Bible Commentary (1871–1879 Edition)
GocVs Vtwjeance upon EZEKIEL XXV. Ammon, Moab, Seir, Edum, etc. tache (LoviHcUf) 1:1. J.j; Mic.-ili 3.7). bread of men — the oreml usuiill.y brought to iiiounicrs l)y iriondM in token of Bviiipatliy. So tin? "cup of cousoliitloii" li'oii Klit (.loivjdestruction of Jp.ru.salem (2 Kings 24. 2). 4-. men of . . East— /(/., children of the East, the nomad tribes of Arabia
De.serta, east <jf the .Jordan and tlie Dead Sea. palaces— their nomadic cncamjimenls or folds, surrounded with mudwalls, are so-calleil in iron.y. Where thy " palaces" once stood, there shall their very diflerent "palaces" stand. Fulfilled after I lie ravaging of llieir region by Nebuchadiiiiali 1G.7). "Of riion" luciius sucli iiN is usually lui iilstKd lumen. So I.sniali 8.1, "a rnnn's pen;" Ilivolation 21.17, " tlie measure of a man." 19. what iUt-ne tilings arc lo MS—Tlie people iH-rceivc! tluit K/.ekiel'.s straiife conduct nezzai-, shortly aftcsr the destruction of Jerusalem (cf. ch, lias a .symbolical meaning as lo lliemselve.s ; tliey ask what Is tliat meaning 7 ex<fll«-ncy of your :<tri-ngth —(t'f. Amos 6. 8.) The object of your pride and confidence
21. 22; Jeremiah 19. 1-28). 5. Iiabba5i—meaning the Great Aminon'.s metropolis. Under the Ptolemies it was rebuilt under t he name I'liiladelphia; the ruins are called Amman now, but there is no dwelling inliablted. Ammonites— ( Jeremiah 7. -1, 10, 11). rtcsire of... eyes—(Psalm 27.4.) The antitype to K/.ekiel's wife (u. 10). pUleth—loveth, as i. e., the Ammonite region is to be a "conching-place for )iity is akin to love: yearned over. "Profane" is an appropriate word. They had profaned the temple with idolatry; (jod, in just retribution, will profane it with the Ciialdean sword, i. c, lay it in the dust, as Ezekiel's wife, sons . . . <lanf;'»4frs . . . left—the cliildren le/l behind in flocks," ii/z.,of the Arabs. The "camels," being the chief beast of burden of tlie Chaldeans, is put first, as tlieir invasion was to prepare the Ammonite land for the Arab "flock.s." Instead of busy men, there shall be "still and coviching flocks." 6, 7. "Because thou hast clapi)ed thine hands," (sxulting over the <lownfall of Jerusalem, "/also will stretch out mine liand upon thee"
when the parents were carried away. 3^. (.Jeremiah 115.6,7.) So general shall be the calamity, that all ordinary usages of mourning sli,ill be suspended. 33. yc shall not moiirn . . . tont . . . pine away for yonr in- (to which ch. 21.17 also may refer, "I will smite mine hands together"), hands . . . feet . . . heart—with the whole inward, feeling, and with every outward indication. 8l.ampini) with the fool means dancing fmjoy i<intf its-The Jews' not mourni.jg was vj be not the result of insensibility, uny more than Ezekiel's not mourning for liis wife was not from want of feeling. They could not
1. a spoil—so JTehrev) Margin or Keri, for the text or Chetib, "meat" (.so ch. 26. 5; .34.28). Their .c/oorf.? were to be a "spoil to the foe;" their state was to be "cut ofT," .so as to be no more a " people ;" and they were as individuals, in their exile manifest publicly their lamentation, but tiiey would privately " mourn one to another," Their " ini()uilies" would then be their chief sorrow ("pining away"), as feeling that these were the cause of their suffor 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 thereferings(cf. Leviticus 26. .39; Tjamentalions 3. 3U). The fullest fulfilment is still future (Zechariah 12. 10-14). 34. sign— tyi)ical representative in his own person of what was to fore naturally acted in concert, and in joint hostility to Judea. Jndali Is like . . . all . . . heatlicn—The Jews befall them (Isaiah 20.3). wlien this coineth—alluding I)robably to their taunt, as if God's word spoken by His prophets would never come to pass. "Where is the word of the Lord? Let it conie now" (Jeremiah 17.1.5). When the prophecy is fulfilled, "ye shall know (to your cost) that I am the Lord," who thereby show my power and fare no better than others: it is of no use to them to .serve Jehovah, who, they say, is the only true God. 0, 10. open. . . from the cities—J 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 north-west border beyond the Arnon, once assigned to Reuben (Joshua 13. fulfil my word spoken by my prophet (John 13. 19; 14.29).
