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Ezekiel 35 (ESV)

1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir, and prophesy against it, 3 and say to it, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, Mount Seir, and I will stretch out my hand against you, and I will make you a desolation and a waste. 4 I will lay your cities waste, and you shall become a desolation, and you shall know that I am the Lord. 5 Because you cherished perpetual enmity and gave over the people of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, at the time of their final punishment, 6 therefore, as I live, declares the Lord God, I will prepare you for blood, and blood shall pursue you; because you did not hate bloodshed, therefore blood shall pursue you. 7 I will make Mount Seir a waste and a desolation, and I will cut off from it all who come and go. 8 And I will fill its mountains with the slain. On your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines those slain with the sword shall fall. 9 I will make you a perpetual desolation, and your cities shall not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

 

REFLECTION:

“Seir” means “hairy, covered with shag”, just like Esau, the twin brother of Jacob, the ancestor of the Israelites, was covered with hairs. “Mount Seir” is a mountainous land from the southeast of the Dead Sea to the north of the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea. The Edomites, descendants of Esau, live here. The Edomites were originally the brothers of the Israelites, but they didn’t care about brotherhood and took the initiative to attack David, only to be conquered by David. Edom rebelled again under King Solomon, became independent during King Joram of Judah, and clashed with Judah for a long time thereafter. When Babylon destroyed Jerusalem, Edom cherished hatred against the Israelites and offered help to Babylon. They also gloated after the destruction of Jerusalem. Edom has been hostile to God’s people for a long time, which eventually led to God’s judgment on Edom. Ezekiel’s prophecy was not only aimed at the Edomites, but also at their mountains and land. The mountain symbolizes strength and power, and represents the arrogance of these people. They wanted revenge against Israel, but their vengeance turned against themselves. “Blood shall pursue you”, which means that the punishment they get is just the punishment they are eager to impose on others. God has a way to make people eat their own fruit, so we should learn from Edom’s lesson and be compassionate to the brothers and sisters. Whether others are right or wrong, we must not judge others with malicious intent, lest we are judged by others, will not please God and be disciplined by God.

 

PRAYER:

Pray that God will give you a compassionate heart and be able to tolerate the weakness and mistakes of your relatives, and brothers and sisters in the church; pray that God will comfort you for the difficulties and harm caused by their mistakes, so that you can imitate Christ and embrace everything with love; Pray for their weaknesses and mistakes, not for them to change quickly, but for them to be enlightened and led by God.

 

HYMN:

Jesus, Friend of Sinners – youtu.be/Jv0C1gCuayI