Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

EZEKIEL - CHAPTER 25

SEVEN HEATHEN NATIONS WHOSE JUDGMENT IS FORETOLD

(Chapters 25-32)

Verses 1-7:

THE AMMONITES TO BE JUDGED

Verses 1, 2 call upon Ezekiel to set his face (testimony) or prophecy against the Ammonites and prophesy against them. They were descendants of Lot, through his incestuous relations with one of his daughters, after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Genesis 19:38. They too were jealous enemies of Israel on every hand, Ezekiel 21:28; Jeremiah 49:1; Amos 1:13; Zephaniah 2:9.

Verse 3 announces three occasions of Ammon’s sinful conduct that justified the Divine judgment that should befall her, as certified to Ezekiel by the word of the Lord, as follows: 1) They had said "aha," rejoiced at the captivity of Israel when her sanctuary was profaned, though they were a neighboring nation to the east of Jordan; 2) They too rejoiced at the desolation of the land of Israel when their residences had been burned, their crops of the fields burned and destroyed; and 3) They had gloated when they learned that the prophets, priests, and princes, leaders and people of Israel and Judah had been carried by cruel hands into captivity in Babylon, Ezekiel 26:2; Proverbs 17:5.

Verse 4 prophesied that because of their evil attitude and treatment of the Jews God would deliver them to the men of the east, meaning the Nomadic tribes of the desert of Arabia who would not only move into desolated Israel with their herds and flocks, but also subdue the Ammonites in their own land east of Jordan These Nomads of the east were to eat the fruit and drink the milk of their flocks in their own land, Jeremiah 49:1-28; Genesis 45:18.

Verses 5, 6 declared that God would make Rabbah the chief city of Ammon to be destroyed so completely that it would become a stable for camels and couching-place or fold for flocks of the field so that Ammonites would know or recognize that He was God, 2 Samuel 12:26; Isaiah 17:2; Isaiah 32:14. This was to befall them because they had "clapped their hands," "stamped" with their feet, with dancing, and spitefully rejoiced in their hearts because of the desolation of Israel. They ignored the warning that God would severely judge those who cursed Israel, Genesis 12:3; Lamentations 2:15; Zephaniah 2:14-15.

Verse 7 continues to explain that because of the sins of the Ammonites against God and Israel He would deliver them for a spoil to loot to the heathen of the east, v. 4. He was to cut them off from the people and cause them to perish out of the countries, so that Rabbah their chief city, should be or exist no more, and they should know that He was the true God. This seems to have been completely effected for the following 300 years under the Greeks and Romans. During those years some splendid buildings were erected in the area, the ruins of which may yet be seen today, Proverbs 24:17.

JUDGMENT OF MOAB

Verses 8-11:

Verse 8 charges that because Moab and Seir repeatedly babbled that the "house of Judah was like all the heathen," Moab too should be gravely judged, Deuteronomy 2:5; Isaiah 15:1; Jeremiah 48:1; Amos 2:1. They had forgotten that nine centuries earlier one of their own Moabite kings had been told by a Gentile seer or prophet that Israel should dwell alone, not be reckoned among the nations, as recounted Numbers 23:5-9.

Verses 9-11 prophesies that because Moab and Seir had also denied the people, and sanctuary, and land of Israel He would make their Eastern frontiers to be a place of ease for invading mauraders who would come in to destroy the strongholds of their country, Besh-jesimoth, Baal-meon, and Kirathaim. It was once the land of Reuben, Joshua 13:15-21. These men of the East, from the deserts of Arabia were to come through the mountain passes into the land of the Ammonites subduing them and sweeping on northward until they of Moab would be no more among the nations at all, until the heathen Moabites surviving the judgments would come to know that the Lord was God, Isaiah 16:6.

COMING JUDGMENT ON EDOM

Verses 12-14:

Verse 12 states that because of Edom’s vengeance and revenge upon the house of Judah she too is to face irrevocable judgment, Genesis 12:3. The Edomites were the offspring of Esau, Genesis 36:1. Mt Seir was given Esau for a possession, Deuteronomy 2:1-5; See also Ezekiel 35:2-3. See also 2 Chronicles 28:17; Psalms 137:7; Jeremiah 49:7-8; Amos 1:11; Obadiah 1:10.

Verse 13 asserts that because of Edom’s sins God would stretch out His hand to execute judgment that would cut off man and beast, and make the land desolate from Teman, and cause those of Dedan to fall by the sword. It was to be from the south to the north, through all the land, Jeremiah 49:8.

Verse 14 declares that Edom, who had shown vengeance and revenge toward Israel, would have the Lord’s hand of vengeance turned upon them by the hand of the Israelites whom they had persecuted, until they knew or recognized that God was a just avenger of sins, Deuteronomy 32:35; Romans 12:19.

PENDING JUDGMENT ON PHILISTIA

Verses 15-17:

Verse 15 reasserts that this judgment prophecy is from the Lord, not just the rantings of a self-willed Ezekiel, 2 Peter 1:20-21. God set forth the just ground on which He would send judgment upon the Philistines, Isaiah 14:29; Jeremiah 25:10; Joel 3:4; Zephaniah 2:4; Zephaniah 2:7; Amos 1:6. It was because they had dealt by vengeance, showed vengeance, and held a spiteful heart toward His people of Judah, Genesis 12:3; 2 Chronicles 28:18-19. They had a long-held hostility against Judah, just as the Ammonites, Moabites, and Edomites had.

Verses 16, 17 set forth that because of their continuing spirit and vengeance against His chosen people Israel, God had irrevocably set Himself against the Philistines, to cut off the Cherethims, by the seacoast, to cause them to be extinct, even as the Philistines are today. This execution of vengeance was prophesied as coming from the Lord, who is both holy in character and just in His doings, in punishing wrong as well as rewarding the right, Zephaniah 2:4; 1 Samuel 30:14; Exodus 20:1-5; Galatians 6:7-8; Ecclesiastes 12:13-14. See also Psalms 9:16; Isaiah 26:11.