EZEKIEL 25 COMMENTARYEDITED BY GLENN PEASE

A Prophecy Against Ammon

1 The word of the Lord came to me:

BARNES 1-3, "It was a distinct part of scriptural prophecy to address pagan nations. In Isaiah Isa. 13–19, Jeremiah Jer. 46–51, and here Ezek. 25–32, one section is specially devoted to a collection of such prophecies. Every such prediction had the general purpose of exhibiting the conflict ever waging between the servants of God and the powers of the world, the struggle in which the Church of Christ has still to wrestle against her foes Eph_6:12, but in which she will surely prevail.

It was a distinct part of scriptural prophecy to address pagan nations. In Isaiah Isa. 13–19, Jeremiah Jer. 46–51, and here Ezek. 25–32, one section is specially devoted to a collection of such prophecies. Every such prediction had the general purpose of exhibiting the conflict ever waging between the servants of God and the powers of the world, the struggle in which the Church of Christ has still to wrestle against her foes Eph_6:12, but in which she will surely prevail.This series of prophecies, with one exception, was delivered at the time of the fall of Jerusalem; some shortly before, and some shortly after, the capture of the city. They were collected together to illustrate their original purpose of warning the nations not to exult in their neighbor’s fall. Seven nations are addressed, which have had most contact with the children of Israel - on their eastern borders Moab and Ammon, to the south, Edom, on the south-west Philistia, northward Tyre (the merchant city) and the more ancient Sidon, and lastly Egypt, alternately the scourge and the false stay of the chosen people. The number “seven” is symbolic of completeness. “Seven” prophecies against Egypt the chief of “seven” nations, denote the completeness of the overthrow of the pagan power, the antagonist of the kingdom of God. While other prophets hold out to these pagan nations some prospect of future mercy (e. g., Isa_16:14; Jer_49:6, Jer_49:11), Ezekiel speaks of their complete ruin. He was contemplating “national” ruin. In the case of Jerusalem there would be national restoration, but in the case of the pagan

1

no such recovery. The “national” ruin was irretrievable; the remnant to whom the other prophets hold out hopes of mercy were to find it as individuals gathered into God’s Church, not as nations to be again set up. Ezekiel does not, like other prophets, prophesy against Babylon; it was his mission to show that for the moment, Babylon was the righteous instrument of the divine wrath, doing God’s work in punishing His foes. In prophesying against foreign nations, Ezekiel often adopts the language of those who preceded him.In Ezek. 25, the four nations most closely connected with one another by geographical position and by contact, are addressed in a few brief sentences concluding with the same refrain - “Ye shall know that I am the Lord” (e. g. Eze_25:5). This prophecy was delivered immediately after the capture of the city by Nebuchadnezzar, and so is later, in point of time, than some of the prophecies that follow it.The Ammonites were inveterate foes of the descendants of Abraham.

CLARKE, "The word of the Lord - The chronological order of this chapter is after Eze_33:21, etc. See Abp. Newcome.

GILL, "The word of the Lord came unto me,.... After he had done prophesying to the Jews, he is bid to prophesy against the Gentiles, the nations that lay nearest the Jews:

HENRY 1-7, "Here, I. The prophet is ordered to address himself to the Ammonites, in the name of the Lord Jehovah the God of Israel, who is also the God of the whole earth. But what can Chemosh, the god of the children of Ammon, say, in answer to it? He is bidden to set his face against the Ammonites, for he is God's representative as a prophet, and thus he must signify that God set his face against them, for the face of the Lord is against those that do evil, Psa_34:16. He must speak with boldness and assurance, as one that knew whose errand he went upon, and that he should be borne out in delivering it. He must therefore set his face as a flint, Isa_1:7. He must show his displeasure against these proud enemies of Israel, and face them down, though they were very impudent, and thus must show that, though he had prophesied so much and so long against Israel, yet still he was for Israel, and, while he witnessed against their corruptions, he adhered to and gloried in God's covenant with them. Note, Those are miserable that have the preaching and praying of God's prophets against them, against whom their faces are set.

II. He is directed what to say to them. Ezekiel is now a captive in Babylon, and has been so many years, and knows little of the state of his own nation, much less of the nations that were about it; but God tells him both what they were doing and what he was about to do with them. And thus by the spirit of prophecy he is enabled to speak as pertinently to their case as if he had been among them.1. He must upbraid the Ammonites with their insolent and barbarous triumphs over the people of Israel in their calamities, Eze_25:3. The Ammonites said, when all went against the Jews, Aha! so would we have it. They were glad to see, (1.) The temple

2

burned, the sanctuary profaned by the victorious Chaldeans. This is put first, to intimate what was the cause of the controversy; they had an enmity to the Jews for the sake of their religion, though it was only some poor remains of the profession of it that were to be found among them. (2.) The nation ruined. They rejoiced when the land of Israel was made desolate, the cities burnt, the country wasted, and both depopulated, and when the house of Judah went into captivity. When they had not power to oppress God's Israel themselves they were pleased to see the Chaldeans oppress them, partly because they envied their wealth and the good land they enjoyed, partly because they feared their growing power, and partly because they hated their religion and the divine oracles they were favoured with. It is repeated again (Eze_25:6): They clapped with their hands, to irritate the rage of the Chaldeans, and to set them on as dogs upon the game; or they clapped their hands in triumph, attended this tragedy with their Plaudite -Give us your applause, thinking it well acted; never was there any thing more diverting or entertaining to them. They stamped with their feet, ready to leap and dance for joy upon this occasion; they not only rejoiced in heart, but they could not forbear showing it, though every one that had any sense of honour and humanity would cry shame upon them for it, especially considering that they rejoiced thus, not for any thing they got by Israel's fall (if so, they would have been the more excusable: most people are for themselves); but this as purely from a principle of malice and enmity: Thou hast rejoiced in heart with all thy despite (which signifies both scorn and hatred) against the land of Israel. Note, The people of God have always had a great deal of ill-will borne them by this wicked world; and their calamities have been their neighbours' entertainments. See to what unnatural instances of malice the enmity that is in the seed of the serpent against the seed of the woman will carry them. The Ammonites, of all people, should not have rejoiced in Jerusalem's ruin, but should rather have trembled, because they themselves had such a narrow escape at the same time; it was but “cross or pile” [the toss of a halfpenny] which should be besieged first, Rabbath or Jerusalem, Eze_21:20. And they had reason to think that the king of Babylon would set upon them next. But thus were their hearts hardened to their ruin, and their insolence against Jerusalem was to them an evident token of perdition, Phi_1:28. It is a very wicked thing to be glad at the calamities of any, especially of God's people, and a sin that God will surely reckon for; such delight has God in showing mercy, and so backward is he to punish, that nothing is more pleasing to him than to be stopped in the ways of his judgments by intercessions, not any thing more provoking than to help forward the affliction when he is but a little displeased, Zec_1:15.2. He must threaten the Ammonites with utter ruin for this insolence which they were guilty of. God turns away his wrath from Israel against them, as is said, Pro_24:17, Pro_24:18. God is jealous for his people's honour, because his own is so nearly interested in it. And therefore those that touch that shall be made to know that they touch the apple of his eye. He had before predicted the destruction of the Ammonites, Eze_21:28. Had they repented, that would have been revoked; but now it is ratified. (1.) A destroying enemy is brought against them: I will deliver thee to the men of the east, first to the Chaldeans, who came from the north-east, and whose army, under the command of Nebuchadnezzar, destroyed the country of the Ammonites, about five years after the destruction of Jerusalem (as Josephus relates, Antiq. 10.181), and then to the Arabians, who were properly the children of the east, who, when the Chaldeans had made the country desolate, and quitted it, came and took possession of it for themselves, probably with the consent of the conquerors. Shepherds' tents were their palaces; these they set up in the country of the Ammonites; there they made their dwellings, Eze_25:4. They

3

enjoyed the products of the country: They shall eat thy fruit and drink thy milk; and the milk from the cattle is the fruit of the ground at second-hand. They made use even of the royal city for their cattle (Eze_25:5): I will make Rabbath, that was a nice and splendid city, to be a stable for camels; for its new masters, whose wealth lies all in cattle, will not think they can put the palaces of Rabbath to a better use. Rabbath had been a habitation of brutish men; justly therefore is it now made a stable for camels and the country a couching-lace for flocks, more innocent beasts than those with which it had been before replenished. (2.) God himself acts as an enemy to them (Eze_25:7): I will stretch out my hand upon thee, a hand that will reach far and strike home, which there is no resisting the blow of, for it is a mighty hand, nor bearing the weight of, for it is a heavy hand. God's hand stretched out against the Ammonites will not only deliver them for a spoil to the heathen, so that all their neighbours shall prey upon them, but will cut them off from the people and made them perish out of the countries, so that there shall be no remains of them in that place. Compare with this, Jer_49:1, etc. What can sound more terrible than that resolution (Eze_25:7), I will destroy thee? For the almighty God is able both to save and to destroy, and it is a fearful thing to fall into his hands. Both the threatenings here (Eze_25:5 and Eze_25:7) conclude with this, You shall know that I am the Lord.For, [1.] Thus God will maintain his own honour, and will make it appear that he is the God of Israel, though he suffers them for a time to be captives in Babylon. [2.] Thus he will bring those that were strangers to him into an acquaintance with him, and it will be a blessed effect of their calamities. Better know God and be poor than be rich and ignorant of him.

JAMISON, "Eze_25:1-17. Appropriately in the interval of silence as to the Jews in the eight chapters, (twenty-fifth through thirty-second) Ezekiel denounces judgments on the heathen world kingdoms.

If Israel was not spared, much less the heathen utterly corrupt, and having no mixture of truth, such as Israel in its worst state possessed (1Pe_4:17, 1Pe_4:18). Their ruin was to be utter: Israel’s but temporary (Jer_46:28). The nations denounced are seven, the perfect number; implying that God’s judgments would visit, not merely these, but the whole round of the heathen foes of God. Babylon is excepted, because she is now for the present viewed as the rod of God’s retributive justice, a view too much then lost sight of by those who fretted against her universal supremacy.

K&D 1-7, "Against the AmmonitesEze_25:1. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Eze_25:2. Son of man, direct thy face towards the sons of Ammon, and prophesy against them, Eze_25:3. And say to the sons of Ammon, Hear ye the word of the Lord Jehovah! Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because thou sayest, Aha! concerning my sanctuary, that it is profaned; and concerning the land of Israel, that it is laid waste; and concerning the house of Judah, that they have gone into captivity; Eze_25:4. Therefore, behold, I will give thee to the sons of the east for a possession, that they may pitch their tent-villages in thee, and erect their dwellings in thee; they shall eat thy fruits, and they shall drink thy milk. Eze_25:5. And Rabbah will I make a camel-ground, and the sons of Ammon a resting-

4

place for flocks; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah. Eze_25:6. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because thou hast clapped thy hand, and stamped with thy foot, and hast rejoiced in soul with all thy contempt concerning the house of Israel, Eze_25:7.Therefore, behold, I will stretch out my hand against thee, and give thee to the nations for booty, and cut thee off from the peoples, and exterminate thee from the lands; I will destroy thee, that thou mayst learn that I am Jehovah. - In Eze_21:28., when predicting the expedition of Nebuchadnezzar against Jerusalem, Ezekiel had already foretold the destruction of the Ammonites, so that these verses are simply a resumption and confirmation of the earlier prophecy. In the passage referred to, Ezekiel, like Zephaniah before him (Zep_2:8, Zep_2:10), mentions their reviling of the people of God as the sin for which they are to be punished with destruction. This reviling, in which their hatred of the divine calling of Israel found vent, was the radical sin of Ammon. On the occasion of Judah's fall, it rose even to contemptuous and malicious joy at the profanation of the sanctuary of Jehovah by the destruction of the temple (a comparison with Eze_24:21will show that this is the sense in which נחל is to be understood), at the devastation of the land of Israel, and at the captivity of Judah, - in other words, at the destruction of the religious and political existence of Israel as the people of God. The profanation of the sanctuary is mentioned first, to intimate that the hostility to Israel, manifested by the Ammonites on every occasion that presented itself (for proofs, see the comm. on Zep_2:8), had its roots not so much in national antipathies, as in antagonism to the sacred calling of Israel. As a punishment for this, they are not only to lose their land (Eze_25:4and Eze_25:5), but to be cut off from the number of the nations (Eze_25:6 and Eze_25:7). The Lord will give up their land, with its productions, for a possession to the sons of the east, i.e., according to Gen_25:13-18, to the Arabs, the Bedouins (for בני see ,קדםthe comm. on Jdg_6:3 and Job_1:3). The Piel although only occurring here, is not ,ישבוto be rejected as critically suspicious, and to be changed into Kal, as Hitzig proposes. The Kal would be unsuitable, because the subject of the sentence can only be בני ,קדםand not תיהם ישב and ;טיר in the Kal has an intransitive sense. For ת tent-villages ,טירof nomads, see the comm. on Gen_25:16. משכנים, dwellings, are the separate tents of the shepherds. In the last clauses of Eze_25:4, המה is repeated for the sake of emphasis; and Hitzig's opinion, that the first המה corresponds to the subject in the clause 'וישבו ,is to be rejected as a marvellous flight of imagination ,ונתנו the second to that in ,וגוwhich approaches absurdity in the assertion that פרי הארץ signifies the folds, i.e., the animals, of the land. Along with the fruit of the land, i.e., the produce of the soil, milk is also mentioned as a production of pastoral life, and the principal food of nomads. On the wealth of the Ammonites in flocks and herds, see Jdg_6:5. The words are addressed to Ammon, as a land or kingdom, and hence the feminine suffix. The capital will also share the fate of the land. Rabbah (see the comm. on Deu_3:11) will become a camel-ground, a waste spot where camels lie down and feed. This has been almost literally fulfilled. The ruins of Ammân are deserted by men, and Seetzen found Arabs with their camels not far off (vid., von Raumer, Palestine, p. 268). In the parallel clause, the sons of Ammon, i.e., the Ammonites, are mentioned instead of their land.

In Eze_25:6 and Eze_25:7, the Lord announces to the nation of the Ammonites the destruction that awaits them, and reiterates with still stronger emphasis the sin which occasioned it, namely, the malicious delight they had manifested at Israel's fall. בכל־שאט is strengthened by בנפש: with all thy contempt in the soul, i.e., with all the

5

contempt which thy soul could cherish. In Eze_25:7 the ἁπ λεγ.. לבג occasions some difficulty. The Keri has substituted לבז, for booty for the nations (cf. Eze_26:5); and all the ancient versions have adopted this. Consequently בג might be a copyist's error for בז; and in support of this the circumstance might be adduced, that in Eze_47:13, where גהstands for זה, we have unquestionably a substitution of ג for ז. But if the Chetib בז be correct, the word is to be explained - as it has been by Benfey (Die Montasnamen, p. 194) and Gildemeister (in Lassen's Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, iv. 1, p. 213ff.) - from the Sanscrit bha=ga, pars, portio, and has passed into the Semitic languages from the Aryan, like the Syriac bagaa', esca, which P. Boetticher (Horae aram. p. 21) has correctly traced to the Sanscrit bhaj, conquere. - The executors of the judgment are not named; for the threat that God will give up the land of the Ammonites to the Bedouins for their possession, does not imply that they are to exterminate the Ammonites. On the contrary, a comparison of this passage with Amo_1:13-15 and Jer_49:1-5, where the Ammonites are threatened not only with the devastation of their land, but also with transportation into exile, will show that the Chaldeans are to be thought of as executing the judgment. (See the comm. on Eze_25:11.)

COFFMAN, "Verse 1

PART II; ORACLES AGAINST THE NATIONS

(EZEKIEL 25-32)

ORACLES AGAINST AMMON; MOAB; EDOM; AND PHILISTIA

In our commentaries upon four dozen Biblical books, we have already commented upon the Divine Oracles against these four nations. For those who are interested in a more detailed study of these, reference is here made to: (1) the prophecies against Ammon: (Vol. 1 of Minor Prophets, pp. 92-94, Vol. 3 of Minor Prophets, p. 151, and Vol. 2, Major prophets, pp. 511-514); (2) the prophecies against Moab: (Vol. 1, Minor Prophets, pp. 97-99); (3) the prophecies against Edom: (Vol. 1 of Major Prophets, all of Isaiah 34, pp. 309-314, Vol. 2, Major Prophets, pp. 514-519, Vol. 2, Minor Prophets, the whole Book of Obadiah, pp. 247-263); and (4) the prophecies against Philistia: (Vol. 4, Minor Prophets, pp. 134,135, Vol. 1, Minor Prophets, pp.

6

87-90, and Vol. 2, Major Prophets, all of chapter 47, pp. 491-495).

Because of extensive comments we have already made on oracles against these nations, our treatment of the subject here will be somewhat abbreviated.

Ezekiel 25:1-7

"And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face toward the children of Ammon, and prophesy against them: and say unto the children of Ammon. Hear the word of the Lord Jehovah, Because thou saidest, Aha, against my sanctuary, when it was profaned; and against the land of Israel, when it was made desolate, and against the house of Judah, when they went into captivity: therefore, behold, I will deliver thee to the children of the east for a possession, and they shall set their encampments in thee, and make their dwellings in thee; they shall eat thy fruit, and they shall drink thy milk. And I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the children of Ammon a couching-place for flocks: and ye shall know that I am Jehovah. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: because thou hast clapped with thy hands, and stamped with thy feet, and rejoiced with all the despite of thy soul against the land of Israel; therefore, behold, 1have stretched out my hand upon thee, and will deliver thee for a spoil to the nations; and I will cut thee off from the peoples, and will cause thee to perish out of the countries: I will destroy thee, and thou shalt know that I am Jehovah."

PROPHECY AGAINST AMMON

The history of Ammon began with the drunken and incestuous conduct of Lot; and the entire record of the Ammonites and Moabites, both of which began on that same occasion (Genesis 19), was one of rebellion against God and hatred of their kinsmen, the posterity of Abraham. The most recent example of their perfidy is recorded in Jeremiah, where the Ammonites arranged for the murder of Gedaliah the Jew, whom Nebuchadnezzar had appointed governor of Judah.

7

Some have misunderstood the reasons that God gave here for his judgment of Ammon, namely, because Ammon had said "Aha!" and had rejoiced over the ruin of Judah and Jerusalem, and the profanation of God's sanctuary. Serious as such offenses indeed were, Bruce pointed out that there was something else behind their conduct. "The Ammonites, along with the other nations, imagined that the collapse of the Judean monarchy also meant the eclipse of the God of Israel."[1]

It was no doubt this very result of God's severe punishment of Israel which had delayed God's actions for such a long time. now, that God had done it, or was in the process of doing it, the mistaken notion that God was no longer able to protect Israel, on the part of the surrounding nations, absolutely necessitated the destruction of those nations. After all, they were guilty of the very sins that had mined Israel; and it was absolutely impossible for God to have allowed them to escape. We believe this is the reason for the inclusion here of the prophecies against the seven nations (four of them in this chapter). Furthermore, as Keil pointed out, "These seven nations selected for the oracles here may be understood as representative of all the heathen nations, indicating thereby that the judgments predicted will be executed and completed upon the whole heathen world."[2] The omission of Babylon from the list gives weight to Keil's understanding of the chapter.

"I will make Rabbah a stable for camels ..." (Ezekiel 25:5). This infamous stronghold is now the modern Amman. In Roman times, Ptolemy rebuilt the place and called it Philadelphia (after himself); and in the times of David, it was remembered as the fortress where David contrived the brutal murder of Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba.

