Глава 21

The chapter contains three prophetic speeches, probably delivered (see explanation Eze. 20.45) after Nebuchadnezzar set out on a campaign against Judea and breathing with the moral satisfaction of the prophet from the fact that the judgment of God deserved by Judea and predicted by him had already begun to take place. In the first speech (vv. 1–7), the prophet expresses a general view of the approaching war, as of the sword of God hanging over Judea (the coming disaster is God's punishment); in the second speech (vv. 8–17) he proves that this sword is already completely ready (the immediate proximity of punishment); in the third (vv. 13–32) he predicts that although the Ammonites, who together with Judah rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, lie on the latter’s path to Judea and should have taken the first blow of the conqueror (which would have given Judah the opportunity to gather its strength), the latter would first take over Judah; however, the Ammonites will not escape punishment either. Ezekiel 21:2. son of man! turn your face towards Jerusalem and speak a word against the sanctuaries, and prophesy against the land of Israel, “Sanctuaries” – church; plural to designate the totality of all its shrines (glav.: “at the shrines”) or for the sake of 3 parts of it. Ezek.21:3. and say to the land of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, and will draw my sword from its sheath and will destroy from you the righteous and the wicked. The prophet explains the allegory of the burning forest as an allegory of the sword of God. But the second allegory is understandable by itself, because the coming judgment of God is precisely the judgment by the sword through the mediation of Nebuchadnezzar; that he, or rather his war against Judea, is understood to be under the sword of God, is clearly shown, v. 19, 30. – “The Righteous and the Wicked.” That the disasters sent by God do not distinguish between the righteous and the wicked is a secret of Providence, noted more than once in Holy Scripture: Job 9.22; Ps 78.2–3. The Prophet Ezekiel did not see in this circumstance a contradiction with the views expressed in Ezekiel 18 ch. (Consequently, there the righteous person is promised an unearthly life). But LXX, in order to eliminate this apparent contradiction and avoid the bewilderment about the ways of Providence generated by this place, they put here: “unjust and lawless,” and Targum: “I will remove your righteous from among you in order to destroy your sinners.” It is remarkable that, according to the view of the prophet Ezekiel, who so denounced Jerusalem, there were righteous people in it (not just Jeremiah). Ezek.21:4. And in order to destroy from you the righteous and the wicked, My sword will go from its scabbard against all flesh from south to north. The sword of God will make no difference: so ardently will it act. – “From south to north” see explanation of Ezek.20.47. Ezek.21:6. But you, son of man, groan, breaking your thighs, and groan in sorrow before their eyes. That what has been described so far will come, the prophet must announce even more strikingly through the fact that he will now groan and grieve, as his listeners will soon do (upon receiving the news of the fall of Jerusalem) (cf. Ezek. 12.17 etc.): “the coming disaster is already a reality for the prophet” (Bert.). - “Moan.” This is the first time a prophet receives such a command from God; Wed Eze.6.11, where the prophet was commanded to laugh indignantly at the people. – “Breaking the thighs” – see Deut. 33.11. Ezek.21:7. And when they say to you, “Why are you groaning?”, say, “Because of the hearing that is coming,” and every heart will melt, and every hand will drop, and every spirit will faint, and every knee will tremble like water. Behold, this will come and come true, says the Lord God. “And every heart will melt” - Isaiah 19.1. – “And all hands will fail” – Ezek.7.17. - “And every spirit will fail.” No one will be able to find a way out of the terrible situation, having lost all intelligence and determination; Ezek.7.26. Slav.: “and all flesh and every spirit is created.” – “And all the knees will tremble” – Ezek.7.17. - “All this will come and come true.” Attention is drawn to the inevitability of disaster, which intensifies the threat. Ezek.21:9. son of man! prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord