View Ezekiel 21 in the note window.
An explication of the prophecy in the close of the last chapter,
with directions to the prophet upon it, ver. 1 - 7.
A prediction of the sword that was coming on the land, ver. 8 - 17.
A prospect given of the king of Babylon's coming to Jerusalem,
to which he was determined by divination, ver. 18 - 24.
Sentence passed on Zedekiah, ver. 25 - 27.
The destruction of the Ammonites, ver. 28 - 32.
2: The holy places - The temple and all parts of it.
3: The righteous - It is no unusual thing, that in publick calamities,
those who are indeed righteous should be involved with others.
4: All flesh - All the Jews that dwell in the land.
5: Shall not return - It shall not return into the scabbard 'till it
hath done full execution.
6: Sigh therefore - Thereby express deep sorrow.
Breaking of thy loins - Like a woman in travail.
7: Because - The saddest news you ever heard is coming.
9: Furbished - Made clean and bright.
10: Of my son - To whom God saith, Thou shalt break them with a
rod of iron, (Ps 2:9).
This sword is that rod of iron, which despiseth every tree, and will
bear it down.
12: It - The devouring sword. Upon thy thigh - In token of thy
sense of what they must suffer.
13: If - But if the king and kingdom of Judah despise this trial,
both shall be destroyed and be no more.
14: And smite - In token of amazement and sorrow.
Of the slain - Wherewith many shall be slain.
Privy chambers - Where they were hidden in hope to escape.
15: All their gates - Both of cities, of palaces, and of private
houses. Wrapt up - And hath been carefully kept in the scabbard, that
it might not be blunted.
16: Go - O sword, take thy own course.
17: Smite my hands - In token of my approbation.
19: 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.
20: To Judah - The Jews.
21: Stood - The prophet speaks of what shall be, as if it were
already. To use - To consult with his gods, and to cast lots.
Arrows - Writing on them the names of the cities, then putting them
into a quiver, and thence drawing them out and concluding, according
to the name which was drawn. He consulted - Perhaps by a divine
permission, the devil gave them answers from those images.
In the liver - They judged of future events, by the entrails, and
more especially by the liver.
22: The divination - The divination which concerned Jerusalem,
was managed on his right hand.
23: Them - The Jews. That have sworn - Zedekiah, his
princes, and nobles, who swore allegiance to the king of Babylon,
these perjured persons will contemn all predictions of the prophet.
He - Nebuchadnezzar. The iniquity - The wickedness of their perjury
and rebellion. They - Zedekiah, and the Jews with him
24: Your transgressions - Against God, and against the king of
Babylon. Discovered - To all in court, city, and country.
With the hand - As birds, or beasts in the net, are taken with the
hands, so shall you, and be carried into Babylon.
25: And thou - Zedekiah. Whose day - The day of sorrows, and
sufferings, and punishment is at hand. Shall have an end - Shall bring
the ruin of king and kingdom, and with the overthrow of your state,
the means of sinning shall end too.
26: The diadem - The royal attire of the head, which the king daily
wore. Shall not be the same - The kingdom shall never be what it hath
been. Him that is low - Jeconiah. The advance of this captive king,
came to pass in the thirty - seventh year of his captivity.
27: Shall be no more - Never recover its former glory, 'till the
scepter be quite taken away from Judah, and way be made for the
Messiah. He hath an incontestable right to the dominion both in
the church and in the world. And in due time he shall have the
possession of it, all adverse power being overturned.
28: Their reproach - Wherewith they reproached Israel in the day
of Israel's afflictions.
29: While - While thy astrologers, and soothsayers, deceive thee
with fair, but false divinations. To bring thee - To bring thee under
the sword of the Chaldeans, and destroy thee as the Jews; to make
thee stumble and fall on their necks, as men that fall among a multitude
of slain.
30: Shall I cause it - God will by no means suffer the sword to be
sheathed. Judge thee - Condemn, and execute.
31: I will blow - As those who melt down metals blow upon the metal
in the fire, that the fire may burn the fiercer.
