It
was promised, in the foregoing chapter, that when the time to favour Zion,
yea, the set time, should come, especially the time for sending the Messiah
and setting up his kingdom in the world, God would cause the enemies of his
church to cease and the blessings and comforts of the church to abound. This
chapter enlarges upon the former promise, concerning the destruction of the
enemies of the church; the next chapter upon the latter promise, the
replenishing of the church with blessings. Mount Seir (that is, Edom) is the
enemy prophesied against in this chapter, but fitly put here, as in the
prophecy of Obadiah, for all the enemies of the church; for, as those all
walked in the way of Cain that hated Abel, so those all walked in the way of
Esau who hated Jacob, but over whom Jacob, by virtue of a particular
blessing, was to have dominion. Now here we have, I. The sin charged upon
the Edomites, and that was their spite and malice to Israel, ver. 5, 10-13. II. The ruin threatened,
that should come upon them for this sin. God will be against them (ver. 3)
and then their country shall be laid waste (ver. 4), depopulated, and made
quite desolate (ver. 6-9), and left so when other nations that had been
wasted should recover themselves, ver. 14, 15.
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The
Fall of
Edom.
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B.
C. 587.
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1 Moreover the word of the LORD
came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, set thy face against mount
Seir, and prophesy against it, 3 And say unto it, Thus saith the
Lord GOD;
Behold, O mount Seir, I am against thee, and I will stretch out mine
hand against thee, and I will make thee most desolate. 4 I will
lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I
am the LORD.
5 Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed the blood of
the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their
calamity, in the time that their iniquity had an end:
6 Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD,
I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: sith thou hast
not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee. 7 Thus will I
make mount Seir most desolate, and cut off from it him that passeth out and
him that returneth. 8 And I will fill his mountains with his
slain men: in thy hills, and in thy valleys, and in all thy rivers,
shall they fall that are slain with the sword. 9 I will make
thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not return: and ye shall
know that I am the LORD.
Mount Seir was mentioned as partner with Moab in one of the threatenings we
had before (ch. xxv. 8); but here it is convicted and condemned by
itself, and has woes of its own. The prophet must boldly set his face
against Edom, and prophesy particularly against it; for
the God of Israel has said, O Mount Seir! I am against thee. Note,
Those that have God against them have the word of God against them, and the
face of his ministers, nor dare they prophesy any good to them, but evil.
The prophet must tell the Edomites that God has a controversy with them, and
let them know,
I. What is the cause and ground of that controversy, v. 5. God
espouses his people's cause, and will plead it, takes what is done against
them as done against himself, and will reckon for it; and it is upon their
account that God now contends with the Edomites. 1. Because of the enmity
they had against the people of God, that was rooted in the heart. "Thou
hast had a perpetual hatred to them, to the very name of an
Israelite." The Edomites kept up an hereditary malice against
Israel, the same that Esau bore to Jacob, because he got the birth-right and
the blessing. Esau had been reconciled to Jacob, had embraced and kissed him
(Gen. xxxiii.), and we do not find that ever he quarrelled with him again.
But the posterity of Esau would never be reconciled to the seed of Jacob,
but hated them with a perpetual hatred. Note, Children will be more apt to
imitate the vices than the virtues of their parents, and to tread in the
steps of their sin than in the steps of their repentance. Parents should
therefore be careful not to set their children any bad example, for though,
through the grace of God, they may return, and prevent the mischief of what
they have done amiss to themselves, they may not be able to obviate the bad
influence of it upon their children. It is strange how deeply rooted
national antipathies sometimes are, and how long they last; but it is not to
be wondered at that profane Edomites hate pious Israelites, since the old enmity
that was put between the seed of the woman and the seed of the
serpent (Gen. iii. 15) will continue to the end. Marvel not if the world
hate you. 2. Because of the injuries they had done to the people of God.
They shed their blood by the force of the sword, in the time of their
calamity; they did not attack them as fair and open enemies, but laid
wait for them, to cut off those of them that had escaped (Obad. 14),
or they drove them back upon the sword of the pursuers, by which they fell.
It was cowardly, as well as barbarous, to take advantage of their distress;
and for neighbours, with whom they had lived peaceably, to smite them
secretly when strangers openly invaded them. It was in the time that
their iniquity had an end, when the measure of it was full and
destruction came. Note, Even those that suffer justly, and for their sins,
are yet to be pitied and not trampled upon. If the father corrects one
child, he expects the rest should tremble at it, not triumph in it.
II. What should be the effect and issue of that controversy. If God stretch
out his hand against the country of Edom, he will make it most desolate,
v. 3. Desolation and desolation. 1. The inhabitants shall be
slain with the sword (v. 6): I will prepare thee unto blood.
