Observation
Setting. Jerusalem has fallen (33:21), and Ezekiel has just promised that God Himself will shepherd and restore His scattered flock (ch 34). But one question hangs in the air: what about the neighbors who cheered Judah’s ruin and moved in to take the land? Chapter 35 answers with a word against “Mount Seir” — the mountain country of Edom, south and east of the Dead Sea, home of Esau’s descendants. Ezekiel has already spoken briefly against Edom (25:12–14). This fuller oracle clears the ground for chapter 36, where God speaks to the mountains of Israel.
Structure:
- vv1–4 — God against Mount Seir: “set your face against Mount Seir” (v2). “Behold, I am against you, Mount Seir, and I will stretch out My hand against you and make you a desolation and a waste” (v3). “You will know that I am the LORD” (v4).
- vv5–9 — ancient hatred and bloodshed: “Because you have had everlasting enmity and have delivered the sons of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, at the time of the punishment of the end” (v5). “As I live,” God will give Edom over to bloodshed — “since you have not hated bloodshed,” bloodshed will pursue you (v6). Its mountains will be filled with its slain (v8). “I will make you an everlasting desolation and your cities will not be inhabited” (v9).
- vv10–13 — greed and boasting: Edom said, “These two nations and these two lands will be mine” — “although the LORD was there” (v10). God will repay “according to your anger and according to your envy” (v11). “I, the LORD, have heard all your revilings” against the mountains of Israel: “They are laid desolate; they are given to us for food” (v12). “And you have spoken arrogantly against Me … I have heard it” (v13).
- vv14–15 — joy turned back: “As all the earth rejoices, I will make you a desolation” (v14). “As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, so I will do to you” (v15) — “Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it.”
Repeated words: desolation / desolate / waste (vv3, 4, 7, 9, 12, 14, 15); know that I am the LORD (vv4, 9, 15; compare v12); against (vv2, 3, 11, 12, 13); Mount Seir (vv2, 3, 7, 15); as I live (vv6, 11); sword (vv5, 8); bloodshed (v6, four times); rejoice (vv14, 15).
Contrasts: Edom’s “everlasting enmity” (v5) ⟷ Edom’s “everlasting desolation” (v9). “These two lands will be mine” (v10) ⟷ “although the LORD was there” (v10). Edom’s anger and envy (v11) ⟷ God repaying “according to” them (v11). Edom rejoicing over Israel’s ruin (v15) ⟷ all the earth rejoicing over Edom’s (v14). Edom’s arrogant words (v13) ⟷ “I have heard it” (v13).
Chapter theme (my words): Edom nursed a grudge for a thousand years, kicked his brother when he was down, and then tried to take his land. But the land was never empty — the LORD was there. Hatred, envy and gloating come back on the one who carries them, and God hears every word spoken against His people.
Interpretation
Who is Edom? (vv1–4). Edom descends from Esau, Jacob’s twin brother (Gen 25:23–30; 36:8–9). Mount Seir was their rugged homeland. Alexander, in Guzik, traces the long record of hostility — under Saul, Solomon, Jehoshaphat, Jehoram and Ahaz — and notes that “Edom had sought to block Israel’s first entrance into the Promised Land” (Num 20:14–21). Guzik observes that “against” is repeated four times in three verses, like a drumbeat. Why does this oracle sit here, among promises of restoration? Guzik suggests it answers the obvious question: how can Israel be restored while hostile neighbors like Edom remain? God will deal with them first.
Everlasting enmity (vv5–9). The grudge went back to the womb, when the twins struggled (Gen 25:22); Clarke, in Guzik, traces the rivalry to that beginning. It came to a head when Babylon took Jerusalem in 586 BC: Edom cheered, cut off fugitives and handed survivors over (Ps 137:7; Lam 4:21–22; Obad 10–14). Block, in Guzik, says Edom’s guilt lay in hunting down and killing the fugitives. “At the time of the punishment of the end” (v5) means Edom struck when God’s judgment on Judah was at its height. The punishment fits the crime: they loved bloodshed, so bloodshed would chase them. Poole, in Guzik: “Edom’s sin was perpetual hatred, and Edom’s punishment shall be perpetual desolations.” Guzik also cautions that while God may judge a nation’s sins, believers must not hold onto ancient hatred toward peoples.
History bears it out. Within a few centuries the Nabataeans had taken over Edom’s homeland, and Edomites drifted into southern Judea, which came to be called Idumea. Herod the Great was an Idumean. After the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70, the Edomites disappear from history as a people. Feinberg, in Guzik: “The main cities were Petra and Teman, which now lie in ruins,” and “The prediction has been literally fulfilled.”
