October 15, 2025 • 28 mins
What if the most dangerous thing about a nation isn’t its armies, but its envy? In Ezekiel chapter 35, the spotlight falls on Edom—Mount Seir—and a hard truth emerges: God confronts “everlasting enmity,” the kind of hatred that celebrates another people’s pain and seizes land under the cover of their loss. We walk through the text line by line and place it in the larger arc of Ezekiel—early judgment on Judah, mid‑book oracles to the nations, and a turn toward restoration—showing how Edom becomes a cautionary tale for every era.
We trace Edom’s story from Esau and Idumea into the first century with Herod to show that old rivalries have long tails. Then we grapple with God’s charges: love of bloodshed, arrogant words against Him, and a bold claim on land He calls His own. It’s not a blanket defense of Israel’s behavior—Ezekiel spends chapters condemning Israel’s sin—but it is a clear boundary against identity‑driven hatred and opportunism. If repentance spared Nineveh, Ezekiel suggests that contempt and violence summon justice. And when nations mock Israel’s ruin, they risk mocking Israel’s God, who says, “I have heard it.”
This conversation leans into the nuance our moment needs. We separate principled critique from corrosive prejudice, ask why the land matters in Scripture, and consider how God’s governance of history weighs motives as well as actions. The takeaway is both sobering and hopeful: God judges envy and bloodshed, guards His name and His promises, and prepares a path toward restoration in Ezekiel chapter 36 of — His “I will,” not Israel’s merit.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:17):
Hello and welcome to Reasoning Through the Bible.
We are going through the book ofEzekiel, and today we're going
to see yet another of God'scommands against a nation.
And we're going to talk aboutwhy it is here in this section
of the book.
If you remember the flow of thebook, at the beginning, God has
(00:38):
called the prophet Ezekiel to behis spokesman to the people of
Israel that have been takencaptive in Babylon.
And for the first two dozenchapters through chapter 24, God
gave a series of very directmessages telling the Jewish
people that Jerusalem is goingto be captured, destroyed, some
(01:00):
of the people killed, the restof them scattered and taken into
captivity.
God was very blunt, very direct,saying that because of the
Jewish people's sin, they weregoing to be punished and the
nation was going to bedestroyed.
The land was going to be takenover by pagan nations.
Starting in chapter 25, we hadGod speaking against other
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nations that were around Israel.
And he went through a series ofthem condemning them for their
sins.
We made the point there that Godraises up nations and he tears
them down again based on hissystem of morality.
God always sends in prophetsbefore he does so to give a
nation the word so that theywould have a chance of
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repenting, much like the prophetJonah that went to Nineveh.
Starting in chapter 33, we'veseen the last section of the
book.
Up to now, God has beendescribing judgment on
Jerusalem.
Now the book changes.
Starting in 33 and 34, we're inthe section where God is talking
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about restoring Israel.
But more importantly, thissection is representative of all
nations that will oppose Israelin her restoration.
This is the section of Ezekielwhere God is restoring Israel.
Edom had come in and taken partof the land, so they must be
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moved out of the way before Godcan restore Israel.
We'll see once we get into thepassage is that he's speaking
against Edom because they havehated the Jews.
That's where we are, and we'regoing to find some applications
of that even today.
And we're going to find theJewish people don't get off
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scot-free either simply becauseof their continued disobedience.
Very interesting passage with alot of literary contrast.
Chapter 35 and 36 deal withspeaking against mountains.
Well, the mountains arerepresentative of the nation
that lives there.
And the contrast is in chapter35, he speaks against the
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mountains of the pagan nations.
In chapter 36, God speaks to andfor the mountains of the nation
Israel.
We open here with Mount Seir,which is Edom.
The Edomites descended fromEsau, the brother of Jacob.
So all the way back in Genesischapter 36, verse 8, Esau was
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Edom and dwelt at Mount Seir.
So, Steve, what else do we knowabout these descendants of Esau?
Because that's who we're reallytalking about here.
SPEAKER_00 (03:44):
So the Edomites, whenever they moved into Israel,
they moved into that southernpart as well.
That area became known asIdomia.
And there was conflict betweenthe Jewish people and the
Edomians.
When we get into the firstcentury, Herod is ruling over
Jerusalem and the province ofJudah.
It's being occupied by Rome ingeneral.
(04:07):
He's serving at the behest ofRome, but he's an Idommean.
He's not of Jewish descent.
So we see the politicaldiscourse that's there between
the Sanhedrin and the King Herodand all of that stuff that's
going on in the first century aswell.
We see through this history ofEdom and Esau that it continues
(04:30):
to blend in with the history ofthe Jews well into the first
century.
SPEAKER_01 (04:36):
Back in Genesis, Isaac had twins, Jacob and Esau.
God chose Jacob to make his lineof descent for his chosen
nation.
Esau, God did not choose.
Esau sold his birthright for abowl of red stew, and his
descendants became the Edomites.
They periodically fought withIsrael, and here they have taken
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over part of the land when Godmoved the Jews out in the
captivity.
That's where we pick up thestory here at the beginning of
Ezekiel chapter 35.
So, Steve, can you read thefirst six verses?
SPEAKER_00 (05:09):
Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me saying,
Son of man, set your faceagainst Mount Sierre, and
prophesy against it, and say toit, Thus says the Lord God,
Behold, I am against you, MountSierre, and I will stretch out
my hand against you and make youa desolation and a waste.
I will lay waste to your cities,and you will become a
(05:32):
desolation.
Then you will know that I am theLord.
Because you have had everlastingenity and have delivered the
sons of Israel to the power ofthe sword at the time of their
calamity, at the time of thepunishment of the end.
