Ezekiel 25:4-5 - Exposition

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 this sense, in Genesis 25:16 ; Psalms 69:25 ; Numbers 31:10 . This was, probably, the immediate result of Nebuchadnezzar's march. Rabbah was left undefended, and became a stable for the camels of the Midianites and other tribes ( 6:5 ). The prediction has been slowly fulfilled. Under the Greece-Egyptian rule the city revived, was named after Ptolemy Philadel-phus, and was flourishing under the Roman Empire. Remains of temples, theatres, houses, are still found on its site, but its present desolate condition agrees with the picture drawn here by Ezekiel and in Jeremiah 49:2 . The language of Jeremiah 49:6 implies captivity and a partial return from it.