Step Into Faith

Chapter Reflection

The chapter is a string of judgments spoken against neighboring peoples who have rejoiced over Jerusalem’s humiliation, as if the holy things of God’s people were a cause for laughter. What stands out is the sharp repeated refrain: because they have delighted in ruin, God will answer, and the lands that mocked will themselves be made desolate, given over, or forgotten. The language is full of reversals: proud cities become pasture, remembered peoples become unremembered, and vengeance turns back upon the one who cultivated revenge. Yet the final note is not chaos but recognition: repeated again and again, these judgments are ordered so that they may know the LORD. Here God appears not as indifferent to cruelty, but as the living Judge who sees contempt for the vulnerable and for the holy, while the human heart appears in its ability to harden into gloating, retaliation, and delight in another’s downfall.

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← Ezekiel

Ezekiel 25

1The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,

2Son of man, set thy face against the Ammonites, and prophesy against them;

3And say unto the Ammonites, Hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou saidst, Aha, against my sanctuary, when it was profaned; and against the land of Israel, when it was desolate; and against the house of Judah, when they went into captivity;

4Behold, therefore I will deliver thee to the men of the east for a possession, and they shall set their palaces in thee, and make their dwellings in thee: they shall eat thy fruit, and they shall drink thy milk.

5And I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the Ammonites a couching place for flocks: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

6For thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast clapped thine hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced in heart with all thy despite against the land of Israel;

7Behold, therefore I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and will deliver thee for a spoil to the heathen; and I will cut thee off from the people, and I will cause thee to perish out of the countries: I will destroy thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.

8Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because that Moab and Seir do say, Behold, the house of Judah is like unto all the heathen;

9Therefore, behold, I will open the side of Moab from the cities, from his cities which are on his frontiers, the glory of the country, Bethjeshimoth, Baalmeon, and Kiriathaim,

10Unto the men of the east with the Ammonites, and will give them in possession, that the Ammonites may not be remembered among the nations.

11And I will execute judgments upon Moab; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

12Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them;

13Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also stretch out mine hand upon Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman; and they of Dedan shall fall by the sword.

14And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to mine anger and according to my fury; and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord GOD.

15Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart, to destroy it for the old hatred;

16Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will stretch out mine hand upon the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethims, and destroy the remnant of the sea coast.

17And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them.

Who God is

What kind of Lord sees contempt, answers it, and still brings all things to the point of being known?

The condition of man

How easily can you turn another’s loss into your own secret gladness, and call that freedom?