“Also, you son of man, appoint two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come. They both will come out of one land, and mark out a place. Mark it out at the head of the way to the city. You shall appoint a way for the sword 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 back and forth. He consulted the teraphim. He looked in the liver. In his right hand was the lot for Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast up mounds, and to build forts. It will be to them as a false divination in their sight, who have sworn oaths to them; but he brings iniquity to memory, that they may be taken.
“Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Because you have caused your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your doings your sins appear; because you have come to memory, you will be taken with the hand.
“ ‘You, deadly wounded wicked one, the prince of Israel, whose day has come, in the time of the iniquity of the end, the Lord Yahweh says: “Remove the turban, and take off the crown. This will not be as it was. Exalt that which is low, and humble that which is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it. This also will be no more, until he comes whose right it is; and I will give it.” ’
“You, son of man, prophesy, and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says this concerning the children of Ammon, and concerning their reproach: “A sword! A sword is drawn! It is polished for the slaughter, to cause it to devour, that it may be as lightning;
while they see for you false visions, while they divine lies to you, to lay you on the necks of the wicked who are deadly wounded, whose day has come in the time of the iniquity of the end.
Cause it to return into its sheath. In the place where you were created, in the land of your birth, I will judge you.
I will pour out my indignation on you. I will blow on you with the fire of my wrath. I will deliver you into the hand of brutish men, skillful to destroy.
You will be for fuel to the fire. Your blood will be in the middle of the land. You will be remembered no more; for I, Yahweh, have spoken it.” ’ ”
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv19, 20, 21, 23, 25, 26, 27, 29 This was spoken, because that when Nebuchadnezzar came against…
This was spoken, because that when Nebuchadnezzar came against Judah, his purpose was also to go against the Ammonites: but doubting in the way, which enterprise to undertake first he consulted with his soothsayers, and so went against Judah.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv19–32 Eze 21:19 Also, thou son of man, appoint thee…
Eze 21:19 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.
Ver. 19. Appoint thee two wags.] Pinge duas vias, ut Eze 4:1; by prophetic action draw out two ways, by either of which Nebuehadnezzar may march against Egypt, his present aim, as the great Turk’s now is Italy.
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Choose it at the head of the wag to the city.] All this the Jews heard and slighted, as being infatuated, and so fitted for destruction.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv19–32 Appoint; paint, mark out, or describe on the or…
Appoint; paint, mark out, or describe on the or tablet, as Eze 4:1, two roads, and set it before thy countrymen in Babylon, and let them know that the arms and sword of Nebuchadnezzar are designed for exploits, where those ways lead them. Thus typically Ezekiel foretells the invasion the king of Babylon would make.
Both twain; the ways, though two in the course they lead, as stream that divide and multiply, yet must take their rise from one and the same land, that is, Babylon; there the prophet must begin to mark out the way which is to he drawn out: till it divide into two. And pitch on some convenience place, where thou mayst place Nebuchadnezzar’s army, he and his council of war consulting where this one way divides into two, which was on the edge of the desert of Arabia, as Nebuchadnezzar pursued his march from Babylon.
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At the head of the way; either where the way begins, at Babylon; or rather at the head where each distinct way runs out, toward either Rabbath of the Ammonites, of Jerusalem; for there Nebuchadnezzar will cast lots.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v28 The prediction of the destruction of the Ammonites, which…
The prediction of the destruction of the Ammonites, which was effected by Nebuchadnezzar about five years after the destruction of Jerusalem, seems to come in here upon occasion of the king of Babylon's diverting his design against Rabbath, when he turned it upon Jerusalem. Upon this the Ammonites grew very insolent, and triumphed over Jerusalem; but the prophet must let them know that forbearance is no acquittance; the reprieve is not a pardon; their day also is at hand; their turn comes next, and it will be but a poor satisfaction to them that they are to be devoured last, to be last executed.
I. The sin of the Ammonites is here intimated; it is their reproach, Eze 21:28. 1. The reproach they put upon themselves when they hearkened to their false prophets (for such it seems there were among them as well as among the Jews), who pretended to foretel their perpetual safety in the midst of the desolations that were made of the countries round about them: "They see vanity unto thee and divine a lie, Eze 21:29. They flatter thee with promises of peace, and thou art such a fool as to suffer thyself to be imposed upon by them and to encourage them therein by giving credit to them." Note, Those that feed themselves with a self-conceit in the day of their prosperity prepare matter for a self-reproach in the day of their calamity. 2. The reproach they put upon the Israel of God, when they triumphed in their afflictions, and thereby added affliction to them, which was very barbarous and inhuman. Their divines, by puffing them up with a conceit that they were a better people than Israel, being spared when they were cut off, and with a confidence that their prosperity should always continue, made them so very haughty and insolent that they did even tread on the necks of the Israelites that were slain, slain by the wicked Chaldeans, who had commission to execute God's judgments upon them when their iniquity had an end, that is, when the measure of it was full. We shall meet with this again, Eze 25:3, etc. Note, Those are ripening apace for misery who trample upon the people of God in their distress, whereas they ought to tremble when judgment begins at the house of God.
