Ezekiel 35:1-4

All prophesy will be fulfilled and can be used for teaching. God alone has the right to judge and His judgement is true and without hypocrisy…if we live in violence we will die in violence.

Ezekiel 35:1-4

35 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 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, O Mount Seir, I am against you;

I will stretch out My hand against you,

And make you most desolate;

⁴ I shall lay your cities waste,

And you shall be desolate.

Then you shall know that I am the Lord.

Deut 2:4-6

“Give the people these orders: ‘You are about to pass through the territory of your brothers the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, but be very careful. Do not provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, not even enough to put your foot on. I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his own.  You are to pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.’” .

Seir bordered the Promised Land on the South East and was also called Edom. Lot’s sons Moab and Ammon (after whom the capitol of Jordan is named) were given the land north of Edom and East of the Jordan. Together these three land grants make up the land currently occupied by Jordan.

In 1921 the British partitioned the land they had been given control of following WW1 ( the British mandate) into Israel as a Jewish homeland and trans-Jordan (later Jordan) as a homeland for the “Palestinians”.  Jordan gained its independence in 1946, two years before Israel was declared an independent nation.

The area referred to as Mt. Seir in the Bible is called the Shara range today.  It’s in southern Jordan where the city of Petra is located.  In Biblical times this was the land of Edom.  In Ezekiel 35 Mt. Seir is used as a euphemism for Edom.  At the time of the Babylonian conquest the people of Edom sought to benefit from Israel’s troubles, first by helping the Babylonian army find and capture the fleeing Israelites and then by plotting to take the promised land for themselves in Israel’s absence. The Lord had Ezekiel tell the people of Edom their own land would be made desolate because of this.

Some try to apply this prophecy to the current Palestinians, but I believe it was fulfilled by a formerly nomadic people called the Nabateans who entered the area in the mid 4th century BC and completely overran the people of Edom, leaving no  survivors.  The Nabateans became a powerful force in the region, controlling desert trade routes between Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Eastern Mediterranean for about 450 years.  Today’s Bedouins may be all that’s left of the Nabateans

⁸ So Esau dwelt in ⁱMount Seir. Esau is Edom. 

Genesis 36:8

⁵ Do not meddle with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as one footstep, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. 

Deuteronomy 2:5

¹⁵“For the day of the Lord upon all the nations is near; As you have done, it shall be done to you; Your reprisal shall return upon your own head. 

Obadiah 15