Ezekial 32-35

There are two major structural peculiarities that set Ezekiel off as distinctive.

First, the book is a collection of prophecies arranged in almost consistent chronological

order. No other prophetical book is as consistently chronological as Ezekiel, except

Habakkuk, and Zechariah comes close.16 Furthermore, Ezekiel dated his oracles with

unusual precision: usually by year, month, and day of the month.17 He may have done

this to stress the certainty of the predictions so that when they came to pass there would

be no question as to their authenticity.

A second structural characteristic of the book is that it is logically organized as well as

chronologically organized.

 

Ezekiel initially received a commission to deliver messages of

judgment (chs. 2—3), but later he received another commission to deliver messages of

deliverance (ch. 33). These two commissions identify the two major parts of the book that

had particular relevance to Israel.

 

Ezekiel was a most dramatic and forceful communicator of the messages that God gave

him. He used more symbolism and allegory than any other Old Testament prophet.25

Evidently God directed him to use such colorful methods to get the attention of his

hearers, who were very discouraged and disinterested in what God had to say to them.

Most of the book is prose, but some of it is poetry.

 

Ezekiel looked beyond the present condition of Israel to the time when she would

experience restoration and prosperity in the Promised Land. God would bring His chosen

people back in a new Exodus cleansed from their former sins and revitalized with a new

heart and His Spirit under a new covenant. "David" would be God's agent of salvation

and a symbol of unity for the nation. Israel would then enjoy unprecedented prosperity

and security in her own land. God would establish residence among the Israelites and

reorganize their worship.  It is his vision of the future for which Ezekiel has become famous, and in this he surpassed his older contemporary. He was able to see through the Israelites in

exile and so spoke to all Israel, and He was able to see through Israel and so spoke to all

humanity.

 

We might say that Ezekiel saw the dirty glass in his window on the world, but he also

saw through the glass far into the future. He saw the reasons for Israel's present misery,

but he also saw the reason for her future restoration, namely the faithfulness of Israel's

glorious God. Perhaps it is this long view that saved Ezekiel from becoming another

weeping prophet like Jeremiah. He had a grip on the big picture that lay ahead of Israel

and the nations like few other prophets.  Ezekiel spoke of a future covenant of peace and future worship. The permanent value of the Book of Ezekiel is its revelation of the reason for hope.

Whereas Jeremiah sometimes despaired and lost sight of his hope, Ezekiel never did. It is

somewhat surprising that Ezekiel was so full of hope when he was in a worse situation

than Jeremiah. For most of Jeremiah's ministry the exile was ahead, but Ezekiel spent his

whole ministry in exile ministering among Israelites who were more thoroughly

discouraged than Jeremiah's audiences. The exiles were a hard audience to

minister to.  Ezekeil remained hopeful. His perspective is the key to anyone remaining

hopeful in the midst of very discouraging circumstances, even us. The thing that filled his heart with hope was his understanding of the Lord. That understanding came to him from a vision of God. As soon as most Christians hear that some prophet had a vision of God, we say to ourselves, "Well that lets me out. Maybe if I could have a vision of God like Ezekiel did I could have the ministry he did and not lose hope." We fail to appreciate that we have a far greater "vision" of God in Scripture than any Old Testament prophet ever did. We need to get past the vision idea to the product of the vision.  We can have a great understanding of God; we can obtain by reading about Ezekiel's vision and the other revelations of God in the Bible.

 

The secret of Ezekiel's optimism about the future even though he lived in a situation that

led most of the other Israelites to abandon their commitment to God, was his personal

acquaintance with God Himself. This book reveals the very nature of God Himself to a

degree no other book in the Bible does.  As we read this book and get to know what it reveals, we need to ask God to help us to understand Him better, above everything else, because understanding God is the very foundation for hope.   A commitment to ministry by

itself will not preserve us from all the pitfalls that surround us. Only ministry grounded in

and growing out of our personal understanding and appreciation of the character of God

will do that. That is the practical value of studying what some may consider this intimidating book.

