1. Theme: Babylon removes last Davidic King until Messiah comes
Ezekiel
Chapter 21
Theme: Babylon removes last
Davidic King until Messiah comes
It is important to study the Book of Ezekiel because it is so often neglected and its message is very pertinent for this hour in which we are living today. Although the words of Ezekiel were spoken many years ago, it was the Word of God as he has almost monotonously repeated: “The word of the Lord came unto me, saying.” Since it is the Word of God, it has an application for us in this day and in this nation. The liberal argues that, like the Book of Revelation, the Book of Ezekiel cannot be understood and does not have a message for us. Ezekiel’s visions are tremendous, and I do not propose to have the final word on their interpretation. I just stand in awe and wonder. But in this section of the book we are down to the nitty-gritty where the rubber meets the road, and I am sincere when I say that Ezekiel is not difficult to understand and he has a very practical message for us today.
Chapter 21 is one of the most important chapters in the Book of Ezekiel as it makes it very clear that the king of Babylon is going to remove the last king of the Davidic line until Messiah comes.

2. Outline of Ezekiel 1-3 The Call of the Prophet
God’s Judgment on Jerusalem
- Given before the siege of Jerusalem
God’s Judgment on the Muslim Nations
- Given during the siege
The Restoration of the Jews
- Given after the siege
They return to their land
37 The Valley of Dry bones
The are protected from Gog and Magog
The Millennial Kingdom
Chapters 20–24 contain the final predictions concerning the judgment of Jerusalem.
One of the hardest tasks of Christian leaders today is to keep our churches true to the Word of God so that people don't follow every religious celebrity whose ideas run contrary to Scripture.
The Bible must be taught and followed.
This occurred in approximately 590 b.c. The destruction of Jerusalem took place shortly after, somewhere around b.c. I do not think we can be dogmatic about these dates.

3. 15 YEARS OF PROPHESYING HOPE
PROPHECY OF JUDGMENT The LORD is not there
PROPHECY OF RESTORATION The LORD is there
FATE OF JUDAH Before the Siege
FOES OF JUDAH During the Siege
FUTURE OF JUDAH After the Siege BC
7 YEARS OF PROPHESYING HORROR & NO HOPE
15 YEARS OF PROPHESYING HOPE
Ezekiel 1-3 Ezekiel Sees the Glory & Receives the Call
Ezekiel Judgments  Against Judah
Ezekiel Judgments Against the Gloating Nations
Ezekiel Restoration of Israel to the LORD
Ezekiel   Visions of the Temple
Since the people refused to understand Ezekiel’s message about the fire on the southland (20:45-49), he gave four messages to expand his parable’s meaning. In these messages Ezekiel changed the “fire” to a “sword” and the “Negev” to Judah and Jerusalem.

4. Now the prophets of God were often very colorful persons
Now the prophets of God were often very colorful persons. And because people would not always listen to the Word of God, they would often do things to draw the people's attention to create a question in their mind, curiosity, "What in the world is he doing now?"
And when these questions would arise or when they would draw the people's attention, then they would preach the message of God to them. And so, oftentimes their ministry was extremely colorful, as they were attracting attention, creating the questions in order that they might deliver their message to the people. And as we come in to chapter 21, Ezekiel is getting a lot of attention grabbers here from the Lord and his ministry to the people.

5. Ezekiel 21:1-2
1And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2Son of man, set
thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel, 
This is hard for Ezekiel, a prophet who was trained as a priest, who loves Israel, and Jerusalem, and now has to prophecy against them. In the parable (20:45-49) Ezekiel had “set” his “face toward the south,” but now God told him to set his face against Jerusalem and preach against the sanctuary and prophesy against the land of Israel. The object of God’s judgment was His land, His Holy City, and His dwelling place. Again the Lord told His prophet to speak a message of judgment against Jerusalem, the pagan sanctuaries, and the whole land of Israel (i.e., Judah). This would be a clarification of the figures used in the previous parable.