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II. The utter destruction of the Ammonites is threatened. For the reproach cast on the church by her neighbours will be returned into their own bosom, Psa 79:12. Let us see how terrible the threatening is and the destruction will be. 1. It shall come from the wrath of God, who resents the indignities and injuries done to his people as done to himself (Eze 21:31): I will pour out my indignation as a shower of fire and brimstone upon thee. The least drop of divine indignation and wrath will create tribulation and anguish enough to the soul of man that does evil; what then would a full stream of that indignation and wrath do? "I will blow against thee in the fire of my wrath; that is, I will blow up the fire of my wrath against thee; it shall burn with the utmost vehemence." Thou shalt be for fuel to this fire, Eze 21:32. Note, Wicked men make themselves fuel to the fire of God's wrath; they are consumed by it, and it is inflamed by them. 2. It shall be effected by the sword of war; to them he must cry, as before to Israel, because they had triumphed in Israel's overthrow: The sword, the sword is drawn (Eze 21:28, compare Eze 21:9, Eze 21:10); it is drawn to consume because of the glittering, because it is brandished and glitters, and is fit to be made use of. God's executions will answer his preparations. This sword, when it is drawn, shall not return into its sheath (Eze 21:30) till it has done the work for which it was drawn. When the sword is drawn it does not return till God causes it to return, and he is in one mind and who can turn him? Who can change his purpose? 3. The persons employed in it are brutish men, and skilful to destroy. Men of such a bad character as this, who have the wit of men to do the work of wild beasts - human reason, which makes them skilful, but no human compassion, which makes them skilful only to destroy - though they are the scandal of mankind, yet sometimes are made use of to serve God's purposes. God delivers the Ammonites into the hands of such, and justly, for they themselves were brutish, and delighted in the destruction of God's Israel. We have reason to pray, as Paul desired to be prayed for, that we may be delivered from wicked and unreasonable men (Th2 3:2), men that seem made for doing mischief. 4. The place where they should thus be reckoned with: "I will judge thee where thou wast created, where thou wast first formed into a people, and where thou hast been settled ever since, and therefore where thou seemest to have taken root; the land of thy nativity shall be the land of thy destruction." Note, God can bring ruin upon us even where we are most secure, and turn us out of that land which we thought we had a title to not to be disputed and a possession of not to be disturbed. Thy blood shall be shed not only in thy borders, but in the midst of thy land. Lastly, I shall be an irreparable ruin: "Though thou mayest think to recover thyself, it is in vain to think of it; thou shalt be no more remembered with any respect," Psa 9:6. Justly is their name blotted out who would have Israel's name for ever lost.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv19–30 For the king of Babylon stood at the parting…
For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways,.... That is, he would stand there; the prophet knew that it was certain it should be, and therefore represents it as if it was; he had, by a spirit of prophecy, seen, that when the king of Babylon was come to such a place, on the borders of the desert of Arabia, where the road from Babylon parted, where two ways met, the one leading to Jerusalem on the right, and the other to Rabbath on the left, he should make a full stop with his army, and consider which way he should take, whether that which led to Jerusalem, or that which led to Rabbath. It is very probable, when he came out of Babylon, his scheme was to make an attempt on both these important places, and take them; but be had not determined which to attack first, and was still doubtful; and now being come to the two roads, which led to the one and the other, it was necessary to make a halt, consider, and conclude, which course to steer; to determine which, he thought proper "to use divination", which was performed in the following manner:
he made his arrows bright; being made of iron or steel; in the brightness of which diviners looked, and made their observations, and accordingly directed what was to be done; as they did by looking into the brightness of a man's nails, as David Kimchi observes; though his father, Joseph Kimchi, was of opinion that the word has the signification of casting of arrows, or causing them to fly in the air; and supposes that Nebuchadnezzar cast up arrows into the air, and observed on which side they fell, and so judged which way to take; to this agrees the Targum,
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"with a bow he cast out arrows;''
so the Syriac and Arabic versions (b). Jerom says the way of divining by arrows was this: arrows, with the names of the cities inscribed upon them, were put into a quiver, and mixed together; and the city upon the arrow which came out first was first attacked. To this agrees the Vulgate Latin version, which renders the words, "mingling the arrows"; and Dr. Pocock (c) prefers this sense of the word, which he observes so signifies in the Arabic language; and who gives an account of the use of divination by arrows among the Arabians, who much used it; though forbidden by Mahomet, as Schultens (d) observes. Their custom was this; when a man was about to marry a wife, or go a journey, or do any business of importance, he put three arrows into a vessel; on one was inscribed,
"my lord hath commanded me;''
on another,
"my lord hath forbid me;''
the third had nothing on it. If the first he took out had the command upon it, then he proceeded with great alacrity: but if it had the prohibition, he desisted; and if that which had nothing inscribed on it, he laid it by, till one of the other two was taken out; and there is to this day a sort of divination by arrows used by the Turks; it is commonly for the wars, though it is also performed for all sorts of things; as to know whether a man should undertake a voyage, buy such a commodity, or the like. The manner of doing it, as Monsieur Thevenot (e) relates, is this; they take four arrows, and place them with their points against one another, giving them to be held by two persons; then they lay a naked sword upon a cushion before them, and read a certain chapter of the Alcoran; with that the arrows fight together for some time, and at length the one fall upon the other: if, for instance the victorious have been named Christians (for two of them they call Turks, and the other two by the name of their enemy), it is a sign that the Christians will overcome; if otherwise, it denotes the contrary. The Jews (f) say, that in the present case of Nebuchadnezzar, that when he or his diviner cast the arrow for Antioch, or for Tyre, or for Laodicea, it was broke; but when he cast it for Jerusalem, it was not broke; by which he knew that he should destroy it. This is that sort of divination which is called "belomancy": he consulted with images; or "teraphim"; images in which, as Kimchi says, they saw things future; Heathen oracles, from whence responses were made; these were images for private use, such as were the "lares" and "penates" with the Romans; these Laban had in his house in which Rachel stole from him; and are supposed to be such as are made under certain constellations, and their influences capable of speaking; see Zac 10:2, as Aben Ezra on Gen 31:34 observes, with which men used to consult about things future or unknown; and this is thought to be one reason why Rachel took away these images from her father, that he might not, by consulting with them, know which way Jacob fled (g) with such as these the king of Babylon consulted, that he might know which way he should take:
he looked in the liver; of a beast slain, and made observations on that to direct him; as used to be done by the Aruspices among the Romans. This is that sort of divination which is called "hepatoscopy", or inspection into the liver; for though the Aruspices or Extispices, so called from their looking into the entrails of a beast, and making their observations on them, used to view the several inward parts, yet chiefly the liver, which they called the head of the intestines; and if this was wanting, or the head in it, the chief part of it, it was an ill omen; thus, in the month that Claudius Caesar was poisoned, the head of the liver was wanting in the sacrifice; or if the liver was livid, vicious, had any pustules upon it, or any purulent matter in it; or was touched, cut and wounded with the knife of the sacrificer, it foreboded great evils and misfortunes; or if the extreme part of the liver, which is called the fibre, was so placed, that from the lowest fibre the livers were replicated, or there was a double liver, this was a token for good, and portended joy and happiness (h): moreover, they used to divide the bowels or entrails into two parts, and so the liver; the one they called "familiaris", by which they judged what would befall themselves and their friends; the other "hostilis", what concerned their enemies; according to the habit, colour, and position they were in, they concluded what would befall the one and the other (i). Lucan (k) and Seneca (l) particularly have respect to this: and the king of Babylon here having two people to deal with, the Ammonites and the Jews, he inspects the liver of a creature slain for sacrifice, that he might judge which was best and safest for him to attack; which was less threatening, and more easy to be overcome (m): this divination used to be made with calves, kids, and lambs (n).
