Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 21:18
The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying,
18 27. He who is, or who wields, the sword, the king of Babylon. The verses furnish the interpretation of the preceding passage.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
18 27. The prophet is commanded to represent a way which parts into two ways. At the parting of the ways he is to set up two guideposts, the one pointing to Rabbath Ammon, the other to Jerusalem. The king of Babylon, coming to the parting of the ways, hesitates which he shall take. He consults the oracle, draws lots by means of the arrows, and the arrow that he draws out in his right hand is the one inscribed “Jerusalem.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The third word of judgment. The king of Babylons march upon Judaea and upon the Ammonites. Destruction is to go forth not on Judah only, but also on such neighboring tribes as the Ammonites (compare Jer 27:2-3).
Eze 21:19
Appoint thee – Set before thee.
Choose thou a place, choose it – Rather, mark a spot, mark it, as upon a map, at the head of the two roads, one leading to Jerusalem, the other to Ammon. These were the two roads by one or other of which an invading army must march from Babylon to Egypt.
Eze 21:21
The Chaldaean king is depicted standing at the entrance of the holy land from the north, meditating his campaign, using rites of divination that really belonged to the Akkadians, a primitive race which originally occupied the plains of Mesopotamia. The Accadians and the Etruscans belong through the Finnish family to the Turanian stock; this passage therefore shows a characteristic mode of divination in use among two widely separated nations; and as the Romans acquired their divination from the conquered Etruscans, so the Chaldaeans acquired the same art from the races whose soil they had occupied as conquerors.
He made his arrows briqht – Rather, he shook his arrow; a mode of divination much in practice with the Arabians. It was usual to place in some vessel three arrows, on one of which was written, My God orders me; on the other, My God forbids me; on the third was no inscription. These three arrows were shaken together until one came out; if it was the first, the thing was to be done; if the second, it was to be avoided; if the third, the arrows were again shaken together, until one of the arrows bearing a decided answer should come forth.
Images – Teraphim (Gen 31:19 note).
He looked in the liver – It was the practice both of the Greeks and the Romans (derived from the Etruscans) to take omens from the inspection of the entrails (especially the liver) of animals offered in sacrifice.
Eze 21:22
The divination for Jerusalem – The lot fixing the campaign against Jerusalem.
Eze 21:23
It shalt be unto them – The Jews in their vain confidence shall look upon the hopes gathered from the divinations by the Babylonians as false and groundless.
To them that have sworn oaths – According to some, oaths of oaths are theirs; i. e., they have the most solemn oaths sworn by God to His people, in these they trust, forgetful of the sin which broke the condition upon which these promises were given. More probably the allusion is to the oaths which the Jews had sworn to Nebuchadnezzar as vassals Eze 17:18-19; therefore they trust he will not attack them, forgetting how imperfectly they had kept their oaths, and that Nebuchadnezzar knew this.
But he will call to remembrance the iniquity – The king of Babylon will by punishment remind them of their perjury 2Ki 25:6-7; 2Ch 36:17.
Eze 21:25
Profane – Rather, wounded, – not dead but – having a death-wound. The prophet, turning from the general crowd, addresses Zedekiah.
When iniquity shall have an end – i. e., at the time when iniquity shall be closed with punishment. So in Eze 21:29.
Eze 21:26
The diadem (the mitre, the unique head-dress of the high priest) shall be removed, and the crown taken off (this shall not be as it is), the low exalted, and the high abased. Glory shall be removed alike from priest and king; the present glory and power attached to the government of Gods people shall be quite removed.
Eze 21:27
It shall be no more – Or, This also shall not be; the present state of things shall not continue: all shall be confusion until He come to whom the dominion belongs of right. Not Zedekiah but Jeconiah and his descendants were the rightful heirs of Davids throne. Through the restoration of the true line was there hope for Judah (compare Gen 49:10), the promised King in whom all power shall rest – the Son of David – Messiah the Prince. Thus the prophecy of destruction ends for Judah in the promise of restoration (as in Eze 20:40 ff).
Eze 21:28
The burden of the Song of the Sword, also in the form of poetry, is again taken up, directed now against the Ammonites, who, exulting in Judahs destruction, fondly deemed that they were themselves to escape. For Judah there is yet hope, for Ammon irremediable ruin.
Their reproach – The scorn with which they reproach Judah (marginal references).
The sword … the glittering – Or, the sword is drawn for the slaughter; it is furbished that it may detour, in order that it may glitter. In the Septuagint (and Vulgate) the sword is addressed; e. g., Septuagint, Arise that thou mayest shine.
Eze 21:29
Whiles … unto thee – A parenthesis. The Ammonites had their false diviners who deluded with vain hopes.
To bring thee upon the necks of them that are slain – To cast thee (Ammon) upon the heap of slaughtered men.
Shall have an end – Shall have its final doom.
