1The Word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, 2Son of man, set your face against the Ammonites, and prophesy against them. 3Say to the Ammonites, Hear the Word of the Lord Jehovah! Thus says the Lord Jehovah: Because you said, Aha! against My sanctuary when it was profaned, and against the land of Israel when it was desolate, and against the house of Judah when they went into captivity, 4behold, therefore, I will deliver you as a possession to the men of the East, and they shall set their encampments among you and make their dwellings among you; they shall eat your fruit, and they shall drink your milk. 5And I will make Rabbah a stable for camels and Ammon a resting place for flocks. And you shall know that I am Jehovah. 6For thus says the Lord Jehovah: Because you clapped your hands, stamped your feet, and rejoiced in heart with all your contempt for the land of Israel, 7behold, therefore, I will stretch out My hand against you, and give you as plunder to the nations; I will cut you off from the peoples, and I will cause you to perish from the earth; I will destroy you, and you shall know that I am Jehovah. 8Thus says the Lord Jehovah: Because Moab and Seir say, Behold, the house of Judah is like all the nations, 9therefore, behold, I will clear the territory of Moab of cities, of the cities on its borders, the glory of the land, Beth Jeshimoth, Baal Meon, and Kirjathaim. 10To the men of the East I will give it as a possession, along with the Ammonites, that the Ammonites may not be remembered among the nations. 11And I will execute judgments upon Moab, and they shall know that I am Jehovah. 12Thus says the Lord Jehovah: Because of what Edom did against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and has become very guilty from avenging itself on them, 13therefore thus says the Lord Jehovah: I will also stretch out My hand against Edom, cut off man and beast from it, and make it desolate. From Teman even to Dedan they shall fall by the sword. 14I will lay My vengeance on Edom by the hand of My people Israel, that they may do in Edom according to My anger and according to My fury; and they shall know My vengeance, declares the Lord Jehovah. 15Thus says the Lord Jehovah: Because the Philistines dealt with vengeance and took vengeance with spite in their heart, to destroy because of the old hatred, 16therefore thus says the Lord Jehovah: I will stretch out My hand against the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites and destroy the rest of the seacoast. 17I will execute great vengeance on them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I lay My vengeance upon them.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 3 APPROPRIATELY IN THE INTERVAL OF SILENCE AS TO THE JEWS IN THE EIGHT CHAPTERS, (TWENTY-FIFTH THROUGH THIRTY-SECOND) EZEKIEL DENOUNCES JUDGMENTS ON THE HEATHEN WORLD KINGDOMS. (Eze. 25:1-17)
(
Иер 49:1).
when . . . profaned; . . . when . . . desolate; . . . when . . . captivity--rather, "for . . . for . . . for": the cause of the insolent exultation of Ammon over Jerusalem. They triumphed especially over the fall of the "sanctuary," as the triumph of heathenism over the rival claims of Jehovah. In Jehoshaphat's time, when the eighty-third Psalm was written (
Псал 83:4,
Псал 83:7-
Псал 83:8,
Псал 83:12, "Ammon . . . holpen the children of Lot," who were, therefore, the leaders of the unholy conspiracy, "Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession"), we see the same profane spirit. Now at last their wicked wish seems accomplished in the fall of Jerusalem. Ammon, descended from Lot, held the region east of Jordan, separated from the Amorites on the north by the river Jabbok, and from Moab on the south by the Arnon. They were auxiliaries to Babylon in the destruction of Jerusalem (
4Цар 24:2).
4 men of . . . east--literally, "children of the East," the nomad tribes of Arabia-Deserta, east of the Jordan and the Dead Sea.
palaces--their nomadic encampments or folds, surrounded with mud walls, are so called in irony. Where thy "palaces" once stood, there shall their very different "palaces" stand. Fulfilled after the ravaging of their region by Nebuchadnezzar, shortly after the destruction of Jerusalem (compare
Иез 21:22; Jer. 49:1-28).
5 Rabbah--meaning "the Great," Ammon's metropolis. Under the Ptolemies it was rebuilt under the name Philadelphia; the ruins are called Amman now, but there is no dwelling inhabited.
Ammonites--that is the Ammonite region is to be a "couching place for flocks," namely of the Arabs. The "camels," being the chief beast of burden of the Chaldeans, are put first, as their invasion was to prepare the Ammonite land for the Arab "flocks." Instead of busy men, there shall be "still and couching flocks."
6 "Because thou hast clapped thine hands," exulting over the downfall of Jerusalem, "I also will stretch out Mine hand upon thee" (to which
Иез 21:17 also may refer, "I will smite Mine hands together").
hands . . . feet . . . heart--with the whole inward feeling, and with every outward indication. Stamping with the foot means dancing for joy.
7 a spoil--so the Hebrew Margin, or Keri, for the text or Chetib, "meat" (so
Иез 26:5;
Иез 34:28). Their goods were to be a "spoil to the foe"; their state was to be "cut off," so as to be no more a "people"; and they were as individuals, for the most part, to be "destroyed."
8 Moab, Seir, and Ammon were contiguous countries, stretching in one line from Gilead on the north to the Red Sea. They therefore naturally acted in concert, and in joint hostility to Judea.
Judah is like . . . all . . . heathen--The Jews fare no better than others: it is of no use to them to serve Jehovah, who, they say, is the only true God.
