21:6,7
As with a lot of Ezekiel’s prophecy, it is not just a matter of words. He has had to do various dramatisations, here he is to “groan; with breaking heart and bitter grief”. This is to demonstrate the severity of what is about to happen. He is not just making an economic or political forecast, he feels the intensity of the coming disaster. In v7 ESV phrases things more delicately than NIV. ESV has “all knees will be weak as water”, while NIV has “every leg will be wet with urine”.
21:8-10
The people can be in doubt as to what is going to happen. “A sword a sword is sharpened”. And this sword is “sharpened for slaughter”. The end of v10 seems to be difficult to translate, NIV has “Shall we rejoice in the scepter of my royal son? The sword despises every such stick.”, while ESV has “Or shall we rejoice? You have despised the rod, my son, with everything of wood”. There could be a reference to Judah’s failure to learn anything from the Assyrian episode. Assyria came right to the walls of Jerusalem, but then Jerusalem was saved by miraculous intervention. Yet Judah learnt nothing from the whole event, and continued along her journey of disobedience.
No comments:
Post a Comment