Ezekiel 21:18 - Meaning and Application

In the verses before this, the prophet had already shown the sword coming. Here he shows it coming directly against them, so they would not fool themselves into thinking it could be turned aside. Ezekiel must also show the route of the Chaldean army, that is, the Babylonian army, which God has firmly set against Jerusalem.

He is told to mark out two roads on a tablet or piece of paper, like a map (Ezekiel 21:19). He must bring the king of Babylon to the place where the roads divide, because there the army will stop and decide. Both roads come from the same land, but one leads to Rabbah, the chief city of the Ammonites, and the other to Jerusalem. The king pauses there, because although he plans to destroy both, he is not yet sure which to attack first.

The passage calls Jerusalem “Judah in Jerusalem the defenced,” because many people from Judah had fled there, and the whole nation’s hopes now rested on the city’s safety. It was so strongly fortified by nature and by human effort that many thought it could not be taken (Lamentations 4:12). Ezekiel must describe the king of Babylon’s uncertainty in this way (Ezekiel 21:21). Though the king was known for skill and resolve, he did not know his own best course. So no one should boast in wisdom or power, because even people who can do whatever they want often do not know what is wisest to do.

Notice how he reached his decision. He used divination, seeking guidance from a higher, unseen power, though in a sinful way. He may have cast lots with arrows, possibly marking one for Jerusalem and one for Rabbah. Or he may have consulted images or household gods called teraphim, expecting them to give an answer. Or he may have examined the liver of a sacrificed animal, which the soothsayers believed could reveal good or bad fortune.

This is a humbling picture of the pride of worldly wisdom. In hard cases, rulers have often been forced to appeal to heaven for guidance, though they do so in foolish ways. In matters that truly belong to Providence, it is enough to cast the lot with prayer and trust that the outcome is not chance, but the Lord’s decision (Proverbs 16:33).

Even through these sinful practices, God carried out his own purpose and led the king to Jerusalem (Ezekiel 21:22). By the rules of divination, the sign for Jerusalem came out at his right hand, which pointed him in that direction. What God intends men to do, he will surely guide them toward in his providence, even when they do not understand the hand leading them.

Once Jerusalem was marked out, the attack began at once. Commanders were appointed for the siege, men who would direct the soldiers and stir them on with speeches. Every needed tool was prepared, including battering rams and siege works. What effort and expense people will go to in order to destroy one another.

The prophet must also show both the people and the prince that they are bringing this ruin on themselves by their own sin. The people did this by treating the warning as nothing (Ezekiel 21:23, 21:24). Ezekiel’s message was to them a false divination. It did not move them to repent. When they heard that Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had been led by divination to Jerusalem and expected success, they laughed it off and kept feeling safe.

Their confidence rested either on their treaty with Egypt, or on the lies of false prophets who promised the siege would end. It may also refer to the oaths of loyalty they had sworn to the king of Babylon, which they had broken. Because of that treachery, God had handed them over to a hardening of heart, so they dismissed the clearest warnings as false. It is no surprise if people who mock holy oaths also mock holy messages. A profane mind will not stop once it starts down that road.

But their unbelief does not cancel God’s plan. They are not safe just because they feel secure. Their contempt for God’s warnings only adds to their guilt and brings their other sins back to mind.

First, their present wickedness is exposed. When God was dealing with them, they became so stubborn and twisted that everything they did made them worse. They had never acted so badly as when they were hearing the loudest call to repent. In that sense, their sins appeared in all they did. The same is true of us all, for there is no one who lives without sin. Even our best works have weakness, foolishness, and fault mixed into them, so that in all we do, and in all we say, our sins still show themselves against us.

Second, their present sins bring their former sins back to mind. They had made their iniquity remembered, not by repenting, but by forcing God’s justice to bring it up again. Their own sins made the sins of their fathers stand against them too, sins they otherwise might not have suffered for. God remembers old guilt against those who show by their present behavior that they still do not repent.

Third, they are handed over so they may suffer for all their guilt together. They will be seized by the hand God has appointed to take them, a hand from which they cannot escape. Scripture sometimes calls human instruments God’s hand when he uses them as tools of his justice (Psalm 17:14).

Those who will not be reached by God’s word of grace will at last be seized by the hand of his wrath.

The prince also brings ruin on himself. Zedekiah, the prince of Israel, is the one the prophet speaks to here in God’s name. If the prophet had not spoken for God, he would not have spoken so boldly or plainly, for who would dare say to a king, “You are wicked”? The Lord first gives him his true character: “You profane and wicked prince of Israel!” He was not as bad as some of the kings before him, but he was still bad enough to deserve that name. He was profane, meaning he had no real respect for what is holy. He was also wicked because he led others into sin. He sinned himself and made Israel sin too.

Profaneness and wickedness are bad in anyone, but they are worst in a prince of Israel. As an Israelite, he should have known better. As a ruler, he should have set a better example and had a better influence on the people around him.

Then the Lord tells him his judgment. His iniquity has reached its end. The measure of his sin is full, so his day has come, the day of punishment and divine judgment. Wicked and profane people may prosper for a time, but their day will still come.

The sentence is this. First, Zedekiah will be removed from power. He has lost his right to wear the crown, and he will no longer keep it. By his profaneness, he has dishonored his crown, and it will be thrown down. “Remove the diadem.” Crowns and royal diadems can be lost. Only in the next world is there a crown of glory that never fades and a kingdom that cannot be shaken. The old Aramaic paraphrase explains it this way: take the diadem from Seraiah, the chief priest, and I will take the crown from Zedekiah, the king. Neither office will remain in its place, but both will be removed. “This will not be the same,” that is, he will no longer remain as he was. Men lose their dignity through sin. Their profaneness and wickedness take away their crown and make them the opposite of what they once were.

Second, this removal will bring great confusion and disorder into the nation. Everything will be turned upside down. The conqueror will take pleasure in lifting up the lowly and bringing down the high, promoting some and degrading others however he pleases, with no regard for right or merit.

Third, any effort to restore the government will fail. This includes Gedaliah, the governor set up after Jerusalem fell, and also Ishmael, who was of the royal family. Neither of them will succeed in making anything last. God says, “I will overturn, overturn, overturn,” first one plan and then another. Who can build up what God is determined to tear down?

Fourth, this monarchy will not be restored until it is fixed forever in the hands of the Messiah, the promised Savior-King. After Zedekiah, there will be no more kings from David’s family until Christ comes, the one who has the right to the kingdom. He is the descendant of David in whom the promise would finally be fulfilled, and God says, “I will give it to him.” He will sit on the throne of his father David (Luke 1:32).

Just before Christ came, there was a long loss of royal power, and there was also a silence of prophecy. That made his coming in the fullness of time shine even more clearly as both King and Prophet. Christ has a clear right to rule both the church and the world. The kingdom is his by right, and in time he will receive what belongs to him: “I will give it to him.” All resistance will be overturned rather than he should miss his rightful kingdom, and every enemy will be brought down to make room for him (Daniel 2:45; 1 Corinthians 15:25).

This was said to comfort those who feared that God’s promise to David had failed forever. “No,” says God, “that promise is sure, because the Messiah’s kingdom will last forever.”