Eze 21:30
Shall I cause it to return … – Or, Back to its sheath! The work of the sword is over.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
The word of the Lord came unto me again,…. Immediately after the former; for this respects the same prophecy about the sword, and the way of its coming, and the cause of it:
saying; as follows:
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
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 of one land shall they both come forth, and draw a hand, at the cross road of the city do thou draw it. Eze 21:20. Make a way that the sword may come to Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and to Judah into fortified Jerusalem. Eze 21:21. For the king of Babylon is stopping at the cross road, at the parting of the two ways, to practise divination. He is shaking the arrows, inquiring of the teraphim, looking at the liver. Eze 21:22. The divination falls to his right: Jerusalem, to set battering-rams, to open the mouth with a death-cry, to lift up the voice with a war-cry, to set battering-rams at the gates, to heap up a rampart, to build siege towers. – After the picture of the terrible devastation which the sword of the Lord will produce, the last word of God in this prophecy answers the questions, in whose hand Jehovah will place His sword, and whom it will smite. The slayer into whose hand the sharpened sword is given (Eze 21:11) is the king of Babylon, and it will smite not only Judah, but the Ammonites also. Jerusalem and Judah will be the first to fall, and then the arch-enemy of the covenant nation, namely Ammon, will succumb to the strokes of the sword of Jehovah, in order that the embittered enemies of the Lord and His people may learn that the fall of Jerusalem is not, as they fancy, a proof of the impotence, but rather of the omnipotence, of its God. In this way does our prophecy expand into a prediction of the judgment which will fall upon the whole of the world in hostility to God. For it is only as the arch-enemies of the kingdom of God that the Ammonites come into consideration here. The parallel between Israel and the sons of Ammon is carried out in such a way as to give constant prominence to the distinction between them. Jerusalem will fall, the ancient theocracy will be destroyed till he shall come who will restore the right (Eze 21:26 and Eze 21:27). Ammon, on the other hand, will perish, and not a trace be left (Eze 21:31, Eze 21:32).
This prediction is exhibited to the eye by means of a sign. The prophet is to make two ways, i.e., to prepare a sketch representing a road leading from a country, viz., Babylon, and dividing at a certain spot into two roads, one of which leads to Rabbath-Ammon, the capital of the kingdom of the Ammonites, the other to Judah, into Jerusalem. He is to draw the ways for the coming ( ) of the sword of the king of Babylon. At the fork of the road he is to engrave a hand, , i.e., an index. signifies in the Piel to cut away (Jos 17:15, Jos 17:18), to dig or hew (Eze 23:47), here to engrave written characters in hard material. The selection of this word shows that Ezekiel was to sketch the ways upon some hard material, probably a brick or tile (cf. Eze 4:1). does not mean locus spatium , but a hand, i.e., an index. , the beginning of the road, i.e., the fork of the road (Eze 16:25), is explained in Eze 21:21, where it is called , mother of the road, inasmuch as the roads start from the point of separation, and , beginning of the two roads. , the road to a city. For Rabbath-Ammon, which is preserved in the ruins of Ammn, on the Upper Jabbok ( Nahr Ammn), see the comm. on Deu 3:11. The road to Judah is still more precisely defined by , into fortified Jerusalem, because the conquest of Jerusalem was the purpose of Nebuchadnezzar’s expedition. The omission of the article before may be explained from the nature of the participle, in which, even in prose, the article may be left out after a definite noun (cf. Ewald, 335 a). The drawing is explained in Eze 21:21 and Eze 21:22. The king of Babylon is halting ( , to stand still, stop) to consult his oracles, and inquire which of the two roads he is to take. , to take in hand, or practise divination. In order that he may proceed safely, he avails himself of all the means of divination at his command. He shakes the arrows (more strictly, the quiver with the arrows). On the practice itself Jerome writes as follows: “He consults the oracle according to the custom of his nation, putting his arrows into a quiver, and mixing them together, with the names of individuals inscribed or stamped upon them, to see whose arrow will come out, and which state shall be first attacked.”
(Note: The arrow-lot ( Belomantie ) of the ancient Greeks (Homer, Il. iii. 324, vii. 182, 183) was similar to this; also that of the ancient Arabs (vid., Pococke, Specim. hist. Arab. pp. 327ff., and the passages from Nuweiri quoted by Reiske, Samml. einiger Arab. Sprichwrter von den Stecken oder Stben, p. 21). Another kind, in which the lot was obtained by shooting off the arrows, was common according to the Fihrist el Ulum of En-Nedm among the Hananian Ssabians (see Chwolsohn, Ssabier, ii. pp. 26 and 119, 200).)
He consults the Teraphim, or Penates, worshipped as oracular deities and gods of good fortune (see the comm. on Gen 31:19 and my Biblical Archaeology, 90). Nothing is known concerning the way in which these deities were consulted and gave their oracles. He examines the liver. The practice of , extispicium , in which signs of good or bad luck, of the success or failure of any enterprise, were obtained from the peculiar condition of the liver of the sacrificial animals, was a species of divination to which great importance was attached by both the Babylonians (vid., Diod. Sic. ii. 29) and the Romans (Cicero, de divin. vi. 13), and of which traces were found, according to Barhebr. Chron. p. 125, as late as the eighth century of the Christian era among the Ssabians of Haran.
