And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
For twenty-four chapters Ezekiel has spoken against Jerusalem; now the word comes to him again, aimed outward at the nations around Israel's borders. This opening line is a hinge: it marks the turn from judging God's own people to judging the peoples who watched them fall.
The message lands in a gap in Ezekiel's ministry.
The siege had begun, but the news that Jerusalem had fallen had not yet arrived (Ezek. 33:21). In that interval the burden of his prophecy (Ezek. 25 - 32) is against foreign nations. God would judge them because they had interfered with those who had been His people. Yet because of their sins, He had now not only called His own people Lo-ammi (not My people), He treated them as such.
God had disowned Israel for a time. Even so, He held their attackers to account.
The four named in this chapter were not distant empires. Each stood in some awkward family or geographical relation to Israel.
Ammon and Moab had an unhappy and humiliating origin, which gave them a kind of false relation to Israel. Edom was nobler by descent, but no nearer spiritually — rather the bitterest of foes. The Philistines had no such connection at all. They clung to the south-western edges of the land, though they were Gentiles and the most cruel of Israel's oppressors, until David put them down.
What condemns them is not war but glee. They cheered when Jerusalem and its sanctuary fell.
The nations that surrounded and that were within the territory of Israel rejoiced at the destruction of Jerusalem and of the sanctuary. Therefore God would execute judgment upon them... They were to share the same fate, and they are included in this judgment because they are all on Israel's territory... So the judgment falling on them would teach these nations that Jehovah alone is God, even though Jerusalem had not been a faithful witness... One more striking element: this prophecy declares that Israel's own hand will carry out the judgment that falls on Edom at the end. Compare Obadiah 17, 18 with verse 14 of this chapter.
One writer draws out the practical edge:
If you touch God's people, you touch Him.
God began with Jerusalem, then turned to the nations. That order is no accident.
It is therefore a universal principle that God in judgment begins with that which bears His name — His people, His city, His house. And if He begins there, where can He stop? It is impossible for Him to pass by His proud enemies. So a judgment follows: first on the nations which had most to do with His people, and it does not stop until He takes in all the kings, kingdoms, and inhabitants of the earth.
Chapters 25 to 32 take seven peoples in turn.
Seven of the surrounding nations stand as special representatives of that responsibility. Their attitude towards the chosen people of God is at the forefront of the account. In principle we have here what will be repeated in the last days, in the judgment before the Son of Man (Matt. 25:31-46). Ammon we find to be against the sanctuary and the land. Moab, in pride of heart, will see nothing in Israel but a nation like all the rest. Edom and Philistia have nursed a spirit of vengeance against her. Tyre finds her own gain in Israel's fall. Sidon has been a sting and a thorn to her, and Egypt always a staff of reed. However they differ from one another, it is plain that they disregarded or refused God's word in Israel — a word that must be for all His creatures.
These judgments aim at more than punishment. One refrain runs through the whole section: they shall know the LORD.
One point in this series of prophecies is important to note. It begins with the judgment of Jerusalem, the centre of the former system of nations. God carries these judgments out to make them all know Jehovah... This knowledge of Jehovah comes by the judgment itself, not by any spiritual knowledge of Him that follows... These prophecies, then, show us Jehovah's power on display, making Him known to all by the judgments He carried out. This was already partly fulfilled in the conquests of Nebuchadnezzar, but it will be fully accomplished later on in favour of Israel.
- Hinge. The word comes again and turns from judging Jerusalem to judging the nations around it — chapters 25 to 32 carry that burden.
- Cause. God judges these neighbours for rejoicing over the fall of His sanctuary, land and people.
- Order. Judgment begins with what bears God's name. Once it begins, it cannot stop short of every kingdom on earth.
- Reach. God names seven peoples, each with its own attitude toward His people — a pattern commentators see repeated in the judgment before the Son of Man.
- Result. Every stroke has one aim: through the judgment itself, the nations learn that Jehovah alone is God.
Son of man, set thy face against the children of Ammon, and prophesy against them;
Ezekiel has spent twenty-four chapters on Jerusalem's ruin; now God turns His prophet outward, and Ammon is the first nation He names. Why does God turn to the small nations around Israel at the very moment His own people fall?
The command to face Ammon opens a new section of the book. The reason lies in how these neighbours behaved when Jerusalem fell:
Ezekiel 25 has a special character. The nations around Israel, and those inside its territory, rejoiced over the ruin of Jerusalem and of the sanctuary. So God would execute judgment on them. Ammon, Moab, Edom and the Philistines are the objects of this prophecy. These nations were to share the same fate, and are included in this judgment, because they are all on Israel's territory. By the judgment that would fall on them, these nations would know that, although Jerusalem had not been a faithful witness, Jehovah alone is God.