Therefore, as I live, declaresthe Lord God, I will give you
(05:52):
over to bloodshed, and bloodshedwill pursue you, since you have
not hated bloodshed.
Therefore, bloodshed will pursueyou.
SPEAKER_01 (06:02):
Once again, we have God giving very clear messages
to nations outside of Israel.
In this case, this nation Edomhas gone in from outside to
capture parts of the land.
And God's pattern is to send aprophet in to a nation
explaining why they violated hiscommands, giving them a chance
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to repent or face judgment.
If they repent, like Nineveh didunder Jonah, then God will spare
them.
If not, as the Canaanites didnot, then he sends judgment
against them.
God is always just and sendspunishment because he is a just
God.
If we walk through this, Stephenverse 4, what does God say he's
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going to do here?
SPEAKER_00 (06:49):
He says that he's going to lay waste to their
cities and that they're going tobecome a desolation.
It's the same type of messagethat we saw in the earlier
chapters with all of those othernations that God was mentioning.
SPEAKER_01 (07:01):
In the very next verse, he tells them why he's
going to judge them.
So what does verse five say isthe reason why God's going to do
this?
SPEAKER_00 (07:10):
It says because they have an everlasting enmity,
meaning hatred for the sons ofIsrael.
And as we have been goingthrough this, if we really go
back to Jacob and Esau, theyreconciled with each other.
When Jacob came back fromseeking his bride and stayed for
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several years off in the otherland, when he was coming back,
him and Jacob reconciled.
Now they both went their ownways and settled in different
areas, but the brothersthemselves reconciled to each
other.
But now the descendants of bothof these patriarchs, they have
enity amongst them.
(07:53):
And as you see here in verse 5,God is judging Edom because the
enmity is coming from Edomites.
They're the ones that have thehatred for these Jewish people.
SPEAKER_01 (08:06):
God is judging the Edomites and condemning, he uses
the term Mount Seer here, butit's the Edomites that live
there.
He's not doing it simply becausethey disagreed with the Jews.
He's not doing it because theEdomites found something
abhorrent in the Jews.
Remember, God himself has spenttwo dozen chapters in this book
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condemning the Jewish peoplebecause of their horrible
actions.
So God's not condemning theEdomites simply because they
disagreed with the Jewish peopleor voted against them in an
election.
None of those things.
He's saying in verse five, itwas because of the quote,
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everlasting enmity and havedelivered the sons of Israel to
the power of the sword, unquote.
So because they had lastinghatred for the Jewish people
over time and had been attackingthem and killing some of them
over time, that's why he'sjudging them.
(09:12):
And I think we can apply that toour day.
In our day, the Jewish peopleare not correct in everything
they do.
The nation has come backtogether as a country.
But we're not supporting Israelsimply because we think they're
doing right all the time.
In fact, they're not.
Not only the modern nation, butgoing back to ancient times,
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hard pressed to find a time whenthey ever did obey God or do
right.
They've rejected their Messiah.
But nevertheless, God is judgingthe Edomites because of an
ongoing, everlasting, continualhatred of the Jews and violence
against them.
(09:54):
And I think we can take that andapply that in our day.
We should be very careful in ourday when we have an everlasting,
ongoing hatred of the Jews andattack them and try to spill
their blood because God willjudge for that in Ezekiel's day,
and he'll judge for that in ourday.
(10:16):
Now, again, not saying that wehave to agree with everything
the Jewish nation or the Jewishpeople ever do.
They've done a lot of wrongthings that we can disagree with
them about.
That's fine.
God disagrees with them.
But what we can't do is have aneverlasting enmity, is the way
he says it here.
It's Jew hating.
That's what he's holding themresponsible for, and he's going
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to destroy them for it.
Nations today that have that, hewill destroy them as well.
The book of Ezekiel, if it saysanything, it's saying that God
is in control of nations, and hewill cause the punishment of his
own people because of theirsins, and he will cause the
punishment of the nations aroundIsrael for taking matters into
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their own hands.
He will protect his people whenit is time.
Again, what's going on here?
God spent two dozen chapterscondemning Israel for gross,
horrible sin.
Now, what is he doing?
He's condemning Edom becausethey went against Israel.
So God is the one that's incontrol.
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He will raise up and he willtear down at his prerogative.
And I think the Bible andsecular history tells us that
any people who has a lastinganti-Semitism are going to be
judged by God.
Can we hold this to beapplicable today?
SPEAKER_00 (11:39):
I absolutely do think it's going to be
applicable to our time and alsoin the future because it's God's
people and God's land to giveand to take away.
And God doesn't let the nationof Israel get away with mocking
him.
That's what this whole book orthe first part of it is about.
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He's bringing final judgment onthem because of their actions.
Now, look, we as people supportdifferent countries across the
globe.
On some of those support of thecountries, we agree with the
governments that are there atparticular times and we disagree
with the governments that arethere at different times.
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We can support a nation withoutnecessarily supporting the
government of the nation andwhat the government does not
only to its own people, but doesto other surrounding nations.
But there seems to be some sortof a pushback whenever someone
says, I support the nation ofIsrael because God supports the
(12:42):
nation of Israel.
And then to think that, no, youcan't do that because God is
done with the Jewish people.
Therefore, you can't support thenation of Israel and their right
to exist and for them to be anation on their own.
No, God is going to tell us inthe next chapter, He's going to
give a series of I wills and aseries of actions that he is
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unilaterally going to take inbringing the people back.
So a better question is when wesay that we support the nation
of Israel, we're doing itbecause God supports the nation
of Israel.
