The Vengeance That Is Not Ours Text: Ezekiel 25:12-14
Introduction: The Sin of the Sidelines
In the great cosmic drama of redemption, there are no neutral parties. There are no spectators. When God’s covenant people are afflicted, when they are brought low for their own sins, as Judah certainly was, the watching world is also put to the test. And the test is this: will you stand with the God of Israel, even when His own people are under His fatherly rod? Or will you join the jeering mob? Will you kick your brother when he is down? Will you, in short, take God’s prerogative of vengeance into your own hands?
This is the question that the prophet Ezekiel, ministering in exile, puts to the nations surrounding Judah. And one by one, they fail the test spectacularly. Ammon, Moab, Philistia, and here, in our text, the nation of Edom. Edom’s sin was particularly grievous because they were family. The Edomites were the descendants of Esau, Jacob’s twin brother. They were kinsmen. And when the Babylonians, God’s instrument of chastisement, came and sacked Jerusalem, Edom did not just watch. They gloated. They helped. They took vengeance.
The sin of Edom is the sin of schadenfreude, of delighting in the misfortune of others. But it is more than that. It is the sin of presuming to be God. When God judges His people, He is acting as a Father, disciplining a son whom He loves. When an outsider, a brother nursing an ancient grudge, piles on, he is not participating in God’s discipline. He is usurping God’s authority. He is claiming for himself the right to vengeance, a right that belongs to God alone. And for this, God promises a terrible and fitting retribution. God’s justice is not a chaotic, free-for-all. It is orderly, covenantal, and precise. Edom took vengeance on Judah, and so God will lay His vengeance on Edom. And He will do it, with a crushing and beautiful irony, by the hand of His people Israel.
This passage is a stark warning to all who would mock the church of God in her distress. It is a warning against all forms of tribalism and score-settling that forget the Creator/creature distinction. And it is a profound comfort, for it shows us that God never forgets His people, and He will always vindicate His name. He is the judge of all the earth, and He will do right.
The Text
‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Because Edom has acted against the house of Judah by taking vengeance and has incurred grievous guilt and avenged themselves upon them,” therefore thus says Lord Yahweh, “I will also stretch out My hand against Edom and cut off man and beast from it. And I will lay it waste; from Teman even to Dedan they will fall by the sword. I will lay My vengeance on Edom by the hand of My people Israel. Therefore, they will act in Edom according to My anger and according to My wrath; thus they will know My vengeance,” declares Lord Yahweh.
(Ezekiel 25:12-14 LSB)
The Charge: Grievous Guilt (v. 12)
We begin with the Lord’s indictment against Edom.
"‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Because Edom has acted against the house of Judah by taking vengeance and has incurred grievous guilt and avenged themselves upon them,’” (Ezekiel 25:12 LSB)
The charge is specific and repeated for emphasis. Edom acted by "taking vengeance." They "avenged themselves." This was not a passive sin of omission, though the prophet Obadiah tells us they were guilty of that as well, for standing aloof on the day of their brother’s calamity (Obadiah 1:11). No, this was an active, malicious sin. When Jerusalem fell, Edom likely helped round up fleeing refugees and handed them over to the Babylonians, or perhaps even killed them. They exploited their brother’s weakness for their own gain and to settle an old score that went all the way back to Jacob and Esau.
The result was "grievous guilt." This is covenantal language. Nations, just like individuals, are in a covenantal relationship with God. All nations are accountable to Him. They don't get to define justice for themselves; they must answer to the standard of justice that God has written into the fabric of the world (Romans 2:14-15). Edom’s sin was a violation of this natural law, made all the worse by their familial bond to Judah. They should have shown mercy. Instead, they showed malice.
But the core of their sin was taking vengeance. "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord" (Romans 12:19, quoting Deut. 32:35). This is one of the fundamental laws of God’s moral universe. Vengeance is a divine prerogative. Why? Because only God has the perfect knowledge, the perfect righteousness, and the sovereign authority to execute it justly. When men or nations take vengeance, it is never pure. It is always tainted with pride, disproportionate rage, and selfish ambition. Edom was not acting as a minister of God’s justice. They were acting as a rival to God, setting up their own court and passing their own sentence. This is a form of practical atheism. It is to say, "God is not judging fast enough, or hard enough, so we will help Him out." And God will not tolerate such insolence.
The Sentence: Divine Retribution (v. 13)
Because Edom usurped God’s role, God now declares what He, the rightful judge, will do.