The divination resulted in a decision for Jerusalem. is not to be translated “in his right hand was,” but “into his right hand there came.” : (lxx), (Chald.), does not mean lot (Ges.), but soothsaying, divination. is connected with this in the form of a noun in apposition: the divination which indicated Jerusalem. The right hand is the more important of the two. The meaning of the words cannot be more precisely defined, because we are not acquainted with the king of divination referred to; even if we were to take the words as simply relating to the arrow in this sense, that an arrow with the inscription “Jerusalem” came into his right hand, and thus furnished the decision, which was afterwards confirmed by consulting the Teraphim and examining the liver. But the circumstance itself, that is to say, the fact that the divination coincided with the purpose of God, must not be taken, as Hvernick supposes, as suggesting a point of contact between Hebraism and the soothsaying of heathenism, which was peculiar to Ezekiel or to the time of the captivity. All that is proved by this fact is, that even heathenism is subject to the rule and guidance of Almighty God, and is made subservient to the accomplishment of the plans of both His kingdom and His salvation. In the words, to set bettering rams, etc., the substance of the oracle obtained by Nebuchadnezzar is more minutely given. It is a double one, showing what he is to do: viz., (1) to set bettering rams, i.e., to proceed to the siege of Jerusalem, as still further described in the last portion of the verse (Eze 4:2); and (2) to raise the war-cry for storming the city, that is to say, to take it by storm. The two clauses ‘ and ‘ are synonymous; they are not “pure tautology,” however, as Hitzig affirms, but are chosen for the purpose of giving greater emphasis to the thought. The expression creates some difficulty, inasmuch as the phrase “ ut aperiat os in caede ” (Vulg.), to open the mouth in murder or ruin, i.e., to put to death or lay in ruins, is a very striking one, and could hardly be justified as an “energetic expression for the battle-cry” (Hvernick). does not mean “to,” and cannot indicate the intention, all the less because is parallel to , where is that in which the raising of the voice expresses itself. There is nothing left then but to take in the sense of field-or war-cry, and to derive this meaning either from or, per metathesin, from .
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Judgments Predicted. | B. C. 592. |
18 The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying, 19 Also, thou son of man, appoint thee two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come: both twain shall come forth out of one land: and choose thou a place, choose it at the head of the way to the city. 20 Appoint a way, that the sword may come to Rabbath of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the defenced. 21 For 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. 22 At 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. 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. 24 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye 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 ye are come to remembrance, ye shall be taken with the hand. 25 And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, 26 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. 27 I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.
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 Chaldean army coming against Jerusalem and determined by a supreme power so to do. The prophet must appoint him two ways, that is, he must upon a paper draw out two roads (v. 19), as sometimes is done in maps; and he must bring the king of Babylon’s army to the place where the roads part, for there they will make a stand. They both come out of the same land; but when they come to the place where one road leads to Rabbath, the head city of the Ammonites, and the other to Jerusalem, he makes a pause; for, though he is resolved to be the ruin of both, yet he is not determined which to attack first; here his politics and his politicians leave him at a loss. The sword must go either to Rabbath or to Judah in Jerusalem. Many of the inhabitants of Judah had now taken shelter in Jerusalem, and all the interests of the country were bound up in the safety of the city, and therefore it is called Judah in Jerusalem the defenced; so strongly fortified was it, both by nature and art, that it was thought impregnable, Lam. iv. 12. The prophet must describe this dilemma that the king of Babylon is at (v. 21); for the king of Babylon stood (that is, he shall stand considering what course to take) at the head of the two ways. Though he was a prince of great foresight and great resolution, yet, it seems, he knew neither his own interest nor his own mind. Let not the wise man then glory in his wisdom nor the mighty man in his arbitrary power, for even those that may do what they will seldom know what to do for the best. Now observe, 1. The method he took to come to a resolution; he used divination, applied to a higher and invisible power, perhaps to the determination of Providence by a lot, in order to which he made his arrows bright, that were to be drawn for the lots, in honour of the solemnity. Perhaps Jerusalem was written on one arrow and Rabbath on the other, and that which was first drawn out of the quiver he determined to attack first. Or he applied to the direction of some pretended oracle: he consulted with images or teraphim, expecting to receive audible answers from them. Or to the observations which the augurs made upon the entrails of the sacrifices: he looked in the liver, whether the position of that portended good or ill luck. Note, It is a mortification to the pride of the wise men of the earth that in difficult cases they have been glad to make their court to heaven for direction; as it is an instance of their folly that they have taken such ridiculous ways of doing it, when in cases proper for an appeal to Providence it is sufficient that the lot be cast into the lap, with that prayer, Give a perfect lot, and a firm belief that the disposal thereof is not fortuitous, but of the Lord, Prov. xvi. 33. 2. The resolution he was hereby brought to. Even by these sinful practices God served his own purposes and directed him to go to Jerusalem, v. 22. The divination for Jerusalem happened to be at his right hand, which, according to the rules of divination, determined him that way. Note, What services God designs men for he will be sure in his providence to lead them to, though perhaps they themselves are not aware what guidance they are under. Well, Jerusalem being the mark set up, the campaign is presently opened with the siege of that important place. Captains are appointed for the command of the forces to be employed in the siege, who must open the mouth in the slaughter, must give directions to the soldiers what to do and make speeches to animate them. Orders are given to provide every thing necessary for carrying on the siege with vigour; battering rams must be prepared and forts built. O what pains, what cost, are men at to destroy one another!
