Ezekiel 25:1-17

God reigns over all the nations of the world.  There is a sense in which Israel is God’s chosen nation, but the reason He chose Israel was in order to bless all the other nations through them.  He chose to bless Israel so He could bless the nations.  This is very similar to the blessings God has given to the church.  We are blessed in order to be a blessing.  God will often bless His people in unconventional ways.  Many times judgment and suffering are not seen as blessings, but God will often use these as blessings in disguise.  The nations surrounding Israel were corrupt and wicked.  They were a terrible influence on Israel and they ended up contributing to the demise of Israel as a nation.  Israel was judged by God and these nations rejoiced, but their rejoicing was short lived.  God also brought judgment down upon them.  The result of this judgment in every case was that the nation leaned that the Lord is God.  God’s judgment of the nations demonstrates His sovereignty over all of them as well as His love for them.

GOD’S JUDGMENT OF AMMON: The Ammonites were descendants of Lot through his daughter.  They ended up being a nation full of idolatry and the enemy of Israel.  They were able to conquer portions of Israel’s territory, but their greatest conquest, by far, was their corruption of the hearts of Israel.  The Ammonites took great pleasure in seeing Israel profane its temple and they rejoiced when Judah was taken into captivity and the cities of the nation were burned.  That joy was short lived as the Ammonites were soon conquered by the same people and they would learn to recognize that only the Lord is God.

GOD’S JUDGMENT ON MOAB: Like Ammon, the Moabites were descendants of Lot through his other daughter.  The Moabites were a proud people and they were constantly jealous of Israel and sought to overthrow the nation of several occasions.  They did not fear the Lord and worshiped detestable idols instead of God.  They influenced Israel and were proud of their sinfulness and immorality.  When Israel fell they had a great celebration and were thrilled to see the object of their jealousy fall.  However, their celebration was short lived because they too would soon learn that the Lord is the only God when they were conquered just like Israel.

GOD’S JUDGMENT ON EDOM: The Edomites were descendants of Esau and are commonly seen as the enemies of the nation of Israel.  From the time of the conception of Jacob and Esau there was conflict and jealousy.  Esau gave no value to the promises of God and paid no attention to the Law of God.  He and His descendants expected the blessings of God without the fear of God or obedience to Him.  Edom became a nation know for idolatry and immorality.  The nation hated Israel and sought to take revenge on Israel on numerous occasions.  God did not allow Edom to escape His judgment and swept her away in defeat in order to show this rebellious nation that He alone is God. 

GOD’S JUDGMENT ON PHILISTIA: The Philistines were the arch enemies of Israel.  Especially in the early days of the monarchy in Israel we see them constantly coming out against Israel in war.  Perhaps her most famous warrior was Goliath who blasphemed the name of the Lord but was brought down by the sling of David the shepherd who would one day become king of all Israel.  Ezekiel emphasizes the vengeance of the Philistines as the main motive for God’s judgment of them.  They were vengeful and God would take His vengeance out on them.  They too would learn the hard way that the Lord is God.  All of these judgments of the nations were designed to reveal to the nations the person of God and help them to live in fear of Him so they could be blessed through repentance and faith.