NOTES for Eze 35:1-15

It might seem that Ezekiel's prophecies about the peoples neighbouring Israel ended in chapter 32. Why, then, does the prophet return to Edom's fate in chapter 35? Or perhaps the question should be put differently: why is this prophecy not in the middle part of the book, but placed precisely here, when the New Covenant is being discussed? The answer is fairly clear if we consider how the prophets usually speak about the coming of the Messiah and the New Covenant, and then look at the following chapter, chapter 36.

When speaking of the fulfilment of God's purpose, all the prophets illustrate it in one way or another with symbols, mostly using apocalyptic images. Among them are Isaiah's famous "the lion will lie down with the lamb", Joel's "blood and fire and columns of smoke", and many others. For the prophets, what matters is the meaning expressed by their images. Ezekiel's prophecy about Edom's destruction, placed in chapter 35, is of the same kind. The Edomites, a people related to Israel, had inflicted untold suffering on the chosen people. They greedily raided the settlements of Judah devastated by the Assyrians and especially the Babylonians, leaving true "scorched earth" behind them. The cruelty of the Edomites became a kind of reverse symbol of the chosen people's suffering.

The prophecy of Edom's destruction therefore continues the words of chapter 34: in the new "covenant of peace", God will grant His people deliverance and safety, and their wounds and suffering will be healed. It also continues the promise to heal the sick and bind up the injured sheep. For Ezekiel, Edom is essentially a symbol of death, which God will ultimately defeat in the New Covenant. It is also, of course, a symbol of injustice, treachery, and cruelty, which will likewise have no place on the earth transformed by Christ's Resurrection. The universal scope of this promise is underlined when, at the beginning of chapter 36, the Lord extends it to all oppressors.

Today the prophet denounces Edom (where Mount Seir is located) for the gloating of its inhabitants. Ever since David's time the Edomites had been at odds with Israel, so they welcomed the fall of the kingdom of Israel with joy. In the context of Old Testament morality, "love your neighbor and hate your enemy," Edom appears to be right in rejoicing over the fall of its enemy. Yet according to the prophet, here Edom is opposing God Himself, who dwells among His people.

The New Testament awareness that every person, bearing the image of God, is worthy of God's love makes gloating a fundamental sin against God. Every hatred and aggression toward a human being becomes rejection of the One in whose likeness that person was created. If we understand that all the people around us carry this seed of divine life within them, then the commandment to love our enemies will turn from a mad paradox into natural worship of God's presence in His greatest creation, the human person.