to Judah in Jerusalem--instead of simply putting "Jerusalem," to imply the sword was to come not merely to Judah, but to its people within Jerusalem, defended though it was; its defenses on which the Jews relied so much would not keep the foe out.
21. parting--literally, "mother of the way." As "head of the two ways" follows, which seems tautology after "parting of the way," Havernick translates, according to Arabic idiom, "the highway," or principal road. English Version is not tautology, "head of the two ways" defining more accurately "parting of the way."
made ... bright--rather, "shook," from an Arabic root.
arrows--Divination by arrows is here referred to: they were put into a quiver marked with the names of particular places to be attacked, and then shaken together; whichever came forth first intimated the one selected as the first to be attacked [Jerome]. The same usage existed among the Arabs, and is mentioned in the Koran. In the Nineveh sculptures the king is represented with a cup in his right hand, his left resting on a bow; also with two arrows in the right, and the bow in the left, probably practising divination.
images--Hebrew, "teraphim"; household gods, worshipped as family talismans, to obtain direction as to the future and other blessings. First mentioned in Mesopotamia, whence Rachel brought them ([Ge 31:19], ); put away by Jacob ([Ge 35:4]); set up by Micah as his household gods ([Jud 17:5]); stigmatized as idolatry ([1Sa 15:23], Hebrew; [Zec 10:2], Margin).
liver--They judged of the success, or failure, of an undertaking by the healthy, or unhealthy, state of the liver and entrails of a sacrifice.
22. Rather, "In his right hand was [is] the divination," that is, he holds up in his right hand the arrow marked with "Jerusalem," to encourage his army to march for it.
captains--The Margin, "battering-rams," adopted by Fairbairn, is less appropriate, for "battering-rams" follow presently after [Grotius].
open the mouth in ... slaughter--that is, commanding slaughter: raising the war cry of death. Not as Gesenius, "to open the mouth with the war shout."
23. Unto the Jews, though credulous of divinations when in their favor, Nebuchadnezzar's divination "shall be (seen) as false." This gives the reason which makes the Jews fancy themselves safe from the Chaldeans, namely, that they "have sworn" to the latter "oaths" of allegiance, forgetting that they had violated them ([Eze 17:13], 15, 16, 18).
but he, &c.--Nebuchadnezzar will remember in consulting his idols that he swore to Zedekiah by them, but that Zedekiah broke the league [Grotius]. Rather, God will remember against them ([Re 16:19]) their violating their oath sworn by the true God, whereas Nebuchadnezzar kept his oath sworn by a false god; [Eze 21:24] confirms this.
24. Their unfaithfulness to Nebuchadnezzar was a type of their general unfaithfulness to their covenant God.
with the hand--namely, of the king of Babylon.
25. profane--as having desecrated by idolatry and perjury his office as the Lord's anointed. Havernick translates, as in [Eze 21:14], "slain," that is, not literally, but virtually; to Ezekiel's idealizing view Zedekiah was the grand victim "pierced through" by God's sword of judgment, as his sons were slain before his eyes, which were then put out, and he was led a captive in chains to Babylon. English Version is better: so Gesenius ([2Ch 36:13]; [Jr 52:2]).
when iniquity shall have an end--([Eze 21:29]). When thine iniquity, having reached its last stage of guilt, shall be put an end to by judgment ([Eze 35:5]).
26. diadem--rather, "the miter" of the holy priest ([Ex 28:4]; [Zec 3:5]). His priestly emblem as representative of the priestly people. Both this and "the crown," the emblem of the kingdom, were to be removed, until they should be restored and united in the Mediator, Messiah ([Psa 110:2], ; [Zec 6:13]), [Fairbairn]. As, however, King Zedekiah alone, not the high priest also, is referred to in the context, English Version is supported by Gesenius.
this shall not be the same--The diadem shall not be as it was [Rosenmuller]. Nothing shall remain what it was [Fairbairn].
exalt ... low, ... abase ... high--not the general truth expressed ([Pr 3:34]; [Lu 1:52]; [Jas 4:6]; [1Pe 5:5]); but specially referring to Messiah and Zedekiah contrasted together. The "tender plant ... out of the dry ground" ([Is 53:2]) is to be "exalted" in the end ([Eze 21:27]); the now "high" representative on David's throne, Zedekiah, is to be "abased." The outward relations of things shall be made to change places in just retaliation on the people for having so perverted the moral relations of things [Hengstenberg].
