therefore, behold, I have stretched out my hand against you, and will hand you over as plunder to the nations. And I will cut you off from the peoples and will make you perish out of the countries; I will destroy you. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
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.
Who Ammon was
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.
William KellyNow 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.
What the mockery attacked
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.
F. W. GrantIn 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.
Judgment aimed at knowledge
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.
J. N. DarbyOne 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.
What kind of knowing this is
Not every way of coming to know God is the same. Commentators point to two of them here.
J. N. DarbySo 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 as a lasting picture
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.
F. W. GrantLook 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.
Summary
- 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.