Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 21:3
And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I [am] against thee, and will draw forth my sword out of his sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.
Verse 3. 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-removed by the sword; shall be slain in battle, or by the pestilence; and some shall be cut off – die by the famine; and some shall be cut off – removed from the land by captivity. Now, among the two latter classes there might be many righteous as well as wicked. And when all the provisions were consumed, so that there was no more bread in the city, during the siege by Nebuchadnezzar, the righteous must have suffered as well as the wicked; for they could not be preserved alive, but by miracle, when there was no bread; nor was their perishing for want any loss to them, because the Lord would take them straight to his glory. And however men in general are unwilling to die, yet there is no instance, nor can there be, of any man’s complaint that he got to heaven too soon. Again, if God had permitted none to be carried off captive but the wicked, the case of these would be utterly hopeless, as there would be none to set a good example, to preach repentance, to reprove sin, or to show God’s willingness to forgive sinners. But God, in his mercy, permitted many of the righteous to be carried off also, that the wicked might not be totally abandoned, or put beyond the reach of being saved. Hence, both Ezekiel and Daniel, and indeed several others, prophets and righteous men, were thus cut off from the land, and carried into captivity. And how much was God’s glory and the good of men promoted by this! What a seed of salvation was sown, even in the heathen countries, by thus cutting off the righteous with the wicked! To this we owe, under God, many of the Psalms, the whole of the Book of Ezekiel, all the prophecies of Daniel, the bright example of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, the decrees passed in favour of the religion of the true God by Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Darius, &c. And to this dispensation of God’s merciful providence we owe the Books and example of Ezra and Nehemiah. Where then is the injustice, so loudly declaimed against, of God’s thus cutting off from the land of Judea the righteous with the wicked? The righteous were not cut off for the crimes of the wicked, (see Eze 18:20, &c.,) nor were these crimes visited upon them, yet several of them shared in the common calamity, but none perished. Those that were removed by a violent death, (and I believe we shall find few such,) got a speedier entrance into eternal glory.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Publish it to all the people of the land, if any will consider it; it is not the severe and morose conjecture of a disturbed and injured man, let them know God the Lord speaks it. Weigh this, I say it is of great importance. You think yourselves more righteous than those that come against you, that they are heathen, you my peculiar people, that my temple is with you, and that I will be on your side; but be not deceived, for
I am, and I will be, against you.
Will draw forth as an enemy resolved to slay,
my sword, the Chaldean army under captains that are skilful to destroy, out of his sheath; I will bring them out of their land, where they are now quiet and at rest. This army shall not vanish, but effect what it is raised for, it shall make a general havoc.
Will cut off, or take away out of the midst of thee, partly by the sword, and partly by captivity, or by famine.
The righteous; some say here is meant such as seemed to be, but were not, just; but it is no unusual thing that in outward troubles and public calamities those who are indeed righteous should be involved with others, nor does this contradict any places which seem to promise a security to them; they may be chastised, but shall not be condemned.
And the wicked; profane, ungodly, and vicious ones, who shall be cut off with double destruction.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. righteous . . . wickednotcontradictory of Eze 18:4;Eze 18:9; Gen 18:23.Ezekiel here views the mere outward aspect of theindiscriminate universality of the national calamity. But reallythe same captivity to the “righteous” would prove ablessing as a wholesome discipline, which to the “wicked”would be an unmitigated punishment. The godly were sealed with a mark(Eze 9:4), not for outwardexemption from the common calamity, but as marked for the secretinterpositions of Providence, overruling even evil to their good. Thegodly were by comparison so few, that not their salvation but theuniversality of the judgment is brought into view here.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And say to the land of Israel,…. The inhabitants of it, signified by the “forest of the south field”, Eze 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 particular person; for there is no contending with him, or standing before him; there is always a reason for it, it is for sin when God is against a people, even his own professing people:
and will draw forth my sword out of his sheath; bring the Chaldean army out of Babylon; which interprets what is meant by the “fire” he would kindle in the land of Israel, Eze 20:47, namely, the sword of the enemy, which he would bring upon it; or war, with all its desolating train of judgments:
and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked; meant by the green and dry tree, Eze 20:47, who, though they shall not perish everlastingly together, yet may fall together in temporal calamities; the one may be chastised, and the other condemned; or the one be carried captive for their good, as Ezekiel and Daniel, c. and others be cut off by sword and famine and such as were captives, never the better for their captivity. The Targum is,
“I will remove out of thee thy righteous ones, that I may destroy thy wicked ones.”
