Ezekiel 25:16 Komentář

Judgment began at the house of God, and therefore with them the prophets began, who were the judges; but it must not end there, and therefore they must not. Ezekiel had finished his testimony which related to the destruction of Jerusalem. As to that he was ordered to say no more, but stand upon his watch-tower and wait the issue; and yet he must not be silent; there are divers nations bordering upon the land of Israel, which he must prophesy against, as Isaiah and Jeremiah had done before; and must proclaim God's controversy with them, chiefly for the injuries and indignities which they had done to the people of God in the day of their calamity. In this chapter we have his prophecy, I. Against the Ammonites (Eze 25:1-7). II. Against the Moabites (Eze 25:8-11). III. Against the Edomites (Eze 25:11-14). IV. Against the Philistines (Eze 25:15-17). That which is laid to the charge of each of them is their barbarous and insolent conduct towards God's Israel, for which God threatens to put the same cup of trembling into their hand. God's resenting it thus would be an encouragement to Israel to believe that though he had dealt thus severely with them yet he had not cast them off, but would still own them and plead their cause.

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 25 In this chapter the prophet foretells the judgments of God upon the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, and Philistines, for their ill usage of the Jews; on the Ammonites, Eze 25:1, on the Moabites, Eze 25:8, on the Edomites, Eze 25:12, on the Philistines, Eze 25:15.

Therefore thus saith the Lord God,.... Because of such wretched malice and despiteful usage: behold, I will stretch out mine hand upon the Philistines; as is foretold, Jer 47:1, and I will cut off the Cherethims: one of the tribes of the Philistines, a principal part of their country, which lay to the south, Sa1 30:14, there is a beautiful play on words (i) in the Hebrew: and destroy the remnant of the seacoast; as that of Ashdod, Caphtor, and Ashkelon, formerly spoiled by other persons; what they left should now be utterly destroyed; see Isa 20:1. (a) .

(Vers. 15, 16.) Thus says the Lord God: Because the Philistines acted in vengeance, and took revenge with wholehearted malice, and filled ancient enmities; therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will stretch out my hand against the Philistines, and I will destroy the killers and annihilate the remnants of the coastal region. And I will inflict great vengeance upon them in furious rebukes, and they will know that I am the Lord when I execute my vengeance upon them. LXX: Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Because the aliens have committed vengeance and have provoked wrath, insultingly, from the heart, in order to destroy forever; therefore, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will stretch out my hand against the aliens, and I will destroy or kill the Cretans, and I will destroy the remnants of the coastal region, and I will bring upon them great vengeance in the fury of wrath, and they shall know that I am the Lord God when I execute my vengeance upon them. After the sons of Ammon, Moab, and Seir, who themselves are also Edomites, and through Lot and Esau are linked to the people of Israel and the house of Judah by kinship, came to the Philistines, whom the Seventy Translators translated as ἀλλοφύλους, that is, foreigners, not by the general name of all the nations that are not of the Jewish race, but by the specific name of their own race, which is now called Palestine, with the letter P changed to Pi (π) according to the Greek custom, just as we celebrate the Hebrew Phase () in Greek and Latin as Pascha. The Philistines are interpreted as those who fall by the cup, who themselves were intoxicated by the golden cup of Babylon, and they rage and insult with their whole heart, remembering the ancient enmities against old Israel, from whom they were separated from God's people. And when the Lord says, 'Vengeance is mine, and I will repay' (Deuteronomy 32:35), they themselves take revenge by killing and fulfilling the old hatred. On account of this, they will feel the outstretched hand of the Lord above them, which will kill the killers. For this reason, the Cretans, not knowing what they wanted, interpreted the Seventy (LXX), together with Aquila and Symmachus, and Theodotion, the Hebrew word Chorethim (), as either murderers or murder. This was not only said in the present place, but also in Zephaniah where it is said against the Philistines: Gaza will be plundered, and Ashkelon will be laid waste, and Ashdod and Ekron will be uprooted. Woe to the inhabitants of the coast, the inhabitants of Crete, the word of the Lord is against you, O Canaan, land of foreigners, and I will destroy you from your dwelling place, and Crete will become a pasture for shepherds, and a resting place for sheep (Zeph. II, 4 ff.). And here, when the Seventy translated to Crete, the other translators rendered ὄλεθρον (Al. κάῤῥον) as 'interfection' or 'perdition'. About this, in the aforementioned prophet, with God's help, we have said what seemed to us. Hence, the two legions of David, one of which was called Phelethi and the other Cerethi (2 Kings 15), received the name Cherethim (Al. Cherethim), because they would kill and slaughter, that is, the name of the slain. And the Lord will destroy all the remaining parts of the maritime region, which is beaten by the salty (false) waves, and he will not inflict small but great punishments in his anger, so that his anger may have an end to mercy, and after he has taken revenge, rebuking with fury, then the Palestinians will know that he himself is the Lord.

