The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 63

wicked, cruel, malignant. The accusation 3eo-ainst the Edomites is revenge. Schroder translates, "Because Edom exercises vindictive revenge upon the house of Judah." The hatred of Esau towards his brother Jacob for fraudulently depriving him of his blessing seems to have run down through all his generations. And it was increased by what the Edomites afterwards suffered in conflict with the descendants of Jacob (cf. 1 Sam. xiv. 47; 1 Kings xi. 15, 16; 2 Chron. xxv. 11, 12); although Hengsten- berg says "that Edom brought upon himself, by his own conduct, what he formerly, particularly under David, suffered from Judah. For only on this supposition was the revenge sinful." Revenge was prohibited by the holy Law of God as declared in the Old Testament (cf. Lev. xix. 18). And much more so as expressed in the New Testa- ment (cf. Matt. v. 44-4-8; Rom. xii. 17, 19; Eph. iv. 31). 2. The manifestation of this sin. Joel, who probably prophesied in the early years of the reign of King Uzziah, predicts that " Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence done to the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land" (Joel iii. 19; see also Amos L 11, 12). But probably the reference in our text is chiefly to the action of Edom during the Chaldean invasion of Judrea. "When Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem, the Edomites joined him, and took an active part in the plunder of the city and slaughter of the poor Jews. Their cruelty at that time seems to be especially referred to in the hundred and thirty-seventh psalm: "Remember, 0 Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation thereof!" Their conduct at that time is described by the Prophet Obadiah (vers.10-14). 3. The aggravations of their sin. They were kinsfolk of Israel and Judah. In joining Nebuchadnezzar against Judah, they were uniting with a foreigner against those who had descended from the same ancestor as themselves. Moreover, in former times the Israelites had made distinctions in their favour. When they marched to the conquest of Canaan, they were commanded not to contend with the Edomites (Deut. ii. 4, 5); and they observed that command. The Lord also commanded them not to hate the Edomites (Deut. xxiii. 7). Yet the Edomites hated the Jews, and rejoiced in revenging themselves upon them. II. THE RIGHTEOUS BF.TRIBUTJON OF THE BIN OF TIIE EnoMITES. "Thererore thus saith the Lord God; I will also stretch out mine hand upon Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it," etc. (vers. 13, 14). 1. The fudgment inflicted. Two chief elements of it are mentioned by the prophet-slaughter by the sword, and the laying waste of the land. It is also intimated that the judgment should pass over the whole land. " And I will make it desolate from Teman; even unto Dedan shall they fall by the sword." Or, as some would punctuate, "From Teman even unto Dedan they shall fall by the sword." Teman was a district in the south of Edom, and Dedan was in the north; so that "from Teman imto Dedan" signifies over the entire country. Not in one event a.lone may we trace the fulfilment of this prediction, but in several. In the time of the Maccabees, Judas the Maccabee slew more than forty thousand Edomites (1 Mace. v. 3; 2 Mace. x. 15-23). About thirty years afterwards, John Hyrcanus turned his forces age.inst Edom, completely subdued the country, and compelled the people to submit to circum- cision and to conform to the Jewish religion, or to suffer expatriation, And they were so desirous of remaining in the country of their forefathers, that they yielded to his conditions, and, as Josephus says, "they were hereafter no other than Jews" (Josephus, 'Ant.,' xiii. 9. 1). So complete was their incorporation with the Jews" that the name of Idumrea appears no more in history as a separate kingdom." As Schroder remarks, " The vengeance of God could not in a more marked retribution manifest itself upon Edom than by the extirpation of his nationality, and that precisely in the form of an absorption by Israel." 'l'he desolation of the land was at length accomplished by the Mohammedans. "In the seventh century," says Dr. J. L. Porter, "the Mohammedan conquest gave a death-blow to the commerce and prosperity of Edom. Under the withering iufluence of Mohammedan rule, the great cities fell to ruin, and the country became a desert. The followers of the false prophet were here, as elsewhere, the instru- ments, in God's hands, for the execution of his judgments." And so "the Edom of prophecy-Edom considered as the enemy of God and the rival of Israel-has perished for ever : all, in that respect, is an untrodden wilderness, a hopeless ruin ; and therein the veracity of God's Word finds its verification." 2. The i11struments /01• the infliction of tl,e il4gment. "I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people on. xxv. 1-17.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 65