Chapter 25

1 God’s vengeance, for their insolency against the Jews, upon the Ammonites; 8 upon Moab and Seir; 12 upon Edom, 15 and upon the Philistines.

1. Came again. Thus begins a new series of prophecies having to do with various neighboring nations. Ezekiel had finished his testimony relative to the destruction of Jerusalem and the remnants of the Israelite state. He was to say no more about it, but was to await the fulfillment of the foretold doom. In the interval God bade him to direct his attention to the nations surrounding Israel, and to forecast their inevitable fate. Judgment had begun with the house of God (see Eze. 9:6; cf. 1 Peter 4:17), but now it was to extend to the outside world.

God is not a God of one nation only; He is a God of all the world. He is no respecter of persons. All souls are His regardless of national affiliations. He is as anxious to save the inhabitants of one nation as those of another. By revealing Himself as the supreme disposer of events and the arbiter of nations, He aimed to attract men to Himself and to solicit their worship. He planned that a display of His omniscience, in forecasting so accurately their future history, should provide the necessary basis for faith. True, the threatenings called down upon these peoples appear severe and unrelenting, unmixed with mercy. However, it must be remembered that these were national judgments in which the personal salvation of the individual citizens was not necessarily involved. It is often the case that national calamity drives men to seek God, so that what appears to be for their disadvantage really works for their good.

God keeps an accurate account with nations. They are all tested as to whether or not they will fulfill the high destiny assigned them. When their account is full, they suffer their penalty, as a nation. The same was true with Israel. It suffered the most tragic overthrow, but through it all God planned to work out the salvation of a small remnant. See on Dan. 4:17.

Furthermore, at a time when Israel was looking to some of these nations for military support, she needed to be shown the utter futility of her aspirations, for all these nations themselves would suffer defeat.

This new section contains messages to seven nations most closely connected with the fortunes of Israel and Judah: (1) Ammon (ch. 25:1–7), (2) Moab (ch. 25:8–11), (3) Edom (ch. 25:12–14), (4) Philistia (ch. 25:15–17), (5) Tyre (chs. 26:1 to 28:19), (6) Sidon (ch. 28:20–23), and (7) Egypt (chs. 29:1–32:32 to 32:32).

Some are puzzled that Ezekiel includes no prophecy against Babylon. Isaiah (Isa. 13), Jeremiah (Jer. 51:52, 53), and Daniel (Dan. 2; Dan. 7) all predict her downfall. Ezekiel’s work was to point out how God would use Babylon as the executor of His will in judgments upon His people, and the effect of this might have been destroyed had he dwelt upon Babylon’s own final overthrow. It was more appropriate that the exiles for whom he wrote should “seek the peace” of the people among whom they dwelt (see Jer. 29:7) than that they should exult in her eventual downfall. To speak openly against the country of his captors probably would have cost Ezekiel his life.

2. The Ammonites. Descendants of Lot by his younger daughter, and thus blood relatives of Israel (Gen. 19:38). For centuries they had shown hostility (Judges 3:13; 11:12–15, 32, 33; 1 Sam. 11:1–11; 2 Sam. 10:6–14; Amos 1:13–15). Their religion was a degrading and cruel superstition, demanding human sacrifices. Their worship of Molech was a continual source of temptation to Israel (see 1 Kings 11:7).

3. Aha. Heb. heХach, an interjection, here of malicious joy at Jerusalem’s downfall.

4. Men of the east. Heb. beneРqedem, literally, “sons of the east.” The name is applied to various tribes that roamed to and for in the wilderness east of Ammon and Moab (see Gen. 29:1; Judges 6:3, 33; 7:12; 8:10; 1 Kings 4:30; Job 1:3).

Palaces. Heb. tiroth enclosures protected by stone walls used for encampments (see Gen. 25:16; Num. 31:10; Ps. 69:25). The LXX renders the passage, “They shall lodge in thee with their stuff, and they shall pitch their tents in thee.”

5. Rabbah. Rabbath-ammon, the capital city of the Ammonites (2 Sam. 12:26; Eze. 21:20), 23 mi. (36.8 km.) east of the Jordan near the source of the Jabbok. Ptolemy Philadelphus later founded the city of Philadelphia on the site of Rabbah. This Philadelphia must not be confused with a city of the same name in Asia Minor (Rev. 1:11). The modern name of Rabbah is ФAmmaЖn.

6. Clapped thine hands. To clap the hands and to stamp the feet are gestures of strong emotion (Num. 24:10; Eze. 21:14, 17; Eze. 22:13); here these actions are manifestations of malicious joy. The cause of the rejoicing was apparently not the prospect of material advantage, but malice and “despite against the land of Israel.” They should have trembled at the realization of how Rabbah might have been selected instead of Jerusalem for the initial campaign (Eze. 21:19–22).

