Thus I will make Mount Seir an astonishment and a desolation. I will cut off from it him who passes through and him who returns. I will fill its mountains with its slain. The slain with the sword will fall in your hills and in your valleys and in all your watercourses. I will make you a perpetual desolation, and your cities will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.
“ ‘ “Because you have said, ‘These two nations and these two countries will be mine, and we will possess it;’ whereas Yahweh was there: therefore, as I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “I will do according to your anger, and according to your envy which you have shown out of your hatred against them; and I will make myself known among them when I judge you. You will know that I, Yahweh, have heard all your insults which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, ‘They have been laid desolate. They have been given us to devour.’ You have magnified yourselves against me with your mouth, and have multiplied your words against me. I have heard it.” The Lord Yahweh says: “When the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate. As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, so I will do to you. You will be desolate, Mount Seir, and all Edom, even all of it. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.’ ”
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv9–11 To wit, to their former estate.
To wit, to their former estate.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv7–15 Eze 35:7 Thus will I make mount Seir most…
Eze 35:7 Thus will I make mount Seir most desolate, and cut off from it him that passeth out and him that returneth.
Ver. 7. Most desolate.] See Eze 35:3. Iterum repetit, ne excidisse videatur. I am in good earnest.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv7–15 All travellers that go to or from Edom’s country,…
All travellers that go to or from Edom’s country, or his cities; or possibly it may intimate the close sieges with which his cities should be so begirt, that none should attempt to go out or go in, but it should cost them their life: so Jericho close besieged, none went in or out, Jos 6:1.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v10 Here is, I. A further account of the sin…
Here is, I. A further account of the sin of the Edomites, and their bad conduct towards the people of God. We find the church complaining of them for setting on the Babylonians, and irritating them against Jerusalem, saying, Rase it, rase it, down with it, down with it (Psa 137:7), inflaming a rage that needed no spur; here it is further charged upon them that they triumphed in Jerusalem's ruin and in the desolations of the country. Many blasphemies they spoke against the mountains of Israel, saying, with pride and pleasure, They are laid desolate, Eze 35:12. Note, The troubles of God's church, as they give proofs of the constancy and fidelity of its friends, so they discover and draw out the corruptions of its enemies, in whom there then appears more brutish malice than one would have thought of. Now their triumphing in Jerusalem's ruin is here said to proceed, 1. From a sinful passion against the people of Israel; from anger and envy, and hatred against them (Eze 35:11), that perpetual hatred spoken of Eze 35:5. Though they were not a match for them, and therefore could not do them a mischief themselves, yet they were glad when the Chaldeans did them a mischief. 2. From a sinful appetite to the land of Israel. They pleased themselves with hopes that when the people of Israel were destroyed they should be let into the possession of their country, which they had so often grudged and envied them. They thought they could make out something of a title to it, ob defectum sanguinis - for want of other heirs. If Jacob's issue fail, they think that they are next in the entail, and that the remainder will be to his brother's issue: "These two nations of Judah and Israel shall be mine. Now is the time for me to put in for them." At least they hope to come in as first occupants, being near neighbours: We will possess it when it is deserted. Ceditur occupanti - Let us get possession and that will be title enough. Note, Those have the spirit of Edomites who desire the death of others because they hope to get by it, or are pleased with their failing because they expect to come into their business. When we see the vanity of the world in the disappointments, losses, and crosses, that others meet with in it, instead of showing ourselves, upon such an occasion, greedy of it, we should rather be made thereby to sit more loose to it, and both take our affections off it and lower our expectations from it. But in this case of the Edomites' coveting the land of Israel, and gaping for it, there was a particular affront to God, when they said, "These lands are given us to devour, and we shall have our bellies full of their riches." God says, You have boasted against me and have multiplied your words against me; for they expected possession upon a vacancy, because Israel was driven out, whereas the Lord was still there, Eze 35:10. His temple indeed was burnt, and the other tokens of his presence were gone; but his promise to give that land to the seed of Jacob for an inheritance was not made void, but remained in full force and virtue; and by that promise he did in effect still keep possession for Israel, till they should in due time be restored to it. That was Immanuel's land (Isa 8:8); in that land he was to be born, and therefore that people shall continue in it of whom he is to be born, till he has passed his time in it, and then let who will take it. The Lord is there, the Lord Jesus is to be there; and therefore Israel's discontinuance of possession is no defeasance of their right, but it shall be kept for them, and they shall have, hold, and enjoy it by virtue of the divine grant, till the promise of this Canaan shall by the Messiah be changed into the promise of a far better. Note, It is a piece of presumption highly offensive to God for Edomites to lay claim to those privileges and comforts that are peculiar to God's chosen Israel and are reserved for them. It is blasphemy against the mountains of Israel, the holy mountains, to say, because they are for the present made a prey of and trodden under foot of the Gentiles (Rev 11:2), even the holy city itself, that therefore the Lord has forsaken them, their God has forgotten them. The apostle will by no means admit such a thought as this, that God hath cast away his people, Rom 11:1. No; though they are cast down for a time, they are not cast off for ever. Those reproach the Lord who say they are.
