Behold, I am against thee. Ezekiel 21:2-3 A prophecy of judgment T. Herren, D. D. I. THE PROPHET'S COMPELLATION, OR TITLE — "Son of man." There are but two persons in Scripture which have eminently this name — the one is our Saviour, the other Ezekiel. For our Saviour, it was not without very good reason — namely, as hereby to discover the truth of His humanity to us — that amongst those many miracles which were wrought by Him, from whence He did appear to be God, He might have somewhat also fastened upon Him declaring Him likewise to be man. Besides, as suitable to His present state of humiliation and future passion, that He might be looked upon according to that view wherein He tendered Himself to the world, and that those which were about Him might be prepared for what should happen unto Him, He thought it fitting thus to be called; in the meantime, likewise, encouraging them, upon these terms, to close with Him, as who having taken their nature upon Him, was not now ashamed to call them brethren. As for Ezekiel, why this name should be put upon him, this is a thing further considerable — especially why upon him rather than upon any other of the prophets, Daniel only excepted, who but once is distinguished by this compellation ( Daniel 8:17 ). It is the general sense of divines, that it was for this reason especially, namely, to humble him in the midst of those many divine visions and revelations which he was partaker of, that though in regard of his work and employment he was a companion of angels, yet, for his condition, he was numbered amongst men. And so, in that respect, had a double disparagement upon him, which served to abase him — both of mortality and sinfulness. But we may add also another reason here in this place for the giving of it; and that was, not only to breed in him an humble spirit, but likewise a pitiful and compassionate. The message which he was now sent about, it was a matter of judgment and terror; it was a threatening, and foretelling of God's wrath and indignation against His people. Now, this did require some bowels and tenderness in him, that he should do it; and therefore "Son of man" was a very fit and proper compellation, that so, being a man himself, he might the more commiserate his brethren. II. THE PROPHET'S INJUNCTION, OR COMMAND, WHICH IS LAID UPON HIM: and that is, how to carry himself in the denunciations of God's judgments against His people. This is laid forth in three clauses — First, to set his face toward Jerusalem. Secondly, to drop his word towards the holy places. Thirdly, to prophesy against the land of Israel. Where ye have a full enumeration of all kind of places, and conditions, and persons, as the objects of Divine wrath, which is threatened against them. First, the city, expressed in Jerusalem. Secondly, the Church, signified in the holy places. Thirdly, the country, or whole community, implied in the land of Israel. Here is God's judgments extended to all sorts and ranks of men — to the civil State, to the ecclesiastical, and to the popular. We will begin with the civil. "The Lord's voice crieth to the city" ( Micah 6:9 ). 1. The place threatened is Jerusalem, the mother-city in the land of the princes and governors of the nation. This is that which God begins withal in the denunciation of His judgments against His people here in this place. This carries in it God's anger against great ones — the nobles and princes and judges and magistrates of the land; those which were of any eminency amongst them, whether for birth, or place, or power, or wealth; these sinning against the Lord were not without their correction — nay, God thinks fitting to take aim at them first of all: "Set thy face against Jerusalem." Now, there is a very good account which may be given of this dispensation.(1) Because such places as these are, do abound with greater mercies, and so opportunities of doing good; therefore they, rebelling against the Lord, and provoking Him, do become more obnoxious.(2) Because the sins of these are more exemplary and scandalous, The more eminent any are in place, the more notorious are their miscarriages — everyone looks upon them as so many patterns to all the rest.(3) They are populous places, and they are such places wherein the flower and glory of the whole land is gathered together. The strength and riches and state of any nation are in their chief cities. Now, therefore, when God has a mind to stain the pride of all glory, He does especially aim at these. 2. The prophet's gesture which he is required to use to it — and that is, to set his face towards it. "Set thy face towards Jerusalem." The setting of the face, in Scripture, does carry a different notion in it.(1) It is a note of attention. God would have him to set his face upon it, by way of serious consideration; to take notice of the manifold abominations which were in it. And thus now is it the concernment of ministers in like manner to do — not to shoot their arrows at random, rashly and unadvisedly, they care not how; but as being thoroughly appreciative of the guilt of the persons themselves they deal withal.(2) It is a note of compassion and commiseration. So we also find it sometimes in Scripture. As our Saviour ( Luke 19:41 ).(3) It is a note of displeasure and indignation. So it is used sometimes ( Jeremiah 21:10 ; Ezekiel 25:2 ; Ezekiel 28:21 ; Ezekiel 29:2 ).The second is in reference to the Church, or State Ecclesiastical. "And drop thy word towards the holy places." 1. The place is the Church and house of God. Here is God's vengeance threatened against that, as to the destruction of it. This is worse than the former; by how much spirituals are better than temporals, and any prejudice to our souls worse than to our outward estates.(1) Here is a threatening of the place, the temple itself, which was afterwards verified and made good in the destruction and rendition of that: "Not one stone left upon another." God threatens to take away. that visible token of His presence from amongst them, which was one step of this punishment.(2) Here is a threatening of the persons, the priests and ministers — there is an heavy judgment belonging to them; forasmuch as they had corrupted themselves, and others with them.(3) In reference to the performances — the ordinances and ministerial dispensations. God drops upon the sanctuary when He threatens to suspend these, as oftentimes He does when He sends a famine of His word ( Amos 8:11 ) Especially when His ordinances are neglected, when there is no heed or regard unto them: in such cases as these does God remove them, and otherwise bestow them; neither is there anything here which shall stand in the way of His judgments. 2. The carriage and proceeding towards it, and that is expressed here by dropping.(1) A leisurable proceeding — one thing after another, in a succession. The judgments of God, they are not to be denounced all at once; that were enough to astonish men, and wholly overwhelm them. No, but by steps and degrees. They must first be acquainted with lesser judgments, and then afterwards with greater.(2) A gentle proceeding — not boisterously, with over-much rigour; but mildly, and with the spirit of meekness.(3) A constant proceeding. Dropping — it has frequency in it. So should it be with us here: "Precept upon precept, and line upon line" ( Isaiah 28:10 ).The third, and last, in reference to the community and whole nation in general. In these words: "And prophesy against the land of Israel." 1. The place threatened — "the land of Israel." These words do carry two things in them, which might seem, at the first hearing, to plead for exemption from punishment.(1) Israel, God's own peculiar people.(2) The land of Israel, that is, a great number of them. Yet it will not do, or serve the turn neither. Though it be Israel, God's own people; though it be the land of Israel, all states and degrees amongst them; yet sinners, they must not shun judgment. 