Chapter xxi.

"Then said I, Oh, Lord God! they say of me, Doth he not speak in parables?" This is the last verse of the preceding chapter. It showed the hardened conditions of their hearts, which rejected the Word of God, the word of warning and the call to repentance. These sad conditions of the people in Ezekiel's day are deeply significant for our times. We see the outwardly professing people of God, the large numbers of unsaved, nominal Christians in the same hardened condition. Though God speaks loudly, the Word is not heeded. A stronger judgment message follows in which the sword of the Lord is prominent. Critics have acknowledged the majestic character of the so-called "Song of the Sword," and say that the prophet now speaks in "maddened frenzy," carried away by his own passion, breaking out, "in a state of wild excitement," denouncing the nation. But it is not the prophet who gives way to his own feeling. The first verse dispels at once such a conception. "And the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying:" It is the Lord who speaks through Ezekiel.

I. The Sword to be Drawn.

And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel. 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. Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the south to the north: That all flesh may know that I the Lord have drawn forth my sword out of his sheath: it shall not return any more. Sigh, therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes. And it shall be, when they say unto thee, Wherefore sighest thou? that thou shall answer, For the tidings, because it cometh: and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water: behold, it cometh, and shall be brought to pass, saith the Lord God (verses 1-7).

A fearful word it is coming from the lips of Jehovah, who had yearned over Jerusalem and the nation, "Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked." It was to be an indiscriminate execution of God's judgment, those who claimed righteousness were to fall under the sword of vengeance like the wicked. It was to be a widespread judgment. "My sword shall go forth out of its sheath against all flesh--that all flesh may know that I the Lord have drawn forth my sword out of its sheath; it shall not return any more." While here it refers to all the nations, to Jerusalem as well as to Judea, there are other prophecies which include under the term "all flesh" the Gentile nations as well. "For by fire and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh, and the slain of the Lord shall be many" (Isa. lxvi:16). Fear and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth" (Isa. xxiv:17). This will be at the close of the present age. And do not the events in the world to-day indicate the rapid approach of the judgment sword?

And God's servant was commanded to sigh with bitterness before their eyes. He was to tell them the reason of his agony. "Because it cometh; and my heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water. Behold it cometh and shall be brought to pass, saith the Lord God." It was not the time for rejoicing, but for weeping and sighing. The prophet was called upon to show forth in his behavior the solemn days which were now to come. And our Lord has predicted for our age upon earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves thereof roaring. "Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven shall be shaken" (Luke xxi:25-26). But how little sighing with bitterness there is to-day among God's servants in view of what is in store for an ungodly and unbelieving age!

II. The Sharpening of the Sword.

Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the Lord; Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished: It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter; it is furbished that it may glitter: should we then make mirth? it contemneth the rod of my son, as every tree. And he hath given it to be furbished, that it may be handled: this sword is sharpened, and it is furbished, to give it into the hand of the slayer. Cry and howl, son of man; for it shall be upon my people, it shall be upon all the princes of Israel: terrors by reason of the sword shall be upon my people: smite therefore upon thy thigh. Because it is a trial, and what if the sword contemn even the rod? it shall be no more, saith the Lord God. Thou, therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite thine hands together, and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain: it is the sword of the great men that are slain, which entereth into their privy chambers. I have set the point of the sword against all their gates, that their heart may faint, and their ruins be multiplied: ah! it is made bright, it is wrapped up for the slaughter. Go thee one way or other, either on the right hand, or on the left, whithersoever thy face is set. I will also smite mine hands together, and I will cause my fury to rest: I the Lord have said it (verses 8-17).

The sword of judgment is now described as being prepared for the slaughter. How all this should have a meaning for us at the present time. All the nations of the earth, who boasted but yesterday of a civilization which makes for righteousness and peace, are either at war or are preparing for war. May we not see behind it all the sword of the Lord? Has He not begun judgment among those nations? The threatening vengeance of the Lord will ere long fall upon this age which so long has turned a deaf ear to the wooings of His love. And the question here is asked, "Should we then make mirth?" Is this the time of mirth, worldly enjoyment and indifference? Not for God's people who discern the signs of the times and who know from the Word of God the coming events. The place for us is in "Bochim" (Judges ii:4-5. "Bochim" means "Weeping.") The time of the sharpening of the sword is the time for His people to trim their lamps, for earnest heart-searching and prayer. The character of the unsaved, nominal "Christian" masses is also being clearly revealed. They show what they are, "lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God." Though the sword is being drawn and sharpened, they are given to mirth and pleasure, like the company described in 1 Sam. xxx:16. The sword of judgment will find them in their merry-making and will change all into weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Again the prophet is commanded to cry and to howl, to smite upon his thigh and to smite his hands together, in view of the coming terrors of judgment. And solemnly the Lord saith, "I will also smite mine hands together, and I will satisfy my fury."