Some think that only such who were righteous in appearance, or in their own sight, are here meant. R. Saadiah Gaon, as Kimchi quotes him, interprets them of such as were righteous to Baal, and served him continually, in distinction from such as were wicked to him, and did not serve him continually; and both were wicked before the Lord, and therefore justly cut off.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(3, 4) The righteous and the wicked.This explains the green tree and the dry of Eze. 20:47; and all flesh of Eze. 21:4-5, corresponds to all faces of the same. These expressions are meant to show the universality of the approaching desolation. The actual separation in Gods sight between the righteous and the wicked has already been plainly set forth in 9:4-6. But still in this, as in all national judgments, the innocent must of necessity be involved in the same temporal sufferings with the guilty. The general terms of this prophecy are to be limited by what is elsewhere said of the mercy which shall be shown to a remnant.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Eze 21:3. And say to the land of Israel The prophet addresses Jerusalem and Judaea, his face turned towards them, and speaks to them as if they were present. Instead of, will cut off from thee, Houbigant reads, will take away or carry off from thee; and he reads the fourth verse thus; Because thou hast taken away the righteous as well as the wicked from thee; therefore, &c. The plain meaning is, that the just as well as the wicked should be involved in the same common calamity, and should be carried away into captivity together; which we know was the case.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 21:3 And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I [am] against thee, and will draw forth my sword out of his sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.
Ver. 3. Behold, I am against thee. ] That is misery enough, for all the creatures are soon against such; as a nobleman’s servants draw their swords when their lord once draweth.
And will cut off from thee the righteous.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Behold. Figure of speech Asterismos. App-6.
draw forth My sword, See note on Eze 5:2, Eze 5:17, and Eze 12:14.
the righteous, &c. Therefore Eze 18:2, Eze 18:3, is not yet ful filled, but corresponds with the green tree and the dry of Eze 20:47.
the righteous = a righteous one.
the wicked = a lawless one. Heb, rasha’. App-44.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Behold: Eze 5:8, Eze 26:3, Jer 21:13, Jer 50:31, Jer 51:25, Nah 2:13, Nah 3:5
will draw: Eze 21:9-11, Eze 21:19, Eze 5:12, Eze 14:17, Eze 14:21, Exo 15:9, Lev 26:25, Lev 26:33, Deu 32:41, Deu 32:42, Psa 17:13, Isa 10:5, Isa 34:5, Jer 47:6, Jer 47:7, Jer 51:20, Zep 2:12, Zec 13:7
the righteous: Eze 9:5, Eze 9:6, Job 9:22, Ecc 9:2, Jer 15:2-4
Reciprocal: Eze 5:17 – and I Eze 13:8 – behold Eze 20:47 – from the south Eze 28:22 – I am against Eze 34:10 – I am Eze 35:3 – I am Luk 23:31 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 21:3, This verse was directed against the land of Israel in general, though its principal application was to the city of Jerusalem which was the capital and which was yet standing as per the preceding paragraph. The righteous and wicked were to be cut oft in that all classes regardless of personal character had to share in the national downfall. It is a proper time again to read the note offered in connection with 2Ki 22:17, volume 2 of this Commentary.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
21:3 And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I [am] against thee, and will draw forth my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off from thee the {b} righteous and the wicked.
(b) That is such which seem to have an outward show of righteousness by observation of the ceremonies of the law.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Ezekiel was to announce that Yahweh stood opposed to His people (cf. Luk 9:5; Luk 9:41; Luk 19:41; Luk 21:20-24). Instead of being their divine defender (cf. Deu 32:41; Jos 5:13-15; Isa 31:8; Isa 34:5-8; Isa 66:16; Jer 25:31; Jer 50:35-37; Zep 2:12), He was going to turn against them. He would put them to death with a sword (cf. fire, Eze 20:47-48), both the righteous (the green tree) and the wicked (the dry tree) throughout the whole land. The Book of Habakkuk deals with the problem of how and why God would use the wicked Babylonians as His instrument of chastening, a problem that the Israelites could not solve on their own. Everyone would know that He had been responsible for the judgment, and He would not sheath His sword (quench the fire, Eze 20:48). This chapter has more references to the sword of the Lord as a figure of God’s judgment than any other chapter in the Bible.
"Unfortunately, some of the righteous would suffer along with the wicked, but this is often the case in times of war." [Note: Wiersbe, p. 202.]