Where is Mount Seir and why has God spoken against it?
Go find yourself a world globe, then locate the Dead sea on the map. Now run your finger down south from there to the city of Aqaba on the north shore of the Gulf of Aqaba. You can find Mount Seir east of the Jordan valley highway in the Shara mountain range. This territory is now under the rulership or control of the King of Jordan but during the time that God spoke these words this area was inhabited by Edom.
Ezekiel 35:1-15…The word of the Lord came to me: Son of man, turn your face toward Mount Seir and prophesy against it. Say to it: This is what the Lord God says: Look! I am against you, Mount Seir. I will stretch out My hand against you and make you a desolate waste. I will turn your cities into ruins,
and you will become a desolation. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.
Has God fulfilled this word or is this prophecy still yet to be fulfilled? What was the history of the people of Mount Seir in Edom.
The History of Edom
History has found an archaeological site called the city of Petra. This old city is one of the seven wonders of the known world to date; it belonged to the people of Edom. This old city is about 20 miles away from Mount Seir as a bird flies but it lies desolate to day. Who were the Edomites and why was their hostility toward Israel?
That is in fact a loaded question and there is so much to it. To start with Edom is out of the seed of Abraham by means of Esau who died in the battle against his brother. The children of Esau continued the hostility against the sons of Israel. Always teaming up with other nations who held on to the same animosity such as the sons of Ammon and Midian who were also descendants of Abraham by means of his concubine wife. We also have Ishmael who was also the seed of Abraham by means of Hagar the Egyptian slave of Abraham’s wife Sarah. Needless to say, but the Middle East is full of descendants of Abraham, and all of the hostility is because of God’s blessing upon the seed of Isaac and his descendants. God called the people of Israel a special possession or property. Whereas the rest of these nations do not have that blessing from God.
Why has God spoken against the people of Mount Seir?
Ezekiel 35:5-6… Because you maintained an ancient hatred and handed over the Israelites to the power of the sword in the time of their disaster, the time of final punishment, therefore, as I live” this is the declaration of the Lord God “I will destine you for bloodshed, and it will pursue you. Since you did not hate bloodshed, it will pursue you.
Did you notice that the Scripture says that you maintained an ancient hatred and again during the time of Israel’s final punishment.
This is a timestamp and an indication of when God is going to fulfill his word to the full against the people of Mount Seir.
What else has history shown us about the people of the Arab region? When is this time for final punishment for Israel by God?
In 1948 the people of Israel established itself as a nation in the promised land at the end of the British mandate for Palestine. As the prophecy of God began to unfold this ancient hatred flared up.
The time had come for God to end the nation of Israel final punishment for his people. When this ancient hatred and flareup at that time it became known as the 1948 Arab Legion – Israel war. These Arab nations occupied the West Bank including East Jerusalem and of the old city of David.
Then again war broke out in 1967, and this was referred to as the Six-Day War where Egypt and Syria along with Jordan engaged in conflict. In 1973 there was the Yom Kippur war that broke out. Israel became the victor in all of these conflicts, and it appeared that the blessing of God was on Israel. So, how would this lead up to God’s final judgment of this people?
It would be safe to say that all these conflicts ended with some type of peace deal that insured respect for Israel right to existence, with compensation for land to the losers of these Arab nations. There has never been any peace for the land of Israel because there are many Palestinian organizations that the Arab nations have supported through a proxy war. We have enemies on Israel’s north, east, and south borders. Ezekiel 36:5
We have Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemeni, and Hamas in the Gaza Strip who started the October 7, 2023, attack that led into an attack by all of these terrorist groups. All these groups are for Israel destruction and the replacing of it with an Islamist state. These people are all about bloodshed and ruin and hold on to the ancient hatred of Israel. As God rightly calls them the people of Edom from Mount Seir.
How is it that this ancient hatred could be maintained for so long of a time? Is it possible that this hatred comes not from men but from spiritual enemy of God?
Ezekiel 35:7- … I will make Mount Seir a desolate waste and will cut off from it those who come and go. I will fill its mountains with the slain; those slain by the sword will fall on your hills, in your valleys, and in all your ravines. I will make you a perpetual desolation; your cities will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am Yahweh. “Because you said, ‘These two nations and two lands will be mine, and we will possess them’ though the Lord was there, therefore, as I live” the declaration of the Lord God “I will treat you according to the anger and jealousy you showed in your hatred of them. I will make Myself known among them when I judge you. Then you will know that I, Yahweh, have heard all the blasphemies you uttered against the mountains of Israel, saying, ‘They are desolate. They have been given to us to devour!’ You boasted against Me with your mouth, and spoke many words against Me. I heard it Myself! “This is what the Lord God says: While the whole world rejoices, I will make you a desolation. Just as you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it became a desolation, so I will deal with you: you will become a desolation, Mount Seir, and so will all Edom in its entirety. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.
