A Prophecy against Mount Seir
This oracle is addressed to Edom, Israel’s neighbor...
This oracle is addressed to Edom, Israel’s neighbor to the southeast, here identified by its central mountain, Mount Seir. Edom was emblematic of all Israel’s enemies (e.g., in their rejoicing at Israel’s fall, 36:2; see also 25:12–14). The demise of Judah at the hands of the Babylonians might have given Edom room to thrive, but the Lord declared that this prosperity would be short-lived.
1Moreover, the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2“Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir and prophesy against it, 3and declare that this is what the Lord GOD says:
Behold, I am against you,O Mount Seir.I will stretch out My hand against youand make you a desolate waste.4I will turn your cities into ruins,and you will become a desolation.Then you will know that I am the LORD.
The eternal [or ancient] hatred of Edom for...
The eternal [or ancient] hatred of Edom for Israel went all the way back to their respective ancestors, Esau and Jacob (see Gen 25:19–34; 27:1–46; Num 20:14–21; 24:18; 2 Sam 8:13–14; 1 Kgs 11:14). Because of that enmity, the Edomites took advantage of the Babylonian destruction to butcher the Israelites when they were helpless. They wanted to wipe out the descendants of Jacob and seize the lands of Israel and Judah. The bloodbath they delighted to inflict on Israel would return on their own heads, as their people would be slaughtered by the sword. Their everlasting hatred would be punished: Their land would become desolate forever. This prophecy was fulfilled when the Edomites were displaced by a coalition of Arab tribes sometime during the 400s BC.
5Because you harbored an ancient hatred and delivered the Israelites over to the sword in the time of their disaster at the final stage of their punishment, 6therefore as surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I will give you over to bloodshed and it will pursue you. Since you did not hate bloodshed, it will pursue you.
7I will make Mount Seir a desolate waste and will cut off from it those who come and go. 8I will fill its mountains with the slain; those killed by the sword will fall on your hills, in your valleys, and in all your ravines. 9I will make you a perpetual desolation, and your cities will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
10Because you have said, ‘These two nations and countries will be ours, and we will possess them,’ even though the LORD was there, 11therefore as surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I will treat you according to the anger and jealousy you showed in your hatred against them, and I will make Myself known among them when I judge you.
12Then you will know that I, the LORD, have heard every contemptuous word you uttered against the mountains of Israel when you said, ‘They are desolate; they are given to us to devour!’
The Edomites mistakenly assumed that God’s judgment of...
The Edomites mistakenly assumed that God’s judgment of his people and his abandonment of the Temple meant that his covenant with Israel was no longer in effect. The Edomites had boasted and elevated themselves against both Israel and the Lord. The God of Israel would not tolerate such boasting, for he is the sovereign Lord of all. His choice of Israel and his giving them the land would not be revoked.
13You boasted against Me with your mouth and multiplied your words against Me. I heard it Myself!
14This is what the Lord GOD says: While the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate. 15As you rejoiced when the inheritance of the house of Israel became desolate, so will I do to you. You will become a desolation, O Mount Seir, and so will all of Edom. Then they will know that I am the LORD.