Ezekiel 25:1-7

content/bible_journal/ezekiel_25:1-7.md

@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
++++
+title = "Ezekiel 25:1–7"
+date = "2023-05-08"
++++
+
+### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Ezekiel25.1-7)
+
+The book of Ezekiel can be divided into three main sections. The first as we
+have seen are judgements against Israel and Judah. We now come to the second in
+which the nations surrounding Israel are judged. The final section concerns the
+hope for blessing of God's people and the restoration of His temple.
+
+The first of the nations to be judged is Ammon. Ezekiel had already prophesied
+against them in chapter 21, in which the king of Babylon cast divinations to
+decide to which city to send his armies first. While Babylon had its own
+reasons for destroying Ammon, the Lord spells out His reasons for sending this
+judgement upon them.
+
+Ammon had often been in conflict with Israel, so even though they had allied
+against Babylon in these last few years, there was much rejoicing among the
+Ammonites when they heard that Jerusalem had fallen. Yahweh's temple was
+destroyed and the land of Israel was emptied of inhabitants, so Ammon clapped
+their hands and stamped their feet in gleeful malice. Because of this attitude,
+the Lord sends Babylon to do the same thing to Ammon and its cities. The people
+of Ammon shall be removed, its capital city will be a camel pasture, and the
+fruit of the land will go to the besieging Babylonians.
+
+_Shadenfreude_ is not an emotion that God's people should allow themselves. To
+see judgement fall on an individual or a group should give us satisfaction that
+justice is served and evil is punished, but it should also sober us because it
+is only by God's mercy that such a fate has not fallen on us as well.
+
+* * *
+
+You search the hearts of men and know all their intentions.