There is indeed evidence, in these Passages of Scriptures that God singles out an individual for the prolonged ancient hostility, because next God includes all of Edom. We know the people of Edom have been destroyed a long time ago but the ideology of those who perpetrated these hostilities are still alive and they are using mankind to act out against God’s chosen nation.
Is this the time when God will send the Dragon to the abyss for a 1000 years as we read in Revelation 20:1-3? All I can say is that we will need to what and see.
What is Ezekiel chapter 36 all about and does it tie in with Ezekiel chapter 34 and 35?
Ezekiel’s Prophetic Timeline
Ezekiel 34 starts off speaking about the shepherds of God’s flock and how God is going to hold them accountable for his missing and mistreated sheep. Next God declares that he would step in and intervene in the judging of the sheep.
Ezekiel 34:20-24… Therefore, this is what the Lord God says to them: See, I Myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Since you have pushed with flank and shoulder and butted all the weak ones with your horns until you scattered them all over, I will save My flock, and they will no longer be prey for you. I will judge between one sheep and another. I will appoint over them a single shepherd, My servant David, and he will shepherd them. He will tend them himself and will be their shepherd. I, Yahweh, will be their God, and My servant David will be a prince among them. I, Yahweh, have spoken.
So, is God saying that he is upset with Moses and those who shepherd the flock all the way up and including King Saul? When was this prophecy spoken by Ezekiel?
This book of Ezekiel was written around 580 BCE. Where Moses lead Israel out of Egypt around 1446 BC. Whereas King David died around 970 BC about 400 years earlier, so this prophecy is about a future event not about the past. Who is this servant, David?
Bible students know this Servant David has to do with Christ Jesus coming and becoming a prince to God’s people.
Verse 25 speaks of the Covenant of Peace and starting in verse 27 it speaks of Security and that they will know the God of Israel. This is part of a restoration prophecy that includes end time events for the nation of Israel beginning at chapter 34 all the way through chapter 39.
The summary of what we should have learned from reading Ezekiel chapter 34- 39 is as follows:
The Timeline Explained
Ezekiel 34 is all about the judgment of the sheep and the goats and of those who watch over them. God concludes a Covenant of Peace, there is a blessing on the land, and My Servant David will shepherd God’s people. Matthew 25:31-33
Ezekiel 35 is about the end of God’s punishment on Israel but there was eternal hatred for God’s people that kept pushing Edom the people of Mount Seir to pursue bloodshed and war on Israel.
Ezekiel 36 is about what God is going to do the nations who take Israel’s land for themselves. God is saving Israel because of his name, and he will bless them after cleansing them. In verse 26 through 28 God promise to pour of his spirit upon them so that they will keep God’s regulations.
Ezekiel 37 is all about the dry bones of God’s people coming to life and returning to the promise land. Then the two tribes are unified under God’s servant David as the Covenant of Peace is conclude. Then God’s Sanctuary comes to tabernacle with mankind. Revelation 21:1-5
Ezekiel 38 Gog of Magog is an individual he is called the chief prince in verse 3. He comes to get big spoil. Look at verse 8 where it says in the final part of the years. Now moving to verse 17 God said other prophets have spoken about this also. See Zechariah chapter 14, Habakkuk chapter 3, and Joel chapter 2 & 3. God says he will bring the nations into judgment as he makes himself known to the nations.
Moving into Ezekiel chapter 39 God says Gog is to be buried in the land of Israel but take note of where God says that is. It is east over and across the sea in the valley of Hamon there will also become a city called Hamonah, as of right now that territory is under the control of the nation of Jorden, but God says it belongs to Israel.
Is Gog of Magog as found in Revelation 20:8 the same as found here in Ezekiel?
No, because here in Ezekiel he is called out as an individual and not in the Revelation account he is called as a part of a national group. Also the timing is not the same, in Ezekiel God put hooks into the jaws of Gog to do away with him to make God himself know just like he did with Pharaoh of Egypt. In Revelation Satan goes off to mislead the nations of Gog & Magog to come after the holy ones and the beloved city. But in Ezekiel Gog comes after the people of Israel and the land. So, no the Gog of Ezekiel and of Revelation are not the same.
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