therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Surely I have spoken in my hot jealousy against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who gave my land to themselves as a possession with wholehearted joy and utter contempt, that they might make its pasturelands a prey.
God speaks here in the heat of His own jealousy. His charge against the nations and against Edom is not that they wronged Israel, but that they seized what belongs to Him. Why does He call this land "My land"? And why does the way they took it — with glee and contempt — weigh so heavily against them?
The land God calls His own
Edom claimed the land, so the first question is who owns it. One writer answers, and shows what Israel's hold on it rests on:
Numerical Bible NotesThe land is really Jehovah's land. He has certainly never forfeited it, and He will never give it up to those who are His enemies. Israel is to hold it on the surest ground possible — the ground of God's grace. They are to live in it with Him as His guests, and so to know all the resources of His hand, and the full protection this relationship needs.
Another writer weighs the same phrase, "My land," against the claim of any outsider:
J. N. DarbyThe Land — "My Land," whatever its state or divisions. It is Jehovah's Land, and if the people fail in every way, it falls into His hands. He only entrusted it to Israel — the nations have no right to it except through Israel's sin, and no right at all against the Lord.
A boast God overheard
God quotes Edom's boast back to them. One writer asks why the punishment did not fall at once:
William KellyIf the unspoken taunt is recorded before Jehovah, how much more that malicious boasting over the needed humbling of Israel and the resulting desolation of the land, as if it were their victory over the only true God! But He heard, and warning soon came through His servant the prophet; yet He was slow to judge. But His hand will before long make good what His mouth then declared... Edom and Israel only sleep in the dust, and they will soon come forth. Edom will rise with pride and vengeance still unbroken. Israel will rise at last repentant, subdued by the patient, infinite grace of God.
Why jealousy
Why jealousy? Because God ties Himself to this people. What is done to them is done to Him:
J. N. DarbyFrom the moment God is in Israel He identifies Himself with His people. As a result the nations are treated according to how they treated Israel. "As you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me," says the King. The moment they touch Israel, they touch the apple of His eye.
What the plunderers gained
Edom took the land to make it "a prey." Plunder was the most any occupier ever got from it:
Numerical Bible NotesThis is all the enemy could do. He could not make it yield its fruit to him. We see this already in the long Sabbaths of rest the land has kept while Israel lives banished from it. It would yield its strength to none of the nations, and the people who hold it now are simply plunderers, and nothing else. But for the meantime this suits Jehovah's purpose... All this is only the sign that the land is still waiting for her true inhabitants.
Chastening mistaken for rejection
Edom read Israel's ruin as an open invitation. The world makes the same mistake, and the mistake has a price:
J. N. DarbyGod will not hand Israel over to Edom in the day He chastises His people. Edom will bear the punishment of this hatred instead, when the whole earth rejoices. When God chastises His people, the world thinks it can take everything. But that chastening only comes ahead of the world's own judgment.
The Edomite spirit
The "wholehearted joy" of this verse is not a danger for Edom alone. One writer contrasts Edom with men who saw the same failures and wept:
The Bible TreasuryLet us take the lesson to heart, for we may easily fall into the same 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. The spirit of the Edomite is different: bitter hatred against people who are still the people of God, however they may have failed. This spirit is particularly displeasing to Him.
Summary
- The claim. Edom seized what God calls "My land." He has never given up His title, and He will never hand it to His enemies.
- The offence. Edom's boast went past Israel and struck at God, as if it were a victory over the only true God. He heard every word.
- The jealousy. God ties Himself to this people. He deals with the nations by how they treated Israel.
- The emptiness. No occupier could make the land yield its strength. Its long rest is the sign that it still waits for its true people.
- The warning. Edom read God's chastening as a licence to take. The world still makes that mistake, and the same spirit can grow in anyone who gloats over failure among God's people.