Both Cooke and May have written of the radical differences in style between this chapter and the following, suggesting that perhaps this chapter was not written by Ezekiel; and although Cooke admitted that the differences may be explained otherwise, it remained for Thompson to demonstrate convincingly that this chapter, no less than the others, is absolutely in keeping with Ezekiel's style.[3]

"Because thou hast clapped thy hands ... and rejoiced ..." (Ezekiel 25:6). "Because

8

Ammon has rejoiced at the grief of others, she herself shall be brought to grief. In such actions, God reveals that behind all human events, there stands the Author and Finisher of history, who is the judge of all men and nations."[4]

Regarding the date of this chapter, McFadyen believed that none of it was written until after the fall of Jerusalem; but some disagree with this. It seems to us that the question demands little, if any priority. Of course, the "captivity" is mentioned in this oracle as an event already accomplished; but there were three phases of the captivity; and therefore the mention of it can have no weight at all in determining the date.

ELLICOTT, "Prophecies concerning heathen nations, from the time of Balaam down, mark every period of Scripture history. Sometimes, as in the case of Jonah, Obadiah, and Nahum, the utterance of the seer is against a single nation; sometimes, as in the case of Joel, and possibly also in that of Amos, the prophecies against the heathen are merely incidental and subsidiary to those concerning Israel; and sometimes, as in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, they are collected in a special portion of the book. Balaam, Jonah, and to some extent Daniel, addressed their warnings directly to the nations concerned; but in most of the other instances it seems unlikely that the prophecies were ever communicated to the people to whom they directly related. In all cases they appear to have been given by God for the sake of His Church as well as for that of its enemies; even that of Jonah was given to Nineveh probably but a little time before the conquest of Israel, and must have impressed upon its haughty monarchs some respect for the God whose people they were soon to make captive; while those of Daniel were given to kings who already held the chosen people in captivity, and who were thereby compelled to make some acknowledgment of the reverence due to the God of Israel.

The reasons for the more general prophecies against the heathen must be sought in the special circumstances of each case in which they were uttered. In the present instance these reasons are not far to seek, for both the nations mentioned and the one omitted suggest a common purpose in the prophecy. Those mentioned are seven in number—Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, Tyre, Sidon, and Egypt. All these were so far allies of Judah that they were in common hostility to Babylon; and it appears from Jeremiah 27:1-3 that an attempt had been made in the reign of Jehoiakim to unite five of them in a league against Babylon, while Egypt was continually looked

9

to by the disobedient Jews for aid against their common enemy. It was, therefore, necessary for Israel to know that there was no help to be found against Babylon in any earthly power; all the enemies of Chaldæa were to fall alike. Moreover, it was important to show by these prophecies that the judgment about to come upon the surrounding heathen was from God, since it is thus made clear that all events are of His ordering, and hence that the punishment of His people also must be from His own hand. This was especially the place for the prophet to speak of these judgments when he had just finished his denunciations of wrath upon Israel, and when these denunciations were about to be fulfilled. Besides these general reasons, there were other special ones in the case of each nation. Egypt had been a broken reed piercing the hand of Judah as often as she leaned upon it; while of Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, and Tyre it is mentioned that they had exulted in the profanation of the Temple and the captivity of the people, and this especially from their hostility to the religion of Israel. It would help Israel to know that, while they were themselves punished for their unfaithfulness to their religion, those who altogether hated and rejected it were to suffer still more severely. It is remarkable that there is no prophecy in Ezekiel against Babylon, as there is in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others; for Babylon appears throughout this book as the executor of God’s judgments upon His people, and the effect of this would have been marred by the mention of her own ultimate punishment. For the present, all her enemies are to be overthrown, and she remains in strength; although she also would be punished for her sins when she should have accomplished the Divine purposes, yet it would have been worse than useless for the thoughts of Israel to be occupied with this now.

The number of seven nations against whom prophecies are uttered has been thought by many to be significant. It is made up by separating Zidon from Tyre, for which there were probably special reasons at the time. Zidon had long since lost its importance, and the prophecy against it is very short, (Ezekiel 28:21-24); yet its ancient enmity to God was not to be forgotten, as it might appear to be if left without distinct mention.

The prophecy against Edom is greatly expanded in Ezekiel 35, and there are other prophecies against foreign nations in Ezekiel 38, 39; but these have so much the nature of promises to Israel that they are more appropriately placed where they are than they would have been in this connection. Even here the prophecy against Zidon (Ezekiel 28:25-26) and that of the latest date against Egypt (Ezekiel 29:21) end with

10

promises to Israel.

The utterances against the various nations are very unequal in fulness. Those concerning Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Philistia are all included together in a single prophecy, occupying only one chapter (Ezekiel 25); Tyre is the subject of four separate prophecies, filling nearly three chapters (Ezekiel 26:1 to Eze_28:19); Zidon is disposed of in the few following verses; while Egypt has seven distinct prophecies, filling chapters 29-32. The relative importance of these various nations is represented in this proportion.

The prophecies of Ezekiel concerning these nations had been anticipated by the older prophets, especially Isaiah and Amos, and similar predictions also abound in the contemporary Jeremiah, but with this marked difference: Ezekiel foretells their utter overthrow, while other prophets look forward to a period of restoration and blessing after their punishment. Thus Isaiah (Isaiah 23:15-18) says that after a period of seventy years Tyre shall again rejoice, and shall ultimately be converted to the Lord; Jeremiah says of the Moabites, “I will bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter day, saith the Lord” (Jeremiah 48:47), and the same thing of the Ammonites (Jeremiah 49:6); and of Egypt, that after its temporary subjection to Nebuchadnezzar, “afterward it shall be inhabited as in the days of old” (Jeremiah 46:26); Isaiah also describes the time when “Israel shall be the third with Egypt and Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land” (Isaiah 19:24-25). Yet it has generally been recognised that there is no inconsistency in these prophecies. Isaiah foretells a temporary resuscitation of Tyre, at the same time with Judah, in connection with the Medo-Persian conquest of Babylon; but Ezekiel’s prophecies look beyond this, to the final destruction of the Tyrian power. On the other hand, these various prophecies speak of an ultimate gathering of a remnant of the descendants of these nations into the Church of God; while Ezekiel speaks of them only as political powers, and foretells that utter desolation of them which has been so strikingly fulfilled in the course of history.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 25:1 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,

Ver. 1. The word of the Lord.] Contra gentes; against those nations chiefly that

11

molested the Jews after their overthrow by the Babylonians. Sins they had enough besides, but for none did they suffer more deeply than for their malignity towards God’s poor afflicted. The Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, and Philistines are here more briefly threatened; the Tyrians and Egyptians more at large, because it seemed impossible that they should be brought down.

POOLE, "God’s vengeance upon the Ammonites, Ezekiel 25:1-7, upon Moab and Seir, Ezekiel 25:7-11, upon Edom, Ezekiel 25:12-14, and upon the Philistines, for their declared malevolence to the Jews, Ezekiel 25:15-17.

Though he had order no more yet awhile to prophesy against the Jews, he was to be dumb as to them, yet he hath commission to foretell sad tidings to other nations round about the Jews.

PETT, "IntroductionChapter 25-32 Oracles Against Foreign Nations.The first question we must ask as we consider these chapters is as to why they are included in a prophecy to Israel, and why they are placed here between the first investment of Jerusalem by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar (Ezekiel 24:2), and the later successful conclusion of the siege by him.

They do in fact present a remarkable message. Here was Jerusalem, surrounded by enemies, about to be crushed, and Yahweh’s land was about to be taken from them. Soon there would be no nation of Israel or Judah. Their surrounding neighbours were already taking advantage of their situation, great Tyre to the north was prospering and magnifying herself, partly at her expense, and Egypt was sitting back after a vain effort at assistance, having fomented many of their problems, and allowing them to be destroyed. Was not this therefore evidence that Yahweh had no more time for His people, that His favour was rather being shown to her neighbours? Did it not further mean that these nations would despise Israel’s God, and see Him of little account?

12

Ezekiel’s answer here is a resounding ‘No!’. Yahweh was also about to reveal His power against these very nations. They too would come under His judgment precisely because of their attitude towards Him and His people. And they would be made to recognise that Yahweh was still powerful and at work by the judgments which came on them. They would know that He is Yahweh (something constantly reiterated throughout the section) as Egypt had known long before at the time of the Exodus (Exodus 7:5; Exodus 7:17; Exodus 8:22; Exodus 14:4; Exodus 14:18). They would learn a hard lesson.

This is why Babylon is not included among them. Babylon is as yet the instrument of these judgments, and Nebuchadnezzar is acting under the constraint of Yahweh. What is happening therefore is not disaster, it is the forwarding of His plans by the hand of the supreme king Nebuchadnezzar who but unconsciously does His bidding.

Thus we must see a number of reasons for these oracles, all centred around the above facts.

1) They demonstrated that in spite of their dire straits God had not forgotten His people. He was still concerned about other nations’ behaviour towards them.

2) They demonstrated that in spite of the fall of Jerusalem Yahweh was still God over the whole world. The fall of Jerusalem would not mean that Yahweh was defeated. It would reveal that He was also controlling what was happening round about. He controlled the destiny of nations.

3) They filled in a gap during a period when Ezekiel was silent towards Jerusalem, when he had no word of Yahweh for them. Some of these prophecies, carefully dated, specifically occurred during that period, and bring home the fact that at the same time as there was no word from God through Ezekiel for Jerusalem and the exiles, God was still speaking on her behalf, to the surrounding world. They symbolised God’s final triumph over all things.

13

4) They demonstrated the future decline of these foreign nations in contrast with the future promises of restoration for Israel, emphasising the certainty of the final triumph of God’s people.

5) They happened and affected Israel.

The oracles are split into a group of four which form a unity and follow a similar pattern (chapter 25), and may well have been given at the same time, and then a further three which are more expansive against Tyre, Sidon and Egypt.

Some of the oracles against the nations are dated and come before the fall of Jerusalem, an oracle against Egypt in Ezekiel 29:1 onwards being in January 587 BC, oracles against Pharaoh in Ezekiel 30:20 onwards, and Ezekiel 31:1 onwards, being in April and June 587/6 BC, while others are dated after the fall of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 29:17; Ezekiel 32:1; Ezekiel 32:17). The oracle against Tyre in Ezekiel 26:1 onwards clearly comes after the siege by its content. We can tentatively date it in February 586/5 BC. This depends on the date given to the fall of Jerusalem (587/6 BC) and the information about the arrival of the newsbearer in Ezekiel 33:21 where there are variant readings (January 586/585 BC).

It is probably noteworthy that seven nations were selected against whom oracles were uttered (Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, Tyre, Sidon, Egypt). Aside from Egypt they surrounded Israel in a clockwise direction commencing east of Jordan. The number seven was considered significant throughout the whole of the Ancient Near East as the number of divine perfection and completeness. They may thus in one sense be seen as God’s word to the whole world. That they did not include Babylon arises from the fact that Babylon was temporarily God’s agent (Ezekiel 17:20; Jeremiah 32:3-5), and Nebuchadnezzar temporarily His ‘servant’ (Jeremiah 25:9; Jeremiah 27:6) and ‘son’ (see on Ezekiel 21:10), although their final certain punishment had also been declared elsewhere.

The first four oracles, against Ammon, Moab, Edom and Philistia, are stern and brief and follow a similar pattern of ‘because -- therefore --’. Compare similar

14

oracles of Amos 1:3 to Amos 2:3 in slightly different format but with a parallel idea. They bear the mark of a prophetic denouncement. These were nations already on the wane, as Israel seemed to be itself. The other three oracles are more colourful and expanded. They were dealing with those thought of as more worthy of notice and therefore deserving of wider treatment. Tyre appears to have been selected for special treatment because, along with Egypt, it symbolised the height of blasphemy against Yahweh, the claim to being divine.

Verses 1-3

‘And the word of Yahweh came to me saying, “Son of man, set your face towards the children of Ammon and prophesy against them, and say to the children of Ammon, “Thus says the Lord Yahweh, because you said “Aha” against my sanctuary when it was profaned, and against the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and against the house of Judah when they went into captivity.” ’

The opening phrase ‘the word of Yahweh came to me saying’ (compare Ezekiel 26:1; Ezekiel 27:1; Ezekiel 28:1; Ezekiel 28:11; Ezekiel 28:20; Ezekiel 29:1; Ezekiel 29:17; Ezekiel 30:1; Ezekiel 30:20; Ezekiel 31:1; Ezekiel 32:1; Ezekiel 32:17) indicates the commencement of a new oracle. Thus the oracles against Ammon, Moab, Edom and Philistia are as one oracle.

‘Son of man.’ This method of address to Ezekiel continues throughout the book. It is a reminder to him that he is but an earthly man being approached by the God of creation. It is a reminder of his weakness and creatureliness, a warning against presumption. But it also contains within it in its frequency a sense of having been chosen. He is that ‘son of man’ whom God has chosen out as His instrument and mouthpiece and addresses personally. Thus it inculcates humility and loving confidence and response.

‘Set your face.’ While this may be seen only as a general instruction, it may be that Ezekiel did actually ‘set his face’ in that direction to indicate more directly the power of the word of Yahweh going forth.

15

Ezekiel 25:3 now introduces the ‘because --’, the charge laid against Ammon. At first sight in context this may well be seen as referring to a time after the destruction of Jerusalem when Ammon shook their heads knowingly because Yahweh had been unable to protect His people and Jerusalem, and the temple lay in ashes and the land lay desolate.

But it could equally apply to the period when Jerusalem was under siege, and the Egyptians who came to offer aid had withdrawn, with the ‘wise’ Ammonites realising that Jerusalem’s situation was hopeless and that Yahweh could no longer help them, and standing aside, and doing nothing but say ‘Aha’.

The descriptions fit both situations. Ezekiel had spoken of the sanctuary as having already been profaned before the final destruction (Ezekiel 23:39), along with Yahweh’s holy things (Ezekiel 22:26), partly because the Jerusalemites had offered their children through fire to Molech the god of these very Ammonites. This may well have made the children of Ammon say ‘Aha’ as they saw their god triumphing in Jerusalem.

And the land of Israel had been made desolate long before, at which point Ammon had taken advantage of the situation and had been condemned for it (Jeremiah 49:1-6), and it had been made desolate again by Nebuchadnezzar’s approach to Jerusalem. Furthermore the ‘house of Judah’ could be seen as having been taken into captivity twice in previous invasions (2 Kings 24:13-15; 2 Chronicles 36:5-6 with Daniel 1:1-4), both times when Ammon might well have said ‘Aha’ as they themselves took part, (certainly the first time), in the war on Babylon’s side (2 Kings 24:2).

Note in this regard that Ezekiel has up to this point only rarely used the phrase ‘the house of Judah’, and then to specifically distinguish it from Israel in the north (Ezekiel 4:6), and usually speaks of ‘the house of Israel’ to include both, seeing both the Jerusalemites and the exiles and all Israel as the house of Israel. Thus the use here may suggest that the previous captivities are in mind. The final captivity

16

would, in Ezekiel’s mind, be ‘of Israel’.

So there are good reasons why this oracle may have been given while Jerusalem was surrounded and before its final downfall.

Either way the point is that God has seen their attitude towards His people and will punish them for it.

Verses 1-7

The Oracle Against Ammon (Ezekiel 25:1-7).

The Ammonites, while possibly having been joined with Judah and others in an anti-Babylon alliance, were permanent enemies of Israel/Judah (see Judges 3:13; Judges 10-11; 1 Samuel 11; 2 Samuel 10; 2 Kings 24:2; 2 Chronicles 20; Amos 1:13; Zephaniah 2:8-9). They were excluded from becoming Israelites by adoption for ‘ten generations’ (Deuteronomy 23:3). That they were part of an alliance with Jerusalem is suggested by Ezekiel 21:18-22. But that did not prevent them from pouring scorn on Jerusalem’s situation, which made their sin the worse. And later their king would help to arrange the assassination of Gedaliah (Jeremiah 40:14 to Jeremiah 41:2) at the hand of Israelites who had fled to Ammon for protection against the approaching Babylonian armies.

PULPIT, "The section on which we now enter—the great "parenthesis," as I have called it, of Ezekiel's prophetic work—contains messages to the seven nations that were most closely connected with the fortunes of Israel and Judah. These were

A prophet's work was hardly complete without such a survey of the Divine order of the world so far as it came within the horizon of his thoughts; and Ezekiel had before him the example of like groups of prophecies addressed to the heathen nations with which Israel was brought into contact, in Isaiah 13-23. and Jeremiah

17

46-51. It was natural that the two contemporary prophets should be led to address their messages to the same nations, and so we find Ezekiel's seven named together with others in Jeremiah 25:15-26, and five of them (Egypt and Philistia being excepted) in Jeremiah 27:1-4; while we have fuller and special prophecies for Egypt (Jeremiah 46:1-28.); Philistia (Jeremiah 47:1-7.); Moab (Jeremiah 48:1-47.); Ammon (Jeremiah 49:1-6); Edom (Jeremiah 49:7-22), with the addition of Damascus (Jeremiah 49:23-27); Kedar (Jeremiah 49:28-33); Elam (Jeremiah 49:34-39); Babylon (Jeremiah 1:1). What is remarkable in Ezekiel is that he has no message for Babylon, which for Isaiah and Jeremiah was the leading representative of the world-powers considered in their antagonism to the Divine kingdom. This may, in part, be explained by supposing that he omitted it in order to keep to his number of seven nations as the symbol of completeness; but a more probable hypothesis is that he was led, as Jeremiah had at one time been (Jeremiah 29:1-7), to see in the Chaldean monarchy the appointed minister of the Divine judgments on Jerusalem and on the other nations. For his immediate purpose it was fitter that the exiles for whom he wrote should "seek the peace" of the people among whom they dwelt rather than that they should exult in its future downfall. He, like Jeremiah, may have been personally favored by Nebuchadnezzar and his officials; and Daniel, whom he mentions with honor (Ezekiel 14:14), and whom he may have known personally, was the king's chief minister. There was, we may well believe, a sufficient reason for this exceptional reticence.