 

32:1 This oracle assured both the Jewish exiles in Babylon and the

Egyptians, including the Jewish exiles there, that God would bring down

Egypt. Jerusalem's destruction was to be no source of comfort for the

Egyptians.

32:2 Ezekiel was to utter a lamentation over Pharaoh.

32:3 The Lord announced that He would cast His net over Pharaoh using a

large group of people as His instruments.420 They would take Pharaoh

captive, and the Egyptians would go into captivity. Since the Egyptians

regarded the Pharaoh, the crocodile, and the Nile as manifestations of their

gods, this announcement meant that Yahweh would humble Egypt's gods

as well as bring her defeat.

32:4-6 Yahweh would set Pharaoh down in an open field and leave him on dry

land, out of his element. Birds and beasts would then devour him (cf. 29:5;

This is a picture of the dispersion of the Egyptians from their land.

32:7-8 At the time God did this, He would darken the skies over Egypt

32:9-10 Many onlooking peoples would be upset when they observed the

destruction and dispersion of the Egyptians (cf. 26:16; 27:35). The kings

of other nations would tremble for their own safety when they saw what

God would do to Egypt.

32:11-12 The Lord promised to send the military power of Babylon against Egypt.

32:13-14 The enemy would also slay the Egyptians' cattle.

32:15-16 When the Lord brought this devastation on the land and the people, they

would know that He is God.

 

A summary lament over Egypt 32:17-32

The last of the seven oracles against Egypt fittingly pictures the nation in its final resting

place, the grave or Sheol, surrounded by other dead nations that had preceded it in

judgment.

32:18-19 Ezekiel was to wail for Egypt

32:20-21 Egypt would die as a victim of war, and her people would be scattered

from their land.

32:31-32 When Pharaoh died, he would see that his was not the only nation to suffer

the fate that the Lord announced, and this would be of some comfort to

him.

FUTURE BLESSINGS FOR ISRAEL CHS. 33—48

"This last major division of the book focuses on the restoration of Israel's

blessing. Israel would be judged for her sin (chaps. 1—24) as would the

surrounding nations (chaps. 25—32). But Israel will not remain under

judgment forever. God had set her apart as His special people, and He will

fulfill His promises to her."

A WARNING TO THE EXILES 33:1-20

Its strong encouragement to repent.

The message in 33:23-33 is a strong call to the Israelites to

repent and to recommit to obeying the Mosaic Law.431

An exhortation to heed the watchman 33:1-9

God appointed him as a 'watchman' for a second time. His message still

stressed individual accountability and responsibility, but the focus was

now on the Lord's restoration of Israel."432

33:1-4 He was now to tell them that if the Lord brought war on a land and the

people of that land appointed a watchman for them, they would be

responsible if they did not heed his warning.  Watchmen stood on the towers of walls in ancient cities and scanned the horizon for approaching enemies. If they saw one coming, they would

blow their trumpet, usually a shofar (ram's horn), to warn the people who

were farming the lands to take refuge in the city. The figure of blood being

on one's head comes from sacrificial practice. The offerer placed his hands

on the head of the victim symbolizing the transfer of guilt from the offerer

to his substitute.

33:5-6 The citizen would be responsible for his own death if he failed to heed the

warning of the watchman. If he responded to the warning, he could save

his life. But if the watchman failed to warn the people, he would be

responsible for their deaths.

33:7-9 God reminded Ezekiel that He had appointed him a watchman (Are you a watchman? For the Body of Christ and the lost?) for the Israelites (cf. 3:17-21). He was responsible to deliver the Lord's messages to His people. If Ezekiel failed to warn the people that they would die for

their sins, God would hold him responsible for their deaths (cf. Gen. 4:9;

9:5). But if Ezekiel warned the sinners of the consequences of their

iniquity and they disregarded his warning, they would die, but God would

hold them, not Ezekiel, responsible (cf. Acts 20:26). Ezekiel had carried

out his commission faithfully.

