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Welcome to the Cross References podcast on the Book of Ezekiel. In this study, you learn how every small piece of the Bible tells one big story- and most importantly, how they all connect to the cross and Christ.
Whether you’re a newbie Christian or a veteran Bible reader, my goal is that God’s Word will make more sense to you after every episode.
Host: Luke Taylor
Esau, Edomites and the Palestinians
Ezekiel 35, Genesis 25 & 36
Ezekiel series, Part 63
Introduction
We’re coming up on three years since I started this podcast, and when I started it, I didn’t know that by the time we got done, Israel would be attacked in the largest one-day massacre of Jewish people since WWII. I didn’t know Israel would be engulfed in a literal war with the Palestinian terrorists who have been seeking to overthrow it for decades. And I didn’t know we’d be seeing Ezekiel 35 being repeated so vividly right before our eyes.
But that’s exactly what’s going on. And the battle you see playing out in the Middle East right now is a battle that started- not on October 7, 2023, but- all the way back in the book of Genesis.
So how did all of this start, and where is all this going? I can’t wait to tell you about it today on the Cross References podcast.
[theme music]
V1-4, The identity of Mount Seir
Welcome to the book of Ezekiel: a Cross References Bible study where we learn how every small piece of the Bible tells one big story- and how they all connect to the cross and Christ.
My name is Luke Taylor, and I got back from a trip to the mountains of Colorado. Well, the trip was last month. But it’s still fresh on my mind. It’s kind of comical that when you look at the mountains we have in the Rockies, or perhaps the Himalayas or other famous mountain regions, they are so huge. In Colorado, it could take you hours just to drive the circumference of a mountain. Literally hours. And then you look at the mountains of Israel that are spoken of in the Bible- Mount Hermon or the Mount of Olives- they are quite a bit smaller than what I normally think of when I think of mountains.
I say it’s comical because in Missouri where I live, we wouldn’t even call those mountains. We’d just call them hills. So it always kind of cracks me up when I see pictures of the mountains of the Middle East because they are certainly not what I’m expecting when I think of a mountain.
Now, while these mountains we read about in scripture are not significant because of their size, they are significant for historical reasons. And we’ll be reading about one of those today: Mount Seir, the subject of Ezekiel 35.
We’ll cover all of Ezekiel 35 on this episode. It’s not a long chapter, and it’s really just here to set up chapter 36. Evangelist Jimmy DeYoung, who passed away a few years ago, describes the book of Ezekiel in two major chunks: retribution and restoration. Chapters 1-32 are the chapters of retribution- 24 of them about God’s retribution against Israel, followed by 8 chapters of retribution against the gentile nations. Then we get into what I am describing as the much more positive side of the book, chapters 33 through 48, and this is the message of restoration. This is the part people really like to focus on as people study Ezekiel.
But chapter 35 stands out a little bit in this section. It’s a chapter about God bringing the hammer down heavily on the nation of Edom. Now you say, why is this message of harsh judgment in the happy part of the book? This sounds more like it would belong in the retribution area?
And the answer is that a message of harsh judgment is good when it’s falling on your enemies. And these people the Edomites are Israel’s historic enemies of old. Almost like Israel’s archenemies. Babylon had just wiped out Israel, but Babylon is kind of like “the world’s" arch enemy. Edom was more of the arch enemy specifically of Israel, and no nation receives more condemnation from God in the Old Testament than Edom.
So who is Edom? Let’s start into today’s verses and find out.
Ezekiel 35:1-4
The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir, and prophesy against it, 3 and say to it, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, Mount Seir, and I will stretch out my hand against you, and I will make you a desolation and a waste. 4 I will lay your cities waste, and you shall become a desolation, and you shall know that I am the Lord.
Now before I get into talking about Mount Seir, there’s actually a parallel to something we’ve studied earlier in Ezekiel: chapter 6. That chapter starts out: The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them,
This chapter started out with the exact same language: The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir, and prophesy against it,
As I said before, some ask why chapter 35- this negative, condemning chapter- shows up right here in the positive and happy section of this book. And as I said, the reason is that God is taking revenge against Israel’s enemies, so that’s a reason for Israel to take great relief.
You say, “But I thought Christians weren’t supposed to take revenge?” And that’s true. But God DOES take revenge on our behalf.
