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Ezekiel 21:18-32 – The Third Oracle Concerning YHWH’s Sword

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INTRODUCTION

This is the third and last of the oracles concerning YHWH’s sword in Ezekiel chapter 21. The oracle commences by focusing on the approach of the king of Babylon to a fork in the road and his use of divination to decide his path of conquest. Which branch of the road should he take – the one to Rabbath the capital of Ammon or the one to Jerusalem? Although seemingly guided by the omens, it is ultimately YHWH who directs him to go and lay siege to Jerusalem.

YHWH then directly addresses Zedekiah, the ‘profane and wicked prince of Israel,’ and prophesies his downfall. After that the focus shifts to the Ammonites and the judgement that will come upon them.

DIVISION

18-23 The sword at the crossroads.

24-27 Judgement upon Judah and its king.

28-32 Judgement upon the Ammonites

EXPOSITION

THE SWORD AT THE CROSSROADS (18-23)

(18-20) The oracle starts with the usual prophetic word formula ‘the word of the Lord came unto me again, saying’ followed by a reference to the prophet as ‘son of Adam.’ Ezekiel is given instructions that are reminiscent of chapter 4 where he was told to portray the siege of Jerusalem on a clay tile. Now he is told to draw a diagram representing the path that ‘the sword of the king of Babylon’ will take on a journey to deal with revolts by the kingdoms of Judah and Ammon. Nebuchadnezzar is thus identified as ‘the slayer’ of v.11.

Ezekiel is to sketch two routes that Nebuchadnezzar could follow. The road out of ‘one land’ (Babylonia) forks (cf. ‘the head of the way’ 16:25, 31) near a certain city (possibly Damascus). At this fork/crossroads Ezekiel is to ‘choose a place’ (place = hand, index, direction – Num 2:17; Jer 6:3), i.e. draw a signpost. The signpost indicates that one branch of the road leads to Rabbath Ammon (Deut 3:11) and the other to fortified Jerusalem. The sword (Nebuchadnezzar) will smite both destinations but which one will he go to first? The Ammonites seem to think that they will not be attacked (cf. v.29) but Jer 4:5 suggests that in Judah preparations were in place for the people to gather in ‘fortified’ Jerusalem for safety.

(21-23) Verses 21-22 explain the drawing. The crossroads represents a location at which King Nebuchadnezzar’s army comes to a standstill while the king and his soothsayers use three techniques of ancient divination to decide which city to attack first:

Omens appearing on the right side of the liver were considered auspicious and those on the left unlucky. Verse 22 represents Nebuchadnezzar as receiving favourable omens and, on that basis, deciding to invade Judah first.

The Babylonians will attack Jerusalem, set up battering rams, cause slaughter, sound a war cry, and prepare to storm the city. Similar preparations for siege warfare are described in Ezek 4:2.

(23) And it shall be unto them as a false divination in their sight, to them that have sworn oaths: but he will call to remembrance the iniquity, that they may be taken.

‘Them’ and ‘their’ refers to the Judeans (exiles and those in Judah) who will view as false the omens that Ezekiel predicts Nebuchadnezzar will get. This is because they are depending on their covenant with YHWH and thus expect him to protect them and send Nebuchadnezzar to punish the heathen Ammonites. YHWH, however, will remember that the people of Judah have not adhered to the stipulations of the Sinai covenant; with the result that he will judge them by allowing them to be seized (by the Babylonians).

JUDGEMENT UPON JUDAH AND ITS KING (24-27)

(24) Verse 24 refers back (‘therefore’) to v.23 and says much the same thing. The people of Judah are guilty and their iniquity has so attracted YHWH’s attention that he recalls all their wrongdoings and as punishment will deliver them to Nebuchadnezzar. They will be ‘taken with the hand,’ i.e. grasped by the hand of the slayer of v.11.

The divination rituals used by Nebuchadnezzar, although superstitious and forbidden to the Israelites, are sovereignly used by YHWH to bring about the attack on Jerusalem as an act of divine punishment. Prov 16:33 says: The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD.

(25-27) In these verses Ezekiel directly addresses King Zedekiah and describes him as the ‘profane wicked prince of Israel.’ Ezekiel uses ‘prince,’ meaning ‘chieftain’ or ‘leader,’ instead of the term ‘king.’ It is possible that ‘prince of Israel’ was a title adopted by the Davidic kings of Judah once the northern kingdom came to an end. Zedekiah’s day of doom, on which his wrongdoing will cease, is close at hand. YHWH makes a proclamation to him: ‘thus saith the Lord God.’

Remove the turban and take off the crown. Things shall not remain as they are. Exalt that which is low, and bring low that which is exalted. Ezekiel 21:26 ESV

In v.26 four infinitive absolutes are translated as imperatives: remove, take off, exalt, abase. The cessation of Zedekiah’s reign is characterised by the removal of his turban and his crown – symbols of justice (Job 29:14) and dignity (Job 19:9). Things will not remain as they are; it is time his reign came to an end.

Note: Since the word for turban is also that used for the High Priest’s mitre (Exod. 28:4, 37, 39; 29:6; 39:28, 31; Lev. 8:9; 16:4) some commentators view the turban as belonging to the High Priest rather than the king and thus have YHWH proclaiming the overthrow of Judah’s religious and political institutions.

The inversion of the current state of affairs is summed up in the saying: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. These words are probably better known from the New Testament where Jesus said : And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted (Mt 23:12; Lk 14:11; 18:14). Similar thoughts, however, are expressed in 1 Sam 2:6-7; Job 5:11-13; Psa 75:7; Mk 10:43-44 and Lk 1:52.

A relevant example of someone of that era who was abased and then exalted is the prophet Jeremiah. He was badly treated under Zedekiah’s regime but later held in high regard by the Babylonians (Jer 40:1-6).