Believers have a duty to be 'watchmen' who warn

those who are in the world and are without God of the destructive nature

of sin and its final irrevocable result—death and hell (33:1-33). Our

responsibility is to warn and proclaim as persuasively as possible, but how

the message is received is beyond our control."433

An exhortation to turn from evil 33:10-20

The Israelites seem to have taken on more personal responsibility for their

sufferings than they had earlier (cf. ch. 18). They wondered how they

could survive God's judgments. This is the first indication in the book that

they were conscious of their own sins. The Lord affirmed again that He

took no pleasure in putting people to death for their sins (cf. 18:23, 32).

He much preferred for them to turn from their sin and live (cf. 2 Pet. 3:9).

He also appealed again to the people to do just that: to repent of their

wicked ways and live (cf. 18:30-31).

33:12-13 The right conduct of a usually righteous person would not exempt him

from judgment if he sinned. Neither would the sinful conduct of a usually

sinful person exempt him from forgiveness if he repented. The usually

righteous person should not take God's promise of life for righteous living

as a guarantee that he was exempt from punishment even if he sinned.

33:14-16 God's warnings that the wicked would die because of their sinfulness also

needed to be understood properly. They would die only if they failed to

repent. If the wicked turned from his sins and obeyed the Mosaic Law, he

would not die (prematurely). God would not hold his former sins against

him. He would receive his life as a reward for his righteous conduct.

33:17 The Jews were saying that the Lord was not dealing with them justly, but

it was really their conduct and their thinking that were not right.

33:18-19 If a normally righteous person abandoned his righteous lifestyle and

pursued sin, he would die for it. But if a normally sinful person abandoned

his sinful lifestyle and did what was right, he would live for it.

33:20 The people persisted in claiming that the Lord's ways of dealing with them

were not just. Yet Yahweh assured them that He would deal with each of

them fairly, according to their own individual behavior. God does not

blame one person for another person's sins. In our day many people refuse to take personal responsibility for their lives and chose rather to blame someone else for the way they live (e.g. a

parent, employer, teacher, abuser, the devil, God). We may not be

responsible for the actions of others that have resulted in our present

condition, but we are responsible for how we conduct ourselves in our

present condition.

 RESTORATION TO THE PROMISED LAND 33:21—39:29

"The concept of the land is particularly significant to the six messages

[33:21—39:29] delivered in that one night before the news of Jerusalem's

fall reached the exiles in Babylonia [cf. 33:21-22]. Since Jerusalem had

fallen, would the land be lost to Israel (33:21-33)? It was the false

'shepherds' of Israel who had lost the land for Israel by leading the people

astray from the truth. But the true 'shepherd,' the Messiah, would

ultimately restore the land to Israel (ch. 34). Those foreigners who had

possessed the land of Israel and had oppressed her people would be judged

and removed so that Israel might again possess her own land (35:1—

Israel and the Promised Land 33:21-33

The date and setting of the six messages about Israel's restoration to the Promised

Land 33:21-22

33:22 The Lord had spoken to Ezekiel the evening before the refugees arrived

and gave him permission to speak to the people when they heard the

announcement of Jerusalem's fall. This broke the silence that God had

imposed on him (cf. 3:26-27; 24:27).

The first message of hope 33:23-33  (Occupying the promised land is CONDITIONAL!)

This first message dealt with a serious defect in the Israelites. The Jews still in Judea

were not listening to the whole counsel of God but were picking and choosing what they

would obey (vv. 23-29). The Jews in exile were listening to Ezekiel, but they were not

responding (vv. 30-33). If they were to profit from the messages of hope that Ezekiel

proceeded to give them, all the Jews needed to respond to those he had already delivered

by repenting. Thus this first message in this series prepared them for those that followed.

The first step on the road to hope was a change in their attitude toward God's word.