II. He must show both the people and the prince that they bring this destruction upon themselves by their own sin.
1. The people do so, Eze 21:23; Eze 21:24. They slight the notices that are given them of the judgment coming. Ezekiel’s prophecy is to them a false divination; they are not moved or awakened to repentance by it. When they hear that Nebuchadnezzar by his divination is directed to Jerusalem, and assured of success in that enterprise, they laugh at it and continue secure, calling it a false divination; because they have sworn oaths, that is, they have joined in a solemn league with the Egyptians, and they depend upon the promise they have made them to raise the siege, or upon the assurances which the false prophets have given them that it shall be raised. Or it may refer to the oaths of allegiance they had sworn to the king of Babylon, but had violated, for which treachery of theirs God had given them up to a judicial blindness, so that the fairest warnings given them were slighted by them as false divinations. Note, It is not strange if those who make a jest of the most sacred oaths can make a jest likewise of the most sacred oracles; for where will a profane mind stop? But shall their unbelief invalidate the counsel of God? Are they safe because they are secure? By no means; nay, the contempt they put upon divine warnings is a sin that brings to remembrance their other sins, and they may thank themselves if they be now remembered against them. (1.) Their present wickedness is discovered. Now that God is contending with them so perverse and obstinate are they that whatever they offer in their own defence does but add to their offence; they never conducted themselves so ill as they did now that they had the loudest call given them to repent and reform: “So that in all your doings your sins do appear. Turn yourselves which way you will, you show a black side.” This is too true of every one of us; for not only there is none that lives and sins not, but there is not a must man upon earth that does good and sins not. Our best services have such allays of weakness, and folly, and imperfection, and so much evil is present with us even when we would do good, that we may say, with sorrow and shame, In all our doings, and in all our sayings too, our sins do appear, and witness against us, so that if we were under the law we were undone. (2.) This brings to mind their former wickedness: “You have made your iniquity to be remembered, not by yourselves that it might be repented of, but by the justice of God that it might be reckoned for. Your own sins make the sins of your fathers to be remembered against you, which otherwise you should never have smarted for.” Note, God remembers former iniquities against those only who by the present discoveries of their wickedness show that they do not repent of them. (3.) That they may suffer for all together, they are turned over to the destroyed, that they may be taken (v. 23): “You shall be taken with the hand that God had appointed to seize you and to hold you and out of which you cannot escape.” Men are said to be God’s hand when they are made use of as the ministers of his justice, Ps. xvii. 14. Note, Those who will not be taken with the word of God’s grace shall at last be taken by the hand of his wrath.
2. The prince likewise brings his ruin upon himself. Zedekiah is the prince of Israel, to whom the prophet here, in God’s name, addresses himself; and, if he had not spoken in God’s name, he would not have spoken so boldly, so bluntly; for is it fit to say to a king, Thou art wicked? (1.) He gives him his character, v. 25. Thou profane and wicked prince of Israel! He was not so bad as some of his predecessors, and yet bad enough to merit his character. He was himself profane, lost to every thing that is virtuous and sacred. And he was wicked, as he promoted sin among his people; he sinned, and made Israel to sin. Note, Profaneness and wickedness are bad in any, but worst of all in a prince, a prince of Israel, who as an Israelite should know better himself, and as a prince should set a better example and have a better influence on those about him. (2.) He reads him his doom. His iniquity has an end; the measure of it is full, and therefore his day has come, the day of his punishment, the day of divine vengeance. Note, Though those who are wicked and profane may flourish awhile, yet their day will come to fall. The sentence here passed is, [1.] That Zedekiah shall be deposed. He has forfeited his crown, and he shall no longer wear it; he has by his profaneness profaned his crown, and it shall be cast to the ground (v. 26): Remove the diadem. Crowns and diadems are losable things; it is only in the other world that there is a crown of glory that fades not away, a kingdom that cannot be moved. The Chaldee paraphrase expounds it thus: Take away the diadem from Seraiah the chief priest, and I will take away the crown from Zedekiah the king; neither this nor that shall abide in his place, but shall be removed. This shall not be the same, not the same that he has been; this not this (so the word is); profane and wicked perhaps he is as he has been. Note, Men lose their dignity by their iniquity. Their profaneness and wickedness remove their diadem, and take off their crown, and make them the reverse of what they were. [2.] That great confusion and disorder in the state shall follow hereupon. Every thing shall be turned upside down. The conqueror shall take a pride in exalting him that is low and abasing him that is high, preferring some and degrading others, at his pleasure, without any regard either to right or merit. [3.] Attempts to re-establish the government shall be blasted and come to nothing, Gedaliah’s particularly, and Ishmael’s who was of the seed-royal (to which the Chaldee paraphrase refers this); neither of them shall be able to make any thing of it. I will overturn, overturn, overturn, first one project and then another; for who can build up what God will throw down? [4.] This monarchy shall never be restored till it is fixed for perpetuity in the hands of the Messiah. There shall be no more kings of the house of David after Zedekiah, till Christ comes, whose right the kingdom is, who is that seed of David in whom the promise was to have its full accomplishment, and I will give it to him. He shall have the throne of his father David, Luke i. 32. Immediately before the coming of Christ there was a long eclipse of the royal dignity, as there was also a failing of the spirit of prophecy, that his shining forth in the fulness of time both as king and prophet might appear the more illustrious. Note, Christ has an incontestable title to the dominion and sovereignty both in the church and in the world; the kingdom is his right. And, having the right, he shall in due time have the possession: I will give it to him; and there shall be a general overturning of all rather than he shall come short of his right, and a certain overturning of all the opposition that stands in his way to make room for him, Dan 2:45; 1Co 15:25. This is mentioned here for the comfort of those who feared that the promise made in David would fail for evermore. “No,” says God, “that promise is sure, for the Messiah’s kingdom shall last for ever.”
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
NO KING FOR ISRAEL UNTIL THE MESSIAH SHOULD COME
Verses 18-27:
Verses 18, 19 call upon Ezekiel to draw or cut out a visual sketch, to demonstrate on a table or tablet, a visual view of the coming invasion of the land of Israel and siege of the holy city, Jerusalem. The invasion was to be by two ways or routes, over which the kings of Babylon’s army would swoop down upon all Israel, Eze 5:13. In this sketch He was told of the Lord to choose or cut a place “at the head of the way to the city,” referring to sharp signs that would directly point to the city, evidently of Jerusalem; For it was both the political and religious center of the land to which the sword of Babylon was ultimately to cut or slaughter.
