Ezekiel 25:1-32

Prophecies against Foreign Nations

These chapters come between those which deal with the overthrow of the Old Israel (1-24) and those which describe the establishment of the New Israel (33-48), and they form an introduction to the latter group. Their significance is well explained in Ezekiel 28:24-26. The fall of Jerusalem seemed to be a victory of heathendom over the people of the true God, and it was needful to show that it was not so. The God of Israel who had visited His people with this punishment would send His judgments on the heathen nations also, and would öonvinöe them that He was the living God. The humiliation of these nations would clear the stage for the restoration of Israel, which would no longer be troubled by its formerly hostile neighbours. These prophecies fall into three groups: (1) against the lesser and nearer nations, Ammon, Moab, Edom, and the Philistines (Ezekiel 25), (2) against Tyre and Sidon (Ezekiel 26-28), (3) against Egypt (Ezekiel 29-32). With the exception of Ezekiel 29:17-21, these prophecies are mostly dated in years either just before or just after the capture of Jerusalem.