Ezekiel 25:15 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Ezekiel 25:15
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart, to destroy it for the old hatred;
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Lord
אֲדֹנָ֣י'a.do.Nai
H136
the Lord (used as a proper name of God only) · proper noun, a title
GOD
יְהוִ֔הYah.weh
H3069
YHWH · proper noun, a title
Philistines
פְּלִשְׁתִּ֖יםpe.lish.Tim
H6430
a Pelishtite or inhabitant of Pelesheth · noun, gentilic masculine plural absolute
dealt
עֲשׂ֥וֹתa.Sot
H6213
to do or make · verb, qal infinitive construct
revenge
בִּנְקָמָ֑הbin.ka.Mah
H5360
avengement · preposition + noun, common feminine singular absolute
taken
וַיִּנָּקְמ֤וּvai.yi.na.ke.Mu
H5358
to grudge · conjunction + verb, niphal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
vengeance
נָקָם֙na.Kam
H5359
revenge · noun, common masculine singular absolute
despiteful
בִּשְׁאָ֣טbish.'At
H7589
contempt · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
heart
בְּנֶ֔פֶשׁbe.Ne.fesh
H5315
properly · preposition + noun, common feminine singular absolute
destroy
לְמַשְׁחִ֖יתle.mash.Chit
H4889
destructive · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
old
עוֹלָֽםo.Lam
H5769
properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
hatred
אֵיבַ֥ת'ei.Vat
H342
hostility · noun, common feminine singular construct
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ezekiel 25:6 For thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast clapped thine hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced in heart with all thy despite ag…
Isaiah 14:29-31 Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockat…
2 Chronicles 28:18 The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the low country, and of the south of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, and Ajalon, and Geder…
Jeremiah 25:20 And all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah,…
Ezekiel 25:12 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended, and revenge…
Zechariah 9:5-8 Ashkelon shall see it, and fear; Gaza also shall see it, and be very sorrowful, and Ekron; for her expectation shall be ashamed; and the kin…
Judges 14:1-16 And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
1 Samuel 4:1-6 And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and pitched beside Eben-ezer: and the Phil…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 25:8–end
Three more of Israel's ill-natured neighbours are here arraigned, convicted, and condemned to destruction, for contributing to and triumphing in Jerusalem's fall.
I. The Moabites. Seir, which was the seat of the Edomites, is joined with them (Eze 25:8), because they said the same as the Moabites; but they were afterwards reckoned with by themselves, Eze 25:12. Now observe,
1. What was the sin of the Moabites; they said, Behold, the house of Judah is like unto all the heathen. They triumphed, (1.) In the apostasies of Israel, were please to see them forsake their God and worship idols, and hoped that in a while their religion would be quite lost and forgotten and the house of Judah would be l…
(1Sa. 13:1-14:52; Ch2 28:18). The "old hatred" refers to their continual enmity to the covenant-people. They lay along Judea on the seacoast at the opposite side from Ammon and Moab. They were overthrown by Uzziah (Ch2 26:6), and by Hezekiah (Kg2 18:8). Nebuchadnezzar overran the cities on the seacoast on his way to Egypt after besieging Tyre (Jer 47:1-7). God will take vengeance on those who take the avenging of themselves out of His hands into their own (Rom 12:19-21; Jam 2:13).
Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 25:15
Because the Philistines - They were as inimical to the Jews as the Ammonites, etc., were. Nebuchadnezzar punished them because they had assisted the Tyrians during the time he was besieging their city.
I will cut of the Cherethims - See the note on Sa2 8:18.
The remnant of the sea coasts - The different seignories of the Philistines inhabited the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, from Judea to Egypt. For other matters relative to these prophecies, see Jer 47:4 (note).