God: say: the sword, the sword is sharpened and cleaned; In a new prophetic speech, the prophet develops the image of a naked sword, lyrically describing its terrible virtues. - “Sword, sword.” Emphatic repetition. Slav. - name p. and further led. incl. – “Cleansed” to frighten enemies from afar with one sparkle. Slav.: “furious”. Ezekiel 21:10. sharpened in order to stab more; cleaned to sparkle like lightning. Shall we rejoice that the rod of My son despises every tree? “And here the enemy is depicted only in vague outlines; the vagueness of expression enhances the horror of his appearance.” (Krechm.). - “Should we rejoice because the rod of My son despises every tree?” A very unclear and out-of-context expression, rendered differently by the LXX and other ancient translations. Heb. The text of this passage is usually explained in such a way that here lies, as it were, a protest of the prophet on behalf of the people against the Divine threat with the sword of vengeance, a protest based on the promises given to the tribe of Judah in the blessing of Jacob: “the scepter (rod) will not depart from Judah.” - “Should we rejoice” - can we not be calm in view of the coming disasters on the basis that the scepter of Judah “despises every tree,” i.e., that with the scepter of the mighty Judah, every other royal power, every other royal scepter is incomparable. This understanding is confirmed by the unmistakable reference to Jacob's prophecy in v. 27. of this chapter. Ezek.21:11. I let it be cleaned so I could take it in my hand; This sword has already been sharpened and cleaned to give it into the hand of the killer. Once the sword is cleaned, it goes into use: it is not cleaned for nothing. - "Murderer" . Executioner - Nebuchadnezzar; bliss To Jerome - the devil. Ezek.21:12. Wail and howl, son of man, for he is against my people, against all the princes of Israel; They will be given under the sword with My people; therefore strike your thighs. The horror of the sword of God is all the greater because it will not discriminate between the victims; the princes, the flower and support of the people, will fall under him, like everyone else. Hitting the thighs is a sign of sadness Jeremiah 31.19. Ezek.21:13. For he has already been tested. And what if he despises the rod? This one will not stand, says the Lord God. “For it (the sword) has already been tested” - Nebuchadnezzar proved his power. Slav. too: “as if she was justified.” - “And what if he despises the rod” - see the explanation. Art. 10. The kingdom of Judah, this scepter of Judah, to which such promises are given and which is so superior to other kingdoms, will be weaker than the Chaldean monarchy. Slav. gives another thought: “and what (a figure of silence, cf. Exodus 16.7) if the tribe (Judah, so significant) were to be denied? (finally by God after the defeat by Nebuchadnezzar) there will not be (this: the kingdom of Judah will not finally perish), says Adonai the Lord.” Ezek.21:14. But you, son of man, prophesy and strike hand to hand; and the sword will double and triple, a sword against the slain, a sword to slay the great, piercing into the interior of their dwellings. The prophet must express the prophecy about the sword, or rather confirm it, and with a gesture - to give it greater strength and reality: as a sign that the sword, that is, the strength, the army of Nebuchadnezzar will, as it were, by itself, from itself, keep growing and growing, the prophet, by clapping his hand twice and three times, should double and triple the sword he predicted. “To defeat the great one” - the king (Zedekiah). Ezek.21:15. So that hearts will melt and there will be more fallen, I will place a formidable sword at all their gates, alas! sparkling like lightning, sharpened for slaughter. If in 14 tbsp. The prophet predicts that the sword of God will double and triple by itself, then here God says that He Himself will “place a sword at every gate,” therefore, will multiply it endlessly, “so that there will be more fallen” (glory: “and infirmities will multiply”) and so that from this “hearts will melt” (glory: “let their hearts be broken”) - in repentance. - “Alas”, glory. “good”, in Hebrew. “ah” is an interjection of angry satisfaction (in a fit of sacred indignation of the prophet at lawlessness). Ezek.21:16. Pull yourself together and go to the