Romans 12:19 (NIV) says, “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: it is mine to avenge, I will repay, says the Lord.”
So it’s God’s job to take revenge. And He will. But first, judgment must come to the House of the Lord. In the Old Testament context, this was Jerusalem, hence chapter 6 and prophesying to the mountains of Israel. But now that Israel has been dealt with, God turns His attention to Israel’s enemies who also deserve it, and that’s where Mount Seir comes in. So you can take some comfort in the fact that every time you have been mistreated, God will step in and take revenge. You do not have to avenge yourself. That’s God’s job; worry about your own sins first.
Now, you may be wondering who Mount Seir is. And this is an easy mystery to solve; let’s cross reference to Genesis 25. It all started with a couple of twin boys born to Isaac.
Genesis 25:21-26
21 And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22 The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. 23 And the Lord said to her,
“Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples from within you shall be divided;
the one shall be stronger than the other,
the older shall serve the younger.”
24 When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb. 25 The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak, so they called his name Esau. 26 Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding Esau's heel, so his name was called Jacob.
A key aspect today is the word and color “red.” Esau means “red.” And you might see it as a sort of theme color as you study Esau and his descendants.
I was just watching one of the worst Star Wars movies the other day: The Last Jedi. I was watching it because I hate myself, basically, but the reason I put myself through that is also because my son and I just watched Episode 7, and Episode 7 kind of ends on a cliffhanger, so we went ahead and watched Episode 8: The Last Jedi. It is one of the most infuriating Star Wars movies ever made, as a lifelong Star Wars fan. It made me angrier than ever to watch it this time. And the thing about this movie is that it’s so horrible from a story perspective, but it’s so beautiful to look at that I can barely tear my eyes away. Every shot is framed so perfectly, it’s truly one of the best-looking blockbusters of all time. The story is just awful. But it’s a beautiful film, and one of the most visually striking things is its use of the color red. Its use of red is just mesmerizing.
And it was a neat coincidence that I sit down to study on Esau, and as you’ll see, the color “red” is going to come up a lot. We won’t read it but he sells his birthright for a red stew later. Now skip ahead to chapter 36.
Genesis 36:1-2
These are the generations of Esau (that is, Edom). 2 Esau took his wives from the Canaanites
Note that Esau is given a second name right here: Edom. This is very similar to the Hebrew word for “red,” which I believe is adom.
Verse 6
6 Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, his livestock, all his beasts, and all his property that he had acquired in the land of Canaan. He went into a land away from his brother Jacob.
Verse 7
7 For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together. The land of their sojournings could not support them because of their livestock.
Jacob and Esau could not live near each other because they both had big, growing families, and the land couldn’t handle all of their land and all of their cattle. So Jacob settled in the land of Israel and had the 12 sons who became the 12 tribes of Israel. Esau went somewhere else.
Verse 8
8 So Esau settled in the hill country of Seir. (Esau is Edom.)
That’s a parenthetical thought included in my Bible. Esau is Edom. Jacob also had a second name, which was Israel. His descendants would be known as the Israelites. Esau’s second name was Edom. His descendants would be known as the Edomites. And their land was known as Seir. Seir would be located today in the lower part of the nation of Jordan.
And that is the Mount Seir that Ezekiel is directing his attention to in Ezekiel 35. The descendants of Esau. What was the problem with the descendants of Esau?
V6-9, the sins of the Edomites
Well, the Edomites instantly became a thorn in Israel’s side for centuries after this. When Israel was traveling from Egypt to the Promised Land, they requested to travel through Edom to save them some time. They weren’t asking to impose anything on Edom; they merely wanted to pass through. Edom said no, and that was the beginning of a long and contentious relationship between the two nations, that even became violent at times.
And when it came to Ezekiel’s day and Babylon came in and conquered Jerusalem, the Edomites had a party over it. Shadenfreude. Glee at an enemy’s failure or destruction. They clapped their hands and danced around as they watched King Nebuchadnezzar burn Jerusalem.
Ezekiel 35:5-6
5 Because you cherished perpetual enmity
I just have too think about that phrase: cherished perpetual enmity. It means: they loved to hate the Jews. They loved to hate them. It’s such a poetic way to put it, though. Cherished perpetual enmity. If you ever want to create your own hallmark card for your arch enemy, just use that phrase in there; “I have cherished perpetual enmity against you.”
