Ezekiel 21:1-7
The sword was coming and it seemed no one believed it. Ezekiel was to preach against the temp (holy places) and against the land. This would never be well received and Ezekiel's message was likely summarily rejected without consideration. The imagery is that of the Lord drawing his sword in Judgment; yet that judgment would come by way of the Babylonians. When the sword was drawn, both righteous and unrighteous would suffer. When it came, all flesh would be cut off and no one would escape.
The 'sigh' of Ezekiel was a groan of belief, of pain and sorrow for what was coming. It was the sigh of the broken hearted. When asked why he was sighing, his answer was to describe their reaction when it came;
- Every heart will melt.
- All hands will be feeble.
- Every Spirit would faint.
- All knees will be weak.
Ezekiel 21:8-17
There was a Babylonian poem that depicted a divine destroyer who came with lightning. The Akkadian sign for light and sword was the same. This may be a reference to that divine judgment by the sword of Babylon that flashes like lightning. Verse 10 asked them if they should we rejoice in the fall of the wicked king. That would despise the people, the branches of the rod.
The sword was coming. Ezekiel was to cry and wail and strike his thigh (a gesture of mourning and lament). Neither the king or the kingdom would survive.
Ezekiel is acting out some part of the prophecy in striking his hands together 3 times. He is acting out the execution with a sword.
Ezekiel 21:18-24
In another sign act, the prophet sets up a sign at a fork in the road. One way leads to Rabbah, capital of Ammon and the other to Jerusalem. He depicts the king of Babylon using divination to choose the way. He shakes his arrows – like drawing straws; consults images of the dead; reads the liver of a sacrificed animal. When he chooses Jerusalem, those who were trusting in the treaty of with Babylon will cry foul. They say it was a false divination. But the Lord will bring to mind the guilt of their iniquity.
Ezekiel 21:25-27
Zedekiah broke the covenant with Babylon and rebelled against them. He would be removed as king by way of judgment. The humbling of the exalted is the reversal of things.
Ezekiel 21:28-32
At the fork in the road, the king of Babylon had two choices; one was Jerusalem, the other Ammon. The king chose to siege Jerusalem and Judah but Ammon was not to feel safe as if they had escaped. The divinations of escaping judgment were false. Their judgment would come. But the sword of Babylon, the tool of God's judgment, would be put back in its sheath. The judgment of Ammon would come another way. The judgment looked very much like that of Judah but it would come from another.
Note: Some see the judgment of 31-32 to be that of Babylon after the Lord is done with them.
©2019 Doug Ford
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