7. Know that I am the Lord. A fact that they had been unwilling to recognize before. God designed that a knowledge of His power would lead men to seek His salvation.

8. Moab and Seir. Other prophecies against Moab are found in Isa. 15; Isa. 16; Jer. 48; Zeph. 2:8, 9. The two nations are possibly mentioned together here because of the similarity of their sins. They are later treated separately, Moab (Eze. 25:8–11) and Seir, or Edom (ch. 25:12–14). Seir is another name for Edom. The LXX mentions only Moab here.

The Moabites were descendants of Lot by his elder daughter, and so were blood relatives of Israel, as were also the Ammonites (see on v. 2). These two countries, closely associated in their history and fortunes, are threatened with similar doom.

Moab is repeatedly mentioned in sacred history (see Num. 22; 24; 25; Judges 3:12–31; 1 Sam. 14:47; 2 Sam. 8:2; 2 Kings 3:5; 24:2; 2 Chron. 20). Sometimes Israel was in subjection to Moab, as under Eglon (Judges 3:12–31) and sometimes Moab was in subjection to Israel, as under David (2 Sam. 8:2).

The Moabite Stone, found in the ruins of Dibon in 1868, tells of the oppression of Moab by Omri, king of Israel, and of Moab’s revolt under Mesha, her king. Mesha attributes his victory over Israel to his god, Chemosh (see Additional Note on 2 Kings 3).

Like unto all the heathen. The inhabitants of Judah had asserted that their God was superior to heathen gods and was able to deliver them. Now Judah’s misfortune seemed to deny this claim. The Moabites exulted with malicious delight at the plight of their neighbors to the west.

9. Open the side of Moab. That is, open up Moab’s flank to the enemy. Lying on a high plateau with steep approaches, Moab was not easily accessible to her enemies. But if the cities on the frontier fell, the rest of the country would soon be overrun.

Beth-jeshimoth. A city at SweimeЊ (Suweima) according to Abel, 21/2 mi. (4 km.) east of the point where the Jordan enters the Dead Sea.

Baal-meon. A town about 91/2 mi. (15.2 km.) east of the Dead Sea near its northern end, now called MaФйЖn.

Kiriathaim. A town about 10 mi. (16 km.) south by west from Baal-meon, now called elРQereiaЖt.

The cities named all belonged to the region that Sihon and Og had seized from the Moabites centuries before. This territory was in turn wrested from the Amorites by the Israelites at the time of their entry, and for a long time was occupied by them. When the power of Israel waned, Moab had seized it from her. They are spoken of here, perhaps, in view of their having been a possession of Israel.

10. Men of the east. See on v. 4.

That the Ammonites. The verse division obscures the sense. The sentence should run on into v. 11: “that it may be remembered no more among the nations, and I will execute judgments upon Moab” (RSV).

12. Edom. The Edomites were the descendants of Isau, Jacob’s elder brother. The hostility between Israel and Edom goes back to the time that Esau sold his birthright to Jacob (Gen. 25:29–34). Israel had been especially warned not to “abhor an Edomite” (Deut. 23:7). Nevertheless enmity persisted.

13. Teman. Not positively identified; formerly thought by some to be a town near Petra, a district, or a name for Edom. The people of Teman were famed for their wisdom (Jer. 49:7; Obadiah 8, 9).

Dedan. This tribe lived in the vicinity of the oasis elРФOla in western Arabia.

14. By the hand of my people. This phrase suggests that the divine vengeance of Edom should be accomplished by the hand of the Israelites. Some have pointed to a fulfillment of the prediction in the Maccabean age, when John Hyrcanus conquered the Idumaeans (Josephus Antiquities xiii. 9. 1) and compelled them to submit to circumcision as a mark of absorption into the Jewish people. It appears more likely that this portion of the prophecy was designed to meet its fulfillment with reference to God’s plans for the restored kingdom of Israel. This new state would eventually have crushed all enemies (see chs. 38; 39).

15. The Philistines. For their origin see on Gen. 10:14; 21:32; Joshua 13:2; Vol. II, pp. 27, 33, 34. For other prophecies against the Philistines see on Isa. 14:29–32; also see Jer. 47; Amos 1:6–8; Zeph. 2:4–7.

16. The Cherethims. A tribe living probably on the southern coast of the Philistines (see on 1 Sam. 30:14; cf. Zeph. 2:5).

Destroy the remnant. The Philistines have disappeared, but of Israel at least a remnant was to survive (see Isa. 1:9).