(b) So R. So. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 25, 2, interprets the word. (c) Specimen Arab. Hist. p. 327. (d) Animadv. in Job, p. 169, 170. (e) Travels, par. 1. B. 1. ch. 6. p. 36. (f) Midrash Tillim in Psal. lxxix. 1. (g) See Godwin's Moses and Aaron, l. 4. c. 9. (h) Vid. Alex. ab flex. Genial. Dier. l. 5. c. 25. & Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 11. c. 37. (i) Vid. Valtrinum de Re Militari Roman. l. 1. c. 6. p. 27. Liv. & Ciceron. in ib. (k) "Cernit tabe jecur madidum, venasque minaces, Hostili de parte videt", &c. Pharsal. l. 1. (l) "Hostile valido robore insurlit latus." Oedipus, Act. 2. (m) Vid. Lydium de Re Militari, l. 1. c. 3. p. 9, 10. (n) Pausanias, l. 6. p. 345.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 Appoint - Paint, or describe them on a tile.…
Appoint - Paint, or describe them on a tile. One land - That is, Babylon. Chuse - Pitch on some convenient place, where thou mayest place Nebuchadnezzar's army, consulting where this one way divides into two, which was on the edge of the desert of Arabia. At the head - Where each way runs, toward either Rabbath, or Jerusalem; for there Nebuchadnezzar will cast lots.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv19, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 32 Verse 19. Appoint thee two ways] Set off from…
Verse 19. Appoint thee two ways] Set off from Babylon, and lay down two ways, either of which thou mayest take; that to the right, which leads to Jerusalem; or that to the left, which leads to Rabbath of the Ammonites, Eze 21:20. But why against the Ammonites? Because both they and the Moabites were united with Zedekiah against the Chaldeans, (see Jer 27:3,) though they afterwards fought against Judea, Eze 12:6.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 28, 30 Eze 21:19-20. Appoint thee two ways — So as…
Eze 21:19-20. Appoint thee two ways — So as to represent them to the eyes of thy countrymen: see Eze 4:1; “Designa in tabella, lapide, aut terra.” Mark on a map, a stone, or on the earth. — Vatablus. That the sword of the king of Babylon may come — Dr. Waterland translates this, “Appoint thee two roads for the king of Babylon’s sword to come by; let both go forth out of one land; and choose thou a way-mark; choose it at the head of the road toward the city: Eze 21:20, Point out a road for the sword to go to Rabbath, and to Judah in Jerusalem the defenced.” Instead of the defenced, Houbigant reads, that he may besiege it. God here foreshows his prophet, that when the king of Babylon should come with his army into Syria, and find the Ammonites had entered into a confederacy with Egypt as well as Zedekiah, he would be in doubt against which of the two people he should first make war, and would commit the decision of the matter to his arts of divination, described Eze 21:21; and that God should direct the divination to be for taking the road that leads to Jerusalem. The words, Let both go forth out of one land, seem to mean, that the single way should divide itself into two, leading to different places. This, as appears from what follows, was the road coming out of Arabia, which afterward parted into two, one leading to Rabbath, and the other to Jerusalem.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31 Rabbath. They had formed a league with Sedecias, and…
Rabbath. They had formed a league with Sedecias, and Nabuchodonosor thought of punishing them first. (Haydock) --- But they joined his forces, Jeremias xii. 6., and xxvii. 3.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv19–32 two ways--The king coming from Babylon is represented in…
two ways--The king coming from Babylon is represented in the graphic style of Ezekiel as reaching the point where the road branched off in two ways, one leading by the south, by Tadmor or Palmyra, to Rabbath of Ammon, east of Jordan; the other by the north, by Riblah in Syria, to Jerusalem--and hesitating which way to take. Ezekiel is told to "appoint the two ways" (as in Eze 4:1); for Nebuchadnezzar, though knowing no other control but his own will and superstition, had really this path "appointed" for him by the all-ruling God.
out of one land--namely, Babylon.
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choose . . . a place--literally "a hand." So it is translated by FAIRBAIRN, "make a finger-post," namely, at the head of the two ways, the hand post pointing Nebuchadnezzar to the way to Jerusalem as the way he should select. But MAURER rightly supports English Version. Ezekiel is told to "choose the place" where Nebuchadnezzar should do as is described in Eze 21:20-21; so entirely does God order by the prophet every particular of place and time in the movements of the invader.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv19–29 19. Appoint thee — Rather, make thee.
19. Appoint thee — Rather, make thee.
Choose thou a place — Rather, engrave thee a signpost (literally, hand). This signpost was placed “at the head of the way to each city.” Such engravings or outline maps were not at all uncommon in Babylon and Egypt in Ezekiel’s day or a thousand years earlier. (See Eze_4:1-3.)
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv19–32 19. appoint thee two ways] Or, make thee. The…
19. appoint thee two ways] Or, make thee. The prophet is to make a representation of a way branching into two ways, i.e. the way from Babylon, which at a certain point parts into two, there being two possibilities before the king, either Rabbah or Jerusalem. Naturally the action was not performed in reality by the prophet.
choose thou a place] and grave a hand, at the head of the way to the (each) city grave it. The “hand” is the pointer or sign-post indicating direction. LXX. reads somewhat differently.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 (19) Appoint thee two ways.—Or, set before thee. The…
(19) Appoint thee two ways.—Or, set before thee. The prophet is directed to represent Nebuchadnezzar as about to go forth with his armies, and hesitating whether he should take first the road to Jerusalem or to the capital of the Ammonites. His choice of the former is determined, as he supposes, by his divinations, but really by the overruling hand of the Lord, who thus shows beforehand what it shall be. The whole is set forth in the vivid and concrete imagery so characteristic of Ezekiel; but it is impossible that the scene in real life was to be thus determined by the prophet’s open interference. The whole is a vision, in which life and action is conveyed by this manner of describing the course of future events as actually taking place before the eyes of his hearers. The two ways “come forth out of one land;” their starting-point is the same. Babylon, and they diverge towards different destinations.