Edom shall be gradually weakened, and so be the more easily conquered, and
the enemy shall gather strength the more effectually to subdue it. Thus
preparation is in the making a great while before for this destruction. Thou
hast not hated blood; it implies, "Thou hast delighted in it and
thirsted after it." Those that do not keep up a rooted hatred of sin,
when a temptation to it is very strong, will be in danger of yielding to it.
Some read it, "Unless thou hatest blood" (that is,
"unless thou dost repent, and put off this bloody disposition) blood
shall pursue thee." And then it is an intimation that the judgment
may yet be prevented by a thorough reformation. If he turn not, he will
whet his sword, Ps. vii. 12. But, if he turn, he will lay it by. Blood
shall pursue thee, the guilt of the blood which thou hast shed or
the judgment of blood; thy blood-thirsty enemies shall pursue thee,
which way soever thou seekest to make thy escape. A great and general
slaughter shall be made of the Idumeans, such as had been foretold (Isa.
xxxiv. 6): The mountains and hills, the valleys and rivers, shall be filled
with the slain, v. 8. The pursuers shall overtake those that flee
and shall give no quarter, but put them all to the sword. Note, When God
comes to make inquisition for blood those that have shed the blood of his
Israel shall have blood given them to drink, for they are worthy. Satia
te sanguine quem sitisti--Glut thyself with blood, after which thou hast
thirsted. 2. The country shall be laid waste. The cities shall be
destroyed (v. 4), the country made most desolate (v.
7); for God will cut off from both him that passes out and him
that returns; and when the inhabitants are cut off that should keep the
cities in repair they will decay and go into ruins, and when those are cut
off that should till the land that will soon be over-run with briers and
thorns and become a wilderness. Note, Those that help forward the
desolations of Israel may expect to be themselves made desolate. And that
which completes the judgment is that Edom shall be made perpetual
desolations (v. 9) and the cities shall never return to their
former state, nor the inhabitants of them come back from their captivity and
dispersion. Note, Those that have a perpetual enmity to God and his people,
as the carnal mind has, can expect no other than to be made a perpetual
desolation. Implacable malice will justly be punished with irreparable ruin.
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The
Fall of Edom.
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B.
C. 587.
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10 Because thou hast said, These two nations
and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it; whereas the LORD was there: 11
Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will even do according
to thine anger, and according to thine envy which thou hast used out of thy
hatred against them; and I will make myself known among them, when I have
judged thee. 12 And thou shalt know that I am the LORD,
and that I have heard all thy blasphemies which thou hast spoken
against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid desolate, they are
given us to consume. 13 Thus with your mouth ye have boasted
against me, and have multiplied your words against me: I have heard them.
14 Thus saith the Lord GOD;
When the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate. 15 As
thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was
desolate, so will I do unto thee: thou shalt be desolate, O mount Seir, and
all Idumea, even all of it: and they shall know that I am the
LORD.
Here is, I. A further account of the sin of the Edomites, and their bad
conduct towards the people of God. We find the church complaining of them
for setting on the Babylonians, and irritating them against Jerusalem,
saying, Rase it, rase it, down with it, down with it (Ps. cxxxvii.
7), inflaming a rage that needed no spur; here it is further charged upon
them that they triumphed in Jerusalem's ruin and in the desolations of the
country. Many blasphemies they spoke against the mountains of
Israel, saying, with pride and pleasure, They are laid desolate, v.
12. Note, The troubles of God's church, as they give proofs of the constancy
and fidelity of its friends, so they discover and draw out the corruptions
of its enemies, in whom there then appears more brutish malice than one
would have thought of. Now their triumphing in Jerusalem's ruin is here said
to proceed, 1. From a sinful passion against the people of Israel; from anger
and envy, and hatred against them (v. 11), that perpetual
hatred spoken of v. 5. Though they were not a match for them, and
therefore could not do them a mischief themselves, yet they were glad when
the Chaldeans did them a mischief. 2. From a sinful appetite to the land of
Israel. They pleased themselves with hopes that when the people of Israel
were destroyed they should be let into the possession of their country,
which they had so often grudged and envied them. They thought they could
make out something of a title to it, ob defectum sanguinis--for want of
other heirs. If Jacob's issue fail, they think that they are next in the
entail, and that the remainder will be to his brother's issue: "These
two nations of Judah and Israel shall be mine. Now is the time for me to
put in for them." At least they hope to come in as first occupants,
being near neighbours: We will possess it when it is deserted. Ceditur
occupanti--Let us get possession and that will be title enough. Note,
Those have the spirit of Edomites who desire the death of others because
they hope to get by it, or are pleased with their failing because they
expect to come into their business. When we see the vanity of the world in
the disappointments, losses, and crosses, that others meet with in it,
instead of showing ourselves, upon such an occasion, greedy of it, we should
rather be made thereby to sit more loose to it, and both take our affections
off it and lower our expectations from it. But in this case of the Edomites'
coveting the land of Israel, and gaping for it, there was a particular
affront to God, when they said, "These lands are given us to devour,
and we shall have our bellies full of their riches." God says, You
have boasted against me and have multiplied your words against me; for
they expected possession upon a vacancy, because Israel was driven out, whereas
the Lord was still there, v. 10. His temple indeed was
burnt, and the other tokens of his presence were gone; but his promise to
give that land to the seed of Jacob for an inheritance was not made void,
but remained in full force and virtue; and by that promise he did in effect
still keep possession for Israel, till they should in due time be restored
to it. That was Immanuel's land (Isa. viii. 8); in that land he was to be
born, and therefore that people shall continue in it of whom he is to be
born, till he has passed his time in it, and then let who will take it. The
Lord is there, the Lord Jesus is to be there; and therefore Israel's
discontinuance of possession is no defeasance of their right, but it shall
be kept for them, and they shall have, hold, and enjoy it by virtue of the
divine grant, till the promise of this Canaan shall by the Messiah be
changed into the promise of a far better. Note, It is a piece of presumption
highly offensive to God for Edomites to lay claim to those privileges and
comforts that are peculiar to God's chosen Israel and are reserved for them.
It is blasphemy against the mountains of Israel, the holy mountains,
to say, because they are for the present made a prey of and trodden under
foot of the Gentiles (Rev. xi. 2), even the holy city itself,
that therefore the Lord has forsaken them, their God has forgotten
them. The apostle will by no means admit such a thought as this, that God
hath cast away his people, Rom. xi. 1. No; though they are cast down for
a time, they are not cast off for ever. Those reproach the Lord who
say they are.
II. The notice God took of the barbarous insolence of the Edomites, and the
doom passed upon them for it: I have heard all thy blasphemies, v.
12. And again (v. 13), You have multiplied your words against me,
and I have heard them, I have observed them, I have kept an account
of them. Note, In the multitude of words, not one escapes God's cognizance;
let men speak ever so much, ever so fast, though they multiply words, which
they themselves regard not, but forget immediately, yet none of them are
lost in the crowd, not the most idle words; but God hears them, and will be
able to charge the sinner with them. All the haughty and hard speeches,
particularly, which are spoken against the Israel of God, the words which
are magnified (as it is in the margin, v. 13) as well as the
words which are multiplied, God takes notice of. For, as the most trifling
words are not below his cognizance, so the most daring are not above his
rebuke. I have heard all thy blasphemies. This is a good reason why
we should bear reproach as if we heard it not, because God will hear,
Ps. xxxviii. 13, 15. God has heard the Edomites' blasphemy; let them
therefore hear their doom, v. 14, 15. It was a national sin (the
blasphemies charged upon them were the sense and language of all the
Edomites), and therefore shall be punished with a national desolation. And,
1. It shall be a distinguishing punishment. As God has peculiar favours for
Israelites, so he has peculiar plagues for Edomites: so that "When
the whole earth rejoices I will make thee desolate; when other nations
have their desolations repaired, to their joy, thine shall be perpetual,"
v. 9. 2. The punishment shall answer to the sin: "As thou
didst rejoice in the desolation of the house of Israel, God will give
thee enough of desolation; since thou art so fond of it, thou shalt be
desolate; I will make thee so." Note, Those who, instead of weeping
with the mourners, make a jest of their grievances, may justly be made to
weep like the mourners, and themselves to feel the weight, to feel the
smart, of those grievances which they set so light by. Some read v.
14 so as to complete the resemblance between the sin and the punishment: The
whole earth shall rejoice when I make thee desolate, as thou didst rejoice
when Israel was made desolate. Those that are glad at the death and fall
of others may expect that others will be glad of their death, of their fall.
3. In the destruction of the enemies of the church God designs his own
glory, and we may be sure that he will not come short of his design. (1.)
That which he intends is to manifest himself, as a just and jealous God,
firm to his covenant and faithful to his people and their injured cause (v.
11): I will make myself known among them when I have judged thee. The
Lord is and will be known by the judgments which he executes. (2.) His
intention shall be fully answered; not only his own people shall be made to
know it to their comfort, but even the Edomites themselves, and all the
other enemies of his name and people, shall know that he is the Lord,
v. 4, 9, 15. As the works of creation and common providence
demonstrate that there is a God, so the care taken of Israel shows that
Jehovah, the God of Israel, is that God alone, the true and living God.
