The Sin of 'Aha!': God's Judgment on Malice Text: Ezekiel 25:1-7
Introduction: The Treason of Glee
We come now to a section of Ezekiel where the prophet, having delivered God's terrible sentence against His own covenant people, turns his face to the surrounding nations. This is not, as some might think, a simple case of "what goes around, comes around." This is a profound theological lesson on the nature of God's sovereignty, the holiness of His name, and the peculiar wickedness of gloating over a judgment that God Himself has orchestrated. The sin of the Ammonites was not that they were political rivals of Judah. Their sin was that they saw the discipline of God and mistook it for the defeat of God. They looked upon the smoking ruins of Jerusalem, the desecrated Temple, and the long lines of Jewish exiles, and they said, "Aha!"
This word, "Aha!", is the distilled essence of malice. It is the sin of Schadenfreude, of taking joy in the misery of others. But this was not just any misery; it was the misery of God's people, brought about by God's own hand. The Ammonites were laughing at a family chastisement. They were like a bystander jeering at a father who is spanking his son for rank disobedience. In doing so, they were not siding with the father against the son's rebellion; they were mocking the father's authority, his grief, and his very name. They thought Yahweh was finished, that He was just another tribal god who couldn't protect His turf.
This is a foundational error. God is the Lord of all history. He is the one who raises up nations and the one who brings them down. He used Babylon to discipline Judah, and here He announces that He will judge Ammon for their reaction to that discipline. God judges His people for their sins, and He judges the nations for their sins, and sometimes He judges the nations for their sinful reactions to His judgment of His people. He is the judge of all the earth, and He will do right. This passage is a solemn warning to all who would stand by and mock the church in her moments of trial. To say "Aha!" to the church is to say "Aha!" to Christ, and that is a quarrel you will not win.
The Text
And the word of Yahweh came to me saying, "Son of man, set your face toward the sons of Ammon and prophesy against them and say to the sons of Ammon, 'Hear the word of Lord Yahweh! Thus says Lord Yahweh, "Because you said, 'Aha!' against My sanctuary when it was profaned, and against the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and against the house of Judah when they went into exile, therefore, behold, I am going to give you to the sons of the east for a possession, and they will set their encampaments among you and make their dwellings among you; they will eat your fruit and drink your milk. I will make Rabbah a pasture for camels and the sons of Ammon a resting place for flocks. Thus you will know that I am Yahweh." For thus says Lord Yahweh, "Because you have clapped your hands and stamped your feet and were glad with all the scorn of your soul against the land of Israel, therefore, behold, I have stretched out My hand against you, and I will give you for plunder to the nations. And I will cut you off from the peoples and make you perish from the lands; I will destroy you. Thus you will know that I am Yahweh."
(Ezekiel 25:1-7 LSB)
The Divine Indictment (vv. 1-3)
The prophecy begins with a formal, legal summons.
"Son of man, set your face toward the sons of Ammon and prophesy against them and say to the sons of Ammon, 'Hear the word of Lord Yahweh!..." (Ezekiel 25:2-3a)
When God "sets His face" against a person or a nation, it is a declaration of focused, unwavering, judicial intent. This is not a casual remark. God is turning His full attention to the Ammonites, and He commands His prophet to do the same. They are being called to attention in the divine courtroom. The charge is then read, and it is very specific.
"Thus says Lord Yahweh, 'Because you said, "Aha!" against My sanctuary when it was profaned, and against the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and against the house of Judah when they went into exile...'" (Ezekiel 25:3b)
The core of their crime is this word of contemptuous glee: "Aha!" And notice the three objects of their scorn. First, they gloated over God's sanctuary. They saw the Temple, the place where God had put His name, overrun by pagans, and they celebrated. They did not understand that God had allowed this profanation because of Israel's idolatry. They saw it as proof of Yahweh's weakness. This was a direct insult to the living God. Second, they gloated over the land of Israel. This was the land God promised to Abraham, the holy inheritance. They saw it laid waste and rejoiced, likely hoping to pick up a few parcels of property for themselves. Third, they gloated over the house of Judah. These were their relatives, descended from Abraham's nephew Lot. But instead of familial grief, they showed triumphant scorn as their cousins were dragged off in chains. They mocked God's presence, God's promise, and God's people. This is a hat trick of high treason against the King of heaven.