Choose thou a place.—Literally, make a hand or, as we say, a finger-post. The verb here used never means “choose,” nor does the noun ever mean “place” but the verb is often used both in the sense of to make and to engrave, and “hand” frequently occurs in the sense of a pillar, and occasionally in that of a guide post. (See 1Sa_15:12; 2Sa_18:18; Isa_56:5.) The prophet in vision sets up this guide-post to direct the king on his march. The roads to Rabbah and to Jerusalem from Babylon would be the same for many hundred miles. It is impossible, therefore, to suppose that Ezekiel actually stood at their parting.
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Head of the way, called more poetically in Eze_21:21 “mother of the way,” is the point where the road forks. From this point the road to Jerusalem would lie on the right, that to Rabbah, the capital of the Ammonites, on the left.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv22–32 At his right hand was, etc.; better, into his…
At his right hand was, etc.; better, into his right hand came, etc.; sc. the arrow marked for Jerusalem was that which came into the king"s hand as the quiver was shaken. To appoint captains; better, battering rams, in both clauses. The same Hebrew word is used in both. (see note on Eze_4:2) The verse paints the engineering operations of the besiegers, following on the issue of the divination. (For the mount, Isa_37:33)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv21, 26, 27 The parting of the ways.
Eze_21:21
The parting of the ways.
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Which way
When you have been wandering in the country you have sometimes come to where two roads branched away from the one you were on--like the two arms of the letter Y--and then you stood puzzled which to take; for the one would take you where you wanted to go, and the other would take you from it. That spot, then, where you stood uncertain was the parting of the way. Now, it is much the same with your life. It is a journey; you are always going on and on, getting older, getting better, or getting worse, just as you have turned to the right or the left at the parting of the way. In America there is a house built on the very top of a great ridge of mountains, and when the rain falls it gathers for a little on the flat roof and then drips over the eaves. But what do you think? the raindrops that fall on the one side and those that fall on the other never meet again! The one trickles away to the Atlantic, and the other descends to the Pacific ocean; they take just opposite ways, and never meet any more. That house is the parting of the way. And there are circumstances which divide people from each other in much the same way--once they are parted they never come together again. How careful, then, we should be, and how prayerful we should be, at these times in choosing what we shall do! How thoughtful and watchful, too, we should be about guiding others when they are at the parting of the way! A little word can sometimes save them then. About forty years ago a little boy went into a shoe shop in Boston to have some repairs made. While he was waiting he said to the errand boy of the shop, Do you go to Sunday school? No, said he, I dont know nothing about it, and cant read. Oh, said the other, I go to Sunday school, and I have such a nice teacher! If you tell me where you live, I will call for you next Sunday and take you. And he did; and the errand boy behaved very badly, saying naughty things, and sticking pins into his neighbours, altogether behaving so badly that the teacher threatened to turn him out of the school. Still, the teacher had patience and persevered--and who do you think that little wild scholar became? Mr. Daniel Moody, the great preacher, who along with Mr. Sankey has been the means of saving many, many people by bringing them to Jesus. And yet, it was a little boy who guided him right at the parting of the way! What a deal of good that little boy did that day! And you can do the same. Whenever you try to do good to others, or speak to them about Jesus, you are helping them more than you think to take the right way at the parting. When we come to the parting of the way there are two fashions of deciding which way we shall take. One way is by trusting to chance. That is the fashion the king the text speaks about decided which way to take. People do not use arrows nowadays, but sometimes they toss up, and that is just the same thing. Is that the way we should decide? No! no! a blind man might as well toss up whether an orange was black or white,--tossing up would never make it the one or the other. Never trust to chance; the book of Chance is Satans Bible, and that is always meant to deceive. There is a surer way, namely--Go by the directions. I saw a picture once which has stuck to my memory for years and years. It was a picture of a dark, wild, stormy night, and a traveller was standing up in the stirrups of his horse at a parting of the way, trying to read the directions on the fingerpost. How eagerly he is looking! I can see him yet--holding the lighted match carefully in his hands, lest the wind should blow it out before he had read the directions! It was a good thing for him that there were directions, and it is a good thing we have them too. Where are our directions? They are--the Bible. That is Gods word to us, telling us which road to take when we come to the parting of the way. (J. R. Howatt.)
He made his arrows bright, he consulted with images.
