Ezekiel 35:4

This condemnation is all the more solemn because of what comes just before it. There God promises goodness and mercy to Israel, and the threat stands out against that promise. It was this very blessing, given by divine grace to the chosen people, that stirred the bitterness of their relatives. From the beginning it kept growing. From their own heights of proud self-confidence they looked with resentment on Israel's promised blessing. Soon they would learn what it is to have Jehovah against them. His hand would stretch out to make them desolate and waste.

Mount Seir is Edom's possession, a "rough," or "rugged place," as the word means. Esau has chosen for himself; therefore he has not chosen well. Does anyone ever choose well who chooses for himself?

Mount Seir was Esau's choice; yet after all it could not remain his. The things we choose by natural desire cannot last just because we want them to. A judgment of God may follow, though we do not see it. And Edom was to know that God is Jehovah, the true and unchanging God in what He threatens, as in what He promises.

The enemy's anger is not righteous; it is of another character. At bottom it is against Jehovah, as all unbelief is, and that is what comes out in the result here. The question is not between Edom and Israel, but between Edom and God. If they said the mountains of Israel were desolate, was that not true? But they did not see the difference between chastening and rejection; so they said, "They are given us to devour."

Notice the wording in Ezekiel 35:12, where Edom is judged again. There it says only, "You shall know that I, Jehovah, have heard all your blasphemies." But in verses 4 and 9 it says of Edom, "You shall know" or "You shall know that I am Jehovah." So this knowledge of Jehovah comes by the judgment itself, not by any spiritual knowledge of Him that follows. For when all the earth rejoices, Edom will be made desolate.

God notices the feelings of the heart, and He makes distinctions in judgment, as He does everywhere else. There were many proud enemies of Israel. But He fixes His eyes on the old hatred of Edom. In the day of Israel's disaster that hatred was even crueller than usual.

The emphasis is very strong. Blood flows and pursues the bloodthirsty Edomites. God makes the Edomites themselves perpetual desolations. He fills their mountains and valleys with their slain, and their cities never come back. In this way they would know Him to be Jehovah.

"Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and moreover, I will not let Israel go" — so said Pharaoh, in the pride and dense ignorance of his heart (Ex. 5:2). Those were the words of a mortal creature. But the Lord is known by the judgment which He executes (Ps. 9:16). Pharaoh found this out at great cost; and so will men by and by.