What is the context?
The Lord directs Ezekiel to speak against Sidon. He announces plague, bloodshed and the sword, saying that His judgments will demonstrate His holiness and make Him known.
The announcement ends by turning toward Israel’s experience among its neighbors. Their contempt has been like a pricking brier or painful thorn. The Lord promises an end to that hostility.
The purpose is repeated through the section: they will know that He is the Lord. The confrontation is not merely a contest between neighboring cities; it concerns His holiness and His people’s life among those who scorn them.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Henry connects Sidon’s hostility with its corrupting religious influence on Israel. Wesley explains the brier and thorn as the troublesome neighbors named in these judgments.
Wesley also says that the full removal of this threat had not yet been accomplished. The wording looks beyond an isolated military loss toward the security developed in the chapter’s closing promise.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.