The attitude of the Jews in Judea 33:23-29

33:23-24 The Lord informed the prophet about the attitude of the Jews still in the

land. The few Jews who still lived in the waste places of the Promised

Land were claiming that since God had promised that land to Abraham

they were right in staying in it (cf. 11:15; Matt. 3:9; Luke 3:8; John 8:33,

39). But Jeremiah had told the Jews in the land to submit to the

Babylonians (Jer. 40—44).

33:25-26 Ezekiel was to address the refugees who had brought the message of

Jerusalem's fall and the other Israelites in the name of their sovereign

Lord. Since the Jews did not keep the Mosaic Law (cf. Exod. 20:4-5, 13-

14; Lev. 17:10-14; 19:26), did they have a right to possess the land? God

had promised the land to Abraham's descendants, but He had also told

them that they could only occupy their land if they obeyed the law that He

had given them (cf. Deut. 27:28; 29:25-29).

33:27 The Lord assured the people that the Jews who remained in the land would

die there by various means including the sword, beasts, and disease.

33:28-29 God promised to completely desolate the land and to humble the pride of

His people. Even the mountains would be desolate, and travelers would

not even pass through the land. Then they would know that He is God,

when He desolated their land.

The attitude of the Jews in Babylon 33:30-33

33:30-31 God also told Ezekiel that the exiles were speaking to one another about

him privately and publicly. They were saying, Let's go and hear what

Yahweh has to say to us through Ezekiel. So they came and sat before the

prophet and listened to what he said, but their heart remained bent on

pursuing their lustful desires and personal gain.

33:32-33 They listened to Ezekiel as they listened to entertainers, singers or

instrumentalists. Entertainers expect no response to their performances

beyond applause, but preachers expect people to change. The exiles

admired Ezekiel for his content and delivery, but they did not put into

practice what he told them to do (cf. James 1:22-25). They did not apply it

to their own lives and change. Consequently, when what Ezekiel promised

came, namely, judgment for personal responsibility (vv. 12-20), they

would know that a prophet, a spokesman for God, had been in their midst,

not just an entertainer.  This is one of the most pointed indictments of God's people in the Bible. When we are fairly comfortable it is easy to listen to preaching and to critique the preacher but do nothing about what he has said. It is essential that we ask ourselves, What does God want

me to do in view of what I have just heard? and then do it!

2. False and true shepherds ch. 34

Previously the Lord had said that the Israelites would not occupy the Promised Land

because they had disobeyed the Mosaic Covenant. This disobedience was clear from the

behavior of the people still in the land (33:25-26) and the Jews in exile (33:31-32). In this

message He laid the burden of responsibility for the Israelites' failure at the feet of their

leaders (cf. 13:1—14:11; 22).

The accusation against Israel's unfaithful rulers 34:1-7

34:1-2 The Lord gave Ezekiel a message for the shepherds (leaders, rulers, cf. Ps.

23) of Israel. Ancient Near Easterners often referred to kings and leaders

as "shepherds" God pronounced judgment on them for

three reasons. First, they fed themselves rather than the people; they were

selfish. They were more interested in providing for themselves than for the

people whom God had placed in their care (cf. John 10:11; 21:15-17).

They exploited their followers.

34:3-4 Specifically, these unfaithful shepherds ate the best parts of the sacrifices

rather than offering them to God. They used the wool of sheep to make

clothing for themselves rather than offering these animals as sacrifices to

God.

Second, rather than feeding God's sheep they slaughtered them; they were

oppressive. They had not restored those that needed restoring nor sought

those that had wandered away and needed finding. They had dominated

God's flock rather than providing loving, self-sacrificial leadership. The

primary responsibility of a leader is to care for the needs of those he leads,

even if this requires sacrificing his own desires.

34:5-6 Third, the rulers allowed the people to scatter over the earth instead of

keeping them safely together; they were negligent. The Israelites scattered

because they lacked leadership and became prey for the enemies of God's

flock. They wandered everywhere, but there was no one to seek them out

(cf. Matt. 9:36).

