Ezekiel 25:3

     3. (Jer 49:1).

      when . . . profaned; . . . when . . . desolate; . . . when . . . captivity—rather, "for . . . for . . . for": the cause of the insolent exultation of Ammon over Jerusalem. They triumphed especially over the fall of the "sanctuary," as the triumph of heathenism over the rival claims of Jehovah. In Jehoshaphat's time, when the eighty-third Psalm was written (Ps 83:4, 7, 8, 12, "Ammon . . . holpen the children of Lot," who were, therefore, the leaders of the unholy conspiracy, "Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession"), we see the same profane spirit. Now at last their wicked wish seems accomplished in the fall of Jerusalem. Ammon, descended from Lot, held the region east of Jordan, separated from the Amorites on the north by the river Jabbok, and from Moab on the south by the Arnon. They were auxiliaries to Babylon in the destruction of Jerusalem (2Ki 24:2).

Ezekiel 25:6

     6, 7. "Because thou hast clapped thine hands," exulting over the downfall of Jerusalem, "I also will stretch out Mine hand upon thee" (to which Eze 21:17 also may refer, "I will smite Mine hands together").

      hands . . . feet . . . heart—with the whole inward feeling, and with every outward indication. Stamping with the foot means dancing for joy.

Zephaniah 2:9-10

     9. the breeding of nettles—or, the overspreading of nettles, that is, a place overrun with them.

      salt pits—found at the south of the Dead Sea. The water overflows in the spring, and salt is left by the evaporation. Salt land is barren (Jud 9:45; Ps 107:34, Margin).

      possess them—that is, their land; in retribution for their having occupied Judah's land.

     10. (Compare Zep 2:8).

      their pride—in antithesis to the meek (Zep 2:3).

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