Ezekiel 7:10
10. rod ... blossomed, pride ... budded--The "rod" is the Chaldean Nebuchadnezzar, the instrument of God's vengeance (Is 10:5; Jr 51:20). The rod sprouting (as the word ought to be translated), &c., implies that God does not move precipitately, but in successive steps. He as it were has planted the ministers of His vengeance, and leaves them to grow till all is ripe for executing His purpose. "Pride" refers to the insolence of the Babylonian conqueror (Jr 50:31, 32). The parallelism ("pride" answering to "rod") opposes Jerome's view, that "pride" refers to the Jews who despised God's threats; (also Calvin's, "though the rod grew in Chaldea, the root was with the Jews"). The "rod" cannot refer, as Grotius thought, to the tribe of Judah, for it evidently refers to the "smiteth" (Eze 7:9) as the instrument of smiting.
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