God does not call Ezekiel by name here. The title He uses runs through the whole book, and Jesus later took it as His own:
Daniel was called this once, and Ezekiel more than a hundred times. It is the title Jesus took as the rejected Messiah who was to suffer, be exalted, and return in glory as the Son of man. His servants have the same title, as identified with the glory of God, who now declares Himself outside Israel and even judges them by the Gentiles.
Ammon was not a stranger to Israel but a relative, and this judgment is not God's last word about them:
The first message concerns the Ammonites. Both Ammon and Moab had a racial connection with Israel and were the incestuous offspring of Lot (Gen. 19:37-38). They were in constant conflict with Israel. This message reveals their evil character... Both Ammon and Moab have a promise of national restoration in the latter days, that is, when the Lord comes (Jer. 48:47; 49:6).
Ammon heads a list of seven nations, and each one is judged for its own attitude to God's people:
Seven of the nations around are made special representatives of this responsibility to God's word. Their attitude towards the chosen people of God stands at the front of the account. In principle we have here what will be repeated in the last days, in the judgment before the Son of Man (Matt. 25:31-46). Ammon we find to be against the sanctuary and the land. Moab, in pride of heart, will see nothing in Israel but a nation like all the rest. Edom and Philistia have nursed a spirit of vengeance against her. Tyre finds her own gain in Israel's fall. Sidon has been a sting and a thorn to her, and Egypt was always a reed to lean on.
These nations acted together against Israel, and one principle decides their case:
Allies in opposing God's chosen people, these four nations are now marked out as special objects of divine vengeance, for, if you touch God's people, you touch Him.
Ammon's own history points past the nation to an older enemy:
Their first father's name, Ben-ammi, means "son of my people," and that name matters if we set it against the people of God. Look further at Ammon in the light of his earlier history, and we can easily recognise the enemy who attacks the things of first importance for us. Above all, he attacks the grace of God and the portion which grace has for His people. This marks the false teacher in every age, in whom Satan's power is specially at work — one who is always against Christ, and so against His people... Nahash, "the serpent," the king of Ammon, is the figure of the great adversary of God and man.
The same writer names what that enemy is after:
This is always the work of the enemy of our souls. He does not only want to win a victory over the people of God. He wants to take from them the very portion which God has given them.
- Face. God turns His prophet's face away from Jerusalem toward Ammon, so that these nations too would know that Jehovah alone is God.
- First. Ammon leads a list of seven nations. Each one answers for its attitude to God's people, and the same principle returns in the last days.
- Kin. Ammon sprang from Lot and shared Israel's blood, yet stayed in constant conflict with her.
- Touch. Israel deserved its discipline. Even so, to touch God's people is to touch Him.
- Portion. Behind Ammon stands an older enemy who wants to strip God's people of what grace has given them. Yet even Ammon has a promise of restoration when the Lord comes.
and say unto the children of Ammon, Hear the word of the Lord Jehovah. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah Because thou saidst, Aha, against my sanctuary, when it was profaned; and against the land of Israel, when it was made desolate; and against the house of Judah, when they went into captivity
Ammon watched God's temple defiled, the land emptied and Judah marched off into exile. Then Ammon cheered. God repeats that cheer back to them as the charge against them, and the rest of the chapter is His answer.
Ammon is the first of several neighbouring nations God addresses here. These were relatives of Israel, not strangers.
We now have a message from the Lord. It is tied to the earlier denunciation of Israel, and of Jerusalem in particular. It also forms a natural transition to foreign nations, who fall under divine judgment one after another. Ammon and Moab had an unhappy and shameful origin, which gave them a false relation to Israel. Edom was nobler in natural descent, but no nearer to God — rather the bitterest of foes.
Yet the sentence pronounced here is not God's final word about them.
Both Ammon and Moab had a racial connection with Israel and were the incestuous offspring of Lot (Gen. 19:37-38). They were in constant conflict with Israel… Scripture promises both Ammon and Moab a national restoration in the last days, that is, when the Lord comes (Jer. 48:47; 49:6).
Ammon's scorn fell on the sanctuary and on the land. Both were gifts of God's grace.
Ammon faces us first. He stands in marked opposition to the sanctuary and to the land of Israel. But the sanctuary is God's dwelling among men. So it is the expression of grace — a grace He has made known more fully in later times. In Christ we have had the fullest expression of it. He dwelt among men in a way that told out His delight in them, and this is a step He will never take back… The land of Israel is the portion God in grace has given them. In it He would show the blessedness of those who draw near to Him.