Verse 20 directed Ezekiel that the sketch he is to use as a visible aid in delivering his prophecy is to appoint or sketch the way the sword shall go; first, to Rabbath of the Ammonites, Eze 25:5; Jer 49:2; Amo 1:14. And second, to the fenced city of Jerusalem in Judah. The Ammonites were idol worshipers who induced Israel to fall, hence they were to share her early judgments. Next Jerusalem, the royal city, fenced city was to fall, Deu 28:52. Israel’s defenses were raised in vain, under her rebellious state, 2Sa 12:26.
Verse 21 recounts that the king of Babylon, Balshazzar led his army to the border of Babylon on the west to the point of the fork in the road or dividing of the ways, where one road parted to lead to Rabbath of the Ammonites and the other toward Jerusalem in Judah. Uncertain which road to take he resorted to some type of divination. Three forms were then prevalent among the Chaldeans; 1) Two arrows were taken and names or marks were put on them; they were mixed, then one was drawn out, a form of chance practiced by the Arabs until the time of Mohammed, and forbidden in the Koran, 2) another form of divination for making decisions was to look at the liver of an animal, of a newly-killed sacrifice, and judging whether good or bad was signified by an healthy or unhealthy liver, 3) a third form of divination was by consulting images of family gods, the teraphim from whom it was thought future events might be determined, Gen 31:19; Gen 31:34; Jdg 17:5; Jdg 18:14.
Verse 22 states that at his (Nebuchadnezzar’s) right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, perhaps with Jerusalem on the marked arrow. It was then held up as encouraging the army to march on Jerusalem, Exo 32:17-18; Jos 6:10; Jos 6:20; 1Sa 17:20; Jer 51:14. Captains were then appointed to “open the mouth”, in the slaughter or to lead in the loud slaughter-shout, as they went into battle to make battering rams against the gates, cast or build up a mount (mound of dirt) to go over the walls of the city, and to build a fort or fortress nearby, Jer 32:24; Jer 33:4; Jer 52:4.
Verse 23 declares that the divination shall be as a fake or false thing in the sight of Israel who had sworn oaths, to both the God of Israel and, the king of Babylon and broken pledges to both. The pretentious claims of divination in directing Nebuchadnezzar and his army to Jerusalem was a remembrance and a reproof to Israel for her following these very same practices, Jer 17:3.
Verse 24 announces that in all their doings, their practices in Babylon, their iniquity did appear, as it had in their transgressions in the land of Israel, Gen 13:13. Such sins were as those related on the day of atonement when a “remembrance was made of sins,” Leviticus 16 th ch., Heb 10:3. Then they confessed their sins, and were forgiven, but now they refused to acknowledge their guilt, so they stand for punishment, Eze 18:2.
Verse 25 addresses the profane prince of Israel as a wicked prince or ruler, (Zedekiah) whose time had come, when iniquity should surely be punished, Gen 15:16; Eze 17:19; 2Ch 36:13; Jer 52:2.
Verse 26 announces that the Lord had called for removal of the diadem and the crown. The diadem was “the mitre” of the High Priest of Israel, Exodus chs. 28, 29; Leviticus chs. 8, 16. The crown refers to that of the King in Israel, 2Sa 12:30; 1Ch 20:2. Both the priestly and kingly offices are one day to be restored, Zec ch. 6. The sins of the exalted and the low were to be punished together in Israel’s judgment for her sins, Luk 1:52.
Verse 27 asserts that the Lord will overthrow or overturn, three times stated for intensive emphasis, so that it should be no more, as in days of old, meaning Jerusalem should be totally destroyed and the land ravaged and the sanctuaries destroyed. This was to continue until He comes whose royal right it shall be to rule the city
and land, Gen 49:10; Zec 6:13; Num 24:19; Act 3:14; Heb 7:26; Zec 9:9; Luk 1:32-33; Joh 1:49. The mitre and the crown are met in the coming Messiah.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
EXEGETICAL NOTES.(Eze. 21:18-22). The sword of the king of Babylon will smite Jerusalem, and then the Ammonites.
Eze. 21:19. Appoint thee two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come. The force of this word, appoint, is to draw a symbolic sketch, to give an ocular demonstration. Ezekiel is to draw on a table or tablet a sketch of the siege of Jerusalem. The Hebrew word rendered choose in the latter part of the verse has the primary meaning of to cut, and points to the cutting or engraving of a representation. Both twain shall come forth out of one land. Or, the land of one, i.e., the land of the Babylonish king, from which both ways shall proceed. Choose thou a place, choose it at the head of the way to the city. The one land whence the two ways proceeded was that of Babylon, and the ways ran in a westerly direction; the more northerly by Riblah in Syria; and the more southerly by Tadmor, or Palmyra, in the desert. The former was that usually taken from Babylon to Jerusalem; the latter from the same city to Rabbah on the east of the Jordan. The prophet is directed to choose a place at the head of the way, or as it is literally, to cut a hand (Heb. yod, a hand or a sign), a sign pointing to the direction in which the Chaldean army was to proceed. This he was to place at the head or commencement of the way, where the two roads separated, each taking its own course; while we are necessarily to understand its being made to point towards that which the King of Babylon was to select, as we are taught in Eze. 21:21. Our authorised translators have adopted the secondary signification of the word to cut, by rendering it choose. That the hand is not supposed to have been formed by sculpture, would appear from the circumstance that, in case it had been so, a different Hebrew verb would have been employed. It may have been made of wood, just like our finger-posts, with the representation of a city cut in it. The word city is purposely indefinite, the Article being left to be supplied by the consciences of those whom the prophet addressed.Henderson.)
