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. SHALL I CAUSE IT TO RETURN INTO HIS SHEATH? - namely, without first destroying Ammon. Certainly not (Jeremiah 47:6). Others, as margin, less suitably read it imperatively, 'Cause it to return,' - i:e., after it has done the work appointed to it. I WILL JUDGE THEE ... IN THE LAND OF THY NATIVITY. Ammon was not to be carried away captive as Judah, but to perish in his own land....

28-32 The diviners of the Ammonites made false prophecies of victory. They would never recover their power, but in time would be wholly forgotten. Let us be thankful to be employed as instruments of mercy; let us use our understandings in doing good; and let us stand aloof from men who are only skilful to destroy....

Verse Ezekiel 21:30. _I WILL JUDGE THEE_] This seems to refer to Nebuchadnezzar, who, after his return from Jerusalem, became insane, and lived like a beast for _seven_ years; but was afterwards restored, and acknowledged the Lord....

The third word of judgment. The king of Babylon’s march upon Judaea and upon the Ammonites. Destruction is to go forth not on Judah only, but also on such neighboring tribes as the Ammonites (compare Jeremiah 27:2). Ezekiel 21:19 APPOINT THEE - Set before thee. CHOOSE THOU A PLACE, CHOOSE IT - Rather, “mark a spot, mark it,” as upon a map, at the head of the two roads, one leading to Jerusalem, the other to Ammon. These were the two roads by one or other of which an invading army must march from Babylon to Egypt. Ezekiel 21:21 The Chaldaean king is depicted

EXPOSITION EZEKIEL 21:2, EZEKIEL 21:3 The opening words, reproducing those of Ezekiel 20:46, indicate that the interpretation of that parable is coming. So the three variants of "south" are shown to mean respectively Jerusalem, the holy places, and the land of Israel. So, in Ezekiel 20:3, the RIGHTEOUS and the WICKED take the place of the "green" and the "dry" tree, and the fire is explained as meaning the sword of the invader. The teaching of Ezekiel

SHALL I CAUSE IT TO RETURN INTO HIS SHEATH?.... The drawn and furbished sword of the Chaldeans? no, I will not; it shall never return or be put up until the Ammonites are utterly consumed. Some read these words in the imperative, as the Targum, "return the sword to its sheath;'' so the Vulgate Latin version, "return to thy sheath"; and so may be considered as a direction to the Ammonites to put up their swords, and not stand in their own defence, since it would be to no purpose; though Jerom, and Grotius after him, take the words to be an apostrophe to the drawn sword of the Chaldeans to sheath itself, having done its work upon the Jews and Ammonites; or to the Chaldeans to return to Babylon, and where they also should be punished; and so interpret all that follows of the destruction of the Babylonians by the Medes and Persians; but the first sense is best: I will judge thee in the pl...

Ezekiel 21:1. A solemn message is given to the prophet: “Behold I am against thee, and will draw forth my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.” It was to be a widespread judgment, against all flesh. Ezekiel was commanded to sigh with bitterness before their eyes and was to tell them the cause of his grief (Ezekiel 21:1). The sharpening of the sword of judgment is given in Ezekiel 21:8. It was hanging over their heads, ready to strike at any moment. The question is asked, “Should we then make mirth?” is this the time of mirth, worldly pleasures and enjoyment? Not for the faithful in Israel. Nor is the present solemn time a time of mirth for those who know the signs of the times and

EZEKIEL 20:45 TO EZEKIEL 21:32. THE TERRIBLE SWORD OF NEBUCHADREZZAR. Here again, as shortly before (chs. 18f.), a piece of theological oratory is followed by a poem this time a wild irregular dithyramb (esp. Ezekiel 21:8), the text of which is, unhappily, corrupt in places to the point of desperation. But perhaps its very perplexities reflect the tumult of the prophet's soul. The nearer the doom approaches, the more vividly does he conceive it. EZEKIEL 20:5. He begins by announcing a supernatural conflagration in the south, which is to scorch the land bare. On Ezekiel's audience objecting to his allegorical descript

Ezekiel 20:45 to Ezekiel 21:32. The avenging sword of the Lord The passage Ezekiel 20:45-49 belongs to ch. 21 (as in Heb.). The time to which the chapter is to be assigned is the early period of Nebuchadnezzar's movements westwards. The prophet foresees the coming desolation of Israel by the conqueror, which he expresses under the figure of a devouring fire, consuming all indiscriminately. The passage has two divisions, ch. Ezekiel 20:45 to Ezekiel 21:27, and...

D. The Sword Against Ammon 21:28-32 TRANSLATION (28) And as for you, son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord GOD concerning the children of Ammon and their taunt, and say: O sword, keen-edged, furbished to the uttermost for slaughter that it may flash. (29) While they see falsehood about you, while they divine lies regarding you, to lay you upon the necks of the wicked who shall be slain, whose day has come, in the time of the iniquity of the end. (30) Cause it to return 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 wrath upon you, I will blow you with the fire of My wrath; and I will give you into the hand of ruthless men, skillful destroyers. (32) You shall become fuel for the fire; your blood shall be in the midst of the land. You shall not be remembered; for I the LORD have spoken it. COMMENT...