Ezekiel 21:28-32

D. The Sword Against Ammon 21:28-32

TRANSLATION

(28) And as for you, son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord GOD concerning the children of Ammon and their taunt, and say: O sword, keen-edged, furbished to the uttermost for slaughter that it may flash. (29) While they see falsehood about you, while they divine lies regarding you, to lay you upon the necks of the wicked who shall be slain, whose day has come, in the time of the iniquity of the end. (30) Cause it to return to its sheath! In the place where you were created, in the land of your origin, I will judge you. (31) And I will pour out My wrath upon you, I will blow you with the fire of My wrath; and I will give you into the hand of ruthless men, skillful destroyers. (32) You shall become fuel for the fire; your blood shall be in the midst of the land. You shall not be remembered; for I the LORD have spoken it.

COMMENTS

Apparently Ezekiel again takes up his sword and turns it against the Ammonites. They might have thought that they would escape the wrath of Nebuchadnezzar when Judah was invaded. However, these who had mocked when Judah had experienced earlier invasions by Nebuchadnezzar should not imagine that they would escape a similar fate. The sword of divine judgment was sharpened and polished to the uttermost, i.e., as much as it could receive, so as to be a terrifying and effective instrument of punishment (Ezekiel 21:28).

Ammonite soothsayers were envisioning peace and security for that kingdom. Such divination was false and unreliable. Ultimately Ammon would share the same fate as Jerusalem, and her slain would fall in heaps upon the necks of the wicked that are to be slain, i.e., upon the bodies of the Jews previously slain by Nebuchadnezzar. For them divine punishment has been decreed, and that punishment must certainly come (Ezekiel 21:29). At this point Ezekiel is commanded to return his symbolic sword to its sheath.

The symbolic action performed by Ezekiel came to an end, but the execution of the judgment thereby predicted would shortly follow. God would judge Ammon on their own soil the place where you were created (Ezekiel 21:30). God's anger against Ammon would grow ever more intense as does a flame blown by bellows. They could expect no mercy at the hands of the ruthless Babylonians into whose hands they were about to fall (Ezekiel 21:31). Judah would be carried into exile, but Ammon would be destroyed in the midst of their own land. For Ammon there was no hope of restoration like that which Ezekiel portrays as Israel's future. Ammon would pass into oblivion. Such was the final decree of the sovereign ruler of all nations (Ezekiel 21:32).