Ezekiel 35: 1 – 15
Ghost Town
“1 Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir and prophesy against it, 3 and say to it, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “ Behold, O Mount Seir, I am against you; I will stretch out My hand against you, and make you most desolate; 4 I shall lay your cities waste, and you shall be desolate. Then you shall know that I am the LORD. 5 “Because you have had an ancient hatred, and have shed the blood of the children of Israel by the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, when their iniquity came to an end, 6 therefore, as I live,” says the Lord GOD, “I will prepare you for blood, and blood shall pursue you; since you have not hated blood, therefore blood shall pursue you. 7 Thus I will make Mount Seir most desolate, and cut off from it the one who leaves and the one who returns. 8 And I will fill its mountains with the slain; on your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines those who are slain by the sword shall fall. 9 I will make you perpetually desolate, and your cities shall be uninhabited; then you shall know that I am the LORD. 10 “Because you have said, ‘These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess them,’ although the LORD was there, 11 therefore, as I live,” says the Lord GOD, “I will do according to your anger and according to the envy which you showed in your hatred against them; and I will make Myself known among them when I judge you. 12 Then you shall know that I am the LORD. I have heard all your blasphemies which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, ‘They are desolate; they are given to us to consume.’ 13 Thus with your mouth you have boasted against Me and multiplied your words against Me; I have heard them.” 14 ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “The whole earth will rejoice when I make you desolate. 15 As you rejoiced because the inheritance of the house of Israel was desolate, so I will do to you; you shall be desolate, O Mount Seir, as well as all of Edom—all of it! Then they shall know that I am the LORD’”
If you have been following along in the study of Ezekiel since chapter 1 you might come to a question regarding this chapter. It would be, how come we see inserted a prophecy against Mount Seir [The nation of Edom] after the Lord began prophesying of Israel’s restoration? I believe first of all that it goes back to Genesis with Jacob and Esau [ became the nation of Edom]. Do you have any brothers or sisters? How do you get along? I hardly hear or come across any stories of nice relationships between siblings. Look at the bible regarding Abraham’s family. Abraham had a son with an Egyptian servant in which the Lord did not authorize. This boy he named Ishmael. He was ultimate the father of the Arabs. Look at how nice the Arab nations get along with Israel today.
Then we come to Abraham’s grandson through his authorized son, Isaac. We find this information out in Genesis chapter 25, ‘24 So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her womb. 25 And the first came out red. He was like a hairy garment all over; so they called his name Esau. 26 Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau’s heel; so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them. 27 So the boys grew. And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a mild man, dwelling in tents. 28 And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. 29 Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary. 30 And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his name was called Edom.31 But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.” 32 And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?” 33 Then Jacob said, “Swear to me as of this day.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.”
In this case the two boys were twins. Jacob [Israel] and Esau [Edom] got along like night and day. Not only did Esau give up his birthright for a little soup, he was also tricked out of his blessing by Jacob as chapter 27 of Genesis teaches us, “1 Now it came to pass, when Isaac was old and his eyes were so dim that he could not see, that he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.” And he answered him, “Here I am.” 2 Then he said, “Behold now, I am old. I do not know the day of my death. 3 Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me. 4 And make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.” 5 Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt game and to bring it. 6 So Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, “Indeed I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying, 7 ‘Bring me game and make savory food for me, that I may eat it and bless you in the presence of the LORD before my death.’ 8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to what I command you. 9 Go now to the flock and bring me from there two choice kids of the goats, and I will make savory food from them for your father, such as he loves. 10 Then you shall take it to your father, that he may eat it, and that he may bless you before his death.” 11 And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Look, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth-skinned man. 12 Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him; and I shall bring a curse on myself and not a blessing.” 13 But his mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me.” 14 And he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother made savory food, such as his father loved. 15 Then Rebekah took the choice clothes of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. 16 And she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. 17 Then she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob. 18 So he went to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?” 19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn; I have done just as you told me; please arise, sit and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.” 20 But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” And he said, “Because the LORD your God brought it to me.” 21 Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.” 22 So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” 23 And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him. 24 Then he said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He said, “I am.” 25 He said, “Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, so that my soul may bless you.” So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank. 26 Then his father Isaac said to him “Come near now and kiss me, my son.” 27 And he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him and said: “ Surely, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the LORD has blessed. 28 Therefore may God give you of the dew of heaven, Of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine. 29 Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethren, and let your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be those who bless you!” 30 Now it happened, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 31 He also had made savory food, and brought it to his father, and said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that your soul may bless me.” 32 And his father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” So he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.” 