Ammon: and say to the sons of Ammon, 'Hear the word of the Lord GOD! Thus says the Lord GOD, "Because you said, 'Aha!' against My sanctuary when it was profaned, and against the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and against the house of Judah when they went into exile, (Ezekiel 25:3 NASB)

Moab: 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Because Moab and Seir say, 'Behold, the house of Judah is like all the nations,' (Ezekiel 25:8 NASB)

Edom: 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Because Edom has acted against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and has incurred grievous guilt, and avenged themselves upon them," (Ezekiel 25:12 NASB)

Philistia: 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Because the Philistines have acted in revenge and have taken vengeance with scorn of soul to destroy with everlasting enmity," (Ezekiel 25:15 NASB)

Tyre: "Son of man, because Tyre has said concerning Jerusalem, 'Aha, the gateway of the peoples is broken; it has opened to me. I shall be filled, now that she is laid waste,' (Ezekiel 26:2 NASB)

Do you notice a common thread throughout all of the judgments against the nations? It is not primarily because of their idolatry or injustice or other evils that God judges them but because they gloated at the destruction of Judah. This is in keeping with God's covenant with Abraham: "I will bless those who bless you. And I will curse those who curse you" (Genesis 12:3).

I've commented on this last year, but let me add this to my thoughts from then. The seriousness of sin is not in its inherent wickedness but rather in its offense to God. Some sins seem particularly ugly, cruel and distasteful to us; however, the true heinousness of sin is not in these things but in how they violate God's command, profane His Name, or stand contrary to God's purposes. It is not our reaction that matters but God's perspective. This is what we must understand. As I've written before, we have a much too high view of ourselves, as if our perspective counts for a lot. It does not. What matters is what God thinks.

So although Israel and Judah were being judged by God for their sins, they were still God's people. Let all the people's of the world acknowledge this. Though Israel's policies today may seem wrong to us, let us keep in mind that they are still God's people. Therefore, let us not follow the folly of these nations of old that have long since ceased to exist in keeping with God's judgment on them. Let us bless God's people and not curse them. Let us seek their restoration and not their destruction. But more than all this, let us always acknowledge and honor the Name of the LORD, whether it be in obeying His commands, praying for His people, or simply humbling ourselves in readiness to do His will.

AI-Expanded Reflection

Ezekiel’s oracles against neighboring nations expose the moral ugliness of treating another community’s catastrophe as an opportunity for celebration or profit. Ammon applauds the profaning of the sanctuary; Moab dismisses Judah’s distinctive relationship with God; Tyre anticipates commercial advantage from Jerusalem’s collapse. These are not neutral observations about international affairs. The nations interpret suffering through rivalry, contempt, and acquisitiveness. The sequence challenges the reader to consider whether another person’s downfall has ever felt like good news because it advanced a personal interest.

The charges are also broader than an inward attitude of gloating. Edom and Philistia are condemned for vengeance and destructive hostility (Ezekiel 25:12–17). Their contempt takes practical form. This matters for understanding why sin offends God. Human cruelty is not morally insignificant until a separate divine rule happens to prohibit it. The God whose character defines goodness cares about the people whom cruelty injures. His holiness includes justice and faithfulness; offenses against him and offenses against those he has made are deeply connected. A theological account of sin should therefore deepen concern for victims rather than make their suffering incidental.

The connection with Genesis 12:3 locates Israel’s story within God’s commitment to Abraham, but that commitment is ordered toward blessing the families of the earth. It does not authorize Israel to practice the very arrogance and violence condemned in its neighbors. Ezekiel has spent many chapters announcing judgment on Jerusalem before turning to the nations. Both sequences belong together: covenant privilege does not grant immunity to wrongdoing, and covenant judgment does not give outsiders permission to exploit the afflicted. God’s freedom to judge his own people does not transfer to their enemies a license for hatred.

Applied to contemporary discussion, the passage rules out contempt for Jewish people and delight in their suffering. It also calls for precision: criticism of a government’s conduct is not automatically hostility toward a people, and concern for Israel need not exclude compassion for Palestinian or other civilians. Ancient national oracles should not become a shortcut that removes moral scrutiny from modern actions. The more immediate spiritual discipline is to refuse dehumanization wherever it appears. We can grieve wrongdoing, seek truth, and desire just accountability without enjoying devastation. Ezekiel confronts the heart that says another people’s wound will enrich us; the Abrahamic promise points instead toward becoming a blessing beyond the boundaries of our own group.

