Chapter xxi.
"Then said I, Oh, Lord God! they say of me, Doth he not speak in
parables?" This is the last verse of the preceding chapter. It showed
the hardened conditions of their hearts, which rejected the Word of God,
the word of warning and the call to repentance. These sad conditions of
the people in Ezekiel's day are deeply significant for our times. We see
the outwardly professing people of God, the large numbers of unsaved,
nominal Christians in the same hardened condition. Though God speaks
loudly, the Word is not heeded. A stronger judgment message follows in
which the sword of the Lord is prominent. Critics have acknowledged the
majestic character of the so-called "Song of the Sword," and say that
the prophet now speaks in "maddened frenzy," carried away by his own
passion, breaking out, "in a state of wild excitement," denouncing the
nation. But it is not the prophet who gives way to his own feeling. The
first verse dispels at once such a conception. "And the Word of the Lord
came unto me, saying:" It is the Lord who speaks through Ezekiel.