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Commentary [Source]

Ezekiel 25:15-17
Thus said the Lord GOD; Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart…

Thus saith the Lord God; Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, etc. This paragraph treating of the Philistines is similar in its prominent features to those which dealt with the Ammonites, Moabites, and Edomites, especially the last. In each case there is a setting forth of the sin and an announcement of the punishment. And there is a close resemblance between the Edomites and the Philistines, both in their sin and in their punishment. With this similarity of essential character in the paragraphs of this chapter, it is not easy to suggest variety of homiletical treatment for each paragraph. In our text we have -

I. A BRIEF STATEMENT OF A LONG COURSE OF HEINOUS SIN. "The Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with despite of soul to destroy it with perpetual enmity." Mark the gradations of their sin as they are indicated in the text.

1. The sin of the Philistines was hatred against the Jews. They were a powerful people, occupying territory to the south-west of Judah, and were unvarying in their hostility to the Israelites. Their sin was the very opposite of that love which God commands as the supreme duty of man to his fellow-man: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" (Leviticus 19:18.). And in Christian ethics their sin is equivalent to murder: "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer" (1 John 3:15).

2. Their hatred was intense and scornful, it was no superficial emotion. They took "vengeance with despite of soul." They were hearty and passionate and zealous in their enmity to the Jews.

3. Their hatred was inveterate. "The old hatred," or "perpetual enmity." A glance at their history shows this. In the time of the judges "they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel" (Judges 10:7, 8.). Near the close of the career of Eli they defeated Israel in battle with great slaughter, and seized the ark of God (1 Samuel 4:10, 11). They were conquered by the Israelites under Samuel, and were kept in check all his days (1 Samuel 7:7-14). But in the days of Saul they again became troublesome, and brought Israel in a measure into subjection to them (1 Samuel 13:19, 20). In the battle in which Saul and his sons were slain, they inflicted a disastrous defeat upon Israel (1 Samuel 31.). They were vanquished by David. But in after-times they caused much trouble and damage to Judah (2 Chronicles 21:16, 17; 2 Chronicles 28:18.). And they showed their old animosity by acts of hostility at the time when Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem. Their hatred was ancient and persistent.

4. Their hatred was habitually active. "The Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance." Their enmity existed not simply as an emotion, but found vigorous expression. And it expressed itself, not simply in hostile and bitter words, but in malignant deeds, in revengeful actions. And these deeds were not occasional, but habitual. They "dealt by revenge," as if it had been their trade or occupation. "A perpetually enduring war," says Schroder, "is the standing feature of the relation, while fixed hostility was the root of it."

5. This hatred was destructive in its design. "Have taken vengeance with despite of soul to destroy it with perpetual enmity." The aim of the hostile Philistines was to bring the Jewish nation to an utter end. This was their steadfast purpose. One aspect of hatred is very conspicuous in this brief delineation, and it is as admonitory as it is conspicuous, viz. its tendency to continuance and growth. If animosity be not resisted, if it be not combated by the presentation of prayer to God and by the cultivation and expression of kindness towards men, especially towards the object of our aversion, it will increase in depth and intensity. Hence it is of the utmost importance to check the beginnings of hatred. "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and railing be put away from you, with all malice; and be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, even as God also in Christ forgave you."

II. A STARTLING ANNOUNCEMENT OF SEVERE PUNISHMENT FOR PROTRACTED AND HEINOUS SINS. "Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will stretch out mine hand upon the Philistines," etc. (Vers. 16, 17). We see here:

1. Punishment of great severity. "I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes." Who can conceive the dread severity of the great vengeance of the Almighty with furious rebukes? They who had dealt by revenge and taken vengeance on Israel should suffer the great vengeance of the God of Israel. After the destruction of Jerusalem, when Nebuchadnezzar turned his mighty forces against Egypt, "the result was specially disastrous to the Philistines: Gaza was taken by the Egyptians, and the population of the whole plain was reduced to a mere 'remnant' by the invading armies."

2. Punishment ending in destruction. "I will cut off the Cherethites, and destroy the remnant of the sea coast." The name "Cherethites" is given "to the whole of the Philistines, for the sake of the paronomasia." The name signifies "cut off," or "extirpated," and it was to find its fulfillment in their doom. "The destruction of the remnant points to this," says Hengstenberg, "that they shall be destroyed to the last man, as in fact the Philistines have utterly disappeared. It is the great privilege of the people of God, that how heavy soever the judgments of God may be upon them, never will it be said of them, 'I will destroy the remnant.' "They who had made it their object to destroy the Jewish nation should themselves be destroyed by the Almighty. "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you."

3. Punishment from the hand of God. "Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will stretch out mine hand upon the Philistines," etc. The Chaldeans and others were but as weapons in the hands of the supreme Sovereign and righteous Judge of all.

"The Lord sitteth as King for ever:
He hath prepared his throne for judgment.
And he shall judge the world in righteousness,
He shall minister judgment to the peoples in uprightness." And if men will not be brought to know him by the sweet influences of his grace, then by the stern severities of his vengeance they shall know that he is the Lord. - W.J.

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