right or go to the left, wherever your face turns. “Get yourselves together” is the supposed meaning of the Hebrew. a word (ahad) that must have constituted a military term; slav.: “pass like lightning.” “Go, to the right or go to the left” - to Jerusalem or to the Ammonites, as can be seen from v. 19, 22. Ezek.21:17. And I will applaud and satisfy My wrath; I, the Lord, have spoken. Even God Himself, like the prophet in v. 14, will applaud (strong anthropomorphism) the successes of the enemies of Israel: so much has He broken with His people, and so great is His wrath against the latter. Ezek.21:19. and you, son of man, imagine two roads along which the sword of the king of Babylon must go - both of them must come out of the same land; and draw a hand, mark at the beginning of the roads to the cities. The prophet abandons figurative speech. The sword of God is the army of the king of Babylon, who has already moved to pacify the Palestinian rebels - Judah and Ammon - and stands at the fork in the road, undecided whether to go to Jerusalem or to the Ammonites. He asks the oracle about this (he tells fortunes). “God will take care of the right answer” (Smend). The prophet must present all this in a symbolic action: perhaps on the sands on which Tel Aviv was built (Ezek. 3.15), he must draw two lines, meaning two roads coming out of one land (Babylon). - “And draw a hand.” Heb. above here probably means not a hand, but, as in 1 Samuel 15.22; 2 Samuel 18.18; Isa 56.5, a pillar at the intersections with a designation where each of the branching roads leads, which pillars are still placed at the intersections and were in use, as this place shows, already in that ancient times. – “To the cities” – Jerusalem and Rabbah – v. 22. Ezekiel 21:20. Imagine the road along which the sword would go to Rabbah of the sons of Ammon and to Judea, to fortified Jerusalem; “Sword” – the army of Nebuchadnezzar (19th century). “To Rabbah of the sons of Ammon” - the capital of the Ammonite kingdom, which is named as it is here in 2 Kings 12.26, 17.27; Jer 49.2; Deut. 3.11, and in other places it is simply called Rabbah (Ezek.25.5, etc.); in Polybius (V, 7, 4) – Ραββαταμανα; subsequently renamed Philadelphia; now - ruins bearing the name "Amman", east of the Jordan on the upper reaches of Jabbok (Nar-Aman). - “And to Judea.” Judea was placed after Rabbah because it was the final, although the main, goal of Nebuchadnezzar’s campaign. - “Fortified Jerusalem,” that is, famous everywhere for its fortifications; this epithet is also applied to him in Isa. 25.2, 27.10. But LXX, reading the word somewhat differently, has: “among her,” that is, the Jews; in glory incorrect: "him". Ezek.21:21. because the king of Babylon stopped at a crossroads, at the beginning of two roads, for fortune telling: he shakes arrows, asks the teraphim, examines the liver. “At the crossroads” - lit. from Hebrew: “on the mother of roads”; slav: “on the old (traveled?) path.” – “For fortune telling” regarding where to go first: to the Ammonites or Jerusalem. Three methods of fortune telling are calculated further: 1) “Shakes arrows.” “This kind of fortune-telling,” says Maldonat, is still used today (in the 16th century): arrows with inscriptions of what should be chosen are dropped into a quiver or helmet; Usually the boy pulls out one, and what is written on it is carried out.” In this case, 2 arrows were used: on one it was written, as v. 22 shows: “to Jerusalem,” and on the other, of course: “to Rabba”; that which the king’s right hand stretched out was chosen – v. 22. This method of fortune telling was used by the Arabs (Bert.), as well as by the Babylonians (Lenormand, La magie chez Les Chaldeens 430, etc.) and was called velomancy or rhabdomancy, which is why it is famous: “like boiling a rod” (αναβρασαι ανακινειν - shake). 