But on a more serious note, what is this talking about? Antisemitism. There is something that’s different about Jew hatred that you don’t see with any other form of racism. For completely illogical reasons, only spiritual and satanic reasons, there are people all over the world who can’t stand Jews. They cherish perpetual enmity against them. Every time I talk about it, I get comments from these antisemites telling me why I’m wrong. Those people are controlled by evil spirits. But I appreciate you all driving up my download numbers, I do appreciate that. Speaking in favor of the Jews always brings the antisemites out of the woodwork. But if you get your blood boiling because someone speaks of the jews favorably, or as victims, that’s the influence of an evil spirit pulling some of your strings.
We saw it this week as Benjamin Netanyahu came to speak to our congress. Our president refused to meet with him. Our vice president who is running for president right now refused to attend. Absolutely disgusting to treat one of our supposed allies this way. The protestors outside sprayed graffiti and burned American flags because they were mad that our congress hosted the Prime Minister of Israel.
There is no other world leader who could visit Israel and draw this level of scorn and vitriol. They could have invited the President of Iran to come speak to our congress; you wouldn’t have seen people burning American flags outside. There is just no comparison. But a tiny itty bitty little nation in the Middle East that doesn’t worship Allah is just more than the rest of the world can handle. There’s no logical reason for that kind of reaction; it’s a spiritual thing. They cherish perpetual enmity. Back to verse 5.
5 Because you cherished perpetual enmity and gave over the people of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, at the time of their final punishment, 6 therefore, as I live, declares the Lord God, I will prepare you for blood, and blood shall pursue you; because you did not hate bloodshed, therefore blood shall pursue you.
Blood blood blood. Which brings to mind the color “red.” God sure is painting a picture here. The Edomites, as I said, cheered from the sidelines as they watched Babylon take Jerusalem. And God is warning them here that they will feel the same pain that Israel felt.
Verses 7-9
7 I will make Mount Seir a waste and a desolation, and I will cut off from it all who come and go. 8 And I will fill its mountains with the slain. On your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines those slain with the sword shall fall. 9 I will make you a perpetual desolation, and your cities shall not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
These prophecies have literally come true. Edom as a nation was wiped out. Totally demolished. Edom ceased to exist as it’s own nation. Israel lost control of their land; they didn’t get it back until literally about 75 years ago in 1948. For over 2000 years, Israel lost their land.
After Edom was wiped out, they never got their land back. There are no Edomites today. This prophecy literally came true; if you go to the old Edomite cities today, they are ruins.
A Brief History of Edom
Now, let’s pause here for a mailbag comment. A mailbag from all the way back in November, I believe, of last year. I believe this was from our friend Joe in North Carolina, who has written in to the podcast before. I made a comment back then that there are no Edomites today. That is true in one sense but also not true in another sense. Yes, it’s true that there are no Edomites today because there’s no Edom. But there are people who have descended from the Edomites and we can trace their lineage through history.
So back in November, Joe pointed out that the Edomites are the Idumeans. Now, what does that mean? (And if it wasn’t Joe and somebody else instead, I apologize for misremembering)
Well, let’s talk some history. Let’s go back to Genesis 36
And look at verses 9-12
9 These are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir. 10 These are the names of Esau's sons: Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Basemath the wife of Esau. 11 The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. 12 (Timna was a concubine of Eliphaz, Esau's son; she bore Amalek to Eliphaz.)
So Esau had a grandson named Amalek. If Amalek sounds familiar, it’s because there was another tribe or nation of people who opposed Israel in the Old Testament who were called the Amalekites. Exodus 17 has a famous story where the Israelites were fighting these people and as long as he had his staff lifted up in the air, the Israelites would win; and every time Moses put his arms down, Israel would start losing. So Joshua and another guy literally helped lift Moses’ arms up to get him through the battle. You probably remember that story. Well, the people they were fighting were the Amalekites. And that was one of many tussles they had with Amalek in their history.
In I Samuel 15 we meet the king of the Amalekites, Agag. There’s a whole story about him and king Saul but I won’t get into it today.
Then in the book of Esther, you have this story of an evil man named Haman who tried to make a deal with the king to kill all the Jews. This was hundreds of years later, when Persia ruled. This is even after Ezekiel’s day. Who was this guy named Haman who had a plot to kill all the Jews? Where did he come from?