6. Ezekiel 21:3
And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth my sword out of his sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.
“Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I am against thee.” This is the first time He has said this about His city of Jerusalem.
The righteous and wicked correspond to the “green” and “dry” trees of 20:47.
McGee: “And will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.” This sounds strange, does it not? Who are the righteous? The ones who say they are righteous? In our day they are the ones who are church members but are not saved at all, the ones who go through the ritual, who are religious. A great many people have the band-aid of religion over the sore of sin. They need to pull that old band-aid off and get that sore lanced, before it destroys them. It’s a cancerous sore, and you simply do not cure cancer by putting a band-aid over it. Neither do you cure sin by becoming religious. God said, “I’m cutting it off now; I’m moving in with the sword, and I intend to destroy the city.

7. Ezekiel 21:4
Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the south to the north: 
The whole land shall be ravaged from one end to the other.
 He is going to draw out the sword from its sheath—all the way from the south to the north.
God predicts a judgment that will come on the whole nation and will affect everyone, righteous and wicked alike. Sometimes the righteous suffer not as judgment for their own sin but simply as a trial that is part of life in a fallen world. One must allow here for God's freedom to judge as he will. This is not the first or last time in Scripture that the righteous experience the heavy hand of God (e.g., Job; cf. James 5:11). God says in Hosea that the people of a nation will be judged for the sins of their nation.

8. Ezekiel 21:5-6
5That all flesh may know that I the LORD have drawn forth my sword out of his sheath: it shall not return any more.  6Sigh therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes.
That is, till all the work that I have designed for it is done. Nor did it; for Nebuchadnezzar never rested till he had subdued all the lands from the south to the north, from the Euphrates to the Nile. “It shall not return any more”—the time for judgment has come.
God told Ezekiel to give vent to his emotions, to groan as a mourner might groan “with breaking heart and bitter grief.” His actions were designed to provoke an inquiry on the part of the captives. He was to explain that his actions dramatized the behavior of the captives when they would hear the news that their Temple had been destroyed in Jerusalem.
The Lord was instructing Ezekiel to express his breaking heart and emotion, in order to convey, through him, the intensity that God felt here.
The people have complained about Ezekiel’s giving parables to them. In Ezekiel 20:49 we read, “Then said I, Ah, Lord God! they say of me, Doth he not speak parables?” In effect, they were saying, “We don’t get his message.” They didn’t want to get it; they didn’t like to be told that things were wrong. We sometimes think that the parables of the Lord Jesus are obtuse and difficult to understand. They are not, if you want to understand them. The religious rulers in His day understood what He was saying—that is the reason they hated Him. They understood He was speaking judgment against them.

9. Ezekiel 21:7
And it shall be, when they say unto thee, Wherefore sighest thou? that thou shalt answer, For the tidings; because it cometh: and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water: behold, it cometh, and shall be brought to pass, saith the Lord GOD.
This was speaking of the coming judgment by Nebuchadnezzar on them in B.C
So he is to go into this little scene of this heavy sighing as he holds his loins and bends. Until they say, "What are you sighing about?" He said, "I'm sighing because of the bad news that is going to be coming. And, of course, when it comes, all of you will be sighing and mourning when you hear that Jerusalem has been destroyed, the cities have been murdered." Many of them had families back in Jerusalem still. They are soon to be receiving word that their families had been wiped out along with the city.

10. Ezekiel 21:8 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Just in case you didn’t get the message, Ezekiel repeats it again.
Ezekiel will repeat this three times in this chapter. There is only one alternative for us: either we agree that the Lord said this, or you take the position that Ezekiel is lying. I believe that the Lord said this to him and that Ezekiel is not giving his own viewpoint.

11. Ezekiel 21:9-10
9Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the LORD; Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished:  10It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter; it is furbished that it may glitter: should we then make mirth? it contemneth the rod of my son, as every tree.
The thought of the unsheathed sword earlier in chapter 21 that started this unit. This parable may have been accompanied by sword brandishing. In any case, Ezekiel pointed to a “sword.” It was sharpened and polished. Its dazzling brightness and sharpness added a fresh element of terror. This sword was designed to fit snugly into the hand of the slayer. Perhaps responding to smiles on the faces of his audience, Ezekiel asked rhetorically, “Shall we rejoice?” i.e., Do you think I am joking? The sword which Ezekiel was describing was no laughing matter. It would serve as a rod to correct God’s son Israel who had rejected lesser forms of discipline (21:8–11).
The Sharpened Sword. The Hebrew of these verses is notoriously difficult (thus the several esv translation footnotes). Some phrases in translation are approximations at best. Even if the details are obscure, the gist is clear enough. Verses 8–13 focus on the nature of the sword itself, honed to razor sharpness; vv. 14–17 describe its lethal effect.

