13 Thus with your mouth H6310 ye have boasted H1431 against me, and have multiplied H6280 your words H1697 against me: I have heard H8085 them.
And G2532 there was given G1325 unto him G846 a mouth G4750 speaking G2980 great things G3173 and G2532 blasphemies; G988 and G2532 power G1849 was given G1325 unto him G846 to continue G4160 forty G5062 and two G1417 months. G3376 And G2532 he opened G455 his G846 mouth G4750 in G1519 blasphemy G988 against G4314 God, G2316 to blaspheme G987 his G846 name, G3686 and G2532 his G846 tabernacle, G4633 and G2532 them that dwell G4637 in G1722 heaven. G3772
For he saith, H559 By the strength H3581 of my hand H3027 I have done H6213 it, and by my wisdom; H2451 for I am prudent: H995 and I have removed H5493 the bounds H1367 of the people, H5971 and have robbed H8154 their treasures, H6259 H6264 and I have put down H3381 the inhabitants H3427 like a valiant H47 H3524 man: And my hand H3027 hath found H4672 as a nest H7064 the riches H2428 of the people: H5971 and as one gathereth H622 eggs H1000 that are left, H5800 have I gathered H622 all the earth; H776 and there was none that moved H5074 the wing, H3671 or opened H6475 the mouth, H6310 or peeped. H6850 Shall the axe H1631 boast H6286 itself against him that heweth H2672 therewith? or shall the saw H4883 magnify H1431 itself against him that shaketh H5130 it? as if the rod H7626 should shake H5130 itself against them that lift it up, H7311 or as if the staff H4294 should lift up H7311 itself, as if it were no wood. H6086 Therefore shall the Lord, H113 the Lord H136 H3068 of hosts, H6635 send H7971 among his fat ones H4924 leanness; H7332 and under his glory H3519 he shall kindle H3344 a burning H3350 like the burning of a fire. H784 And the light H216 of Israel H3478 shall be for a fire, H784 and his Holy One H6918 for a flame: H3852 and it shall burn H1197 and devour H398 his thorns H7898 and his briers H8068 in one H259 day; H3117 And shall consume H3615 the glory H3519 of his forest, H3293 and of his fruitful field, H3759 both soul H5315 and body: H1320 and they shall be as when a standardbearer H5263 fainteth. H4549 And the rest H7605 of the trees H6086 of his forest H3293 shall be few, H4557 that a child H5288 may write H3789 them.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Ezekiel 35
Commentary on Ezekiel 35 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 35
Eze 35:1-15. Judgment on Edom.
Another feature of Israel's prosperity; those who exulted over Israel's humiliation, shall themselves be a "prey." Already stated in Eze 25:12-14; properly repeated here in full detail, as a commentary on Eze 34:28. The Israelites "shall be no more a prey"; but Edom, the type of their most bitter foes, shall be destroyed irrecoverably.
2. Mount Seir—that is, Idumea (Ge 36:9). Singled out as badly pre-eminent in its bitterness against God's people, to represent all their enemies everywhere and in all ages. So in Isa 34:5; 63:1-4, Edom, the region of the greatest enmity towards God's people, is the ideal scene of the final judgments of all God's foes. "Seir" means "shaggy," alluding to its rugged hills and forests.
3. most desolate—literally, "desolation and desolateness" (Jer 49:17, &c.). It is only in their national character of foes to God's people, that the Edomites are to be utterly destroyed. A remnant of Edom, as of the other heathen, is to be "called by the name of God" (Am 9:12).
5. perpetual hatred—(Ps 137:7; Am 1:11; Ob 10-16). Edom perpetuated the hereditary hatred derived from Esau against Jacob.
shed the blood of, &c.—The literal translation is better. "Thou hast poured out the children of Israel"; namely, like water. So Ps 22:14; 63:10, Margin; Jer 18:21. Compare 2Sa 14:14.
by the force of the sword—literally, "by" or "upon the hands of the sword"; the sword being personified as a devourer whose "hands" were the instruments of destruction.
in the time that their iniquity had an end—that is, had its consummation (Eze 21:25, 29). Edom consummated his guilt when he exulted over Jerusalem's downfall, and helped the foe to destroy it (Ps 137:7; Ob 11).
6. I will prepare thee unto blood—I will expose thee to slaughter.
sith—old English for "seeing that" or "since."
thou hast not hated blood—The Hebrew order is, "thou hast hated not—blood"; that is, thou couldst not bear to live without bloodshed [Grotius]. There is a play on similar sounds in the Hebrew; Edom resembling dam, the Hebrew for "blood"; as "Edom" means "red," the transition to "blood" is easy. Edom, akin to blood in name, so also in nature and acts; "blood therefore shall pursue thee." The measure which Edom meted to others should be meted to himself (Ps 109:17; Mt 7:2; 26:52).
7. cut off … him that passeth—that is, every passer to and fro; "the highways shall be unoccupied" (Eze 29:11; Jud 5:6).
9. shall not return—to their former state (Eze 16:55); shall not be restored. The Hebrew text (Chetib) reads, "shall not be inhabited" (compare Eze 26:20; Mal 1:3, 4).
10. So far from being allowed to enter on Israel's vacated inheritance, as Edom hoped (Eze 36:5; Ps 83:4, 12; Ob 13), it shall be that he shall be deprived of his own; and whereas Israel's humiliation was temporary, Edom's shall be perpetual.
Lord was there—(Eze 48:35; Ps 48:1, 3; 132:13, 14). Jehovah claimed Judea as His own, even when the Chaldeans had overthrown the state; they could not remove Him, as they did the idols of heathen lands. The broken sentences express the excited feelings of the prophet at Edom's wicked presumption. The transition from the "two nations and two countries" to "it" marks that the two are regarded as one whole. The last clause, "and Jehovah was there," bursts in, like a flash of lightning, reproving the wicked presumption of Edom's thought.
11. according to thine anger—(Jas 2:13). As thou in anger and envy hast injured them, so I will injure thee.
I will make myself known among them—namely, the Israelites. I will manifest My favor to them, after I have punished thee.
12, 13. blasphemies … against … Israel … against me—God regards what is done against His people as done against Himself (Mt 25:45; Ac 9:2, 4, 5). Edom implied, if he did not express it, in his taunts against Israel, that God had not sufficient power to protect His people. A type of the spirit of all the foes of God and His people (1Sa 2:3; Re 13:6).
14. (Isa 65:13, 14). "The whole earth" refers to Judea and the nations that submit themselves to Judea's God; when these rejoice, the foes of God and His people, represented by Edom as a nation, shall be desolate. Things shall be completely reversed; Israel, that now for a time mourns, shall then rejoice and for ever. Edom, that now rejoices over fallen Israel, shall then, when elsewhere all is joy, mourn, and for ever (Isa 65:17-19; Mt 5:4; Lu 6:25). Havernick loses this striking antithesis by translating, "According to the joy of the whole land (of Edom), so I will make thee desolate"; which would make Eze 35:15 a mere repetition of this.
15. (Ob 12, 15).