Kingdom. Jeremiah prophesied that the nation of Ammon will enter into the Millennial Kingdom.