Is Christianity a delusion
Two modes of divination by which the King of Babylon proposed to find out the will of God. He took a bundle of arrows, put them together, mixed them up, then pulled forth one, and by the inscription on it decided what city he should first assault. Then an animal was slain, and by the lighter or darker colour of the liver the brighter or darker prospect of success was inferred. Stupid delusion! And yet all the ages have been filled with delusions. It seems as if the world loves to be hoodwinked. In the latter part of the eighteenth century Johanna Southcote came forth pretending to have Divine power, made prophecies, had chapels built in her honour, and 100,000 disciples came forth to follow her. So late as the year 1829, a man arose in New York, pretending to be a Divine being, and played his part so well that wealthy merchants became his disciples, and threw their fortunes into his discipleship. And so in all ages there have been necromancies, incantations, witchcrafts, sorceries, magical arts, enchantments, divinations, and delusions. None of these delusions accomplished any good. They opened no hospitals, healed no wounds, wiped away no tears, emancipated no serfdom. But there are those who say that all these delusions combined are as nothing compared with the delusion now abroad in the world, the delusion of the Christian religion. That delusion has today two hundred million dupes. It has conquered England and the United States, for they are called Christian nations. This champion delusion, this hoax, this swindle of the ages, as it has been called, has gone forth to conquer the islands of the Pacific the Melanesia and Micronesia, and Malayan Polynesia have already surrendered to the delusion. Yea, it has conquered the Indian Archipelago, and Borneo, and Sumatra, and Celebes and Java have fallen under its wiles. What a delusion! This delusion of the Christian religion shows itself in the fact that it goes to those who are in trouble. Now, it is bad enough to cheat a man when he is prosperous; but this religion comes to a man when he is sick, and says: You will be well again after awhile; youre going into a land where there are no coughs, and no pleurisies, and no consumptions; take courage and bear up. Yea, this awful chimera of the Gospel comes to the poor, and it says to them You are on your way to vast estates and to dividends always declarable. This delusion of Christianity comes to the bereft, and it talks of reunion before the throne, and of the cessation of all sorrow. And then, to show that this delusion will stop at absolutely nothing, it goes to the dying bed and fills the man with anticipations. How much better it would be to have him die without any more hope than swine and rats and snakes. Annihilation, vacancy, everlasting blank, obliteration! Why not present all that beautiful doctrine to the dying, instead of coming with this hoax, this swindle of the Christian religion, and filling the dying man with anticipations of another life until some in the last hour have clapped their hands, and some have shouted, and some have sung, and some had been so overwrought with joy that they could only look ecstatic. To show the immensity of this delusion, this awful swindle of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I open a hospital, and I bring into that hospital the deathbeds of a great many Christian people, and I ask a few questions. Dying Stephen, what have you to say? Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Dying John Wesley, what have you to say? The best of all is, God is with us. Dying Edward Payson, what have you to say? I float in a sea of glory. Dying John Bradford, what have yon to say? If there be any way of going to heaven on horseback, or in a fiery chariot, it is this. Dying Neander, what have you to say? I am going to sleep now--goodnight. Dying Mrs. Florence Foster, what have you to say? A pilgrim m the valley, but the mountain tops are all agleam from peak to peak. Dying Alexander Mather, what have you to say? The Lord who has taken care of me fifty years will not cast me off now; glory be to God and to the Lamb! Amen, amen, amen, amen! Dying John Powson, after preaching the Gospel so many years, what have you to say? My deathbed is a bed of roses. Dying Doctor Thomas Scott, what have you to say? This is heaven begun. Dying soldier in the last war, what have you to say? This is heaven begun. Dying soldier in the last war, what have you to say? Boys, I am going to the front. Dying telegraph operator on the battlefield of Virginia, what have you to say? The wires are all laid, and the poles are up from Stony Point to headquarters. Dying Paul, what have you to say? I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Oh death, where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory? Thanks be unto God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh my Lord, my God, what a delusion! what a glorious delusion! Submerge me with it; fill my eyes and ears with it; put it under my dying head for a pillow--this delusion; spread it over me for a canopy; put it underneath me for an outspread wing; roll it over me in ocean surges ten thousand fathoms deep. The overwhelming conclusion is that Christianity, producing such grand results, cannot be a delusion, an hallucination; cannot launch such a glory of the centuries. Your logic and your common sense convince you that a bad cause cannot produce an illustrious result. Some of you have read everything. You are scientific and you are scholarly, and yet if I should ask you, What is the most sensible thing you ever did? you would say, The most sensible thing I ever did was to give my heart to God. But there may be others here who have not had early advantages, and if they were asked to give their experience they might rise and give such testimony as the man gave in a prayer meeting when he said: On my way here tonight, I met a man who asked me where I was going. I said, I am going to a prayer meeting. He said, There are a great many religions, and I think the most of them are delusions; as to the Christian religion, that is only a notion, that is a mere notion, the Christian religion. I said to him: Stranger, you see that tavern over there? Yes, he said, I see it. Do you see me? Yes, of course I see you. Now, the time was when, every body in this town knows, if I had a quarter of a dollar in my pocket I could not pass that tavern without going and getting a drink; all the people of Jefferson could not keep me out of that place; but God has changed my heart, and the Lord Jesus Christ has destroyed my thirst for strong drink, and there is my whole weeks wages, and I have no temptation to go in there. And, stranger, if this is a notion, I want to tell you it is a mighty powerful notion; it is a notion that has put clothes on my childrens backs, and it is a notion that has put good food on our table, and it is a notion that has filled my mouth with thanksgiving to God; and, stranger, you had better go along with me, you might get religion too; lots of people are getting religion now. Well, we will soon understand it all. We will soon come to the last bar of the music, to the last act of the tragedy, to the last page of the book--yea, to the last line and to the last word, and to you and to me it will either be midnoon or midnight. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv23, 28 EXEGETICAL NOTES.—Eze_21:23-27. Though this announcement of God’s judgments will…
EXEGETICAL NOTES.—Eze_21:23-27. Though this announcement of God’s judgments will appear to the people of Judea as a deceptive divination, yet it will surely come to pass. The prophet, however, sees beyond all these evils the hope of redemption. The Messiah is promised, who is to be the founder and restorer of perfect right on earth (Eze_21:27). See also, Psalms 62; Isa_9:6; Isa_42:1; Jer_23:5; Jer_33:17.
Eze_21:23 “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.” “Though the Jews were prone themselves to believe in divination, yet they affect to despise it when it tells against them. The second ‘to them’ may be understood to refer to the Jews, as they had come under solemn engagements to be subject to the Babylonians, but those engagements they had violated; and for this, as well as their other sins, they were now to be punished. The oaths were those the Jews had taken to the King of Babylon. ‘He will call to remembrance,’ refers to Nebuchadnezzar, to whom the Jews had proved faithless, and who now should recall to their mind the crime of perjury, of which they had been guilty.”—(Henderson).
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Eze_21:24. “So that in all your doings your sins do appear.” They dragged their old sins into light again by the new enormities which they committed. Their rebellion against God is here spoken of as “your iniquity,” “transgressions,” “sins.” These words are the same as those mentioned in connection with the offerings on the day of Atonement, when “a remembrance was made of sins” (Leviticus 16; Heb_10:3). Then the people confessed their sins and were forgiven; but now they refuse to acknowledge their guilt (Eze_18:2), and so their sin is “discovered,” it stands over for punishment.
