Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 25:4
Behold, therefore I will deliver thee to the men of the east for a possession, and they shall set their palaces in thee, and make their dwellings in thee: they shall eat thy fruit, and they shall drink thy milk.
4. men of the east ] lit. children of the east, the nomad tribes of the Arabian desert, Jdg 6:3.
set their palaces ] their encampments, Jdg 6:1-6.
drink thy milk ] Ammon, lying toward the desert, was a pastoral country.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 4. Will deliver thee to the men of the east] Probably the Scenite Arabs, Ishmaelites, and people of Kedar, who seized upon the provinces of the vanquished Ammonites, &c. The following description suits this people only, living on fruits, the milk of their flocks, using camels, &c. Some think the people of the east mean the Chaldeans.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I, the God whom thou hast despised, whose people thou hast reproached, whose worship thou hast vilified, I will avenge myself, and deliver time up.
To the men of the East; the Medes and Persians, say some; the Babylonians, say others, but this suits not well with geography; Arabians, say others, associates of Nehuchadnezzar, who, it is likely, recompensed their labour and service with giving them this country when it was conquered, as it was five years after the desolation of Jerusalem.
For a possession; they shall settle on it, as a very convenient country for their sheep and camels, and possess it, as their inheritance.
Set their palaces in thee: the word palaces seems little to agree with Arabians, who dwelt in tents, but this manner of dwelling many of them would be ready to change, where they might to so great advantage, as in that country, which was fruitful, as this was; besides, the word signifieth, what is fenced, as Isa 2:15, and is paraphrased by camp, and Arabians had their munitions and fortified camps, and these they shall set here while they stay. And I add this also, that the next words explain these.
Make their dwellings in thee; they shall set up their tents, as the word properly; their tents and habitations they would fortify in some manner or other, that in their camp they might be safe, if they did not build cities in the country.
Eat thy fruit; the fruit of that land was once thine, of the trees thou plantedst.
Drink thy milk; which in so fruitful land and rich pastures they had in abundance from the multitude of their kine, and it was a drink that well suited with those hot regions.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. men of . . . eastliterally,”children of the East,” the nomad tribes of Arabia-Deserta,east of the Jordan and the Dead Sea.
palacestheir nomadicencampments or folds, surrounded with mud walls, are so called inirony. Where thy “palaces” once stood, there shall theirvery different “palaces” stand. Fulfilled after theravaging of their region by Nebuchadnezzar, shortly after thedestruction of Jerusalem (compare Eze 21:22;Jer 49:1-28).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Behold, therefore, I will deliver thee to the men of the east for a possession,…. The Chaldeans and Syrians, which were on the east side, as Jarchi; or the Medes and Persians, as Kimchi, which lay more eastward; or it may be the Arabians, who are commonly called the men of the east; who were a part of Nebuchadnezzar’s army, and whom he might reward with this country, when taken by him; for this prophecy, according to Josephus q, was fulfilled five years after the destruction of Jerusalem:
and they shall set their palaces in thee, and make their dwellings in thee; or, “their camps and their tents” r; and so the Syriac version renders it, their armies and their tents; who should subdue them, and take possession of their cities and fields, and enjoy what they found there:
they shall eat thy fruit, and drink thy milk; the fruit of their land, their vineyards and fields, and the milk of their flocks and herds, which was commonly drank in those countries; these are put for the whole of their substance. So the Targum,
“they shall eat the good of thy land, and spoil thy substance.”
q Antiqu. l. 16. c. 9. sect. 7. r “arces suas”, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Polanus, Coeccius. “tentoria sua”, V. L. “tabernacala sus”, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Polanus, Cocceius, Starckius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(4) To the men of the east.Literally, sons of the east, i.e., the various nomadic tribes inhabiting the Eastern deserts, who occupy the country to this day. They are described as its possessors, not its conquerors; the conquest was effected by Nebuchadnezzar. In Eze. 21:20-23 he was represented as hesitating whether to attack first Judah or Ammon, and determined to the former by the Divine direction; in this attack some of the Ammonites joined his army, but he nevertheless afterwards carried out his purpose and desolated their country. (See Eze. 21:28.)
Palaces.The word properly means an enclosure for folding cattle. The same word is used in connection with tribes of the desert in Gen. 25:16; Num. 31:10, and in both is translated castles, a singularly inappropriate sense. It afterwards came to mean a dwelling-place of any kind. The Ammonites and Moabites appear to have practically constituted one nation, the latter being, for the most part, the settled, and the former the nomadic portion. After the conquest of Nebuchadnezzar the Ammonites gradually dwindled away, until lost from history. The Ptolemies founded the city Philadelphia on the site of Rabbah, and there are still extensive ruins there belonging to the period of the Roman occupation; but the Ammonites had no part in either of these successive cities. The place is now utterly without inhabitants, and the most recent traveller says, Lonely desolation in a rich country was the striking characteristic.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Men of the east Hebrews, children of the east. The wandering tribes which were always near neighbors of Ammon and Israel (Jdg 6:3; Jdg 6:33; Jdg 7:12; Jdg 8:11; Job 1:3).
Palaces R.V., “encampments.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“Therefore, behold, I will deliver you to the children of the east for a possession, and they will set their encampments in you, and make their dwellings in you. They will eat your fruit and they will drink your milk. And I will make Rabbah a pasturage for camels, and the children of Ammon a fold for flocks, and you will know that I am Yahweh.”
Their punishment was to be that their country would be taken over by the very people whom they probably despised the most, the desert nomads, the ‘children of the east’, who would simply use their capital city and their land as a pasturage and sheepfold. Civilisation would cease. Ammon would be no more (Eze 21:32). It would be total humiliation.