9 open . . . from the cities--I will open up the side, or border of Moab (metaphor from a man whose side is open to blows), from the (direction of) the cities on his northwest border beyond the Arnon, once assigned to Reuben (
Навин 13:15-
Навин 13:21), but now in the hands of their original owners; and the "men of the east," the wandering Bedouin hordes, shall enter through these cities into Moab and waste it. Moab accordingly was so wasted by them, that long before the time of Christ it had melted away among the hordes of the desert. For "cities," GROTIUS translates the Hebrew as proper names, the Ar and Aroer, on the Arnon. Hence the Hebrew for "cities," "Ar" is repeated twice (
Чис 21:28;
Втор 2:36;
Ис 15:1).
glory of the country--The region of Moab was richer than that of Ammon; it answers to the modern Belka, the richest district in South Syria, and the scene in consequence of many a contest among the Bedouins. Hence it is called here a "glorious land" (literally, "a glory," or "ornament of a land") [FAIRBAIRN]. Rather, "the glory of the country" is in apposition with "cities" which immediately precedes, and the names of which presently follow.
Beth-jeshimoth--meaning "the city of desolations"; perhaps so named from some siege it sustained; it was towards the west.
Baal-meon--called also "Beth-meon" (
Иер 48:23), and "Beth-baal-meon" (
Навин 13:17, called so from the worship of Baal), and "Bajith," simply (
Ис 15:2).
Kiriathaim--"the double city." The strength of these cities engendered "the pride" of Moab (
Ис 16:6).
10 with the Ammonites--FAIRBAIRN explains and translates, "upon the children of Ammon" (elliptically for, "I will open Moab to the men of the east, who, having overrun the children of Ammon, shall then fall on Moab"). MAURER, as English Version, "with the Ammonites," that is, Moab, "together with the land of Ammon," is to be thrown "open to the men of the east," to enter and take possession (Jer. 49:1-39).
12 taking vengeance--literally, "revenging with revengement," that is, the most unrelenting vengeance. It was not simple hatred, but deep-brooding, implacable revenge. The grudge of Edom or Esau was originally for Jacob's robbing him of Isaac's blessing (
Быт 25:23;
Быт 27:27-
Быт 27:41). This purpose of revenge yielded to the extraordinary kindness of Jacob, through the blessing of Him with whom Jacob wrestled in prayer; but it was revived as an hereditary grudge in the posterity of Esau when they saw the younger branch rising to the pre-eminence which they thought of right belonged to themselves. More recently, for David's subjugation of Edom to Israel (
2Цар 8:14). They therefore gave vent to their spite by joining the Chaldeans in destroying Jerusalem (
Псал 137:7;
Плач 4:22;
Авд 1:10-
Авд 1:14), and then intercepting and killing the fugitive Jews (
Амос 1:11) and occupying part of the Jewish land as far as Hebron.
13 Teman . . . they of Dedan--rather, "I will make it desolate from Teman (in the south) even to Dedan (in the northwest)" [GROTIUS], (
Иер 49:8), that is, the whole country from north to south, stretching from the south of the Dead Sea to the Elanitic gulf of the Red Sea.
14 by . . . my people Israel--namely, by Judas Maccabeus. The Idumeans were finally, by compulsory circumcision, incorporated with the Jewish state by John Hyrcanus (see
Ис 34:5;
Ис 63:1, &c.; 1 Maccabees 5:3). So complete was the amalgamation in Christ's time, that the Herods of Idumean origin, as Jews, ruled over the two races as one people. Thus the ancient prophecy was fulfilled (
Быт 25:23), "The elder shall serve the younger."
15 (1Sa. 13:1-14:52;
2Пар 28:18). The "old hatred" refers to their continual enmity to the covenant-people. They lay along Judea on the seacoast at the opposite side from Ammon and Moab. They were overthrown by Uzziah (
2Пар 26:6), and by Hezekiah (
4Цар 18:8). Nebuchadnezzar overran the cities on the seacoast on his way to Egypt after besieging Tyre (
Иер 47:1-
Иер 47:7). God will take vengeance on those who take the avenging of themselves out of His hands into their own (
Рим 12:19-
Рим 12:21;
Иак 2:13).
16 cut off the Cherethims--There is a play on similar sounds in the Hebrew, hichratti cherethim, "I will slay the slayers." The name may have been given to a section of the Philistines from their warlike disposition (
1Цар 30:14;
1Цар 31:3). They excelled in archery, whence David enrolled a bodyguard from them (
2Цар 8:18;
2Цар 15:18;
2Цар 20:7). They sprang from Caphtor, identified by many with Crete, which was famed for archery, and to which the name Cherethim seems akin. Though in emigration, which mostly tended westwards, Crete seems more likely to be colonized from Philistia than Philistia from Crete, a section of Cretans may have settled at Chere thim in South Philistia, while the Philistines, as a nation, may have come originally from the east (compare
Втор 2:23;
Иер 47:4;
Амос 9:7;
Соф 2:5). In
Быт 10:14 the Philistines are made distinct from the Caphtorim, and are said to come from the Casluhim; so that the Cherethim were but a part of the Philistines, which
1Цар 30:14 confirms.
remnant of--that is, "on the seacoast" of the Mediterranean: those left remaining after the former overthrows inflicted by Samuel, David, Hezekiah, and Psammetichus of Egypt, father of Pharaoh-necho (
Иер 25:20).
17 know . . . vengeance--They shall know Me, not in mercy, but by My vengeance on them (
Псал 9:16).
In the twenty-sixth chapter, Ezekiel sets forth:--(1) Tyre's sin; (2) its doom; (3) the instruments executing it; (4) the effects produced on other nations by her downfall. In the twenty-seventh chapter, a lamentation over the fall of such earthly splendor. In the twenty-eighth chapter, an elegy addressed to the king, on the humiliation of his sacrilegious pride. Ezekiel, in his prophecies as to the heathen, exhibits the dark side only; because he views them simply in their hostility to the people of God, who shall outlive them all. Isaiah (Isa. 23:1-18), on the other hand, at the close of judgments, holds out the prospect of blessing, when Tyre should turn to the Lord.
