Ezek 35.1-15 describes the destruction of Edom that was threatened in Ezek 25.12-14. The cause of this destruction was their hatred for Israel.
v 1…Moreover, the word of the Lord (Yehovah) came to me saying,
v 2…”Son of man (mortal human being; Ezekiel represents the people), set your face (be determined) against Mount Seir (Seir the Horite first had it, then Esau-Gen 36.8; Deut 2.12), and prophesy against it.
v 3…and say to it, ‘Thus says the Lord God (Adonai Yehovah), “Behold (take note and see for yourself), I am against you Mount Seir, and I will stretch out my hand against you, and I will make you a desolation and a waste (its cities, towns, villages, houses, etc.).
v 4…I will lay waste your cities, and you will become a desolation. Then you will know that I am the Lord (when it comes to pass it will be proof he has spoken).
v 5…Because (here is why) you have everlasting enmity (hatred) and have delivered the sons of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their calamity (they killed those who had escaped from Jerusalem or turned them over to Babylon), at the time of the punishment of the end (the Babylonian conquest),
v 6…therefore (as a result), as I live (an oath),” declares the Lord God, “I will give you over to bloodshed, and bloodshed will pursue you; since you have not bloodshed, therefore bloodshed will pursue you (a play on words with “dam” of blood and “Edom”; Edom will become what its name means).
v 7…And I will make Mount Seir a waste and a desolation, and I will cut off from it one who passes through and returns (the merchants were cut off because there was nothing to buy or to sell).
v 8…And I will fill its mountains with its slain (where people fled to hide); on your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines those slain with the sword will fall (universal slaughter).
v 9…And I will make you an everlasting desolation, and your cities will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am the Lord (because he predicted it and it will be proof that he did it).
v 10…Because you have said, ‘These two nations (Israel and Judah) and these two lands will be mine (fall into Edom’s hands), and we will possess them though the Lord was there (they acted as if Israel was among the nations and God was not with them, or was powerless to defend them; he judged their sins but they were his people and it is his land, and the real owner, and he gave it to Israel in a covenant, and that has not changed; he was not gone in that sense. And for this Edom will be punished),
v 11…therefore (as a result), as I live (an oath),” declares the Lord God, “I will deal with you according to your anger and according to your envy which you showed because of your hatred against them; so I will make myself known among them when I judge you (Yehovah will bear witness to the validity of his covenant promises by punishing Edom for their hatred).
v 12…Then you will know that I, the Lord, have heard all your revilings which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel saying, ‘They are laid desolate; they are given to us as food.’
v 13…And you have spoken arrogantly against me and have multiplied your words against me; I have heard (they magnified themselves in blasphemous terms).”
v 14…”Thus says the Lord God (Adonai Yehovah), “As all the earth rejoices (are those who were in a different relationship with Yehovah and Israel), I will make you a desolation (can’t share in it because they were in enmity against Yehovah and Israel).
v 15…As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate (when Jerusalem was destroyed-Oba 11-12), so I will do to you. You will be a desolation, O Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it. Then they will know that I am the Lord (they will realize after the Lord’s predictions come true that he made it come to pass as proof that he had spoken).” ‘
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