Ammon itself was a wilder country than the more civilised and sophisticated Moabites, but none feel their status more than those who feel the superiority of having risen above their even wilder desert neighbours. The thought that their country, and their proud cities, which had been theirs for centuries, and which distinguished them from their desert neighbours, would become mere pasturage and sheepfolds for such desert-dwellers would have appalled them.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eze 25:4. I will deliver thee to the men of the east That is, “To the Chaldeans, whose country lay east of the Ammonites.” See the preceding note. Some suppose that the Arabians are meant. See Neh 4:7-8 and the Observations, p. 51.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 25:4 Behold, therefore I will deliver thee to the men of the east for a possession, and they shall set their palaces in thee, and make their dwellings in thee: they shall eat thy fruit, and they shall drink thy milk.
Ver. 4. I will deliver thee to the men of the east. ] To the Arabians, Keturah’s posterity, who were shepherds and camel masters.
They shall eat thy fruit and drink thy milk.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Behold. Fig, Asterismos. App-6.
I will deliver. Josephus (Antiquities x. 9, 7) tells us that Nebuchadnezzar subdued the Ammonites and Moabites in the fifth year after the destruction of Jerusalem. Compare Jer 49:23.
the man of the east: i.e. the Babylonians. See Eze 21:19, Eze 21:20. Jer 25:21.
men = sons.
palaces. Hebrew rows: i.e. of tents encampments.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
men: Heb. children, Jdg 6:3, Jdg 6:33, Jdg 7:12, Jdg 8:10, 1Ki 4:30. Josephus expressly states, that five years after the destruction of Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar turned his arms against the Ammonites and Moabites, and entirely subjugated them; and it is probable, that the Arabs, and other nations east of Judah, then took possession of their cities, and enjoyed the fruits of their land. The country of Moab and Ammon is now inhabited by the Bedouin Arabs; where they pasture their flocks, and, no doubt, make the ruins of Rabbah, their one proud capital, “a stable for camels,” and other cattle. See note on 2Sa 12:26.
of the east: Gen 29:1, Num 23:7, Isa 41:2
they shall eat: Lev 26:16, Deu 28:33, Deu 28:51, Jdg 6:3-6, Isa 1:7, Isa 32:8, Isa 32:9, Isa 65:22
Reciprocal: Jer 49:2 – that I will Lam 1:14 – delivered Eze 25:10 – the men
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 25:4. East is defined in Smiths Bible Dictionary as referring to the lands lying immediately eastward of Palestine namely, Arabia, Mesopotamia and Babylonia. The men of the east, therefore, means the people of those territories who -were to come against the Ammonites, destroy their buildings and consume their products.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Eze 25:4-7. Behold, I will deliver thee to the men of the east That is, to the Chaldeans, whose country lay east of the Ammonites. This people was accordingly conquered and subdued by the Chaldeans, about five years after the destruction of Jerusalem. And they shall drink thy milk Milk was the principal sustenance of those people, whose riches consisted chiefly in their stocks of cattle. The Hebrew word , however, here rendered milk, signifies also the fattest or choicest parts of any flesh or fruits. So it is used Gen 45:18, Ye shall eat the fat of the land; and Psa 81:16, where our translation reads, The finest of the wheat, in the Hebrew it is, The fat of the wheat. And this clause is rendered by the LXX., , And they shall drink, or swallow down, thy fatness. And I will make Rabbah a stable for camels Rabbah was the chief city of the Ammonites. What is said of it here, that it should be made a stable for camels, implies, that instead of being a city inhabited by men, it should be a place for cattle, and particularly for camels, to feed and lie down in, of which that and the neighbouring countries had great store. It is a proverbial expression for utter destruction, to say that grass grows where a town stood. Because thou hast clapped thy hands, &c. Showed expressions of joy and satisfaction in the most insolent manner, with all thy despite against the land of Israel With the utmost hatred and contempt of my people; I will stretch out my hand upon thee Namely, my hand of wrath. And will deliver thee for a spoil to the heathen Or, for meat, as the word in the Hebrew text, , properly means, though the marginal reading of the Masorites is, , for a prey. The greedy, covetous soldiers shall make thy wealth their prey; the hungry enemies shall eat thee up. And I will cut thee off from the people Thou shalt no more be reckoned among the nations, but shalt cease from being a people. And thou shalt know that I am the Lord In these words the threatenings, both in Eze 25:5 and in this verse, conclude. For thus, 1st, God would maintain his own honour, and make it appear that he was the God of Israel, though he suffered them for a time to be captives in Babylon. And, 2d, He would bring those that were strangers to him into an acquaintance with him, and it would be a blessed effect of their calamities. How much better is it to be poor and know God, than to be rich and ignorant of him!
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
25:4 Behold, therefore I will deliver thee to the {b} men of the east for a possession, and they shall set their {c} palaces in thee, and make their dwellings in thee: they shall eat thy fruit, and they shall drink thy milk.
(b) That is, to the Babylonians.
(c) They will chase you away, and take your gorgeous houses to dwell in.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Therefore the sovereign Lord would turn them over to the eastern invaders, the Babylonians, who would take over their country and settle in their land. The capital city, Rabbah (modern Amman), as well as the rest of the land, would become a desolation inhabited mainly by camels and flocks of sheep and goats. Nebuchadnezzar brought Ammon and Moab into subjection in the fifth year after Jerusalem fell (about 581 B.C.). [Note: Josephus, Antiquities of . . ., 10:9:7.]