3.5, rJG. "The day" referred to in these verses is the day of the overthrow of the temple, when the fugitive "es-
15-21), but now in the hands of their original owners; and the "men of the East," the wandering Bedouin hordes, c.apes." But " that day," in v. 27, is the day on which the shall enter through these cities into Moab and waste it. Moab accordingly was so wasted by tliem, that long befugitive brings the sad news to Ezekiel, at the Chebar. la the interval the prophet suspended his prophecies as fore 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 Arocr, on the Arnon. Hence the Hebrew for cities, "Ar" is repeated twice (Numbers 21. 28; Deuteronomy 2.36; Isaiah 1.5. 1). glory of the coxmtry-The region of Moab was richer than that of Ammon; it answers to the modern Belka, the richest to t/ie Je-:i 8, as was foretold. Afterwards his mouth was "opened," and no more " dumb" (ch. 3. 26, 27 ; cf. v. 27 here
In ai. 24 ; and ch. *3. 21, 22).
CHAPTER XXV.
1-17., Appropriately in the intervai, of SilEVCE AS TO the .JEW.S IN THE EIGHT CHAPTERS, 2-5.-32, EzEKiEi, Denounces Judgments on the Heathen World-Kingdoms. If Israel was not spared, much less the lieathen utterly corrupt, and having no mixture of truth, such as Israel In its worst state possessed (1 Peter district in South Syria, and the scene in consequence of many a contest among the Bedouins. Hence it is called here a glorious land (lit., a glory, or ornament of a land). [Fairbairn.] Rather, "the glory of the country" is in apposition with " cities" which immediately precede, and the names of which presently follow. Beth-jeshlmoth— meaning "the city of desolations;" perhaps so named from some siege it sustained ; it was towards the west. Baal-meon—called also Beth-meon (Jeremiah 48. 23), and Beth-baal-meon (Joshua 1.3. 17, called so from the worship
1. 17, IS). Their ruin was to be utter: Israel's but temporary (Jeremiah 46. 28). The nations denounced are seven, the perfect number; implying that God's judgments wc Rild visit, not merely these, but the whole round of the heathen foes of God. Babylon is excepted, because she is now for the present viewed as the rod of God's retributive of Baal), and Bajith, simply (Isaiah 1.5. 2). Klrlathaim— justice, a view too much then lost sight of by those who the double city. The strength of these cities engendered "the pride" of Moab (Isaiah 16.6). 10. witK the Ammonitos—Fairbairn explains and translates, "upon the children of Amnion" (elliptically for "I will open Moab fretted against h&r universal supremacy. 3. (Jeremiah
49. 1). wiien . . . profaned . . . when . . . desolate . . . when . . . captivity—rather, for . . .for . . .for: the coiise of the insolent exultation of Ammon over Jerusalem. They triumphed especially over the fall of the "sancto the men of the East, who, having overrun the children of Ammon, shall then fall on Moab"). Maurer, as English Version, "with the Ammonites," i. e., Moab, "together tuary," as the triumph of heathenism over the rival claims of Jehovah. In Jehoshaphat's time, when Psalm with the land of Ammon," is to be thrown "open to the men of the East," to enter and take po.ssession (Jeremiah
S3, was written (Psalm 83. 4, 7, 8, 12, "Ammon . . . holpen
49). 13. taking vengeance—ii*., revenging u-ith revengethe childien of Lot," who were, therefore, the leaders of the ment, i.e., the most unrelenting vengeance. It was not simple hatred, but deep-brooding, implacable revenge. The grudge of Edora or Esau was originally for Jacob's robbing him of Isaac's blessing (Genesis 25.23; 27.27-41). This purpose of revenge yielded to the extraordinary kindness of Jacob, through the blessing of Him with whom Jaeob wrestled in prayer; but it was revived asan unhol.v conspiracy, " Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in pos.session"), we see the same prolane spirit. Now at, last their wicked wish seems accomplished in the fall of Jerusalem. Ammon, descended from Lot, held the region east of Jordan, separ.^ted 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