This chapter contains threatenings of the heavy judgments of God against the Ammonites, Eze 25:1-7; Moabites, Eze 25:8-11; Edomites, Eze 25:12-14; and Philistines, Eze 25:15-17; on account of their hatred to his people, and their insulting them in the time of their distress. These prophecies were fulfilled by the instrumentality of Nebuchadnezzar, about five years after the destruction of Jerusalem. The same events were predicted by several of the other prophets, as may be seen from the citation of parallel texts in the margin.

APPROPRIATELY IN THE INTERVAL OF SILENCE AS TO THE JEWS IN THE EIGHT CHAPTERS, (TWENTY-FIFTH THROUGH THIRTY-SECOND) EZEKIEL DENOUNCES JUDGMENTS ON THE HEATHEN WORLD KINGDOMS. (Eze. 25:1-17) (Jer 49:1). when . . . profaned; . . . when . . . desolate; . . . when . . . captivity--rather, "for . . . for . . . for": the cause of the insolent exultation of Ammon over Jerusalem. They triumphed especially over the fall of the "sanctuary," as the triumph of heathenism over the rival claims of Jehovah. In Jehoshaphat's time, when the eighty-third Psalm was written (Psa 83:4, Psa 83:7-8, Psa 83:12, "Ammon . . . holpen the children of Lot," who were, therefore, the leaders of the unholy conspiracy, "Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession"), we see the same profane spirit. Now at last their wicked wish seems accomplished in the fall of Jerusalem. Ammon, descended from Lot, held the region east of Jordan, separated from the Amorites on the north by the river Jabbok, and from Moab on the south by the Arnon. They were auxiliaries to Babylon in the destruction of Jerusalem (Kg2 24:2).

cut off the Cherethims--There is a play on similar sounds in the Hebrew, hichratti cherethim, "I will slay the slayers." The name may have been given to a section of the Philistines from their warlike disposition (Sa1 30:14; Sa1 31:3). They excelled in archery, whence David enrolled a bodyguard from them (Sa2 8:18; Sa2 15:18; Sa2 20:7). They sprang from Caphtor, identified by many with Crete, which was famed for archery, and to which the name Cherethim seems akin. Though in emigration, which mostly tended westwards, Crete seems more likely to be colonized from Philistia than Philistia from Crete, a section of Cretans may have settled at Chere thim in South Philistia, while the Philistines, as a nation, may have come originally from the east (compare Deu 2:23; Jer 47:4; Amo 9:7; Zep 2:5). In Gen 10:14 the Philistines are made distinct from the Caphtorim, and are said to come from the Casluhim; so that the Cherethim were but a part of the Philistines, which Sa1 30:14 confirms. remnant of--that is, "on the seacoast" of the Mediterranean: those left remaining after the former overthrows inflicted by Samuel, David, Hezekiah, and Psammetichus of Egypt, father of Pharaoh-necho (Jer 25:20).