Ezekiel 25:12-13 - Exposition

Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah , etc. The statement receives many illustrations, notably in Psalms 137:7 , and at an earlier date in Amos 1:11 ; Obadiah 1:11 . What had been malicious exultation (the ἐπιχαιρεκακία , which Aristotle describes as the extremest type of evil) passed in the case of Edom into overt acts of hostility. The moment of Judah's weakness was seized on as an opportunity for gratifying what Ezekiel elsewhere ( Ezekiel 35:5 ) calls the "perpetual hatred" of the people against Israel, for taking vengeance for the primal wrong which Esau had suffered at the hand of Jacob ( Genesis 27:36 ). (For other prophecies against Edom, see Numbers 24:18 , Numbers 24:19 ; Isaiah 11:14 ; Jeremiah 49:7-12 ; Joel 3:19 .) Teman . The name, which signifies "South," was probably applied to a district—twice, here and in Jeremiah 49:7 , Jeremiah 49:8 , coupled with Dedan. In Jeremiah 49:20 , Jeremiah 49:21 the cry of the inhabitants of Teman is said to have been "heard in the Red Sea," and this determines its geographical position, as being, in accordance with its name, the southern region of Edom. In Job 2:11 we have Eliphaz the Temanite as one of the patriarch's friends, and the same name appears as that of a son of Esau ( Genesis 36:11 ). In Jeremiah ( loc . cit .) Teman is named as famous for its wisdom. Dedan is named as a grandson of Cash in Genesis 10:7 , and of Abraham by Keturah in Genesis 25:3 . It has been inferred from this that there were two branches of the nation, one on the shores of the Persian Gulf, nomadic and trading, as in the "travelling companies" of Dedanim ( Isaiah 21:13 ; Ezekiel 27:15 , Ezekiel 27:20 ); the other settled in the territory of the Edomites ('Dict. Bible'). The latter is that to which Ezekiel refers. A various punctuation gives, with a better sense, "From Teman even unto Dedan they shall fall by the sword."