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Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
25:1-32:32 Oracles against Foreign Nations. Poised at this moment in the dramatic downfall of Jerusalem, Ezekiel's tirade ends and the focus shifts. The fate of the city is left hanging as a collection of oracles against foreign nations is presented. While not all the oracles in this collection are dated, most seem to fall within the period (for the exception, see 29:17). Almost every Prophetic Book includes prophecies addressed to nations other than Israel and Judah (e.g., Isaiah 13-23; Jeremiah 46-51; Amos 1-2; Zephaniah 2). Their primary theological role is to show that all peoples are under the dominion and discipline of the King of kings. Israel is uniquely God's own, yet all nations are subject to the one true God (cf. Amos 3:2; 9:7). The fate of every nation, whether for judgment or for blessing, is in God's hands. Implied hope for Israel is thus a secondary message of the condemnatory foreign-nation oracles. Further, the reasons for judgment found in the foreign and domestic oracles tend to cohere within a given book. In Ezekiel, just as Judah and Jerusalem are punished for impurity and oppression, so too are the foreign nations. However, Ezekiel often simply announces God's opposition to these nations without offering an explicit rationale. The oracles are arranged in three large sections: first, Judah's nearest neighbors are condemned (Ezekiel 25), followed by the extended collections of oracles against Tyre (chs. 26-28) and Egypt (chs. 29-32). Two smaller oracles--one against Sidon, the other looking to Israel's regathering--are embedded at the halfway point (28:20-26). In all, seven nations stand condemned.
25:1-17 Against Judah's Neighbors. Apart from the old northern kingdom of Israel to the north, Judah had four immediate neighbors. Clockwise, they were Ammon on the northeast (vv. 1-7), Moab to the east across the Dead Sea (vv. 8-11), Edom to the south (vv. 12-14), and Philistia to the west (vv. 15-17). The oracles against these nations group into two pairs. Excluding Philistia, but including Tyre and Sidon (chs. 26-28), these nations had been part of a coalition with Judah against Babylon early in Zedekiah's reign (see Jer. 27:3). Each of these oracles has a similar structure, with formulaic address and conclusion, as well as similar content: condemnation for contemptuous cruelty of heart toward Judah.
25:1-7 Against Ammon. Ammon and Moab fell to the Babylonians much later than Judah. Clearly, talk of "coalition" did nothing to help Judah's cause when the Babylonians overran it. Ammon receives two oracles, and the pattern is followed in the succeeding indictments: the basis of judgment is stated (because, Hb. ya‘an), the outcome announced (therefore, Hb. laken), and the recognition formula follows by way of conclusion. The Ammon oracle, then, falls into two sections, with vv. 1-5 being more detailed than vv. 6-7.
25:3 The leading reason for judgment against Ammon is the insult they gave to my sanctuary--God's own reputation is of primary concern. While land (Hb. ’adamah; see note on 7:2) of Israel is a common phrase in Ezekiel, house of Judah is not; it is used outside this chapter only at 4:6 and 8:17. "House of Israel," by contrast, is used
25:4 The agents of divine justice are the people of the East, that is, desert nomads. This both accounts for the description that follows, and implies the ironic insult that the people unconquered by mighty Babylon will fall to nomads.
25:6 This second oracle is linked to the first (for, or "because," Hb. ki) as a further indictment.
25:8-11 Against Moab. For structure and general features, see note on vv. 1-7. Although the indictment is very brief, the insult to God behind the belittling of Judah (v. 8) can still be discerned.
25:8 and Seir. This phrase, lacking in the Septuagint (see ESV footnote), is surprising here and may be the result of a copyist's error. Seir is consistently identified with Edom in the OT, but nowhere else with Moab. It is not mentioned in the judgment of vv. 9-11.
25:9 These place names are known from sources outside the Bible. Although not leading cities themselves, they form a direct line pointing to Dibon and Aroer in the Moabite heartland.
25:12-14 Against Edom. The intense hatred felt for Edom by later Judeans is amply attested in the OT, e.g., Ps. 137:7; Jer. 49:7-22; Lam. 4:21-22. In the OT, Edom often serves as the chief representative of hostility to God and his people. The accusation of taking vengeance (Ezek. 25:12) coheres with this wider picture. The locations of the cities Teman and Dedan are not certain, but the suggestion that they represent the extremities of Edom (from . . . to) makes good sense. Assigning my people Israel (v. 14) to be the agent of God's wrath is not paralleled elsewhere in Ezekiel, but it does have the ring of poetic justice against this traditional foe.
25:15-17 Against Philistia. Philistia had already been subdued by Nebuchadnezzar before the campaigns against Judah. It was thus not in a position to be part of the conspiracy planned in Zedekiah's day (see note on vv. 1-17). This oracle is very much an echo of the preceding one. The Cherethites (v. 16) were coastal dwellers, identified with the Philistines also in Zeph. 2:5. Use of their name also provides a pun on their punishment: in the phrase cut off the Cherethites, the verb and the proper noun both have the same three consonants (k-r-t) in their root (Hb. wehikrati ’et-Keretim).