Eze_21:25. “And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel.” Zedekiah is pointed out by name as the prince whose wickedness had desecrated his character as the Lord’s anointed. “When iniquity shall have an end.” Heb., In the time of final iniquity. Their iniquity was now full, when justice can no longer stay her hand (Gen_15:16). It was the treachery of Zedekiah towards Nebuchadnezzar that brought their national affairs to the crisis, to the time of judgment. In the person of that wicked prince the temporal sovereignty of David’s house received a wound from which it never recovered. He brought complete destruction upon the Jewish state.
Eze_21:26.“Remove the diadem.” More accurately, “the mitre.” Besides this passage, the word is found only in Exodus 28, 29, 39; Leviticus 8, 16; and it is always used of the High Priest’s mitre. “The crown” The regal crown. This word occurs in the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, but only in the history of David’s conquest of Rabbah (2Sa_12:30); 1Ch_20:2).“Ideally regarded, the king bears, as the representative of the whole people, along with the crown, the head band, or priestly cap. The two are closely connected. The crown without the band is an empty show. The forgiveness of sins, which was secured by the mediation of the high priest, whose dignity was overthrown with the fall of the sanctuary forms the foundation of all the royal blessings of God. In the Messiah, in whom the kingdom attained to its full reality, a real union of the kingly and priestly offices is to take place (Zechariah 6), which were practically divided under the Old Testament on account of human weakness.”—(Hengstenberg). “This shall not be the same.” (Heb.) This is not this. The meaning is that there shall be a complete revolution in the existing state of things. By a sad reversal, the hallowed nation is unholy; the mitre which had written on it, “Holiness to the Lord,” is profaned, the regal crown disgraced by such wickedness is laid in the dust. All things, hitherto sacred, have now become unreal, and must be swept away by “a righteous judgment.” Exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high.” “In a general overthrow the low is exalted even by the fact that it becomes like the high, who are involved in the same downfall. The people have in their procedure turned the lowest into the highest, and in just retribution the same takes place in their experience. All is levelled.”—(Hengstenberg).“This is not to be taken as the enunciation of a general truth, but it is to be understood specifically of the Messiah and of Zedekiah. There is a direct reference to the Messiah in the following verse. The two are here placed in the strongest contrast:—the root out of the dry ground (Isa_53:2), whom the prophet sees in the future, and the haughty monarch immediately present to his view upon the royal Jewish throne. The commands given in this verse are a strong mode of declaring prophetically that the things should be done.”—(Henderson).
Eze_21:27. “I will overturn, overturn, overturn it” (Heb.) An overthrow, overthrow, overthrow, will I make it. The threefold repetition is intensive, conveying the idea that there shall be overthrow upon overthrow. “And it shall be no more.” The words can be rendered, even this is no more. The kingdom, though constituted by God Himself, should perish, as though it had never been. “Until He come, whose right it is; and I will give it Him.” There is an evident reference here to Gen_49:10. Judah’s royalty is taken away, but not for ever. His inherent dignity persists through all the wreck of his fortunes and hopes, until it is assumed by the Messiah, who has both the right and the power to rule. The outward royalty and priesthood must pass away, but the true King of Israel is coming, who is also a “Priest upon His throne.” (Zec_6:13; Act_3:14; Heb_7:26; Zec_9:9). “Nowhere is there rest, nowhere security, all things are in a state of flux, till the coming of the Great Restorer and Prince of Peace. He to whom this right belongs, and to whom God will give it, is the Messiah, of whom the prophets from the times of David onwards have prophesied as the founder and restorer of purest right on earth (Psalms 72; Isa_9:6; Isa_42:1; Jer_23:5; Jer_33:17).”—(Keil). “It is not expressly said what was to be given Him, and should stand waiting for its proper possessor till He should come; but the context forbids us to understand anything less than what was taken away—the things represented by the priestly mitre and the royal crown. The true priestly dignity, and the proper regal glory, were to be gone for a time into abeyance; some partial, temporary and fluctuating possession of them might be regained, but nothing more; the adequate and permanent realization was only to be found in the person of Messiah, because in Him alone was there to be a fitting representation of the Divine righteousness. It is true that there was something like a restoration of the standing and honour of the presthood after the return from the Babylonian exile; and if the ideas currently entertained upon the subject were correct, there might appear in that a failure of the prophecy. But there was no right restoration of the priestly, any more than of the regal dignity at the time specified; it was but a shadow of the original glory. For there was no longer the distinctive prerogative of the Urim and Thummim, nor the ark of the covenant, nor the glory over-shadowing the mercy-seat; all was in a depressed and mutilated condition, and even that subject to many interferences from the encroachments of foreign powers. So much only was given, both in respect to the priesthood and the kingdom, as to show that the Lord had not forsaken His people, and to serve as a pledge of the coming glory. But it was to the still prospective, rather than the present state of things, that the eye of faith was still directed to look for the proper restoration. And lest any should expect otherwise, the prophet Zechariah, after the return from Babylon, took up the matter, as it were, where Ezekiel had left it, and intimated in the plainest manner, that what was then accomplished was scarcely worth taking into account; it was, at the most, but doing in a figure what could only find its real accomplishment in the person and work of Messiah (Zec_6:14). Thus the mitre and the crown were both to meet in Him, and the temple in its noblest verse be built and the glory be obtained, such as became the Lord’s Anointed to possess. Meanwhile, all was but preparatory and imperfect.”—(Fairbairn).
HOMILETICS
(Eze_21:27.)
