Set thy face against the Ammonites . The main facts that are essential to a right understanding of the message to this people, not to speak of their long-standing enmity against Israel for many centuries, are read more
The scoffing nation. The first nation selected for denunciation is the Ammonite, situated on the east of the Jordan and to the north of Moab, with its further border towards the Syrian desert. Its scoffing at the sacred things of the Jews, and its cruel mockery of their calamities, are to be followed by a dreadful destruction. Scoffing and mockery are dangerous practices for those who indulge in them. I. THE CRUEL SCOFFING . 1. An insult to religion . "Thou saidst, Aha!... read more
The men of the east ; Hebrew, children of the east . The name is applied in Genesis 29:1 ; 1 Kings 4:30 ; Job 1:3 ; 6:3 , 6:33 ; 7:12 ; 8:10 , to the nomadic tribes, Midianites and others, which roamed to and fro in the wilderness east of Ammon and Moab, after the manner of the modem Bedouins, with their sheep and camels, and were looked upon as descendants of Ishmael. Palaces ; better, with the Revised Version, encampments, or tent-villages . The word is found, in... read more
A spoil to the heathen . The noun for "spoil" is not found elsewhere, but probably means "food." The Hebrew Keri, i.e. its marginal reading, gives the same word as that rendered "spoil" in Ezekiel 27:5 . The meaning is substantially the same whichever word we choose. Ezekiel, it will be noticed, says nothing about the return of the Ammonites, but contemplates, as in Ezekiel 21:32 , entire destruction. The moaning of Rabbah ("great" or "populous"), the mother-city of Ammon, gives... read more
Moab and Seir . "Seir" stands elsewhere for Edom, but here appears as distinguished from it, the latter nation having a distinct message in Ezekiel 25:12 . A possible explanation is found in 2 Chronicles 20:23 , where we find Moab and Ammon joined together against the inhabitants of Mount Seir. The Moabites may have retained possession of it, and so Ezekiel may have coupled the two names together. Their sin also, like that of Ammon, is that they exulted in the fall of Jerusalem. It was... read more
The skeptical nation. The sister nation of Moab, lying just to the south of Ammon, comes second in the order of the peoples whose doom is pronounced by the prophet of Jehovah. It has its characteristic sin, and it will have its characteristic punishment. I. THE RECKLESS SCEPTICISM . "Moab and Seir do say, Behold, the house of Judah is like unto all the heathen." This utterance expressed unbelief in regard to the peculiar privileges of Judah. The Jews had given themselves out as... read more
The blasphemy and the punishment of Moab. Although Ezekiel, speaking as the prophet of the Lord, has words of upbraiding and of threatening for the several nations from whose hostility Israel suffered, it is not the case that these words are words of indiscriminate application. On the contrary, they have special reference to the circumstances of the several peoples and to their peculiar relations with Israel. In the case of Moab, the prophet urges a peculiar charge, which is not,... read more
The sin and punishment of the Moabites. "Thus saith the Lord God; Because that Moab and Seir do say, Behold, the house of Judah is like unto all the heathen," etc. The Moabites were the descendants of Moab, the son of Lot by his elder daughter. They occupied the fertile district east of the Dead Sea, and south of the territory of the Ammonites. The condition of the Moabites may be gathered from Isaiah 15:1-9 ; Isaiah 16:1-14 ; and Jeremiah 48:1-47 . The latter prophecy was... read more
I will open the side of Moab ; literally, the shoulder, i.e. the slopes of the mountain of Moab ( Joshua 15:8 , Joshua 15:10 ). For Beth-jeshimoth (equivalent to "House of wastes"), see Numbers 33:49 ; Joshua 12:3 ; Joshua 13:20 . It had been assigned to Reuben, but had been seized by the Moabites. It has been identified by De Sauley with the ruins now known as Suaime, on the northeastern border of the Dead Sea. Baal-moon ( Numbers 32:38 ), more fully Beth-baal-meon ( ... read more
Get Bible verse every day in your inbox
Read on Mobile
The Pulpit Commentary - Ezekiel 25:1-17
The tribunal of nations. The Hebrews in captivity might, with probability, suppose that, since God had employed other armies to chastise Israel, such nations were without sin, or else their sins had been condoned by God. Nothing of the sort. God is no Respecter of nations. Righteousness everywhere is acceptable to him. Unrighteousness anywhere is offensive. And touching the degrees of iniquity, he claims to be Supreme Judge and the wise Punisher. Because he employs men in his service, he... read more