Esther 3:1
After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, and advanced him and set his throne above all the officials who were with him.
Haman the Agagite. This man descended from the Amalekites. Even though Israel has basically wiped out the Amalekites as a nation- which I believe was back there in I Samuel 15- there will still some descendants who hung around to cause trouble for the Israelites, and if you’ve read the book of Esther, you know that he almost got them all wiped out.
And Agag and the Amalekites descended from Esau, as well. And we see this recurring theme in scripture that the descendants of Esau were always being hateful to the descendants of Jacob. That’s what inspired that another famous verse that’s in Malachi and quoted later in Romans: “Jacob I have loved but Esau I have hated.” Well, Esau the man wasn’t really such a bad guy. You could argue that Jacob was more of a scoundrel than Esau was, so why would God say that He loved Jacob and hated Esau? Well, it was actually talking about nations there; it was talking about the descendants of Jacob and Esau. And that opens up a whole other issue of God saying He hated someone but I don’t have time to get into that today. Maybe I’ll tackle it someday on my Weird Stuff in the Bible podcast.
By the way, Haman had a descendant who became another famous Bible character as well: Herod. And Herod was an Idumean. What were the Idumeans? Well, let’s back up again to these Edomites. No other nation in the Old Testament receives as many pronouncements of judgment as the Edomites. The whole entire one-chapter book of Obadiah was written against the Edomites. And for the exact same reason that Ezekiel 35 was written. To put them on notice that since they pointed and laughed when Israel fell, God would make sure that they fell as well.
So the nation of Edom was wiped out, and this happened in the fifth century BC. They were wiped out by the Babylonian King Nabonidas, and after this they were not known as Edom anymore. They lost their national sovereignty and they never got it back. After they were conquered by King Nabonidas and that land became known as the land of the Nabateans. The Edomites were forced to go live in southern Judah, the land of Israel.
And just as Ezekiel 35 and Obadiah predicted, their cities are ruins. Never inhabited again. You can still visit them today. The most famous city of Edom was Petra. There is strong evidence that Petra will play a role in the end times as a hiding place of the Jews who are running from the Antichrist. But we won’t get into that today. What’s interesting about Petra is that it’s named The Rose City. There’s that color red showing up again. In fact, to draw on another Star Wars reference, the movie Rogue One has the first third of the movie take place on a planet named Jedha. It’s a sandy red planet. It was filmed in Mount Seir right near Petra. You can also see Petra itself in the climax of the third Indiana Jones movie, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. If you google any images of Petra, you will recognize it as the same place where the climax of Indiana Jones 3 took place.
So back to the Edomites who lost their home: they couldn’t stay in what was now the land of the Naboteans. They were moved and became known as Idumeans. Edomite sounds kind of like Idumean, so it’s similar. But this was a big loss of national identity, of course. And then the Idumeans were eventually put in a place of leadership in the region by the Romans, and this brings us back to Herod. Herod was considered Jew-ish. Not Jewish, but Jew-ish. That’s because he had a family history that, like the Israelites, could be traced back to Abraham. So because of his Jew-ish-ness, he was placed in charge of Judea by the Romans, and he was given the title of King Herod.
And that name is of course familiar to Bible readers because he tried to kill the Messiah! He had all the babies in Bethlehem killed at the beginning of the New Testament, but Jesus had already been taken safely away to Egypt. But again, we see this recurring theme that the descendants of Esau keep trying to kill the descendants of Jacob.
Now, why? Am I saying this is something literally written into their DNA? Well, no. I’d say it’s something spiritual, though. I do not mean to say that any descendant of Esau does not have the free will to decide what they’re going to do. They make their own decisions. But they may be influenced by evil spirits who are put in charge over the descendants of Esau. Kind of like territorial spirits, which I’ve talked about before, and how certain fallen angels are assigned ownership over certain regions of the earth. The interesting thing we’ll see about this particular conflict with the descendants of Esau is that it doesn’t really matter what territory they live in, they always have this hatred and desire to wipe the Jews out.
Now, does this have any application to any modern conflicts with the Jews? Well, you might be surprised to find out that yes, descendants of Esau are still causing problems for the Jewish people in modern times. Or, you might be not surprised at all. I actually don’t find it all that surprising. But we’ll analyze that. Let’s take a short break, then we’ll finish up today’s verses and answer that question.