God's judgments on several neighboring nations of Israel and Judah are pronounced in today's reading. I was drawn especially to what's said about Tyre — a city grown wealthy through trade and full of pride, as reflected in its own residents' boast: "I am perfect in beauty" (a reference to Ezekiel 27:3). I think wealth tends to do one of two things to our already flawed hearts — either numbing us into indifference toward God, or worse, feeding pride in what we've accumulated. God says He'll take everything away instantly from those who start believing themselves invincible because of it. Let's stay humble before Him, thankful for His unceasing faithfulness in our redemption. I sometimes wonder why so many people hold so tightly to the idea of free will when it comes to the salvation of their souls — what good is actually in us, apart from God's mercy covering it? I don't trust my own free will, since I know I wouldn't choose God on my own. That's why my day begins and ends with doxology — praise to Him!

AI-Expanded Reflection

The two responses to wealth this comment identifies — numbing indifference or feeding pride — are worth noting as opposite-seeming reactions that actually share the same underlying root: both involve wealth quietly displacing dependence on God, whether through distraction or through self-sufficiency. Tyre's specific boast, "I am perfect in beauty," is a useful diagnostic for either version, since it names the exact posture Scripture consistently warns against — mistaking accumulated advantage for personal invincibility, a mistake wealth makes especially easy precisely because it can, for a season, make life genuinely feel that way.

In Ezekiel 25–27, the prophet proclaims oracles against nations that looked on Israel and Judah's judgment with disdain. Several of these nations were historically related to Israel — Ammon and Moab descended from Lot, Abraham's nephew; Edom descended from Esau, Jacob's brother; the Philistines were long-time enemies of Israel; and Tyre had once been a major trading partner with Israel under David and Solomon. All these nations faced judgment because they either celebrated or participated in Israel's suffering and destruction — consistent with God's eternal covenant promise to Abraham, that He would bless those who bless Abraham's descendants and curse those who curse them (a paraphrase of Genesis 12:3). These nations, through their attitudes and actions, cursed God's people, ensuring severe judgment on themselves in return. Even while God judged Israel and Judah for their own sins, they remained His chosen people, holy to Him by virtue of that relationship — which is exactly why David never harmed Saul, despite ample opportunity. Saul was God's anointed king, so David would neither harm him nor celebrate harm that later came to him.

Just as Israel had this promise of God's retribution toward those who'd harm them, the church has a similar promise. Paul asks the Corinthians whether they realize they collectively are God's temple, with His Spirit dwelling among them, warning that God will destroy anyone who destroys that temple, since it is holy (a paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 3:16–17). "Holy" means set apart to God. Saul was holy because he was God's anointed king; Israel was holy because they were God's chosen people; we, as the church, are holy because we constitute the body of Christ.

As a practical application, I'm reminded that this kind of holiness, and the retributive protection tied to it, really has nothing to do with us and everything to do with God. We're holy because of our relationship to Him; we're honored because He's chosen us as His people. When we honor God's servants, we should do so because we honor God — we value what God values. Let's order our lives around this principle: what is God interested in? Let's make that our chief interest. What pleases Him? Where does He work? What brings Him the highest glory? Shouldn't we order our lives around these things?

AI-Expanded Reflection

The specific promise this comment traces from Genesis 12 through to the church has one more link worth adding: Paul explicitly connects Gentile believers to this exact Abrahamic promise, telling the Galatians that those who belong to faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith (a paraphrase of Galatians 3:9). The protection extended to Israel in Ezekiel's oracles against hostile nations, and the protection this comment finds extended to the church in 1 Corinthians 3, both trace back to the very same original promise made to one man in Genesis — a single covenant thread running from Abraham, to Israel's ancient enemies, all the way to a church made up largely of people with no ethnic connection to Abraham at all.

In chapter 25, and a couple of chapters earlier, God announces the disappearance of the Ammonites. Looking into it, these people were last historically attested sometime in the first or second century before Christ. They were consistently hostile to Israel, all the way through to the rise of the Maccabees. But just as God said — they are no more.

AI-Expanded Reflection

The specific charge against the Ammonites in this section is worth adding, since it explains why their disappearance carried such weight as a fulfilled prophecy: Ezekiel 25:3 records them celebrating specifically over the destruction of God's own sanctuary and the exile of Judah, treating Israel's catastrophe as their own occasion for mockery. Their eventual, complete disappearance from history — no ongoing Ammonite people, language, or nation surviving into the modern era, unlike Israel itself — stands as one of the more striking examples of a specific, dateable prophecy against a real ancient nation being borne out over the following centuries.