BI 1-7, "Set thy face against the Ammonites.Prophecies against foreign nationsAt the outset it must be understood that prophecies of this kind form part of Jehovah’s message to Israel. Although they are usually cast in the form of direct address to foreign peoples, this must not lead us to imagine that they were intended for actual publication in the countries to which they refer. A prophet’s real audience always consisted of his own countrymen, whether his discourse was about themselves or about their neighbours. And it is easy to see that it was impossible to declare the purpose of God concerning Israel in words that came home to men’s business and bosoms, without taking account of the state and the destiny of other nations. Just as it would not be possible nowadays to forecast the future of Egypt without alluding to the fate of the Ottoman Empire, so it was not possible then to describe the future of Israel in the concrete manner characteristic of the prophets without indicating the place reserved for those peoples with whom it had close intercourse. Besides this, a large part of the national consciousness of Israel was made up of interests, friendly or the reverse, in neighbouring states. We cannot read the utterances of the prophets with regard to any of these nationalities without seeing that they often appeal to perceptions deeply lodged in the popular mind, which could be utilised to convey the spiritual lessons which the prophets desired to teach. It must not be supposed, however, that such prophecies are in

18

any degree the expression of national vanity or jealousy. What the prophets aim at is to elevate the thoughts of Israel to the sphere of eternal truths of the kingdom of God; and it is only in so far as these can be made to touch the conscience of the nation at this point that they appeal to what we may call its international sentiments. Now, the question we have to ask is, What spiritual purpose for Israel is served by the announcements of the destiny of the outlying heathen populations? Speaking generally, prophecies of this class had a moral value for two reasons. In the first place, they re-echo and confirm the sentence of judgment passed on Israel herself. They do this in two ways: they illustrate the principle on which Jehovah deals with His own people, and His character as the righteous judge of men. Wherever a “sinful kingdom” was found, whether in Israel or elsewhere, that kingdom must be removed from its place among the nations. But again, not only was the principle of the judgment emphasised, but the manner in which it was to be carried out was more clearly exhibited. In all cases the pre-exilic prophets announce that the overthrow of the Hebrew states was to be effected either by the Assyrians or the Babylonians. These great world powers were in succession the instruments fashioned and used by Jehovah for the performance of His great work in the earth. Now it was manifest that if this anticipation was well founded, it involved the overthrow of all the nations in immediate contact with Israel. The people of Israel or Judah were thus taught to look on their fate as involved in a great scheme of Divine providence, overturning all the existing relations which gave them a place among the nations of the world, and preparing for a new development of the purpose of Jehovah in the future. When we turn to that ideal future we find a second and more suggestive aspect of these prophecies against the heathen. All the prophets teach that the destiny of Israel is inseparably bound up with the future of God’s kingdom on earth. What men needed to be taught then, and what we need to remember still, is that each nation holds its position in subordination to the ends of God’s government; that no power or wisdom or refinement will save a state from destruction when it ceases to serve the interests of His kingdom. The foreign peoples that come under the survey of the prophets are as yet strangers to the true God, and are therefore destitute of that which could secure them a place in the reconstruction of political relationships of which Israel is to be the religious centre. And whether any particular nation should survive to participate in the glories of that latter day depends on the view taken of its present condition and its fitness for incorporation in the universal empire of Jehovah soon to be established. We now know that this was not the form in which Jehovah’s purpose of salvation was destined to be realised in the history of the world. Since the coming of Christ the people of Israel has lost its distinctive and central position as the bearer of the hopes and promises of the true religion. In its place we have a spiritual kingdom of men united by faith in Jesus Christ, and in the worship of one Father in spirit and in truth—a kingdom which from its very nature can have no local centre or political organisation. Hence the conversion of the heathen can no longer be conceived as national homage paid to the seat of Jehovah’s sovereignty on Zion; nor is the unfolding of the Divine plan of universal salvation bound up with the extinction of the nationalities which once symbolised the hostility of the world to the kingdom of God. This fact has an important bearing on the question of the fulfilment of the foreign prophecies of the Old Testament. As concrete embodiments of the eternal principles exhibited in the rise and fall of nations, they have an abiding significance for the Church in all ages; but the actual working out of these principles in history could not, in the nature of things, be complete within the limits of the world known to the inhabitants of Judaea. If we are to look for their ideal fulfilment, we shall only find it in the progressive victory of Christianity over all forms of error and 19

superstition, and in the dedication of all the resources of human civilisation—its wealth, its commercial enterprise, its political power—to the advancement of the kingdom of our God and His Christ. (John Skinner, M. A.)

2 “Son of man, set your face against the Ammonites and prophesy against them.

CLARKE, "Set thy face against the Ammonites - We have already seen, Eze_21:19, etc., that when Nebuchadnezzar left Babylon he was in doubt whether he should besiege Riblath, the capital of the Ammonites, or Jerusalem, the capital of the Jews, first: and having used his divination. he was determined, by the result, to attack Jerusalem the first. He did so and the Ammonites, seeing the success of his arms, made friends with him, and exulted in the ruin of the Jews. God resents this, and predicts their downfall with that of Edom, Moab, and the Philistines. The fulfillment of this prediction is not noted in Scripture: but Josephus tells us, that about five years after the taking of Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar turned his arms against the Ammonites and Moabites, and afterwards against Egypt; and having subdued those nations, he returned to Babylon. Joseph. Antiq., 50 x., c. 2. Berosus states, as quoted by Josephus, contra App., that Nebuchadnezzar subdued Syria, Arabia, Phoenicia, and Egypt: and consequently, that he had brought under his dominion the Ammonites, Moabites, and Idumeans, who were included among the Philistines. See Calmet.

GILL, "Son of man, set thy face against the Ammonites,.... Who were of the posterity of Lot, implacable enemies of the Jews; who hated their religion, and envied their wealth and happiness; against these the prophet is bid to "set his face"; to look that way where they lived, and to put on a frowning countenance, and a menacing aspect: "strengthen thy face", as the Septuagint and Arabic versions render it; look boldly at them: and prophesy against them; deliver out the following prophecy concerning them.

20

ELLICOTT, "Verse 2(2) Set thy face against the Ammonites.—It has already been mentioned that the utterances against the four contiguous nations of Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Philistia are all contained in one prophecy, and that this prophecy was evidently spoken after the fall of Jerusalem, and, consequently, after the date of Ezekiel 26:1. The Ammonites, descended from Lot’s incest with his younger daughter, had been for centuries persistent enemies of Israel. They had joined the Moabites in their oppression of Israel under Eglon (Judges 3:13), and in a later attack had been subdued by Jephthah (Judges 11:32-33); they fought with extreme cruelty and insolence against Saul (1 Samuel 11:2-11); they insulted and warred against David (2 Samuel 10:1-6), and were utterly crushed by him (2 Samuel 12:31); their idolatries were favoured by Solomon (1 Kings 11:7); uniting with Moab and Edom, they attacked Judah under Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 20:1-25), but utterly failed, and were tributary to his descendant, Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26:8); again they fought with Jotham, and were reduced by him to heavy tribute (2 Chronicles 27:5); and not long before this time they had occupied the vacant cities of Gad (Jeremiah 49:1). Now they had joined Nebuchadnezzar’s army against Judah (2 Kings 24:2). From Ezekiel 25:3 it appears that their hostility arose not only from national jealousy, but from an especial hatred against the Jewish religion (comp. also Psalms 83:7). They are the frequent subject of prophetic denunciation (Isaiah 11:14; Jeremiah 49:1-6; Amos 1:13-15; Zephaniah 2:8-11).

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 25:2 Son of man, set thy face against the Ammonites, and prophesy against them;

Ver. 2. Set thy face against the Ammonites.] Look upon them firmo, torvo, et minaci vultu, as if thou wouldst look through them; and having so lightened, thunder accordingly.

Against the Ammonites.] Who have had their part already of threatenings, [Ezekiel 21:28] but not their full due.

POOLE, " Set thy face against: the phrase you have Ezekiel 20:46. It includeth

21

anger, menaces, and intention of mind.

The Ammonites; the posterity of Lot by the younger daughter, near neighbours, but bitter enemies to the Jews. Prophesy against them; leave recorded what heavy things shall befall them in after-days.

WHEDON, " 2. Prophesy against them — Or, upon, that is, concerning them. The same Hebrew particle is used when no threat is being pronounced.

The Ammonites — These were the hereditary enemies of Israel, and very cruel in war. (See Ezekiel 21:28-32; 1 Samuel 11; 2 Samuel 10:1; 2 Samuel 10:11; 2 Samuel 10:14; 2 Kings 24:2; Psalms 83:7; Jeremiah 27:3; Jeremiah 40:14; Jeremiah 49:1; Lamentations 2:15-16; Zephaniah 2:5; Zephaniah 2:11; Nehemiah 4:13.) These Beni Ammon, “sons of Ammon” (Ezekiel 25:5), were quite probably the descendants of the Katabani of South Arabia, who call themselves in a very ancient inscription walad Amm, “children of Amm.” They are closely connected with the Moabites, not only in many biblical passages, but in a very old Minaean text (South Arabia) in which the female slaves of a temple are said to have been brought from Egypt, Moab, Ammon, etc. (Glaser). In biblical times they seem to have possessed a settled residence east of the Jordan, from which they declared the Israelites had driven them (Judges 11:13); but their ancestors were doubtless of a wandering disposition, probably being included with the Edomites and Moabites in the general term Menti, or “shepherds,” who appear on the Egyptian monuments as inhabitants of the Sinaitic peninsula fifteen hundred years or more before Abraham’s time. “They are strange looking men, with hooked noses, rounded at the point, wide nostrils, and full lips. The beard is long and the whiskers cover all the lower part of the cheek. The type is Jewish rather than Bedouin, and recalls the profiles of the tribute bearers of Jehu on the Assyrian black obelisk.” — Sayce, Races of the Old Testament.

3 Say to them, ‘Hear the word of the Sovereign 22

Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because you said “Aha!” over my sanctuary when it was desecrated and over the land of Israel when it was laid waste and over the people of Judah when they went into exile,

GILL, "And say unto the Ammonites,.... Either to their ambassadors at Babylon, or merchants there; or by letters to them, the prophet being in Chaldea, at a distance from them: hear the word of the Lord God; not Chemosh their idol, nor their lying oracles, but the word of the true and living God; which is always accomplished, and is never frustrated: thus saith the Lord God, because thou saidst, aha, against my sanctuary, when it was profaned; that is, expressed joy, as the Targum paraphrases it, at the destruction of the temple, when it was burnt by Nebuchadnezzar; it was foreknown by the Lord that they would do so, and are here threatened before hand; for as yet the temple was not destroyed; a proof this of God's prescience of future contingencies: and against the land of when it was desolate; the country of the ten tribes, which had been desolate from the sixth year of Hezekiah, when the people of it were carried captive by Shalmaneser king of Assyria; this also was matter of joy to the Ammonites: and against the house of Judah, when they went into captivity; the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, who were carried captive by Nebuchadnezzar; part of which had already been carried captive under Jeconiah, and the rest would be, and were, under Zedekiah; which completed the destruction of Israel and Judah, and gave the utmost pleasure to their enemies the Ammonites; who were so impious as to rejoice at the destruction of their temple, the place of their religious worship, which they abhorred; and so inhuman as to express the delight and satisfaction they had in the ruin of their fellow creatures and neighbours, and who were originally related to them; this brutish and barbarous behaviour of theirs is resented by the Lord.

JAMISON, "(Jer_49:1).when ... profaned; ... when ... desolate; ... when ... captivity — rather, “for ... for ... for”: the cause of the insolent exultation of Ammon over Jerusalem. They

23

triumphed especially over the fall of the “sanctuary,” as the triumph of heathenism over the rival claims of Jehovah. In Jehoshaphat’s time, when the eighty-third Psalm was written (Psa_83:4, Psa_83:7, Psa_83:8, Psa_83:12, “Ammon ... holpen the children of Lot,” who were, therefore, the leaders of the unholy conspiracy, “Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession”), we see the same profane spirit. Now at last their wicked wish seems accomplished in the fall of Jerusalem. Ammon, descended from Lot, held the region east of Jordan, separated from the Amorites on the north by the river Jabbok, and from Moab on the south by the Arnon. They were auxiliaries to Babylon in the destruction of Jerusalem (2Ki_24:2).

COKE, "Verse 3

Ezekiel 25:3. Because, &c.— See ch. Ezekiel 21:28. The Ammonites, Moabites and Edomites, though nearly related to the Jews, bore them a constant hatred, and took all opportunities to shew it when they were under any distress; particularly, at the time of the general captivity, and the destruction of their city and temple. We have no distinct account of the accomplishment of these prophesies: the sacred writers content themselves with predicting, without declaring the event. But we learn from profane history, that Nebuchadrezzar subjected to his empire all Syria, Phoenicia, Arabia, and Egypt, and, consequently, the people spoken of in this chapter. See Calmet.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 25:3 And say unto the Ammonites, Hear the word of the Lord GOD Thus saith the Lord GOD Because thou saidst, Aha, against my sanctuary, when it was profaned; and against the land of Israel, when it was desolate; and against the house of Judah, when they went into captivity;

Ver. 3. Because thou saidst, Aha.] Insolently insulting over mine Israel when under hatches; as when a tree is down, every man will be pulling at the branches, and Leoni mortuo vd mus insultat. But it is ill meddling against God’s Church, be it but by a frown or a trump, as here. An aha or an euge shall not escape unpunished. [Psalms 35:21]

POOLE, " Say unto the Ammonites; either tell Ammonite merchants or travellers, of which some might likely be in Babylon for trade or to see its state; or else, send by

24

letter to them of their nation who may serve in Nebuchadnezzar’s camp, which was in that time a school of arms, that they may tell others; or else, so plainly declare it that in time they may know this.

Hear the word of the Lord God; it is not the ambiguous or delusive oracle of your idols, but the plain, and true, and unfailing word of the only true God, the God of Israel, as Zephaniah 2:9. Because thou saidst, Aha; when thou shouldst have pitied, and been sorry, thou didst rejoice, and proudly didst insult, magnified thyself, and reproachedst my people, wert glad that so great calamities were come upon them.

Against my sanctuary; both the temple and the worship of God: it is like, in their pride, they boasted their idols’ power to preserve their. temples, and blasphemed God as unable to preserve his sacred rites and worship.

When it was profaned; when the heathen entered into, and when they burnt it.

Against the land of Israel; they insulted on the ten tribes, the kingdom of Israel, when afflicted. When it was desolate; wasted by Pul and Tiglath-pileser, and captivated by Shalmaneser.

Against the land of Judah; the two tribes, the kingdom of Judah.

When it went into captivity; first with Jehoiakim, then with Jeconiah, and, which was worse than both these, when it was captivated with Zedekiah, and the city burnt; a most mournful sight, and at which none but inhuman, barbarous men could do less than weep, but these rejoice, and cry, Aha.

25

4 therefore I am going to give you to the people of the East as a possession. They will set up their camps and pitch their tents among you; they will eat your fruit and drink your milk.

BARNES, "Eze_25:4Men of the east - The wild wandering Arabs who should come in afterward upon the ruined land. The name was a common term for the nomadic tribes of the desert. Compare Isa_13:20.Palaces - encampments. The tents and folds of nomadic tribes. After subjugation by Nebuchadnezzar Eze_21:28, the land was subjected to various masters. The Graeco-Egyptian kings founded a city on the site of Rabbah Eze_25:5, called Philadelphia, from Ptolemy Philadelphus. In later times, Arabs from the east have completed the doom pronounced against Rabbah.

CLARKE, "Will deliver thee to the men of the east - Probably the Scenite Arabs, Ishmaelites, and people of Kedar, who seized upon the provinces of the vanquished Ammonites, etc. The following description suits this people only, living on fruits, the milk of their flocks, using camels, etc. Some think the people of the east mean the Chaldeans.

GILL, "Behold, therefore, I will deliver thee to the men of the east for a possession,.... The Chaldeans and Syrians, which were on the east side, as Jarchi; or the Medes and Persians, as Kimchi, which lay more eastward; or it may be the Arabians, who are commonly called the men of the east; who were a part of Nebuchadnezzar's army, and whom he might reward with this country, when taken by him; for this prophecy, according to Josephus (q), was fulfilled five years after the destruction of Jerusalem: and they shall set their palaces in thee, and make their dwellings in thee; or, "their camps and their tents" (r); and so the Syriac version renders it, their armies and their tents; who should subdue them, and take possession of their cities and fields, and enjoy what they found there: they shall eat thy fruit, and drink thy milk; the fruit of their land, their vineyards

26

and fields, and the milk of their flocks and herds, which was commonly drank in those countries; these are put for the whole of their substance. So the Targum, "they shall eat the good of thy land, and spoil thy substance.''

JAMISON, "men of ... east — literally, “children of the East,” the nomad tribes of Arabia-Deserta, east of the Jordan and the Dead Sea.

palaces — their nomadic encampments or folds, surrounded with mud walls, are so called in irony. Where thy “palaces” once stood, there shall their very different “palaces” stand. Fulfilled after the ravaging of their region by Nebuchadnezzar, shortly after the destruction of Jerusalem (compare Eze_21:22; Jer_49:1-28).

COKE, "Verse 4Ezekiel 25:4. I will deliver thee to the men of the east— That is, "To the Chaldeans, whose country lay east of the Ammonites." See the preceding note. Some suppose that the Arabians are meant. See Nehemiah 4:7-8 and the Observations, p. 51.

ELLICOTT, "Verse 4(4) To the men of the east.—Literally, sons of the east, i.e., the various nomadic tribes inhabiting the Eastern deserts, who occupy the country to this day. They are described as its possessors, not its conquerors; the conquest was effected by Nebuchadnezzar. In Ezekiel 21:20-23 he was represented as hesitating whether to attack first Judah or Ammon, and determined to the former by the Divine direction; in this attack some of the Ammonites joined his army, but he nevertheless afterwards carried out his purpose and desolated their country. (See Ezekiel 21:28.)

Palaces.—The word properly means an enclosure for folding cattle. The same word is used in connection with tribes of the desert in Genesis 25:16; Numbers 31:10, and in both is translated castles, a singularly inappropriate sense. It afterwards came to mean a dwelling-place of any kind. The Ammonites and Moabites appear to have practically constituted one nation, the latter being, for the most part, the settled, and the former the nomadic portion. After the conquest of Nebuchadnezzar the Ammonites gradually dwindled away, until lost from history. The Ptolemies founded the city Philadelphia on the site of Rabbah, and there are still extensive ruins there belonging to the period of the Roman occupation; but the Ammonites had no part in either of these successive cities. The place is now utterly without

27

inhabitants, and the most recent traveller says, “Lonely desolation in a rich country was the striking characteristic.”

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 25:4 Behold, therefore I will deliver thee to the men of the east for a possession, and they shall set their palaces in thee, and make their dwellings in thee: they shall eat thy fruit, and they shall drink thy milk.

Ver. 4. I will deliver thee to the men of the east.] To the Arabians, Keturah’s posterity, who were shepherds and camel masters.

They shall eat thy fruit and drink thy milk.] Sept., πιοτητα, Thy fatness. Est enim adeps lac coagulatum. The Ammonites, as now the Flemmings, were γαλακτοφαγοι, butter boxes, as we say, and lived much upon dairy products; so do we. Let us use our plenty to God’s glory, lest we lose all.

POOLE, " I, the God whom thou hast despised, whose people thou hast reproached, whose worship thou hast vilified, I will avenge myself, and deliver time up.

To the men of the East; the Medes and Persians, say some; the Babylonians, say others, but this suits not well with geography; Arabians, say others, associates of Nehuchadnezzar, who, it is likely, recompensed their labour and service with giving them this country when it was conquered, as it was five years after the desolation of Jerusalem.

For a possession; they shall settle on it, as a very convenient country for their sheep and camels, and possess it, as their inheritance.

Set their palaces in thee: the word palaces seems little to agree with Arabians, who dwelt in tents, but this manner of dwelling many of them would be ready to change, where they might to so great advantage, as in that country, which was fruitful, as this was; besides, the word signifieth, what is fenced, as Isaiah 2:15, and is

28

paraphrased by camp, and Arabians had their munitions and fortified camps, and these they shall set here while they stay. And I add this also, that the next words explain these.

Make their dwellings in thee; they shall set up their tents, as the word properly; their tents and habitations they would fortify in some manner or other, that in their camp they might be safe, if they did not build cities in the country.

Eat thy fruit; the fruit of that land was once thine, of the trees thou plantedst.

Drink thy milk; which in so fruitful land and rich pastures they had in abundance from the multitude of their kine, and it was a drink that well suited with those hot regions.