33 Then Isaac trembled exceedingly, and said, “Who? Where is the one who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it before you came, and I have blessed him—and indeed he shall be blessed.” 34 When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me—me also, O my father!” 35 But he said, “Your brother came with deceit and has taken away your blessing.” 36 And Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and now look, he has taken away my blessing!” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” 37 Then Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Indeed I have made him your master, and all his brethren I have given to him as servants; with grain and wine I have sustained him. What shall I do now for you, my son?” 38 And Esau said to his father, “Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me—me also, O my father!” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. 39 Then Isaac his father answered and said to him: “ Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth, And of the dew of heaven from above. 40 By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother; and it shall come to pass, when you become restless, That you shall break his yoke from your neck.” 41 So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
Jacob tried to mend the divide between him and his brother when they met again after 20 years had passed. Let’s take a look at Genesis chapter 36, “1 Now this is the genealogy of Esau, who is Edom. 2 Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite; Aholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite; 3 and Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, sister of Nebajoth. 4 Now Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau, and Basemath bore Reuel. 5 And Aholibamah bore Jeush, Jaalam, and Korah. These were the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan.6 Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the persons of his household, his cattle and all his animals, and all his goods which he had gained in the land of Canaan, and went to a country away from the presence of his brother Jacob. 7 For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together, and the land where they were strangers could not support them because of their livestock. 8 So Esau dwelt in Mount Seir. Esau is Edom. 9 And this is the genealogy of Esau the father of the Edomites in Mount Seir. The story goes on. We pick up the interaction between these two brothers in Genesis chapter 33,
“1 Now Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and there, Esau was coming, and with him were four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants. 2 And he put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children behind, and Rachel and Joseph last. 3 Then he crossed over before them and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.4 But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. 5 And he lifted his eyes and saw the women and children, and said, “Who are these with you?” So he said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” 6 Then the maidservants came near, they and their children, and bowed down. 7 And Leah also came near with her children, and they bowed down. Afterward Joseph and Rachel came near, and they bowed down. 8 Then Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company which I met?” And he said, “These are to find favor in the sight of my lord.” 9 But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.” 10 And Jacob said, “No, please, if I have now found favor in your sight, then receive my present from my hand, inasmuch as I have seen your face as though I had seen the face of God, and you were pleased with me. 11 Please, take my blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.” So he urged him, and he took it.12 Then Esau said, “Let us take our journey; let us go, and I will go before you.” 13 But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are weak, and the flocks and herds which are nursing are with me. And if the men should drive them hard one day, all the flock will die. 14 Please let my lord go on ahead before his servant. I will lead on slowly at a pace which the livestock that go before me, and the children, are able to endure, until I come to my lord in Seir.” 15 And Esau said, “Now let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “What need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.” 16 So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. 17 And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, built himself a house, and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.”
So, all the descendents of Jacob settled in the area of Canaan and called their country Israel. Esau moved to an adjacent area and called this land Edom. Instead of mutual concern and support the relatives of Israel have hated this little nation. Why? It all has to do with spiritual issues. Don’t you just hate it when someone is more favored than you? You allow the sinful disease of bitterness take hold and results in significant evil.
In the book of Malachi chapter 1 we read, 2 “ I have loved you,” says the LORD. “Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’ Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” Says the LORD. “ Yet Jacob I have loved; 3 But Esau I have hated, and laid waste his mountains and his heritage for the jackals of the wilderness.” 4 Even though Edom has said, “ We have been impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places,” Thus says the LORD of hosts: “ They may build, but I will throw down; They shall be called the Territory of Wickedness, and the people against whom the LORD will have indignation forever. 5 Your eyes shall see, and you shall say, ‘ The LORD is magnified beyond the border of Israel.’
Over 400 years had passed and we come to the time of Moses leading the Israelites back to their land. They come upon their relatives and look what happened in the book of Numbers chapter 20, “14 Now Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom. “Thus says your brother Israel: ‘You know all the hardship that has befallen us, 15 how our fathers went down to Egypt, and we dwelt in Egypt a long time, and the Egyptians afflicted us and our fathers. 16 When we cried out to the LORD, He heard our voice and sent the Angel and brought us up out of Egypt; now here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your border. 17 Please let us pass through your country. We will not pass through fields or vineyards, nor will we drink water from wells; we will go along the King’s Highway; we will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory.’” 18 Then Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through my land, lest I come out against you with the sword.” 19 So the children of Israel said to him, “We will go by the Highway, and if I or my livestock drink any of your water, then I will pay for it; let me only pass through on foot, nothing more.” 20 Then he said, “You shall not pass through.” So Edom came out against them with many men and with a strong hand. 21 Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his territory; so Israel turned away from him.”
