Ezekiel 25:12-14 – Don’t be bound by unforgiveness.

In Ezekiel 25:12-14, God’s message was directed at Edom. The Edomites were descendants of Esau, the twin brother of Jacob.  Edom was situated in the South-East of Israel, where the South Jordan of today is. The Edomites had been the earliest and longest historical enemy of Israel. The struggles between the two people started the day Esau sold his birthright to Jacob, and instead insisted that it was stolen from him.

Verse 12 said that they acted against the house of Judah. How did they do it? They joined Babylon in fighting against Judah. They inflicted Judah causing grievous hurt to the people out of vengeance. The message of Amos 1:11 suggests that instead of being sympathetic towards Judah, Edom pursued the people of Judah with the sword. They chose to fight them when they were already down.

In fighting Judah, the Edomites were taking revenge on the children of Judah. Unwittingly, they had committed grievous guilt to their relatives. Hence God declared that their men and beasts would be cut off from the land. And invaders would make Edom into a wasteland. According to the wrath of the Lord, Edomites would fall by the sword of Israel from Teman in the north to Dedan in the south.  

Concerning Edom’s judgment, the Living Translation of the Bible paraphrased Jeremiah 48:20-22 this way:

Listen to the Lord’s plans against Edom
    and the people of Teman.
Even the little children will be dragged off like sheep,
    and their homes will be destroyed.
The earth will shake with the noise of Edom’s fall,
    and its cry of despair will be heard all the way to the Red Sea.
Look! The enemy swoops down like an eagle,
    spreading his wings over Bozrah.
Even the mightiest warriors will be in anguish.

One clear lesson we can draw from the message to Edom is about forgiveness. It is about not harboring or nursing a hurt. Obviously, Edom had not recovered from the hurt which began when their father Esau felt that his birthright was stolen by Jacob, his brother. Scrutiny will tell us that his birthright was sold to Jacob and not stolen from him. Not recovering from that hurt, the Edomites continued to nurse it for centuries. Nursing led to resentment and resentment to needless acts of vengeance. To harbor resentment is like drinking poison and hoping the person we resent will die. Forgiveness may not change our past, but it certainly will enlarge our future. When we come before God praying, Jesus’ word to us is - forgive.