2. The carriage towards it, and that is prophesying. "Prophesy against the land of Israel." This was a very ill message, and very unwelcome, which Ezekiel was sent with; but yet he must carry it, for all that. He must prophesy against them — that is, declare God's punishments upon them for their sins and provocations of Him. ( T. Herren, D. D. ) Wherefore sighest thou?...For the tidings. Ezekiel 21:6, 7 Sighing because of sorrowful tidings H. Melvill, B. D. "The tidings" were, in the first place, of dishonour done to God, and, in the second place, of ruin which the transgressors were bringing upon themselves; and we think to show you that the tidings were such as might well justify the prophet as he looked upon his nation in "sighing with bitterness before their eyes." 1. If you know anything of the relationship subsisting between the Creator and the creature, you must know that we lie absolutely at the disposal of God, depending for every thing upon His bounty, and bound to live wholly to His glory. God's laws are binding without exception and without limitation; and if He only issue an announcement of His will, it should be received with the deepest reverence and obeyed with unhesitating compliance throughout every department of His unbounded empire. And if this obedience be withheld, who can fail to see that the very greatest insult is at once offered by the finite to the Infinite? Now, consider what effect this insult will have — or at least ought to have — upon a man who loves God, and whose prime effort it is to obey His every word. If a man of warm loyalty were living amongst traitors, it would wound him to the quick to hear the king whom he honoured continually reviled. If a man of warm friendship were with the enemies of his love, it would sorely grieve him to observe how his friend was hated and despised. And what are such feelings in comparison of those which should rise in the man of real piety, when he beholds on all sides dishonour done to his God? Oh! as such a man thinks on the unlimited right which God has to the services of His creatures, and yet more as he thinks how God draws those creatures to Himself by every motive of interest and attraction, supplying their wants, offering them happiness, bearing with their perverseness; and then, when there come to him tidings of the return which God receives — His authority defied, His promises despised, His threatenings laughed to scorn, so that it almost seems the universal object to expel Him from His own world, and set up some usurper in His stead — as the man, we say, of real piety observes all this, and meditates on all this, would there be any cause of wonder were he to exclaim, "For the tidings! for the tidings. when asked to explain a manifestation of grief which should be similar to that of the prophet — "Sigh, therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins, and with bitterness sigh before their eyes"? 2. But let us go on to consider the ruin which transgressors are bringing on themselves; for here at least we shall find "tidings" which, in the judgment of you all, might vindicate Ezekiel's mighty manifestation of anguish. It is not the moment of absolute shipwreck; but "it cometh" — "it cometh." "The tidings" make him as certain of the shipwreck of thousands as though already were the sea strewed with the fragments of the stranded navy. It is with him no matter of conjecture or speculation whether a life of wickedness will terminate in an eternity of misery; he so surely anticipates the future that he is as though he beheld the casting of the wicked into a lake of fire, and could not be more assured of their terrible doom if the last day were come, and the dead were raised, and "the books were opened." And who are these victims of Divine justice? Are they not his fellow men — his brethren after the flesh — those for whom he would bitterly sorrow, if he knew them exposed to some temporal calamity? Shall he — can he — be unmoved by their everlasting wretchedness? ( H. Melvill, B. D. ) Should we then make mirth? Ezekiel 21:9-11 Mirth unreasonable in the unconverted R. M'Cheyne. I. BECAUSE THEY ARE UNDER CONDEMNATION. The sword is sharpened to make a sore slaughter; it is furbished that it may glitter. Should we then make mirth? It is unreasonable in a condemned malefactor to make mirth. Would it not greatly shock every feeling mind to see a company of men condemned to die, meeting and making merry, talking lightly and jestingly, as if the sword was not over them? II. BECAUSE GOD'S INSTRUMENTS OF DESTRUCTION ARE ALL READY. Not only are Christless persons condemned already, but the instruments of their destruction are prepared and quite ready, The sword of vengeance is sharpened and also furbished. The, disease by which every unconverted man is to die is quite ready — it is perhaps in his veins at this very moment. The accident by which he is to drop into eternity is quite ready — all the parts and means of it are arranged. The arrow that is to strike him is on the string — perhaps it has left the string, and is even now flying towards him. III. BECAUSE THE SWORD MAY COME DOWN AT ANY ONE MOMENT. Not only are Christless persons condemned already, and not only is the sword of vengeance quite ready, but the sword may come down at any one moment. It is not so with malefactors: their day is fixed and told them, so that they can count their time. If they have many days, they make merry today at least, and begin to be serious tomorrow. But not so Christless persons: their day is fixed, but it is not told them. It may be this very moment. Ah! should they then make mirth? IV. BECAUSE GOD HAS MADE NO PROMISE TO CHRISTLESS SOULS TO STAY HIS HAND ONE MOMENT. God has laid Himself under no manner of obligation to you. He has nowhere promised that you shall see tomorrow, or that you shall hear another sermon. There is a day near at hand when you shall not see tomorrow. V. IT IS A SORE SLAUGHTER. 1. Sore, because it will be on all who are Christless. 2. Sore slaughter, because the sword is the sword of God. ( R. M'Cheyne. ) Untimely mirth Lightfoot says: "I have heard it more than once and again, from the sheriffs who took all the gunpowder plotters and brought them up to London, that every night when they came to their lodging by the way, they had their music and dancing a good part of the night. One would think it strange that men in their case should be so merry." More marvellous still is it that those between whom and death there is but a step should sport away their time as if they should live on for ages. Though the place of torment is within a short march of all unregenerate men, yet see how they make mirth, grinning and jesting between the jaws of hell! ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) Go thee one way or other, either on the right hand or on the left, whithersoever thy face is set. Ezekiel 21:16 Religious decision Anon. I. — THE NATURE OF RELIGIOUS DECISION. In general terms, this may be said to be an inflexible regard for the will and honour of God — a firm adherence under all circumstances to that course of duty which He has commanded, and a personal dedication of the heart and soul to His service. 1. Religious decision is founded on a special regard to the will of God. In this respect it differs from a native or innate decision of character, which is simply a following the bias of the mind. 2. Religious decision is exercised in regard to matters of real importance. In matters of trivial concern. Christian decision may be yielding. It is always candid. It shows due respect for the feelings and preferences of others. 3. True religious decision will never be anxious about consequences. In obeying the clear injunctions of conscience and of God, it is prepared to leave events in His hands who has required the sacrifice. 4. True Christian decision is uniform and unqualified. The man of decided principle will not admit the thought of a compromise with sin or with error. II. THE IMPORTANCE OF RELIGIOUS DECISION. 1. It is important as a matter of Christian consistency. 2. Religious decision is a satisfactory test of Christian character. 3. Christian decision is important, as a means of securing the respect and confidence of mankind. Men may think you needlessly precise, they may even suspect the purity of your motives, but they will admire the conduct that agrees with the profession. 