12. Ezekiel 21:11
 And he hath given it to be furbished, that it may be handled: this sword is sharpened, and it is furbished, to give it into the hand of the slayer. 
Now from sighing he goes to crying and howling. And as he cries and howls and draws the attention of the people, then he speaks to them about this sword of the Lord that is to be stretched out against Jerusalem. How God is coming with His sword to judge the people. And, of course, it will be wielded at the hand of the Babylonians.
The second stanza revealed the victims against whom the sword was drawn: God’s people and all Israel’s princes. The leaders had rejected God’s advice and chastisement so all they could expect was the sword. Because of the massive destruction God told Ezekiel, Cry out and wail.

13. Ezekiel 21:12-13
  12Cry and howl, son of man: for it shall be upon my people, it shall be upon all the princes of Israel: terrors by reason of the sword shall be upon my people: smite therefore upon thy thigh.  13Because it is a trial, and what if the sword contemn even the rod? it shall be no more, saith the Lord GOD.
Ezekiel was told to add verbal groans and a physical gesture to his musical message. In that culture, these actions displayed great grief and sorrow (Jer. 31:19).
Smiting the thigh was a symbol of grief for men, as beating the breast was for women.
[it is a trial] It (Jehovah's sword) is tried, or proved, and what if it contemns (despises or scorns) the rod (scepter) of Judah? It (the scepter) will be no more until the Messiah comes whose right it is to rule.
Israel failed a test. The sword would strike God’s people, specifically the nation’s rulers (the meaning of the word scepter). These words drew upon the messianic implications of Gen. 49:9, 10 and the promises of the Davidic covenant in 2 Sam. 7. The Jews had misinterpreted these promises to mean that their nation would never fall. Because of their sin, however, the Davidic line of kings would be interrupted. False messianic hopes related to Judah were corrected when Jerusalem was overthrown in 586 b.c. by Nebuchadnezzar (see vv. 25–27).

14. Ezekiel 21:14
  Thou therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite thine hands together, and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain: it is the sword of the great men that are slain, which entereth into their privy chambers.
He's doing a lot of things to get attention. So now he's just clapping his hands. As in 6:11, to clap your hands communicates agitation, perhaps in anticipation of the imminent judgment.
Doubled three times expresses the violence and force of the sword.
This also may be a reference to the three times Babylon came against Jerusalem. The sword has been doubled, and it shall come the third time. Nebuchadnezzar came against Judea Three times.
1.Against Jehoiakim. 2.Against Jeconiah. 3.Against Zedekiah.
The sword had already been doubled; it is to come now the third time, i.e., against Zedekiah.

15. Ezekiel 21:15
I have set the point of the sword against all their gates, that their heart may faint, and their ruins be multiplied: ah! it is made bright, it is wrapped up for the slaughter.
The sword would cause the people to lose heart and die in the gates of the city, the place where the leaders did business. The Lord had an instrument of judgment (sword) that He had prepared and kept ready that would slaughter His people suddenly (like lightning), namely, Nebuchadnezzar.

16. Ezekiel 21:16-17
16Go thee one way or other, either on the right hand, or on the left, whithersoever thy face is set.  17I will also smite mine hands together, and I will cause my fury to rest: I the LORD have said it.
The Lord spoke to His instrument of judgment urging it to show itself sharp by slaying His people on every side, as the Lord directed.
At least some of the problem that Ezekiel's audience had in accepting such a gloomy picture of the future can be traced to the natural religious tendency to think of God as kindly and thus not really capable of punishing people decisively. Why would God destroy His own beloved people in whom He had invested such time and effort since He brought them out of Egypt centuries before? Some of the problem lay also in people's natural, routine optimism. It is hard to imagine the country in which one grew up and enjoyed life in the past actually coming to an end, never again to be an independent nation, never again to have its own government and laws and economy and stable traditions.

