Judgement On The Nations

by NEELY, E. | Category: Getting To Know God Through Ezekiel | Sept 2007

After the final siege of Jerusalem had actually begun and before he spoke at length about the glory days of Israel that shall yet be, Ezekiel turned his prophecies against Israel’s neighbouring countries. Seven nations were included: Ammon, Moab and Edom on the east, Philistia on the west, Tyre and Sidon on the north, and Egypt on the south. While Ezekiel prophesied to, and his messages were directed to, the captivity of Judah in Babylon principally for their benefit, his messages from God included these surrounding nations, whether or not they were delivered to them. Those who blessed the descendants of Abraham were to be blessed; those who cursed them would also be cursed (Gen.12:1-3). Ezekiel chapters 25-32 deal with these judgements and included among them was judgement against Satan who motivated them.

David had previously conquered Ammon, but after Solomon's death that nation had regained their strength and recommenced hostility with Israel. In hopes of getting additional territory Ammon sided with Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kin.24:1,2) and then later sided with Judah against Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar had commenced his attack on Tyre (its defeat took 13 years, largely because of her navy) and then had to decide between Ammon and Judah. In God's overruling he was directed to attack Judah. Her time had come. Again hoping to profit from Judah's demise, Ammon rejoiced at her defeat. Because of her attitude Ammon would be overrun by eastern nomads who would completely cut her off, reducing even Ammon's capital to a stable for camels (25:5).

Moab was to be overrun by the same tribes that destroyed Ammon and for similar reasons. Moab had been at odds with Israel most of the time since Balak, its king, hired Balaam to curse her. While David had conquered her for the length of his reign and the reign of Solomon, she again revolted, treating Judah and Judah’s God with contempt, making Jerusalem out to be just like all other nations, denying that her God had given her any special treatment. Envy and contempt against the people of God is hardly blessing. God’s judgement must fall on Moab and the Mount Seir that she called home.

Edom refused to let Israel cross her territory as she travelled to the Promised Land (Num.20:14-18). Continuing strife ensued, but David eventually brought her under control (2 Sam.8:14). Edom later rebelled (2 Kin.8:22) and eventually helped Nebuchadnezzar in his conquest of Judah and Jerusalem. This revenge on Judah cost Edom her complete existence. Vengeance against God’s people, even though God Himself was punishing them, brought God’s own vengeance upon that neighbouring nation.

Philistia was guilty of the same crime: she took vengeance on Judah. God therefore wrought vengeance in return. The Philistines were destined to disappear as a nation altogether. They had originally migrated from Crete; they are referred to as the Kerethites (Heb. keritim). Ezekiel reported with a play on words that God would cut off (Heb. 'hikrati') the keritim.

The eastern and western neighbours being accounted for, Ezekiel turns his prophetic utterances against the north, and it is in these four prophecies against Tyre that we see something much deeper. Each one begins with, The word of the LORD came to me (26:1; 27:1; 28:1,11). Not only would God's enemies be abolished, but the one who motivated them against God and the godly would himself eventually be judged. As surely as the neighbours were overturned, so surely will Judah's great enemy know justice. Tyre had been a mighty sea-going nation and a strong commercial rival of Jerusalem, depending on trade by land routes. Tyre rejoiced over Jerusalem's fall, but her shouting was short-lived. God would bring sufficient force against her to sweep her into the sea. After Nebuchadnezzar’s onslaught, Alexander the Great reduced her to rubble and even threw that into the Mediterranean. She would be left barren as a place for fishermen to dry their nets. Though Tyre's neighbouring trading partners would greatly mourn, she would never again be found as a nation. The second prophecy was a poetic lament in which Tyre was compared to a great ship, built with the finest of materials and manned by a stalwart crew. She was described as the perfection of beauty (27:3) and traded in the finest of the world's goods, but she was headed for shipwreck: 'And you will be no more' (27:36). Chapter 28 deals with a reigning king, Itobaal II, whose pride, like that of the one who moved him, made him boast as a god. He was even said to be wiser than Daniel (28:3), but in spite of his boasting he was a mere man; he would die at the hand of strangers. The mouth of the LORD had spoken it (28:10). It is here that the prophecy takes a deeper meaning. Verses 11-19 take up a lament over one who is called the king of Tyre, describing him in superhuman language, no doubt referring to Satan and his eventual demise, though he is not here mentioned by name.

Described as one who had ‘"the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God ..."’ his privileges and responsibilities were certainly unique; he was created with enormous abilities and treasures, but he was a creature, not a creator. This creature was the anointed cherub that covers and was appointed to the holy mountain of God, blameless. But he sinned and was cast out. The eventual judgement, yet future, reads, ‘"And you will be no more!"’ This portion deserves special reading. If ever we were tempted to arise in pride, somehow consumed with self-importance and beauty and so knowingly sin against the Almighty Creator, these verses should make us fall before God in grateful appreciation and worship. Satan who sinned found no forgiveness; God in His grace forgives even such as you and me again and again! Satan will be consumed in fire (Rev.20:10) and will be in a figure as ashes on the earth (28:18). God will give us and Israel a garland instead of ashes, and the oil of gladness instead of mourning (Is.61:3).

Also on the northern border of Israel, about 20 miles north of Tyre, was Sidon. Sidon too must suffer for sins similar to those of her sister city. God would be glorified in her demise, just as He would in Israel's eventual restoration. We remember that these prophecies were spoken largely for the captivity of Judah's benefit. Be that as it may, Sidon, along with the other condemned city-states would come to know through their judgement that God was the LORD. Judah should have learned that also.

Finally, in chapters 29-32, Ezekiel turns to the south and takes up the word of the LORD against Pharaoh and against Egypt and all her allies and this he does in a series of seven oracles. All of these, except the second, are in chronological order. Egypt was noted for her multitudinous population and chapters 30 to 32 mention those multitudes no less than fourteen times. The vastness of the hordes and the number and strength of the cities carefully enumerated for judgement were no strength against the pronounced doom. However, Egypt was also to be resuscitated; after forty years she would again be populated, but only ever after to be a minor nation, held in check always by the powerful nations that would arise in the east. God has yet a place for her in Israel's future glory. Just as Assyria had been destroyed because of her pride, so Egypt must likewise go to the pit, her aspirations to greatness made empty and worthless by the mighty power of God. Assyria, though a conqueror of Israel's northern kingdom, though compared to a cedar of Lebanon, well-watered and fruitful, had been brought to nothing through Babylon. The believer today does well to learn the lesson. Pride goes before destruction (Prov.16:18).

NEELY, E. | Sept 2007
Getting To Know God Through Ezekiel