4. Our usefulness is greatly involved in religious decision. The Great Head of the Church does not select for the execution of His grandest plans the timid, the hesitating, the wavering. No. He employs those to whom "He has not given the spirit of fear; but of power, of love, and of a sound mind." ( Anon. ) To the waverer G. Brooke. I. THY NATURE OF RELIGIOUS DECISION. 1. It is founded on a special regard to the Word of God. 2. It is exercised in matters that are religious. 3. It spurns all considerations of consequences. 4. It acts uniformly and undeviatingly. II. ITS IMPORTANCE. 1. As an index of Christian consistency. 2. As a test of personal Christianity. 3. As a passport to general confidence. 4. As an element of usefulness. ( G. Brooke. ) The parting of the ways. Ezekiel 21:21 Which way J. R. Howatt. ? — 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 don't know nothing about it, and can't 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 Satan's 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 God's 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 T. De Witt Talmage. ? — 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; you're 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 week's 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 children's 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. ) Thus saith the Lord God; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown. Ezekiel 21:26, 27 The Christian philosophy of revolution M. B. Hope, D. D. The true philosophical history of man is that which reveals to us the causes and progress, first, of his depravity and deterioration; and secondly, of his return towards that state of holiness and happiness which he is destined, in the purpose of God, and through the agency of the Gospel, again to attain. The progression which the history of the race exhibits has been in cycles, and not in straight lines. In accordance with the principle announced by the prophet of Jehovah to the profane and wicked Prince of Israel, it has been a process of revolution and not of development. It involves the law of declension and decay, as much as that of quickening and growth. In the first place, the origin of the human race was not from a state of barbarism, but one of absolute perfection; and the first change which passed upon human nature was that by which it fell into degeneracy, by reason of temptation from without. Social happiness was blighted, and perished in the bud. The very first offspring of the social state, instead of love, sympathy, and mutual support, were, first, envy, then hatred, and lastly murder. Alienation and division thus became at once the universal law of society. In the first place, the earliest ages of the world after the fall, when the light of revealed truth was dimmest, and the reign of grace most feeble, were marked by a rapid degeneration, physical, intellectual, and moral, in the nature, the character, and the condition of man. In the second place, when the power of sin was checked by larger gifts of gracious influence, the power of Divine truth became diffusive, and entered upon its aggressive work in the achievement of man's regeneration; and has continued to the present hour, progressive; and, judging from the history of the past, and the characteristics of the present, as well as the prophetic delineation of the future, it will continue steadily progressive, till its final and perfect consummation. In the third place, the great agent by which this progress has been carried forward is that of revolution, or that of overturning, overturning, overturning, till He shall come whose right it is to wear the crown of universal dominion, amidst the redeemed race of man. In any comprehensive survey of the subject, the central epoch of human history is the advent of the Son of God. Everything anterior to that event pointed to the incarnation as embracing the fulness of its significancy, and everything subsequent derives its vitality and power from the same source. To the eye of the Christian, and in the light of the Bible, those vast and sublime overturnings which reared and overthrew successively the gigantic empires of Egypt, Assyria, Persia, and Macedon, to say nothing of countless smaller states, which concentrated the intellect, the genius, and the cultivation of the world in the States of Greece, and finally enthroned Rome as sole mistress of the earth, these all appear as mighty and indispensable agencies, commissioned of God to produce that mental culture, that feeling of strong, unsatisfied religious want, and that state of universal peace, which were essential to prepare the world for the advent of the Son of God. And now in like manner we believe the peculiar dispensation of the age, and specifically of the race to which we belong, is to leaven the philosophy, the literature, the morality, and the civil and political institutions of the world with the religion of the Bible, and then carry their elevating, purifying influence throughout the earth. This is the last of the great dispensations of the world's progressive history. The true and final civilisation of the race, as statesmen and philosophers delight to call it, is just that which owes to Christianity both the life of its being and the law of its forms. It was designed for the whole family of man; and it will therefore embrace the whole. Changes are passing upon the in

Benson Commentary Ezekiel 21:1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Ezekiel 21:1-5 . Song of Solomon of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem — Here God directs the prophet to declare in plain language, what he had ordered him to speak allegorically, from the 46th to the 48th verses of the foregoing chapter. And say to the land of Israel — The prophet’s face being turned toward Judea and Jerusalem, he addresses them as if they were present before him. Behold, I am against thee — I am become thine enemy because of thy sins; I hate thy practices, and will punish thee for them. And will draw forth my sword out of his sheath — By the sword here is meant the same as by the fire in the foregoing chapter, namely, every thing which destroys. It may, however, be taken in a rather more literal sense than the fire is there to be understood, as the calamities of Judea were chiefly to arise from the sword of the king of Babylon, who was God’s instrument to execute his purpose on Judea. And will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked — I will take away from thee the righteous by sending them into captivity; and the wicked by destroying them, either by the sword, or famine, or pestilence. My sword shall go forth against all flesh — Against all the Jews that dwell in the land. It shall not return any more — That is, into its sheath, till it hath executed all my purposes. Ezekiel 21:2 Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel, 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. Ezekiel 21:4 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: Ezekiel 21:5 That all flesh may know that I the LORD have drawn forth my sword out of his sheath: it shall not return any more. Ezekiel 21:6 Sigh therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes. Ezekiel 21:6-7 . Sigh, therefore, with the breaking of thy loins, &c. — Show all the tokens of grief and concern; sigh and groan deeply; let the sense of these impending judgments so greatly affect thee, as to make thee stoop like one quite borne down under the weight of them. God’s judgments, as they were represented to the minds of the prophets, very often affected them with dreadful apprehensions, especially when they concerned their own people: see the margin. With bitterness sigh before their eyes — Before the eyes of the elders of Israel, mentioned Ezekiel 20:1 , or of the Jewish captives, who could not but be touched with a tender sense of the calamities ready to befall their brethren in Judea. Every heart shall melt, &c. — Men’s hearts and strength shall fail them for fear. Ezekiel 21:7 And it shall be, when they say unto thee, Wherefore sighest thou? that thou shalt 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. Ezekiel 21:8 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Ezekiel 21:9 Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the LORD; Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished: Ezekiel 21:9-10 . Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened — The sword was unsheathed in the foregoing verses; here it is fitted to do execution, which the prophet is commanded to lament. 1. It is sharpened, that it may cut, and wound, and make sore slaughter. The wrath of God will put an edge upon it; and whatever instruments he shall be pleased to use in executing his judgments, he will fill them with strength, courage, and fury, according to the service they are employed in. 2. It is furbished, that it may glitter, to the terror of those against whom it is drawn. It shall be a kind of flaming sword. Though the glory of God’s justice may seem to have been eclipsed for a while, (like a sword rusting in the scabbard,) during the day of his patience, and the delay of his judgments; yet it will shine out again, and be made to glitter. 3. It is a victorious sword, nothing shall stand before it. It contemneth the rod of my son, as every tree — It makes no distinction between the sceptre and common wood; between the branches of the royal family, descended from David and Solomon, (who were honoured with the title of God’s sons, ) and the meanest of the people. This seems to be the meaning of the clause, provided our translation be just; but it is rendered very differently in some other versions. The Vulgate reads, Qui moves sceptrum filii mei, succidisti omne lignum, Thou who removest the sceptre of my son, hast cut down every tree; which Capellus understands of Nebuchadnezzar, who took away the sceptre, and overturned the kingdom. The marginal reading, It is the rod of my son, it despiseth every tree, may be understood in two senses. It may either mean, It is the rod whereby I chastise my son, namely, my people Israel. These, collectively considered, are termed God’s son, Exodus 4:22-23 ; Hosea 11:1 ; as being selected and chosen from all others, to stand to him in the relation of sons and daughters. Or, it may signify, It is the rod of my son, the Messiah, appointed by me to be the judge of the world, and invested with authority to execute judgment. This rod despiseth every tree; for it is the rod of iron, whereby the Son of God breaks the power of his enemies, Psalm 2:9 , and dashes them in pieces like a potter’s vessel, without respect of persons. Ezekiel 21:10 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. Ezekiel 21:11 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. Ezekiel 21:12 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. Ezekiel 21:12-13 . Cry and howl, son of man — As a mark of the vehemence of thy grief. For it shall be upon my people — Namely, the devouring sword; upon all the princes of Israel — Both princes and people shall be involved in one common destruction. Smite therefore upon thy thigh — Use all the outward expressions of grief and mourning. Because it is a trial — As all great calamities are often styled: see the margin. And what if the sword contemn even the rod? — Namely, the sceptre and royal family. The Hebrew, ????? ???? ??? ?? ?? , it seems, should rather be rendered, And what if even the rod, or sceptre, contemn? — That is, if the king and kingdom of Judah despise this trial. It shall be no more, saith the Lord — Both shall be destroyed, and be no more. The word rendered rod here, is continually put in Scripture for governor, or government; a rod, staff, or sceptre, being the usual signs of government. God, therefore, here foretels, that if the sceptre of Judah should despise, or not profit by, the correction or punishment brought upon it by the instrumentality of Nebuchadnezzar, it should be entirely broken, and be no more; which came to pass accordingly. The royal family was not amended by this severe judgment, and therefore was laid aside. “The sceptre here only means the kingly power in the house of David, and not that supreme authority which Jacob foretold should not forsake Judah till the coming of the Messiah.” Ezekiel 21:13 Because it is a trial, and what if the sword contemn even the rod? it shall be no more , saith the Lord GOD. Ezekiel 21:14 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. Ezekiel 21:14 ; Ezekiel 21:17 . Prophesy, and smite thy hands together — In token of amazement and sorrow. And let the sword be doubled the third time — Bishop Newcome reads, Bring the sword twice; yea, bring it thrice; namely, that God’s judgments might be fully executed, and his justice satisfied. It is probable that the three great slaughters which should be made of the inhabitants of Judea and Jerusalem are here intended, namely, 1st, During the siege, in which, undoubtedly, great numbers fell who were without the walls of the city, and many within: 2dly, When the city was taken by assault, which certainly was not without great slaughter: and 3dly, The massacre of Gedaliah, and those that sided with him. The sword of the slain — Wherewith many shall be slain. It is the sword of the great men, &c. — Appointed for the slaughter of the great men, namely, the princes, rulers, and captains; which entereth into their privy chambers — Where they were hidden in hopes of escaping. I have set the point of the sword against all their gates — I have gathered together the Chaldeans round about Jerusalem, with their swords sharpened and drawn at every gate, to meet and slay all that shall attempt to come out, or to slay all they find on entering the city. Ah! it is made bright — Hebrew, ?????? ???? , is made like lightning. The same metaphor which occurs in Virgil: “Vaginaque eripit, ensem fulmineum.” — ÆN. 4. 50:579. “He drew his sword, which did like lightning blaze.” It is wrapped — Or rather, It is sharpened for the slaughter. So Kimchius and some others translate ????? , deriving the word from ??? , a style, or iron pen: see Buxtorf. Go thee one way or other — God is here represented as speaking, by way of apostrophe, to the sword, and giving it an unlimited commission to destroy wherever it should be drawn. I will also smite my hands together — In token of my approbation. I will animate and encourage the slayers to go on. And I will cause my fury to rest — I will satisfy my anger by a full execution of my judgments. Ezekiel 21:15 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. Ezekiel 21:16 Go thee one way or other, either on the right hand, or on the left, whithersoever thy face is set. Ezekiel 21:17 I will also smite mine hands together, and I will cause my fury to rest: I the LORD have said it . Ezekiel 21:18 The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying, Ezekiel 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. Ezekiel 21:19-20 . Appoint thee two ways — So as to represent them to the eyes of thy countrymen: see Ezekiel 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: Ezekiel 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 Ezekiel 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. Ezekiel 21:20 Appoint a way, that the sword may come to Rabbath of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the defenced. Ezekiel 21:21 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. Ezekiel 21:21-22 . For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way — The prophet here expresses what was future as if it were past, according to the usual style of the prophets, when speaking of things soon to come to pass. And he explains the symbolical action spoken of in the two foregoing verses; he shows that it was designed to represent what the king of Babylon would do when he was on his march, and came to the place where the road was divided; that he would use divination to determine which of the roads he should take. He made his arrows bright — The Vulgate reads, Commiscens sagittas, Mingling his arrows; which sense of the verb ???? , agrees better with the accounts given us by ancient writers of this kind of divination, and therefore is preferred by Dr. Pocock, who confirms it by the Arabic use of the word. It is also adopted by Bishop Newcome. The way of divining by arrows is thus described by St. Jerome in his commentary on this place: “They wrote on several arrows the names of the cities they intended to assault; and