Ezechiel xxxv.
Notes & Commentary:
Ver. 2. Face. Address, or speak without fearing any man. (Worthington) — Seir: Idumea. He speaks of its devastation, both by Nabuchodonosor on the side of Moab, and by the Machabees in what remained, Jeremias xxvii. 7., and 1 Machabees iv. 60., and xiv. 33. (Calmet)
Ver. 5. Enemy. God revenges the injuries done to his Church, as if they were done to himself, Acts ix. 4. (Worthington) — The enmity of Jacob and of Esau seemed to commence in the womb, and was increased by the purchase of the birth-right, till Jacob’s prudence disarmed his brother. Their descendants sought every opportunity to injure one another. The Idumeans shewed their ill-will particularly, when the Jews were most distressed. This was a piece of the greatest cruelty.
Ver. 6. Blood. The Machabees sprung from the same stock. Pursue the Idumeans, and force them to receive circumcision, 1 Machabees iv. 15.
Ver. 9. Inhabited for a considerable time, as [in] chap. xxvi. 20.
Ver. 10. Two. I will add the country of the Jews to my own, or will possess the land belonging to the kingdoms of Juda and of Israel. Their hopes were blasted. They never occupied any thing belonging to the Israelites, and what they had taken from Juda, as far as Hebron, was recovered. — There, witness of these designs, and guardian of his temple, &c.
Ver. 11. Wrath. The Jews shall treat you as you have threatened to do unto them. — By them, my people. Septuagint, “to thee.”
Ver. 13. Derogated. Septuagint, “bawled;” or Hebrew, “multiplied your words against me,” as if I could not protect my inheritance. (Haydock) — You would pretend to judge me, and to fathom my designs.
Ver. 14. Rejoice. After the captivity, the Machabees shall conquer Edom.
Ver. 15. As, &c., is not in the Roman Septuagint. St. Jerome says it was marked with an asterisk, being taken from Theodotion. (Calmet) — Grabe supplies to thou shalt. His copy has the rest:…”thou shalt know that I am their Lord.” (Haydock)
Bible Text & Cross-references:
The judgment of Mount Seir, for their hatred of Israel.
1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
2 Son of man, set thy face against Mount Seir, and prophesy concerning it, and say to it:
3 Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I come against thee, Mount Seir, and I will stretch forth my hand upon thee, and I will make thee desolate and waste.
4 I will destroy thy cities, and thou shalt be desolate; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.
5 Because thou hast been an everlasting enemy, and hast shut up the children of Israel, in the hands of the sword in the time of their affliction, in the time of their last iniquity.
6 Therefore as I live, saith the Lord God, I will deliver thee up to blood, and blood shall pursue thee: and whereas thou hast hated blood, blood shall pursue thee.
7 And I will make Mount Seir waste and desolate; and I will take away from it him that goeth and him that returneth.
8 And I will fill his mountains with his men that are slain: in thy hills, and in thy vallies, and in thy torrents they shall fall that are slain with the sword.
9 I will make thee everlasting desolations, and thy cities shall not be inhabited: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord God.
10 Because thou hast said: The two nations, and the two lands shall be mine, and I will possess them by inheritance: whereas the Lord was there.
11 Therefore as I live, saith the Lord God, I will do according to thy wrath, and according to thy envy which thou hast exercised in hatred to them: and I will be made known by them, when I shall have judged thee.
12 And thou shalt know that I, the Lord, have heard all thy reproaches, that thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying: They are desolate, they are given to us to consume.
13 And you rose up against me with your mouth, and have derogated from me by your words: I have heard them.
14 Thus saith the Lord God: When the whole earth shall rejoice, I will make thee a wilderness.
15 As thou hast rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was laid waste, so will I do to thee: thou shalt be laid waste, O Mount Seir, and all Idumea: and they shall know that I am the Lord.