Глава 35

Until now, the return of Israel to its land has been spoken of as something self-evident. But there are obstacles to such a return: the surrounding pagan peoples, mainly Edomites. The restoration of the chosen people, described in Chapter XXXIV, is impossible without the restoration of St. land without returning it to Israel. And here, Edom says: “these two nations and these two lands will be mine” (Ezek.35.10). “Edom or Jehovah?” (Bert.). There may be only one answer. Edom, which is here the representative of all the envious people of Israel (the closest thing to it is paganism), who interfered with the restoration of the chosen people and their possession on earth (of course, mainly spiritual), must be destroyed. Thus, the restoration of St. land, which the prophet now needs to speak about after the speech on the restoration of the state (XXXIV, ch.) and before the speech on the restoration of the people (XXXVII ch.), is interpreted in ch. XXXV and XXXVI on both sides: negative in Chapter XXXV. and positive in Chapter XXXVI; the first provides a good background for the second. Chapter supplements XXV; 12–14. Ezek.35:1–9. The Lord will take revenge on the Edomites for their recent cruelty against Israel by the fact that they will fall by the sword, and their country will be depopulated. Art. 10–15. For insulting Jehovah by claiming His land and mocking Him, the Edomites must be bitterly convinced that the omniscient Lord heard their ridicule if He repaid them in the same way as they did to His people. Ezek.35:1. And the word of the Lord came to me: The formula is not repeated in Ezek.36.1, but only in Ezek.36.6 to show the close connection of the chapters. Ezek.35:2. son of man! turn your face to Mount Seir and prophesy against it “Turn your face”, Ezek.6.2. – “Mount Seir” is the ancient name of the mountainous region of Jebel el-Sera, located on the eastern side of Araba; but here it serves as a designation for all of Idumea, in accordance with how all of Palestine is called “the mountains of Israel.” Ezek.35:3. and say to her: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, Mount Seir! and I will stretch out My hand against you and make you desolate and uninhabited. “I will stretch out... My hand... uninhabited”, see explanation of Ezek.25.13. Ezek.35:4. I will turn your cities into ruins, and you yourself will be desolate and you will know that I am the Lord. See explanation of Ezek.12.20. Ezek.35:5. Since you have eternal enmity, and you delivered the children of Israel into the hands of the sword during their misfortune, during their final destruction: "Eternal Enmity". This enmity between Edom and Israel began in the womb (Gen 25.22 et seq., Gen 27.37), never ceased (Am 1.11) and was revealed especially during the Chaldean conquest. - “Into the hands of the sword.” Jer 18.21; Ps 62.11. “During their misfortune” - the destruction of the kingdom from the Chaldeans (Obd 1.13–14). – “At the time of final destruction”, see explanation of Ezek.21.29. Ezek.35:6. This is why I live! says the Lord God, I will make you blood, and the blood will follow you; since you did not hate blood, blood will haunt you. "I will make you blood." Idumea will experience particularly great bloodshed. - “Just like you didn’t hate blood.” She felt no aversion to bloodshed; but in Heb. not a denial, but an exclamation: “Oh that you hated blood”; therefore glory. and Vulg. translate: “you hated blood,” i.e., perhaps, Israel’s half-brother. Blood is repeated 4 times in the verse to thicken the colors in the depiction of the bloodthirstiness of the Edomites. But most Greek codes do not have 6b. Ezek.35:7. And I will make Mount Seir desolate and a desolate desert, and I will destroy from it those who come and those who return. See explanation of Ezek.6.14, 30.6. - “I will destroy in it those who come and those who return.” All movement in the country will freeze. Ezek.35:8. And I will fill the heights thereof with her slain; on your hills and in your valleys and in all your ruts those slain with the sword will fall. See explanation of Ezek.32.5. Ezek.35:9. I will make you an everlasting wilderness, and you will not live in your cities, and you will know that I am the Lord. “I will make you an everlasting wilderness”, with which the prophets never threaten Judah, but from other nations, besides Idumea, even Chaldea: Jer 25.12. - “And they will not live in your cities.” The former somewhat hyperbolic threats are softened, or rather given greater precision: Idumea will become a desert in the sense that its former rich cities will be depopulated; small settlements will remain there. Ezek.35:10. Since you said: “these two nations and these two lands will be mine, and we will take possession of them, although the Lord was there”: Edom's new guilt and the basis for condemning it to destruction: the claim to God's land. “These two nations” are Israel and Judah (Ezek. 37.22), of which, consequently, many inhabitants remained in Palestine after the destruction of the kingdoms. – “And these two lands” – the northern and southern kingdoms. - “And we will take possession of them.” LXX and Vulg. better: “and I will take them as an inheritance,” according to the right of a brother, and an older one, after the death of another. - “Although the Lord was there.” Conscious and therefore most sinful sacrilege. The Edomites were not complete polytheists. Their claims to St. the earth were thus a deliberate encroachment on God's inheritance on earth: Zech 2.12. Ezek.35:11. for this reason I live! says the Lord God, “I will deal with you according to your hatred and envy, which you have shown out of your hatred towards them, and I will reveal myself to them when I judge you.” “I will act according to your hatred and envy.” I will do to you what you wanted to do to Israel out of hatred for it, which comes from envy (of the humiliated older brother towards the younger). “Envy…” before “toward them” is not found in most Greek. codes. - “And I will reveal myself to them,” that is, to Israel as the righteous Judge of Edom, which will be a preliminary and, of course, incomplete revelation before the full revelation - in mercies to the chosen people. Slav. “I will be known by you”, but Greek. γνωσυησομαι σοι, I will acknowledge you. Ezek.35:12. And you will know that I, the Lord, heard all your mockery that you made against the mountains of Israel, saying: “They are desolate! given to us to be devoured!” "All" . LXX: “voice”, which in Hebrew sounds the same - count. – “Mountains of Israel” – St. land; Ezek.6.2. - “Desolated”, the inhabitants were killed or taken prisoner. “They were given to us to be devoured”: they became our complete and easy prey. Ezek.35:13. You magnified yourself before Me with your tongue and multiplied your speech against Me; I heard it. The new, third sin of Seir: arrogance, all the more unforgivable because it is directed against God himself. In the psalms of post-exilic origin there are also frequent complaints about ridicule. – “And your speeches increased against me” is not in LXX. Ezek.35:14. Thus says the Lord God: When all the earth rejoices, I will make you desolate. “When all the earth will rejoice”: when the Kingdom of God comes on earth, into which, in addition to Israel, and according to the prediction of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 16.53), pagan peoples will also enter. Ezek.35:15. Just as you rejoiced because the inheritance of the house of Israel was desolate, so will I do to you: you will be desolate, Mount Seir and all Idumea together, and they will know that I am the Lord. “How you rejoiced” before “with you” is not found in LXX. - “I will do the same with you.” So they will rejoice over the destruction of Idumea. You might be interested in: