John Calvin Commentary Ezekiel 14:17-18

"Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off from it man and beast; though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, they should deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only should be delivered themselves." — Ezekiel 14:17-18 (ASV)

The Prophet now turns to the third kind of punishment. Therefore God says, if He sends a sword upon a land, He cannot be persuaded not to consume it utterly, nor will He accept anyone's intercession, even if the most holy dwell there, namely, Job, Noah, and Daniel.

But the phrase used must be noted: if I shall say to the sword, pass through to exterminate and blot out the whole land, or cut off from it, both man and beast, because from this we perceive the great power of God’s secret governance. For we tend to think that wars are stirred up randomly, and as people are in agitation, we also imagine war to be nothing but confusion and turbulence.

But God governs even wars by His inestimable wisdom, and also people and their swords. People are enraged, their swords fly about in their hands, and they seem to go here and there at random by blind impulse. But God here announces that He permits swords to pass through a land, and to destroy both people and cattle.

If He had said, in the language used in many places, that He would arm people, it would not have been very surprising; for everywhere throughout the Prophets He calls the Chaldeans and Assyrians executors of His judgment. Thus that sentence of Jeremiah: Cursed is he who has done God’s work negligently (Jeremiah 48:10).

But that work of God was the slaughter at Jerusalem. So also Nebuchadnezzar is called God’s servant and minister when he laid waste Egypt, and God promises him the reward for his labor (Ezekiel 29:20).

So here Ezekiel proceeds further: not only are the hands of people directed as God wishes, but also their swords listen to His secret command, so that they neither pass by nor strike any person or animal except as God pleases.

Therefore, if God so commands the swords, let us recognize that whenever people rise up against us, our patience is exercised and our sins are chastised in this way, and that the wicked are God’s agents. Let us also resolve that we will never profit by noise and resistance, since there is only one remedy: to humble ourselves under God’s strong hand.

Now, the fourth kind of punishment is in the next passage.