The word “overturn” is trebled, to show not only the certainty and evidence of the thing but the gradation and continuance of it; for the kingdom of Judah by certain degrees fell from its height. After that Zedekiah was deposed, there was no crown nor king more in Judah. After the captivity there were no kings, but governors, captains, rulers; after them the high priests had the power, in whose hands it continued, even to Hyrcanus, who usurping kingly authority was miserably stain—Herod, a stranger, succeeding. “Until He come whose right it is.” The crown shall neither fit, nor be fastened to any head, till He come that hath the right to it; and that is neither Nebuchadnezzar nor Zerubbabel; nor Aristobulus, Alexander, or Hyrcanus, who assumed kingly dignity to themselves, in time of the Maccabees; but Christ the Messiah, who is the true Heir and Successor of David, when He comes, shall raise up the kingdom of Judah, being miserably afflicted, destitute, and lost to the eye of the world; He changing it into a spiritual kingdom, shall restore it to a higher glory than ever it had. The crown here was reserved and laid up for the Lord Christ, who was born King of the Jews (Mat_2:2); to whom the angel told Mary that the Lord should give the throne of His father David, and that He should reign over the house of Jacob for ever (Luk_1:32-33). Nathaniel called Him “the King of Israel” (Joh_1:40). The Father hath appointed Christ to be king of Israel, gave Him power (Isa_9:6; Mic_5:2). Christ claimed to be such Himself (Joh_5:22). “And I will give it Him.” Christ, when He comes, shall not be kept off from His rights. Though He come in a mean and low way, yet He shall be king and reign.
I. The Lord doth lay the glory of crowns and sceptres in the dust when He pleases. “I will overturn.” There is no crown so sure to any mortal’s head, no kingdom so stable, but the Lord can pluck away the crown, shake the kingdom to pieces, throw out the possessors, and dispossess their heirs. Sometimes the Lord doth suddenly overturn empires and kingdoms (Dan_5:30-31); sometimes He proceeds gradually as with the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. “I will be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness. A moth eats up a garment by degrees, now it makes one hole in it, and anon another; so rottenness enters by degrees into a tree, first into one branch, then another, after into the body and root. So God, by degrees, wasted and consumed these kingdoms. Be it suddenly or gradually, He overturns them when He pleases. He breaks the slaves of the wicked, and the sceptres of the rulers (Isa_14:5).
II. When God overturns crowns and kingdoms He keeps those in such a condition while he pleases. “And it shall be no more, until He come, whose right it is.” This was near 500 years; for from Zedekiah’s deposal to the birth of Christ were 492 years, which was a long season for His crown and kingdom to lie in darkness, and a desolate condition. Hosea told us long since that the children of Israel should “abide many days without a king and without a prince” (Hos_3:4). The kingdom of Israel was overturned by the hand of God above a hundred years before the kingdom of Judah, and lies overturned to this day; and so hath been above two thousand years in a sad, dark, distressed condition. Their sins were great, which caused the Lord to overturn them, and He lets them lie under the punishment of their iniquity many years. When kingdoms are down, many may strive to lift them up to their former dignity, but it cannot be till the Lord’s time come.
III. The Lord Christ; the promised Messiah, was the true King of Judah, and Prince of Zion. “Until He comes whose right it is, and I will give it Him.” The Father had appointed Him to be King, given Him the kingdom, and made it known long before His coming in the flesh. He was the Shiloh, the Prosperer, unto whom the gathering of the people should be; He gathered Jews and Gentiles together. He was spoken of as the “Star of Jacob,” and the “Sceptre” who “should rise out of Israel” (Num_24:17). In many other places of Scripture, the kingdom of Christ, His right thereunto, and the Father’s donation thereof unto Him are spoken of. The people’s hearts were towards Him, and they would have made Him a king (Joh_6:15). However He appeared to the world, the Apostles beheld glory and majesty in Him (Joh_1:14; 2Pe_1:16); and Pilate wrote over His head, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews” (Mat_27:37). Christ was born a king, died a king, He lives and reigns at this day King of Zion, and of all saints (Rev_15:3).
IV. The wisdom and goodness of the Lord towards His people, that when He tells them of the severest judgment, He mingles some mercy. Though He threatens their Church and State for a long time, yet He tells them of the coming of Christ who should be their king, wear the crown, and raise up the kingdom again. This was a great mercy, in the depth of misery; if they lost an earthly kingdom, they should have a spiritual one; if they lost a profane and temporal king, they should have a king of righteousness, an eternal king. It is the method of the Lord, when He is bringing in dreadful judgments upon His people, that have provoked Him bitterly, to lay in something that may support and comfort those who have served Him faithfully (Amo_9:8-11). Here is goodness with severity.
V. That how contrary soever God’s actings appear, yet He will make good His promises. The Lord had promised to set up His son Christ to be King in Zion, the hill of His holiness (Psa_2:6); that the Government should be upon His shoulder (Isa_9:6); that He would “cause a Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David, and He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land (Jer_33:15). What likelihood was there that these things should be, when the Lord overturns the land, plucks up all by the roots, and lays all in a dead condition, and that for many days and years? They might have thought and said, Surely, this death of the crown, of Church and State, will be the death of all those and other promises; but it was not so. Though a sentence of death was upon the land, upon the Jews, yet the living God kept life in the promises, He remembered them, and said, I will give it to Him, He shall have this land, the kingdom and the crown, He shall sit upon Zion, reign and execute judgment. The actings of God sometimes are such, that to man’s apprehensions they will make void the promises of God. In Psa_77:7-8; saith Asaph, “Will the Lord cast off for ever? And will He be favourable no more? Is His mercy clean gone for ever? Doth His promise fail for evermore? God’s hand was heavy upon him, his soul was greatly afflicted so that he questioned the truth of God’s promises, and was ready to despair. But what saith he in the tenth verse, “This was my infirmity.” There was no infirmity in God; He had not forgotten His promise, it was not out of His sight, though out of Asaph’s. Man’s faith may fail him sometimes, but God’s faithfulness never fails Him (Psa_89:33). God’s operations may have an aspect that way; the devil’s temptations and our unbelieving hearts may not only make us think so, but persuade us it is so; whereas it cannot be so, for the Lord will not suffer it, He will not make a lie in His truth or faithfulness; so the Hebrew is: He is Truth, and not one of His promises can fail. This must afford strong consolation unto all that are under any promise of God.—Greenhill.
(Eze_21:18-27.)