Number one.
A second question, though, is dothe nation of Israel deserve to
be in the land?
And the answer is no.
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If you go back to Deuteronomyand what the message that Moses
gave to the people, he tellsthem, you're going to go into
the land, not because youdeserve it, but because God has
given it to you.
And he encourages them to followGod's ordinances and statutes so
that they can live long in theland.
We've discussed that principlein some of our earlier sessions.
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So does the nation of Israeldeserve to be in the land?
No.
If they're disobeying God, no,they don't deserve to be there.
But God is very clear that He isgoing to bring them back to the
land and it's His land to givethem or to take away from them.
So that kind of gives a littlebit more of a flavor of what we
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talk about whenever we say thatGod has a purpose for Israel.
We think it's a very clear thingthat's outlined in Scripture,
and we'll continue to talk aboutthat every time that we come
across it in Scripture.
SPEAKER_01 (14:27):
Verse six, God makes it very clear why He's
condemning the Edomites.
He says, As I live, I will giveyou over to bloodshed, and
bloodshed will pursue you sinceor because you have not hated
bloodshed.
Therefore, bloodshed will pursueyou.
And remember, over in the NewTestament, Jesus said, All who
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take up the sword will perish bythe sword, Matthew 26, 52.
We have a day that we live intoday where there's a lot of
bloodshed.
And those that spill blood,their blood will be shed.
That's the way that God has laidthings out.
So we need to be very carefulabout our nations today.
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We live it with so muchbloodshed.
Moving on, starting in verseseven, notice the very emotional
and graphic language that Goduses in condemnation of the
Edomites at Mount Seir.
He says this I will make MountSeir a waste and a desolation,
and I will cut off from it theone who passes through and
(15:32):
returns.
I will fill its mountain withthe slain.
On your hills and in yourvalleys and in your ravines,
those slain by the sword willfall.
I will make you an everlastingdesolation, and your cities will
not be inhabited.
Then you will know that I am theLord.
The Bible speaks a great dealabout God's love and patience
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and mercy.
But we also have passages likethis.
Why would the Bible include suchgraphic judgments like this?
SPEAKER_00 (16:05):
Because God is sending a message to, in this
case, Edom, because of theactions that they've taken
against Israel and their historythat the actions they've taken
against them, they're now goingto be judged and they're going
to be made into a wasteland.
Verse 6 is clear that they wereviolent against Israel and in
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their land in general.
So he says, I'm going to turnyou over to bloodshed.
So the judgment that God isputting on Edom here is in a
direct correlation to the enitythat they expressed towards
Israel, to the Jewish people.
I think that is the samethroughout all of history.
It's going to be the same thingin the future.
The judgment of the sheep andthe goats, that's going to be
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based off of how the Jewishpeople were treated during the
tribulation period.
We've spoken about that when wewent through the book of
Matthew.
So this is a principle that Godhas, and it was true in times
past.
It's true now, and it's going tobe true in the future.
SPEAKER_01 (17:08):
We all want to hear the passages that talk about
God's love and mercy andforgiveness.
And I love those as much asanyone.
But if we love God, then we alsohave to take into account
passages like the one we've justread that deal with the wrath
and punishment of God.
(17:29):
We can't have love without thejustice of God as well.
So in this next section, we'regoing to read, God gives still
another judgment for Edom.
He told us that he was judgingthem because of their bloodshed
and their ongoing hatred of theJewish people.
Now he gives another one.
(17:50):
Steve, can you read from verse10 down to verse 15?
SPEAKER_00 (17:53):
Because you have said, These two nations and
these two lands will be mine,and we will possess them,
although the Lord was there.
Therefore, as I live, declaresthe Lord God, I will deal with
you according to your anger andaccording to your envy, which
you showed because of yourhatred against them.
So I will make myself knownamong them when I judge you.
(18:17):
Then you will know that I, theLord, have heard all your
revilings which you have spokenagainst the mountains of Israel,
saying, They are laid desolate,they are given to us for food,
and you have spoken arrogantlyagainst me, and have multiplied
your words against me.
I have heard it.
(18:38):
Thus says the Lord God, as allthe earth rejoices, I will make
you a desolation.
As you rejoiced over theinheritance of the house of
Israel because it was desolate,so I will do to you.
You will be a desolation, OMount Sierra, and all Edom, all
of it.
(18:59):
Then they will know that I amthe Lord.
SPEAKER_01 (19:02):
Starting back in verse 10, very clear explanation
of God telling us that theEdomites were trying to take the
land.
Note that God is very concernedabout the land.
God sent Babylon in to take theJewish people out of the land.
But when Edom tried to, on theirown come and take the land
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itself, not the people, but theland, God is going to protect
the land.
It's his land, he can do with itas he wishes.
So what I find interesting isthat back in Ezekiel's day,
there were wars going on overwho's going to control this
land.
And God is the one that's reallygoing to ultimately decide who
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gets to own it.
But still today, there's peoplethat are fighting over that
land.
God's judging the ancientEdomites for hating the Jews and
trying to take that land.
And God will judge modernnations for hating the Jews and
trying to take that land.
He says he's also going topunish the Edomites, quote,
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according to your anger andaccording to your envy against
them, unquote.
Throughout history, there havebeen people that have hated the
Jews.
We have people today that hatethe Jews.
God keeps an account of ourmotivations and our actions and
will judge us if we hate theJewish people and try to take
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their land.
Now that's not to say, is justto repeat, we're not saying you
have to agree with everythingthat Israel does.
God didn't agree with everythingIsrael does, disagreed with
quite a bit of what Israel didbecause they were sinning.
