Ezekiel 25:14

Ezekiel 25 has a special character. The nations around Israel, and those inside its land, rejoiced when Jerusalem and the sanctuary fell. So God would execute judgment on them. Ammon, Moab, Edom and the Philistines are the objects of this prophecy... Another remarkable element is found in other prophecies about Edom too, and it gives a wider meaning to the one we are considering. This prophecy declares that Israel's own hand will carry out the judgment which falls on Edom in the end.

Seir, Edom's own land, had been coupled with Moab, but Edom's relentless hatred must have a distinct place too... Should not Edom have been grieved for his brother? Instead he seized on their ruin at the hands of the Gentile stranger to pay off his old grudge. But God was not mocked then any more than now. In this case He inflicts His vengeance on Edom by the hand of His people Israel: "they shall know my vengeance" — not simply "that I am the LORD."

Obadiah describes the judgment of Edom vividly. Verses 17 and 18 of his prophecy confirm God's threats in our chapter: "I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel." Daniel gives remarkable further instruction on this. He says that when the king of the north attacks Israel, Edom, Moab and the leaders of the Ammonites will escape out of his hand (Daniel 11:41). The reason for this is plain. God will finally punish them, and the Philistines too, by the very people they so persistently persecuted... Israel will yet carry out God's retributive judgment on these nations, which long ago oppressed them so badly.

About Edom (Ezekiel 25:14), it only says that Edom will know the vengeance of Jehovah through Israel. That is further proof that this prophecy reaches to the last days in some respects. So these prophecies show Jehovah's power in general. They make Him known to everyone by the judgments He carried out. The conquests of Nebuchadnezzar already realised part of this, but the full accomplishment comes later, in Israel's favour.

I have no doubt that Jesus will reign in the character of David before He takes that of Solomon. He will reign as David, with Israel blessed and accepted, but with their enemies not yet all destroyed. Finally He will reign as Solomon, that is to say, as Prince of peace. Many passages speak of this time — Micah 5, several chapters in Zechariah, Jeremiah 51:20-21, Ezekiel 25:14. In it Israel is already reconciled, acknowledged and at peace within, and will be the instrument for carrying out Jehovah's judgments outside.

It is a remarkable fact that, while a remnant of the other nations will come in for blessing in a future day, Edom will not... 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 them as their own. But the Edomite spirit is bitter hatred against those who have failed, yet are still the people of God. This spirit is particularly displeasing to Him.