Perpetual hatred. — Enmity towards Israel is also imputed to the Ammonites, Moabites, and Philistines in Ezekiel 25; but that of Edom was deeper and coeval with its first ancestor (see Genesis 25:22, &c., Genesis 27:41); its peculiar malignity is noticed by Amos 1:11. (Comp. also Obadiah 1:10-15.)
Shed the blood. — “Blood” is not in the original, and should be omitted. The verb means literally to pour out, and the clause should be rendered hast scattered the children of Israel. The same expression occurs in Psalms 63:10; Jeremiah 18:21. The time specifically referred to is that of the overthrow of Jerusalem, as both that of their great “calamity” and that when “their iniquity had an end.” (On the last phrase, see Note on Ezekiel 21:29.) So the world-power generally, while it may fawn upon and corrupt the Church in the day of its prosperity, shows its undisguised hostility in every time of adversity.