Ezekiel 21:28 - Meaning and Application

The warning here is about the destruction of the Ammonites, which Nebuchadnezzar brought about about five years after Jerusalem fell. It seems to come in because the king of Babylon had first aimed at Rabbah, the chief city of Ammon, but then turned his attack toward Jerusalem. When that happened, the Ammonites became proud and mocked Jerusalem. The prophet tells them that delay is not the same as escape. Their time is coming too, and it will be little comfort to them that they are destroyed last.

First, their sin is pointed out in their shame, Ezekiel 21:28. They brought shame on themselves by listening to false prophets, who seem to have been among them just as among the Jews. These prophets claimed that the Ammonites would stay safe forever, even while neighboring lands were being ruined. “They see false visions for you and tell lies,” Ezekiel 21:29. They flatter you with promises of peace, and you are foolish enough to believe them and encourage them.

Those who build themselves up with false pride in good times often leave behind a deeper shame for the day of trouble. The Ammonites also brought shame on the people of God when they laughed at Israel’s suffering and added to their pain. Their false teachers had made them arrogant, making them think they were better than Israel because they had been spared while Israel was struck down. They grew so proud that they even trod on the necks of the Israelites who had been slain by the wicked Chaldeans, whom God had allowed to carry out his judgment when Israel’s guilt had reached its full measure. We meet this same sin again in Ezekiel 25:3 and following. Those who trample on God’s people in their distress are moving quickly toward ruin, especially when judgment has already begun at God’s house.

Second, the chapter threatens the complete destruction of the Ammonites. The insult they cast on God’s people will come back on them, as Psalm 79:12 says. Their destruction will be terrible. It will come from the wrath of God, who takes the wrong done to his people as a wrong done to himself, Ezekiel 21:31. “I will pour out my anger on you like a shower of fire and sulfur.” Even the smallest drop of God’s anger is enough to bring misery and anguish to a sinner. What, then, would the full flood of his anger do? He says, “I will breathe against you with the fire of my wrath,” meaning he will stir up that fire until it burns fiercely. They themselves will become fuel for that fire, Ezekiel 21:32.

Their ruin will also come by the sword of war. To them, as to Israel before, the cry goes out, “The sword, the sword is drawn,” Ezekiel 21:28, compared with Ezekiel 21:9 and Ezekiel 21:10. It is drawn to destroy because it shines and is ready for use. God’s judgments will match his preparations. Once that sword is drawn, it will not go back into its sheath, Ezekiel 21:30, until it has done the work for which it was sent. When God has set his purpose, who can turn him back?

The men used to carry this out are called brutal and skilled at destroying. They have human intelligence, so they can carry out the work well, but they have no human kindness, so they are skilled only in harming others. Though such men are a disgrace to humanity, God sometimes uses them to carry out his purposes. He gives the Ammonites into their hands, and that is right, because the Ammonites themselves were brutal and delighted in the destruction of God’s Israel. So we have reason to pray, as Paul asked the church to pray for him, that we may be delivered from wicked and unreasonable men, 2 Thessalonians 3:2.

The judgment will come in the very land where the Ammonites began, where they were first formed into a nation and where they had lived ever since. God will judge them where they seemed most settled and secure. The land of their birth will become the land of their ruin. God can bring disaster on us right where we feel safest, and he can drive us out of the very place we thought could never be taken from us. Their blood will be shed, not only on their borders, but in the middle of their land.

In the end, their ruin will be lasting and beyond repair. Even if they hope to recover, it will be useless. They will no longer be remembered with honor, Psalm 9:6. It is fitting that their name should be wiped out, since they wanted Israel’s name to disappear forever.