Ezekiel 25:1

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.

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.

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.

If you touch God's people, you touch Him.

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.

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.

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.