Eze. 21:20. That the sword may come to Rabbah of the Ammonites. It may at first sight appear inappropriate that Rabbah, the metropolis of the country of the Ammonites, should be mentioned before Jerusalem, the guilty city against which the prophet was especially commissioned to denounce the Divine judgments; but, considering to what an extent the Jews had adopted the idols of the Ammonites, there was a singular propriety in first taking up the heathen city, to intimate that as the Jews had participated in its crimes so they might expect to share in its punishment. Rabbah of the children of Ammon, so called to distinguish it from a city of the same name in the tribe of Judah. It was built on the banks of the river Moret-Amman, which empties itself into the Jabbok. (Henderson.) Judah in Jerusalem the defenced. The royal house of Judah was the special object of Nebuchadnezzars indignation. The defenced; same word as in Deu. 28:52, thy high and fenced walls, wherein thou trustedst. It was Zedekiahs trust in the strong fortifications of Jerusalem that led him to break faith with his sovereign. Instead of simply expressing the name of Jerusalem, the other metropolis, that of the inhabitants is prefixed, to mark them as the guilty objects of the Divine indignation. The reason why Jerusalem is here said to be defenced would seem to be to intimate the vain confidence which the Jews reposed in their fortifications. (Henderson.)
Eze. 21:21. 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. Nebuchadnezzar is supposed to have marched his army to a certain point to the west of Babylon, where the road branched off into the two referred to. The parting (Heb. the mother of the way), so-called, not as generally supposed, because there the road divided, for that is immediately afterwards described as the head of the two ways, but because it was the principal road. Here the monarch is represented as having been at a loss to determine which of the routes he should take; and, in order to decide, as having recourse to divination. Of this as practised by the ancients there were different kinds, some of which are here mentioned. Made his arrows bright; Heb. he shook the arrowsi.e., the helmet, quiver, or whatever else they were put into. It is most probable that he caused the name Jerusalem to be inscribed on one arrow, and Rabbah on another, and mixing them with others, determined to march against the city whose name was first drawn out. This mode of divining by arrows was practised by the Arabs till the time of Mohammed, who strictly prohibited it in the Koran. Another species of divination to which the King of Babylon had recourse, was that of looking into the liver or the entrails of a newly-killed sacrifice, and judging that any undertaking would be prosperous or otherwise according as they were found in a healthy or unhealthy state. This art is mentioned by Diodorus as practised among the Chaldeans. Not satisfied with the use of these two species of divination, Nebuchadnezzar consulted the Teraphim, which appear to have been penates or family gods, from whom it was thought possible to obtain information relative to future events (Gen. 31:19; Gen. 31:34; Jdg. 17:5; Jdg. 18:14).(Henderson.)
Eze. 21:22. At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem. The king with his right hand draws out the arrow on which was marked the name Jerusalem. The omen decides for him, and he is represented as holding up the arrow to encourage his army in their march against Jerusalem.To open the mouth in the slaughter. This expression cannot well be taken in its usual signification of murder, but must be understood, as Gesenius explains, as an outbreak of the voice; both terms thus energetically expressing the horrible war-shout of the Chaldean soldiers when commencing the attack.(Henderson.) The slaughter-cry of the besiegers is called slaughter, because the slaughter is virtually contained in it.(Hengstenberg).
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
C. The Sword of the King of Babylon 21:1827
TRANSLATION
(18) And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, (19) Now as for you, son of man, make for yourself two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come; the two of them shall come forth out of one land; and fashion it. (20) You shall make a way that the sword may come to Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and to Judah in the fortress of Jerusalem. (21) For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to employ divination; he shakes the arrows, he inquires of the teraphim, he observes the liver. (22) In his right hand is the divination of Jerusalem to set battering rams to open the mouth for the slaughter, to lift the voice in a battle cry, to set battering rams against the gates, to construct mounds, to build siege forts. (23) And it shall be unto them as false divination in their sight, who have sworn oaths unto them. But he brings iniquity to remembrance, that they may be taken. (24) Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have caused your iniquity to be remembered in that your transgressions have been uncovered, so that your sins appear in all your deeds; because you are remembered, you shall be seized with the hand. (25) And you, O profane and wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, in the iniquity of the end; (26) thus says the Lord GOD: The turban shall be removed, and the crown shall be taken off; things will be thrown into confusion; the lowly shall be exalted, and the high shall be brought low. (27) A ruin, a ruin, a ruin I have made it; this also shall not be until he come whose right it is, and I will give it to him.
COMMENTS
Ezekiel received a new revelation (Eze. 21:18) in which he was commanded to sketch a road which, at a certain point, branched in two directions. The road came forth out of one land, i.e., out of the land of Babylon. That was the road which Gods divinely appointed sword, the king of Babylon, would travel. At the crossroads the prophet was to draw, or perhaps cut out and place, a signpost (literally, a hand) pointing the way to the city, i.e., Jerusalem (Eze. 21:19). The other branch in that road led to Rabbah Ammon (Eze. 21:20).
His props in place, Ezekiel was to depict the king of Babylon standing at that crossroads attempting to discover by means of pagan divination which of those two routes to travel. Three forms of divination are mentioned. Shaking the arrows involved writing the names of the two objectives on arrows, shaking them up in the quiver, and drawing forth one of them. The precise manner by which the small household gods called teraphim were used to receive oracular direction is unknown. Examining the color and markings of a liver from a sacrificial animal, however, is a well-known form of divination among the Babylonians, although this is the only place the custom is mentioned in the Scriptures (Eze. 21:21).