III. The King of Babylon and His Divination.

The word of the Lord came unto me again, saying, 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. Appoint a way, that the sword may come to Rabbath of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the defenced. For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: he shook his arrows to and fro, he consulted with images, he looked in the liver. At this 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. 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. 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 (verses 18-24).

The King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, is the chosen instrument through whom the drawn and sharpened sword does its judgment work. He is seen in this paragraph using divination, to decide if he should go to Rabbath of the Ammonites or to Judah in Jerusalem. The King is standing at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways. First he used the arrows. The authorized version is faulty in its translation; it is not, "he made his arrows bright," but "he shook his arrows to and fro." The Babylonians used all kinds of enchantments, sorceries, as well as star-gazers, astrologers, etc., to be guided in their undertakings. (See Isa. xlvii:8-15). The King took two arrows and put upon each the name of the two cities mentioned; they were then shaken in the quiver and one was drawn out. He also used images (teraphim) which he consulted and looked into the liver. They generally killed a sheep and imagined that the different lines and formation of the liver gave them directions what to do. In the British Museum there is a Babylonian clay tablet with a sheep's liver covered with all kinds of lines and oracles. In the twenty-second verse we see the result of his divinations. He has pulled out of the quiver the arrow which has on it the word "Jerusalem." And so the siege of Jerusalem was prepared. But the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who heard of the King's divination, branded it as a false divination (verse 23). They still hoped that all attempts made by Nebuchadnezzar would fail. But the hand of God was guiding all, and in the last verse of this paragraph (verse 25) the Lord announces the hopelessness of their expectations.

IV. The Wicked Prince and the Coming One.

And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, 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. 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 (verses 25-27).

And now follows a most interesting utterance of the prophet which has a future meaning. There can be no question that Zedekiah is first of all in view as the profane wicked[15] prince of Israel. But the prophecy looks far beyond Zedekiah. It is the coming wicked prince, the one who comes in his own name, the final Antichrist, the false Messiah, or, as he is also called in Revelation, the false prophet. That verse 25 refers to the time of the end is seen by the words, "in the time of the iniquity of the end" (correct translation). The same phrase appears in Dan. xi:35-39, "the time of the end," and the person described in that passage is the Antichrist, the wicked prince. It is the time of the future great tribulation "when the transgressors are come to the full" (Dan. viii:23). This false Christ will claim priestly and kingly honors. He is the beast out of the earth (Rev. xiii) having two horns like a lamb, but speaking as a dragon. The two horns represent the priesthood and the kingship he assumes. And this we learn from verse 26 is the character of the wicked prince of Israel of whom Ezekiel speaks. Again, we must correct the faulty translation of the authorized version: "Remove the mitre and take off the crown"; the word "diadem" is mitre, the head-dress of the high-priest (Exod. xxviii:4). He wears the mitre of the priest and the crown of the king. He is Satan's final counterfeit (like the pope) of the Priest-King. In verse 27 the overturning times are mentioned. Thrice it is stated, "I will overturn." Even so will it be at the time of the end until He comes whose right it is. And the coming One, who will exalt what is low and abase what is high, who will remove the mitre and the crown from the Antichrist, destroying him by the brightness of His coming (2 Thess. ii) is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is interesting to see that there is in the Hebrew a word used which is very suggestive. In Genesis xlix:10 we have Christ spoken of as Shiloh. The word "until He come" in the Hebrew is almost the same as Shiloh; it is Shelloh. And surely the overturning times are almost upon us, and soon that profane wicked Prince may arise. However, we do not wait for that wicked one; we wait for the Lord.

[15] Literal translation is, "O deadly wounded wicked one, the Prince of Israel."

V. The Judgment to Fall Upon Ammon.

And thou, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord God concerning the Ammonites, and concerning their reproach; even say thou, The sword, the sword is drawn: for the slaughter it is furbished, to consume because of the glittering: While they see vanity unto thee, while they divine a lie unto thee, to bring thee upon the necks of them that are slain, of the wicked whose day is come, when their iniquity shall have an end. Shall I cause it to return into his sheath? I will judge thee in the place where thou wast created, in the land of thy nativity. And I will pour out mine indignation upon thee; I will blow against thee in the fire of my wrath, and deliver thee into the hand of brutish men, and skillful to destroy. Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire; thy blood shall be in the midst of the land; thou shalt be no more, for I the Lord have spoken it (verses 28-32).

The judgment came upon the Ammonites is threatened here. But it must not be overlooked that this prophecy also has a further meaning, for the same words "in the time of the iniquity of the end" (verse 29) appears here. And yet there is also promised for the future a restoration of Ammon (Jer. xlix:6).

JERUSALEM'S ABOMINATIONS.