Bible Commentaries

Ezekiel 35:1 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

Ver. 1. Moreover the word of the Lord.] Ezekiel 18:1.

Ezekiel 35:2 Son of man, set thy face against mount Seir, and prophesy against it,

Ver. 2. Set thy face.] Ezekiel 6:2.

Against Mount Seir.] Inhabited by the Edomites.

And prophesy against it.] This had been done before, [Ezekiel 25:12] but not enough. God hath a further saying to them, and that for the comfort of his poor people who might thus object. Peace and security from danger is promised us in the foregoing chapter; but we have still many deadly enemies, and none worse than our near allies and next neighbours the Edomites. Here, therefore, they are heavily threatened with utter desolation for their malignity against Israel, and their blasphemy against God.

Ezekiel 35:3 And say unto it, Thus saith the Lord GOD Behold, O mount Seir, I [am] against thee, and I will stretch out mine hand against thee, and I will make thee most desolate.

Ver. 3. Behold, O Mount Seir, I am against thee.] Ecce ego ad te; have at thee.

And I will stretch out my hand against thee.] I will have my full blow at thee.

I will make thee most desolate.] Heb., Desolation and desolation. I will make an utter end; desolation shall not rise up the second time; [Nahum 1:9] I will make short work. [Romans 9:28]

Ezekiel 35:4 I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I [am] the LORD.

Ver. 4. I will lay thy cities waste.] Even Teman, Dedan, Bozrah, mentioned in Scripture; besides many others mentioned by geographers, Maresa, Rhinocorura, Raphia, Gaza, Anthedon, &c.

And thou shalt know.] To thy small comfort.

That I am the Lord.] A Lord of lords, a God of gods, "a great God, a mighty and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward." [Deuteronomy 10:17]

Ezekiel 35:5 Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed [the blood of] the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time [that their] iniquity [had] an end:

Ver. 5. Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred.] A hereditary deadly feud against Israel. Heb., An enemy of ages, yea, of many ages continuance; such as is, as we use to say of Runner, the older the stronger.

And hast shed the blood of the children of Israel.] Ut diffluant; hast let out their life blood: all malice is bloody.

In time of their calamity.] Watching the worst time to do them the most mischief.

In the time that their iniquity had an end.] When I had in a manner done with them, yet thou hadst not done with them; but didst stir up Nebuzaradan to burn the city and temple with fire. This was to help forward the affliction. [Zechariah 1:15] {See Trapp on "Zechariah 1:15"}

Ezekiel 35:6 Therefore, [as] I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: sith thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee.

Ver. 6. I will prepare thee unto blood.] Thou shalt have blood thy bellyful, which thou hast so greedily sought and sucked. Satiabis te sanguine quem sitiisti, cuiusque insatiabilis semper fuisti, as the Scythian queen said to Cyrus’s head.

Even blood shall pursue thee.] As a bloodhound. It shall, it shall, believe me it shall.

Ezekiel 35:7 Thus will I make mount Seir most desolate, and cut off from it him that passeth out and him that returneth.

Ver. 7. Most desolate.] See Ezekiel 35:3. Iterum repetit, ne excidisse videatur. I am in good earnest.

Ezekiel 35:8 And I will fill his mountains with his slain [men]: in thy hills, and in thy valleys, and in all thy rivers, shall they fall that are slain with the sword.

Ver. 8. And I will fill his mountains.] Oh the woe of war! The Greek word ^(a) for it signifies much blood.

Ezekiel 35:9 I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not return: and ye shall know that I [am] the LORD.

Ver. 9. I will make thee perpetual desolations.] For thy perpetual hatred. [Ezekiel 35:5]

And thy cities.] See Ezekiel 35:4.

Ezekiel 35:10 Because thou hast said, These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it; whereas the LORD was there:

Ver. 10. Because thou hast said.] Ungodly men must answer for their ungodly speeches also. [ 1:15]

These two nations.] Israel and Judah.

Shall be mine.] Such was their avarice and ambition that they made account all was their own; they had in their hopes devoured these two countries which God had reserved for a better purpose. He kept the room empty till the return of the natives; and the land kept her sabbaths, resting from tillage, &c. And yet these miscreants added,

Whereas the Lord was there.] Or, Though it be a Jehovahshammah, as Ezekiel 48:35; be it that the Lord is there - scil., to keep possession against us - we will out him, and have it in despite of him. O tongues worthy to be pulled out, cut in gobbets, and driven down their throats, that did thus blaspheme!

Ezekiel 35:11 Therefore, [as] I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will even do according to thine anger, and according to thine envy which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them; and I will make myself known among them, when I have judged thee.

Ver. 11. I will do even according to thine anger.] Let the Romish Edomites expect the like punishment: their malice and mischief will come home to them.

And according to thine envy.] That quicksighted and sharp fanged malignity which none can stand before. [Proverbs 27:4]

Ezekiel 35:12 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, saying, They are laid desolate, they are given us to consume.

Ver. 12. And that I have heard all thy blasphemies.] Of both sorts; those in the first table against myself, and those in the second table against my people.

They are laid desolate.] And we have helped after.

They are given us to consume.] Heb., To devour. Nay, but stay till they be; and then know that ye may devour that on earth, that ye shall digest in hell.

Ezekiel 35:13 Thus with your mouth ye have boasted against me, and have multiplied your words against me: I have heard [them].

Ver. 13. Thus with your mouth ye have boasted.] Heb., Magnified, setting your mouths against heaven, your tongues also have walked through the earth. {Psalms 73:9; see the notes there}

And have multiplied your words against me.] When it would have better become you to have multiplied your words before me in prayer and praises, as the Hebrew word ( עתר) here used, mostly signifieth.

Ezekiel 35:14 Thus saith the Lord GOD When the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate.

Ver. 14. When the whole earth rejoiceth,] scil, For my people’s deliverances. Or, When the whole land, scil., of Israel, rejoiceth; as it is sometimes hale and well with the Church, when the wicked are in the suds. Judea was the world of the world, as Athens was the "Epitome of Greece," the "Greece of Greece."

Ezekiel 35:15 As thou didst rejoice at 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 Idumea, [even] all of it: and they shall know that I [am] the LORD.

Ver. 15. As thou didst rejoice.] As thou wast sick of the devil’s disease, rejoicing at other men’s harms; so, by a strange turn of things, others shall rejoice at thy just destruction, and revel in thy ruins: and at the last day especially, when thou shalt be awarded thy portion with the devil and his angels. [2 Thessalonians 1:6-8]

Thou shalt be desolate, O Mount Seir.] This was accordingly effected shortly after by Nebuchadnezzar and his Chaldees, as Josephus ^(a) testifieth; and is daily executed on the Church’s enemies, who shall all be ere long in the place that is fittest for them - scil., under Christ’s feet.

And all Idumea, even all of it.] The Edomites, that thought of seizing on others’ lands, lost their own. They who covet all, do oft lose all; yea, even the pleasure of that they possess; as a greedy dog swalloweth the whole meat that is cast him, without any pleasure, as gaping still for the next morsel.