John Gill on Ezekiel 25:15
Thus saith the Lord God,.... Once more, and concerning another enemy of the people of Israel, and who had been of old an implacable one:
because the Philistines have dealt by revenge: for what they suffered in the times of Saul, when Goliath was slain by David, and their army was discomfited; and for the overthrow of them by David, when he came to throne; and for his burning their images, and subduing them, 1 Samuel 17:51, this revenge they took in the time of Ahaz, 2 Chronicles 28:18, and very probably also showed their spite at the time of Jerusalem's destruction:
and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart, to destroy it for the old hatred; which they bore to the people of Israel,…
The Church Fathers
(Vers. 15, 16.) Thus says the Lord God: Because the Philistines acted in vengeance, and took revenge with wholehearted malice, and filled ancient enmities; therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will stretch out my hand against the Philistines, and I will destroy the killers and annihilate the remnants of the coastal region. And I will inflict great vengeance upon them in furious rebukes, and they will know that I am the Lord when I execute my vengeance upon them. LXX: Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Because the aliens have committed vengeance and have provoked wrath, insultingly, from the heart, in order to destroy forever; therefore, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will stretch out my hand against the aliens, and I will destroy or kill the Cretans, and I will destroy the remnants of the coastal region, and I will bring upon them great vengeance in the fury of wrath, and they shall know that I am the Lord God when I execute my vengeance upon them. After the sons of Ammon, Moab, and Seir, who themselves are also Edomites, and through Lot and Esau are linked to the people of Israel and the house of Judah by kinship, came to the Philistines, whom the Seventy Translators translated as ἀλλοφύλους, that is, foreigners, not by the general name of all the nations that are not of the Jewish race, but by the specific name of their own race, which is now called Palestine, with the letter P changed to Pi (π) according to the Greek custom, just as we celebrate the Hebrew Phase () in Greek and Latin as Pascha. The Philistines are interpreted as those who fall by the cup, who themselves were intoxicated by the golden cup of Babylon, and they rage and insult with their whole heart, remembering the ancient enmities against old Israel, from whom they were separated from God's people. And when the Lord says, 'Vengeance is mine, and I will repay' (Deuteronomy 32:35), they themselves take revenge by killing and fulfilling the old hatred. On account of this, they will feel the outstretched hand of the Lord above them, which will kill the killers. For this reason, the Cretans, not knowing what they wanted, interpreted the Seventy (LXX), together with Aquila and Symmachus, and Theodotion, the Hebrew word Chorethim (), as either murderers or murder. This was not only said in the present place, but also in Zephaniah where it is said against the Philistines: Gaza will be…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Philistines — (Gen. 10:14, R.V.; but in A.V., “Philistim”), a tribe allied to the Phoenicians. They were a branch of the primitive race which spread over the whole district of the Lebanon and the valley of the…
Prophecy — Or prediction, was one of the functions of the prophet. It has been defined as a “miracle of knowledge, a declaration or description or representation of something future, beyond the power of human…
Heart, Character Of The Unrenewed · Despiteful — Despiteful
Jews, The · None hated or oppressed, with impunity — None hated or oppressed, with impunity
Malice · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Philistines · Prophecies respecting: Hatred and revenge against Israel to be fully recompensed — Prophecies respecting: Hatred and revenge against Israel to be fully recompensed
Revenge · Proceeds from a spiteful heart — Proceeds from a spiteful heart
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Against the Philistines
Eze 25:15. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because the Philistines act with revenge, and avenge themselves with contempt in the soul to destroy in everlasting enmity, Eze 25:16. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will stretch out my hand over the Philistines, and cut off the Cretans, and destroy the remnant by the seashore. Eze 25:17. And I will execute great vengeance upon them through chastisements of wrath, and they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I bring my vengeance upon them. - The Philistines resembled the Edomites and Ammonites in their disposition towards the covenant nation, the former in their thirst for revenge, the latter in their malicious…
The Philistines also had a long-standing contempt for Judah. Their crimes are not specified, but they did not escape the Lord’s notice, and he would return vengeance for vengeance. Then they, too, would recognize the Lord’s sovereign power. • The Kerethites were a Philistine tribe (see 1 Sam 30:14).
Rashi on Ezekiel 25:15
Because the Philistines acted with vengeance With hatred and with rigor, like a man who wreaks vengeance upon his enemy.
