Ezekiel 21:13

13 For {examine}! And what if also [the] rod will not be despising?' {declares} the Lord Yahweh.

Ezekiel 21:13 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 21:13

Because it is a trial
As all afflictions and calamities are, especially to the people of God they try their faith and patience, and every other grace; and also to wicked men, they try them, whether they will repent or not: and what if the sword contemn even the rod?
the sceptre: the king of Judah, and his family; not only come upon and cut off the people and the princes, but the royal family also; and even overturn the tribe of Judah, as the word also signifies; and subvert the government of it, of which the rod or sceptre is an ensign; this would be a sore trial indeed, and yet it is intimated that so it should be: it shall be no more, saith the Lord God;
the rod or sceptre shall be no more in one of David's line, of the tribe Judah, until the Messiah comes, ( Ezekiel 21:27 ) . I should choose to render the words thus, "for it is a trial, but what?" ^F23 what an one is it? or for what is it? what will be the fruit, effect, and issue of it? if also the sceptre despises;
the king despises the trial, the affliction, the calamity, and is not brought to repentance by it: it shall be no more,
or "it shall not be" ^F24, saith the Lord God;
it, the sceptre, shall be taken away, and not restored to the house of David, until the Messiah comes.

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FOOTNOTES:

F23 (hmw Nxb yk) "quum fuit probatio quid tandem fuit?" Junius & Tremellius, Polanus.
F24 (hyhy al) , "non erit", V. L. "scilicet sceptrum", Mariana.

Ezekiel 21:13 In-Context

11 And he gives it to be polished, {to be seized by the hand}. It is sharpened--a sword--and it [is] polished to give it into [the] hand of [the] killer.

12 Cry and wail, son of man, for it is against my people; it is against all of the princes of Israel. They are thrown to [the] sword with my people; therefore {strike your thigh}.

13 For {examine}! And what if also [the] rod will not be despising?' {declares} the Lord Yahweh.

14 And you, son of man, prophesy {and clap your hands}. And the sword will {strike twice}; let it happen a third time. It [is] a sword of the dead, [the] sword of the great dead that [is] surrounding them,

15 so that a heart melts, and the fallen {multiply} at all of their gates. I gave a sword for slaughter, [and] alas! It is made for flashing, it is grasped for slaughtering.

Footnotes

• [a] Literally "it was tested"
• [b] Literally "declaration of"