Ezekiel 21:14-32--The LORD Has Drawn His Sword (Cont.)

Ezekiel 21:14-32
English Standard Version

14 “As for you, son of man, prophesy. Clap your hands and let the sword come down twice, yes, three times, the sword for those to be slain. It is the sword for the great slaughter, which surrounds them, 15 that their hearts may melt, and many stumble. At all their gates I have given the glittering sword. Ah, it is made like lightning; it is taken up for slaughter. 16 Cut sharply to the right; set yourself to the left, wherever your face is directed. 17 I also will clap my hands, and I will satisfy my fury; I the LORD have spoken.”

18 The word of the LORD came to me again: 19 “As for you, son of man, mark two ways for the sword of the king of Babylon to come. Both of them shall come from the same land. And make a signpost; make it at the head of the way to a city. 20 Mark a way for the sword to come to Rabbah of the Ammonites and to Judah, into Jerusalem the fortified. 21 For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination. He shakes the arrows; he consults the teraphim; he looks at the liver. 22 Into his right hand comes the divination for Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to open the mouth with murder, to lift up the voice with shouting, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast up mounds, to build siege towers. 23 But to them it will seem like a false divination. They have sworn solemn oaths, but he brings their guilt to remembrance, that they may be taken.

24 “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have made your guilt to be remembered, in that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your deeds your sins appear—because you have come to remembrance, you shall be taken in hand. 25 And you, O profane wicked one, prince of Israel, whose day has come, the time of your final punishment, 26 thus says the Lord GOD: Remove the turban and take off the crown. Things shall not remain as they are. Exalt that which is low, and bring low that which is exalted. 27 A ruin, ruin, ruin I will make it. This also shall not be, until he comes, the one to whom judgment belongs, and I will give it to him.

28 “And you, son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord GOD concerning the Ammonites and concerning their reproach; say, A sword, a sword is drawn for the slaughter. It is polished to consume and to flash like lightning— 29 while they see for you false visions, while they divine lies for you—to place you on the necks of the profane wicked, whose day has come, the time of their final punishment. 30 Return it to its sheath. In the place where you were created, in the land of your origin, I will judge you. 31 And I will pour out my indignation upon you; I will blow upon you with the fire of my wrath, and I will deliver you into the hands of brutish men, skillful to destroy. 32 You shall be fuel for the fire. Your blood shall be in the midst of the land. You shall be no more remembered, for I the LORD have spoken.”

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The response (clapping one's hands) seems inappropriate for the slaughter of many of the people of Israel and Judah, but the LORD sees the good that is going to come from this day of vengeance, so He is happy to see the results of His good work.  He knows this is what is needed to met their hearts of stone and give the next generation a chance to no longer follow in the sins of the previous generations.  Ezekiel is therefore also to rejoice, even if it is a prolonged process where the people are attacked two or three times before the LORD's wrath is satisfied.  Any of the people who take up a sword against the invaders will perish.

The king of Babylon is going to use divination to try to divine the will of gods he worships so that he may know which of the two cities and peoples he is to go to war against.  If he goes one way, he will attack Rabbah of the Ammonites.  If he takes the other path, he will attack Judah and Jerusalem, and all of her fortifications.  The LORD will cause the king's divination to tell him to attack Judah and Jerusalem.  Though divination is a sin for us today because we have the full council of the Word of God and the Holy Sprit to lead us, it was common practice among the pagans to look for supernatural help in making difficult decisions.  Unfortunately, they were not looking to the one true God who would truly be able to give them help.  Even in their ignorance, the LORD gave them the answer they needed.  He would also later reveal himself to this king through his prophet Daniel, and the king would start to make inquiry of the LORD through Daniel instead of turning to this kind of divination.

The LORD will put an end to the kings of the northern tribes that called themselves Israel.  When the people returned from Exile, they would once again be a united kingdom under a single leader who would govern from Jerusalem (he would not call himself a king or a prince because of prophecies made against his family, but he would be the continuation of the line of successors that would govern until Messiah would appear).  This wicked king would be punished for the evil he did and the evil he led the people into.

The Ammonites will have their day of judgment coming.  Though the LORD chose to deal with His people in Jerusalem first, that does not mean that their day is not coming.  They will be sent false visions to think they are safe and they will be taken by surprise when judgment falls upon them.  They too were responsible for leading the people into much idolatry and immorality.  Unlike the people of Israel, there will be no remnant left of the Ammonites.  The LORD promises that people will no longer remember them.  Other than what we read of them in the Bible, they are largely unknown in history.  The once powerful people would be so utterly destroyed and decimated that they would disappear without a trace.  So it will be with many other nations that set their eyes against the People and the Land of the LORD.  They will be completely destroyed.  Let history learn from their mistakes and not repeat them lest their fate fall upon the people today who try the same thing and expect different results.  The LORD is just as capable of judging and destroying nations and people groups today as He was in the Old Testament.