Ezekiel 21:8-17

B. The Song of the Sword 21:8-17

TRANSLATION

(8) And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, (9) Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the LORD: Say: A sword, a sword is sharpened and also polished; (10) in order to make a great slaughter it is sharpened, in order that it might flash it is polished or shall we rejoice the rod of My son, who rejects everything of wood. (11) And He gave to be polished, to be seized by the hand; the sword, it is sharpened, and it is polished, to give it into the hand of the slayer, (12) Cry out and wail, son of man; for it is against My people, it is against all the princes of Israel, those who are thrust down to the sword with My people; therefore smite upon the thigh. (13) For there is a trial, and what if the despising scepter shall be no more? (14) And as for you, son of man, prophesy, and smite your hands together; and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of those to be slain, the sword of the great one who is to be slain which surrounds them. (15) In order that their heart may melt, and their stumbling be multiplied, I have set the point of the sword. Ah! it is made to flash, it is sharpened for slaughter. (16) Unite yourself, go right, set yourself, go left! Where is your face set? (17) I also will smite My hands together, and cause My wrath to rest; I the LORD have spoken it.

COMMENTS

The thought of the unsheathed sword in Ezekiel 21:3 gives rise to this present section. In the Hebrew text this section is in poetic form and may have been a common lament song sung in times of coming judgment. It is even possible that Ezekiel accomplished these words with some kind of sword-brandishing. The sword of the Lord is ready for action. Its dazzling brightness is added to its sharpness as a fresh element of terror (Ezekiel 21:8-10 a).

Ezekiel quickly broke off his sword song as he noticed the smiles on the faces of his auditors. Or do we make mirth?, he asked. Do you think I am joking about this whole matter? This sharpened and glittering sword is the rod of My son, i.e., the rod with which God's son Israel must now be disciplined. The nation had despised everything of wood, i.e., every former instrument of punishment (cf. Isaiah 10:5), God had given that sword to be polished and then handed over to the executioner (Ezekiel 21:10-11).

God called upon the prophet to take up a lament over the impending doom, and to slap his thigh as a gesture of grief and despair. Even the princes of Judah would be thrust down along with the common people by the divine sword (Ezekiel 21:12). The trial of Judah had now come, and during that trial the scepter that despised the word and warning of God would not be, i.e., exist. Judah would be left without a ruler (Ezekiel 21:13).

God directed Ezekiel to perform yet another gesture. He was to slap his hands together either to indicate lamentation, or, what is more likely, to summon the agent of destruction. He was to brandish the sword with a double motion, backward and forward, three times.[350] That sword of divine justice would slay many, even the great one, i.e., the king. From that sword there would be no escape, for it would surround them like a besieging army (Ezekiel 21:14). The point of the sword of the Lord would be set at every gate of the city causing consternation within and stumbling as the citizens attempted to escape that sword which glittered because of sharpening and furbishing (Ezekiel 21:15).

[350] Perhaps the brandishing of the sword three times points to three times Nebuchadnezzar invaded the land of Judah in 605-604, in 597 and finally in 587 B.C.

God addresses the sword[351] (king of Babylon) in Ezekiel 21:16. This agent of divine judgment is urged to make a decision as to which direction he will move, but to get on with the judgment (Ezekiel 21:16). It is, after all, Yahweh who had given that command with a gesture of supreme authority (clap My hands together). Only when the divine sentence had been executed against Judah would God's anger be appeased. God had spoken, and what He had said must come to pass. With these words the song of the sword ended, and there followed another interval of silence (Ezekiel 21:17).

[351] The verbs have the feminine form indicating that the sword (a feminine noun in Hebrew) is being addressed rather than the prophet as proposed by some.