God used the nations to discipline His own people. He never gave them leave to enjoy the work.
Can anything be more moving than the grace that breathes in these words? God will not allow the nations to behave strangely toward His poor erring people. He will use them as His rod of discipline. But the moment they indulge their own bitter hatred and try to go beyond their appointed limit, He will break the rod in pieces. He will make it clear to everyone that He Himself is dealing with His beloved though erring people, for their final blessing and His glory.
Ammon's hatred was old, and it aimed at the land itself. He misread what God was doing, and the wrath he applauded came round on him.
Ammon was an ancient enemy of Israel, and as a type he shows even more the heart's opposition to what is of God… This is always the work of the enemy of our souls — not merely to win a victory over the people of God, but to take from them the very portion God has given them. Israel's sins had now reached their height and were bringing judgment on them. The desolate land lay open to the attacks of the enemy. But God's eye is on it, and Ammon is not to escape… Ammon misjudges the work of God completely, as the enemy always does. So he brings on himself the wrath he is enjoying as it falls on others.
All nations will one day know that the Lord is God. There is more than one way for that knowledge to come.
So this knowledge of the Lord comes by the judgment itself. It does not come from any spiritual knowledge of Him that follows. When all the earth rejoices, God will make Edom desolate. It will be through judgment that all the nations will know that the Lord is God.
The same spirit can grow in any of us. The test is whether we weep over the failures of God's people or take pleasure in them.
Let us take the moral of it to heart, for we may easily fall into the same kind of spirit as the Edomite. Jeremiah saw the failures and sins of God's people, but he wept over them. Daniel and other godly men confessed those sins as their own. But the spirit of the Edomite is bitter hatred against those who are still the people of God, however they may have failed. This spirit is especially displeasing to Him.
- Cause. Ammon's crime was not a battle but a word — "Aha!" — spoken over a profaned sanctuary, a desolate land, and a captive people.
- Grace. They mocked grace itself. The sanctuary was God's dwelling among men. The land was the portion He had given.
- Limit. God used the nations as His rod, but the moment the rod enjoyed its work He broke it in pieces.
- Return. Misjudging God's dealings, Ammon brought on itself the very wrath it was applauding.
- Result. The nations will learn that the Lord is God. Here that knowledge comes through judgment — and the warning falls on anyone who gloats over God's failing people instead of weeping.
therefore behold, I will give thee to the children of the east for a possession, and they shall set their encampments in thee, and make their dwellings in thee; they shall eat thy fruits, and they shall drink thy milk.
Ammon cheered when Jerusalem fell, and this verse is God's reply: He hands the gloating nation over to the people of the East. Why does God take a neighbour's gloating so personally, and who are these "people of the East"?
This chapter turns from Jerusalem to the nations around it, and says plainly why judgment falls on them.
Ezekiel 25 has a special character. The nations around Israel, and those living inside its territory, rejoiced to see Jerusalem and the sanctuary destroyed. So God would carry out judgment on them. Ammon, Moab, Edom, and the Philistines are the objects of this prophecy.
Ammon mocked a people God Himself had just disciplined. That did not make the mocking safe.
They would rejoice at the destruction of Jerusalem and at the setting aside of God's earthly sanctuary. He would let them know that though His earthly people had failed, He still was God. If judgment fell upon His own people because of their sin, His hand would also be upon those who hated the objects of His love.
The two things Ammon jeered at — the sanctuary and the land — were not just a building and a stretch of land. They showed that God had come near to people and given them something.
He stands in marked opposition to the sanctuary and to the land of Israel. But the sanctuary is God's dwelling among men, and so the expression of grace — a grace made known more fully only in later times. In Christ we have had the fullest expression of it. He dwelt among men in a way that told out His delight in them. This is a step which He will never take back... The land of Israel is the portion God in grace has given them. In it He would show the blessedness of those who draw near to Him.
Commentators differ on who these invaders are: the Babylonian army, or the desert tribes who moved in after it.
The main question is who the sons of the east are. Some, both Jews and Christians, take them to be the Chaldeans. But Theodoret seems to me more right: he views them as the Ishmaelites. After Nebuchadnezzar overthrew the existing state, they would pitch their tents, tend their flocks and herds, and live their nomad life in the land of the people who had celebrated when Jehovah's sanctuary was profaned, Israel's land left desolate, and Judah carried into captivity. It was a greater blow to become the possession of wandering Bedouins than simply to fall under the towers and strength and skill of the Babylonians.
Ammon lived by raiding, not by building, and his judgment matches him.
