Ezekiel 21:13-17

Hold fast to the faith you have in God and in the salvation that He provides in Jesus Christ. Study to stand approved. All Scripture is relevant both in the Old and the New Testaments. God will allow history  to repeat itself if we do not learn our lessons. Let holy spirit have free reign.

Ephesians 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;

Hold tightly to the only hope there is for mankind, Jesus.

Ezekiel 21:13-17

13 “Because it is a testing,

And what if the sword despises even the scepter?

The scepter shall be no more,”

says the Lord God.

14 “You therefore, son of man, prophesy,

And strike your hands together.

The third time let the sword do double damage.

It is the sword that slays,

The sword that slays the great men,

That enters their private chambers.

15 I have set the point of the sword against all their gates,

That the heart may melt and many may stumble.

Ah! It is made bright;

It is grasped for slaughter:

16 “Swords  at the ready!

Thrust right!

Set your blade!

Thrust left—

Wherever your edge is ordered!

17 “I also will beat My fists together,

And I will cause My fury to rest;

I, the Lord, have spoken.”

Ezekiel is miming the actions described here: brandishing a sharp sword, cutting both directions, and acting out the judgment to come. Faithlife Bible.

Israel failed a test. The sword would strike God’s people, specifically the nation’s rulers (the meaning of the word scepter). 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.

Ezekiel was commanded to clap. The order the third time let the sword do double damage was a numeric device used here to emphasize the extent and effectiveness of the sword’s (or Babylon’s) employment against Judah. I also will beat My fists pictures God clapping along with Ezekiel. God would applaud the fact that even evil events can be made to serve His purposes and plans.

Ezekiel 5:13 ‘Thus shall My anger be spent, and I will cause My fury to rest upon them, and I will be avenged; and they shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken it in My zeal, when I have spent My fury upon them.