II. The notice God took of the barbarous insolence of the Edomites, and the doom passed upon them for it: I have heard all thy blasphemies, Eze 35:12. And again (Eze 35:13), You have multiplied your words against me, and I have heard them, I have observed them, I have kept an account of them. Note, In the multitude of words, not one escapes God's cognizance; let men speak ever so much, ever so fast, though they multiply words, which they themselves regard not, but forget immediately, yet none of them are lost in the crowd, not the most idle words; but God hears them, and will be able to charge the sinner with them. All the haughty and hard speeches, particularly, which are spoken against the Israel of God, the words which are magnified (as it is in the margin, Eze 35:13) as well as the words which are multiplied, God takes notice of. For, as the most trifling words are not below his cognizance, so the most daring are not above his rebuke. I have heard all thy blasphemies. This is a good reason why we should bear reproach as if we heard it not, because God will hear, Psa 38:13, Psa 38:15. God has heard the Edomites' blasphemy; let them therefore hear their doom, Eze 35:14, Eze 35:15. It was a national sin (the blasphemies charged upon them were the sense and language of all the Edomites), and therefore shall be punished with a national desolation. And, 1. It shall be a distinguishing punishment. As God has peculiar favours for Israelites, so he has peculiar plagues for Edomites: so that "When the whole earth rejoices I will make thee desolate; when other nations have their desolations repaired, to their joy, thine shall be perpetual," Eze 35:9. 2. The punishment shall answer to the sin: "As thou didst rejoice in the desolation of the house of Israel, God will give thee enough of desolation; since thou art so fond of it, thou shalt be desolate; I will make thee so." Note, Those who, instead of weeping with the mourners, make a jest of their grievances, may justly be made to weep like the mourners, and themselves to feel the weight, to feel the smart, of those grievances which they set so light by. Some read Eze 35:14 so as to complete the resemblance between the sin and the punishment: The whole earth shall rejoice when I make thee desolate, as thou didst rejoice when Israel was made desolate. Those that are glad at the death and fall of others may expect that others will be glad of their death, of their fall. 3. In the destruction of the enemies of the church God designs his own glory, and we may be sure that he will not come short of his design. (1.) That which he intends is to manifest himself, as a just and jealous God, firm to his covenant and faithful to his people and their injured cause (Eze 35:11): I will make myself known among them when I have judged thee. The Lord is and will be known by the judgments which he executes. (2.) His intention shall be fully answered; not only his own people shall be made to know it to their comfort, but even the Edomites themselves, and all the other enemies of his name and people, shall know that he is the Lord, Eze 35:4, Eze 35:9, Eze 35:15. As the works of creation and common providence demonstrate that there is a God, so the care taken of Israel shows that Jehovah, the God of Israel, is that God alone, the true and living God.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv7–15 Thus will I make Mount Seir most desolate,.... By…
Thus will I make Mount Seir most desolate,.... By shedding the blood of the inhabitants of it; and as Rome will be, when it will be utterly burnt with fire, as that city will, and the flesh of the whore also, and made desolate; and when all the vials shall be poured out on the antichristian states under her jurisdiction, Rev 16:1,
and cut off from it him that passeth out and him that returneth: every traveller that passeth to and fro; it shall no more be frequented by merchants; nor will there be any merchandise any more in it, Rev 18:11.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv7, 9, 10, 11, 14 That passeth out - All travelers that go to…
That passeth out - All travelers that go to or from Edom.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15 Verse 9. Perpetual desolations] Thou shalt have perpetual desolation…
Verse 9. Perpetual desolations] Thou shalt have perpetual desolation for thy perpetual hatred.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv7, 13 Eze 35:7-12. Thus will I make mount Seir most…
