Ezekiel 35 - The Popular Commentary by Paul E. Kretzmann

Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

Against the Enmity of Edom

Son of man, set thy face against Mount Seir, this mountain range with its valleys, extending southward from the Dead Sea, being the home of the descendants of Esau, or Edom, and prophesy against it,

and say unto it, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, O Mount Seir, the entire country of Idumea, Genesis 36:9, I am against thee, and I will stretch out Mine hand against thee, in an act of punishment, and I will make thee most desolate, literally, "desolation and desolation," that is, an utter waste.

I will lay thy cities waste, so that they would be heaps of ruins, and thou shalt be desolate, a dreary desert waste, and thou shalt know, by the evidence thus given, that I am the Lord.

Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, a lasting enmity, even from the time of Esau, Genesis 25:22 ff; Genesis 27:37, and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, literally, "and hast delivered the sons of Israel to the hands of the sword at the time of trouble," in the time that their iniquity had an end, literally, "at the time of the guilt of the end," namely, at the time of the Chaldean conquest of Judah, when the Edomites gave particular evidence of the fact that their hostility was as severe as ever:

therefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, I will prepare thee unto blood, so that Edom, as it were, would be dissolved in blood, and blood shall pursue thee, slaughter following after the inhabitants of Idumea, no matter where they would go; sith (since) thou hast not hated blood, had not been found shrinking back from bloodshed upon all occasions, even blood shall pursue thee. The measure which Edom had meted unto others would be meted to his own country.

Thus will I make Mount Seir most desolate, an utter waste and desert, and cut off from it him that passeth out and him that returneth, so that traffic would no longer be carried on, no caravans passing across the country from Southern Arabia to Egypt.

And I will fill his mountains with his slain men, in an act of slaughter which would wipe out the nation; in thy hills and in thy valleys and in all thy rivers shall they fall that are slain with the sword, the war consuming them without mercy.

I will make thee perpetual desolations, a permanent desert waste, and thy cities shall not return, not be restored to their former power and be inhabited again; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. Idumea lies prostrate and deserted to this day, a lasting memorial of the Lord's punitive anger when He carries out his judgments in righteousness.

Because thou hast said, These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, namely, Israel and Judah, and we will possess it, although the inhabitants of Edom knew that Canaan was given for a possession to the children of Israel, whereas the Lord was there, Jehovah was the real Owner of the Land of Promise and held it in trust for His own children,

Against the Covetousness of Edom

therefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, I will even do according to thine anger, rewarding it with the injury which it deserved, and according to thine envy which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them, for anger and envy grow out of hatred and show themselves in word and deed; and I will make myself known among them when I have judged thee, that is, by punishing Edom for his pride and the crimes of his hatred, the Lord would bear witness of Himself that he would not permit His people and their land to be attacked and devastated without taking revenge upon the enemies.

And thou shalt know that I am the Lord, and that I have heard all thy blasphemies which thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, for a mockery of the Lord's people amounted to blasphemy of the name of the Lord Himself, saying, They are laid desolate, they are given us to consume. The fact that the Lord chose to punish his people did not give the enemies the right to take advantage of Judah's plight and to put themselves in possession of their land.

Thus with your mouth ye have boasted against Me, magnifying themselves to the detriment of the Lord, and have multiplied your words against Me, in an excess of blasphemous exultation; I have heard them.

Thus saith the Lord God, When the whole earth rejoiceth, when all those who hear and heed the gracious call of Jehovah, men from the great majority of nations acknowledging him as the one true God, I will make thee desolate, as the one exception in the midst of general rejoicing.

As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, in vindictive meanness over its downfall, so will I do unto thee, in executing the punishment of his vengeance upon them; thou shalt be desolate, O Mount Seir, and all Idumea, even all of it; and they shall know that I am the Lord. All those who are guilty of blasphemous mockery against the Lord may expect to share the fate of Edom, as it was here prophesied and as it later came to pass.