Ezekiel 25:2

Son of man, set thy face against the Ammonites,.... Who were of the posterity of Lot, implacable enemies of the Jews; who hated their religion, and envied their wealth and happiness; against these

Son of man, set thy face against the Ammonites, and prophesy against them; No JFB commentary on this verse.

Set thy face against: the phrase you have . It includeth anger, menaces, and intention of mind. The Ammonites; the posterity of Lot by the younger daughter, near neighbours, but bitter enemies to the Jews. Prophesy against them; leave recorded what heavy things shall befall them in after-days.

Ezekiel 25:2 Son of man, set thy face against the Ammonites, and prophesy against them;Ver. 2. Set thy face against the Ammonites.] Look upon them firmo, torvo, et minaci vultu, as if thou wouldst look through them; and having so lightened, thunder accordingly. Against the Ammonites.] Who have had their part already of threatenings, but not their full due.

(2) Set thy face against the Ammonites.—It has already been mentioned that the utterances against the four contiguous nations of Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Philistia are all contained in one prophecy, and that this prophecy was evidently spoken after the fall of Jerusalem, and, consequently, after the date of Eze 26:1. The Ammonites, descended from Lot’s incest with his younger daughter, had been for centuries persistent enemies of Israel. They had joined the Moabites in their oppression of Israel under Eglon (Judges 3:13), and in a later attack had been subdued by Jephthah (Judges 11:32-33); they fought with extreme cruelty and insolence against Saul (1 Samuel 11:2-11); they insulted and warred against David (2 Samuel 10:1-6), and were utterly crushed by him (2 Samuel 12:31); their idolatries were favoured by Solomon (1 Kings 11:7); uniting with Moab and Edom, they attacked Judah under Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 20:1-25), but utterly failed, and were tributary to his descendant, Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26:8); again they fought with Jotham, and were reduced by him to heavy tribute (2 Chronicles 27:5); and not long before this time they had occupied the vacant cities of Gad (Jeremiah 49:1). Now they had joined Nebuchadnezzar’s army against Judah (2 Kings 24:2). From Ezekiel 25:3 it appears that their hostility arose not only from national jealousy, but from an especial hatred against the Jewish religion (comp. also Psalms 83:7). They are the frequent subject of prophetic denunciation (Isaiah 11:14; Jeremiah 49:1-6; Amos 1:13-15; Zephaniah 2:8-11).

Verse 2. Set thy face against the Ammonites] We have already seen, Ezekiel 21:19, c., that when Nebuchadnezzar left Babylon he was in doubt whether he should besiege Riblath, the capital of the Ammonites, or Jerusalem, the capital of the Jews, first: and having used his divination. he was determined, by the result, to attack Jerusalem the first. He did so and the Ammonites, seeing the success of his arms, made friends with him, and exulted in the ruin of the Jews. God resents this, and predicts their downfall with that of Edom, Moab, and the Philistines. The fulfilment of this prediction is not noted in Scripture: but Josephus tells us, that about five years after the taking of Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar turned his arms against the Ammonites and Moabites, and afterwards against Egypt; and having subdued those nations, he returned to Babylon. Joseph. Antiq., l. x., c. ii. Berosus states, as quoted by Josephus, contra App., that Nebuchadnezzar subdued Syria, Arabia, Phoenicia, and Egypt: and consequently, that he had brought under his dominion the Ammonites, Moabites, and Idumeans, who were included among the Philistines. See Calmet.

1–7. Prophecy against Ammon The name of this people is usually the children of Ammon (Beni Ammon). This is the name both of the people and the country (in the latter case construed as fem. Ezekiel 25:3; Ezekiel 25:10). Ammon was recognised by Israel as a distant member of the same family with themselves (Genesis 19:38). At an early period the people was settled on the E. of the Jordan, between the Arnon and the Jabbok (Judges 11:13), but before the Exodus they had been dispossessed of this territory by Amorites from the W. of the Jordan, and pushed eastward towards the desert (Numbers 21:21), though they could not forget their ancient claims to their former seat, even when Israel had wrested it from the Amorites (Judges 11:19; cf. Joshua 13:25). The relations of Ammon to Israel were for the most part unfriendly. In the times of the Judges they harassed the tribes E. of the Jordan, and were crushed by Jephthah (Judges 10-11). Saul signalised his early reign by defeating their king, who had laid siege to Jabesh in Gilead (1 Samuel 11). Owing to the affront offered to his ambassadors David invaded the country and took cruel vengeance on the inhabitants (2 Samuel 10:1; 2 Samuel 11:14; 2 Samuel 12:26). The Ammonites continued when opportunity offered to carry on a savage warfare with the tribes across the Jordan (Amos 1:13); and when these were carried away by the Assyrians they naturally in company with Moab seized the depopulated country (Jeremiah 49:1; Zephaniah 2:8). During the struggle of Judah with Babylon they shewed the old mischievous animosity (2 Kings 24:2), and after the fall of the city the treacherous murder of Gedaliah the Babylonian governor by Ishmael was instigated by their king (Jeremiah 40:14). After the Return Ammonites are again found obstructing the pious aspirations of the restored community (Nehemiah 4:3; cf. Nehemiah 2:10; cf. Nehemiah 2:19), and true to their old instincts they appear on the side of the Syrians in the Maccabean war of independence (1Ma 5:6).

2. Prophesy against them — Or, upon, that is, concerning them. The same Hebrew particle is used when no threat is being pronounced. The Ammonites — These were the hereditary enemies of Israel, and very cruel in war.