We would reject their actionsand a lot of their beliefs and
motivations.
But if we hate the Jewish peoplebecause they're Jewish and try
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to take their land, then Godwill judge modern people just
like he judged the ancientEdomites.
SPEAKER_00 (21:00):
He also says, in the midst of this condemnation of
Edom and their hatred and enmityfor the Jewish people, God's
very clear in these verses thatthat's the main reason why he's
bringing this judgment.
In verse 13, he says, You havespoken arrogantly against me and
(21:20):
multiplied your words againstme.
So the support of Israel is notabout the nation of Israel.
The support of Israel is aboutthe support of God and what God
is doing in conjunction with allof the nations.
We've talked about this many,many times throughout our
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sessions that God is workingwith nations and He created the
nation of Israel in order to bean example to all the other
nations of who he is as God.
So as the people of Israel aretaken out of the land, the other
nations make derision of God forthat.
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What type of a God do you havethat you have allowed them to be
taken out of the land to bedefeated?
That was one of the argumentsthat Moses made when they came
out of slavery in Egypt.
And they were worshiping thegolden calf at the foot of Mount
Sinai.
God told Moses on the mountain,your people down there are
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worshiping a false idol.
I'm going to do away with them.
And Moses's main argument was,oh Lord, don't do that, because
what will the other nations saythat you just brought your
people out here in order to doaway with them?
Don't do that.
And so it says, God relented.
So support of the nation ofIsrael is not about them, it's
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about God.
And God is clear here.
Their hatred for the Jewishpeople also transcended into
speaking arrogantly against God.
This is another reason that he'salso condemning them.
So we should be careful todayabout having Jew hatred in
general.
(23:09):
As we went back in the secondchapter of Zechariah, God says
they're the apple of my eye.
We went through that when wewent through Zechariah.
And so we need to be carefulbecause it's not just against
the Jewish nation and the Jewishpeople, but it can be something
that turns into being againstGod Himself.
And we should be cautious aboutthat.
SPEAKER_01 (23:29):
You're exactly right, Steve.
And he supports it, makes itvery clear here.
Look at verse 13.
This is God speaking again,condemning the Edomites.
You have spoken arrogantlyagainst me and have multiplied
your words against me.
I've heard it, unquote.
So God there is taking this verypersonally.
The people that hated the Jewishpeople because they were Jewish
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and tried to take the land, hesays, You're against me.
God takes the hatred of theJewish people quite personally.
I find this to be quite amazingthat even after two and a half
millennia, then it's still goingon today.
Look at verse 12.
I think we can know some thingsabout God individually and
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personally.
Does God know about our thoughtsand our statements, both good
and bad?
What can we learn about what Godknows and his knowledge?
SPEAKER_00 (24:26):
He says that he has heard and he also knows about
all the revilings that they havespoken against the mountains of
Israel.
He even gives them a quote ofsome of the things that they
were saying.
They are laid desolate, they aregiven to us for food.
That was their thought.
Oh, the Babylonians have comein, they've taken them out and
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now taken them away into exile.
And so now we can move in.
Again, it's God's land to giveand to take away.
So while God was discipliningthe nation of Israel, in this
case, the southern kingdom ofJudah, finally, with Babylon,
it's his land to give tosomebody else, and he's not
(25:08):
doing that.
So Edom is moving in, saying,Oh, it's free for us to go in
and take.
What we get there is God knowswhat we think, and he also knows
what we say.
He knows what is in our heart.
SPEAKER_01 (25:23):
Verse 15 says this.
Again, God's speaking againstthe Edomites, as you rejoiced
over the inheritance of thehouse of Israel because it was
desolate, that's the land, so Iwill do it to you.
You will be a desolation, MountSeir, and all Edom, all of it,
they will know that I'm theLord.
(25:44):
God is meeting justice out onthese people because they were
rejoicing that the Jewish peoplehad been taken out of the land.
And God says, You're goingagainst me, and he will do it to
you.
What I find interesting with allof this, it's it's very specific
about who's in control of theland, how we should treat the
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Jewish people, how we shouldjudge the Jewish people and the
nations around them.
So it's not amazing to me thatGod is in control of Israel and
the nations around it.
I don't find that surprising.
God's in control of nations andhe'll raise them up and take
them down as he sees fit.
(26:27):
What is amazing to me is thatafter 3,000 years, the world
hasn't learned the lessonbecause God was raising up
nations 2,500, 3,000 years agobecause of how they treated him
and his people.
And he's doing it today.
We haven't learned the lesson.
(26:48):
There's still some quite painfullessons being learned around the
globe, even today.
What is also amazing to me isthe continual disobedience and
disbelief of the Jews, evenafter all these hard lessons
that God has tried to teachthem.
God taught them these lessons inthe Babylonian captivity.
(27:10):
They were still a veryhard-headed, hard-hearted people
in the first century when Jesuscame, and they have still
rejected their Messiah.
So it's amazing to me that afterall these centuries, all these
years, that the nations aroundIsrael haven't learned the
lesson and the Jewish peoplethemselves haven't learned the
(27:31):
lesson.
But Steve, I can also condemnmyself because why haven't I
learned the lessons that God'strying to teach me?
SPEAKER_00 (27:40):
Because we're sometimes hard-headed and
obstinate, just like Israel was,albeit maybe not as much.
But I think it's human naturesometimes that we get tied to
this world.
We have the senses that areconnected to this world, and the
world keeps pulling us back.
Therefore, sometimes it takes alittle bit of push or shove from
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God in different ways to get usback on track.