The severity of the coming upheaval is emphasised in v.27a by the threefold use of ‘overturn.’ This repetition expresses the superlative – e.g. ‘Holy, Holy, Holy’ Isa 6:3. The distortion and overthrow of everything is poetically described by Jeremiah in Jer 4:23-26:

I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.
I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.
I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger.

Verse 27b is an obvious reference to the famous prophecy of Gen 49:10: The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

Ezek 21:27b says; and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him. This verse is generally interpreted in one of three ways: a) as referring to the Messiah, or b) as referring to Jehoiachin, or c) as referring to Nebuchadnezzar.

a) MESSIAH. Zedekiah will fall and for an unspecified period of time there will not be another Davidic king until Messiah comes (‘it shall be no more, until). God will give the kingdom to him because it is rightfully his. Proponents of this view interpret mišpāṭ as meaning right or due as in KJV.

b) JEHOIACHIN – Temporarily there will be no Davidic ruler in Judah until the kingdom is restored to a legitimate king, i.e. Jehoiachin or one of his descendants. Proponents of this view interpret mišpāṭ as meaning a legal claim.

c) NEBUCHADNEZZAR – Proponents of this view interpret mišpāṭ as meaning punishing or judgement. Greenberg (1997, Ezekiel 21-37 : a New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, p. 434) explains:

punishing (mispat) … entrust [it] to him… mispat (usually “judgment”) here, as in 16:38 (plural); 5:8 (plural); 23:45; 39:21, means “punishment, punishing.” Combination with the verb ntn recurs in 23:24: “I will entrust judgment/punishing to them…and they will judge/punish you.”…Eliezer of Beaugency gives the sense: “Until Nebuchadnezzar, into whose hand I have committed my punishing, comes to punish him (Zedekiah).”

According to this view Ezekiel alludes to the Gen 49:10 prophecy but reinterprets it for the current situation. Those in Judah and Ezekiel’s fellow exiles doubtless interpret the prophecy messianically but the prophet turns it back on them; telling them that they can expect a slayer (Nebuchadnezzar), not a saviour (Messiah).

JUDGEMENT UPON THE AMMONITES (28-32)

Note: There are several interpretations of Ezekiel 21:28-29. Some see the entire section as a pronouncement of judgement upon the Ammonites, others view the entire section as pronouncing judgement upon the sword of YHWH, with the Ammonites as an audience.

(28-29) Again addressing Ezekiel as ‘son of Adam’ YHWH instructs him to prophesy (who to is not specified) concerning the Ammonites and concerning their reproach. The focus shifts from Judah to Ammon using language that is similar to that in vv.9-10. As in vv.9-10 concerning Judah, verse 28 concerning Ammon begins with Ezekiel being told to ‘say.’ It also contains a repetition of the word ‘sword’ (sword, sword), and an observation that the sword is ‘furbished.’ It is already drawn (opened, exposed) and polished in order to flash and be adequate to slaughter Ammonites. The Ammonites will taunt the people of Judah when they see the devastation that the sword (Babylonians) wreaks on the land of Israel (25:3, 6). Their rejoicing will be premature, however, because the sword will come against them as well.

It seems from v.29 that the Ammonite prophets and soothsayers were wrongly advising their citizens that they had nothing to fear from the Babylonians. Ezekiel says that these Ammonite diviners ‘see vanity’ and ‘divine a lie’ and thus mislead their people. The prophet Jeremiah also said this in a message he sent to the kings of five surrounding nations, including the Ammonites (Jer 27:3):

Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: For they prophesy a lie unto you, Jer 27:9-10a

The inhabitants of the land of Ammon will be added to the number of slain Judahites, who have brought the sword (Nebuchadnezzar and his army) to the area because of their iniquity (vv. 23, 25, 29). The sword will conquer the Ammonites as well as the Judahites, both nations will share that same fate.

(30) ‘Return it to its sheath’- another infinitive absolute that translates as an imperative. This is either a command (to an unknown third party) to put the sword of the Lord back into its scabbard because its work is done or it is advice to the Ammonites that it is pointless for them to attempt to defend themselves because judgement upon them is certain. The Ammonites will be judged in their own land, the land of their origin. Unlike Israel/Judah, which will be exiled, Ammon will face destruction at home.

(31) YHWH’s anger will be poured out upon the Ammonites like a fiery flood. The fire of God’s wrath will blow against them like bellows fanning a fire (cf. Isa 54:16). YHWH will deliver them into the hands of brutish (i.e. cruel) men for whom destruction is an art form. They are craftsmen, expert at what they do. This probably refers to the efficient warriors of the Babylonian army.

(32) God’s fiery wrath will consume the Ammonites who will be like like fuel for a fire. Their blood will flow over all the land, this speaks of total military defeat.

‘No more remembered’ (cf. Psa 83:4; Jer 11:19; Zech13:2). The ultimate result of their judgement is oblivion. The nation that gloats and scorns the Lord’s people will suffer humiliation and obliteration. Unlike the Israelites who will retain their national identity and return from exile the Ammonites will never again exist as an independent nation. This nation that is so opposed to YHWH will eventually fade from history. Ezekiel goes into more dtail about the future of the Ammonites in chapter 25.

‘I the Lord have spoken.’ The oracle does not end with a maybe but with YHWH’s guarantee. These things will come to pass, God’s word is final.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

  • The Lord is sovereign and will judge all nations.
  • It is dangerous to take pleasure in the misfortune or downfall of others, especially the Lord’s people. This is a sin that invites judgement.
  • Be wary about who you trust. There are still false prophets and teachers about. It is better to hear the truth rather than trust in flattering and comforting lies.
  • God is true to his word. What he says, he will do.