WHEDON, " 4. Men of the east — Hebrews, children of the east. The wandering tribes which were always near neighbors of Ammon and Israel (Judges 6:3; Judges 6:33; Judges 7:12; Judges 8:11; Job 1:3).

Palaces — R.V., “encampments.”

PETT, "Verse 4-5“Therefore, behold, I will deliver you to the children of the east for a possession, and they will set their encampments in you, and make their dwellings in you. They will eat your fruit and they will drink your milk. And I will make Rabbah a pasturage for camels, and the children of Ammon a fold for flocks, and you will know that I am Yahweh.”

Their punishment was to be that their country would be taken over by the very people whom they probably despised the most, the desert nomads, the ‘children of the east’, who would simply use their capital city and their land as a pasturage and

29

sheepfold. Civilisation would cease. Ammon would be no more (Ezekiel 21:32). It would be total humiliation.

Ammon itself was a wilder country than the more civilised and sophisticated Moabites, but none feel their status more than those who feel the superiority of having risen above their even wilder desert neighbours. The thought that their country, and their proud cities, which had been theirs for centuries, and which distinguished them from their desert neighbours, would become mere pasturage and sheepfolds for such desert-dwellers would have appalled them.

PULPIT, "Ezekiel 25:4, Ezekiel 25:5

The men of the east; Hebrew, children of the east. The name is applied in Genesis 29:1; 1 Kings 4:30; Job 1:3; 6:3, 6:33; 7:12; 8:10, to the nomadic tribes, Midianites and others, which roamed to and fro in the wilderness east of Ammon and Moab, after the manner of the modem Bedouins, with their sheep and camels, and were looked upon as descendants of Ishmael. Palaces; better, with the Revised Version, encampments, or tent-villages. The word is found, in this sense, in Genesis 25:16; Psalms 69:25; Numbers 31:10. This was, probably, the immediate result of Nebuchadnezzar's march. Rabbah was left undefended, and became a stable for the camels of the Midianites and other tribes ( 6:5). The prediction has been slowly fulfilled. Under the Greece-Egyptian rule the city revived, was named after Ptolemy Philadel-phus, and was flourishing under the Roman Empire. Remains of temples, theatres, houses, are still found on its site, but its present desolate condition agrees with the picture drawn here by Ezekiel and in Jeremiah 49:2. The language of Jeremiah 49:6 implies captivity and a partial return from it.

5 I will turn Rabbah into a pasture for camels and Ammon into a resting place for sheep. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

30

GILL, "And I will make Rabbath a stable for camels,.... Creatures much used by the eastern nations, especially the Arabians; who pitching their tents about Rabbath, the royal city, the metropolis of the children of Ammon, would convert the houses, and even palaces in it, into stables for their camels. This city, in Jerom's time, as he says, was called Philadelphia, from Ptolemy Philadelphus, who rebuilt it. And the Ammonites a couching place for flocks; that is, the land of the Ammonites should be made a place for flocks of sheep to lie down in, which the Arabians would bring and feed upon it: and ye shall know that I am the Lord; omniscient, and sees and observes all your insults upon the children of Israel and Judah; and omnipotent, able to perform all that is threatened; and immutable, bringing about all that is here prophesied of.

JAMISON, "Rabbah — meaning “the Great,” Ammon’s metropolis. Under the Ptolemies it was rebuilt under the name Philadelphia; the ruins are called Amman now, but there is no dwelling inhabited.

Ammonites — that is, the Ammonite region is to be a “couching place for flocks,” namely of the Arabs. The “camels,” being the chief beast of burden of the Chaldeans, are put first, as their invasion was to prepare the Ammonite land for the Arab “flocks.” Instead of busy men, there shall be “still and couching flocks.”

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 25:5 And I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the Ammonites a couchingplace for flocks: and ye shall know that I [am] the LORD.

Ver. 5. And I will make Rabbah.] The metropolis of the Ammonites. It signifieth that great city; and was afterwards rebuilt by Ptolemy Philadelph, and called Philadelphia.

“ Valet ima summis

Mutare, et insignem attenuat Deus

31

Obseura premens, ”& c.

- Hor., lib. i. Od. 34.

POOLE, " Rabbah; the royal city, and seat of the kings of Ammon, called since Philadelphia, from Ptolemaeus Philadelphus, king of Egypt, who built it.

A stable; turn it from a royal palace to be a receptacle of camels, and their drivers.

Camels; wherewith not the Chaldeans and Bactrians, but the Arabians also, were well stored; all the men of the East, as appears in Job, using them for conveying merchandise, and for travels.

The Ammonites; the people, for the land they dwelt in.

Ye shall know; then shall you know I was as able to have defended my own people, house, and worship, as I was able to destroy your gods, your cities, and your people.

WHEDON, "5. Rabbah a stable for camels — Rabbah “the great.” “Stable” may be rendered “habitation” or “pasture land.” This doubtless occurred during Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion, and although afterward rebuilt, it never reached its former glory. Remains of houses and temples still mark the site of this once populous city, but not an inhabitant remains. The ruins are now used as a pasture for sheep and camels. Lord Lindsay writes, “The valley stinks with dead camels, one of which was rolling in the stream; and although we saw none among the ruins they were absolutely covered in every direction with their dung.” (For this and many other testimonials see Pulpit Commentary.)

32

6 For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because you have clapped your hands and stamped your feet, rejoicing with all the malice of your heart against the land of Israel,

GILL, "For thus saith the Lord God,.... Their sin and punishment are further enlarged upon: because thou hast clapped thine hands, and stamped with thy feet: gestures expressive of joy and gladness, Isa_55:12, the Ammonites clapped their hands together, and leaped and skipped for joy, when they heard of the calamities of the Jews; who yet had more reason to be sorrowful, since they might expect their turn would be next; for the king of Babylon had a design against them, at the same time he came against Jerusalem, and was in doubt for a while which he should attack first; see Eze_21:20, and rejoiced in heart with all thy despite against the land of Israel; they had a secret joy in their heart, which they expressed by gestures, in the most spiteful and scornful manner they were capable of; which showed the wretched malignity of their dispositions against the children of Israel; they hated them with a perfect hatred.

JAMISON 6-7, "“Because thou hast clapped thine hands,” exulting over the downfall of Jerusalem, “I also will stretch out Mine hand upon thee” (to which Eze_21:17 also may refer, “I will smite Mine hands together”).

hands ... feet ... heart — with the whole inward feeling, and with every outward indication. Stamping with the foot means dancing for joy.TRAPP, "Verse 6Ezekiel 25:6 For thus saith the Lord GOD Because thou hast clapped [thine] hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced in heart with all thy despite against the land of Israel;

33

Ver. 6. Because thou hast clapped thine hands.] Manibus plaudis, pedibus complodis, &c. God is very sensible of the least indignity and injury, affront or offence, done to his poor people, by words, looks, gestures, &c. Cavete. Beware.

POOLE, " Clapped thine hands; expressed thy joy in that insolent manner.

And stamped with the feet; and added this sign of more than ordinary joy at this.

Rejoiced in heart; it was that which affected thy heart with gladness, thy soul and mind were in this thy rejoicing.

Despite; hatred and contempt; thou wast heartily glad such vile people, as thou countedst them, were made, what thou thoughtest they best deserved, slaves. beggars, and captives.

The land, for the people. Israel; either the ten tribes, or rather the two tribes, with the small remnant of the others that kept to the house of David.

PETT, "Verse 6-7

‘For thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Because you have clapped your hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced with all the malice of your heart against the land of Israel, therefore behold I have stretched out my hand on you, and will deliver you for a spoil to the nations, and I will cut you off from the peoples, and I will cause you to perish from among the countries. I will destroy you, and you will know that I am Yahweh.” ’

The charge is extended to the fact that they had not only said the knowing ‘Aha’ but had actually shown great glee and delight in Jerusalem’s misery. Indeed their malice

34

is stressed. And this was against the people of Yahweh, and therefore a slight on Yahweh Himself. Thus Yahweh, Who deals righteously with all nations, would stretch out His hand and hand them over as spoil to the nations, and would have them removed for ever from the list of nations. As this occurred to them they would then know that He is Yahweh, and that they were wrong to say ‘Aha’ at what they thought was His defeat. It would now be His turn to say ‘Aha’.

According to Josephus it was an historical fact that Ammon no longer existed as a nation after Nebuchadnezzar had first destroyed it, and then the Bedouins from the east had plundered it and taken it over. The ‘bringing again’ of the captivity of the children of Ammon (Jeremiah 49:6) may refer to the Persian period (Nehemiah 2:10; Nehemiah 2:19; Nehemiah 4:7), but more probably it is God’s way of saying that finally none of these nations go beyond His purview even in their extremity. When God reaches out to the new Israel, the ‘Israel of God’ (Galatians 6:16), with the Gospel (Isaiah 61:1-2), it will include many from all these countries.

7 therefore I will stretch out my hand against you and give you as plunder to the nations. I will wipe you out from among the nations and exterminate you from the countries. I will destroy you, and you will know that I am the Lord.’”

CLARKE, "I will cause thee to perish - Except in history, the name of the Ammonites does not now exist.

GILL, "Behold, therefore, I will stretch out mine hand upon thee,.... In just 35

retaliation for clapping their hands against his people; and which hand of the Lord they would find to be a heavy one, and which they would not be able either to resist or bear. The Targum is, "I will lift up the stroke of my power upon thee:'' and will deliver thee for a spoil to the Heathen; to the Chaldeans first, and then to the Arabians, to be spoiled and plundered by them of their wealth and substance: some render it, "for meat" (s) unto them; to be devoured and consumed by them: and I will cut thee off from the people, and I will cause thee to perish out of the countries; so as to be no more a people and a country; or be reckoned among the people and countries; or have any alliance with them, or help from them: I will destroy thee, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord; who has said and done all this; See Gill on Eze_25:5.

JAMISON, "a spoil — so the Hebrew Margin, or Keri, for the text or Chetib, “meat” (so Eze_26:5; Eze_34:28). Their goods were to be a “spoil to the foe”; their state was to be “cut off,” so as to be no more a “people”; and they were as individuals, for the most part, to be “destroyed.”

ELLICOTT, " (7) For a spoil.—This is the sense of the margin of the Hebrew; its text is represented by our margin, meat or food. The word in the text occurs only here, but a compound of it is found in Daniel 1:5; Dan_11:26. The figure seems to be the same as that which speaks of devouring the people.

Shalt know that I am the Lord.—This frequent close of the denunciatory prophecies against Israel in the former chapters is here also used at the close of each message in this chapter, and of many of the other prophecies against foreign nations. It refers not to a penitent recognition of the Lord, but to an experience of His wrath so plain that they can no longer refuse to acknowledge His power (see Ezekiel 25:14).

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 25:7 Behold, therefore I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and will deliver thee for a spoil to the heathen; and I will cut thee off from the people, and I will cause thee to perish out of the countries: I will destroy thee; and thou shalt know that I [am] the LORD.

36

Ver. 7. Behold, therefore I will stretch out my hand upon thee.] God loveth to retaliate.

I will cause thee to perish out of the country.] So little a distance is there again, saith Seneca, between a great city and no city.

“ Ludit in humanis divina potentia rebus:

Et certam praesens vix habet hora fidem. ”

POOLE, " Thou stretchedst out thy hand in joy,

I will stretch out mine in wrath; thou, against my people, I, against thee.

For a spoil; for a prey, or for meat, so the word will bear. The greedy, covetous soldier shall make thy wealth his prey; the hungry enemy shall eat thee up.

The heathen; Babylonians, and their confederates.

I will cut thee off; explained by that follows; Ammon, thou shalt no more be accounted among the nations, but cease from being a people. I will destroy thee; so shalt thou be destroyed.

Thou shalt know: see Ezekiel 25:5.

WHEDON, " 7. Heathen — R.V., “nations.”

37

People — R.V., “peoples.”

Thou shalt know — The aim of Jehovah in the destruction of the capital of Ammon was the same as in the destruction of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 22:22; Ezekiel 24:13).

PULPIT, "Ezekiel 25:7

A spoil to the heathen. The noun for "spoil" is not found elsewhere, but probably means "food." The Hebrew Keri, i.e. its marginal reading, gives the same word as that rendered "spoil" in Ezekiel 27:5. The meaning is substantially the same whichever word we choose. Ezekiel, it will be noticed, says nothing about the return of the Ammonites, but contemplates, as in Ezekiel 21:32, entire destruction. The moaning of Rabbah ("great" or "populous"), the mother-city of Ammon, gives greater force to the prophecy of desolation.

A Prophecy Against Moab

8 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Because Moab and Seir said, “Look, Judah has become like all the other nations,”

38

BARNES, "Prophecies against Moab which lay south of Ammon, and shared Ammon’s implacable hostility to the children of Israel.

Seir was close to Moab. Edom is identified with Mount “Seir” in Eze_35:1-15; and “Seir” is therefore probably coupled with “Moab” here because, being near neighbors closely leagued together, they expressed a common exultation at Jerusalem’s fall.

CLARKE, "Moab and Seir do say - Seir means the Idumeans. It appears that both these, with the Ammonites, had made a league with Zedekiah, Jer_27:3, which they did not keep; and it is supposed that they even joined with the Chaldeans.

GILL, "Thus saith the Lord God,.... By his servant the prophet, to whom the word of the Lord came; as concerning the Ammonites, so likewise concerning the Moabites, as follows: because that Moab and Seir do say; that is, the Moabites, and the Edomites, which latter are meant by Seir, that being the seat of them; these lived near one another, and bore a like enmity to the Israelites and Jews, and had the same sentiments concerning them, and said the same things of them: only Moab is mentioned in the Septuagint and Arabic versions: the Moabites are first prophesied of, and then the Edomites, who both joined in saying, behold, the house of Judah is like unto all the Heathen; it fares no better with them than with the rest of the nations, who do not profess and serve the same God they do; they are fallen into the hands of the king of Babylon, as well as others; and have no more security against him, nor protection from him, than other people; they pretend to serve and worship the one only living and true God, and to be his covenant people, and to be favoured with privileges above all other nations; and yet are brought into the same miserable circumstances, and left in them, as others are; where is the God they boast of, and their superior excellence to the rest of the world? thus blasphemously, as well as wickedly, did they insult them, which was provoking to the Lord. The Targum renders it interrogatively, in what do the house of Judah differ from all people?'' and so the Septuagint, "behold, are not the house of Israel and Judah in like manner as all nations?'' Jerom, on the place, relates a fable of the Jews, that when the city and temple were opened, the Ammonites, Moobites, and Edomites, went into the temple, and saw the cherubim over the mercy seat, and said, as all nations worship images, so Judah hath the idols of their religion. Jarchi makes mention of such a Midrash, but with some difference.

HENRY, "Three more of Israel's ill-natured neighbours are here arraigned, 39

convicted, and condemned to destruction, for contributing to and triumphing in Jerusalem's fall.I. The Moabites. Seir, which was the seat of the Edomites, is joined with them (Eze_25:8), because they said the same as the Moabites; but they were afterwards reckoned with by themselves, Eze_25:12. Now observe,1. What was the sin of the Moabites; they said, Behold, the house of Judah is like unto all the heathen. They triumphed, (1.) In the apostasies of Israel, were please to see them forsake their God and worship idols, and hoped that in a while their religion would be quite lost and forgotten and the house of Judah would be like all the heathen, perfect idolaters. When those that profess religion walk unworthy of their profession they encourage the enemies of religion to hope that it will in time sink, and be run down, and quite abandoned; but let the Moabites know that, though there are those of the house of Judah who have made themselves like the heathen, yet there is a remnant that retain their integrity, the religion of the house of Judah shall recover itself, its peculiarities shall be preserved, it shall not lose itself among the heathen, but distinguish itself from them, till it deliver itself honourably into a better institution. (2.) In the calamities of Israel. They said, “The house of Judah is like all the heathen, in as bad a state as they; their God is no more able to deliver them from this overflowing scourge of these parts of the world than the gods of the heathen are to deliver them. Where are the promises they gloried in and all the wonders which they and their fathers told us of? What the better are they for the covenant of peculiarity, upon which they so much valued themselves? Those that looked with so much scorn upon all the heathen are now set upon a level with them, or rather sunk below them.” Note, Those who judge only by outward appearance are ready to conclude that the people of God have lost all their privileges when they have lost their worldly prosperity, which does not follow, for good men, even in affliction, in captivity among the heathen, have graces and comforts within sufficient to distinguish them from all the heathen. Though the event seem one to the righteous and wicked, yet indeed it is vastly different.

JAMISON, "Moab, Seir, and Ammon were contiguous countries, stretching in one line from Gilead on the north to the Red Sea. They therefore naturally acted in concert, and in joint hostility to Judea.

Judah is like ... all ... heathen — The Jews fare no better than others: it is of no use to them to serve Jehovah, who, they say, is the only true God.

K&D 8-11, "Against the MoabitesEze_25:8. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because Moab, like Seir, saith, Behold, like all other nations is the house of Judah: Eze_25:9. Therefore, behold, I will open the shoulder of Moab from the cities, from its cities even to the last, the ornament of the land, Beth-hayeshimoth, Baal-meon, and as far as Kiryathaim, Eze_25:10. To the sons of the east, together with the sons of Ammon, and will give it for a possession, that the sons of Ammon may no more be remembered among the nations. Eze_25:11. Upon Moab will I execute judgments; and they shall learn that I am Jehovah. - Moab has become guilty of the same sin against Judah, the people of God, as Ammon, namely, of misunderstanding and despising the divine election of Israel. Ammon gave expression to

40

this, when Judah was overthrown, in the malicious assertion that the house of Judah was like all the heathen nations, - that is to say, had no pre-eminence over them, and shared the same fate as they. There is something remarkable in the allusion to Seir, i.e., Edom, in connection with Moab, inasmuch as no reference is made to it in the threat contained in Eze_25:9-11; and in Eze_25:12-13, there follows a separate prediction concerning Edom. Hitzig therefore proposes to follow the example of the lxx, and erase it from the text as a gloss, but without being able in the smallest degree to show in what way it is probable that such a gloss could have found admission into an obviously unsuitable place. Seir is mentioned along with Moab to mark the feeling expressed in the words of Moab as springing, like the enmity of Edom towards Israel, from hatred and envy of the spiritual birthright of Israel, i.e., of its peculiar prerogatives in sacred history. As a punishment for this, Moab was to be given up, like Ammon, to the Bedouins for their possession, and the people of the Moabites were to disappear from the number of the nations. Eze_25:9 and Eze_25:10 form one period, לבני קדם in Eze_25:10 being governed by פתח in Eze_25:9. The shoulder of Moab is the side of the Moabitish land. In the application of the word כתף to lands or provinces, regard is had to the position of the shoulder in relation to the whole body, but without reference to the elevation of the district. We find an analogy to this in the use of כתף in connection with the sides of a building. In ' 'מהערים וגו , the מן cannot be taken, in a privative sense, for ת for ;מהיneither the article הערים, nor the more emphatic מעריו מן allows this; but ,מקצהוindicates the direction, “from the cities onwards,” “from its cities onwards, reckoning to the very last,” - that is to say, in its whole extent. מקצהו, as in Isa_56:11; Gen_19:4, etc. This tract of land is first of all designated as a glorious land, with reference to its worth as a possession on account of the excellence of its soil for the rearing of cattle (see the comm. on Num_32:4), and then defined with geographical minuteness by the introduction of the names of some of its cities. Beth-Hayeshimoth, i.e., house of wastes (see the comm. on Num_22:1), has probably been preserved in the ruins of Suaime, which F. de Saulcy discovered on the north-eastern border of the Dead Sea, a little farther inland (vid., Voyage en terre sainte, Paris 1865, t. i. p. 315). Baal-meon, - when written fully, Beth-Baal-Meon (Jos_13:17) - contracted into Beth-Meon in Jer_48:23, is to be sought for to the south-east of this, in the ruins of Myun, three-quarters of an hour's journey to the south of Heshbon (see the comm. on Num_32:38). Kiryathaimwas still farther south, probably on the site of the ruins of El Teym (see the comm. on Gen_14:5 and Num_32:37). The Chetib קריתמה is based upon the form קריתם, a secondary form of קריתים , like דתן, a secondary form of דתין, in 2Ki_6:13. The cities named were situated to the north of the Arnon, in that portion of the Moabitish land which had been taken from the Moabites by the Amorites before the entrance of the Israelites into Canaan (Num_21:13, Num_21:26), and was given to the tribe of Reuben for its inheritance after the defeat of the Amoritish kings by the Israelites; and then, still later, when the tribes beyond the Jordan were carried into captivity by the Assyrians, came into the possession of the Moabites again, as is evident from Isa_15:1-9 and Isa_16:1-14, and Jer_48:1, Jer_48:23, where these cities are mentioned once more among the cities of the Moabites. This will explain not only the naming of this particular district of the Moabitish country, but the definition, “from its cities.” For the fact upon which the stress is laid in the passage before us is, that the land in question rightfully belonged to the Israelites, according to Num_32:37-38; Num_33:49; Jos_12:2-3; Jos_13:20-21, and that it was therefore unlawfully usurped by the Moabites after the deportation of the

41

trans-Jordanic tribes; and the thought is this, that the judgment would burst upon Moab from this land and these cities, and they would thereby be destroyed (Hävernick and Kliefoth). על, not “over the sons of Ammon,” but “in addition to the sons of Ammon.” They, that is to say, their land, had already been promised to the sons of the east (Eze_25:4). In addition to this, they are now to receive Moab for their possession (Hitzig and Kliefoth). Thus will the Lord execute judgments upon Moab. Eze_25:11 sums up what is affirmed concerning Moab in Eze_25:9 and Eze_25:10, in the one idea of the judgments of God upon this people.