17. Ezekiel 21:18-19
18The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying,  19Also, thou son of man, appoint thee two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come: both twain shall come forth out of one land: and choose thou a place, choose it at the head of the way to the city.
The Lord directed Ezekiel to sketch a road with a fork in it. That represented the road which the “king of Babylon” would travel. The prophet was to make a sign post which pointed out the destinations of the two roads. One road lead to Rabbah, capital of Ammon; the other led to Jerusalem. At that fork in the road the king of Babylon would resort to his pagan divination to determine which direction he should go with his army. He would shake the arrows, inquire of the “household gods” (teraphim), and look at the liver of a sacrificial animal. The king’s divination pointed the way to Jerusalem.

18. Ezekiel 21:20-21
20Appoint a way, that the sword may come to Rabbath of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the defenced.  21For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: he made his arrows bright, he consulted with images, he looked in the liver.
In other words, Nebuchadnezzar wanted to decide which way he was going to come to Jerusalem. Now, do you think he’s going to turn to the Lord? No, he is pagan. He is going to use divination . In about B.C. 590 Ammon had conspired with Judah against Babylon, so they were in a sense together. The king was going to go against each of them, but as kings always did in those days, he used divination, or fortune-telling, to choose which one he was going to pick.
These are methods which were used in that day and are actually used today also.
“He made his arrows bright” would be better translated as, “he shook his arrows to and fro.” This was sort of like rolling dice or looking at tea leaves. He dropped his arrows down to see which direction they pointed to determine which direction he should take to Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar was entirely a pagan and heathen king. God, however, will overrule his actions—that is important to remember.

19. Ezekiel 21:22
At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to appoint captains, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to appoint battering rams against the gates, to cast a mount, and to build a fort. 
The Lord was not here sanctioning the use of divination. He was just playing out how the Babylonian king was going to do it and, of course, the Lord had it come out so that Jerusalem was the king’s choice.
That Nebuchadnezzar’s answer coincided with God’s promises and predictions for Jerusalem did not mean that his divination was acceptable. It merely demonstrated that God is sovereign while individuals remain responsible for all choices, good or bad (Gen. 45:4–8; 50:20; Job 2:10; Dan. 2:20–23; 4:34–37; Rom. 8:28).

20. Ezekiel 21:23
And it shall be unto them as a false divination in their sight, to them that have sworn oaths: but he will call to remembrance the iniquity, that they may be taken. 
One way of divining was to put arrows in a quiver and shake them, and the first one that came out was the choice. Another way was to consult images. A third way was the liver, which they regarded as the seat of life because it was full of blood. They would cut open an animal, typically a sheep, and depending on the marks of the liver, decide what the choice might be.
Nebuchadnezzar's decision to come against Jerusalem would look like a mistake to the leaders of Israel. It would seem to them that God should have guided him to besiege the Ammonites since they were more wicked. Furthermore Israel's leaders had sworn oaths of allegiance to Yahweh in response to His sworn promises to them. They thought surely He would defend them, but they were wrong. He would allow Nebuchadnezzar to capture them.

21. Ezekiel 21:24
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are discovered, so that in all your doings your sins do appear; because, I say, that ye are come to remembrance, ye shall be taken with the hand. 
God then pronounced judgment on the people (v. 24) and the prince (vv ). Because of open rebellion, Jerusalem’s people would be taken captive. They felt secure in their city, but they would be forcibly torn from it and dragged in chains to Babylon.
With the sword committed to the Babylonian king, impending judgment is announced on Jerusalem. Although this section begins with plural references, it quickly focuses on an individual, the “wicked” prince of Israel, who must be Zedekiah.

22. Ezekiel 21:25-27
25And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end,  26Thus saith the Lord GOD; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. 27I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.
Zedekiah was here personally addressed by the prophet and judgment was pronounced upon him and his kingdom (Ezekiel 21:24-27).
Scripture has a great deal to say about the end of this age. The correct translation of Ezekiel’s phrase would be, “in the time of the iniquity of the end.” Daniel also used this expression, “… the time of the end …” (Dan. 11:35). The disciples asked the Lord Jesus, “… Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” (Matt. 24:3), and the Lord answered that question for them. Paul also spoke of it a great deal in 2 Thessalonians. This man, Zedekiah, then is a picture of that future wicked prince, the false messiah, the Antichrist, who is coming at the time of the end.
Here is a marvelous prophecy in Ezekiel that actually comes out to our present day and into the future. As the Lord said, "And thou profane and wicked prince of Israel." Now the direct prophecy is against Zedekiah, who was to be the last of the kings of Israel until the king whose right it is shall come to reign. But this prophecy also has a double interpretation in that the profane king referred to here, "Thou profane wicked prince of Israel," is actually the antichrist in the last days. The words, "when iniquity shall have an end," literally is, "at the end of the days of iniquity." So it is in the last days when the antichrist arises and is accepted by the Jews as their Messiah, worshipped by them in a sense, acclaimed by them as their deliverer.
The monarchy ended with Zedekiah. It is interesting that when the Jews returned to Israel again in 1948 they did not establish a monarchy which was their traditional form of government. And there will not be a monarchy or a king until He comes whose right it is. And Jesus Christ will be crowned King of kings and Lord of lords. So beautiful prophecy here concerning Jesus Christ in this twenty-first chapter.

