Ezekiel35
American Standard Version · Public Domain
1Moreover the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
2Son of man, set thy face against mount Seir, and prophesy against it,
3and say unto it, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee, O mount Seir, and I will stretch out my hand against thee, and I will make thee a desolation and an astonishment.
4I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate; and thou shalt know that I am Jehovah.
5Because thou hast had a perpetual enmity, and hast given over the children of Israel to the power of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time of the iniquity of the end;
6therefore, as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: since thou hast not hated blood, therefore blood shall pursue thee.
7Thus will I make mount Seir an astonishment and a desolation; and I will cut off from it him that passeth through and him that returneth.
8And I will fill its mountains with its slain: in thy hills and in thy valleys and in all thy watercourses shall they fall that are slain with the sword.
9I will make thee a perpetual desolation, and thy cities shall not be inhabited; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah.
10Because thou hast said, These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it; whereas Jehovah was there:
11therefore, as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, I will do according to thine anger, and according to thine envy which thou hast showed out of thy hatred against them; and I will make myself known among them, when I shall judge thee.
12And thou shalt know that I, Jehovah, have heard all thy revilings which thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid desolate, they are given us to devour.
13And ye have magnified yourselves against me with your mouth, and have multiplied your words against me: I have heard it.
14Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: When the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate.
15As thou didst rejoice over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee: thou shalt be desolate, O mount Seir, and all Edom, even all of it; and they shall know that I am Jehovah.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Ezekiel 35.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: A prophecy against Edom. (1-15).
vv1-9
All who have God against them, have the word of God against them. Those that have a constant hatred to God and his people, as the carnal mind has, can only expect to be made desolate for ever.
vv10-15
When we see the vanity of the world in the disappointments, losses, and crosses, which others meet with, instead of showing ourselves greedy of worldly things, we should sit more loose to them. In the multitude of words, not one is unknown to God; not the most idle word; and the most daring is not above his rebuke. In the destruction of the enemies of the church, God designs his own glory; and we may be sure that he will not come short of his design. And when the fulness of the Jews and Gentiles shall come into the church, all antichristian opposers shall be destroyed.
Key Words
דָּבָר: a word; by implication, a matter (as spoken of) or thing; adverbially, a cause
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
בֵּן: a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)
אָדָם: ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species, mankind, etc.)
שׂוּם: to put (used in a great variety of applications, literal, figurative, inferentially, and elliptically)
פָּנִים: the face (as the part that turns); used in a great variety of applications (literally and figuratively); also (with prepositional prefix) as a preposition (before, etc.)
עַל: above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applications
הַר: a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figuratively)
שֵׂעִיר: Seir, a mountain of Idumaea and its aboriginal occupants, also one in Palestine
נָבָא: to prophesy, i.e. speak (or sing) by inspiration (in prediction or simple discourse)
Cross References
Ezekiel 35Edom's active hostility during Jerusalem's final calamity, crying 'Rase it, rase it' at the downfall.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Edom's violence and gloating over their brother Jacob's disaster in the day of calamity.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Edom coveted Israel's land, ignoring its true owner, Jehovah, whose name is 'The Lord is there.'
Supported by JFB
Mount Seir is explicitly identified as the physical possession and home of Esau, father of Edom.
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God laid Edom's mountains and his heritage waste for the jackals of the wilderness.
Supported by JFB
The 'time when their iniquity had an end' links to Israel's final national chastisement.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Edom pursued his brother with the sword and kept his anger and wrath perpetually.
Supported by JFB
As Edom loved bloodshed, poetic justice decrees that blood shall pursue him.
Supported by JFB
Edom's vow to rebuild is countered by God's decree of perpetual, unreturned desolation.
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The primary parallel judgment on Edom for taking vengeance against the house of Judah.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
The origin of the perpetual hatred: Esau hating Jacob over the stolen blessing.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Desolation characterized by the cutting off of all travelers passing through or returning.
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Edom and confederate nations plotting to cut off Israel and take God's pastures in possession.
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God's servants will rejoice and sing for joy while His enemies are made utterly desolate.
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As Edom did to Israel, so it shall be done to him; his reward returns on him.
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