SPEAKER_01 (28:06):
That brings us to the end of Ezekiel chapter 35.
Be with us next time becausewe're getting what is probably
the most important chapter inthe book, Ezekiel 36.
He's going to be very explicitabout the restoration of Israel.
He makes it quite clear whathe's going to do.
So be sure and be with us nexttime as we continue to reason
(28:28):
through the book of Ezekiel.
SPEAKER_00 (28:30):
Thank you so much for watching and listening.
May God bless you.
Hello and welcome to Reasoning Through the Bible.
We are going through the book ofEzekiel, and today we're going
to see yet another of God'scommands against a nation.
And we're going to talk aboutwhy it is here in this section
of the book.
If you remember the flow of thebook, at the beginning, God has
(00:38):
called the prophet Ezekiel to behis spokesman to the people of
Israel that have been takencaptive in Babylon.
And for the first two dozenchapters through chapter 24, God
gave a series of very directmessages telling the Jewish
people that Jerusalem is goingto be captured, destroyed, some
(01:00):
of the people killed, the restof them scattered and taken into
captivity.
God was very blunt, very direct,saying that because of the
Jewish people's sin, they weregoing to be punished and the
nation was going to bedestroyed.
The land was going to be takenover by pagan nations.
Starting in chapter 25, we hadGod speaking against other
(01:25):
nations that were around Israel.
And he went through a series ofthem condemning them for their
sins.
We made the point there that Godraises up nations and he tears
them down again based on hissystem of morality.
God always sends in prophetsbefore he does so to give a
nation the word so that theywould have a chance of
(01:48):
repenting, much like the prophetJonah that went to Nineveh.
Starting in chapter 33, we'veseen the last section of the
book.
Up to now, God has beendescribing judgment on
Jerusalem.
Now the book changes.
Starting in 33 and 34, we're inthe section where God is talking
(02:10):
about restoring Israel.
But more importantly, thissection is representative of all
nations that will oppose Israelin her restoration.
This is the section of Ezekielwhere God is restoring Israel.
Edom had come in and taken partof the land, so they must be
(02:30):
moved out of the way before Godcan restore Israel.
We'll see once we get into thepassage is that he's speaking
against Edom because they havehated the Jews.
That's where we are, and we'regoing to find some applications
of that even today.
And we're going to find theJewish people don't get off
(02:50):
scot-free either simply becauseof their continued disobedience.
Very interesting passage with alot of literary contrast.
Chapter 35 and 36 deal withspeaking against mountains.
Well, the mountains arerepresentative of the nation
that lives there.
And the contrast is in chapter35, he speaks against the
(03:13):
mountains of the pagan nations.
In chapter 36, God speaks to andfor the mountains of the nation
Israel.
We open here with Mount Seir,which is Edom.
The Edomites descended fromEsau, the brother of Jacob.
So all the way back in Genesischapter 36, verse 8, Esau was
(03:35):
Edom and dwelt at Mount Seir.
So, Steve, what else do we knowabout these descendants of Esau?
Because that's who we're reallytalking about here.
SPEAKER_00 (03:44):
So the Edomites, whenever they moved into Israel,
they moved into that southernpart as well.
That area became known asIdomia.
And there was conflict betweenthe Jewish people and the
Edomians.
When we get into the firstcentury, Herod is ruling over
Jerusalem and the province ofJudah.
It's being occupied by Rome ingeneral.
(04:07):
He's serving at the behest ofRome, but he's an Idommean.
He's not of Jewish descent.
So we see the politicaldiscourse that's there between
the Sanhedrin and the King Herodand all of that stuff that's
going on in the first century aswell.
We see through this history ofEdom and Esau that it continues
(04:30):
to blend in with the history ofthe Jews well into the first
century.
SPEAKER_01 (04:36):
Back in Genesis, Isaac had twins, Jacob and Esau.
God chose Jacob to make his lineof descent for his chosen
nation.
Esau, God did not choose.
Esau sold his birthright for abowl of red stew, and his
descendants became the Edomites.
They periodically fought withIsrael, and here they have taken
(04:57):
over part of the land when Godmoved the Jews out in the
captivity.
That's where we pick up thestory here at the beginning of
Ezekiel chapter 35.
So, Steve, can you read thefirst six verses?
SPEAKER_00 (05:09):
Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me saying,
Son of man, set your faceagainst Mount Sierre, and
prophesy against it, and say toit, Thus says the Lord God,
Behold, I am against you, MountSierre, and I will stretch out
my hand against you and make youa desolation and a waste.
I will lay waste to your cities,and you will become a
(05:32):
desolation.
Then you will know that I am theLord.
Because you have had everlastingenity and have delivered the
sons of Israel to the power ofthe sword at the time of their
calamity, at the time of thepunishment of the end.
Therefore, as I live, declaresthe Lord God, I will give you
(05:52):
over to bloodshed, and bloodshedwill pursue you, since you have
not hated bloodshed.
Therefore, bloodshed will pursueyou.
SPEAKER_01 (06:02):
Once again, we have God giving very clear messages
to nations outside of Israel.
In this case, this nation Edomhas gone in from outside to
capture parts of the land.
And God's pattern is to send aprophet in to a nation
explaining why they violated hiscommands, giving them a chance
(06:25):
to repent or face judgment.
If they repent, like Nineveh didunder Jonah, then God will spare
them.
If not, as the Canaanites didnot, then he sends judgment
against them.
God is always just and sendspunishment because he is a just
God.
If we walk through this, Stephenverse 4, what does God say he's
(06:47):
going to do here?