23. Ezekiel 21:28
And thou, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning the Ammonites, and concerning their reproach; even say thou, The sword, the sword is drawn: for the slaughter it is furbished, to consume because of the glittering: 
The Ammonites lived on the eastern side of the Jordan river. They were taunting the Jews because of all the misfortune which had befallen their land. The same lightning-swift, polished sword of divine justice which fell on Judah would also fall on Ammon.
Ezekiel then expanded upon his predictions of the judgment of Ammon. The Ammonites would be judged on their own soil. There God would pour out his indignation on Ammon. His anger would grow ever more intense as a flame blown by bellows. The destroyers of Ammon would be ruthless men, skillful destroyers. Ammon would be consumed in the fire of God’s judgment. The blood of her people would be shed throughout the land.
The application of this prophecy to the Ammonites is in addition to the prophecy in 25:1–7, where the prophecy against Ammon stands first among the collection of oracles against foreign nations. The point here is that the visitation of the sword against Jerusalem does not preclude its coming to Ammon as well (21:20).

24. Ezekiel 21:29-30
29Whiles they see vanity unto thee, whiles they divine a lie unto thee, to bring thee upon the necks of them that are slain, of the wicked, whose day is come, when their iniquity shall have an end.  30Shall I cause it to return into his sheath? I will judge thee in the place where thou wast created, in the land of thy nativity.
The Ammonites also divined and pronounced the divination of Nebuchadnezzar a lie; but theirs was a lie, for their necks were brought down with the other slain of the nations whose end had come (Ezekiel 21:29-32).
McGee: Ezekiel is speaking of the judgment of the Ammonites, but we also have again the expression, “when their iniquity shall have an end,” suggesting the end of this age. In 2 Thessalonians 2:8 Paul writes: “And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” The Lord Jesus Christ will put down this enemy in the last days.
God created (Hebrew bara) the Ammonites in their land. See note on Ge 1:1. His creative power extends to all people, and, therefore, His moral law includes all nations. His judgment knows no distinction nor favoritism. No one will escape the wrath of His punitive hand. He is not limited by geographical distance nor manipulated by heathen nations and their gods.

25. Ezekiel 21:31-32
31And I will pour out mine indignation upon thee, I will blow against thee in the fire of my wrath, and deliver thee into the hand of brutish men, and skilful to destroy.  32Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire; thy blood shall be in the midst of the land; thou shalt be no more remembered: for I the LORD have spoken it.
The brutal men are defined as “the men of the East” in 25:4. The fall of Jerusalem meant only that Judah would be judged first. Some Judeans took refuge in Ammon (see Jer. 41:1–3). God remembered Ammon’s animosity and foretold its future as a place that shall not be remembered. The events of Jer. 41 led to a Babylonian expedition against Ammon in which the capital city Rabbah was sacked and many inhabitants deported (see 25:1–7). Ammon was later invaded by Arabs and its autonomy ceased. Eventually it was absorbed into the Persian Empire.
The sword is against Ammon in this later part of Chapter 21. Chapter 25 is going to deal also with this judgment against Ammon. Ammon rejoiced at the fall of Jerusalem, as did Edom as well. Of course Edom is the subject of Obadiah’s prophecy, while Ammon is the subject of both this and some subsequent remarks.

26. End of
Ezekiel
Chapter 21
Ezekiel’s generation was going to go into captivity—that would be the end as far as they were concerned. It would be their children who would return back to the land of Israel.