Ezekiel pictures Nebuchadnezzar drawing two arrows from the quiver. The one in the right hand had the name Jerusalem written on it. His pagan divination informed him that he was to employ every siege weapon to assault the city battering rams to assault the walls and gates; mounds of earth and mobile forts from which to hurl missiles over the walls. As he attacked Jerusalem his men would open the mouth for the slaughter, i.e., lift up their voices in blood-curdling battle cries designed to terrify the inhabitants of the city (Eze. 21:22).
To the men of Jerusalem. what Nebuchadnezzar had done was but vain divination. Still they lulled themselves into a false sense of security. They had escaped the kings wrath in the past by swearing oaths of allegiance to him,[352] and they were fully prepared to take such oaths again. But this time, says the prophet, Nebuchadnezzar would come to settle the account with the rebels he will bring iniquity to remembrance. This time they will be taken, i.e., seized by the invader and either slain or made prisoners (Eze. 21:23).
[352] The Hebrew reads literally, oaths of oaths are theirs. Keil thinks the reference is to the oaths of the Lord which He had sworn unto His people, They were trusting in divine promises of protection and deliverance, However, God would bring to remembrance their iniquity.
The iniquity of Judah had forced, not only the king of Babylon, but the Lord Himself to remember their iniquity. Their more recent transgressions had caused their former iniquities to be remembered before God. Because of their consistent record of willful disobedience they would fall into the hand of the God of judgment (Eze. 21:24).
Zedekiah is prophetically addressed in Eze. 21:25 as a profane and wicked prince. This weak-kneed monarch had shown himself to be unfaithful both to his overlord Nebuchadnezzar and to the God in whose name he had taken his vassal oath. Now his day had come. He had committed his final iniquity which brought down on him the final punishment (Eze. 21:25). He would lose the insignia of his rank. Things would be thrown into confusion.[353] The rulers of Judah would be brought down and abased; the humble citizens who heeded Gods word would be exalted (Eze. 21:26). The honors offered Jeremiah after the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem might be an example of the exaltation of the humble (cf. Jer. 40:5 f.). The monarchy would be in utter ruin (emphasized by the threefold repetition of the noun) as a result of the calamity which would befall Zedekiah. The monarchy would exist no more until he come whose right it is. There can be little doubt that this is a Messianic prediction. The kingly line would be overthrown and Gods people would remain without a king until that one arose who had been anticipated throughout Old Testament history. When Messiah finally came, the crown and diadem would be given to him, for he would be the culmination of everything to which the Davidic house and the Messianic kingship in Israel have always pointed.[354]
[353] Literally the Hebrew reads, thus not this. The paraphrase of Lofthouse has been followed here.
[354] Taylor, TOTC, p. 165.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
The Sword of the King of Babylon.
‘The word of Yahweh came to me again, saying, “Also you son of man, appoint two ways that the sword of the king of Babylon may come. Those two shall come forth out of one land. And mark out a place, mark it out at the head of the way to the city.” ’
The theme of the sword continues, although the prophesy is a separate one and not directly linked with what has gone before, for it is a new word from Yahweh.
Ezekiel is instructed to depict the advance of the king of Babylon, possibly by means of marks on the ground or on a tablet. He is to depict two possible routes that the king may take after leaving Babylon when he comes to a fork which offers him two ways. He is to draw special attention to this point at which the road divides, where the final decision as to what city is to be first advanced on is determined. It is the head of the way that leads to ‘the city’, Jerusalem (and of the way that leads to Rabbah in Ammon).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Sword of Babylon upon Judah and upon Ammon
v. 18. The word of the Lord came unto me again, saying, v. 19. Also, thou son of man, appoint thee two ways, v. 20. Appoint a way, v. 21. For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, v. 22. At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, v. 23. And it shall be unto them, v. 24. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Because ye have made your iniquity to be remembered, v. 25. And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, v. 26. Thus saith the Lord God, Remove the diadem, v. 27. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it, and it shall be no more, v. 28. And thou, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord God concerning the Ammonites and concerning their reproach, v. 29. whiles they see vanity unto thee, whiles they divine a lie unto thee, v. 30. Shall I cause it to return into his sheath? v. 31. And I will pour out Mine indignation upon thee, v. 32. Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Perhaps by the two ways is intended the double attack which the king of Babylon made on Jerusalem and the chief city of the Ammonites; but concerning which, as this scripture represents, he stood undetermined for a while which to destroy first. But what the Prophet is commissioned more particularly to declare thereby is, that had not sin been found in the Lord’s people, no weapon of the King of Babylon could have prospered. Reader! think how more than ordinarily offensive is sin in the people of God.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Eze 21:18 The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying,
Ver. 18. The word of the Lord. ] See on Eze 18:1 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Eze 21:18-23
18The word of the LORD came to me saying, 19As for you, son of man, make two ways for the sword of the king of Babylon to come; both of them will go out of one land. And make a signpost; make it at the head of the way to the city. 20You shall mark a way for the sword to come to Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and to Judah into fortified Jerusalem. 21For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination; he shakes the arrows, he consults the household idols, he looks at the liver. 22Into his right hand came the divination, ‘Jerusalem,’ to set battering rams, to open the mouth for slaughter, to lift up the voice with a battle cry, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast up ramps, to build a siege wall. 23And it will be to them like a false divination in their eyes; they have sworn solemn oaths. But he brings iniquity to remembrance, that they may be seized.
