In his right hand appears the portent for Jerusalem, where he is to set up battering rams, to call for the slaughter, to lift a battle cry, to direct the battering rams against the gates, to build a ramp, and to erect a siege wall.
The prophet, in the verses before, had shown them the sword coming; he here shows them that sword coming against them, that they might not flatter themselves that by some means or other it should be diverted a contrary way. I. He must see and show the Chaldean army coming against Jerusalem and determined by a supreme power so to do.
Commenting on Ezekiel 21:18-27
Therefore thus saith the Lord God,.... Because of their vain confidence, added to their perjury and perfidy: because ye have made your iniquity to be remembered; their old sins, by committing new ones, both against the Lord, and against the king of Babylon: in that your transgressions are discovered, so that in all your doings your sins do appear; both in their religious and civil...
Rather, "In his right hand was [is] the divination," that is, he holds up in his right hand the arrow marked with "Jerusalem," to encourage his army to march for it. captains--The Margin, "battering-rams," adopted by FAIRBAIRN, is less appropriate, for "battering-rams" follow presently after [GROTIUS]. open the mouth in . . . slaughter--that is, commanding slaughter: raising the war cry of death.