SPEAKER_00 (06:49):
He says that he's going to lay waste to their
cities and that they're going tobecome a desolation.
It's the same type of messagethat we saw in the earlier
chapters with all of those othernations that God was mentioning.
SPEAKER_01 (07:01):
In the very next verse, he tells them why he's
going to judge them.
So what does verse five say isthe reason why God's going to do
this?
SPEAKER_00 (07:10):
It says because they have an everlasting enmity,
meaning hatred for the sons ofIsrael.
And as we have been goingthrough this, if we really go
back to Jacob and Esau, theyreconciled with each other.
When Jacob came back fromseeking his bride and stayed for
(07:32):
several years off in the otherland, when he was coming back,
him and Jacob reconciled.
Now they both went their ownways and settled in different
areas, but the brothersthemselves reconciled to each
other.
But now the descendants of bothof these patriarchs, they have
enity amongst them.
(07:53):
And as you see here in verse 5,God is judging Edom because the
enmity is coming from Edomites.
They're the ones that have thehatred for these Jewish people.
SPEAKER_01 (08:06):
God is judging the Edomites and condemning, he uses
the term Mount Seer here, butit's the Edomites that live
there.
He's not doing it simply becausethey disagreed with the Jews.
He's not doing it because theEdomites found something
abhorrent in the Jews.
Remember, God himself has spenttwo dozen chapters in this book
(08:30):
condemning the Jewish peoplebecause of their horrible
actions.
So God's not condemning theEdomites simply because they
disagreed with the Jewish peopleor voted against them in an
election.
None of those things.
He's saying in verse five, itwas because of the quote,
(08:51):
everlasting enmity and havedelivered the sons of Israel to
the power of the sword, unquote.
So because they had lastinghatred for the Jewish people
over time and had been attackingthem and killing some of them
over time, that's why he'sjudging them.
(09:12):
And I think we can apply that toour day.
In our day, the Jewish peopleare not correct in everything
they do.
The nation has come backtogether as a country.
But we're not supporting Israelsimply because we think they're
doing right all the time.
In fact, they're not.
Not only the modern nation, butgoing back to ancient times,
(09:34):
hard pressed to find a time whenthey ever did obey God or do
right.
They've rejected their Messiah.
But nevertheless, God is judgingthe Edomites because of an
ongoing, everlasting, continualhatred of the Jews and violence
against them.
(09:54):
And I think we can take that andapply that in our day.
We should be very careful in ourday when we have an everlasting,
ongoing hatred of the Jews andattack them and try to spill
their blood because God willjudge for that in Ezekiel's day,
and he'll judge for that in ourday.
(10:16):
Now, again, not saying that wehave to agree with everything
the Jewish nation or the Jewishpeople ever do.
They've done a lot of wrongthings that we can disagree with
them about.
That's fine.
God disagrees with them.
But what we can't do is have aneverlasting enmity, is the way
he says it here.
It's Jew hating.
That's what he's holding themresponsible for, and he's going
(10:38):
to destroy them for it.
Nations today that have that, hewill destroy them as well.
The book of Ezekiel, if it saysanything, it's saying that God
is in control of nations, and hewill cause the punishment of his
own people because of theirsins, and he will cause the
punishment of the nations aroundIsrael for taking matters into
(11:00):
their own hands.
He will protect his people whenit is time.
Again, what's going on here?
God spent two dozen chapterscondemning Israel for gross,
horrible sin.
Now, what is he doing?
He's condemning Edom becausethey went against Israel.
So God is the one that's incontrol.
(11:22):
He will raise up and he willtear down at his prerogative.
And I think the Bible andsecular history tells us that
any people who has a lastinganti-Semitism are going to be
judged by God.
Can we hold this to beapplicable today?
SPEAKER_00 (11:39):
I absolutely do think it's going to be
applicable to our time and alsoin the future because it's God's
people and God's land to giveand to take away.
And God doesn't let the nationof Israel get away with mocking
him.
That's what this whole book orthe first part of it is about.
(11:59):
He's bringing final judgment onthem because of their actions.
Now, look, we as people supportdifferent countries across the
globe.
On some of those support of thecountries, we agree with the
governments that are there atparticular times and we disagree
with the governments that arethere at different times.
(12:20):
We can support a nation withoutnecessarily supporting the
government of the nation andwhat the government does not
only to its own people, but doesto other surrounding nations.
But there seems to be some sortof a pushback whenever someone
says, I support the nation ofIsrael because God supports the
(12:42):
nation of Israel.
And then to think that, no, youcan't do that because God is
done with the Jewish people.
Therefore, you can't support thenation of Israel and their right
to exist and for them to be anation on their own.
No, God is going to tell us inthe next chapter, He's going to
give a series of I wills and aseries of actions that he is
(13:05):
unilaterally going to take inbringing the people back.
So a better question is when wesay that we support the nation
of Israel, we're doing itbecause God supports the nation
of Israel.
Number one.
A second question, though, is dothe nation of Israel deserve to
be in the land?
And the answer is no.
(13:26):
If you go back to Deuteronomyand what the message that Moses
gave to the people, he tellsthem, you're going to go into
the land, not because youdeserve it, but because God has
given it to you.
And he encourages them to followGod's ordinances and statutes so
that they can live long in theland.
We've discussed that principlein some of our earlier sessions.
(13:50):
So does the nation of Israeldeserve to be in the land?
No.
If they're disobeying God, no,they don't deserve to be there.
But God is very clear that He isgoing to bring them back to the
land and it's His land to givethem or to take away from them.
So that kind of gives a littlebit more of a flavor of what we
(14:12):
talk about whenever we say thatGod has a purpose for Israel.