[musical interlude]
The origin of Palestine
Next time on this podcast, we’ll continue right along with the book of Ezekiel and start into chapter 36. As I said, chapter 35 really only exists to set up a greater prophecy in chapter 36. It’s going to take two lessons to get through Ezekiel 36 and I’m really excited to get into it because it’s going to intersect with some stuff I’ve been studying in my persona life. Make sure you’re subscribed so you can get it!
Email: crossreferencespodcast@gmail.com
We’ll read the last of today’s verses in a few minutes, I think I’ll go ahead and finish the history lesson before we go into the final verses. I hope you’re finding this interesting.
So what happened to the Idumeans after the days of King Herod? When the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD, and once again the Jews were scattered- this time by the Romans- the Idumeans were scattered as well. As I said, they are Jew-ish. They were deported to a land up north that is known today as Bosnia. If you look at Bosnia on a map, it’s in a region called the Balkans. It’ll be north of Greece and northeast of Italy.
Bosnia is that nation that I always feel sorry for when I look at a map because it’s that country where Croatia just doesn’t want to let it have a beach. Go look it up if you get a chance. I don’t know the whole story here, though I wish I did. But Croatia like comically wraps around Bosnia to the extent that Bosnia gets almost no coastline. If you’re in Bosnia and you want to visit the beach, too bad. Croatia says no beach for you.
Anyway, the Idumeans were relocated to Bosnia. And that’s where they stayed for almost 2000 years. It’s kind of interesting how things with all these biblical nations just kind of went on pause for the past 2000 years and they only started to get active again in the past 100 years. It’s weird how that happened, almost seems kind of…dispensational. Right?
So nearly a hundred years ago, Hitler decides to strike up a partnership with the leader of the Bosnian Idumeans. His name was Haj Amin al-Husseini. Hitler said if they partnered with him, they would rid of the planet of the *quote* "World Jewry.” In 1943, these Bosnian Idumeans became a fighting force of about 25,000. However, they never accomplished anything for Hitler. The US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s website describes them as “generally ineffective,” and of course the war ended within a couple of years of this partnership being established.
Amin al-Husseini had a nephew named Yasser Arafat. Yasser Arafat was the leader of something called the PLO, or Palestinian Liberation Organization, which was a group that said they wanted to get this region of Israel recognized as its own independent Muslim nation called Palestine. There has never been a nation of Palestine in history. It is not a historic nation; the Romans came up with the name just to taunt the Jewish people because it sounded like Philistine. The so-called Palestinians I guess decided that there weren’t enough Muslim nations in the Middle East already, so they want to take the land that was given to the Jews to reestablish Israel.
Arafat was not even from Palestine. He was from Egypt. He had no heritage or right to claim the land of Israel for himself and his people. He was just motivated by antisemitism and hate.
And now you know the rest of the story. You can find linkages from Esau all the way back with the Amalekites and Edomites and, if you want to, trace it all the way up to today.
Now, some will say: “Luke, it’s been 2000 years since then. There’s nothing meaningful about tracing someone’s lineage back that far because we’ve all intermarried and intermingled our bloodlines so much over thousands of years that it really doesn’t mean anything anymore.”
I actually will not argue against you on that. Yes, there are probably millions up millions of people today who could trace their heritage back to Esau if you followed the family tree. No doubts about it. If we had perfect genealogical records, I’m sure you could see that we’re all intermingled like that. So no argument.
I find it more interesting from a spiritual point of view. That there have always been these descendants of Esau who act in the exact same way against the descendants of Jacob: reviling them, refusing to let them have their land, cheering their destruction, and trying to divide Israel.
There is a spirit over that- a demonic spirit- and I want to talk about that as we read the last verses of today’s chapter. I believe that regardless of what you believe about the Edomites in modern times and whether they’re a 1:1 manifestation of Edomites or Idumeans today, there’s clearly an Edomite spirit at work in the world. And I believe that those who invite it will attract the same judgment to their lives that the Edomites did.
V10-15, Edom’s doomed future
Now, let’s read the rest of the chapter because I got a bit derailed before. Verse 10 probably has the most confusing line of this chapter.
Ezekiel 35:10
10 “Because you said, ‘These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will take possession of them’—although the Lord was there—
So the Edomites say that they want to take control of *quote* “these two nations and these two countries.” So some wonder if perhaps this refers to all of Israel, because it was divided into two nations for a large portion of the Old Testament: The Northern Tribes and the Southern Tribes.