The verdict concerning the leadership of Israel 34:7-10

The Lord repeated His accusation against Israel's leaders (vv. 7-8) and then announced

what He planned to do about the situation (vv. 9-31).

34:7-8 These false shepherds needed to listen to God's word to them because they

had let the Israelites become prey for their enemies, and rather than

seeking the lost they had fed themselves.

34:9-10 The Lord swore to oppose these shepherds, to hold them accountable for

His sheep, to stop them from leading them further, and to rescue His sheep

from their influence (cf. Matt. 20:25-28).

The Lord's intervention for Israel 34:11-24

34:11-12 The Lord further promised to search for His wandering sheep Himself, to

care for them, and to deliver them from the places where they had

scattered in the gloomy days of their national distress

34:13-14 He would lead them out from among the peoples where they had gone and

bring them back to their own land (cf. vv. 4-6). He would nourish them on

the mountains, beside the streams, and in the best (inhabited) places of the

land (cf. Ps. 23:1; John 4; 6:31-35). They would enjoy good pasture and

would experience rest in good grazing ground, the richest pasture in the

land.

"If the scattering were literal, and no one is foolhardy as to

deny this, then the regathering must be equally so."439

34:15-16 God Himself would feed His flock and lead the sheep to rest (cf. v. 3). He

would seek the lost, return the scattered, heal the broken, and strengthen

the sick (cf. vv. 4, 6; Isa. 61:1-2; Luke 4:16-21). He would also destroy the

fat, strong shepherds who had failed Him by feeding these leaders

judgment.

34:17-19 The Lord announced too that He would distinguish among the members of

His flock judging them individually (cf. Matt. 25:31-46). Here the Lord

viewed the leaders as sheep among His sheep rather than as shepherds.

They were, after all, also His sheep. Some of these leaders had not only

eaten good pasture and drunk clear water but had made it impossible for

the other sheep to eat good food and drink good water. The ordinary sheep

had to get by with trampled grass and muddy water.

34:20 God would judge between the fat and the lean sheep, between those who

fed themselves and kept others from eating and those who had to exist on

poor food and drink.

34:21-22 Because some of God's sheep suffered at the hands of their fellow sheep

who pushed and shoved them around, the Lord would deliver even the

weak, but He would distinguish the two types of His sheep. He would

deliver His people from poor leaders as well as predatory nations.

34:23-24 The Lord promised to set over His sheep one shepherd, His servant David,

who would personally feed them (cf. John 10:9; 14:6; Acts 4:12). Yahweh

would be their God, and His servant David would be prince (Heb. nasi',

This the Lord assuredly promised

37:22-26).

In view of the promises that God Himself would shepherd His sheep and

the promises that His servant David would shepherd them, it seems clear

that a god-man is in view (cf. 37:24-25; Jer. 23:5-6; 30:9; Hos. 3:5; John

10:30; 1 Tim. 2:5). Did God mean that He would raise David from the

dead to lead the Israelites again? No, He probably meant that someone

from David's descendants would lead them (cf. 2 Sam. 7:12-16; Isa. 55:3-

4; Jer. 30:9; Hos. 3:5).441 David was the model shepherd of sheep and the

model king of Israel (cf. 1 Sam. 13:14).

". . . David was the man whom God chose and in whom He

delighted; the king who triumphed against all his foes and

who extended his kingdom in all directions; the man of

Judah under whose genius the whole nation was for a time

united."442

Though the identity of this "David" may have been obscure to Ezekiel's

audience, history demonstrated that it was one of David's descendants who

proved to be the Good Shepherd, even Jesus Christ (John 10:11, 14).