We think it's a very clear thingthat's outlined in Scripture,
and we'll continue to talk aboutthat every time that we come
across it in Scripture.
SPEAKER_01 (14:27):
Verse six, God makes it very clear why He's
condemning the Edomites.
He says, As I live, I will giveyou over to bloodshed, and
bloodshed will pursue you sinceor because you have not hated
bloodshed.
Therefore, bloodshed will pursueyou.
And remember, over in the NewTestament, Jesus said, All who
(14:50):
take up the sword will perish bythe sword, Matthew 26, 52.
We have a day that we live intoday where there's a lot of
bloodshed.
And those that spill blood,their blood will be shed.
That's the way that God has laidthings out.
So we need to be very carefulabout our nations today.
(15:10):
We live it with so muchbloodshed.
Moving on, starting in verseseven, notice the very emotional
and graphic language that Goduses in condemnation of the
Edomites at Mount Seir.
He says this I will make MountSeir a waste and a desolation,
and I will cut off from it theone who passes through and
(15:32):
returns.
I will fill its mountain withthe slain.
On your hills and in yourvalleys and in your ravines,
those slain by the sword willfall.
I will make you an everlastingdesolation, and your cities will
not be inhabited.
Then you will know that I am theLord.
The Bible speaks a great dealabout God's love and patience
(15:55):
and mercy.
But we also have passages likethis.
Why would the Bible include suchgraphic judgments like this?
SPEAKER_00 (16:05):
Because God is sending a message to, in this
case, Edom, because of theactions that they've taken
against Israel and their historythat the actions they've taken
against them, they're now goingto be judged and they're going
to be made into a wasteland.
Verse 6 is clear that they wereviolent against Israel and in
(16:25):
their land in general.
So he says, I'm going to turnyou over to bloodshed.
So the judgment that God isputting on Edom here is in a
direct correlation to the enitythat they expressed towards
Israel, to the Jewish people.
I think that is the samethroughout all of history.
It's going to be the same thingin the future.
The judgment of the sheep andthe goats, that's going to be
(16:49):
based off of how the Jewishpeople were treated during the
tribulation period.
We've spoken about that when wewent through the book of
Matthew.
So this is a principle that Godhas, and it was true in times
past.
It's true now, and it's going tobe true in the future.
SPEAKER_01 (17:08):
We all want to hear the passages that talk about
God's love and mercy andforgiveness.
And I love those as much asanyone.
But if we love God, then we alsohave to take into account
passages like the one we've justread that deal with the wrath
and punishment of God.
(17:29):
We can't have love without thejustice of God as well.
So in this next section, we'regoing to read, God gives still
another judgment for Edom.
He told us that he was judgingthem because of their bloodshed
and their ongoing hatred of theJewish people.
Now he gives another one.
(17:50):
Steve, can you read from verse10 down to verse 15?
SPEAKER_00 (17:53):
Because you have said, These two nations and
these two lands will be mine,and we will possess them,
although the Lord was there.
Therefore, as I live, declaresthe Lord God, I will deal with
you according to your anger andaccording to your envy, which
you showed because of yourhatred against them.
So I will make myself knownamong them when I judge you.
(18:17):
Then you will know that I, theLord, have heard all your
revilings which you have spokenagainst the mountains of Israel,
saying, They are laid desolate,they are given to us for food,
and you have spoken arrogantlyagainst me, and have multiplied
your words against me.
I have heard it.
(18:38):
Thus says the Lord God, as allthe earth rejoices, I will make
you a desolation.
As you rejoiced over theinheritance of the house of
Israel because it was desolate,so I will do to you.
You will be a desolation, OMount Sierra, and all Edom, all
of it.
(18:59):
Then they will know that I amthe Lord.
SPEAKER_01 (19:02):
Starting back in verse 10, very clear explanation
of God telling us that theEdomites were trying to take the
land.
Note that God is very concernedabout the land.
God sent Babylon in to take theJewish people out of the land.
But when Edom tried to, on theirown come and take the land
(19:23):
itself, not the people, but theland, God is going to protect
the land.
It's his land, he can do with itas he wishes.
So what I find interesting isthat back in Ezekiel's day,
there were wars going on overwho's going to control this
land.
And God is the one that's reallygoing to ultimately decide who
(19:45):
gets to own it.
But still today, there's peoplethat are fighting over that
land.
God's judging the ancientEdomites for hating the Jews and
trying to take that land.
And God will judge modernnations for hating the Jews and
trying to take that land.
He says he's also going topunish the Edomites, quote,
(20:08):
according to your anger andaccording to your envy against
them, unquote.
Throughout history, there havebeen people that have hated the
Jews.
We have people today that hatethe Jews.
God keeps an account of ourmotivations and our actions and
will judge us if we hate theJewish people and try to take
(20:30):
their land.
Now that's not to say, is justto repeat, we're not saying you
have to agree with everythingthat Israel does.
God didn't agree with everythingIsrael does, disagreed with
quite a bit of what Israel didbecause they were sinning.
We would reject their actionsand a lot of their beliefs and
motivations.
But if we hate the Jewish peoplebecause they're Jewish and try
(20:53):
to take their land, then Godwill judge modern people just
like he judged the ancientEdomites.
SPEAKER_00 (21:00):
He also says, in the midst of this condemnation of
Edom and their hatred and enmityfor the Jewish people, God's
very clear in these verses thatthat's the main reason why he's
bringing this judgment.
In verse 13, he says, You havespoken arrogantly against me and
(21:20):
multiplied your words againstme.