The execution of these judgments commenced with the subjugation of the Ammonites and Moabites by Nebuchadnezzar, five years after the destruction of Jerusalem (vid., Josephus, Antt. x. 9. 7, and M. von Niebuhr, Gesch. Assurs, etc., p. 215). Nevertheless the Ammonites continued to exist as a nation for a long time after the captivity, so that Judas the Maccabaean waged war against them (1 Macc. 5:6, 30-43); and even Justin Martyr speaks of Αμμανιτῶν νῦν πολὺ πληθος (Dial. Tryph. p. 272). - But Origen includes their land in the general name of Arabia (lib. i. in Job). The name of the Moabites appears to have become extinct at a much earlier period. After the captivity, it is only in Ezr_9:1; Neh_13:1, and Dan_11:41, that we find any notice of them as a people. Their land is mentioned by Josephus in the Antiq. xiii. 14. 2, and xv. 4, and in the Bell. Jud. iii. 3. 3. - A further fulfilment by the Messianic judgment, which is referred to in Zep_2:10, is not indicated in these words of Ezekiel; but judging from the prophecy concerning the Edomites (see the comm. on Eze_25:14), it is not to be excluded.

COFFMAN, "Verse 8

"Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because that Moab and Seir do say, Behold, the house of Judah is like unto all the nations; therefore, behold, I will open the side of Moab from the cities, from his cities which are on his frontiers, the glory of the country, Bethjeshimoth, Baalmeon, and Kiriathaim, unto the children of the east, to go against the children of Ammon; and I will give them for a possession, that the children of Ammon may not be remembered among the nations: and I will execute judgments upon Moab; and they shall know that I am Jehovah."

PROPHECY AGAINST MOAB

Some seem surprised that the prophecy against Ammon spills over into these words regarding Moab; but, in view of the long association of the two wicked peoples, and their common enmity against God and the children of Israel, it is not at all inappropriate that their judgments should have occurred simultaneously. The long

42

hatred on the part of Moab came to a crisis in the later chapters of Numbers, where the evil prophet Balaam cooperated with Balak, king of Moab, in their devices against Israel. It was finally the "daughters of Moab" who seduced practically the whole nation of Israel, including a thousand of its leaders in the shameful orgy of Numbers 25 at Baal-Peor.

"Not long after Ezekiel wrote this, both Ammon and Moab were overran by Nabatean tribesmen and ceased to have any independent existence as nations."[5]

Bruce, on the testimony of Josephus, fixed the date of Nebuchadnezzar's conquest of Moab and Ammon in 583 B.C.[6]

As a further corroboration of the view expressed above that the heathen nations all thought that the ruin of Israel was the end of Jehovah's power, we cite the inscription on the Moabite Stone, "Which quotes the boast of the king of Moab that his god Chemosh had vanquished Israel."[7] This was precisely the development that called forth these prophecies from Jehovah and resulted in the execution of God's wrath upon all the pagan nations of antiquity. Such actions alone could have preserved and perpetuated the knowledge of God's integrity.

ELLICOTT, "(8) Moab and Seir.—The two nations, here mentioned together, are afterwards treated separately—Moab, Ezekiel 25:8-11, and Edom, Ezekiel 25:12-14. Moab, springing from the same source with Ammon, was closely associated with it in its history and fortune, and is denounced in nearly the same prophecies. It was a more settled and stronger people, and also contributed its quota to the armies of Nebuchadnezzar. Additional prophecies in regard to it may be found in Numbers 24:17 and Isaiah 15, 16, besides those immediately connected with the prophecies expressly against Ammon already cited. The Moabites, so far as they were separated from the Ammonites, lay immediately to the south of them.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 25:8 Thus saith the Lord GOD Because that Moab and Seir do say, Behold, the house of Judah [is] like unto all the heathen;

43

Ver. 8. Behold, the house of Judah is like unto all the heathen.] As ill-protected and provided for as they; as much scourged by the Babylonian. See to the contrary in Deuteronomy 33:29, "Happy art thou, O Israel; who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thine excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places!" Some read it, ‘Behold the house of Jehovah,’ and note an emphasis in that word, as savouring of contempt and blasphemy, as in 2 Kings 18:33-34.

POOLE, " Moab; the children of Lot by the elder daughter, the whole nation going under the name of the first father of them, near but evil neighbours to Israel and Judah.

Seir; the seed of Esau, who are, Edom, Idumeans, or Seir, from the mountain where they first planted themselves; near of kin in blood, but bitter enemies to the Jews: though both here joined, yet Moab is first doomed, Ezekiel 25:9-11, and Seir next, Ezekiel 25:12-14.

The house of Judah; the peculiar people of God, who had his law, temple, worship of his own appointment, among them.

Is like unto all the heathen; are no more a select people than others; their religion no better, nor their god but as the gods of their neighbours, and they no more benefited by their, worshipping of him. Thus, atheist-like, they dethrone God, and debase him to an equality with their own idols. More particularly Moab’s sin is set out, Jer 48.

WHEDON, " 8. Moab — Beyond the brief biblical references (as Genesis 19:30; 2 Kings 1:1; 2 Kings 3:4-5; 2 Kings 13:20) and the well-known Mesha inscription (ninth century B.C.) which the Moabite king set up as a monument of salvation in praise of his god Ashtor-Chemosh for his help in defeating the “son” (successor) of Omri, little is known of this great nation. Their literature and royal monuments may any day be discovered, as it was by the merest chance that the above-mentioned monument came to light. We already know that they greatly resembled the

44

Hebrews, not only in language, but in their method of literary composition and in their national and religious spirit. Some one has justly said that if the name for Jehovah were substituted for Chemosh the Mesha inscription would read like an extract from the Book of Kings. Their orthography, however, and chief deity ally them to the Minaeans (South Arabians), while they are always closely associated with the Ammonites (Ezekiel 25:2). They, too, were always bitter enemies of Israel, of haughty spirit (Isaiah 15, 16; Zephaniah 2:8-10), and very inhuman (Amos 2:1).

And Seir — Omitted by LXX. “Mount Seir” is elsewhere joined to Edom (Ezekiel 35:15). At this time it may have been connected politically with Moab, as at other times both Moab and Ammon seem to have turned against the hardy inhabitants of the hill country (2 Chronicles 20:23).

PETT, "Verses 8-11

‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Because Moab and Seir say, ‘Behold the house of Judah is like all nations’, therefore behold I will open the side of Moab from the cities, from his cities which are on his frontiers, the glory of the country, Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, and Kiriathaim, to the children of the East, along with the children of Ammon, and I will give them for a possession, that the children of Ammon may not be remembered among the nations. And I will execute judgments on Moab, and they will know that I am Yahweh.” ’

Moab is here connected with Edom (Seir) as saying that ‘the house of Judah is just like other nations’, and thus that her God is the same. Together they reject the idea that Judah are the favoured of Yahweh Who is all-powerful. They deride Judah from afar.

Thus Moab will share the fate of Ammon with whom she was in continual alliance. Her countryside will be opened up to the children of the East by the destruction of her main fortresses, that were the source of her strength. It will be opened up ‘from the cities, that is the frontier cities’. Its most glorious areas, her pride and joy, will be opened up, Beth-jeshimoth (‘house of the deserts’), a place near the north-east

45

shore of the Dead Sea in the Jordan rift valley, Baal-meon, built by the Reubenites (Numbers 32:38) and captured and held by the Moabites when they became strong, and Kiriathaim, declared by Mesha in his 9th century inscription to have been rebuilt by him when he captured it from Israel.

Note the stress again on the fact that Ammon’s days were numbered. Moab will suffer alongside her as being so closely connected with her that she can be seen as one with her, and indeed she would suffer the same fate, disappearing from history. Thus she too learned too late Who and What Yahweh was. And in her disappearance Yahweh, the everlasting One, was vindicated.

PULPIT, "Ezekiel 25:8

Moab and Seir. "Seir" stands elsewhere for Edom, but here appears as distinguished from it, the latter nation having a distinct message in Ezekiel 25:12. A possible explanation is found in 2 Chronicles 20:23, where we find Moab and Ammon joined together against the inhabitants of Mount Seir. The Moabites may have retained possession of it, and so Ezekiel may have coupled the two names together. Their sin also, like that of Ammon, is that they exulted in the fall of Jerusalem. It was come down to the level of other cities, no longer exalted above them by the blessing of Jehovah. The Moabite Stone, found in the ruins of Dibon ('Records of the Past,' 9.165), on which Mesha, King of Moab, narrates his conquests over neighboring nations, including Israel, testifies to the strength of the kingdom, and in Isaiah 15:1-9. and 16. it is represented as conspicuous for its pride. They too, like the Ammonites, served in Nebuchadnezzar's army (2 Kings 24:2).

9 therefore I will expose the flank of Moab, beginning at its frontier towns—Beth Jeshimoth, Baal Meon and Kiriathaim—the glory of that

46

land.

BARNES, "I will open the side ... - i. e., lay it open to the attack of the enemy from the cities, from his cities, from his frontier (or, in every quarter). There is an ironical stress on “his” cities, because these cities belonged not to Moab but to Israel, having been assigned to the Reubenites Num_32:38; Jos_13:20. They lay to the north of the river Arnon, which was the proper boundary of Moab Num_21:13. The Moabites had in the last days of the kingdom of Israel recovered this territory Isa_16:1-14. They still occupied this land in the time of Ezekiel (see Jer. 48).

The glory of the country - This tract, belonging to the district called by the Arabians “Al Belka,” has been at all times highly valued on account of the excellence of its pastures for cattle. The most southern of these three cities is Kiriathaim, called on the Moabitic stone Kirjath, and now Kureiyat. The dual termination of the name Kiriathaim,” is explained by the fact that Kureiyat is situated on two sister hillocks half a mile apart, both covered by the ancient city. It is situated about eight miles north of the Arnon, and seven miles east of the shore of the Dead Sea. Baal-meon is about ten miles north of Kureiyat - known at present as Main. It is probable that Kiriathaim was the “Kirjath-Huzoth” (city of streets), and Baal-meon, the “Bamoth-Baal” (high places of Baal), to which Balak took Balaam Num_22:39, Num_22:41. Baal-meon occurs on the Moabitic stone as a place which Mesa built or fortified. He probably erected a stronghold on the old locality, reviving the ancient name. Beth-jeshimoth is identified with a knoll at the northeasternmost point of the Dead Sea.

CLARKE, "I will open the side - ketheph, the shoulder, the strongest frontier קתףplace. Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, and Kiriathaim were strong frontier towns of Moab.

GILL, "Therefore, behold, I will open the side of Moab from the cities,.... Or, "the shoulder of Moab" (t); that part of their country where their greatest strength lay, So the Targum renders it, "the strength of Moab;'' where their principal cities were, their frontier towns, and fortified places, as appears by what follows: from his cities which are on his frontiers; or, "from his Ars" (u),

47

from his cities which are at his end; at the extreme part of the land, upon the borders of his countries; the two cities of Ar and Aroer, Num_21:28, the glory of the country; as the above cities were, and what follow: Bethjeshimoth; this was formerly in the tribe of Reuben, now in the possession of the Moabites, and one of their principal cities, Jos_13:20, Baalmeon; the same with Bethbaalmeon, and which was also of the tribe of Reuben, Jos_13:17, in Jerom's time it was a large village in Moab, about nine miles from Heshbon: some think by Meon is meant Menes, or Osiris the god of the Egyptians, and so this might be a temple of his; or at least he might have a temple in it, from whence it had its name: and Kirjathaim; or the double city, built also by the Reubenites, Num_32:37, now in the hands of the Moabites, ten miles from Medeba; on this side of the country of Moab, and through these cities, the Lord threatens to open a way for their enemies to enter in and destroy them, as follows:

HENRY 9-11, " What should be the punishment of Moab for this sin; because they triumphed in the overthrow of Judah, their country shall be in like manner overthrown with that of the Ammonites, who were guilty of the same sin (Eze_25:9, Eze_25:10): “I will open the side of Moab, will uncover its shoulder, will take away all its defences, that it may become an easy prey to any that will make a prey of it.” (1.) See here how it shall be exposed; the frontier-towns, that were its strength and guard, shall be demolished by the Chaldean forces, and laid open. Some of the cities are here named, which are said to be the glory of the country, which they trusted in, and boasted of as impregnable; these shall decay, be deserted, or betrayed, or fall into the enemies' hands, so that Moab shall lie exposed, and whoever will may penetrate into the heart of the country. Note, Those who glory in any other defence and protection than that of the divine power, providence, and promise, will sooner or later see cause to be ashamed of their glorying. (2.) See here to whom it shall be exposed: The men of the east, when they come to take possession of the country of the Ammonites, shall seize that of the Moabites too. God, the Lord of all lands, will give them that land; for the kingdoms of men he gives to whomsoever he will. The Arabians, who are shepherds, and live quietly, plain men dwelling in tents, shall by an overruling Providence be put in possession of the land of the Moabites, who are soldiers, men of war, and cunning hunters, that live turbulently. The Chaldeans shall get it by war, and the Arabians shall enjoy it in peace. Concerning the Ammonites it is said, They shall no more be remembered among the nations (Eze_25:10), for they had been accessory to the murder of Gedaliah, Jer_40:14. But of the Moabites it is said, I will execute judgments upon Moab; they shall feel the weight of God's displeasure, but perhaps not to that degree that the Ammonites shall; however, so far as that they shall know that I am the Lord, that the God of Israel is a God of power, and that his covenant with his people is not broken.

II. The Edomites, the posterity of Esau, between whom and Jacob there had been an old enmity. And here is,

48

JAMISON, "open ... from the cities — I will open up the side, or border of Moab(metaphor from a man whose side is open to blows), from the (direction of) the cities on his northwest border beyond the Arnon, once assigned to Reuben (Jos_13:15-21), but now in the hands of their original owners; and the “men of the east,” the wandering Bedouin hordes, shall enter through these cities into Moab and waste it. Moab accordingly was so wasted by them, that long before the time of Christ it had melted away among the hordes of the desert. For “cities,” Grotius translates the Hebrew as proper names, the Ar and Aroer, on the Arnon. Hence the Hebrew for “cities,” “Ar” is repeated twice (Num_21:28; Deu_2:36; Isa_15:1).

glory of the country — The region of Moab was richer than that of Ammon; it answers to the modern Belka, the richest district in South Syria, and the scene in consequence of many a contest among the Bedouins. Hence it is called here a “glorious land” (literally, “a glory,” or “ornament of a land”) [Fairbairn]. Rather, “the glory of the country” is in apposition with “cities” which immediately precedes, and the names of which presently follow.Beth-jeshimoth — meaning “the city of desolations”; perhaps so named from some siege it sustained; it was towards the west.Baal-meon — called also “Beth-meon” (Jer_48:23), and “Beth-baal-meon” (Jos_13:17, called so from the worship of Baal), and “Bajith,” simply (Isa_15:2).Kiriathaim — “the double city.” The strength of these cities engendered “the pride” of Moab (Isa_16:6).

ELLICOTT, " (9) Open the side of Moab—i.e., lay it open to the enemy. This is to be done “from the cities,” on which a special emphasis is placed. The cities named were all on the north of the Arnon, and before the time of Moses had been wrested from the Moabites by the Amorites, from whom in turn they were taken by the Israelites, and long formed a part of their territory. In the decay of the power of Israel they were re-conquered by Moab, and are here spoken of, perhaps in view of their being rightfully a possession of Israel, as appropriately the point from which desolation should go out over the whole of Moab.

The glory of the country.—The territory designated by the mention of these three cities is still considered by the Arabs as the best part of the land, and is called Belka. They have a proverb, “Thou canst find no land like Belka.” The sites of all the cities which are alluded to here have been probably identified by existing ruins.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 25:9 Therefore, behold, I will open the side of Moab from the cities, from his cities [which are] on his frontiers, the glory of the country, Bethjeshimoth, Baalmeon, and Kiriathaim,

49

Ver. 9. Behold, I will open the side of Moab.] Heb., The shoulder - that is, the border that is fortified - to let in the enemy; like as the side being opened, an entrance is given into the body through the ribs for the destruction thereof, because the strongest defence is taken away. (a)

POOLE, " I will open; when the Lord will open the gates of iron, and say, The gates shall not be shut, as Isaiah 45:1,2, every attempt shall be easy, and his soldiers shall break through the defences, that were vainly boasted impregnable.

The side of Moab; that part of his country, which was best fortified for the safeguard of the whole.

From the cities; from the cities of strength, called here his, because he gloried and trusted in them, such as Har and Aroer, seated on Arnon, very strong garrisons.

On his frontiers; or, from his frontiers, (for it is the same construction, Hebrew,) or from his outmost bounds, I will lay all open to the Chaldeans, they shall overrun it, as if it were an open country, as easily as if no fortresses to impede them.

The glory; so the great, strong, and beautiful, or regularly built and fortified cities are ever accounted the glory of the country, and these are reckoned beside Ar and Aroer.

Beth-jeshimoth; an ancient city, and formerly Reuben’s lot, Joshua 13:20: its name tells you it was a fortress toward the desert, which watched, lest any should, through those wastes, make an inroad on the country.