then, putting them all together promiscuously in a quiver, they drew them out thence as lots are drawn; and that city whose name was written on the arrow first drawn was the city they first made war upon.” A method of divining by arrows is still in use, it appears, among the idolatrous Arabs. Of this we read the following description, in Sale’s Preliminary Discourse to the Koran, p. 126: “Seven divining arrows were kept at the temple of Mecca; but generally, in divination, the idolatrous Arabs made use of three only, on one of which was written, My Lord hath commanded me; on another, My Lord hath forbidden me; and the third was blank. If the first was drawn, they looked on it as an approbation of the enterprise in question; if the second, they made a contrary conclusion; but if the third happened to be drawn, they mixed them, and drew over again, till a decisive answer was given by one of the others.” He consulted with images — The Hebrew word here is teraphim, the name given to the images, or gods, which Rachel stole from Laban, Genesis 31:19 . In what way these were consulted cannot now be said, and all conjectures about it are vain. He looked in the liver — This was another way of divination used among these heathen; they determined for or against certain things, according to the state of the liver of sacrificed animals, whether mutilated or complete, sound or unsound, or from its colour, or some marks appearing in particular places of it, and this by rules laid down among them. At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem — When the king of Babylon stood at the head of the two ways, to consult which of the two he should take, the tokens that were shown him, God so ordering it, induced him to march with his army to the right, that is, toward Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar must be considered as coming from Dan, and marching along the river Jordan. Rabbath was therefore situated to the left hand, and Jerusalem to the right: see Michaelis. From this, and many other instances in the Scriptures, we may conclude, that things apparently the most fortuitous, such as the coming up of lots, and the like, are subject to the direction of Divine Providence, and, when occasion requires it, are ordered to answer its purposes; to open the mouth in the slaughter — Or, to the slaughter; that is, to animate the soldiers to slay. To lift up the voice with shouting — To make the military cry, in order to strike the inhabitants with terror. We find it was usual, in almost all armies, to begin the attack of their enemies with a loud cry, which served to animate their own men, and to intimidate the enemy. To cast a mount — See note on Jeremiah 22:24 . Ezekiel 21:22 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. Ezekiel 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. Ezekiel 21:23-24 . And it shall be as a false divination to them that have sworn oaths — That is, the Jews, when they shall hear of it, shall deride and despise it as a vain, lying divination, and so shall consider themselves as being unconcerned in it; and that though they have sworn homage to the king of Babylon, and afterward perfidiously broken their covenant with him. But he will call to remembrance the iniquity, that they may be taken — Nebuchadnezzar will remember Zedekiah’s breach of his oath, and all his and his people’s treacheries, and will avenge himself by taking the city, and making him and his subjects prisoners of war. The form of expression seems to imply that the king of Babylon had had it chiefly in his mind to go against Rabbath; but the divinations all signifying that he should go against Jerusalem, caused him to reflect on the perfidious behaviour of the Jewish nation toward him, and so determined him to take the way to Jerusalem, in order severely to punish the inhabitants of it. Because ye have made your iniquity to be remembered — Not by yourselves, that it might be repented of, but by me, that it might be punished: because by your open and manifest continuance in your former sinful courses against me, and rebellions against the king of Babylon, you cause both me and him to call your iniquitous conduct to mind, and punish you for it: ye shall be taken by the hand — As birds or beasts, entangled in the net, are easily taken with the hand, so shall you be taken in the easiest manner, and fall into the hands of the king of Babylon, whose anger you have justly provoked. Ezekiel 21:24 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. Ezekiel 21:25 And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, Ezekiel 21:25-26 . And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel — The words are directed to Zedekiah, whom the prophet calls profane and wicked, chiefly with respect to his breaking that solemn oath, uttered in the name of God, whereby he had engaged himself to be tributary to the king of Babylon. By this action he and his courtiers did great dishonour to the true God. The king of Babylon, it appears, kept the oath which he sware to them by his false gods, while they broke the oath which they sware to him by Jehovah! Thus disgracing the true God before the Babylonians and other heathen, who must needs entertain a contemptible opinion of that being, whose worshippers durst break the oath which they had sworn by him. Therefore with respect to this, as well as his unalterable regard to truth and the due observance of oaths, God could not but look with indignation upon the breach of their oath, and inflict punishment upon them for it. See note on Ezekiel 17:15 . Whose day is come — The day of whose calamity is near at hand, when he shall receive the due punishment of his iniquity. Remove the diadem — The original word is often used for the priestly mitre, but here it means some kingly ornament, probably the royal tire of the head. Take off the crown — Depose him from his kingly dignity. This shall not be the same — The kingdom shall never be what it has been. Exalt him that is low — This seems to be spoken of Jehoiachin, who was many years kept in prison at Babylon; but at length, as we read 2 Kings 25:27 , was taken out of prison, kindly treated, and advanced to great honour by Evil-merodach, king of Babylon. And abase him that is high — Namely, Zedekiah; who was to be pulled down from his throne, have his eyes put out, and be kept in prison the remainder of his days. Ezekiel 21:26 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. Ezekiel 21:27 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 . Ezekiel 21:27 . I will overturn, overturn, overturn it — By several degrees I will utterly overthrow the kingdom of Judah; and it shall be no more — It shall never recover its former lustre and dignity; until he come, &c. — Till the Messiah come to take his kingdom. To the same purpose is Lowth’s paraphrase on the verse: “After that Zedekiah is deprived of his regal authority, there shall be no more kings of that family till Christ come, the King so often foretold and promised, who in due time shall reign upon the throne of his father David, and of whose kingdom there shall be no end, Luke 1:32-33 . After the captivity, some of the priests of the Asmonean race assumed the style and title of kings; but not being of the tribe of Judah, they could have no just right to that honour. The expression, Whose right it is, seems to be peculiarly characteristic of the Messiah, who is always spoken of by the prophets as the true and right heir to the throne of David, and as one who was in an eminent manner to inherit the kingdom. His indeed the right was; for him was reserved the kingly dominion, not only over Judea, but the whole earth. The repetition of the word overturn, in the beginning of this verse, or, as the Hebrew expression ??? may be more literally rendered, an overturning, may probably be intended to predict the repeated subversions which the Jewish state was to undergo in future times, by the Chaldeans, Macedonians, Romans, and many others, and the multiplied destructions of their nation, by which they would be punished for their sins; which subversions and destructions will not come to any happy termination, till they submit to the easy yoke of their