JERUSALEM’S FALL AND RISING
The prophet announces the fall of the temporal sovereignty of David’s house in the person of Zedekiah. He declares his message as the word of the Lord, “Exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high” (Eze_21:26). This may be considered as the principle upon which God acts in His government of mankind throughout all ages. When the mother of our Lord thought of the honour which had been bestowed upon her, that one so obscure and lowly should be chosen to bring forth the Saviour of the world, she broke forth into a song of praise, saying, “He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree” (Luk_1:52). Christ taught the general principle, “Everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” (Luk_17:14). Even the great French sceptic, Bayle, says of these words, that they contain “the abridgment of all human history.” Such is the law of God’s kingdom. Jerusalem is to fall, but in due time to be raised to a better and nobler condition. Her true King will come unto her in the person of the Messiah. Her fall is to be unto rising (Eze_21:27).
I. Jerusalem’s fall.
1. It is portrayed by an enigmatic representation. The event is now near and the prophet is bidden to portray the judgments which are to fall upon Jerusalem. He draws a symbolic sketch of the siege of the city, representing the advance of Nebuchadnezzar towards it from his own country. The King of Babylon is seen standing on the highway, at a point from which two roads diverge, one leading to Jerusalem, the other to Rabbah. Which road shall he take? He determines his course by augury in three of its branches, employing divination by arrows, by images, and by the appearance of the entrails of a newly killed sacrifice. The omens all point to Jerusalem as the first object of attack. Thus Providence so ordered it that judgment must begin at the house of God.
2. The threat of it is received with irreverent credulity. When the Jews hear that the King of Babylon is advancing against Jerusalem they make light of it. They say that the king has been misled by a false divination (Eze_21:23). They forget that they themselves were deluded by vain divinations and lying prophets (Eze_21:29; Exo_13:6-7; Exo_22:28). They despise augury when it is against themselves. In their infatuation they cannot read the signs of the times, nor see that their judgment is nigh at hand. They readily take refuge in any interpretation of events which can lend some support to their vain hope. They are blind to the sad facts of their own spiritual condition, which must inevitably draw these judgments upon them. They have the worst omens against them, their iniquities, transgressions, sins (Eze_21:24); and, more particularly, their treason and perjury (Eze_21:23). And all this was “discovered” sin, it affected the social and political life of the nation; it appeared before the eyes of all men (Eze_21:24).
3. The instrument which was to bring it about was chosen of God. The human instrument who was to compass the fall of Jerusalem was the King of Babylon, who, in this instance, was God’s servant for judgment. Though an heathen king, and one who consulted augury, he was truly an instrument in the hands of God for the correction of His people and for working out His purposes towards mankind. God can guide even men’s appeals to chance, and overrule them for His own purpose (Pro_16:33). The Magi, who were worshippers of the hosts of heaven, and who thought that they could read in them the destinies of nations, were yet led to Christ by a star. Apart from all his consultation of omens, the King of Babylon had justice on his side. He was truly a chosen vessel to accomplish God’s righteous will concerning Jerusalem.
4. The blame must be charged upon the Jews themselves. “Because ye have made your iniquity to be remembered” (Eze_21:24). The King of Babylon must not be charged with their disasters, nor his resorting to divination, but to their own treason and perjury they must impute the blame. It was not their father’s sins but their own that brought destruction upon them.
5. Judgment was inevitable. “Jerusalem the defenced” (Eze_21:20) must fall. The measure of her iniquity was full. Justice could forbear no longer. In Zedekiah the iniquity of the nation culminated. (Eze_21:25). In him the sovereignty of David’s house came to an end.
II. Jerusalem’s rising. In one man Jerusalem fell, but a greater Man shall restore it. The sovereignty of David’s house came to an end in Zedekiah, but not for ever. Jerusalem has a future. She shall rise from her ruins in a far more glorious form than that in which she was lost, even as the “Jerusalem which is above, the mother of us all” (Gal_4:26).
1. The rising is to come through the Messiah. It is not by a doctrine, or a truth, but by a person that God will deliver His people. Zedekiah represented the nation in its fall; Christ in its rising. The Messiah is the rightful sovereign of men (Eze_21:27). He is the true priest, and the true king. All others are but shadows of Him. He alone has the supreme right and power. Among the Israelites the offices of priest and king were jealously separated; but in Christ they can be united with perfect safety, for He is both holy and just.
2. The deliverance through the Messiah only comes after the complete wreck of the nation’s fortunes. “I will overturn, overturn, overturn it; and it shall be no more” (Eze_21:24). This complete destruction issued in that fulness of time in which the Son of Man should come. The Messiah appeared upon the wreck of the world’s hopes. Judah’s royalty had long been laid in the dust, Greece had long ago fallen, and Rome was fast sinking into decay, when God sent His Son to redeem the world. Men were permitted to make the sad experiment of trying to live without God, in order that they might learn their need of a Redeemer who was the “Desire of all nations.”
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv21, 24, 25, 28, 30, 32 General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh continues giving Ezekiel his message.
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at the crossroads, at the junction
Both of these phrases refer to the place where the two roads meet. AT: "at the crossroads" (See: Parallelism)
He will shake some arrows and ask direction from some idols and he will examine a liver
These are divination practices.
In his right hand will be an omen about Jerusalem
This means the he will hold one of the articles of his divination that was read as an omen against Jerusalem in his right hand. AT: "In his right hand will be an article of divination with an omen against Jerusalem" (See: Metonymy)
battering rams
A battering ram was a cut tree or large log with a sharpened end or an end covered in metal. It was held by several men who would pound the end against a wall.
to build a ramp
These were large dirt ramps that the Babylonian soldiers built so that they could get onto the walls of Jerusalem.
siege towers
These were wooden towers that the Babylonian soldiers built around Jerusalem to enable them to shoot arrows over the walls of Jerusalem.
in the eyes of the ones in Jerusalem
The eyes represent seeing, and seeing represents thoughts or judgment. AT: "in the thoughts of the people in Jerusalem" (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
king
Babylon
divination
bow and arrow
false god
gate
siege
oath
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv21, 23, 25, 28, 30 21:21 Omens were supposedly signs from the gods that…
21:21 Omens were supposedly signs from the gods that were obtained through divination. • cast lots by shaking arrows . . . inspect the livers: These were common methods of seeking omens from the gods.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.