Baal-meon; called also Moon, and Baiith, and Beth-baal-meon, mansion-house of Baal, word for word; it was situate on the north coast of Moab, as the other on the

50

west.

Kiriathaim; a city, which probably consisted of two cities, or principal parts; a very strong frontier town, but not able to keep out those that God would lead in.

WHEDON, " 9. The side — Hebrews, the shoulder; that is, the frontier plateau or mesa (Hebrews, meshar), which had always been Moab’s best defense.

From the cities — Davidson reads, “at the cities;” Smend and Cornill, “that the cities be no more, even his,” etc.

Which are on his frontiers — Rather, in every quarter.

Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, and Kiriathaim — It is curious that two of these cities which were “the glory of the country” should appear in the Mesha inscription (ninth century B.C.) where the king says, “I built Baal-meon and made therein the ditches; I built Kirjathaim;” and again, “I built Beth-medeba and Beth-diblathaim and Beth-baal-meon.” (Compare Joshua 13:17; Numbers 32:37.) Beth (house), Baal (Lord), and Kir or Gir (the old homeland of the Arameans between Elam and Babylon) are constantly found in compound Moabitish names. The ruins of these three cities are on the northeast border of the Dead Sea (Numbers 32:37-38; Numbers 33:49; Joshua 12:3; Joshua 13:19-20; Jeremiah 48:22-23), in the Belka (compare Balak, Numbers xxii), a region famous in ancient and modern times as a pasture land. A Bedouin proverb says, “There is no land like the Belka.”

PULPIT, "Ezekiel 25:9

I will open the side of Moab; literally, the shoulder, i.e. the slopes of the mountain of Moab (Joshua 15:8, Joshua 15:10). For Beth-jeshimoth (equivalent to "House of wastes"), see Numbers 33:49; Joshua 12:3; Joshua 13:20. It had been assigned to Reuben, but had been seized by the Moabites. It has been identified by De Sauley

51

with the ruins now known as Suaime, on the northeastern border of the Dead Sea. Baal-moon (Numbers 32:38), more fully Beth-baal-meon (Joshua 13:17), or Beth-moon (Jeremiah 48:23). The name is found in ruins of some extent, known as the fortress of Mi'un or Maein, about three miles south of Heshbon ('Dict. Bible,' s.v.). Kiriathaim. The dual form of the name (equivalent to "Two cities") implies, perhaps, the union of an old and new town, or two towns on the opposite sides of a brook or wady. The name appears in Genesis 14:5; Numbers 32:37; Joshua 13:19; Jeremiah 48:1, Jeremiah 48:23. It has been identified with El-Teym, about two miles from Medeba (Burckhardt), and with Kurei-yat, on the south side of Jebel Attarus. Eusebius ('Onom.,' s.v.) describes it as about ten miles from Medeba, and close to the Baris, lint nothing is known as to the last-named place. The three cities all belonged to the region which Sihon and Og had conquered from the Moabites before Israel obtained possession of them, and they were afterwards claimed as belonging to the Israelites by right of conquest ( 11:23), and them may therefore be a touch of irony in Ezekiel's language describing them as Moabite cities. Collectively they were the glory of the country, the region known as the Belka, in which they were situated, giving the best pasturage, then as now, in Southern Syria. Havernick quotes a Bedouin proverb, "There is no land like Belka". Kirjath and Baal-meon appear in Mesha's inscription on the Moabite Stone.

10 I will give Moab along with the Ammonites to the people of the East as a possession, so that the Ammonites will not be remembered among the nations;

BARNES, "Ammon and Moab, of common origin, whose lands had so often been interchanged, shall now share a common ruin. To “the men of the east” Eze_25:4 shall Moab with Ammon be given, that Ammon may be remembercd no more, and judgment be executed on Moab.

52

CLARKE, "That the Ammonites - The Syriac has, “That Rabbah of the sons of Ammon be not remembered.”

GILL, "Unto the men of the east with the Ammonites, and I will give them in possession,.... Or, "against the Ammonites", as the Targum; that is, way should be made for the same people of the east, the Chaldeans or Arabians, that came against the Ammonites and destroyed them, to enter into the land of Moab and possess it, as they had done the land of Ammon: that the Ammonites may not be remembered among the nations: the name of that people, which is entirely lost; and Moab likewise, which underwent the same fate.

ELLICOTT, "Verse 10(10) With the Ammonites.—The division between the verses here seriously obscures the sense. The meaning is that God will throw open Moab, as well as Ammon, to the sons of the east, and will give both nations in possession to them, so that Ammon shall be no more remembered, and judgment shall be executed on Moab. They were to be conquered and desolated by Nebuchadnezzar, but possessed by the Bedouins. The Ammonites and Moabites were nations so closely connected together that nearly all which has been said of the one applies to the other.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 25:10 Unto the men of the east with the Ammonites, and will give them in possession, that the Ammonites may not be remembered among the nations.

Ver. 10. That the Ammonites may not be remembered among the nations.] A fearful hand of God upon them, as it was also upon some other peoples, who are so utterly extinct that the learned can now hardly divine where their seats were.

POOLE, " The men of the East: see Ezekiel 25:4.

With; rather against, and so the Hebrew, and the sense is plain; or, as our 53

translation reads it, with, i.e. as I have given Ammon, so I will with them give Moab to the Chaldeans first, who will give Moab to the Arabians.

Possession: see Ezekiel 25:4.

That the Ammonites; I suppose here is either an ellipsis, thus, that as the Ammonites should so perish, as not to be remembered, so should Moab also; or else Ammon is appellative here, and speaks the numerousness of Moab, which yet should so cease as to be forgotten.

WHEDON, "10. Unto the men of the east — R.V., margin, “Together with the children of Ammon, unto the children of the east.” The meaning must be that both Moabites and Ammonites would fall before these fierce nomadic hordes. They would finish the destruction which Nebuchadnezzar commenced.

PULPIT, "Ezekiel 25:10

Unto the men of the east with the Ammonites. The Authorized Version is obscure. What is meant is that the Moabites as well as the Ammonites were to be given to the nomadic tribes, the "children of the east," for a possession. The doom that Ammon was to be no more remembered (Ezekiel 21:32) was to be carried out to the uttermost, and the children of the east were to complete what Nebuchadnezzar had begun. The utter destruction of Ammon was, as it were, uppermost in the prophet's thoughts, and that of Moab was but secondary. Historically, the words received a partial fulfillment in Nebuchadnezzar's conquests five years after the destruction of Jerusalem, but the Ammonites were still an important people in the time of the Maccabees (1 Macc. 5:6, 30-45) and Justin Martyr.

54

11 and I will inflict punishment on Moab. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’”

GILL, "I will execute judgments upon Moab,.... For though the Chaldeans and Arabians were the instruments of their ruin, their destruction was of the Lord; it was his hand that was upon them, and his vengeance that was executed on them, for their hard sayings against his people; for though he had spoke against them in his providence, and chastised them for their sins, yet he will not suffer others to speak against them: and they shall know that I am the Lord; that takes part with Judah, and will avenge himself of all their enemies.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 25:11 And I will execute judgments upon Moab; and they shall know that I [am] the LORD.

Ver. 11. And I will execute judgments upon Moab.] Or, In Moab, where was no care to execute justice and judgment; sed frigebant leges: ius situm erat in manibus, &c. Might overcame right.

A Prophecy Against Edom

12 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Because Edom took revenge on Judah and became very guilty by doing so,

55

BARNES, "Edom, so named from Esau, consisted of various tribes enumerated in Gen. 36. The Edomites became a powerful nation before the Israelites came out of Egypt. David conquered them, but in the reign of Joram they rebelled and were not again subdued 2Ki_8:20. Under the name of Idumea the land was conquered by John Hyrcanus (compare Eze_25:14), when many of the people adopted the religion of the Jews. In later times the Idumean Herod became king of Palestine, reckoning himself as a Jew. Mount Seir, deserted by its original inhabitants, was occupied by a tribe of Arabians (the Nabatheans), under whelm Petra rose and continued a flourishing city under Roman dominion, until the tide of Mahometan conquest brought it to that ruin in which Edom at last found the complete fulfillment of the prophecies uttered against it Eze_35:1-15.

Taking vengeance - Referring to the wrong done by Jacob to Esau Gen_27:36.

CLARKE, "Because that Edom hath dealt - The Edomites were the most inveterate enemies of the Jews from the very earliest times, and ever did all that they could to annoy them.

GILL, "Thus saith the Lord God,.... Concerning Seir or the Edomites, the prophecy concerning the Moabites being finished: because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance: or, "revenging a revenge" (w); the Edomites bore an old grudge against the Jews, not only because their father Jacob had got the birthright and blessing from their father Esau; but because they were made tributaries to them in David's time, and afterwards severely chastised by Amaziah; these things they laid up in their minds, and vowed revenge whenever they had an opportunity; and now one offered at the destruction of Jerusalem, which they took: and hath greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them: not only by rejoicing at the destruction of the Jews, but by encouraging the Babylonians in it; assisting them therein, joining with them in plundering the city, and in cutting off those with the sword who endeavoured to make their escape; see Psa_137:7.

HENRY, " The sin of the Edomites, Eze_25:12. They not only triumphed in the ruin of Judah and Jerusalem, as the Moabites and Ammonites had done, but they took advantage from the present distressed state to which the Jews were reduced to do them some real mischiefs, probably made inroads upon their frontiers and plundered their

56

country: Edom has dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance. The Edomites had of old been tributaries to the Jews, according to the sentence that the elder should serve the younger. In Jehoram's time they revolted. Amaziah severely chastised them (2Ki_14:7), and for this they took vengeance. Now they would pay off all the old scores, and not only incensed the Babylonians against Jerusalem, crying, Rase it, rase it (Psa_137:7), but cut off those that escaped, as we find in the prophecy of Obadiah, which is wholly directed against Edom, Eze_25:11, Eze_25:12, etc. It is called here revenging a revenge, which intimates that they were not only eager upon it, but very cruel in it, and recompensed to the Jews more than double. “Herein he has greatly offended.” Note, It is a great offence to God for us to revenge ourselves upon our brother; for God has said, Vengeance is mine. We are forbidden to revenge or to bear a grudge. Suppose Judah had been hard upon Edom formerly, it was a base thing for the Edomites now, in revenge for it, to smite them secretly. But the Jews had a divine warrant to reign over the Edomites, for that therefore they ought not to have made reprisals; and it was the more disingenuous for them to retain the old enmity when God had particularly commanded his people to forget it. Deu_23:7, Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite.

JAMISON, "taking vengeance — literally, “revenging with revengement,” that is, the most unrelenting vengeance. It was not simple hatred, but deep-brooding, implacable revenge. The grudge of Edom or Esau was originally for Jacob’s robbing him of Isaac’s blessing (Gen_25:23; Gen_27:27-41). This purpose of revenge yielded to the extraordinary kindness of Jacob, through the blessing of Him with whom Jacob wrestled in prayer; but it was revived as an hereditary grudge in the posterity of Esau when they saw the younger branch rising to the pre-eminence which they thought of right belonged to themselves. More recently, for David’s subjugation of Edom to Israel (2Sa_8:14). They therefore gave vent to their spite by joining the Chaldeans in destroying Jerusalem (Psa_137:7; Lam_4:22; Oba_1:10-14), and then intercepting and killing the fugitive Jews (Amo_1:11) and occupying part of the Jewish land as far as Hebron.

K&D, "Against the EdomitesEze_25:12. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because Edom acteth revengefully towards the house of Judah, and hath been very guilty in avenging itself upon them, Eze_25:13.Therefore, thus saith the Lord Jehovah, I will stretch out my hand over Edom, and cut off man and beast from it, and make it a desert from Teman, and unto Dedan they shall fall by the sword. Eze_25:14. And I will inflict my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel, that they may do to Edom according to my anger and my wrath; and they shall experience my vengeance, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. - Whilst the Ammonites and the Moabites are charged with nothing more than malicious pleasure at the fall of Israel, and disregard of its divine calling, the Edomites are reproached with revengeful acts of hostility towards the house of Judah, and threatened with

extermination in consequence. The ת doing or acting of Edom, is more precisely ,עשdefined as 'ם בנק i.e., as consisting in the taking of vengeance, and designated as very ,וגוguilty, ישמו ם ב followed by ,עשה .אש with an infinitive, as in Eze_17:17. Edom had sought every opportunity of acting thus revengefully towards Israel (vid., Oba_1:11;

57

Amo_1:11), so that in Eze_35:5 Ezekiel speaks of the “eternal enmity” of Edom against Israel. For this reason we must not restrict the reproach in Eze_25:12 to particular outbreaks of this revenge at the time of the devastation and destruction of Judah by the Chaldeans, of which the Psalmist complains in Psa_137:1-9, and for which he invokes the vengeance of God upon Edom. Man and beast are to be cut off from Edom in consequence, and the land to become a desert from Teman to Dedan. These names denote not cities, but districts. Teman is the southern portion of Idumaea (see the comm. on Amo_1:12); and Dedan is therefore the northern district. Dedan is probably not the Cushite tribe mentioned in Gen_10:7, but the tribe of the same name which sprang from the sons of Abraham by Keturah (Gen_25:3), and which is also mentioned in Jer_49:8 in connection with Edom. דדנה has ה local with Seghol instead of Kametz, probably on account of the preceding a (vid., Ewald, §216c). There is no necessity to connect מתימן with the following clause, as Hitzig and Kliefoth have done, in opposition to the accents. The two geographical names, which are used as a periphrasis for Idumaea as a whole, are distributed equally through the parallelismus membrorum between the two clauses of the sentence, so that they belong to both clauses, so far as the sense is concerned. Edom is to become a desert from Teman to Dedan, and its inhabitants from Teman to Dedan are to fall by the sword. This judgment of vengeance will be executed by God through His people Israel. The fulfilment of this threat, no doubt, commenced with the subjugation of the Edomites by the Maccabees; but it is not to be limited to that event, as Rosenmüller, Kliefoth, and others suppose, although the foundation was thereby laid for the disappearance of the national existence of Edom. For it is impossible with this limitation to do justice to the emphatic expression, “my people Israel.” On the ground, therefore, of the prophecies in Amo_9:12 and Oba_1:17, that the people of God are to take possession of Edom, when the fallen tabernacle of David is raised up again, i.e., in the Messianic times, which prophecies point back to that of Balaam in Num_24:18, and have their roots, as this also has, in the promise of God concerning the twin sons of Isaac, “the elder shall serve the younger” (Gen_25:23), we must seek for the complete fulfilment in the victories of the people of God over all their foes, among whom Edom from time immemorial had taken the leading place, at the time when the kingdom of God is perfected. For even here Edom is not introduced merely as a single nation that was peculiarly hostile to Judah, but also as a type of the implacable enmity of the heathen world towards the people and kingdom of God, as in Eze_35:1-15, Isa. 34:63, etc. The vengeance, answering to the anger and wrath of Jehovah, which Israel, as the people of God, is to execute upon Edom, consists not merely in the annihilation of the national existence of Edom, which John Hyrcanus carried into effect by compelling the subjugated Edomites to adopt circumcision (see the comm. on Num_24:18), but chiefly in the wrathful judgment which Israel will execute in the person of Christ upon the arch-enemy of the kingdom of God by its complete extinction.

COFFMAN, "Verse 12

"Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended, and avenged himself upon

58

them; therefore, thus saith the Lord Jehovah, I will stretch out my hand upon Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman; even unto Dedan shall they fall by the sword. And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel; and they shall do in Edom according to mine anger and according to my wrath; and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord Jehovah."

The prophecy in Amos especially mentioned the "anger and hatred of Edom" which did "tear perpetually," indicating the implacable hatred of the Edomites for God's people. Although Israel did indeed punish them; and under Hyrcanus, the Edomites were captured and somewhat forcibly taken into Judaism; nevertheless, the perpetual evil of the Edomites was sufficiently strong to be chosen by God Himself as the symbol of the totality of human wickedness, the final judgment itself being depicted in Isaiah 34th chapter as the "judgment of Edom." The Edomites were featured as enemies of God and of the spread of the gospel of Christ in the Book of Acts, where Herod Agrippa I (an Edomite) attempted to kill all of the apostles, for which intention God executed him (Acts 12).

ELLICOTT, "Verse 12

(12) Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah.—The reason of Edom’s hostility to Israel is expressly said to be revenge. Descended from the elder son, they had never looked complacently on the spiritual superiority given to the descendants of the younger. They showed their hostility from the first in refusing, with a show of violence, a passage to the Israelites through their territory (Numbers 20:18-21); and although they were subdued and made tributary under David and Solomon (2 Samuel 8:14; 1 Kings 9:26), yet in the decline of the Jewish power they availed themselves of every opportunity for hostility (2 Chronicles 28:17, &c). At this time they not only joined the armies of Nebuchadnezzar, but appear to have urged on the conqueror to greater cruelty, and to have themselves waylaid the fugitives to cut them off (Ezekiel 35:5; Psalms 137:7; Amos 1:11; Obadiah 1:11). They also, during the Captivity, took possession of many towns of Judea, including Hebron (Jos., Antt., xii. 8, § 6; B. J., 4:9, § 7), which were re-conquered in the time of the Maccabees. Other prophecies against Edom may be found in Numbers 24:18-19; Isaiah 11:14; Jeremiah 49:7-12; Joel 3:19, besides the extended prophecy of Ezekiel

59

in Ezekiel 35.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 25:12 Thus saith the Lord GOD Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them;

Ver. 12. By taking vengeance.] Heb., By revenging revengement; out of a vindictive spirit rejoicing at Judah’s harms, and saying, They were well enough served. See the prophecy of Obadiah 1:10-16 and Psalms 137:7 Their father Esau was of a spiteful spirit, [Genesis 27:41] and they took after him, proceeding upon the old score. Hence they are put for God’s and the Church’s enemies by a specialty. [Isaiah 63:1-6 Joel 3:9-17 Amos 9:1-10] A learned man hath given us this note: Esau signifieth a doer or a worker; Edom, a ruddy, bloody, or earthy man. These Edomites were a type of justiciaries, who will needs be saved by their works and merits. These are the deadliest enemies of God’s people, war upon them continually, seek and suck their blood, and shall at length suffer condign punishment.

And hath greatly offended and revenged himself upon them.] Wishing, as Caligula did by the people of Rome, that they had all but one neck, (a) that he might cut them off at one blow. Plane sunt serpentes, saith Luther concerning hypocrites, quo nullum est animal vindictae cupidius, they are very serpents, than which there is no living creature more revengeful.

POOLE, " Edom; the Idumeans, children of Esau.

The house of Judah; the kingdom of David after the division of the tribes, when but two remained constant to the house of David.

By taking vengeance for the old quarrel, because Jacob got the blessing from Esau, or rather in revenging a later quarrel, which they had against Judah for the slaughter, spoil, and captivity they suffered by David’s conquering sword.

60

Hath greatly offended; both in the thing itself, for vengeance belongs to God; and in the manner and measures of executing it, as appears both from Psalms 137:7, and the prophecy of Obadiah 1:10-15, which see, and consider.

