Ezekiel 21:28

28 And you, son of man, say as a prophet, This is what the Lord has said about the children of Ammon and about their shame: Say, A sword, even a sword let loose, polished for death, to make it shining so that it may be like a flame:

Ezekiel 21:28 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 21:28

And thou, son of man, prophesy, and say
Here begins a new prophecy, or rather an enlargement on part of the former; two ways being marked out for the sword of the Chaldeans to come in; the one leading to Jerusalem, the other to Rabbath of the Ammonites; the prophecy being finished concerning the former, here an account is given of the latter; how the sword should move that way, and what execution it would do: thus saith the Lord God concerning the Ammonites, and concerning their
reproach;
Nebuchadnezzar, agreeably to the above prophecy, having taken his route to Jerusalem, as his divination directed him, and destroyed that, returned to Babylon, without making any attempt upon the Ammonites; which so flushed them, that they insulted the Jews, and laughed at their destruction, as if their God whom they served could not save them; attributing their safety and prosperity to the idols they worshipped; see ( Ezekiel 25:1-7 ) ( Zephaniah 2:8-10 ) : even say thou, the sword, the sword is drawn for the slaughter;
the same sword of the Chaldeans, which was drawn for the slaughter of the Jews, is now drawn for the slaughter of the Ammonites; and which is repeated for the certainty of it, and to inject terror; and this, as Josephus ^F21 says, was accomplished five years after the destruction of Jerusalem, in the twenty third year of Nebuchadnezzar: it is furbished, to consume because of the glittering; being brightened
and made sharp,
it not only terrified with its glittering, but was more fit and prepared to cut and destroy; see ( Ezekiel 21:9 Ezekiel 21:10 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F21 Antiqu. Jud. l. 10. c. 9. sect. 7.

Ezekiel 21:28 In-Context

26 This is what the Lord has said: Take away the holy head-dress, take off the crown: this will not be again: let that which is low be lifted up, and that which is high be made low.

27 I will let it be overturned, overturned, overturned: this will not be again till he comes whose right it is; and I will give it to him.

28 And you, son of man, say as a prophet, This is what the Lord has said about the children of Ammon and about their shame: Say, A sword, even a sword let loose, polished for death, to make it shining so that it may be like a flame:

29 Your vision is to no purpose, your use of secret arts gives a false answer, to put it on the necks of evil-doers who are wounded to death, whose day has come, in the time of the last punishment.

30 Go back into your cover. In the place where you were made, in the land from which you were taken, I will be your judge.