The Lord would not allow the Israelites to fight against Edom. However; He didn’t like the treatment of His people and let it be known to the people of Edom. Numbers chapter 24 fills us in on this, “15 So he took up his oracle and said: “The utterance of Balaam the son of Beor, and the utterance of the man whose eyes are opened; 16 The utterance of him who hears the words of God, and has the knowledge of the Most High, who sees the vision of the Almighty, who falls down, with eyes wide open: 17 “I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; A Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and batter the brow of Moab, and destroy all the sons of tumult. 18 “And Edom shall be a possession; Seir also, his enemies, shall be a possession, while Israel does valiantly. 19 Out of Jacob One shall have dominion, and destroy the remains of the city.”
The book of 2 Chronicles highlights these bitter feelings of Edom against the ones God selected as His special people, “1 It happened after this that the people of Moab with the people of Ammon, and others with them besides the Ammonites, came to battle against Jehoshaphat. 2 Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria; and they are in Hazazon Tamar” (which is En Gedi). 3 And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. 4 So Judah gathered together to ask help from the LORD; and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.5 Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court, 6 and said: “O LORD God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You? 7 Are You not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever? 8 And they dwell in it, and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your name, saying, 9 ‘If disaster comes upon us—sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine—we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your name is in this temple), and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.’ 10 And now, here are the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir—whom You would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them and did not destroy them— 11 here they are, rewarding us by coming to throw us out of Your possession which You have given us to inherit. 12 O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.” 13 Now all Judah, with their little ones, their wives, and their children, stood before the LORD. 14 Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. 15 And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the LORD to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. 16 Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel. 17 You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the LORD, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the LORD is with you.” 18 And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the LORD, worshiping the LORD. 19 Then the Levites of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korahites stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with voices loud and high. 20 So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the LORD your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.” 21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the LORD, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying: “Praise the LORD, for His mercy endures forever.”22 Now when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated. 23 For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.”
I think you are starting to get the picture about how bad the Edomites were and why our precious Lord would insert His comments against them while in the process of telling the Israelites about restoring them to the land. Just one more reference I believe will paint the picture for us relative to the evil antagonism that Edom has dealt to the Jewish people throughout history. Jeremiah chapter 49 will reveal even more information regarding our Holy Rulers decision to eliminate Edom from ever causing harm again. “7 Against Edom. Thus says the LORD of hosts: “ Is wisdom no more in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom vanished? 8 Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Dedan! For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I will punish him. 9 If grape-gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? If thieves by night, would they not destroy until they have enough? 10 But I have made Esau bare; I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself. His descendants are plundered, his brethren and his neighbors, and he is no more. 11 Leave your fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let your widows trust in Me.” 12 For thus says the LORD: “Behold, those whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunk. And are you the one who will altogether go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, but you shall surely drink of it. 13 For I have sworn by Myself,” says the LORD, “that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse. And all its cities shall be perpetual wastes.” 14 I have heard a message from the LORD, and an ambassador has been sent to the nations. “ Gather together, come against her, and rise up to battle! 15 “ For indeed, I will make you small among nations, despised among men. 16 Your fierceness has deceived you, the pride of your heart, O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill! Though you make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there,” says the LORD. 17 “ Edom also shall be an astonishment; Everyone who goes by it will be astonished and will hiss at all its plagues. 18 As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors,” says the LORD, “ No one shall remain there, nor shall a son of man dwell in it. 19 “ Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the floodplain of the Jordan against the dwelling place of the strong; But I will suddenly make him run away from her. And who is a chosen man that I may appoint over her? For who is like Me? Who will arraign Me? And who is that shepherd who will withstand Me?” 20 Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD that He has taken against Edom, and His purposes that He has proposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out; Surely He shall make their dwelling places desolate with them. 21 The earth shakes at the noise of their fall; At the cry its noise is heard at the Red Sea. 22 Behold, He shall come up and fly like the eagle, and spread His wings over Bozrah; The heart of the mighty men of Edom in that day shall be like the heart of a woman in birth pangs.”
There is a noteworthy comparison between the mountains of each nation. In verse 3 we read about Edom, ‘Behold I AM against you, O Mount Seir [verse 3] and when we read about chapter 36 we read about Israel, “Behold I AM for you and I will turn to you.’” [Verses 8 – 9]
In chapter 36 our Lord will return to the point of encouraging the Israelites with His Blessings. However, before that occurs He wants to remind those nations, especially Edom, that punishment will come due to their hatred of His people.