long- rejected Messiah, and in humility, faith, and gratitude, accept the salvation which he waits to confer upon them. Nay, and the expression might be intended “to predict all the convulsions in states and kingdoms, which shall make way for the establishment of his kingdom throughout the earth.” — Scott. Ezekiel 21:28 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: Ezekiel 21:28-29 . Thus saith the Lord concerning the Ammonites — Because the Ammonites were reprieved by Nebuchadnezzar’s decision to besiege Jerusalem, they were ready to promise themselves security, and to insult over the calamities brought on the Jews; a practice for which they are often reproved very severely by the prophets, and threatened with the like judgments. And concerning their reproach — Wherewith they reproached Israel in the day of Israel’s afflictions; say thou, The sword is drawn, is drawn — Warlike preparations are made against you, the war is declared, and your enemy hath drawn the sword. For the slaughter it is furbished — It is prepared to make dreadful destruction, to lay waste your country, and consume its inhabitants. While they see vanity unto thee — While the soothsayers and pretenders to divination foretel nothing but happy events to thee, O Ammon! the sword is preparing to destroy thee. To bring thee upon the necks of them that are slain — To add thy people to the number of those who are slain in Judea, ( Ezekiel 21:14-15 ,) and to make thy condition like theirs; whose day is come — See Ezekiel 21:25 . When their iniquity shall have an end — When their deserved punishment, coming upon them, shall put a stop to their wickedness. This prophecy concerning the Ammonites was fulfilled by the Babylonians, about five years after the destruction of Jerusalem, because the Ammonites assisted Ishmael to wrest the government of Judea out of the hands of Gedaliah, whom the king of Babylon had fixed there as his deputy. Ezekiel 21:29 Whiles they see vanity unto thee, whiles 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. Ezekiel 21:30 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. Ezekiel 21:30-32 . Shall I cause it to return into his sheath? — Shall the sword that is drawn to execute the judgments of God upon Ammon be put up in its sheath before it has done its work? Surely not. I will judge thee in the place where thou wast created — That is, where thy nation first received its existence: thou shalt not be carried captive, but shalt be destroyed in thy own land. I will pour out mine indignation upon thee — Which shall overwhelm thee as with a flood, and sweep thy nation into ruin. I will blow against thee, &c. — To melt thee as it were in a furnace. See Ezekiel 22:20-21 . And deliver thee into the hand of brutish men — The LXX. read, ?????? ???????? ???????????? ????????? , of barbarous men, artificers of destruction; or, as we render it, skilful to destroy. Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire — Thy country and cities shall be destroyed by fire. Thy blood shall be in the midst of the land — A slaughter shall be made of thee in every part of thy country, and thy blood shall appear everywhere. Thou shalt be no more remembered — The Jewish people still subsist, but the Ammonites are lost in the mass of mankind, and have been long forgotten. Ezekiel 21:31 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 skilful to destroy. Ezekiel 21:32 Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire; thy blood shall be in the midst of the land; thou shalt be no more remembered: for I the LORD have spoken it . 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Expositor's Bible Commentary Ezekiel 21:1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, THE SWORD UNSHEATHED Ezekiel 21:1-32 THE date at the beginning of chapter 20 introduces the fourth and last section of the prophecies delivered before the destruction of Jerusalem. It also divides the first period of Ezekiel’s ministry into two equal parts. The time is the month of August, 590 B.C., two years after his prophetic inauguration and two years before the investment of Jerusalem. It follows that if the Book of Ezekiel presents anything like a faithful picture of his actual work, by far his most productive year was that which had just closed. It embraces the long and varied series of discourses from chapter 8 to chapter 19; whereas five chapters are all that remain as a record of his activity during the next two years. This result is not so improbable as at first sight it might appear. From the character of Ezekiel’s prophecy, which consists largely of homiletic amplifications of one great theme, it is quite intelligible that the main lines of his teaching should have taken shape in his mind at an early period of his ministry. The discourses in the earlier part of the book may have been expanded in the act of committing them to writing; but there is no reason to doubt that the ideas they contain were present to the prophet’s mind and were actually delivered by him within the period to which they are assigned. We may therefore suppose that Ezekiel’s public exhortations became less frequent during the two years that preceded the siege, just as we know that for two years after that event they were altogether discontinued. In this last division of the prophecies relating to the destruction of Jerusalem we can easily distinguish two different classes of oracles. On the one hand we have two chapters dealing with contemporary incidents-the march of Nebuchadnezzar’s army against Jerusalem (chapter 21), and the commencement of the siege of the city (chapter 24). In spite of the confident opinion of some critics that these prophecies could not have been composed till after the fall of Jerusalem, they seem to me to bear the marks of having been written under the immediate influence of the events they describe. It is difficult otherwise to account for the excitement under which the prophet labours, especially in chapter 21, which stands by the side of chapter 7 as the most agitated utterance in the whole book. On the other hand, we have three discourses of the nature of formal indictments-one directed against the exiles (chapter 20), one against Jerusalem (chapter 22), and one against the whole nation of Israel (chapter 23). It is impossible in these chapters to discover any advance in thought upon similar passages that have already been before us. Two of them (chapters 20 and 23) are historical retrospects after the manner of chapter 16, and there is no obvious reason why they should be placed in a different section of the book. The key to the unity of the section must therefore be sought in the two historical prophecies and in the situation created by the events they describe. It will therefore help to clear the ground if we commence with the oracle which throws most light on the historical background of this group of prophecies-the oracle of Jehovah’s sword against Jerusalem in chapter 21. The long-projected rebellion has at length broken out. Zedekiah has renounced his allegiance to the king of Babylon, and the army of the Chaldeans is on its way to suppress the insurrection. The precise date of these events is not known. For some reason the conspiracy of the Palestinian states had hung fire; many years had been allowed to slip away since the time when their envoys had met in Jerusalem to concert measures of united resistance. { Jeremiah 27:1-22 } This procrastination was, as usual, a sure presage of disaster. In the interval the league had dissolved. Some of its members had made terms with Nebuchadnezzar; and it would appear that only Tyre, Judah, and Ammon ventured on open defiance of his power. The hope was cherished in Jerusalem, and probably also among the Jews in Babylon, that the first assault of the Chaldeans would be directed against the Ammonites, and that time would thus be gained to complete the defences of Jerusalem. To dispel this illusion is one obvious purpose of the prophecy before us. The movements of Nebuchadnezzar’s army are directed by a wisdom higher than his own; he is the unconscious instrument by which Jehovah is executing His own purpose. The real object of his expedition is not to punish a few refractory