“And you, Oh wicked one marked for death (literally ‘Oh slain wicked one'), the prince of Israel whose day is come, in the time of the iniquity of the end, thus says the Lord Yahweh, ‘Remove the turban, and take off the crown, things will not be the same, exalt what is low and abase what is high. A ruin, a ruin, a ruin I will make it. This also will be no more until he come whose right it is. And I will give it to him.”
What is about to come will bring a total upheaval of society. The words are addressed to Zedekiah, ‘the prince of Israel'. He is depicted as ‘slain', the overall meaning of the Hebrew word, and thus a marked man. In some contexts the word signifies disqualified because of some taint (Leviticus 21:7; Leviticus 21:14). Thus some translate ‘unhallowed'. His day has come in this time of final punishment for sin. Thus he is to decrown himself and put aside his insignia of office, for things are about to be turned upside down. Nothing will be the same again. What is low is to be exalted, what is exalted is to be abased. All they have prided themselves in will become a ruin.
The threefold repetition of ‘a ruin' stresses the emphasis on the overturning of society. Nothing will be the same again until ‘he comes whose right it is' (see Genesis 49:10). To him it will be given.
So Zedekiah is finally rejected. The people cannot hope in him. He is not the expected ‘coming one' of Genesis 49:10, and what he has built up will be destroyed. We discover here the expectancy that the people already had that a coming son of David and of Judah would arise who would put all to rights. Until He comes full restoration cannot take place, but when He does come God will set all to rights. He will have the crown.
God's Judgment on Ammon Because of Their Behaviour.
Originally Ammon had sided with Babylon and had aided them in the invasion of Judah (2 Kings 24:2). Then they had allied themselves with Judah along with others (Jeremiah 27:2), which was why they were included in Nebuchadnezzar's invasion plans (Ezekiel 21:20). After the fall of Jerusalem they would exploit the situation to their advantage and deride Jerusalem (see Ezekiel 25:1-7 a). Thus they were uncomfortable allies.
This prophecy, added in here to connect with Ezekiel 21:20, probably refers to a slightly later period after the destruction of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 25:1-7 a) when Ammon, possibly smarting from her own defeat, will pour out reproaches on Judah and Jerusalem, and intend to take positive acquisitive action as well, for Jerusalem had borne the brunt of Nebuchadnezzar's activities. But while God would bring His own judgment on Jerusalem, it was not open to others to do the same, and for it they would be condemned.
Its importance here cannot be overemphasised. It is another way of indicating that while Israel has been justly punished, it has not been forgotten before God.