27. Literally, "An overturning, overturning, overturning, will I make it." The threefold repetition denotes the awful certainty of the event; not as Rosenmuller explains, the overthrow of the three, Jehoiakim, Jeconiah, and Zedekiah; for Zedekiah alone is referred to.
it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is--strikingly parallel to [Ge 49:10]. Nowhere shall there be rest or permanence; all things shall be in fluctuation until He comes who, as the rightful Heir, shall restore the throne of David that fell with Zedekiah. The Hebrew for "right" is "judgment"; it perhaps includes, besides the right to rule, the idea of His rule being one in righteousness ([Psa 72:2]; [Is 9:6], ; ; [Re 19:11]). Others (Nebuchadnezzar, &c.), who held the rule of the earth delegated to them by God, abused it by unrighteousness, and so forfeited the "right." He both has the truest "right" to the rule, and exercises it in "right." It is true the tribal "scepter" continued with Judah "till Shiloh came" ([Ge 49:10]); but there was no kingly scepter till Messiah came, as the spiritual King then ([Joh 18:36], ); this spiritual kingdom being about to pass into the literal, personal kingdom over Israel at His second coming, when, and not before, this prophecy shall have its exhaustive fulfilment ([Lu 1:32], 33; [Jr 3:17]; ; "To thee doth it appertain").
28. Lest Ammon should think to escape because Nebuchadnezzar had taken the route to Jerusalem, Ezekiel denounces judgment against Ammon, without the prospect of a restoration such as awaited Israel. [Jr 49:6], it is true, speaks of a "bringing again of its captivity," but this probably refers to its spiritual restoration under Messiah; or, if referring to it politically, must refer to but a partial restoration at the downfall of Babylon under Cyrus.
their reproach--This constituted a leading feature in their guilt; they treated with proud contumely the covenant-people after the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar ([Eze 25:3], ; [Zep 2:9], ), and appropriated Israel's territory ([Jr 49:1]; [Am 1:13-15]).
furbished, to consume--Maurer punctuates thus, "Drawn for the slaughter, it is furbished to devour ('consume'), to glitter." English Version, "to consume because of the glittering," means, "to consume by reason of the lightning, flash-like rapidity with which it falls." Five years after the fall of Jerusalem, Ammon was destroyed for aiding Ishmael in usurping the government of Judea against the will of the king of Babylon ([2Ki 25:25]; [Jr 41:15]) [Grotius].
29. see vanity ... divine a lie--Ammon, too, had false diviners who flattered them with assurances of safety; the only result of which will be to "bring Ammon upon the necks," &c., that is, to add the Ammonites to the headless trunks of the slain of Judah, whose bad example Ammon followed, and "whose day" of visitation for their guilt "is come."
when their iniquity shall have an end--See on [Eze 21:25].
30. Shall I cause it to return into his sheath--namely, without first destroying Ammon. Certainly not ([Jr 47:6], ). Others, as the Margin, less suitably read it imperatively, "Cause it to return," that is, after it has done the work appointed to it.
in the land of thy nativity--Ammon was not to be carried away captive as Judah, but to perish in his own land.
31. blow against thee in, &c.--rather, "blow upon thee with the fire," &c. Image from smelting metals ([Eze 22:20], ).
brutish--ferocious.
skilful to destroy--literally, "artificers of destruction"; alluding to [Is 54:16].
32. thy blood shall be--that is, shall flow.
be no more remembered--be consigned as a nation to oblivion.
Chapter 22
Eze 22:1-31. God's Judgment on the Sinfulness of Jerusalem
Repetition of the charges in the twentieth chapter; only that there they were stated in an historical review of the past and present; here the present sins of the nation exclusively are brought forward.
2. See [Eze 20:4]; that is, "Wilt thou not judge?" &c. (compare [Eze 23:36]).
the bloody city--literally, "the city of bloods"; so called on account of murders perpetrated in her, and sacrifices of children to Molech ([Eze 22:3], [4, 6], ; , ).
3. sheddeth blood ... that her time may come--Instead of deriving advantage from her bloody sacrifices to idols, she only thereby brought on herself "the time" of her punishment.
against herself--([Pr 8:36]).
4. thy days--the shorter period, namely, that of the siege.
thy years--the longer period of the captivity. The "days" and "years" express that she is ripe for punishment.
5. infamous--They mockingly call thee, "Thou polluted one in name (Margin), and full of confusion" [Fairbairn], (referring to the tumultuous violence prevalent in it). Thus the nations "far and near" mocked her as at once sullied in character and in actual fact lawless. What a sad contrast to the Jerusalem once designated "the holy city!"
6. Rather, "The princes ... each according to his power, were in thee, to shed blood" (as if this was the only object of their existence). "Power," literally, "arm"; they, who ought to have been patterns of justice, made their own arm of might their only law.
7. set light by--Children have made light of, disrespected, father ... ([De 27:16]). At [Eze 22:7-12] are enumerated the sins committed in violation of Moses' law.
9. men that carry tales--informers, who by misrepresentations cause innocent blood to be shed ([Le 19:16]). Literally, "one who goes to and fro as a merchant."