EZEKIEL 35


5 Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity had an end:


Thou hast had a perpetual hatred

-The flesh has ever hated the Spirit, both nationally as well as individually. In the past Edom bitterly opposed Israel which then constituted the Kingdom of God. In the same way, the flesh in political manifestation will oppose the restoration of the Kingdom of God in the future. It has manifested a perpetual hatred against the purpose of Yahweh (Ezek. 36: 2; Ps. 137:7; Obad. Vv. 10, 11).

"Hast shed the blood of the children of Israel . . . in the time of their calamity"

-The relentless antipathy of Edom towards Israel culminated in the last days of Jerusalem

(Obad. v. 13), when the Edomites did their best to completely destroy the people of Israel.

The attitude of Edom in that regard has been repeated by Gentile powers ever since in that, whilst Israel has been in dispersion, they have subjected her to persecution.

This has been displeasing to Yahweh, as Zechariah declares. Through him the Spirit proclaimed:

"I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction" (Zech. 1:15).

The persecution that the children of Israel have experienced during their dispersion, as they have been driven from country to country, illustrates the principle set down in

Ezek. 35:5.

"In the time that their iniquity had an end"

-The attitude of Edom at the time when Israel was finally overthrown will find its counterpart at the "time of Jacob's trouble", when, however, Jacob shall be delivered (see Jer. 30:7). It is significant that Rotherham translates this phrase as:

"the time of the final punishment for iniquity".

The Revised Version renders: "in the time of the iniquity of the end".

This is the time of Judah's final transgression, the time of Jacob's trouble yet to come. Therefore the words of Ezekiel point forward to the last great crisis of the ages as outlined in his prophecy, Chapter 38. At that time of crisis, when Israel will experience great tribulation, so that "two parts shall be cut off and die" (Zech. 13:8), punishment will also be meted out against the antitypical Edomites, even the Gentiles.

The Christadelphian Expositor



10 Because thou hast said, These two nations and these two countries [Goyim [Israel and Judah] ]shall be mine, and we will possess it; whereas [although]Yahweh was there:

11 Therefore, as I live, saith Adonai Yahweh, I will even do according to thine anger, and according to thine envy [kina] which thou hast used out of thy hatred [showed in thy hatred] against them; and I will make Myself known among them, when I have judged thee.

12 And thou shalt know that I am Yahweh, and that I have heard all thy blasphemies which thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel [harim of Yisroel], saying, They are laid desolate, they are given us to consume.

Thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel

In this it blasphemed the Deity himself. This principle is well illustrated in Ezek. 35, where a statement made by Edom concerning Israel and their country is styled blasphemy against the mountains of Israel, because it was false. Edom said, as he also says to this day, "these two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it, though Yahweh were there."

Now, He had promised the land to Jacob, and to him he will give it for an everlasting inheritance. Hence, every saying subversive of this purpose is blasphemy against the country, and blasphemy and boasting against the Eternal Spirit: for, if Edom's purpose of possession could possibly be established, the Deity's veracity would be destroyed, and his character for faithfulness overthrown.

"Thus," in making false statements concerning the destiny of Israel, Judah, and their country, O Edom, saith Yahweh, "with your mouth ye have boasted against Me, and have multiplied your words against Me; I have heard: so that when the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate."

...Hence, to blaspheme or speak evil and injuriously of God's people, and promises, is regarded by Him as blasphemy against Himself.

Eureka 13.1.20

.As the Palestinian and Iranian leaderships now blaspheme

"these two nations (Israel and Judah) shall be mine"



14 Thus saith Adonai Yahweh; When the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate.

The whole earth rejoiceth (in milleniel blessedness) - but Idumea will be desolate. A solemn memorial.

The judgment of Mt. Seir, or Edom. This seems out of place. Why is it not in the previous section [of Ezekiel]: the prophecies against the heathen? This is something different and deeper. This is the ancient enmity between flesh and spirit.

Truly, the natural Edom is involved, but only as the foundation of the spiritual type and lesson that is carried through into the Millennium, for it is millennial things that Ezekiel is dealing with now...

"My sword shall come down upon Idumea . . . The Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah . . . It is the day of the Lord's vengeance . . . The smoke thereof shall go up FOR EVER . . . none shall pass through it FOR EVER" - Isaiah 34: 5-10.

It is from Bozrah in Edom that Christ comes with dyed garments. Here is the first encounter with the arch-enemy of the last days. It is very fitting, then, that as a solemn memorial for the instruction of mankind, that first battlefield should be preserved through the Millennium in the state of desolation, like the memorial Gehenna of Isaiah's last verse.

Bro Growcott - Prophecies in the captivity