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Expanded Comments |
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| 1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, |
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| 2 Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel, |
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| 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. |
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| 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: |
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| 5 That all flesh may know that I the LORD have drawn forth my sword out of his sheath: it shall not return any more. |
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| 6 Sigh therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes. |
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| 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. |
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| 8 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
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| 9 Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the LORD; Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished:
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| 10 It 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 12 Cry 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. |
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| 13 Because it is a trial, and what if the sword contemn even the rod? it shall be no more, saith the Lord GOD. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 16 Go thee one way or other, either on the right hand, or on the left, whithersoever thy face is set. |
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| 17 I will also smite mine hands together, and I will cause my fury to rest: I the LORD have said it. |
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| 18 The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying, |
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| 19 Also, 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. |
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| 20 Appoint a way, that the sword may come to Rabbath of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the defenced. |
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| 21 For 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 25 And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, |
And thou – Zedekiah, the last king of the Jewish nation. A248; R2401:2, R3616:1; SM416:1; PD47/59[PD47]
Profane wicked prince – "Death-deserving wicked one." (Leeser) R1372:6
Whose day is come – 3520 years after the fall in the Garden of Eden, and 3520 years before the end of the Millennial age in 2914 AD. R3460:3,4*
"Seven Times," or seven symbolic years, began on the day of Zedekiah's overthrow and are due to end October 1914. OV80:10
Not that the Gentiles would be fully out of power by 1914, but, their lease expiring, their eviction would begin.
Have an end – Termination of the typical kingdom of God. R1372:6[R1372]
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| 26 Thus 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. |
Take off the crown – The Davidic crown. OV52:4; PD47/59[PD47]
The crown and diadem of authority and power. R3687:4[R3687]
Because of sin, God removed his throne from the Davidic line. R507:2[R507]
The typical crown of the typical kingdom of God. A248; B76, B79; Q80:1, Q93:8, R507:2[R507]
Israel had proven themselves unfit for exaltation to universal dominion, having become corrupt, vain and idolatrous. B75[B75]
From king Zedekiah in 606 BC. R5598:6, R5406:2; SM416:2; Q80:1; B79
God gave the lease of earthly power to Nebuchadnezzar and his successors. SM478:T, R5328:5, R5526:1
God actually removed his typical kingdom to permit Nebuchadnezzar's government to become universal; for it would be impossible for the Gentiles to have universal sway so long as God's kingdom, even in a typical form, existed. R1979:1
In 606 BC, at the midpoint between the ending of Adam's 1000-year day and the 1000-year day of the second Adam. R3460:3*
Not be the same – I will discontinue this order of things. Q79:2; R166:1*, R419:5
Him that is low – Humble. R2401:2
The line of Nathan. E133
Him that is high – Proud. R2401:2
The line of Solomon. E133
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| 27 I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him. |
Overturn, overturn – Satan's earthly empires. R362:5
Completely overturn Solomon's line. E133
The typical kingdom of God. A248; R1979:1, R4497:3, R4833:4, R5673:4; Q83:1
First to Babylon, then to Medo-Persia, then to Grecia, then to Rome. B76, B79; R5673:4
First at the Babylonian captivity, 606 BC; second at the destruction of Jerusalem, AD 70; third will be the one spoken of in Zech. 14. R107:6*
The new King (The Christ, complete) will dethrone and bind the former prince of the power of the air, Satan, and accomplish the final overturning. R362:1
The overturning of Zedekiah's government until the establishment of Messiah's Kingdom, corresponding to the 2520 years' lease to the Gentiles. R5526:2, R2977:1, R4867:2, R5564:3, R5598:6, R5710:3, R1979:2, R4497:3; CR41:3; PD47/59; HG48:1
Shall be no more – It shall not belong to anyone. R1372:6
There has been no king of Israel from Zedekiah's day to the present--the overturning has been very thorough. The kings of Israel at the first advent were not Israelitish nor of Israelitish birth, but appointees of Gentile governments. R3259:5[R3259], R4867:4; Q79:2, Q93:8; OV52:4; CR139:4
It was to remain overturned until Christ, the rightful heir, should claim it. Thus, inferentially, any claims by others to be "kingdoms of God" are spurious. A249
There has been no earthly kingdom of God from that time onward. Q79:2
During which time kings and emperors did not reign by the grace of God, though he permitted various experiments at self-government for an appointed time. R1094:5
Though restored to national existence by Cyrus, they were subjects and tribute-payers to the successive empires of Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. A248
Until he come – Until Messiah himself, at his second advent, shall take the throne as the antitypical Son of David. CR41:3
The Christ, Messiah. R166:1[R166], R419:5, R5328:4, R5589:3; SM478:T;
The glorified Christ, Jesus and the Church. R3616:2, R1979:1; SM416:1; HG675:6
The great Prophet, Priest, King and Judge. R2609:1
The immediate beginning of the legal restoration of the Jews by the Anglo-Saxon treaty is circumstantial and visible evidence that "he whose right it is" has come. R82:2*
The "Times of the Gentiles" applying to the interval between the removal of the typical kingdom and the establishment of its antitype, the true Kingdom, when Christ comes to be glorified in his saints. B73; A249
The treading down of Jerusalem would then cease. R5328:5
Whose right it is – In whose hands is the shaping of the destinies of nations and individuals. R1619:3
I will give it him – The dominion is about to be given. R5489:4
We believe that the time for the giving of the Kingdom to the Messiah is near at hand. (1915 comment) R5680:2
1914 is the date when Christendom will lose its crown and when he "whose right it is" will take his great power and reign. R3574:1*, R4867:5
Speedily following the introduction of the Millennial judgment reign. R2609:1
We are not to expect that this transfer will come as a flash of lightning it will require a little time. R5328:5
The time of trouble will be the natural consequence of the transfer of rulership from the devil, the prince of this world, to "him whose right it is." R592:2
For an inheritance. (Psa. 2:8) D12
At, or during, the sounding of the seventh and last trump. (Rev. 11:15) HG20:1
Has the Kingdom begun in any sense of the word? We so believe. The light now going forth is under the direction of the Captain of our Salvation. R5567:3
"And there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all people, nations and languages should serve him." (Dan. 7:14) R2609:1; OV83:4
"And the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom." (Dan. 7:22) R2609:1
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| 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: |
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| 29 While they see vanity unto thee, while 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. |
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| 30 Shall 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. |
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| 31 And 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. |
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| 32 Thou 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. |
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