He also covets the land for himself, as we find in the history of the Judges. Yet he can take possession of nothing. He is only the nomad raider that everything shows him to be. So, as others have noted, we have no cities of the land of Ammon; nothing that shows proper working of the soil or the care of a farmer. Rabbah is his one city... God, in His fitting ways, gives the land of Ammon up to raiders like himself, "the sons of the East." The word for east means what is opposite to you. But it can take on the sense we find in the east wind — what is against you, or hostile. "The sons of the East," such as the Ishmaelites, were men whose hand was against everyone, and everyone's hand against them. Under them Rabbah falls apart, and becomes only a home for camels, "the burden bearers" of the desert.
There is a lasting lesson in a people who grab at what God has given to others and can hold none of it.
Heresy, as we know, takes away the portion of God's people, but it is able to do nothing with it. It cannot make the land fruitful in which it is simply a raider, and indeed cannot keep what it may lay hold of.
Verse 4 does not stand alone. These judgments all work toward one stated purpose.
These prophecies begin with the judgment of Jerusalem, the centre of the former system of nations. God carries them out with the aim of making all these nations know Jehovah... So this knowledge of Jehovah comes by the judgment itself, not by any spiritual knowledge of Him that follows. It will be through judgment that all the nations shall know that Jehovah is God.
- Cause. Ammon's crime was not war. It was pleasure at another's ruin — cheering over the sanctuary and the land when both lay wrecked.
- Gift. Ammon sneered at grace made visible: the sanctuary was God's dwelling among people, and the land was the portion He gave them.
- Reach. God disciplined His own people for their sin. He still lifted His hand against those who hated them. Israel's failure never meant God had stopped being God.
- Fit. God hands the raider to raiders. Ammon could hold nothing, and now his one city becomes a camel stop while strangers drink his milk.
- Result. The judgment aims at one outcome: the nations will know who the LORD is. Here that knowledge comes through the judgment itself.
And I will make Rabbah a pasture for camels, and the children of Ammon a couching-place for flocks and ye shall know that I [am] Jehovah.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
For thus saith the Lord Jehovah Because thou hast clapped the hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced with all the despite of thy soul against the land of Israel;
Ezekiel has just announced the fall of Jerusalem, and God now turns to the neighbours who cheered. Here God charges Ammon with no army and no weapon, but with clapping, stamping and glee over a ruined land.
Chapter 25 opens a section aimed at the nations that watched Jerusalem fall and enjoyed it. Their delight, not their armies, put them under sentence.
Ezekiel 25 has a special character. Some of these nations surrounded Israel; others lived inside its territory. They rejoiced at the destruction of Jerusalem and of the sanctuary. Therefore God would execute judgment upon them. Ammon, Moab, Edom, and the Philistines are the objects of this prophecy... So the judgment falling on them would teach these nations one thing. Jerusalem had not been a faithful witness, but Jehovah alone is God.
Ammon was no distant stranger. These peoples were tied to Israel by blood and by border. They lived on the edge of the land God had given. That is what makes the clapping so ugly.
Chapter 25 brings Ammon, Moab, Edom, and the Philistines before us as the objects of God's prophetic dealing. They were really intruders in, and dwellers on, Israel's territory. The first three were related to God's people by blood... These four nations joined together against God's chosen people. So God now marks them out as special objects of His vengeance. If you touch God's people, you touch Him.
Commentators note that this nearness sharpened the hatred rather than softening it.
Moab and Ammon are the relentless enemies of Israel. They threaten Israel again and again, and often bring them under their rule. In spiritual terms, we have learned to dread anything that can claim a kinship with the things of God without truly being His.
Ammon aimed its joy "against the land of Israel." That target matters.
Ammon faces us first. In him we see marked opposition to the sanctuary and to the land of Israel. But the sanctuary is God's dwelling among men, and so the expression of grace. God made that grace known more fully only in later times. In Christ we have had the fullest expression of it... The land of Israel is the portion God in His grace has given them. There He would show plainly how blessed those are who draw near to Him.
Commentators also see in Ammon a settled hostility. It wants to strip God's people of what God gave them:
This is always the work of the enemy of our souls. He does not only want a victory over the people of God. He wants to take from them the very portion which God has given them. Israel's sins were now at their height, and were bringing judgment on them. The land lay desolate and open to the attacks of the enemy. But God's eye is upon it, and Ammon is not to escape.
Ammon cheered a judgment that God Himself had sent. Commentators trace what that cheering brought.
Ammon misjudges the work of God completely, as the enemy always does. So Ammon brings on himself the very wrath he is rejoicing over when it falls on others.
The sin named here is one any onlooker can commit, and the corrective is simple.