"therefore thus says Lord Yahweh, “I will also stretch out My hand against Edom and cut off man and beast from it. And I will lay it waste; from Teman even to Dedan they will fall by the sword.” (Ezekiel 25:13 LSB)
The sentence is a perfect and terrible reflection of the crime. This is the principle of lex talionis, the law of retaliation, applied on a national scale. Edom participated in the wasting of Judah, so God will lay Edom waste. The judgment is total. God will "stretch out My hand," an anthropomorphism for an act of direct, overwhelming power. He will "cut off man and beast." This signifies a complete un-creation, a reversal of the blessing of dominion. The land itself will be made desolate.
The geographical scope is also total. "From Teman even to Dedan." Teman was a major city in the north of Edom, and Dedan was in the south. This is like saying "from Dan to Beersheba." It means the entire nation, from one end to the other, will be subject to this judgment. No one will escape. They will "fall by the sword." The very instrument of violence they used against their brother will be turned back upon them.
We must not sanitize this. God’s wrath against sin is real, and it is fierce. We live in a sentimental age that wants a God who is all mercy and no justice, a grandfatherly deity who would never harm a fly. That is not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is a consuming fire. His holiness requires that sin be punished. And when nations corporately sin, they will be corporately judged in history. Nations do not have souls to be judged in the eschaton; therefore, their judgment comes in time, on the stage of human events. Edom’s bill had come due.
The Instrument: Covenantal Irony (v. 14)
The final verse reveals the stunning and ironic means by which God will execute this sentence.
"I will lay My vengeance on Edom by the hand of My people Israel. Therefore, they will act in Edom according to My anger and according to My wrath; thus they will know My vengeance,” declares Lord Yahweh. (Ezekiel 25:14 LSB)
This is a staggering promise. At the time Ezekiel is writing, Judah is a smoking ruin. The people are in exile. From a human perspective, they are finished. The idea that they would one day be the instrument of God’s vengeance against their triumphant enemies would have seemed ludicrous. But God sees the end from the beginning. He is the God who brings life from the dead.
Notice the careful wording. God says, "I will lay My vengeance on Edom." But He will do it "by the hand of My people Israel." This is not Israel taking their own vengeance. This is Israel acting as God’s authorized agent. They are the sword in His hand. They will act "according to My anger and according to My wrath." Their actions will be the perfect expression of God’s righteous judgment, not their own sinful spite. This is the crucial difference between holy justice and unholy revenge.
This was fulfilled historically. After the exile, under leaders like the Maccabees, Israel did rise again and subjugate Edom (Idumea). But the principle is broader. God uses His covenant people to execute His judgments in the world. The church, through the preaching of the gospel and the discipling of the nations, is the instrument by which Christ puts all His enemies under His feet (1 Corinthians 15:25).
The result of this judgment is knowledge. "Thus they will know My vengeance." The purpose of God’s judgments is not simply punitive; it is revelatory. God acts in history so that the world might know who He is. They will know that He is a God who keeps His promises, who defends His people, and who will not be mocked. Edom thought they were having the last laugh at Judah’s expense. But God ensures that He is the one who laughs last (Psalm 2:4). His vengeance is not just an act of power; it is an act of self-revelation. It declares to a rebellious world that Yahweh, He is God.
Conclusion: The Vengeance of the Cross
This prophecy against Edom is a sharp and pointed stick. It warns us against the bitter root of vengeance. It reminds us that nations are accountable to God for how they treat His people. But in the final analysis, this passage, like all of Scripture, points us to the cross of Jesus Christ.
At the cross, we see the ultimate expression of man’s wicked vengeance. The nations of men, both Jew and Gentile, conspired together to take vengeance on the Son of God. They acted out of envy, malice, and a desire to usurp God’s throne. They took the righteous one and subjected Him to the sword.
And yet, at that very same cross, we see the ultimate expression of God’s righteous vengeance. God the Father stretched out His hand, not against Edom, but against His own beloved Son. He laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. He acted according to His perfect anger and wrath against our sin. He did this so that we might know His vengeance, not as condemned sinners, but as pardoned children.
The cross is where God’s vengeance and God’s mercy meet. God took vengeance on sin by punishing it in the person of Christ, so that He could extend mercy to sinners who trust in Him. Because God laid His vengeance on Christ, He does not lay it on us. He calls us, not to avenge ourselves, but to proclaim the good news of the One who absorbed all vengeance for us.
Therefore, we must never be like Edom. We must never rejoice in the downfall of others, even our enemies. We must not take vengeance, because our Vindicator lives. We are to be agents, not of wrath, but of reconciliation. We are to be the hand of God in the world, not to wield the sword of destruction, but to offer the bread of life, pointing all men to the cross where justice was satisfied and mercy was bought. For it is only there that an enemy like Edom, and an enemy like you, can be made a brother.