Eze 21:19-20 This is another acted-out parable at YHWH’s command (BDB 962, KB 1321, Qal IMPERATIVE). Apparently Ezekiel drew a map (mark, make, appoint, BDB 962, KB 1321, Qal IMPERATIVE) in the ground. At the fork in the road, one sign (cut down, cut out, inscribe, prepare a wooden sign [BDB 388], BDB 135, KB 153, Piel INFINITIVE ABSOLUTE, twice; in other TENSES this is the term for YHWH creating in Genesis 1) pointed to Riblah, the capital of Ammon, and the other fork pointed to Jerusalem, the capital of Judah. Ammon had also rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar II (cf. Jer 27:1-3). Both of these capitals deserved and received judgment, Jerusalem first (Eze 21:22)!
Eze 21:21 This verse describes three Babylonian means of knowing the will of the gods by divination.
1. putting the names on arrows and drawing one out (or spinning the quiver until one fell out) of the quiver or throwing arrows on the ground and analyzing their patterns
2. consulting the household idols or ancestral spirits by prayer and incense (i.e., teraphim, cf. Gen 31:19 ff)
3. examining a sheep’s liver for signs (i.e., color, shape, deformities)
God is asserting that even by means of pagan divination He will bring judgment on Jerusalem. God used this divination for His own purposes. He uses even evil to accomplish His purposes (i.e., the witch of Endor, 1 Samuel 28 and Balaam, Numbers 22-24)!
Eze 21:22 This verse has a series of INFINITIVE CONSTRUCTS that describes the Babylonian commander’s (possibly Nebuchadnezzar himself) orders (fulfills Eze 4:2)
1. to set battering rams
2. to open the mouth for slaughter (possibly, war cry, which would form a four-part chiasm with #1,2,3,4)
3. to lift up the voice with a battle cry
4. to set battering rams against the gates
5. to cast up mounds
6. to build a siege wall
For a good brief discussion of siege techniques see Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel, vol. 1, pp. 236-240.
Eze 21:23 This describes the reaction of the people of Jerusalem (cf. TEV). They think they are safe because of their political alliances (i.e., with Babylon or, more probably, Egypt).
The he can refer to
1. Ezekiel speaking for YHWH
2. YHWH Himself
Jerusalem is being judged because of her continuing covenant disobedience. Their God is now fighting against them!
they have sworn solemn oaths The Septuagint omits this phrase altogether. However, it may refer to a political alliance (cf. Eze 17:13; 2Ch 36:13).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Eze 21:18-23
Eze 21:18-23
“The word of Jehovah came to me again, saying, Also, thou son of man, appoint thee two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come; they twain shall come forth out of one land: and mark out a place, mark it out at the head of the way to the city. Thou shalt appoint a way to come to Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and to Judah in Jerusalem the fortified. For 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 to and fro, he consulted the teraphim, he looked in the liver. In his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to cast up the mounds to build forts. And it shall be unto them a false divination in their sight, who have sworn oaths unto them; but he bringeth iniquity in remembrance, that they may be taken.”
“Appoint thee two ways …” (Eze 21:18). These lines seem to be God’s explanation to Ezekiel of the meaning of that divination sought by Nebuchadnezzar, at the head of the two ways. “Damascus was the point at which the ancient trade routes separated.
“Mark out a place at the head of the way to the city …” (Eze 21:19). Since nothing is said of Ezekiel’s going all the way to Damascus, it could be that some crucial place on the road from Damascus to Jerusalem would be the place that Ezekiel was commanded to mark. In any case, the Jews did not believe it.
The three types of divination which Nebuchadnezzar consulted were: (1) he placed two arrows in a quiver, one marked Ammon, the other Jerusalem. He shook them and poured them out; the Jerusalem arrow came out first. We do not know how (2) the teraphim and (3) the liver were consulted. This is the first passage in which the terrible sword of the Lord is also identified as the sword of the king of Babylon.
“In his right hand is the divination for Jerusalem …” (Eze 21:22). This indicates that Nebuchadnezzar had reached into the bag with the arrows and pulled out the one marked Jerusalem, or that, after that arrow fell out, he picked it up with his right hand. In any case, it meant that Jerusalem would be attacked first. The whole verse, with its mention of battering rams, forts, the slaughter, the shouting, etc.
“It shall be unto them as a false divination …” (Eze 21:23). The remarkable thing in this verse is that the Jews themselves had depended upon such divinations, but now they refused to believe it. We believe that Ezekiel told the people of Nebuchadnezzar’s divination and the results of it, the information having come to the prophet by the direct revelation of God.
“He will call to remembrance …” (Eze 21:23). “This refers to Nebuchadnezzar, and the iniquity he will call to remembrance is the perjury and treason of the king of Israel, Zedekiah.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Eze 21:18-19, Two ways represents the king of Babylon in his march out of Babylon and coming to a point where two directions appeared before him. He is undecided as to which course to take but the prophet is told to choose it for him. We have learned that God takes a hand in the affairs of the nation (Dan 2:21; Dan 4:17), thus He will decide the present question for the king of Babylon. That decision will be that the Babylonian forces will be directed to follow up both ways since the numerous forces of Nebuchadnezzar would enable him thus to act.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
The model of the map 21:18-27
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The Lord also commanded Ezekiel to make a representation of two roads coming out of Babylon by which judgment from Yahweh would come. Perhaps he did this by drawing in the dirt or on a tablet. Really there was to be one road leaving Babylon that diverged as it approached Jerusalem, and there was to be a signpost at the fork in the road. One of this road’s branches would go to Rabbah, the capital city of the Ammonites to the east of Judah. The other branch would lead to Jerusalem. Geographically this fork was at Damascus.