Eze 35:7-12. Thus will I make mount Seir most desolate — Hebrew, לשׁממה ושׁממה, a desolation and a desolation, or, a desolation and an astonishment, as Bishop Newton renders it, following the reading of several MSS. And cut off from it him that passeth out, &c. — No travellers shall go forward or backward in it with safety: see the margin. And thy cities shall not return — Thy cities shall not be restored to thee again. This was exactly fulfilled; for the Nabatheans having driven the Edomites out of their ancient habitations, in the time of the Babylonish captivity, they settled themselves in the southern part of Judea, where they were afterward conquered by Hyrcanus, and obliged to embrace the Jewish religion, and so became at length incorporated with that nation. — Dr. Prideaux. Because thou hast said, These two nations, &c., shall be mine — The two nations and countries here spoken of mean the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The Edomites had settled themselves in part of Judea, and hoped to have got possession both of the land of Judah and the land of Israel in time. The Ammonites had the same design, as appears from Jer 49:1. Whereas, or although, the Lord was there — Was still with his ancient people, and had not yet entirely abandoned them, or withdrawn his protection from their country, and given it up to be laid waste. These Edomites, it seems, did not believe that God had placed his name in Judea, had chosen it for the place of his peculiar residence, and would never quite relinquish his property in it. Therefore I will even do according to thine anger — As thou out of anger and envy didst hurt them, so will I hurt thee. I will make myself known among them — I will make my people see that I have not quite cast them off, by the punishments I will bring upon thee on account of the evil thou hast done to them. And thou shalt know that I am the Lord — Thou shalt then be convinced that I am the sovereign Lord of all things.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv9–10 Return - Or, “be inhabited.”
Return - Or, “be inhabited.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15 Inhabited for a considerable time, as [in] chap. xxvi.…
Inhabited for a considerable time, as [in] chap. xxvi. 20.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15 cut off . . . him that passeth--that is,…
cut off . . . him that passeth--that is, every passer to and fro; "the highways shall be unoccupied" (Eze 29:11; Jdg 5:6).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15 7. passeth out … returneth] A phrase like “shut…
7. passeth out … returneth] A phrase like “shut up and free,” used to denote all classes, cf. “the shod and the barefoot” in Arab. LXX. has altered into “man and beast,” the usual phrase after “cut off,” e.g. Eze_25:13.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv7, 8, 10, 12, 14, 15 (7) Him that passeth out.—The cutting off of the…
(7) Him that passeth out.—The cutting off of the traveller is a striking feature in the doom of Edom, for her nomadic tribes had been the great carriers between India and the East and Egypt, and she had grown rich by this commerce. The fierceness of the few tribes now wandering over the land make even the occasional visit of the curious traveller a matter of difficulty and danger.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15 Thus will I make Mount Seir most desolate; literally,…
Thus will I make Mount Seir most desolate; literally, desolation and a desolation (hmmvW hMm) or, as in the Revised Version, an astonishment and a desolation; changing hmm into hMvm, for which, however, there is no sufficient warrant. And I will out off him that passeth out (or, through) and him that returneth. No more should traders or travelers pass through the land of Edom or go to and return from it. (cf. Eze_33:28; Zec_7:1-5 Zec_9:8, Zec_9:10)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv8, 10 But ye . . . shall shoot forth your…
Eze_35:8-15
But ye . . . shall shoot forth your branches.
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The Divine benison
When does God give short measure? When did He give otherwise than pressed down, heaped up, running over? This is the consolation of heaven; this is the measure of the Divine benison.
1. That blessing is to be physical: Ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit. God is not ashamed to have His name connected with the daily loaf and with the daily goblet of water. When we go to the harvest field we should think we ace going to church; when we go to the well of springing water we should think we are going to a fountain rising in heaven. Your harvests are Gods; your fields are the green ways leading up to His sanctuary.
2. Not only physical, but social: I will multiply men upon you . . . and the wastes shall be builded. God would have all the earth inhabited. He would build men into organisations and brotherhoods; He would establish fraternities of souls. The Lord is never ashamed to associate Himself with social economy, social purity, social progress.
3. Not only physical and social, but municipal: And the cities shaft be inhabited. Cities have not a good history; cities had a bad founder. The foundations of cities were laid by a murderer. But it hath pleased God to accept many human doings, and to purify them and ennoble them and turn them to purposes sanctified and most beneficial. The Lord never set king over anybody with His own real consent. He gave the people the desire of their hearts, and plagued them every day since they got the answer. So He accepts the city, and He will do what He can with the municipalities, to inhabit them, and direct them, and purify them.