tribes for an act of disloyalty, but to vindicate the righteousness of Jehovah in the destruction of the city which had profaned his holiness. No human calculations will be allowed even for a moment to turn aside the blow which is aimed directly at Jerusalem’s sins or to obscure the lesson taught by its sure and unerring aim. We can imagine the restless suspense and anxiety with which the final struggle for the national cause was watched by the exiles in Babylon. In imagination they would follow the long march of the Chaldean hosts by the Euphrates and their descent by the valleys of the Orontes and Leontes upon the city. Eagerly would they wait for some tidings of a reverse which would revive their drooping hope of a speedy collapse of the great world-empire and a restoration of Israel to its ancient freedom. And when at length they heard that Jerusalem was enclosed in the iron grip of these victorious legions, from which no human deliverance was possible, their mood would harden into one in which fanatical hope and sullen despair contended for the mastery. Into an atmosphere charged with such excitement Ezekiel hurls the series of predictions comprised in chapters 21 and 24. With far other feelings than his fellows, but with as keen an interest as theirs, he follows the development of what he knows to be the last act in the long controversy between Jehovah and Israel. It is his duty to repeat once more the irrevocable decree-the Divine delenda est against the guilty Jerusalem. But he does so in this instance in language whose vehemence betrays the agitation of his mind, and perhaps also the restlessness of the society in which he lived. The twenty-first chapter is a series of rhapsodies, the product of a state bordering on ecstasy, where different aspects of the impending judgment are set forth by the help of vivid images which pass in quick succession through the prophet’s mind. I. The first vision which the prophet sees of the approaching catastrophe ( Ezekiel 21:1-4 ) is that of a forest conflagration, an occurrence which must have been as frequent in Palestine as a prairie fire in America. He sees a fire break out in the "forest of the south," and rage with such fierceness that "every green tree and every dry tree" is burned up; the faces of all who are near it are scorched, and all men are convinced that so terrible a calamity must be the work of Jehovah Himself. This we may suppose to have been the form in which the truth first laid hold of Ezekiel’s imagination; but he appears to have hesitated to proclaim his message in this form. His figurative manner of speech had become notorious among the exiles ( Ezekiel 21:5 ), and he was conscious that a "parable" so vague and general as this would be dismissed as an ingenious riddle which might mean anything or nothing. What follows ( Ezekiel 21:7-10 ) gives the key to the original vision. Although it is in form an independent oracle, it is closely parallel to the preceding and elucidates each feature in detail. The "forest of the south" is explained to mean the land of Israel, and the mention of the sword of Jehovah instead of the fire intimates less obscurely that the instrument of the threatened calamity is the Babylonian army. It is interesting to observe that Ezekiel expressly admits that there were righteous men even in the doomed Israel. Contrary to his conception of the normal methods of the Divine righteousness, he conceives of this judgment as one which involves righteous and wicked in a common ruin. Not that God is less than righteous in this crowning act of vengeance, but His justice is not brought to bear on the fate of individuals. He is dealing with the nation as a whole, and in the exterminating judgment of the nation good men will no more be spared than the green tree of the forest escapes the fate of the dry. It was the fact that righteous men perished in the fall of Jerusalem; and Ezekiel does not shut his eyes to it, firmly as he believed that the time was come when God would reward every man according to his own character. The indiscriminateness of the judgment in its bearing on different classes of persons is obviously a feature which Ezekiel here seeks to emphasise. But the idea of the sword of Jehovah drawn from its scabbard, to return no more till it has accomplished its mission, is the one that has fixed itself most deeply in the prophet’s imagination, and forms the connecting link between this vision and the other amplifications of the same theme which follow. II. Passing over the symbolic action of Ezekiel 21:11-13 , representing the horror and astonishment with which the dire tidings of Jerusalem’s fall will be received, we come to the point where the prophet breaks into the wild strain of dithyrambic poetry, which has been called the "Song of the Sword" ( Ezekiel 21:14-22 ). The following translation, although necessarily imperfect and in some places uncertain, may convey some idea both of the structure and the rugged vigour of the original. It will be seen that there is a clear division into four stanzas:- -1 Ezekiel 21:14-16 . "A sword, a sword! It is sharpened and burnished withal. For a work of slaughter is it sharpened! To gleam like lightning burnished! And ‘twas given to be smoothed for the grip of the hand, - Sharpened is it, and furbished- To put in the hand of the slayer." -2 Ezekiel 21:17-18 . "Cry and howl, son of man! For it has come among my people; Come among all the princes of Israel! Victims of the sword are they, they and my people Therefore smite upon thy thigh! It shall not be, saith Jehovah the Lord." -3 Ezekiel 21:19-20 . "But, thou son of man, prophesy, and smite hand on hand; Let the sword he doubled and tripled(?). A sword of the slain is it, the great sword of the slain whirling around them, - That hearts may fail, and many be the fallen in all their gates. It is made like lightning, furbished for slaughter!" -4 Ezekiel 21:21-22 . "Gather thee together! Smite to the right, to the left, Whithersoever thine edge is appointed! And I also will smite hand on hand, And appease My wrath: I Jehovah have spoken it." In spite of its obscurity, its abrupt transitions, and its strange blending of the divine with the human personality, the ode exhibits a definite poetic form and a real progress of thought from the beginning to the close. Throughout the passage we observe that the prophet’s gaze is fascinated by the glittering sword which symbolised the instrument of Jehovah’s vengeance. In the opening stanza (1) he describes the preparation of the sword; he notes the keenness of its edge and its glittering sheen with an awful presentiment that an implement so elaborately fashioned is destined for some terrible day of slaughter. Then (2) he announces the purpose for which the sword is prepared, and breaks into loud lamentation as he realises that its doomed victims are his own people and the princes of Israel. In the next stanza (3) he sees the sword in action; wielded by an invisible hand, it flashes hither and thither, circling round its hapless victims as if two or three swords were at work instead of one. All hearts are paralysed with fear, but the sword does not cease its ravages until it has filled the ground with slain. Then at length the sword is at rest (4), having accomplished its work. The divine Speaker calls on it in a closing apostrophe "to gather itself together" as if for a final sweep to right and left, indicating the thoroughness with which the judgment has been executed. In the last verse the vision of the sword fades away, and the poem closes with an announcement, in the usual prophetic manner, of Jehovah’s fixed purpose to "assuage" His wrath against Israel by the crowning act of retribution. III. If any doubt still remained as to what the sword of Jehovah meant, it is removed in the next section ( Ezekiel 21:23-32 ), where the prophet indicates the way by which the sword is to come on the kingdom of Judah. The Chaldaean monarch is represented as pausing on his march, perhaps at Riblah or some place to the north of Palestine, and deliberating whether he shall advance first against Judah or the Ammonites. He stands at the parting of the ways-on the left hand is the road to