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 ) .