Such gloating over the defeat of enemies is disgusting. God will take it into serious account... When we see judgment fall on anyone, we should feel sorrow for the person and judge ourselves honestly. Remember that only the grace of God keeps us from the judgment we deserve. (Proverbs 24:17-18)
- Rejoicing. Ammon's offence is celebration — hands, feet and heart — over a neighbour's ruin. God counts that celebration as guilt.
- Nearness. Ammon was kin to Israel, not a far-off empire. Commentators warn that what stands close to the things of God, without being truly His, often breeds the sharpest hatred.
- Grace despised. The land and sanctuary Ammon mocked were gifts of grace. God dwelt there among people. So the scorn struck at God, not just at Israel.
- Returned. Ammon misjudged what God was doing and applauded His judgment. The same wrath then fell on Ammon.
- Known. The judgments of chapter 25 have one purpose. Jerusalem had failed as a witness, but through judgment these nations learn that the LORD alone is God.
therefore behold, I will stretch out my hand upon thee, and will give thee for a spoil to the nations; and I will cut thee off from the peoples, and I will cause thee to perish out of the countries I will destroy thee, and thou shalt know that I [am] Jehovah.
The word falls on Ammon, a neighbouring people who watched Judah collapse and celebrated it — clapping, stamping, glad in heart. God answers that glee with His own outstretched hand. The verse ends with His purpose: they will know who He is.
Ammon is not a stranger to Israel. Commentators note a family link that was no credit to either side. They also place this prophecy as the bridge between God's judgment of Jerusalem and His judgment of the nations around it.
Now comes a message from Jehovah. It follows on from the judgment announced against Israel, and against Jerusalem above all. It also forms a natural bridge to the foreign nations that fall one after another under God's judgment. Ammon and Moab had an unhappy, shameful beginning, which gave them a false family link to Israel. Edom came of nobler stock, but was no nearer to God — Edom was the bitterest enemy of all.
Ammon's scorn struck at the sanctuary and at the land of Israel. Neither was just a possession. Each one showed God's kindness to people.
In Ammon we see clear opposition to the sanctuary and to the land of Israel. But the sanctuary is God's dwelling among men, and so it expresses grace — a grace God made known more fully only in later times. In Christ we have the fullest expression of it. He dwelt among men in a way that showed His delight in them, and this is a step He will never take back. The land of Israel is the portion God in grace has given them. In it He would make plain the blessedness of those who draw near to Him.
The verse does not end with destruction. It ends with "you will know that I am the LORD." That same line closes one judgment after another in this series against the nations.
One point in this series of prophecies is important. The series starts with the judgment of Jerusalem, the centre of the old system of nations. These judgments are carried out to make all the nations know Jehovah. Only in Israel's case is there something more: understanding, and prophecy proved true. See Ezekiel 24:24-27, Israel; Ezekiel 25:5, 7, 11, Ammon and Moab... So these prophecies show us Jehovah's power on display. His judgments make Him known to all. The conquests of Nebuchadnezzar have already carried this out in part, but it will be fully carried out later, in Israel's favour.
Not every way of coming to know God is the same. Commentators point to two of them here.
So this knowledge of Jehovah comes through the judgment itself. It does not come from any spiritual knowledge of Him that follows. When all the earth rejoices, Edom will lie desolate. Judgment is how all the nations will come to know that Jehovah is God... We may see the two ways of making Jehovah known in the case of Israel (Ezekiel 24:24-27; 28:26; 34:27; 36:11). In the other cases it is by judgment.
Ammon's earlier history shows what kind of enemy this was. One writer reads it as a picture of a spirit still at work — an enemy who can raid but never build.
Look further at Ammon, in the light of his earlier history, and the enemy is easy to recognise. He attacks the things that matter most to us, and above all the grace of God and the portion grace holds for His people... Nahash, whose name means "the serpent," was king of Ammon, and he stands as a figure of the great adversary of God and man... Heresy, as we know, takes away the portion of God's people, but it can do nothing with it. It cannot make the land fruitful when it is only a raider there.
- Know — by relation. Ammon was no distant stranger. He was a neighbour with a false family tie to Israel, and that made the mockery worse, not lighter.
- Know — what was mocked. The sanctuary was God's dwelling among men. The land was the portion grace gave. Scorn against them struck at His kindness.
- Know — by the hand. God's outstretched hand spoils, cuts off and destroys. The raider now becomes the plunder.
- Know — by judgment, not by mercy. For Israel, God makes Himself known by restoring blessing. For these nations, the blow itself is the lesson.
- Know — then and still. Nebuchadnezzar's conquests fulfilled this in part. The full answer comes later, in Israel's favour. And the Ammon spirit — set against grace and against God's people — still pictures the great adversary.