Ezekiel 25

III. ORACLES AGAINST FOREIGN NATIONS CHS. 25-32

It is appropriate that this section appears at this point in Ezekiel, between the messages announcing judgment on Judah and Jerusalem for sin (chs. 4-24) and the messages announcing future blessings for Israel (chs. 33-48). It heightens dramatic tension as the reader wonders what will be the fate of Israel now in view of God’s promises. Ezekiel had anticipated and announced the judgment of Judah. The destruction of Jerusalem caused Judah’s hateful neighbors to rejoice at her downfall. However, God announced through Ezekiel that they should not gloat because He would judge them for their attitude toward and treatment of His chosen people. All nations will answer for their sins, not just Israel. This whole section is a testimony to the faithfulness of God to His promise to curse nations that cursed Israel (Genesis 12:3). Other reasons that God would judge these nations also receive attention in some of these oracles, such as pride and oppression of other people, but all of them contain references to these nations’ hostile treatment of Israel.

"Oracles against foreign nations are an aspect of God’s covenantal restoration promises to Israel (centrally located in Leviticus 26:40-45 and Deuteronomy 30:1-10). The reason for them is fairly simple: Israel’s foes must decrease if Israel is to increase. The promise of power over enemies is a reversal of the curses of subjugation by enemies, as Deuteronomy 30:7 says: ’The Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies.’ Such oracles, then, gave great reassurance to righteous Israelites that no matter how severe their own circumstances might be at the moment, the time was coming when the nation-in whatever future generation it might occur-would experience deliverance from exile and oppression and exaltation to God’s favor and blessing. From the point of view of orthodox Israelites, the oracles against foreign nations were oracles of hope." [Note: Stuart, p. 205.]

In addition to the major oracles against foreign nations in these prophetic books, Jonah and Nahum spoke to the situation in Assyria, and Daniel foretold the fate of Babylon and other nations. All the prophetic books in the Old Testament, except Hosea, contain some references to the future of the nations.

It is probably significant that Ezekiel mentioned seven nations, as did Jeremiah and Amos. Amos, who ministered in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, dealt with the Southern Kingdom of Judah as a foreign nation (Amos 2:4-5). The Jews regarded seven of anything as a divine work and or a complete number, dating back to God’s creation of the cosmos in seven days. Thus these seven nations and city-states would have signified to the Jews that God would judge all such hostile pagan nations, not just these seven. [Note: See the maps at the end of these notes for the locations of places referred to in these oracles.]

Ezekiel did not record an oracle against Babylon. The commentators offer various explanations, but the one that appeals to me most is that God did not give him one, perhaps because for him to denounce Babylon in Babylon would have been very dangerous for the Jews. Daniel denounced Babylon in Babylon because God led him to do so and protected him and his people from danger. Another possible explanation follows.

"This absence may undoubtedly be attributed to the prophet’s pro-Babylonian stance in political matters." [Note: Daniel I. Block, The Book of Ezekiel: Chapters 25-48, p. 4.]

A. Oracles against Judah’s closest neighbors ch. 25

This chapter ties in very closely with the preceding one. Evidently all the messages in these two chapters date from the beginning of the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem (24:1-2). Even though this chapter begins a series of messages that all deal with God’s judgment on the nations, the messages in this chapter followed on the heels of the announcement of the siege. It is as though God was warning Israel’s closest neighbors not to gloat over her fate or to hope to profit from it since they too would undergo divine wrath in the form of Babylonian invasion. They would not triumph over Israel. Ezekiel had referred to their judgment earlier (21:20, 28-32) as had Jeremiah (Jeremiah 9:25-26; Jeremiah 25:1-26; Jeremiah 27:1-11; Jeremiah 48:1 to Jeremiah 49:22). Their captivity would also last 70 years (Jeremiah 25:11), but their larger judgment would continue, as Israel’s would, from the time of their defeat by Nebuchadnezzar until the second coming of Christ (i.e., the times of the Gentiles, Luke 21:24; cf. Isaiah 11:14; Daniel 11:41; Joel 3:1-4). The description of the first four nations proceeds in an essentially clockwise direction from east to west whereas the remaining three judgments deal with Tyre, Sidon, and Egypt north to south.

"The amount of space dedicated to each nation does not necessarily correspond to its importance in the ancient Near East of the sixth century B.C. Rather, by concentrating at length on two nations, mentioning at more-average length several others, and touching only briefly on yet others, this section of prophecies gives a realistic over-all impression of both thoroughness and variety." [Note: Stuart, p. 248.]

The four messages in this chapter each have four parts: an introduction, an indictment, a punishment, and an outcome.