Ezekiel 21:27

I will overturn - I will utterly destroy the Jewish government. Perverted will I make it. Heb. perverted, perverted, perverted I will make it. Until he come whose - is - משפט mishpat, the judgment; i.e., till the coming of the son of David, the Lord Jesus; who, in a mystic and spiritual sense, shall have the throne of Israel, and whose right it is. See the famous prophecy, Gen 49:10, and Luk 1:32. The עוה avah, which we translate overturn, is thrice repeated here; to point out, say the rabbins, the three conquests of Jerusalem, in which Jehoiakim, Jeconiah, and Zedekiah were overthrown.

Literally, "An overturning, overturning, overturning, will I make it." The threefold repetition denotes the awful certainty of the event; not as ROSENMULLER explains, the overthrow of the three, Jehoiakim, Jeconiah, and Zedekiah; for Zedekiah alone is referred to. it shall be no more, until he come whose fight it is--strikingly parallel to Gen 49:10. Nowhere shall there be rest or permanence; all things shall be in fluctuation until He comes who, as the rightful Heir, shall restore the throne of David that fell with Zedekiah. The Hebrew for "right" is "judgment"; it perhaps includes, besides the right to rule, the idea of His rule being one in righteousness (Psa 72:2; Isa 9:6-7; Isa 11:4; Rev 19:11). Others (Nebuchadnezzar, &c.), who held the rule of the earth delegated to them by God, abused it by unrighteousness, and so forfeited the "right." He both has the truest "right" to the rule, and exercises it in "right." It is true the tribal "scepter" continued with Judah "till Shiloh came" (Gen 49:10); but there was no kingly scepter till Messiah came, as the spiritual King then (Joh 18:36-37); this spiritual kingdom being about to pass into the literal, personal kingdom over Israel at His second coming, when, and not before, this prophecy shall have its exhaustive fulfilment (Luk 1:32-33; Jer 3:17; Jer 10:7; "To thee doth it appertain").

Whiles they see vanity unto thee, whiles they divine a lie unto thee,.... The Ammonites had their seers, soothsayers, diviners, and false prophets, which they are bid to be aware of, and are cautioned against hearkening to, Jer 27:3, these told them they were in the utmost safety, and that the king of Babylon would not come against them; or, if he did, would not succeed, when his sword was drawn and furbished for the destruction of them: to bring thee upon the necks of the slain, of the wicked; that is, of the Jews who were slain by the sword of the Chaldeans for their wickedness; and these diviners by their vain divination and lies would bring the Ammonites into the same condition, to be slain as they were; and as it were to fall upon their necks, as one slain person upon another; and so the Targum, "to deliver thy neck as the necks of the slain, of the wicked:'' it may be rendered, "to put thee to the necks of the slain" (w); or, as Kimchi, "with the necks of the slain"; though some understand it, as if the diviners by their lies, promising peace and prosperity, encouraged the Ammonites to insult the Jews, and as it were to trample upon the necks of the dead: whose day is come, when their iniquity shall have an end; along with Zedekiah their king; a description of the Jews; See Gill on Eze 21:27. (w) "ut ponant te cum cervicibus interfectorum", Munster, Tigurine version; "applicando te ad cervices confossorum", Junius & Tremellius, Polanus.

In this chapter we have, I. An explication of the prophecy in the close of the foregoing chapter concerning the fire in the forest, which the people complained they could not understand (Eze 21:1-5), with directions to the prophet to show himself deeply affected with it (Eze 21:6, Eze 21:7). II. A further prediction of the sword that was coming upon the land, by which all should be laid waste; and this expressed very emphatically (Eze 21:8-17). III. A prospect given of the king of Babylon's approach to Jerusalem, to which he was determined by divination (Eze 21:18-24). IV. Sentence passed upon Zedekiah king of Judah (Eze 21:25-27). V. The destruction of the Ammonites by the sword foretold (Eze 21:28-32). Thus is this chapter all threatenings.