Context No. 2569 of 4322 · Ezekiel
Context · Reflection
Ezekiel 35:10-15: in context
10“‘“Because you have said, ‘These two nations and these two countries will be mine, and we will possess it,’ although the LORD was there, 11therefore, as I live,” says the Lord GOD, “I will do according to your anger, and according to your envy which you have shown out of your hatred against them; and I will make myself known among them when I judge you. 12You will know that I, the LORD, have heard all your insults which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, ‘They have been laid desolate. They have been given to us to devour.’ 13You have magnified yourselves against me with your mouth, and have multiplied your words against me. I have heard it.” 14The Lord GOD says: “When the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate. 15As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, so I will do to you. You will be desolate, Mount Seir, and all Edom, even all of it. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’”
Ezekiel delivers judgment on Edom, whose people had watched Israel fall and said, these two nations and their lands will be ours; we will take possession. But God adds a pointed phrase: they said this although the LORD was there. Edom schemed to seize the inheritance, gloating over Israel's desolation, and God says, I have heard all your insults; I have heard the words you multiplied against me.
The damning detail is those five words: although the LORD was there. Edom plotted to grab the land as if it were simply unguarded property, forgetting entirely that its God was present, watching, listening. They spoke and schemed as though the room were empty. That is a very human blindness. We plan and covet and boast about what we mean to seize, quietly assuming no one who matters is paying attention, when in fact the LORD is there, and he hears every word. To act as if God were absent from a situation he is fully present in is to set oneself up, like Edom, for a reckoning.
Where am I scheming or coveting or boasting as if the LORD were not in the room, forgetting that he is there and hears every word?
Sources
- Ezekiel 35:10: Because you have said, These two nations and these two countries will be mine, and we will possess it, although the LORD was there.
- Ezekiel 35:12: You will know that I, the LORD, have heard all your insults which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel.
- Ezekiel 35:13: You have magnified yourselves against me with your mouth, and have multiplied your words against me. I have heard it.