WHEDON, "12. Edom — The Edomites (Assyrian, Udumu) were a Semitic race closely related to the Hebrews, whose law required them to be loved as a “brother” and given special temple privileges (Deuteronomy 23:7-8). The name, according to Sayce, means “red skins,” which would separate them from the fairer Hebrews and Amorites. They had conquered a strip of country about Mount Seir (Deuteronomy 2:22), and were a very powerful nation until conquered by Ramman-Nirari (806-797 B.C.). They, like their brothers, the Israelites, had adopted the “language of Canaan,” and though their libraries have not yet been discovered, some scholars think traces of their literature may be seen in the lists of Edomite princes (Genesis 36), and perhaps also in Job and the Proverbs of Lemuel. Notwithstanding their close relationship, Edom and Israel were frequently at war (2 Kings 8:20; 2 Kings 14:7; 2 Kings 14:22; 2 Kings 16:6; 2 Chronicles 28:17). These sons of Esau had “hatred of old” (Ezekiel 35:5) for the sons of Jacob, and exulted with great joy when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Chaldeans, perhaps assisting in the city’s overthrow (Joel 3:19; <19D707>Psalms 137:7; Amos 1:11; Obadiah 1:11). During the Maccabean war they continued hostile to the Jews. “Ultimately, like Moab and Ammon, the name of Edom disappears from history, all the three peoples being known by the general name of Arabs — children of the East — as Ezekiel had prophesied.” — Davidson.

PETT, "Verse 12-13

‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Because Edom has dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and has greatly offended, and revenged herself on them,” therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, “I will stretch out my hand on Edom and will cut off man and beast from it, and I will make it desolate from Teman, even to Dedan they will fall by the sword.” ’

Edom is singled out as especially treacherous (Psalms 137:7-9) a fact reflected in the 61

continual animosity revealed against her elsewhere (Obadiah 1:21; Malachi 1:3-5). We do not know quite what she did but she acted positively in some way to bring as much harm on Jerusalem as possible. In Ezekiel 35:5 it is said that they ‘gave over the children of Israel to the power of the sword in the time of their calamity’. This suggests that they turned back those seeking refuge in Edom into the hands of their pursuers, an example of heartless cynicism and cruelty that would not easily be forgiven. Even Moab and Ammon did not do that. And there is evidence of Edomite occupation of southern Judah after the exile (1 Maccabees 5:65; Josephus; the Zenon papyri). It seemed that she took full and vicious advantage of Jerusalem’s cruel dilemma.

Because of this her fate was to be severe, although we do not actually have any details of what immediately happened to her. She was to be totally desolated. There is certainly evidence of a later Arab population.

The inhabitants of Teman in northern Edom were renowned for their wisdom (Jeremiah 49:7; Obadiah 1:8-9). Teman may be identified with Tawilan which has been excavated to reveal a large Edomite town of the 8th to 6th centuries BC. Dedan was in north west Arabia and well known for its role in the caravan trade (Ezekiel 27:20; Isaiah 21:13), and is mentioned in inscriptions. The site is now known as al-‘Ula

PETT, "Verses 12-14

The Oracle Against Edom (Ezekiel 25:12-14).

Edom has already been mentioned in the charge against Moab. Ammon and Moab were seen as brother nations descended from Lot (Genesis 19:37-38), while Edom was seen as descended from Esau (Genesis 32:3; Genesis 36:8). They were thus related nations, and their land was seen as given to them by Yahweh, which was why Moses had sought to avoid conflict with them (Deuteronomy 2:18-19; Deuteronomy 2:22). But now He was taking it away from them. They had gone too far.

62

PULPIT, "Ezekiel 25:12, Ezekiel 25:13

Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah, etc. The statement receives many illustrations, notably in Psalms 137:7, and at an earlier date in Amos 1:11; Obadiah 1:11. What had been malicious exultation (the ἐπιχαιρεκακία, which Aristotle describes as the extremest type of evil) passed in the case of Edom into overt acts of hostility. The moment of Judah's weakness was seized on as an opportunity for gratifying what Ezekiel elsewhere (Ezekiel 35:5) calls the "perpetual hatred" of the people against Israel, for taking vengeance for the primal wrong which Esau had suffered at the hand of Jacob (Genesis 27:36). (For other prophecies against Edom, see Numbers 24:18, Numbers 24:19; Isaiah 11:14; Jeremiah 49:7-12; Joel 3:19.) Teman. The name, which signifies "South," was probably applied to a district—twice, here and in Jeremiah 49:7, Jeremiah 49:8, coupled with Dedan. In Jeremiah 49:20, Jeremiah 49:21 the cry of the inhabitants of Teman is said to have been "heard in the Red Sea," and this determines its geographical position, as being, in accordance with its name, the southern region of Edom. In Job 2:11 we have Eliphaz the Temanite as one of the patriarch's friends, and the same name appears as that of a son of Esau (Genesis 36:11). In Jeremiah (loc. cit.) Teman is named as famous for its wisdom. Dedan is named as a grandson of Cash in Genesis 10:7, and of Abraham by Keturah in Genesis 25:3. It has been inferred from this that there were two branches of the nation, one on the shores of the Persian Gulf, nomadic and trading, as in the "travelling companies" of Dedanim (Isaiah 21:13; Ezekiel 27:15, Ezekiel 27:20); the other settled in the territory of the Edomites ('Dict. Bible'). The latter is that to which Ezekiel refers. A various punctuation gives, with a better sense, "From Teman even unto Dedan they shall fall by the sword."

13 therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will stretch out my hand against Edom and kill both man and beast. I will lay it waste, and from

63

Teman to Dedan they will fall by the sword.

BARNES, "From Teman ... - Or “from Teman” even unto “Dedan,” “shall they fall.” Teman and Dedan were districts (not cities), the former in the south (Eze_20:46 note), the latter in the north (“over the whole country”).

CLARKE, "I will make it desolate from Teman - Teman and Dedan were both cities of the Moabites, and apparently at each extremity of the land.

GILL, "Therefore thus saith the Lord God,.... Because of such base and barbarous usage, from a people that were originally brethren: I will also stretch out mine hand upon Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it; by the army of Nebuchadnezzar, by the sword of the Chaldeans, and by famine and pestilence, and such like sore judgments; in which the hand of God is manifestly seen: and I will make it desolate from Teman; a very principal city of Edom, so called from Teman, the son of Eliphaz, the son of Esau, Gen_36:15 it lay in the south of the land of Idumea; the Targum renders it, "from the south": and they of Dedan shall fall by the sword; of the Babylonians; this was another city of Edom, it lay in the north of that country; so that hereby is signified that destruction should go through it from the southern to the northern parts of it.

HENRY 13-14, "The judgments threatened against them for this sin. God will take them to task for it (Eze_25:13): I will stretch out my hand upon Edom Their country shall be desolate from Teman, which lay in the south part of it; and they shall fall by the sword unto Dedan, which lay north; the desolations of war should go through the nation. (1.) They had taken vengeance, and therefore God will lay his vengeance upon them (Eze_25:14): They shall know my vengeance. Those that will not leave it to God to take vengeance for them may expect that he will take vengeance on them; and those that will not believe and fear his vengeance shall be made to know and feel his vengeance; they shall be dealt with according to God's anger and according to his fury, not according to the weakness of the instruments that are employed in it, but according to the strength of the arm that employs them. (2.) They had taken vengeance on Israel, and

64

God will lay his vengeance on them by the hand of his people Israel. They suffered much by the Chaldeans, which seems to be referred to, Jer_49:8. But besides that there were saviours to come upon Mount Zion, who should judge the mount of Esau (Oba_1:21), and Israel's Redeemer comes with dyed garments from Bozrah (Isa_63:1), this implies a promise that Israel should recover itself again to such a degree as to be in a capacity of curbing the insolence of its neighbours. And we find (1 Macc. 5:3) that Judas Maccabeus fought against the children of Esau in Idumea, gave them a great overthrow, abated their courage, and took their spoil; and Josephus says (Antiq. 13.257), that Hircanus made the Edomites tributaries to Israel. Note, The equity of God's judgments is to be observed when he not only avenges injuries upon those that did them, but by those against whom they were done.

JAMISON, "Teman ... they of Dedan — rather, “I will make it desolate from Teman (in the south) even to Dedan (in the northwest)” [Grotius], (Jer_49:8), that is, the whole country from north to south, stretching from the south of the Dead Sea to the Elanitic gulf of the Red Sea.

ELLICOTT, " (13) From Teman; and they of Dedan.—Teman (a word meaning south) was a southern district of Edom (Jeremiah 49:20-21; Habakkuk 3:3), famed for its wisdom (Jeremiah 49:7; Obadiah 1:8-9). Dedan is frequently mentioned by the prophets, but in such a way that it has not been certainly identified. A better translation would be, From Teman unto Dedan, meaning from one end of the country to the other, they shall fall by the sword.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 25:13 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD I will also stretch out mine hand upon Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman; and they of Dedan shall fall by the sword.

Ver. 13. I will stretch out mine hand upon Edom.] God hath vengeance ready for revengers. Immune verbam est ultio, saith Seneca; they shall not escape unpunished. See Proverbs 24:17-18. The Duke of Bourbon being displeased at Cardinal Wolsey, intended to have sacked Rome, and taken the Pope; but at the first assault of the town, the Duke was the first man that was slain.

POOLE, " Stretch out mine hand: see Ezekiel 25:7, and Ezekiel 16:27.

65

Cut off man, by the sword of the Chaldeans, and by other wasting evils which accompany wars, as famine, pestilence, and other diseases.

And beast; either their cattle should be driven away by the plundering soldier, or devoured by the mighty numerous army of Nebuchadnezzar, or wasted with murrain, or all should concur to unstock their pastures.

Desolate; a desolation, i.e. most desolate.

From Teman; from the south, so the Chaldee paraphrase; but it is rather the name of the region, called by the name of Esau’s grandson Teman, who also gave name to the metropolis of Idumea, and probably it was in the southern coast of Edom’s country.

Dedan; the Dedanites, who were of Abraham by Keturah, Genesis 25:3; and these were neighbours to Edom, on the side of Arabia, or else intermixed with the Edomites in habitation and commerce, so that it might be a city reckoned either to Edom or Arabia. From Teman to Dedan the Chaldean sword should waste all.

WHEDON, " 13. Teman; and they of Dedan, etc. — Rather, from Teman unto Dedan shall they fall. Teman and Dedan were respectively the north and south frontier districts of Edom. The inhabitants of this region were celebrated for their wisdom (Jeremiah 49:7; Obadiah 1:8-9). The most eloquent speaker in Job is Eliphaz the Temanite (Job 2:11; Job 4:1). So they are called in Baruch (Ezekiel 3:22-23), “authors of fables, the searchers out of understanding.” This district was situated in the caravan route from Egypt to Babylon, and in some recently discovered inscriptions (old Aramaic) may be seen “marked traces of Egyptian civilization” (Neubaur, Studia Biblia, vol. i). Dr. Euting dates these inscriptions in the time of Ezekiel. Certainly these were civilized districts at a very early day, for Gudea, some 3,000 years B.C., brought alabaster from Tidanu (Dedan), and Gimil-Sin, 2,000 years B.C., built a wall against Tidnim. The ancient Minaeans brought their female temple slaves from Gaza, Moab, Ammon, Kedar, Dedan, etc. (Hommel, Ancient Hebrew Tradition). These Minaean inscriptions have only recently been

66

discovered, and it is still disputed whether the kingdom followed that of Saba (Sheba), or whether it preceded it (2000-1000 B.C.), although the latter view seems preferable.

14 I will take vengeance on Edom by the hand of my people Israel, and they will deal with Edom in accordance with my anger and my wrath; they will know my vengeance, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”

CLARKE, "I will lay my vengeance upon Edom - God will not allow men to insult those whom he has cast down. His judgment is sufficient; to add more is an insult to God.

By the hand of may people Israel - This was fulfilled by the Maccabees, who not only defeated them and brought them under complete subjection, but obliged them to receive circumcision, Joseph. Antiq. 50 xiii., c. 17; 1 Maccabees 5:65; 2 Maccabees 10:16.

GILL, "And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by fie hand of my people Israel,.... This was fulfilled in the times of the Maccabees, when Judas Maccabins overthrew and conquered them, "Then Judas fought against the children of Esau in Idumea at Arabattine, because they besieged Gael: and he gave them a great overthrow, and abated their courage, and took their spoils.'' (1 Maccabees 5:3) and when Hyrcanus took their cities, and subdued them, and they became Jews, as Josephus (x) relates; though Kimchi thinks this refers to future time, and is yet to be accomplished; and it is, by the ancient Jews (y), understood of the times of the Messiah: some choose to understand the phrase,

67

by the hand of my people Israel, the same hand by which judgment was inflicted upon Israel; suggesting that by the same hand vengeance would be inflicted on the Edomites, namely, by the Babylonians: and they shall do in Edom according to mine anger and according to my fury; that is, shall execute all the anger and fury, or all that punishment in anger and fury, which the Lord in righteous judgment has appointed them to, and has determined shall be performed upon them, by the children of Israel or the Babylonians, as his instruments: and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord God; the meaning is, they shall feel it, and be sensible of it, and know that it comes from the Lord himself; full of resentment against them, and highly displeased at their behaviour towards his people Israel.

JAMISON, "by ... my people Israel — namely, by Judas Maccabeus. The Idumeans were finally, by compulsory circumcision, incorporated with the Jewish state by John Hyrcanus (see Isa_34:5; Isa_63:1, etc.; 1 Maccabees 5:3). So complete was the amalgamation in Christ’s time, that the Herods of Idumean origin, as Jews, ruled over the two races as one people. Thus the ancient prophecy was fulfilled (Gen_25:23), “The elder shall serve the younger.”

ELLICOTT, " (14) By the hand of my people Israel.—This points distinctly to the fact that the Divine vengeance on Edom should be accomplished by the hand of the Israelites, a prophecy which was fulfilled when they were conquered by John Hyrcanus, and compelled to submit to circumcision as a mark of absorption into the Jewish people. Subsequently Herod (who was himself of Idumean origin), as king of the Jews, reigned over them, and their name disappeared from history.

Many commentators would see in this prophecy a further intimation of their ultimate conversion and incorporation into the Church; but this seems quite foreign, not only to the scope of this series of prophecies, but especially to the connection, “I will lay my vengeance upon Edom,” and “they shall know my vengeance.”

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 25:14 And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to mine anger and according to my fury; and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord GOD.

68

Ver. 14. I will lay my vengeance upon Edom.] Edam ultionem in Edom. See Ezekiel 25:13.

By the hand of my people Israel.] In the time of the Macchabees likely this was done. Or, By the hand wherewith I shall smite my people; that is, by the Babylonians: so Piscator.

According to my fury.] And not as the commanders will. Titus would have saved the temple at Jerusalem from being burned, but the soldiers would not. (a)

POOLE, " I will lay my vengeance upon Edom; which as it is great, so just, sure, and opportune, their foot slideth in due time, Deuteronomy 32:35.

By the hand of my people Israel; no history mentions the fulfilling of this, as it sounds in the letter of it, unless /APC 1Ma 5:3,2Ma 10:16,17; some therefore interpret, by the hand, by the same hand, that I used in punishing my people Israel; others refer it to a spiritual meaning, as Isaiah 11:14 Jeremiah 49:2 Ob 21.

They; the instruments God used, whether Maccabees in after-times, or the Chaldeans in that present age.

Shall do in Edom according to my anger; my just displeasure, as it set them on work, shall give them their strength and measures; they shall do as much as I intended against Edom.

And according to my fury; redoubled to affect the more, and confirm the prediction.

They shall know my vengeance; both Edom, my people, and those I employ, shall see this was my quarrel, which I threatened to revenge, and now have done it, and

69

Edom shall know I am not like their gods, though they said so, Ezekiel 25:8.

PETT, "Verse 14

‘ “And I will lay my vengeance on Edom by the hand of my people Israel, and they will do in Edom according to my anger and according to my fury, and they will know my vengeance”, says the Lord Yahweh.’

Here was a message of hope for Israel. For God’s just judgment on Edom would come through the hand of Israel herself, and if that were to be so she had to be restored to the land. There are two kinds of revenge. One is thoughtless and indiscriminate going beyond what is justified. God would have no part in that. The other is measured and deserved, a measured response to a genuine offence given in accordance with the deserts of those on whom the vengeance is requited. That was what was intended here.

What we do know is that later Edom and its survivors were subdued by Judas Maccabaeus, and then by John Hyrcanus (later Jewish leaders), who incorporated them into the Jewish race by compulsory circumcision. Again they lost their nationhood. And all this would take place because of God’s antipathy against their gross sin.

PULPIT, "Ezekiel 25:14

By the hand of my people Israel: The words received a fulfillment in the conquest of Edom by John Hyrcanus, who compelled its people to receive circumcision (Josephus, 'Ant.,' 13.9. 1). In Amos 9:12 its subjugation is connected with the Messianic prophecy that the fallen tabernacle of David should be raised up. There is an obvious emphasis in the repetition of the word vengeance. The law of a Divine retribution will work out its appointed purpose-vengeance to those who sought vengeance. They (the Edomites) shall reap as they have sown, and shall know that

70

the vengeance of Jehovah is more terrible than their own.

A Prophecy Against Philistia

15 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Because the Philistines acted in vengeance and took revenge with malice in their hearts, and with ancient hostility sought to destroy Judah,

BARNES, "The Philistines occupying lands to the south of Judah were a Hamite race Gen_10:14, but of a different branch from the Canaanites. They were a powerful people never dispossessed by the Israelites Jos_13:3. They were a thorn in the side of the chosen people throughout, and joined in attacking Jerusalem in the day of her trouble. They were much reduced by the Assyrians Isa_14:31, and Egyptians Jer_47:1-7, before the time of this prophecy, but further destruction came upon them in the general ruin of the inhabitants of Canaan, which commenced with the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.Eze_25:16

Cherethims - The inhabitants of the southern portion of Philistia Zep_2:5.

CLARKE, "Because the Philistines - They were as inimical to the Jews as the Ammonites, etc., were. Nebuchadnezzar punished them because they had assisted the Tyrians during the time he was besieging their city.

I will cut of the Cherethims - See the note on 2Sa_8:18.The remnant of the sea coasts - The different seignories of the Philistines inhabited the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, from Judea to Egypt. For other matters

71

relative to these prophecies, see Jer_47:4 (note).

GILL, "Thus saith the Lord God,.... Once more, and concerning another enemy of the people of Israel, and who had been of old an implacable one: because the Philistines have dealt by revenge: for what they suffered in the times of Saul, when Goliath was slain by David, and their army was discomfited; and for the overthrow of them by David, when he came to throne; and for his burning their images, and subduing them, 1Sa_17:51, this revenge they took in the time of Ahaz, 2Ch_28:18, and very probably also showed their spite at the time of Jerusalem's destruction: and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart, to destroy it for the old hatred; which they bore to the people of Israel, from their first settlement in Canaan; from the times of the judges, particularly Samson; and from the times of Saul and David: it was an old grudge they bore, they had spite and malice in their hearts, and wanted an opportunity to vent it; having determined to take vengeance when they could, and utterly destroy them from being a people; very likely, through despite, they assisted the Chaldean army: or, this they did "with a perpetual hatred" (z); they did everything they could, in a spiteful and malicious way, to perpetuate the hatred between them and Israel.

