Bible Commentaries

Verses 1-32

The commission was then repeated in terms of explanation. Ezekiel was to set his face against Jerusalem, and prophesy against the land of Israel, declaring that Jehovah would draw His sword out of its sheath in order to proceed in ultimate judgment against the sinning people.

Moreover, Ezekiel was charged that his message was to be delivered with all the tokens of overwhelming anguish, which tokens should in themselves constitute a sign which he was to interpret to the people as the anguish which must inevitably overtake them in the day of calamity.

All this had prepared the way for the song of the sword. First, in graphic language the prophet described the sword itself, sharpened and furbished, and ready to the hand of the slayer. This song was immediately followed by an interpretation. The king of Babylon was seen approaching. He came to a place where the ways parted, one leading to Rabbah of the children of Ammon, ,the other to Jerusalem. There he used divination with arrows, and consulted the teraphim. The lot fell on ,Jerusalem, and toward that he proceeded with all the instruments of siege.

Then the prince of Israel was addressed. Charged with sin, his judgment was announced, and the fact that Jehovah would continue to overturn until the coming of the rightful King. When at the parting of the ways the king of Babylon turned toward Jerusalem it would seem as though Ammon had drawn a sword, in all likelihood with the intention of taking part in the vengeance about to fall on Jerusalem. The prophet uttered the word which commanded Ammon to sheathe that sword, and declared that the judgment of Jehovah was against it.