Ezekiel 35:7

"Thus will I make mount Seir an astonishment and a desolation; and I will cut off from it him that passeth through and him that returneth. And I will fill its mountains with its slain: in thy hills and in thy valleys and in all thy watercourses shall they fall that are slain with the sword. I will make thee a perpetual desolation, and thy cities shall not be inhabited; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah."

"Him that passeth through and him that returneth ..." (Ezekiel 35:7). This is an old expression equivalent to "all that go to and fro," "all comers and goers," "all the buyers and the sellers." "It means `everybody without exception.'"[9]

The total desolation of Edom has come to pass in the most startling manner. The National Geographic Magazine a few years ago ran an article with many graphic pictures of the desolated capital of ancient Seir, Petra. It still seems incredible that a city with such a fortress could ever have fallen; but there it stands in the blistering desert sun, its ancient red walls of solid stone exhibiting its magnificent architecture, beautiful palaces, and many other signs of ancient prosperity in a breath-taking silence that reminds one of the petrified forest of Arizona. It brings a mist to the eyes and a catch in the throat just to see it. What an awful thing it is for God to "stretch forth his hand" against a city, or a people.

"A perpetual desolation ..." (Ezekiel 35:9). "This is a much harsher fate even than that which was inflicted upon Ammon and Egypt, who at least had a prospect of restoration held out to them (Jeremiah 49:6; and Ezekiel 29:14)."[10] Note that this threat of perpetual desolation is repeated here from Ezekiel 35:5.

However, the eternal justice of God is seen in this perpetual desolation of Edom. Who murdered the innocents of Bethlehem in his frenzied efforts to kill the Lord Jesus Christ? Answer: It was the savage Idumaean (Edomite) Herod the Great.

Who murdered John the Baptist, the great forerunner of Christ, the Herald of the Gospel Age? Answer: It was another Herod, an Edomite, who presented John's head on a platter to please a dancing girl.

Who mocked the Son of God in one of those six crooked trials preceding his crucifixion? Answer: It was another Herod, of course.

Who murdered the apostle James? Answer: A Herod (Edomite).

Who imprisoned the apostle Peter and condemned him to death as soon as the Passover ended? Answer: It was Herod Agrippa (another Edomite, of course).

Who murdered the sixteen men who kept the prison on that night when an angel released the apostle Peter, on the false charge that these guards had released Peter? It was that same Herod the Edomite.

Who fully decided to exterminate all of the apostles of the Church of God, and as a preparatory move had himself installed as a god down at Caesarea (Acts 12)? It was that same son of the devil, the Edomite Herod Agrippa. This Edomite was so wicked that God did not even allow him to live a normal life; but cut him down in the very act of his announcement that he was god!

Yes indeed that evil people deserved the retribution with which Almighty God rewarded them.