The Fitting Sentence (vv. 4-5)
As always with God, the punishment is tailored to the crime. Their sin was rooted in pride and covetousness, and so their sentence is one of utter humiliation and dispossession.
"therefore, behold, I am going to give you to the sons of the east for a possession... they will eat your fruit and drink your milk." (Ezekiel 25:4)
The Ammonites were a settled people with cities and farms. Their judgment would be to be overrun by nomadic tribes from the eastern desert. These "sons of the east" would not honor their property lines or respect their civic structures. They would treat the whole nation like one large, temporary campsite, consuming everything the Ammonites had worked to build. The settled are overthrown by the wanderers. Those who coveted Israel's land would lose their own.
"I will make Rabbah a pasture for camels and the sons of Ammon a resting place for flocks. Thus you will know that I am Yahweh." (Ezekiel 25:5)
Rabbah was their capital city, the center of their military strength and national pride. God says He will demolish it so completely that it will become nothing more than a pasture. The place of their throne rooms and temples will be a place for camels to chew their cud. The ultimate civic degradation. And here we see the purpose of it all. This is not mere revenge. It is revelation. God's judgments are designed to teach a lesson that could be learned no other way: "Thus you will know that I am Yahweh." He is demonstrating, through the wreckage of their nation, that He is the sovereign Lord of history, and not the failed deity they imagined Him to be.
The Attitude of the Heart (vv. 6-7)
God is not finished. He returns to the indictment to drill down into the motive, the spiritual disposition that fueled their "Aha!"
"Because you have clapped your hands and stamped your feet and were glad with all the scorn of your soul against the land of Israel..." (Ezekiel 25:6)
This was not a quiet, private satisfaction. This was a public spectacle of malice. They threw a party. The clapping of hands and stamping of feet depicts a victory dance. It was a physical, visceral, unrestrained celebration. And it came from the depths of their being: "with all the scorn of your soul." This was not surface-level political maneuvering. This was a deep-seated, spiritual poison, a hatred for God's people that permeated their entire soul.
"therefore, behold, I have stretched out My hand against you... I will cut you off from the peoples and make you perish from the lands; I will destroy you. Thus you will know that I am Yahweh." (Ezekiel 25:7)
Because their sin was total, their destruction will be total. God stretches out His hand, an image of irresistible divine power. He will give them as plunder. He will erase their national identity, cutting them off from the roster of nations. He will make them perish. This is a prophecy of utter annihilation, which was historically fulfilled. The Ammonites as a people are gone. And the lesson is repeated one last time, like the tolling of a great bell. You will know that I am Yahweh. You can learn it the easy way, through faith and repentance, or you can learn it the hard way, through fire and desolation. But one way or another, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord.
Conclusion: The Cross, the Ultimate 'Aha!'
The spirit of Ammon is alive and well. The world loves to see the church stumble. When a prominent leader falls into sin, when a congregation is torn apart by strife, when the people of God are afflicted, the world claps its hands and stamps its feet. They say, "Aha! So much for your God." They see the church being disciplined for her worldliness and compromise, and they mistake it for the final defeat of Christ's kingdom.
This is the folly of the scoffer. He sees the pruning and thinks the tree is dying. He does not understand that the Lord disciplines those He loves, and that this discipline is for our holiness, that we might share in His glory.
The greatest "Aha!" in the history of the world was shouted at the foot of the cross. The rulers of the age, both secular and religious, clapped their hands and stamped their feet. They saw the Son of God profaned, the true Temple of God destroyed, the King of Judah exiled to the land of the dead. They rejoiced with all the scorn of their souls. They thought they had won. They thought God was finished.
But in that very moment of the world's malicious glee, God was accomplishing the salvation of the world. Their "Aha!" was the soundtrack to their own defeat. God stretched out His hand, not to destroy His Son, but to raise Him from the dead, cutting off the principalities and powers and making them perish. And in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, God gave His final, definitive, world-altering lesson. Thus you will know that I am Yahweh. He is the Lord. His kingdom cannot be shaken. And all who mock His work will one day find their jeers silenced by the blast of His trumpet.