THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Ezekiel: Effective Ministry To The Spiritually Rebellious

Part XXXIV: God's Punishment Of Ammon For Gloating Over Judah's Punishment

(Ezekiel 25:1-7)

 

I.                 Introduction

A.    Ezekiel 33:11 claims that God does not take pleasure in the death of even the wicked for their sin, that He wills that the wicked turn from their wicked ways that they might live.

B.     How much more then does God not tolerate a party gloating over God's punishment of someone else!

C.     The nation of Ammon gloated over Judah's fall to Babylon, and when God saw it, He responded by pronouncing severe judgment on Ammon.  We study that judgment in Ezekiel 25:1-7 for our application:

II.              God's Punishment Of Ammon For Gloating Over Judah's Punishment, Ezekiel 25:1-7.

A.    Before Judah fell to Babylon, Ammon had a long history of conflict with Israel, B. K. C., O. T., p. 1275-1276:

1.      In the period of the judges, the Ammonites had made war with Israel, so Jephthah had led Israel in victory over Ammon, Judges 10:6-11:33; Ibid., p. 1275.

2.      King Saul had delivered Jabesh-Gilead from the Ammonites in 1 Samuel 11:1-11; Ibid.

3.      David later defeated Ammon when Ammon had abused his ambassadors in 1 Chronicles 19:1-20:3; Ibid.

4.      During Jehoshaphat's reign over the Southern Kingdom of Judah, the Ammonites had joined the Moabites and Edomites in an unsuccessful attack on Judah, 2 Chronicles 20:1-30; Ibid.

5.      Ammon later tried to expand her territory into Israel's God-given land according to Jeremiah 49:1; Ibid.

6.      After Judah's king Jehoiakim had revolted against serving Babylon around 600-597 B. C., the Ammonites sided with Babylon to try to gain more territory that belonged to Judah 2 Kings 24:1-2; Ibid.

7.      Ammon and Judah, long-time enemies, joined each other along with Tyre to oppose Babylon's domination in 588 B. C., but when Babylon's king decided to attack Judah instead of Ammon to destroy this coalition (Ezekiel 21:18-27), instead of coming to Judah's aid as an ally, the Ammonites instead "rejoiced over Judah's misfortune, hoping to profit territorially from Judah's destruction," Ibid., p. 1276 (Ezekiel 25:3)

B.     Thus, in Judah's fall to Babylon, Ammon's gloating over Judah would be punished by God, Ezekiel 25:1-7:

1.      The Ammonites' gloating over the misfortune of Israel and Judah is itemized in Ezekiel 25:3 (as follows):

                             a.         The Ammonites had gloated over the destruction of the temple of the Lord, Ezekiel 25:3a.

                            b.         The Ammonites had gloated over the destruction of the land of Israel when it was left desolate, v. 3b.

                             c.         The Ammonites had gloated over the fall of Judah when its people went into captivity, Ezek. 25:3c.

2.      God thus predicted that He would punish Ammon for its gloating hatred of His people, Ezekiel 25:4-7:

                             a.         God said He would hand Ammon over to nomads from the East who would set their camps and dwellings in their midst and spoil them, eating their fruit, drinking their milk and making their capitol city Rabbah a pasture for camels and their country a fold for flocks akin to what Israel and Judah had faced at the hands of Assyria and Babylon, Ezekiel 25:4-5a.  Then they would know that God was the Lord, v. 5b.

                            b.         The Lord explained that because the Ammonites had clapped their hands and stamped their feet in malicious rejoicing over the calamities that had befallen His people, He would stretch out His hand against Ammon, similarly handing her over as plunder in its calamitous fall to other nations, Ezekiel 24:6-7a.

                             c.         God would furthermore cut off the Ammonites from the peoples and make them perish out of the lands,  and then they would realize that Israel's and Judah's God was the Lord, Ezekiel 24:7b,c.

                                                           

Lesson: The nation of Ammon had long been a foe to Israel and Judah, so when they suffered God's punishment by invasion, defeat and captivity, the Ammonites gloated.  God thus promised to cause the Ammonites themselves to be invaded, defeated, plundered and destroyed much as Israel and Judah had experienced that they might realize that God was the Lord, and that Ammon was dealing with the God of the universe to Whom she was accountable to heed the Noahic Covenant in Genesis 9:6 to respect all human life as made in God's image and responsible to respect of all people His own chosen people.

 

Application: (1) May we never harbor malice toward anyone else like Ammon did for Israel, but repent of it as sin.  (2) May we never gloat if we see God punish someone else, but learn from the punished party's experience of punishment never to commit his sin!  (3) May we also realize that God has never withdrawn His Noahic Covenant of Genesis 9:6 to any people group in the world, that we are always accountable to Him to respect the life of every human being in any and every nation worldwide so as to seek to honor and to preserve every human life!