I will hand you over as plunder to the nations
Thu, 22 September, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.
1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face toward the Ammonites and prophesy against them. 3 Say to the Ammonites, Hear the word of the Lord GOD: Thus says the Lord GOD, Because you said, ‘Aha!’ over my sanctuary when it was profaned, and over the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and over the house of Judah when they went into exile, 4 therefore behold, I am handing you over to the people of the East for a possession, and they shall set their encampments among you and make their dwellings in your midst. They shall eat your fruit, and they shall drink your milk. 5 I will make Rabbah a pasture for camels and Ammon [a] a fold for flocks. Then you will know that I am the LORD. 6 For thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have clapped your hands and stamped your feet and rejoiced with all the malice within your soul against the land of Israel, 7 therefore, behold, I have stretched out my hand against you, and will hand you over as plunder to the nations. And I will cut you off from the peoples and will make you perish out of the countries; I will destroy you. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
In today’s passage, Ezekiel begins a section where God speaks against Judah’s neighboring nations. The first nation in this list is Ammon.
Ammon’s punishment is coming because of the way they reacted to God’s judgment of Israel and Judah. They gloated over the downfall of the Children of Israel. When the Babylonians took Jerusalem and destroyed the temple, the Ammonites according to God’s condemnation of them clapped [their] hands and stamped [their] feet and rejoiced with all the malice within [their] soul against the land of Israel…. Therefore their condemnation is coming and they will be over run and displaced by a foreign power.
What do we learn from this?
God’s punishment fits the crime. They rejoiced to see a foreign power over run Israel, therefore a foreign power will over run them.
It is clear that with God’s righteous standard, the punishment is appropriate to the crime. (As a side note: It is instructive for us to consider our own legal system where pretty much every crime is sentenced to time in prison. But many crimes, prison is not an appropriate punishment. An embezzler shouldn’t be in prison. They should make restitution for the money they took, even if that means working for the rest of their life to make it right.)
Where is Christ in this passage?
The Ammonites mocked Israel when the sanctuary was defiled by foreigners. They rejoiced to see such disturbing things happen to the place where people would gather to worship the one true God..
But God promises that He will reveal himself as the LORD in the way He will act against Ammon.
Jesus Christ is our savour. But here we see Him as the King who will protect His own people and right the wrongs done against them. He brings judgment against Ammon and He will bring judgment against all those who are not trusting Him fully for their salvation.