When refugees fled the slaughter of Jerusalem the Edomites refused refuge to these poor people. They turned these people away with the sword. Look at our Lord’s description in the book of Amos, chapter 1, “11 Thus says the LORD: “ For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because he pursued his brother with the sword, and cast off all pity; His anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever. 12 But I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.”
They felt that they could go in and claim the land for themselves. It kind of reminds me of the nations that turned away the fleeing Jews during WWII. This despicable behavior against people in need will be dealt with. These evil people and nations will reap what they have sown.
“1 Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir and prophesy against it, 3 and say to it, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “ Behold, O Mount Seir, I am against you; I will stretch out My hand against you, and make you most desolate; 4 I shall lay your cities waste, and you shall be desolate. Then you shall know that I am the LORD. 5 “Because you have had an ancient hatred, and have shed the blood of the children of Israel by the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, when their iniquity came to an end,’
The verdict is given relative in relationship to the Lord’s purpose in His prepared proper Judgment. The reason was due to their perpetual hatred towards the Israelites. Especially in mind were their cold, cruel, cynical acts done to the Hebrews.
Throughout Edom was bent on destroying Israel. Our Magnificent God has a good way of turning things around. Edom winds up being the one destroyed and Israel is the one that is restored.
6 therefore, as I live,” says the Lord GOD, “I will prepare you for blood, and blood shall pursue you; since you have not hated blood, therefore blood shall pursue you.
In the future during the time of the end our Lord Jesus Christ will personally return to earth and deal with rebellious mankind. Take a guess where He is going to begin with His Judgment. The prophet Isaiah tells us in chapter 63, “1 Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah, This One who is glorious in His apparel, traveling in the greatness of His strength— “ I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” 2 Why is Your apparel red, and Your garments like one who treads in the winepress? 3 “ I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with Me. For I have trodden them in My anger, and trampled them in My fury; Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, and I have stained all My robes. 4 For the day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come. 5 I looked, but there was no one to help, and I wondered that there was no one to uphold; Therefore My own arm brought salvation for Me; And My own fury, it sustained Me. 6 I have trodden down the peoples in My anger, made them drunk in My fury, and brought down their strength to the earth.”
Bozra was the old capitol of the Edomites. Blood will fly everywhere from the wrath of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. The inhabitants of Edom enjoyed shedding Hebrew blood. This brought about God’s Righteous Anger. It would bring God’s attack against this evil. He would arrange for their slaughter just as they had planned for the slaughter of the Israelites. There would be ‘blood guilt’ just the same as Cain had done to his brother Abel as Genesis chapter 4 describes, “9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.”
7 Thus I will make Mount Seir most desolate, and cut off from it the one who leaves and the one who returns. 8 And I will fill its mountains with the slain; on your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines those who are slain by the sword shall fall. 9 I will make you perpetually desolate, and your cities shall be uninhabited; then you shall know that I am the LORD.
If you ever travel to this area today you would think to yourself, how could anyone ever live here. Everywhere [hills, valleys, and waterways] is just barren desert. Truly the Lord’s prophecy of utter devastation came true. The prophet Isaiah had similar words from our Righteous Lord relative to Edom as describe in chapter 34, 5 “ For My sword shall be bathed in heaven; Indeed it shall come down on Edom, and on the people of My curse, for judgment. 6 The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made overflowing with fatness, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. 7 The wild oxen shall come down with them, and the young bulls with the mighty bulls; Their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust saturated with fatness.” 8 For it is the day of the LORD’s vengeance, the year of recompense for the cause of Zion. 9 Its streams shall be turned into pitch, and its dust into brimstone; Its land shall become burning pitch. 10 It shall not be quenched night or day; Its smoke shall ascend forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; No one shall pass through it forever and ever. 11 But the pelican and the porcupine shall possess it, also the owl and the raven shall dwell in it. And He shall stretch out over it the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness. 12 They shall call its nobles to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all its princes shall be nothing. 13 And thorns shall come up in its palaces, nettles and brambles in its fortresses; It shall be a habitation of jackals, a courtyard for ostriches. 14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the jackals, and the wild goat shall bleat to its companion; Also the night creature shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest. 15 There the arrow snake shall make her nest and lay eggs and hatch, and gather them under her shadow; There also shall the hawks be gathered, every one with her mate.”
10 “Because you have said, ‘These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess them,’ although the LORD was there, 11 therefore, as I live,” says the Lord GOD, “I will do according to your anger and according to the envy which you showed in your hatred against them; and I will make Myself known among them when I judge you. 12 Then you shall know that I am the LORD. I have heard all your blasphemies which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, ‘They are desolate; they are given to us to consume.’ 13 Thus with your mouth you have boasted against Me and multiplied your words against Me; I have heard them.”
