Ezekiel 21:13

Because it is a trial ,.... As all afflictions and calamities are, especially to the people of God they try their faith and patience, and every other grace; and also to wicked men, they try them, whether they will repent or not:

and what if the sword contemn even the rod ? the sceptre: the king of Judah, and his family; not only come upon and cut off the people and the princes, but the royal family also; and even overturn the tribe of Judah, as the word also signifies; and subvert the government of it, of which the rod or sceptre is an ensign; this would be a sore trial indeed, and yet it is intimated that so it should be:

it shall be no more, saith the Lord God ; the rod or sceptre shall be no more in one of David's line, of the tribe Judah, until the Messiah comes, Ezekiel 21:27 . I should choose to render the words thus, "for it is a trial, but what?" F23 כי בחן ומה "quum fuit probatio quid tandem fuit?" Junius & Tremellius, Polanus. what an one is it? or for what is it? what will be the fruit, effect, and issue of it?

if also the sceptre despises ; the king despises the trial, the affliction, the calamity, and is not brought to repentance by it:

it shall be no more , or "it shall not be" F24 לא יהיה , "non erit", V. L. "scilicet sceptrum", Mariana. ,

saith the Lord God ; it, the sceptre, shall be taken away, and not restored to the house of David, until the Messiah comes.