4. The Lord never concludes simply within the letter. At, the last the invariably says something that opens up a distant and ever-receding because ever-enlarging horizon. He says in this instance, I will do better unto you than at your beginnings. He is able, let us say again with rising thankfulness, to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. The Church constantly exclaims, Thou hast kept the good wine until now! We never can get in advance of God. When we have reaped our most abundant harvest He says, This is only an earnest of the harvest you shall one day possess; I will do more for you and better unto you than at your beginnings.
5. Then let us grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us he no longer thoughtless; let us no longer limit the Holy One of Israel, saying, The Lord hath made an end of His revelation, the Lord hath no more grace to give, no more love to show; He has given us the Cross. Paul says, If He has freely given us the Cross,--it is not an end, it is a beginning,--with the Cross He will also freely give us all things. The Lord cannot be exhausted. His providence is ascending, expanding, deepening. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v10 Against the Covetousness of Edom
Against the Covetousness of Edom
v. 10. Because thou hast said, These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, namely, Israel and Judah, and we will possess it, although the inhabitants of Edom knew that Canaan was given for a possession to the children of Israel, whereas the Lord was there, Jehovah was the real Owner of the Land of Promise and held it in trust for His own children,
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v. 11. therefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, I will even do according to thine anger, rewarding it with the injury which it deserved, and according to thine envy which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them, for anger and envy grow out of hatred and show themselves in word and deed; and I will make myself known among them when I have judged thee, that is, by punishing Edom for his pride and the crimes of his hatred, the Lord would bear witness of Himself that he would not permit His people and their land to be attacked and devastated without taking revenge upon the enemies.
v. 12. And thou shalt know that I am the Lord, and that I have heard all thy blasphemies which thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, for a mockery of the Lord’s people amounted to blasphemy of the name of the Lord Himself, saying, They are laid desolate, they are given us to consume. The fact that the Lord chose to punish his people did not give the enemies the right to take advantage of Judah’s plight and to put themselves in possession of their land.
v. 13. Thus with your mouth ye have boasted against Me, magnifying themselves to the detriment of the Lord, and have multiplied your words against Me, in an excess of blasphemous exultation; I have heard them.
v. 14. Thus saith the Lord God, When the whole earth rejoiceth, when all those who hear and heed the gracious call of Jehovah, men from the great majority of nations acknowledging him as the one true God, I will make thee desolate, as the one exception in the midst of general rejoicing.
v. 15. As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, in vindictive meanness over its downfall, so will I do unto thee, in executing the punishment of his vengeance upon them; thou shalt be desolate, O Mount Seir, and all Idumea, even all of it; and they shall know that I am the Lord. All those who are guilty of blasphemous mockery against the Lord may expect to share the fate of Edom, as it was here prophesied and as it later came to pass.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv7, 10, 12, 14 General Information:
General Information:
This continues the message that Ezekiel is to speak to Mount Seir. The message is for all the people of Edom.
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when I cut off from it anyone who passes through and returns again
Possible meanings are 1) "cut off" is a metaphor that means to destroy. AT: "I will destroy anyone who enters it or leaves it" or 2) "cut off" is a metaphor that means to stop someone from doing something. AT: "I will make it so that people do not travel back and forth through it" (See: Metaphor)
those who were killed by the sword
Here "sword" represents enemies who fought them in battle. This can be stated in active form. See how you translated this in Ezekiel 31:17. AT: "those whom enemies have killed with swords" or "those who have died in battle" (See: Active or Passive and Metonymy)
a perpetual desolation
"desolate forever." This may be an exaggeration to emphasize the destruction. (See: Hyperbole and Generalization)
Your cities will not be inhabited
This can be stated in active form. This may be an exaggeration for emphasis. AT: "People will not live in your cities" (See: Active or Passive and Hyperbole and Generalization)
but you will know
Here "you" is plural. God is speaking to the people of Mount Seir, rather than to a single mountain. (See: Forms of You)
translationWords
desolate
cut off
Yahweh
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v13 35:13-15 The Edomites mistakenly assumed that God’s judgment of…
35:13-15 The Edomites mistakenly assumed that God’s judgment of his people and his abandonment of the Temple meant that his covenant with Israel was no longer in effect. The Edomites had boasted and elevated themselves against both Israel and the Lord. The God of Israel would not tolerate such boasting, for he is the sovereign Lord of all. His choice of Israel and his giving them the land would not be revoked.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.