Bible Commentaries

Ezekiel 25:5. I will make Rabbah a stable for camels—a couching-place for flocks. Nebuchadnezzar destroyed this ancient city about four years after the fall of Jerusalem. Ptolemy Philadelphus rebuilt it, and it was afterwards called Philadelphia, as in Revelation 3:7. It continued more than a century after the commencement of the christian era, had in it a Greek cathedral and several churches, and was encompassed with a lofty wall of great extent. It was situate about thirty miles from Sardis on the south-east, and upwards of a hundred from Smyrna; and forming a part of the Turkish territory, its modern name has been Allah-Shehr. The predictions of Jeremiah and also of Ezekiel have at length received their full accomplishment, after the delay of so many centuries. When the country of Ammon had been ravaged by hostile armies and become desolate, there were still some verdant vallies and tracts, where the wandering Arabs pastured their camels and their sheep. Mr. Buckingham, an English traveller, relates that a few years since he saw on the spot where Rabbah formerly stood, the ruins of a building, once of great magnificence, into which the Arab shepherds drive their goats for shelter and repose during the night. He also laid himself down close by the ruins of the ancient city, amidst flocks of sheep and goats, and was almost entirely prevented from sleeping, by the bleating of the flocks. Towns and villages in ruin were seen in every direction, and Arabs with their camels wandering towards Rabbah.

Ezekiel 25:9. Baal-meon. Beth Baal-meon. Joshua 13:17. Montanus reads, Bahal-mehon, which signifies the house or temple of the idol.

Ezekiel 25:10. The Ammonites shall not be remembered among the nations. The Jews, though everywhere dispersed, still continue a distinct people; but no trace remains of the Ammonites. None now bear their name, none claim descent from them, and none are attached to the soil, or regard it as their country. The principal part of it is uninhabited, changed into a vast desert, and abandoned to the wandering Arabs, and is no more remembered among the nations. According to the letter of the prediction, the land of the Ammonites is “given to the men of the east.”

REFLECTIONS.

How terrible are the divine denunciations. The nations of western Asia flourished under the blessings of providence, and abounded with flocks, vineyards, and cities. But pride, idleness, and fulness of bread, followed by the slow approaches of vengeance, made the beautiful hills, the fertile vallies, and the opulent cities a scene of desolation: nor have they to this day recovered the splendour they enjoyed, under their own kings and their own laws.

The joy which Ammon, Moab, and Edom expressed at the fall of Jerusalem, was highly displeasing to God. They, like Judah, had apostatized from the wisdom, the example, and pure worship of Abraham: and as to their sins, we know not that they were better than the jews. Their joy was therefore a political joy, yea a fool’s joy, for who might not have seen that the hungry armies of the east would eat up all the nations. It was an infidel joy, for the Hebrew prophets had repeatedly warned those nations of their approaching fall, as may be traced by the marginal references of the bible. They not only rejoiced at the fall of Judah, but lent a bloody hand to throw it down, as we frequently read. Hence they incurred a curse in Psalms 137:8-9, which Nebuchadnezzar presently inflicted. “Happy shall he be that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us— that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.” Let us learn to revere all the judgments of the Lord, and never rejoice at the wanton triumph of wicked men.