This chapter concerns God’s judgement on Israel’s immediate neighbours, all seven of them (signifying completeness), namely Moab, Ammon, Edom, Philistia, Tyre, Sidon and Egypt. This is an Old Testament example of I Peter 4:17 where judgment begins with the house of God, and is severe, but what shall the end be of those that obey not the gospel, i.e. the heathen? See Jer.46:28. And the answer is utter destruction! These inveterate enemies of Israel from their birth (remember Esau, Ammon and Moab), also Psalm 83, ganged up under Nebuchadnezzar to destroy her (II Kings 24:2). All these peoples are virtually no more though some, namely the Palestinians, still cause trouble for the Jews.
Advertisements