”These two lands will be mine” (vv10–13). Most take “two nations … two lands” to be Israel and Judah — the northern kingdom long gone, the southern kingdom just emptied. Guzik notes that some read it as Edom and Judah. Either way, Edom thought the land was there for the taking. Block, in Guzik, points to archaeological evidence (an Arad letter, a seal from Aroer) of Edomite pressure in the south. But they forgot one thing: “the LORD was there” (v10). Even after the glory left the temple (11:23), the land remained His. Morgan, in Guzik: “He is still there; and whosoever may covet it cannot hold it, for He will dispossess them.” Edom’s anger, envy and hatred would be measured back to them (Matt 7:2). Their boasting against Israel’s mountains was boasting against God, and He says twice, “I have heard” (vv12–13).
The gloater judged (vv14–15). Edom rejoiced over Israel’s desolation; the whole earth will rejoice over Edom’s. Obadiah made the same charge: “Do not gloat over your brother’s day” (Obad 12). Guzik applies the chapter to modern hostility toward Israel; that is his own application, not something the text itself names. Some Christians also see Edom here as a type of every enemy of God’s people (Isa 34; 63:1–6). The goal of it all is in the refrain: “you will know that I am the LORD.”
Word study (Hebrew):
- Seir — Seʿir (H8165): “rough, hairy” — the mountain range of Edom (compare Esau, the hairy man, Gen 25:25).
- Edom — ʾEdom (H123): “red” — Esau’s other name (Gen 25:30).
- desolation — shemamah (H8077): a devastation, a waste.
- waste — meshammah (H4923): a horror, an object of astonishment.
- everlasting — ʿolam (H5769): long duration, perpetual.
- enmity — ʾebah (H342): hostility, hatred.
- calamity — ʾed (H343): disaster, ruin.
- bloodshed — dam (H1818): blood; shed blood, bloodguilt.
- pursue — radaph (H7291): to chase, hunt down.
- possess — yarash (H3423): to take possession, dispossess.
- envy — qinʾah (H7068): jealousy, zeal, envy.
- hatred — sinʾah (H8135): hatred.
- revilings — neʾatsah (H5007): contempt, blasphemy.
- spoken arrogantly — gadal (H1431): to make great; to magnify oneself.
- rejoice — samach (H8055): to be glad, rejoice.
Cross-references: Gen 25:22–34; Gen 27:41; Num 20:14–21; Ps 137:7; Prov 24:17–18; Isa 34:5–15; Jer 49:7–22; Lam 4:21–22; Ezek 25:12–14; Amos 1:11–12; Obad 1–21; Mal 1:2–4; Matt 7:2; Rom 12:19; Heb 12:16–17.
Application
Command to obey — “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls” (Prov 24:17). Edom threw a party over his brother’s ruin. When a man who hurt me goes down — arrested, exposed, broke, relapsed — the flesh wants to say, “He had it coming.” God says don’t. I’ll pray for him instead, and leave the judging to the One who hears everything (Rom 12:19).
Sin to confess — the long grudge. Edom carried “everlasting enmity” (v5) for generations. I confess the old grudges I still feed — family wounds, betrayals, people I’ve quietly written off. A grudge is a prisoner I keep in my own heart, and I end up doing the time.
Warning to heed — bitterness comes back around. “Since you have not hated bloodshed, therefore bloodshed will pursue you” (v6). What I sow, I reap. For the men I walk with — on the yard, on the street, in the family feud — the cycle of payback never ends with the other guy. It ends with the man who carries it. Unforgiveness doesn’t protect me; it pursues me.
Promise to trust — “the LORD was there.” (v10). Edom looked at an empty, ruined land and thought it was up for grabs. It wasn’t — God was there. When my life looks like a ruin and the enemy is already measuring it for himself, the LORD is still there. He hears every word spoken against His people: “I have heard it” (v13).
Example to follow — let God answer. Israel never fights Edom in this chapter. God does all the speaking and all the repaying. When I’m wronged, I want to follow that pattern: tell God the truth, refuse revenge, and wait for Him to make it right.
Worship. The LORD lives. He sees the hatred no one else notices, He hears every boast, and He keeps watch over a land that looks abandoned. He judges with justice and makes Himself known. He is the LORD.
Prayer. Lord GOD, You hear everything. Search my heart for any old grudge and pull it out by the root. Keep me from gloating when others fall, and give me grace to pray for the ones who hurt me. When my life looks desolate, remind me that You are there. Make Yourself known through me. In Jesus' name. Amen.