If you want to really do yourself in then follow the plans of Edom. They committed two great offences 10 “Because you have said, ‘These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess them,’ although the LORD was there, Their major sin was to ignore the only real God Jehovah Shammah – the Lord Who Is There. Because of the Israelites were conquered the Edomites magnified themselves and their phony gods as being superior to Adoni Yahweh. Their talk against the mountains of Israel was blasphemous. They and their gods were given the land was what they believed.
If we read here about how angry our Holy Father is regarding the land of Israel, what does that now say about our country? We have been duped through evil partnerships with countries that hate Israel. We have put pressure on Israel to give up so-called disputed land. We have slipped I believe past the point of no return. What will happen to our country now is that we will begin to see the same things that was done to Edom. Mankind will never learn that you cannot mess with Almighty God’s property.
In addition to this significant illogical perspective of thought about Israel, anger and jealousy was never ending. Since Esau, their patriarch, the Edomites had taught their children to grow up hating the Jews. Their rallying cry like today was to totally destroy the Israelites. The key cry today is ‘drive them into the sea.’ This will never happen. That fact is guaranteed because God said so and I believe Him.
‘I have heard it’ are the words from the ever-present Holy One. He sees all and knows all. We all have to understand that just as our Lord overheard the garbage coming out of the Edomite’s mouth, He also hears us. Now that is a scary thought. Look at what is said in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 12, 33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. 34 Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. 36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the Day of Judgment. 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
14 ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “The whole earth will rejoice when I make you desolate. 15 As you rejoiced because the inheritance of the house of Israel was desolate, so I will do to you; you shall be desolate, O Mount Seir, as well as all of Edom—all of it! Then they shall know that I am the LORD’”
The people of Edom reacted with joy when they saw Israel being attacked by the Babylonian army. Instead of rejoicing over Israel’s desolation, they will realize that the whole world was happy that the table was turned on them.
I close with a little book of the bible – Obadiah. This little one chapter book deals exclusively with the nation of Edom. It fills in any remaining gaps relative to our understanding of this persistent enemy of Israel.
“1 The vision of Obadiah. Thus says the Lord GOD concerning Edom (We have heard a report from the LORD, and a messenger has been sent among the nations, saying,“ Arise, and let us rise up against her for battle”): 2 “ Behold, I will make you small among the nations; you shall be greatly despised. 3 The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; you who say in your heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’ 4 Though you ascend as high as the eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down,” says the LORD. 5 “ If thieves had come to you, if robbers by night— Oh, how you will be cut off!— would they not have stolen till they had enough? If grape-gatherers had come to you, would they not have left some gleanings? 6 “ Oh, how Esau shall be searched out! How his hidden treasures shall be sought after! 7 All the men in your confederacy shall force you to the border; The men at peace with you shall deceive you and prevail against you. Those who eat your bread shall lay a trap for you. No one is aware of it. 8 “ Will I not in that day,” says the LORD, “ Even destroy the wise men from Edom, and understanding from the mountains of Esau? 9 Then your mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that everyone from the mountains of Esau may be cut off by slaughter. 10 “ For violence against your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever. 11 In the day that you stood on the other side— in the day that strangers carried captive his forces, when foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem— even you were as one of them. 12 “ But you should not have gazed on the day of your brother in the day of his captivity; Nor should you have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; Nor should you have spoken proudly in the day of distress. 13 You should not have entered the gate of My people in the day of their calamity. Indeed, you should not have gazed on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity. 14 You should not have stood at the crossroads to cut off those among them who escaped; Nor should you have delivered up those among them who remained in the day of distress. 15 “ For the day of the LORD upon all the nations is near; As you have done, it shall be done to you; Your reprisal shall return upon your own head. 16 For as you drank on My holy mountain, so shall all the nations drink continually; Yes, they shall drink, and swallow, and they shall be as though they had never been. 17 “ But on Mount Zion there shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. 18 The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame; But the house of Esau shall be stubble; They shall kindle them and devour them, and no survivor shall remain of the house of Esau,” For the LORD has spoken. 19 The South shall possess the mountains of Esau, and the Lowland shall possess Philistia. They shall possess the fields of Ephraim and the fields of Samaria. Benjamin shall possess Gilead. 20 And the captives of this host of the children of Israel shall possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath. The captives of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad shall possess the cities of the South. 21 Then saviors shall come to Mount Zion to judge the mountains of Esau, and the kingdom shall be the LORD’s.”