2) “Questions the teraphim” - household idols, pentas, which Nebuchadnezzar, like Rachel once did (Gen. 31.19), took with him on a campaign. It is unknown how the teraphim were questioned and how they gave an answer: maybe velomancy was simply performed before them. 3) “Looks at the liver,” specifically the sacrificial animal. The sacrifice generally had to accompany fortune-telling, as can be seen from the story of Balaam. The liver was considered the seat of life (Proverbs 7.23) and feelings (Lamentations 2.11). Fortune telling by the liver, “hepatoscopy” (LXX: ηπατοσκοπσασθαι), was in great use among all the ancients: the Babylonians (Diodorus II, 29; Lenormand cit., where all its details are indicated and it is proven that it was borrowed by the Chaldeans from the first inhabitants of Mesopotamia - Akkadians), Romans (Cicero, De divinat. I, 16; II, 12, 13), Greeks, Etruscans. Ezekiel 21:22. In his right hand he holds a fortune-telling: “to Jerusalem,” where he must place the battering rams, open his mouth for slaughter, raise his voice for a military cry, bring the rams to the gates, build a rampart, build siege towers. “In his right hand he has a fortune-telling: to Jerusalem.” With his right hand (bringing happiness), Nebuchadnezzar pulled out (from his helmet or quiver) a lot (arrow - 21st century) with the inscription: “to Jerusalem.” - After this, the campaign against Judea, as already decided, is not described, and the prophet proceeds directly to depicting the siege of Jerusalem. Since Jehovah directed the fortune-telling, He wants all the terrible things planned by Nebuchadnezzar to be carried out. – “Place battering rams” – Ezek.4.2. - “Open your mouth to slaughter.” Nebuchadnezzar will address the soldiers with a speech before the battle; or: the warriors will fight with piercing screams. – “Raise your voice for a war cry.” This is not a tautology (Git.), but a strengthening of the previous thought. Joshua 6.19 speaks about the loud cries of the besiegers during the siege of cities; Amos 1:14, 2:2; Jer 49.2. - “Bring in the battering rams.” An inexplicable repetition of what was said earlier, confirmed by LXX. To avoid repetition, they translate “sharim” (rams, rams) here as “military commanders”: Nebuchadnezzar will appoint military commanders; but they should have been appointed before the campaign, and not before the siege itself. – “Fill up a shaft” – Ezek.4.2. Ezekiel 21:23. This fortune-telling seemed false in their eyes; but since they swore an oath, he, remembering their treachery, decided to take it. “This fortune-telling seemed false in their eyes.” It is curious that the news of Nebuchadnezzar’s indecisiveness on the campaign and even of his fortune-telling so quickly reached the people of Jerusalem, who, generally so gullible in magic, in this case, when the fortune-telling was not in their favor, did not hesitate to recognize it as false, that is, his answer did not come from God. Slav.: “and that same magician spelled magic before them,” i.e. Nebuchadnezzar appeared as if an evil wizard against Judea, calling troubles upon her with his fortune-telling. - “But since they swore an oath.” Of course, Zedekiah’s oath of vassal obedience to Nebuchadnezzar, the violation of which brought all the troubles upon Judea. The Hebrew text, with a different vocalization, allows for such a translation as is given by Slav. according to Aquila and Theodotion (in the LXX in the majority; manuscripts do not have this expression): “settling the sevens”: lit.: “they have weeks to weeks”, or: “Saturdays to Saturdays”; with such a translation, the present place would either give the idea that, in the opinion of the Jews, Nebuchadnezzar, thanks to his indecision, which forced him to resort to sorcery, would hesitate for whole weeks with his siege of Jerusalem, which would give them the opportunity to prepare for resistance; or the expression may refer to some magic rites in which the number 7 played a large role (Sellin, Beitrage zur isr. u. jud. Relig. - Geschichte 11,121). “Then he (Nebuchadnezzar), remembering such treachery (the alliance of Zedekiah with other rebel vassals), decided to take it” (Jerusalem). Slav.: “And he who remembers his unrighteousness will remember” gives another idea: Nebuchadnezzar will remind Jerusalem (by its destruction) of its untruths. Ezek.21:24. Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: since you yourselves bring to memory your iniquity, making your transgressions obvious, making your sins visible in all your deeds, and you yourselves bring this to memory, then you will be taken by hand. By her treachery towards Nebuchadnezzar, Judea reminded God of all her previous sins, which He, perhaps under the influence of the pious reign of Josiah and the general weakening of idolatry in recent times, seemed to have begun to forget. However, “bringing to remembrance iniquity”, a misdemeanor, is a legal term equivalent to drawing up an indictment (Ezek.29.16; Num. 5.15; 1 Kings 8.47). The same idea is repeated rhetorically in three expressions, all strengthening it. - “You will be taken by hand” is also, perhaps, a legal expression, like: arrested. Indication of captivity. Ezek.21:25. And you, unworthy, criminal leader of Israel, whose day has come now when his wickedness will be put to an end! The speech now turns to the first culprit of the impending destruction - the wicked Zedekiah, whose treachery brought a storm to Judah. - “Whose day has now come” - the eschatological day, that well-known day on which settlements for sins are made, having already reached its final point. This is the first place where it speaks of the “day” of an individual person, and not of an entire nation (cf. Am 5.18. Individualism of Ezekiel; cf. Ezek. 18 ch.). - “When his wickedness is put to an end.” Slav. more precisely: “during untruth, the end”, i.e., when untruth has reached its extreme limits. Ezekiel 21:26. Thus says the Lord God: take off your diadem and put on your crown; this will no longer happen; the lowly will be exalted and the high will be humbled. “Take off”, as in “fold” in Hebrew. undefined incl. to express the decisiveness of the command. The appeal is of course to Zedekiah. - “Diadema”, glory. "kidar" - high priestly headband (tiara). Perhaps it was worn by illegally appropriating it for themselves or as a long-standing and ubiquitous accessory of royal power and the kings of Judah; or perhaps it is a synonym for crown; or finally, perhaps this indicates the destruction of the high priesthood. "This won't happen anymore." Lit.: “it won’t be this.” Glory: “This one will not be like this”: the crown (of Zedekiah) will not be a crown. - With the approaching catastrophe, a complete change in the order of things will follow, one of the particulars of which changes is indicated below: the humble will be exalted, etc. “The humiliated will be exalted and the high will be humbled.” What is expressed here is not so much the general truth found in Scripture: Proverbs 3.34; Luke 1.52; James 4.6; 1 Pet 5.5, as the expression refers to the Messiah and Zedekiah, placed facing each other (Ezek.17.24; Is. 53.2). It is characteristic that it is said first about the humiliated; in particular, Ezekiel could have meant Jehoiachin, who would soon be seated from prison on the throne and become the ancestor of the Messiah. Targum: “Gedaliah the son of Ahikam will take the crown that does not belong to him, and it will be taken away from Zedekiah, to whom it belonged.” Ezekiel 21:27. I will put it down, I will put it down, I will put it down, and it will not exist until He comes to Whom it belongs, and I will give it to Him. “I will bring down” - three times, in the same place and for the same reason, as in Ezekiel 7.5, i.e. Zedekiah and his kingdom. According to EUR "Abba", from the root "Ava" in Lamentations 3.9 and Isaiah 24.1 "to destroy", should be "destruction". LXX and Vulgate read as “avon”, “sin”, why slav. “I will lay it down unrighteously (three times)”: the disasters that follow unrighteousness will be exhausted by Israel only after the victory of Nebuchadnezzar. - “And he (Zedekiah must have a crown, therefore, the kingdom of Judah) will not be” - in Hebrew. past time, which must be past - prophetic; glory “and he will not be like that” must also mean that the same expression of the previous verse; but glory. Here I do not agree with the Greek: woe to the kingdom of Judah: it is like this, in destruction, and will remain until... - “Until He comes to Whom it (belongs)” (crown). One of the rare direct messianic prophecies in Ezekiel (hitherto only Ezekiel 17.22–24). Clear dependence on Gen 49.10, as in Ezek 19.10–11. The Prophet expects that only the Messiah will for the first time restore the now destroyed kingdom; Jews also think so: “The Urim and Thummim and the king from the house of David ceased to exist with the destruction and their restoration can only be expected with the resurrection of the dead, when the Messiah, the son of David, appears” (Sota, ed. Wagenseil, p. 1669). - “And I will give to Him.” The Messiah's closer dependence on God than in Isaiah is in accordance with Ezekiel's general view of all the actions of God. Ezekiel 21:28. And you, son of man, prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord God about the sons of Ammon and about their reproach; and say: the sword, the sword is drawn for slaughter, cleansed for destruction, so that it flashes like lightning, Although Nebuchadnezzar, having first decided to put an end to Jerusalem and Judea, will pass by the Ammonites, this will not save them: on the contrary, their death is not only as inevitable as the Jews, but, in contrast to Judea, it is also final, without the hope of restoration that Jerusalem may have. Such death is God’s punishment for gloating at the death of Judea, for “reproach” (glorified “reproach”) of Judea. This reproach is also the reason why the speech against the Ammoinites is placed out of line and earlier, repeating itself later in Chapter XXV. in a series of speeches against pagan peoples. The “sword” of Jehovah is Nebuchadnezzar and his army. – “For slaughter” – “for destruction”. The second enhances the first; the second is not said about Judea. - “To sparkle” - Art. 15. Ezekiel 21:29. so that, while empty visions are presented to you and false fortunes are told to you, he may also include you among the beheaded wicked ones, for whom the day has come when their wickedness will be put to an end. “They present you with empty visions.” Consequently, the Ammonites, as well as in Judea, had no shortage of false prophets who reassured them about the danger from Nebuchadnezzar and, perhaps, even says that they would appear in the hands of God as an instrument (“sword” cf. v. 30) to punish Nebuchadnezzar: such reassuring prophecies could have been successful especially from the time when Nebuchadnezzar passed by the Ammonites right into Judea. - “And he (the Ammonite king) added you to the beheaded wicked people” - the Jews; but so called in Art. 24 only Zedekiah, the chief transgressor of the will of God in Judah; comparison with him, of course, is unflattering for the Ammonites. – “Whose day has come” – v. 25. Ezek.21:30. Should I return it to its scabbard? - in the place where you were created, in the land of your origin, I will judge you: “Shall I return it to its scabbard?” Should the Ammonites be spared and Nebuchadnezzar be forced to return to Babylon after conquering Judea? God asks himself, as it were. But in Heb. led nakl., therefore glory. more precisely: “return to your scabbard,” that is, the sword of the Ammonites: it is useless for them to defend themselves against the sword of God. Greek: αποστρέφε μη καταλυης (turn around so as not to stop striking?). “In the land of your origin I will judge you,” where every nation is especially strong; Wed OS 2.21, 5.9; Ezek.11.10. Ezek.21:31. and I will pour out My indignation on you, I will breathe on you the fire of My wrath, and I will deliver you into the hands of fierce people, experienced in murder. “I will breathe the fire of My wrath upon you.” Full of anger, eastern strength, expression (Isaiah 42.25). - “Fierce people” Heb. bogarim, personal “brutal” (Ps 93.8), glav.: “barbarian”. – “Experienced in murder”; glory “who create destruction”, Vulg. fabricantium interitum. Both epithets refer to the Chaldeans and are characteristic of Ezekiel’s mood towards the latter, about whom the prophet, considering them an instrument (scourge) of God, had a fair opinion and towards whom he was far from being disposed. Ezek.21:32. You will be food for the fire, your blood will remain on the earth; they will not even remember you; for I the Lord have spoken it. “You will be food for the fire” - perhaps an indication of the fires of the Ammonite cities, as “your blood will remain on the earth” (glorified “it will be in the middle of your land”), i.e. it will cover the whole earth, - an indication of the multitude of those killed. - “They won’t even remember you.” The Ammonites will be so destroyed that what little remains of their nation will be mixed with neighboring nations and will not have a special name. Since the era of the Maccabees, the Ammonites and Moabites truly disappear from history. This is not the fate of Israel: v. 27. Even Egypt is promised a not so terrible future: Ezekiel 29.13 etc. The reason for such a grave punishment is cruel, constant and persistent enmity towards the chosen, moreover, brotherly people without cause on his part, which was enmity against the God who chose him. - “For I the Lord have spoken this” - cf. Ezek.5.13. You might be interested in: