Ezekiel 35 - Mount Seir Condemned for Perpetual Hatred
Edom, pictured as Mount Seir, is sentenced to desolation for its lasting hatred of Israel.
Mount Seir, standing for Edom, is condemned for a 'perpetual hatred' that shed Israelite blood in the time of Judah's calamity and for boasting that the land left desolate was theirs to take. The short oracle follows the shepherd promises of Ezekiel 34 with a sharp reminder that not every neighbor shares in that restoration.
Moreover, the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
“Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir and prophesy against it,
and declare that this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, I am against you, O Mount Seir. I will stretch out My hand against you and make you a desolate waste.
I will turn your cities into ruins, and you will become a desolation. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
Because 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,
therefore 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.
I will make Mount Seir a desolate waste and will cut off from it those who come and go.
I 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.
I will make you a perpetual desolation, and your cities will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
Because you have said, ‘These two nations and countries will be ours, and we will possess them,’ even though the LORD was there,
therefore 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.
Then 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!’
You boasted against Me with your mouth and multiplied your words against Me. I heard it Myself!
This is what the Lord GOD says: While the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate.
As 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.