NOTES for Eze 35:1-15

This passage speaks of the desolation of Mount Seir, which represents the Edomites, the neighbors of the Judeans. The prophecy about the sad fate of their land was fulfilled literally; it remains desolate to this day, but what does this mean for us? We might conclude, for example, that retribution for sins is inevitable and that a visible image of it will remain until the end of time; such a conclusion would not be unfounded.

But we can also reflect on the fact that the consequences of sin are already contained within sin itself, and that this is precisely why it causes barrenness, turning once fertile lands into desert. Any desert can bloom again if its inhabitants fall down before the Source of living water. But the Edomites did not want to...