HENRY 15-17, , "The Philistines. And, 1. Their sin is much the same with that of the Edomites: They have dealt by revenge with the people of Israel, and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart, not to disturb them only, but to destroy them, for the old hatred (Eze_25:15), the old grudge they bore them, or (as the margin reads it) with perpetual hatred, a hatred that began long since and which they resolved to continue. The anger was implacable: they dealt by revenge, traded in the acts of malice; it was their constant practice, and their heart, their spiteful heart, was upon it. 2. Their punishment likewise is much the same, Eze_25:16. Those that were for destroying God's people shall themselves be cut off and destroyed; and (Eze_25:17) those that were for avenging themselves shall find that God will execute great vengeance upon them. This was fulfilled when that country was wasted by the Chaldean army, not long after the destruction of Jerusalem, which is foretold, Jer_47:1-7. It was strange that these nations, which bordered upon the land of Israel, were not alarmed by the success of the Chaldean army, and made to tremble in the apprehension of their own danger; when their neighbour's house was on fire it was time to look to their own; but their impiety and malice made them forget their politics, till God by his judgments convinced them that the cup was going round, and they were the less safe for being secure.

JAMISON, "(1 Samuel 13:1-14:52; 2Ch_28:18). The “old hatred” refers to their continual enmity to the covenant-people. They lay along Judea on the seacoast at the opposite side from Ammon and Moab. They were overthrown by Uzziah (2Ch_26:6), and by Hezekiah (2Ki_18:8). Nebuchadnezzar overran the cities on the seacoast on his way to Egypt after besieging Tyre (Jer_47:1-7). God will take vengeance on those who

72

take the avenging of themselves out of His hands into their own (Rom_12:19-21; Jam_2:13).

K&D 15-17, "Against the PhilistinesEze_25:15. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because the Philistines act with revenge, and avenge themselves with contempt in the soul to destroy in everlasting enmity, Eze_25:16. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will stretch out my hand over the Philistines, and cut off the Cretans, and destroy the remnant by the seashore. Eze_25:17. And I will execute great vengeance upon them through chastisements of wrath, and they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I bring my vengeance upon them. - The Philistines resembled the Edomites and Ammonites in their disposition towards the covenant nation, the former in their thirst for revenge, the latter in their malicious rejoicing at Israel's fall. For this reason they had already been classed by Isaiah (Isa_11:14) with Edom, Moab, and Ammon as enemies, who would be successfully attacked and overcome by Israel, when the Lord had gathered it again from its dispersion. In the description of its sin towards Israel we have a combination of elements taken from the conduct of Edom and Ammon (vv. 12 and 6). They execute revenge with contempt in the

soul (שאט Israel; and this (למשחית) as in v. 6), with the intention to destroy ,בנפשrevenge springs from eternal, never-ending hostility. The Lord will cut off the whole of the people of the Philistines for this. כרתים, Cretans, originally a branch of the Philistian people, settled in the south-west of Canaan. The name is used by Ezekiel for the people, as it had already been by Zephaniah (Zep_2:5), for the sake of the paronomasia with הכרתי. The origin of the name is involved in obscurity, as the current derivation from Creta rests upon a very doubtful combination (cf. Stark, Gaza, pp. 66 and 99ff.). By the “remnant of the sea-coast,” i.e., the remnant of the inhabitants of the coast of the Mediterranean, in other words, of the Philistines, the destruction of which had already been predicted by Amos (Amo_1:8), Isaiah (Isa_14:30), and Jeremiah (Jer_42:4), we are to understand the whole nation to the very last man, all that was still left of the Philistines (see the comm. on Amo_1:8). - The execution of the vengeance threatened by God began in the Chaldean period, in which Gaza was attacked by Pharaoh, and, judging from Jer_47:1-7, the whole of Philistia was laid waste by the Chaldeans (see the fuller comments on this in the exposition of Jer_47:1-7). But the ultimate fulfilment will take place in the case of Philistia also, through the Messianic judgment, in the manner described in the commentary on Zep_2:10.

COFFMAN, ""Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with despite of soul to destroy with perpetual enmity; therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will stretch out my hand upon the Philistine, and I will cut off the Cherothites, and destroy the remnant of the sea coast. And I will execute great vengeance upon them with wrathful rebukes; and they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them."

73

PROPHECY AGAINST THE PHILISTINES

It is amazing that these ancient enemies of Israel finally gave their name to the Holy Land itself, Palestine!

"I will cut off the Cherothites ..." (Ezekiel 25:16). These are supposed to be the Cretans, ancient ancestors of the Philistines.

The teaching of the series of oracles here is that God will judge and destroy wicked mankind, a sentence that has been hanging over the head of the human race, like the sword of Damocles, since the sentence in Eden, "In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." The tragic judgments prophesied here were far earlier than the Final Judgment, of course, but they were necessitated by the situation in which the pagan nations were deceived into believing that Jehovah was not God of all gods. It is repeated throughout these passages that the reason for God's actions was primarily this: "And thou shalt know that I am Jehovah, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them."

COKE, "Ver.15. Because the Philistines hath dealt, &c.— Because the Philistines have burned with hatred, and have revenged themselves through contempt, and their ancient malice, in order to destroy; Houbigant. See Jeremiah 25:20; Jeremiah 48:1; Jeremiah 48:47. Amos 1:6. 2 Chronicles 28:18.

REFLECTIONS.—1st, The Ammonites, the implacable enemies of the Jewish people, are the first of the Gentile nations to be reckoned with. The Lord Jehovah, the God of Israel, declares their provocations, and denounces their doom.

1. Their crime was, the malicious pleasure they took in seeing God's Israel ruined. They beheld with delight the profanations of the sanctuary, and exulted in the desolations and captivity of the people; expressing the rancour and despite of their

74

hearts by their outward gestures, clapping their hands, leaping, for those miseries, which the least humanity would have taught them to pity. Note; (1.) The enmity of the natural heart against the professors of religion, is sure to express itself on their falls or misfortunes. (2.) God observes and will severely visit the malice and rancour shewn by the enemies of his believing people.

2. Their punishment for this insolent carriage will be their utter destruction. The men of the east, the Chaldeans, or the Arabians who were in Nebuchadrezzar's army, and afterwards possessed the country; they shall seize their land for a possession, set up their palaces therein, and dwell there, feasting on their spoil, their fruits, and their milk. Rabbah, the metropolis, shall be turned into a stable for camels, and the country feed the flocks of their conquerors. God's stretched-out arm shall make an end of them, cut them off from being any longer a people, and cause them to perish from the earth; and in this terrible destruction make his own great name known as the avenger of his people's wrongs.

2nd, Three other guilty nations are called to God's bar to hear their doom. Their crimes and their punishments are nearly similar.

1. The Moabites.

[1.] Their crime was, delight in the sins and sufferings of the Jews. They say, Behold, the house of Judah is like unto all the heathen; perfect apostates from their God, and wholly given to idolatry, and, as the consequence thereof, fallen into the hands of the Babylonians; and no distinction subsisting between them and others, of which they used to boast. Note; (1.) Apostates from God's worship give the adversaries great occasion to blaspheme. (2.) Though the same event happen to the righteous and the wicked, yet God knows how to put a vast difference between them.

[2.] The punishment of Moab would be, to become a prey to the same invaders as had destroyed the country of Ammon: their defences ruined; their country laid open; and their capital cities, their glory, demolished. Thus should they fall as the Ammonites their neighbours, whose names would be lost among the nations; and by

75

these judgments which God executes, his power, his wrath, and the truth of his threatenings, would be known unto them.

2. The Edomites.

[1.] They not only, as their neighbours of Moab and Ammon, beheld and rejoiced in the fall of Judaea; but they remembered the old grudge between Jacob and Esau, their subjection by David, and their chastisement by Amaziah; and now embraced the favourable moment to execute their cruel revenge upon the poor afflicted people; at which God is highly and justly offended. Note; Whatever provocations we have received, it is highly criminal to entertain malice, or to revenge ourselves: this is God's prerogative; Vengeance is mine.

[2.] God will punish them severely: from north to south the ravages of the Chaldeans shall spread, and man and beast be cut off by the out-stretched arm of the Lord: and when afterwards they returned from their captivity, and began to recover themselves, God will lay vengeance upon them by the hand of his people Israel; which was fulfilled under the Maccabees, 1 Maccabees 5:3, and Hircanus, as Josephus relates, subdued and made them tributaries. Thus will the Lord pour out his anger and fury upon them, and make them know by what they feel, against what a God of omnipotence and justice they have offended.

3. The Philistines. Their sin and punishment are nearly similar. With a despiteful heart they seized this opportunity of taking vengeance for the old grudge that they bore the Jews: but they shall suffer for it: God's arm of vengeance shall espouse his people's quarrel; their mighty men shall perish, their maritime cities be destroyed, and with furious rebukes they shall be made to know, that Israel's God is above all gods; and be made to confess his righteous judgments.

ELLICOTT, "(15) The Philistines.—The historical books of the Old Testament are almost a continuous record of the hostility of the Philistines. At times they held the greater part of the land of Israel in subjection, and at times were subdued in their turn. Although belonging to another branch of the Hamitic family, their land was

76

included with that of the Canaanites in the territory to be given to the Israelites (Joshua 13:2-3). It was never, however, occupied by them, although the cities were fortified and garrisoned by some of the kings. The land lay along the coast of the Mediterranean, on the highway between Egypt and Assyria and Chaldæa, and consequently, in the struggles of those nations with each other the Philistines were gradually more and more reduced, until they disappeared entirely. Among the many prophecies against them, the following may be especially referred to: Isaiah 14:29-32; Jeremiah 47; Amos 1:6-8; Zephaniah 2:4-7.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 25:15 Thus saith the Lord GOD Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart, to destroy [it] for the old hatred;

Ver. 15. Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge.] See on Ezekiel 25:12-13. Heathens thought revenge lawful, and tallying of injuries to be but justice. But Christianity teacheth us that non minus mali est referre iniuriam, quam inferre, (a)

For the old hatred.] The Philistines were of the old inhabitants the Canaanites, and kept up a deadly feud.

POOLE, " The Philistines; next neighbours to the Jews, between whom many quarrels, wars, and mutual spoil, slaughter, and injuries happened, as ever among borderers, who make all their own they can catch.

Have dealt by revenge; took the opportunity to revenge themselves when the Jews were weak and low.

With a despiteful heart; with hatred to them, and contempt of them.

To destroy it for the old hatred: this tells us what their hatred appeared in, it was a hatred to the name and being of Israel, they would cut them off, as Psalms 83:7,

77

with a perpetuated, endless enmity pursuing them.

WHEDON, "Verse 15-16

15, 16. The Philistines,… the Cherethim — Whether the Philistines were Aryans or Semites is not settled. George Adam Smith describes them as a Semitic people with non-Semitic habits, language, and institutions. An Egyptian traveler, 1000 B.C., declared that he found a colony of Philistines at the foot of Mount Carmel which traced its descent from the Zuk(k)ara, a warlike tribe of Asia Minor (Pap. Golenischeff). The original home of the Philistines, however, was not Asia Minor nor the Egyptian Delta (Sayce) nor Phoenicia (Muller), but almost certainly Crete. The features of the inhabitants of Philistia, as portrayed on the Egyptian monuments by Ramses II (1350 B.C.), have a Hittite cast and differ very greatly from those pictured by later Pharaohs, which probably indicates that this warlike people had entered the country and seized the “seacoast cities” — Gaza, Askelon, Ashdod, Ekron, Gath — which they ever afterward held, though it may possibly only point to an abnormal admixture of racial types in the nation. The Cretes were a mixed race, and the writer has noticed that the modern inhabitants of Philistia show this same peculiarity in a marked degree. Certain it is that only a little previous to the Exodus the Philistines began to figure prominently in the war records of Egypt (Egyptian, Purasati; Assyrian, Pulista or Pilista). In the latter part of the fifteenth century B.C., as is proved by the Tel-el-Amarna letters, the Philistine cities were in complete subjection to Egypt. They had rather a high degree of civilization. Clear cases of commerce with Cyprus were found at Tel-el-Hesy (Lachish). After the Exodus the Philistines (allying themselves with the Anakim) had many severe struggles with the Hebrews, with varying fortunes, as is proved by the story of David and Goliath, Shamgar, Samson, etc. Sometimes it seemed as if the Hebrews were destined to be nothing more than the abject slaves of this people. (See Judges 5:8; 1 Samuel 13:19.) After Israel had successfully revolted, Philistia, no doubt, allied herself with her enemies for revenge (Ezekiel 25:15). So great did the Philistines become that the land of Canaan and Israel is known by their name even to this day (Palestine). Philistia was always a stronghold of idolatry, and Gaza continued to boast of idol temples long after Christianity had dominated the rest of Palestine. The writer still saw indications of the survival of the old heathen worship as late as 1890. The Cherethims or Cherethites was probably another name of the Philistines, referring to their Cretan origin (Zephaniah 2:5). Arthur J. Evans has proved that the Philistines on the Egyptian monuments wear Cretan dress and carry

78

Cretan vases.

PETT, "Verses 15-17

‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Because the Philistine have dealt by revenge, and have taken revenge with heartfelt malice to destroy it with perpetual enmity, therefore, thus says the Lord Yahweh, Behold I will stretch out my hand on the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites, and destroy the remnant of the sea coast. And I will execute vengeance on them with severe rebukes, and they will know that I am Yahweh when I will lay my vengeance on them.” ’

The oracle is short and to the point. ‘Because -- therefore --.’ Those who are at enmity with God’s people are at enmity with God, especially as by their attitude they are declaring their attitude towards Yahweh Himself (for here they were to be made to know that He is Yahweh). Here the enmity of Philistia is depicted as permanent and perpetual. There was no pity, only malice. That I why they were to be punished (compare Zephaniah 2:5). Those who show malice will reap what they sow.

The Cherethites were regularly linked with the Philistines as one. The name probably connects with ‘Cretans’. They had come over together from Crete and the Aegean. They are last mentioned in the Old Testament in Zechariah 9:6. After Maccabaean times the Philistines ceased as a people although the names of their cities were perpetuated. The alliteration ‘the cutting off of the Cherethites’ is more prominent in the Hebrew.

PULPIT, "Ezekiel 25:15

The sin of the Philistines is virtually the same as that of the Edomites. They also had a perpetual hatred. Century after century they had been, with various fortunes, the enemies of Israel—defeated (to confine ourselves to more recent history) by Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 17:11) and Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26:6), formidable under

79

Jehoram (2 Chronicles 21:16) and Ahaz (2 Chronicles 28:18), repressed by Hezekiah (Isaiah 14:31), combining with Amalek, and Ammon, and Tyre, and Assyria against Jerusalem (Psalms 83:7).

16 therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am about to stretch out my hand against the Philistines, and I will wipe out the Kerethites and destroy those remaining along the coast.

GILL, "Therefore thus saith the Lord God,.... Because of such wretched malice and despiteful usage: behold, I will stretch out mine hand upon the Philistines; as is foretold, Jer_47:1, and I will cut off the Cherethims: one of the tribes of the Philistines, a principal part of their country, which lay to the south, 1Sa_30:14, there is a beautiful play on words (i) in the Hebrew: and destroy the remnant of the seacoast; as that of Ashdod, Caphtor, and Ashkelon, formerly spoiled by other persons; what they left should now be utterly destroyed; see Isa_20:1.

JAMISON, "cut off the Cherethims — There is a play on similar sounds in the Hebrew, hichratti cherethim, “I will slay the slayers.” The name may have been given to a section of the Philistines from their warlike disposition (1Sa_30:14; 1Sa_31:3). They excelled in archery, whence David enrolled a bodyguard from them (2Sa_8:18; 2Sa_15:18; 2Sa_20:7). They sprang from Caphtor, identified by many with Crete, which was famed for archery, and to which the name Cherethim seems akin. Though in emigration, which mostly tended westwards, Crete seems more likely to be colonized from Philistia than Philistia from Crete, a section of Cretans may have settled at Cherethim in South Philistia, while the Philistines, as a nation, may have come originally from the east

80

(compare Deu_2:23; Jer_47:4; Amo_9:7; Zep_2:5). In Gen_10:14 the Philistines are made distinct from the Caphtorim, and are said to come from the Casluhim; so that the Cherethim were but a part of the Philistines, which 1Sa_30:14 confirms.remnant of — that is, “on the seacoast” of the Mediterranean: those left remainingafter the former overthrows inflicted by Samuel, David, Hezekiah, and Psammetichus of Egypt, father of Pharaoh-necho (Jer_25:20).

ELLICOTT, " (16) Cherethims.—The Cherethim were a portion of the Philistines living on their southern coast (1 Samuel 30:14; Zephaniah 2:5), and are sometimes put for the whole nation. The name is supposed by many to be equivalent to Cretans, and to indicate the origin of the Philistines from the island of Crete; but the etymology is doubtful. The reason for the introduction of their name here was probably a paronomasia in the original, the phrase “I will cut off the Cherethim” reading I will slay the slayers.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 25:16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD Behold, I will stretch out mine hand upon the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethims, and destroy the remnant of the sea coast.

Ver. 16. I will cut off the Cherethims.] These were a part of the Philistines. [Zephaniah 2:5] There is an elegance in the original: q.d., Exscindam exscissores, I will cut off the cutters.

And destroy the remnant of the sea coast.] Palestina lay upon the midland sea. [Zephaniah 3:5]

POOLE, " The Cherethims; either a name for all the Philistines, 1 Samuel 30:14, or else the principal soldiers, expert bowmen, the strength of Philistia.

The remnant, which had escaped the sword of Samuel, David, Hezekiah, and of Psammeticus king of Egypt.

81

Of the sea-coast; the Mediterranean about Azotus.

PULPIT, "Ezekiel 25:16

The Cherethims. The name appears, coupled with the Philistines, in Zephaniah 2:5, and has been supposed to be connected with Crete as the region from which they came, or in which they afterwards settled. By many writers both names are identified with the Cherethites and Pelethites, who appear as David's body-guard in 2 Samuel 8:18; 2 Samuel 15:18, et al; and who are supposed to represent a body of mercenary or subject troops formed out of the two nations. Both Ezekiel and Zephaniah connect the Cherethims with a paronomasia, the verb I will cut off being almost identical in sound with it. (For other prophecies, see Isaiah 11:14; Isaiah 14:29-31; Jeremiah 47:1-7.; Joel 3:4; Amos 1:6-8; Zephaniah 2:4-7; Zechariah 9:4-7.)

17 I will carry out great vengeance on them and punish them in my wrath. Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I take vengeance on them.’”

GILL, "And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes,.... By way of retaliation for their vengeance and fury, wrath and malice, against his people; suggesting, that the judgments inflicted on them, for quantity and quality, should be very great: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them; they shall see the hand of God in it, acknowledge his justice, and confess that their gods were idols, and that the God of Israel is the only true God.

82

JAMISON, "know ... vengeance — They shall know Me, not in mercy, but by My vengeance on them (Psa_9:16).K&D, "TRAPP, "Ezekiel 25:17 And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I [am] the LORD, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them.

Ver. 17. And I will execute great vengeance upon them.] Heb., Vengeances. I will pay them for the new and the old together.

POOLE, " This verse is a confirmation of all spoken against the Philistines, and is in all the particulars explained in what went before.

Vengeance; great for measure, and many for number, vengeances, as the Hebrew.

With furious rebukes; in fierceness of anger, and without pity. They, as other stupid nations, will not see till they feel, and then they shall confess it is the hand of an angry, but just, and mighty God.

WHEDON, "17. They shall know that I am the Lord — The Philistines were led up from Caphtor to Palestine by the same One who led Israel thitherward from Egypt (see Amos 9:7), and they are now punished for the same reason — to bring them to a knowledge of the true God (Ezekiel 6:7). Alas! Philistia refused to learn the lesson to which Israel hearkened.

83