So the support of Israel is notabout the nation of Israel.
The support of Israel is aboutthe support of God and what God
is doing in conjunction with allof the nations.
We've talked about this many,many times throughout our
(21:42):
sessions that God is workingwith nations and He created the
nation of Israel in order to bean example to all the other
nations of who he is as God.
So as the people of Israel aretaken out of the land, the other
nations make derision of God forthat.
(22:04):
What type of a God do you havethat you have allowed them to be
taken out of the land to bedefeated?
That was one of the argumentsthat Moses made when they came
out of slavery in Egypt.
And they were worshiping thegolden calf at the foot of Mount
Sinai.
God told Moses on the mountain,your people down there are
(22:27):
worshiping a false idol.
I'm going to do away with them.
And Moses's main argument was,oh Lord, don't do that, because
what will the other nations saythat you just brought your
people out here in order to doaway with them?
Don't do that.
And so it says, God relented.
So support of the nation ofIsrael is not about them, it's
(22:48):
about God.
And God is clear here.
Their hatred for the Jewishpeople also transcended into
speaking arrogantly against God.
This is another reason that he'salso condemning them.
So we should be careful todayabout having Jew hatred in
general.
(23:09):
As we went back in the secondchapter of Zechariah, God says
they're the apple of my eye.
We went through that when wewent through Zechariah.
And so we need to be carefulbecause it's not just against
the Jewish nation and the Jewishpeople, but it can be something
that turns into being againstGod Himself.
And we should be cautious aboutthat.
SPEAKER_01 (23:29):
You're exactly right, Steve.
And he supports it, makes itvery clear here.
Look at verse 13.
This is God speaking again,condemning the Edomites.
You have spoken arrogantlyagainst me and have multiplied
your words against me.
I've heard it, unquote.
So God there is taking this verypersonally.
The people that hated the Jewishpeople because they were Jewish
(23:53):
and tried to take the land, hesays, You're against me.
God takes the hatred of theJewish people quite personally.
I find this to be quite amazingthat even after two and a half
millennia, then it's still goingon today.
Look at verse 12.
I think we can know some thingsabout God individually and
(24:15):
personally.
Does God know about our thoughtsand our statements, both good
and bad?
What can we learn about what Godknows and his knowledge?
SPEAKER_00 (24:26):
He says that he has heard and he also knows about
all the revilings that they havespoken against the mountains of
Israel.
He even gives them a quote ofsome of the things that they
were saying.
They are laid desolate, they aregiven to us for food.
That was their thought.
Oh, the Babylonians have comein, they've taken them out and
(24:48):
now taken them away into exile.
And so now we can move in.
Again, it's God's land to giveand to take away.
So while God was discipliningthe nation of Israel, in this
case, the southern kingdom ofJudah, finally, with Babylon,
it's his land to give tosomebody else, and he's not
(25:08):
doing that.
So Edom is moving in, saying,Oh, it's free for us to go in
and take.
What we get there is God knowswhat we think, and he also knows
what we say.
He knows what is in our heart.
SPEAKER_01 (25:23):
Verse 15 says this.
Again, God's speaking againstthe Edomites, as you rejoiced
over the inheritance of thehouse of Israel because it was
desolate, that's the land, so Iwill do it to you.
You will be a desolation, MountSeir, and all Edom, all of it,
they will know that I'm theLord.
(25:44):
God is meeting justice out onthese people because they were
rejoicing that the Jewish peoplehad been taken out of the land.
And God says, You're goingagainst me, and he will do it to
you.
What I find interesting with allof this, it's it's very specific
about who's in control of theland, how we should treat the
(26:07):
Jewish people, how we shouldjudge the Jewish people and the
nations around them.
So it's not amazing to me thatGod is in control of Israel and
the nations around it.
I don't find that surprising.
God's in control of nations andhe'll raise them up and take
them down as he sees fit.
(26:27):
What is amazing to me is thatafter 3,000 years, the world
hasn't learned the lessonbecause God was raising up
nations 2,500, 3,000 years agobecause of how they treated him
and his people.
And he's doing it today.
We haven't learned the lesson.
(26:48):
There's still some quite painfullessons being learned around the
globe, even today.
What is also amazing to me isthe continual disobedience and
disbelief of the Jews, evenafter all these hard lessons
that God has tried to teachthem.
God taught them these lessons inthe Babylonian captivity.
(27:10):
They were still a veryhard-headed, hard-hearted people
in the first century when Jesuscame, and they have still
rejected their Messiah.
So it's amazing to me that afterall these centuries, all these
years, that the nations aroundIsrael haven't learned the
lesson and the Jewish peoplethemselves haven't learned the
(27:31):
lesson.
But Steve, I can also condemnmyself because why haven't I
learned the lessons that God'strying to teach me?
SPEAKER_00 (27:40):
Because we're sometimes hard-headed and
obstinate, just like Israel was,albeit maybe not as much.
But I think it's human naturesometimes that we get tied to
this world.
We have the senses that areconnected to this world, and the
world keeps pulling us back.
Therefore, sometimes it takes alittle bit of push or shove from
(28:03):
God in different ways to get usback on track.
SPEAKER_01 (28:06):
That brings us to the end of Ezekiel chapter 35.
Be with us next time becausewe're getting what is probably
the most important chapter inthe book, Ezekiel 36.
He's going to be very explicitabout the restoration of Israel.
He makes it quite clear whathe's going to do.
So be sure and be with us nexttime as we continue to reason
(28:28):
through the book of Ezekiel.
SPEAKER_00 (28:30):
Thank you so much for watching and listening.
May God bless you.
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