Study notes

Ezekiel 21

Introducing EzekielWho wrote it, when, why, and what to look for as you read

12:1–24:27 Section

Ezekiel continued sharing God’s messages of judgement among the Jews in Babylon. His actions of prophecy included packing bags for a trip and trembling while eating. He groaned and beat his chest and also drew a map for the king of Babylon. He didn’t cry when his wife died even though he loved her.

Some messages he spoke clearly to the people. He gave a short account of the entire history of Israel. He spoke against men and women who were false prophets. He spoke against elders who asked God for advice even while they worshipped false gods. Some people accused God of being unfair. They said that God punished them for sins they hadn’t committed. Those sins had been committed by their parents and their people from long ago. Ezekiel explained that God always and only ever does what is fair. God holds each person responsible for their own choices.

Ezekiel sang a sad song about Israel’s princes. Then he spoke clearly about King Zedekiah as an unholy and evil prince. Some Jews said that the judgement Ezekiel announced wouldn’t come for a very long time. They didn’t believe that God would allow Jerusalem to be destroyed. They didn’t believe that they deserved to be judged in this way. They didn’t think that they had lived in evil ways that had to be stopped. And they trusted that other nations would save Jerusalem from the Babylonian armies. God said that the time had come for him to act. This made it clear that no one could stop his judgement from coming.

Ezekiel shared some of God’s messages as poems and others as stories. In these stories God compared his people to different things. He compared them to a useless vine that was burnt in a fire. He compared them to a vine that grew the wrong way. He compared them to the scum left behind when metals are burnt to make silver. They were like meat in a pot that would be cooked over a hot fire. These were ways to describe the sins of the southern kingdom.

God compared his people to a baby girl that God rescued from the desert. But she grew up to be an unfaithful wife to God. God described Jerusalem and Samaria as two sisters who belonged to God. But they acted like prostitutes. These stories don’t mean that God had sex with anyone. God used marriage as a way to talk about being faithful and committed.

God had committed himself to being the Israelites’ God for ever. He had done this in the Mount Sinai covenant. The Israelites had committed to faithfully following the Law of Moses. The most important part of that was to worship and serve God only. But the people of the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom hadn’t done that. They didn’t trust God to give them peace, rest and safety. Instead they trusted the governments of nations like Assyria, Egypt and Babylon to protect them.

They followed the practices of the nations around them. They worshipped the false gods of other nations. This led them to treat needy people badly. It led them to want more and more wealth. It led them to sacrifice children to false gods. All of these things went against God’s laws. These were ways that God’s people had been unfaithful to him.

21:3–5

  • The Lord himself was the true enemy Israel needed to fear. He was about to bring a complete judgment against them.

  • Normally, people expect the righteous to escape judgment and the wicked to receive it. This contrast is like the green tree and the dry tree in the parable (Ezekiel 20:47–48).

    God’s judgment on sin would be like a very hot fire. It would burn everything it touched.

21:6–7

Ezekiel's groaning showed that in the coming judgment, even the bravest would feel fear and the strong would become weak. The judgment that had been announced was now a harsh reality (compare Ezekiel 7:1–4).

21:8–11

sword, sharpened and polished: These actions prepare the weapon to be deadly and effective.

Once the sword is ready, it will be given to the executioner (the one who carries out a death sentence). He will use it against God’s people.

21:12

Cry out and wail: Ezekiel would represent the people’s response to the judgment.

21:14–17

As the Lord's representative, Ezekiel was to clap his hands in a threatening way and wave the sword three times. This action symbolized the complete massacre to come.

There would be no place to escape. No one could hide from the sword of judgment. When the Lord was ready to act, he would destroy his people. In this way, he would satisfy his fury (his burning anger). They would be filled with terror. Their courage would disappear.

21:18–20

The sword of the Lord was not just a symbol. It would become the sword of the king of Babylon.

That king was Nebuchadnezzar. His army would carry out God’s judgment.

Ezekiel showed this in a visual way. He drew a map to show the king’s two possible targets. One was Rabbah, the capital of Ammon. The other was Jerusalem, the capital of Judah.

21:21

  • Omens were signs that people believed came from the gods. People looked for these signs through divination (trying to learn the future through special rituals).

  • He shakes the arrows, he consults the idols, he examines the liver: These were common ways people tried to receive omens from their gods.

21:23–24

A treaty with the Babylonians would not save the people of Jerusalem because they had broken its terms. The king of Babylon would remind them of their rebellion. He would show in public that rebelling against a covenant overlord (a powerful ruler who made a binding agreement) brings serious consequences. If rebellion against their Babylonian ruler brought punishment, how much more would rebellion against the Lord bring judgment?

21:25–27

  • This judgment would affect Zedekiah, the corrupt and wicked leader of Israel, and the people. Ezekiel refers to Zedekiah by his title, showing that his position was also judged. He would lose his royal symbols and be humbled, while the Lord would lift up the humble. The old order would face destruction.

  • the arrival of Him … to whom I have assigned the right of judgment: Many people understand this coming judge to be the Messiah (God’s chosen one), as in Genesis 49:10. In this context, however, the Lord was giving Judah to the Babylonians for judgment (see Ezekiel 23:24).

    Ezekiel was likely reshaping the traditional promise in Genesis 49:10. Instead of pointing to a future king, he applied it to a coming judgment. Nebuchadnezzar would act as God’s instrument. God would take the scepter (symbol of royal rule) away from Judah for a time because its rulers had sinned. Later, God would restore it.

21:28–29

The Ammonites should not have celebrated when Nebuchadnezzar chose to go to Jerusalem instead of Rabbah (Ezekiel 21:18–20). They were also among the wicked facing judgment day.

21:30–32

The sword would return to its sheath. This does not mean it would rest. It would return in order to carry out the Lord’s judgment against its own land, Babylon.

God would also pour out his fury and the fire of his anger on Babylon. These words describe God’s intense judgment. Babylon did not receive special protection just because God had used it to judge other nations.

Judgment may have begun with God’s household (1 Peter 4:17), but it did not stop there. God’s judgment also included the surrounding nations that did not worship him.

Verse notes: Adapted by Mission Mutual (Aquifer Open Study Notes) from Tyndale Open Study Notes © 2023 Tyndale House Publishers. CC BY-SA 4.0. Section notes: Biblica Study Notes © 2023 Biblica, Inc. CC BY-SA 4.0, via BibleAquifer. About the sources