Rabbath-ammon, on the right that to Jerusalem. In his perplexity he invokes supernatural guidance, resorting to various expedients then in use for ascertaining the will of the gods and the path of good fortune. He "rattles the arrows" (two of them in some kind of vessel, one for Jerusalem and the other for Riblah); he consults the teraphim and inspects the entrails of a sacrificial victim. This consulting of the omens was no doubt an invariable preliminary to every campaign, and was resorted to whenever an important military decision had to be made. It might seem a matter of indifference to a powerful monarch like Nebuchadnezzar which of two petty opponents he determined to crush first. But the kings of Babylon were religious men in their way, and never doubted that success depended on their following the indications that were given by the higher powers. In this case Nebuchadnezzar gets a true answer, but not from the deities whose aid ‘he had invoked. In his right hand he finds the arrow marked "Jerusalem." The die is cast, his resolution is taken, but it is Jehovah’s sentence sealing the fate of Jerusalem that has been uttered. Such is the situation which Ezekiel in Babylon is directed to represent through a piece of obvious symbolism. A road diverging into two is drawn on the ground, and at the meeting-point a sign-post is erected, indicating that the one leads to Ammon and the other to Judah. It is of course not necessary to suppose that the incident so graphically described actually occurred. The divination scene may only be imaginary, although it is certainly a true reflection of Babylonian ideas and customs. The truth conveyed is that the Babylonian army is moving under the immediate guidance of Jehovah, and that not only the political projects of the king, but his secret thoughts and even his superstitious reliance on signs and omens, are all overruled for the furtherance of the one purpose for which Jehovah has raised him up. Meanwhile Ezekiel is well aware that in Jerusalem a very different interpretation is put on the course of events. When the news of the great king’s decision reaches the men at the head of affairs they are not dismayed. They view the decision as the result of "false divination"; they laugh to scorn the superstitious rites which have determined the course of the campaign, not that they suppose the king will not act on his omens, but they do not believe they are an augury of success. They had hoped for a short breathing space while Nebuchadnezzar was engaged on the east of the Jordan, but they will not shrink from the conflict whether it be today or tomorrow. Addressing himself to this state of mind, Ezekiel once more (Cf. chapter 17) reminds those who hear him that these men are fighting against the moral laws of the universe. The existing kingdom of Judah occupies a false position before God and in the eyes of just men. It has no religious foundation; for the hope of the Messiah does not lie with that wearer of a dishonoured crown, the king Zedekiah, but with the legitimate heir of David now in exile. The state has no right to be except as part of the Chaldaean empire, and this right it has forfeited by renouncing its allegiance to its earthly superior. These men forget that in this quarrel the just cause is that of Nebuchadnezzar, whose enterprise only seems to "call to mind their iniquity" ( Ezekiel 21:28 )- i.e. , their political crime. In provoking this conflict, therefore, they have put themselves in the wrong; they shall be caught in the toils of their own villainy. The heaviest censure is reserved for Zedekiah, the "wicked one, the prince of Israel, whose day is coming in the time of final retribution." This part of the prophecy has a close resemblance to the latter part of chapter 17. The prophet’s sympathies are still with the exiled king, or at least with that branch of the royal family which he represents. And the sentence of rejection on Zedekiah is again accompanied by a promise of the restoration of the kingdom in the person of the Messiah. The crown which has been dishonoured by the last king of Judah shall be taken from his head; that which is low shall be exalted (the exiled branch of the Davidic house), and that which is high shall be abased (the reigning king); the whole existing order of things shall be overturned "until He comes who has the right." IV. The last oracle is directed against the children of Ammon. By Nebuchadnezzar’s decision to subdue Jerusalem first the Ammonites had gained a short respite. They even exulted in the humiliation of their former ally, and had apparently drawn the sword in order to seize part of the land of Judah. Misled by false diviners, they had dared to seek their own advantage in the calamities which Jehovah had brought on His own people. The prophet threatens the complete annihilation of Ammon, even in its own land, and the blotting out of its remembrance among the nations. That is the substance of the prophecy; but its form presents several points of difficulty. It begins with what appears to be an echo of the "Song of the Sword" in the earlier part of the chapter:- "A sword! a sword! It is drawn for slaughter; it is furbished to shine like lightning" ( Ezekiel 21:28 ). But as we proceed we find that it is the sword of the Ammonites that is meant, and they are ordered to return it to its sheath. If this be so, the tone of the passage must be ironical. It is in mockery that the prophet uses such magnificent language of the puny pretensions of Ammon to take a share in the work for which Jehovah has fashioned the mighty weapon of the Chaldaean army. There are other reminiscences of the earlier part of the chapter, such as the "lying divination" of ver. 34, and the "time of final retribution" in the same verse. The allusion to the "reproach" of Ammon and its aggressive attitude seems to point to the time after the destruction of Jerusalem and the withdrawal of the army of Nebuchadnezzar. Whether the Ammonites had previously made their submission or not we cannot tell; but the fortieth and forty-first chapters of Jeremiah show that Ammon was still a hotbed of conspiracy against the Babylonian interest in the days after the fall of Jerusalem. These appearances make it probable that this part of the chapter is an appendix, added at a later time, and dealing with a situation which was developed after the destruction of the city. Its insertion in its present place is easily accounted for by the circumstance that the fate of Ammon had been linked with that of Jerusalem in the previous part of the chapter. The vindictive little nationality had used its respite to gratify its hereditary hatred of Israel, and now the judgment, suspended for a time, shall return with redoubled fury and sweep it from the earth. Looking back over this series of prophecies, there seems reason to believe that, with the exception of the last, they are really contemporaneous with the events they deal with. It is true that they do not illuminate the historical situation to the same degree as those in which Isaiah depicts the advance of another invader and the development of another crisis in the people’s history. This is due partly to the bent of Ezekiel’s genius, but partly also to the very peculiar circumstances in which he was placed. The events which form the theme of his prophecy were transacted on a distant stage; neither he nor his immediate hearers were actors in the drama. He addresses himself to an audience wrought to the highest pitch of excitement, but swayed by hopes and rumours and vague surmises as to the probable issue of events. It was inevitable in these circumstances that his prophecy, even in those passages which deal with contemporary facts, should present but a pale reflection of the actual situation. In the case before us the one historical event which stands out clearly is the departure of Nebuchadnezzar with his army to Jerusalem. But what we read is genuine prophecy; not the artifice of a man using prophetic speech as a literary form, but the utterance of one who discerns the finger of God in the present, and interprets His purpose beforehand to the men of his day. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.