Now, this seems like the most conventional wisdom, but it doesn’t sit right with me because that is not how Israel has been characterized throughout this book. Plus, but the time we get to Ezekiel’s day, the Northern Tribes were wiped out long ago. So it doesn’t quite make sense to me for Edom to be referring to the “two nations.”
So what else could they mean, though? However, at a minimum they must at least mean that Israel is one of the nations referred to here, and their vocabulary about it is what’s so offensive to God. They declare it “mine.” Theirs. Their own possession. And this country was supposed to be God’s possession. As one of my commentaries said, “The tenants may have been evicted, but God was still the landlord.” So by claiming ownership of that which belonged to God, Edom was drawing a lot of anger from God.
Ezekiel 35:11-15
11 therefore, as I live, declares the Lord God, I will deal with you according to the anger and envy that you showed because of your hatred against them. And I will make myself known among them, when I judge you. 12 And you shall know that I am the Lord. “I have heard all the revilings that you uttered against the mountains of Israel, saying, ‘They are laid desolate; they are given us to devour.’ 13 And you magnified yourselves against me with your mouth, and multiplied your words against me; I heard it. 14 Thus says the Lord God: While the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate. 15 As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so I will deal with you; you shall be desolate, Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
So the fact that they declared their ownership over God’s land made God very angry, of course. And this problem carries all the way up through today: people trying to divide God’s land of Israel and not let the Jews have it. A popular phrase you hear- especially before the Trump presidency- was a call for a two-state solution as a way to divide the land of Israel. And that sounds a lot like what the Edomites were saying here: “these two nations.” I don’t believe God likes it when people suggested breaking Israel up or taking ownership over it.
Now, it’s kind of scary as an American to have witnessed what we saw in Washington DC this past week. The prime minister of an ally to the United States comes to visit and people were outside burning American flags and they had created a giant paper mache figure that was meant to look like Netanyahu as a demon. It looked like something straight out of Hitler’s Germany.
On CNN this past week, someone floated the idea that Kamala Harris might pick Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro to be her running mate for the election this November, and one of the CNN hosts (John King) stated that Democrats would never go for it because Josh Shapiro was Jewish. And he just stated this as a fact, just openly acknowledging the anti-semitism that’s rampant in the Democratic Party.
I’m just like, wow, I can’t believe he just says that so casually and openly. Thankfully, he didn’t say it where anybody would hear him, he only said it on CNN where nobody’s watching anyway.
Now, all jokes aside, I’m not trying to get political today, I’m just making a point: we’re at a very dangerous place as a country when it’s so openly accepted to be antisemitic, where one of our political parties is just acknowledged as the party that doesn’t accept Jews, and throws a fit when a Jewish foreign leader comes to visit and defaces our monuments. That’s satanically motivated. They literally choose the Hamas terrorists over the Jewish victims. It’s demonic. Outright demonic.
And by the way, the party that acts this way is the party in control right now. So we’re in dark times.
So I would say God’s Words to the Edomites in Ezekiel 35 might apply to the modern antisemites. “I have heard all the revilings that you uttered against the mountains of Israel.” God hears those things. And then one of the Democratic Congresswomen this week, Rashida Tlaib, a blatant antisemite, held up a sign while Netanyahu was speaking that said “war criminal.” Because his nation was attacked and she things he’s retaliated by going too far. And yet the Palestinians still haven’t surrendered all their hostages. She isn’t complaining about the Jewish and even American hostages who are still held by Hamas to this day. Instead, she’s holding up a sign that says “war criminal” about the guy who is trying to get the Jewish and American hostages back.
All because he’s Jewish. And God says, “I have heard all the revilings that you uttered against the mountains of Israel.”
If you remember last year on October 7, throughout the world, there were people celebrating when they saw how Israel got attacked so brutally by the Palestinian Hamas terrorists. Mostly muslims celebrating it, but all across the world, people celebrated what happened in Israel. This invites God’s judgment. Look again at what God said in Ezekiel 35.
While the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate. 15 As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so I will deal with you.
People need to be careful about what they say. God is listening. God is watching. God will deal with them.
Thanks for listening to this Cross References Bible Study on the Book of Ezekiel. This has been Luke Taylor, and I hope the Bible makes more sense to you after this episode.