Ezekiel 25

Whilst Ezekiel awaits the fulfilment of his last threatenings against the Jews, he is directed to predict the punishment of their heathen neighbours, who had been the instigators and accomplices of their sins. Four of these, the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites and Philistines, are marked out in this chapter as the objects of Divine vengeance, on account of their inhuman triumph over the fall of Israel: cp. Amos i.

2 the Ammonites. From 2 Kings xxiv. 2 it appears that the Ammonites and Moabites had joined with Nebuchadrezzar in his attack upon Judah.

4 the men of the east. The Arab tribes of the desert lying between Palestine and the Persian Gulf: see Judges vi. 3; Jer. xlix. 28.

their places. Rather, as R.V., “their encampments.”

7 from the people. “From the peoples”; the “heathen” should rather be “nations,” R.V.

8 like unto all the heathen. i.e., We see no difference between Israel and other nations; their God has no more power to preserve them than the gods of their neighbours have.

9. I will open the side of Moab. i.e., I will cause his borders to be invaded.

10 that the Ammonites may not be remembered. The Ammonites and Moabites have long lost their national existence, and would hardly have been known but for the Scripture record of their crimes and doom.

13. I will also stretch out Mine hand upon Edom. The sin charged against Edom is that of long-cherished, implacable hatred against Israel. How this was shown may be gathered from Psa. cxxxvii. 7. The subject is resumed in xxxv.; see also Isa. xxxiv., Obadiah, and notes.

and they of Dedan, etc. “From Teman even unto Dedan shall they fall by the sword.” i.e., from one extremity of Edom to another.

15 for the old hatred. This hatred dated back from the time when the Philistines began to oppress the Israelites in the days of the Judges: see Judges x. 7; xiii. 1.

16 the Philistines. As Philistia lay on the direct route from Egypt to Chaldea, it suffered exceedingly in the wars between the two rival powers; and before the Christian era it had ceased to be the residence of an independent people. Gaza alone has retained any importance.

the Dherethim. A name or a tribe of the Philistines: see 1 Sam. xxx. 14; 2 Sam. viii. 18. The Septuagint calls them Cretans. Their Hebrew name is from the verb “to slay,” so that the words here mean: “I will slay the slayers.”