"In a sense Jesus, the Good Shepherd and the Son of David,

is in view here, but the eschatological orientation of the

whole passage removes the setting from the period of His

earthly ministry in the first century to that of His second

advent when He will come to sit on the throne of David."443

The covenant of peace 34:25-31

"The themes of regathering as sheep and of covenant merge in Ezekiel

34:25-31. The Lord promises to make a covenant of peace with His

regathered sheep."444

34:25 The Lord also promised to make a covenant of peace (i.e., resulting in

peace) with Israel (cf. 16:60; 37:26-28; 38:11-13; 39:25-29; Isa. 54:10).

This is probably a reference to the New Covenant that God promised to

make with Israel in the future (Jer. 31:31-34).445

"The word peace [Heb. shalom] is used to describe the

harmony that exists when covenant obligations are being

fulfilled and the relationship is sound. It is not a negative

concept, implying absence of conflict or worry or noise, as

we use it, but a thoroughly positive state in which all is

functioning well."446

The provisions of this covenant that Ezekiel mentioned here included,

first, removing threats to the Israelites' safety from the land so they could

even live at peace in its formerly dangerous parts, the wilderness and

woods (cf. John 10:27-29).

34:26-27a Second, God would make His people and the places around His hill

(Mount Zion, Jerusalem) a blessing to others (Gen. 12:3). God's seasonal

blessings on Israel, both people and land, would be like the rain, and He

would send His blessings down in showers (cf. Acts 3:19-20).447 Fruit

trees would bear abundantly, and fruits and vegetables and flowers would

proliferate in the land (cf. Hos. 2:22; Joel 3:18; Amos 9:13-14; Zech.

8:12). Even the plants would be secure.

34:27b-29 Third, when God broke the yoke that held His people in captivity and

freed them from their oppressors they would know that He is Yahweh (v.

27b).

Fourth, the Israelites would live in complete security. They would no

longer be a prey to the nations or to the beasts of the earth that previously

devoured them (cf. Isa. 11:6-9).448 They would live without fear of

molestation. God would provide for them a place where they could put

down roots, a place that would become famous. Famines and the insults of

the other nations would cease forever.449

34:30 Fifth, Yahweh would be their God and they would be His special people in

the fullest sense that the nation had ever experienced (cf. Rom. 11:25-27).

Everyone would know that He was with them and that they were His

Chosen People.

"This covenant anticipates events and promises never

realized in the first return of Israel from captivity. When

the people came back to the land after 535 B.C., they were

under the control of every world-dominating power

including Medo-Persia, Greece, and finally Rome until

A.D. 70 when the nation was destroyed by Rome."450

34:31 The sheep in view, God clarified, were people, not real sheep. He was

describing His relationship to them as people in the figure of a shepherd

and sheep.

"Each of the next four speeches elaborates an aspect of the peace

covenant. Ezekiel 35:1—36:15 describes how the foreign plundering

nations would be removed and judged in preparation for Israel's return to

her own land.

3. Preparation of the Promised Land 35:1—36:15

The elimination of claimants to the land ch. 35

What follows in this chapter is another oracle against a foreign nation (cf. chs. 25—32).

What is it doing here? Evidently the writer included this oracle here because it promises

to desolate an enemy of Israel that wanted to occupy Israel's land, which God promised to

return to His people (ch. 34).

"It may appear at first as though the present prophecy belongs to the

oracles against foreign nations, but it is probably here as a point of

contrast to chapter 36, that is, wrath for Mount Seir contrasted with

blessing for the mountains of Israel."453

But why Edom? Probably Edom was representative of all the enemies of Israel who

wanted to take over her land and was selected because of her long history of land

squabbles with Israel (cf. Gen. 25:22-34; 27; 36:1; Num. 20:14-21; 24:15-19; 1 Sam.

14:47; 1 Kings 11:14-22; 2 Kings 8:21; 2 Chron. 20:1-23; 28:17; Ps. 137:7; Isa. 1:11-16;

Lam. 4:21-22; Dan. 11:41; Amos 2:1; Obad. 10-14; Mal. 1:2-5). Edom was the nation

that had longest and most consistently resisted Israel's occupation of the Promised Land.

