Ezekiel 35

The Explanation

Ezekiel 35 is a short chapter with a sharp edge. God speaks to the prophet Ezekiel and tells him to turn his face toward Mount Seir. Mount Seir is the mountainous region where the Edomites lived, descendants of Esau, Jacob's brother. So we are dealing with family here. Distant cousins of Israel, but cousins nonetheless.

And the message is not gentle. "Behold, I am against you, Mount Seir." God announces that this land will become a desolation. Cities empty. Mountains covered with the slain. No travelers passing through anymore. That is heavy language, and Ezekiel does not soften it.

Why this judgment? The text names three concrete reasons. First, verse 5: Edom held a "perpetual hostility" against Israel and handed them over to the sword precisely when Israel was already broken, when Jerusalem was falling to the Babylonians. Kicking someone who is already down. Second, verse 10: Edom saw the empty land of Israel and Judah and said, "These two nations will be ours. We will take them." They wanted to profit from the disaster. Third, verse 12 and 13: they mocked. They spoke big words against the mountains of Israel, and, God says, against God himself. "I have heard it," Yahweh says. Twice in the chapter the words return: I have heard. I know.

The chapter closes with a bitter irony. Edom rejoiced when Israel's inheritance was laid waste. So Edom will now become desolate itself, while the rest of the earth rejoices. What you did to others will come back to you.

What Does This Mean?

This is not a chapter that flatters us. It shows a God who takes sides, who sees injustice, and who does not remain neutral when one people crushes another.

Notice what Edom actually did. They did not invade Israel with an army of their own. They stood on the sidelines, laughed, plundered a little, and made plans to take what was left. That is precisely why this chapter is so uncomfortable. Edom's sin is the sin of the bystander who benefits. The one who does not throw the punch but enjoys the fall. The one who sees weakness and thinks, now is my chance.

God calls that out. He hears the mocking words. He sees the envious glances. And he refuses to pretend it does not matter.

There is something else. In verse 10, Edom says, "These two countries will be mine," and then the text adds a small phrase that is easy to miss: "whereas Yahweh was there." Even when Israel lay in ruins, God had not left. Edom looked at empty land and saw opportunity. God looked at the same land and saw his people, his promise, his presence. Edom's real problem was not greed. It was that they did not reckon with God.

The Common Thread

Ezekiel 35 stands right in the middle of a bigger movement. The next chapter, Ezekiel 36, contains one of the most famous promises in Scripture: God will give his people a new heart and a new spirit. He will restore what was ruined. Chapter 35 clears the ground. The mocker is silenced so that the promise can be spoken.

That pattern runs through the whole Bible. God judges what destroys, so that he can rebuild what is broken. And it lands most sharply in Jesus. On the cross, judgment and restoration meet in one person. Jesus takes on himself the words spoken against God, the mocking, the hostility. Read the crucifixion accounts and you will hear the echoes of Edom, people standing around saying big words, enjoying the destruction. And Jesus absorbs it, so that there can be a way back for anyone, even the mocker, who is willing to bow.

The God who says "I have heard it" in Ezekiel 35 is the same God who hears every word today. That is uncomfortable and good news at once.

For You

There is a version of Edom's sin that is very close to you. It does not look like an army. It looks like a group chat where someone is torn apart while you scroll and laugh. It looks like a comment section where you enjoy the fall of someone you never liked. It looks like a quiet satisfaction when a rival at school fails, when someone you envy gets exposed, when the one who has more than you loses something.

That is the temperament this chapter names. Not open hatred, but hidden pleasure at someone else's ruin. The Bible has a word for it, older than English: Schadenfreude. God hears it.

Consider also the other side. When your life falls apart, and it will at some point, God is not indifferent to the people who kick you while you are down. He sees. He knows. You are not overlooked, even when you feel like empty land.

And finally, notice what Edom forgot. "Whereas Yahweh was there." Do not write off situations, or people, or even yourself, as abandoned by God. He tends to be present precisely where nobody expects him anymore.

Talk About It

Where in your own life have you noticed a quiet satisfaction when someone else failed or fell? What do you think God hears when that happens?

Ezekiel 35 shows a harsh side of God. Does that push you away from him, or does it change how you see justice in the world? Be honest.

Praying Together

God, you hear everything. The words we speak out loud and the ones we only think. Search us honestly. Where we have enjoyed someone else's ruin, forgive us. Where we have been ruined, remind us that you are still there. Teach us to trust that your judgment and your mercy meet in Jesus. Amen.