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Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
35:1-36:15 The Mountains of Edom and Israel. In so highly structured a book as Ezekiel, it seems odd that an oracle against a foreign nation should appear outside the collection in chs. 25-32. However, that collection is itself highly structured, and it is clear that the prophecies against Mount Seir (Edom) in ch. 35 are a preface to the address to the mountains of Israel in 36:1-15, and these two passages are best regarded as a single unit in two parts.
35:1-15 Against Mount Seir. Mount Seir (v. 2) is identified with Edom (v. 15) much as Mount Zion is identified with Judah. An oracle against Edom appears in 25:12-14 (see note there), and its theme is echoed here. Edom's excesses against the stricken Judah (which inspired such animosity) are registered and judged. (Cf. also the book of Obadiah.) There is also considerable overlap of language with Ezekiel's earlier oracle against the "mountains of Israel" in Ezek. 6:1-7, 11-14. In this passage, the "recognition formula" (35:4, 9, 12a, 15; cf. Introduction: Style) punctuates a sequence of four related sayings. The key words "waste" and "desolation" recur throughout the passage, translating at least four Hebrew terms.
35:1-4 The first oracle is little more than a bare announcement of God's opposition to Mount Seir and his intention to destroy it. "Mount Seir" was not a single peak but rather the highland region southeast of the Dead Sea.
35:5-9 The familiar because . . . therefore structure of indictment sets out the key charges against Edom (v. 5) and details the judgment (vv. 6-9). Edom is treated here much as Israel was in ch. 6.
35:10-12a Edom's land-grab is condemned. Two nations refers to Israel and Judah as separate kingdoms (see 37:15-28). Punishment is presented as poetic justice: just as Edom treated Israel and Judah, so it will be treated in turn. The assertion in 35:10 that the Lord was there moderates the claims of those who portray Yahweh as having abandoned the land of promise (see 11:23) for the land of the exiles. This land remains the Lord's.
35:12b-15 The theme of derisive speech picks up one of the main issues from ch. 25. As there, so here the speech is more than simply taunting a vanquished people. God is himself the object of insult, and this is unacceptable. The sole mention of the name Edom comes in 35:15 (cf. note on vv. 1-15).
36:1-15 The Mountains of Israel Restored. The judgment of Mount Seir (ch. 35)--so reminiscent of God's prior judgment of the mountains of Israel (ch. 6)--contrasts with the announcement now of restoration in corresponding terms. The address here is fairly consistently to the "mountains of Israel" (36:1), and most of the second-person references ("you") are plural. A singular reference is occasionally made, however (e.g., to the "land [soil] of Israel," v. 6). Broadly, this oracle sets out an explanation for the wrath that befell the "mountains" (vv. 1-7), followed by the promise of their restoration (vv. 8-15). Within that simple division, the structure is complicated.
36:1-7 In vv. 1-7 there are a series of nested "because" and "therefore" statements whose relationships are difficult to disentangle, as apparent outcomes simply introduce further grounds. Three factors are intertwined: the encroachment of Israel's enemies, the desolation of the land, and the wrath of God. The enemies come to the fore in vv. 2 and 7, the situation of Israel is the focus of vv. 3-4 and 6, and God's wrath is the theme of v. 5.
36:2 The claim to the ancient heights points back to the intended dispossession of Israel's land, judged in ch. 35.
36:3 The enemy is seen to be legion: they came from all sides, without further identification (until v. 5). The derision (v. 4) inspired by the fall of Israel and Judah will be the closing concern of this oracle (vv. 13-15).
36:5 That the judgment of Edom in ch. 35 was in part exemplary is seen here, as it takes its place within the welter of enemies that came against God's people.
36:8-15 But you signals a transition: although the address has been to the "mountains of Israel," now the focus is on Israel's promising future, rather than its bleak, enemy-ridden past. As in the "covenant of peace" (34:25-30), the prosperity of people is bound up with the bounty of the land. Verses 8-11 of ch. 36 present a series of blessings, reminiscent of the restoration of Job 42 as the new exceeds the old. The people themselves become the focus of Ezek. 36:12, reiterating right ownership (cf. v. 2).
36:13-14 The identity of the "mountains" with the "land" is seen here: the you of v. 13 is plural, but the you addressed in v. 14 is feminine singular, referring to the land (soil) of Israel (v. 6). The long history of unsettled relationship between people and land will no longer hold in God's restoration--a vision to sustain future hope.
36:15 The reproach that went beyond insulting people to dishonoring God is also consigned to the past.