Therefore, if God was going to give Israel her land in the future, as He promised in

chapter 34, He would have to deal with Edom and all other nations that opposed Israel's

possession of it. This section assures the readers, both ancient and modern, that He will

deal with opponents to Israel occupying her land by prophesying the destruction of

Israel's greatest antagonist viewed as a representative of all such powers (cf. Matt. 25:31-

46). Edomite invasions of Israel following the Babylonian decimation of Judah also made

Edom a major topic of interest.454

"Edom was the prototype of all Israel's later foes. The destruction of Edom

would signal the beginning of God's judgment on the whole earth based on

that nation's treatment of Israel (cf. Gen. 12:3)."455

35:1-2 The Lord directed Ezekiel to prophesy about Mount Seir (Edom, Gen.

32:3; 36:8), to "set your face against" it.456 Why did God refer to Edom as

"Mount Seir" when in the oracle against Edom in 25:12-14 He simply

called it "Edom?" Apparently He did so to highlight the contrasts between

the mountains of Edom and the mountains of Israel, which He contrasted

in chapter 35 and 36:1-15 (cf. 36:1).457 Two oracles against Edom in one

book also double the certainty of fulfillment (cf. Gen. 41:32).

35:3-4 Yahweh announced that He was opposed to Mount Seir (cf. 36:9), would

stretch out His hand in judgment against it (cf. 6:14), and would turn it

into a desolate waste. He would destroy its cities (cf. 36:10), and the

Edomites would learn that He is God.

35:5 He would do this because the Edomites had been enemies of the Israelites

throughout their history (cf. 25:12; Gen. 12:3). Furthermore, they had not

helped their brethren Israelites in the time of their calamity, the time when

God was punishing Israel, but had turned them over to their enemy, the

Babylonians (cf. 2 Chron. 20:10; Ps. 137:7; Lam. 4:21-22).

35:6-7 For this reason, the sovereign Lord swore, He would turn the Edomites

over to others who would shed their blood. Since they had not tried to

prevent bloodshed in Israel, they would experience bloodshed in Edom.

"Bloodshed" (Heb. dam, lit. blood) may be a play on Edom's name (Heb.

edom, from 'adom, "to be red").458 God would make Mount Seir a desolate

waste, such a desolation that few people would visit it.

35:8-9 The Edomites would fall slain in all parts of their land (cf. 6:3, 7). They

would never recover from this judgment, and their cities would remain

uninhabited. This was a harsher fate than even what God inflicted on

Egypt (29:14) or Ammon (Jer. 49:6). Then the Edomites would know that

Yahweh is the only true God.

35:10 The Lord gave three more reasons for Edom's judgment (cf. v. 5). The

Edomites had wanted to take over the lands of both Israel and Judah even

though they were the lands of Yahweh (cf. 36:12). Ancient Near

Easterners viewed the lands of nations as the domain of the gods of those

nations. To take a nation was to overcome its god. Thus in trying to take

over Israel's land Edom tried to discredit Yahweh since "the Lord was

there," it was His land (cf. v. 12). This in turn involved failing to

recognize Yahweh as the only true God (v. 13).

35:11-13 Therefore, the sovereign Lord swore again (cf. v. 6), He would deal with

them with the same anger, envy, and hatred that they had demonstrated

toward the Israelites (cf. 36:5-6). People would know that He had done

this when He judged them. This would teach them that the Lord had heard

the hateful words that the Edomites had spoken against "the mountains of

Israel" (cf. vv. 2, 3, 7, 15; 36:1, 4, 8). By speaking against the Israelites the

Edomites had spoken against Yahweh since He was their God, and the

Lord had heard them (cf. 36:5; Mal. 1:1-5).

35:14-15 The Lord would cause all the earth to rejoice when He made Edom a

laughingstock in the world just as it had rejoiced when Israel became

desolate (cf. 36:5).