Ezekiel 35:5

A perpetual hatred. This hatred dated from the time of Jacob and Esau (Gen. 27:41; cf. Gen. 25:22, 23). At the time of the Exodus, Edom had refused Israel passage through her territory (Num. 20:14-21). After the settlement in Canaan the Edomites had watched with undisguised envy the growing power of Israel. Edom had joined Ammon and Moab against Judah in the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. 20:10, 11; cf. Ps. 83:1-8; see Introduction to Ps. 83). It would seem that when the Babylonians took Jerusalem the Edomites assisted them, occupying the gates and stationing themselves at roads leading into the country so as to prevent the escape of fugitives (Obadiah 11-14). In the day of Jerusalem’s calamity the Edomites had fiendishly and vindictively exclaimed, “Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof” (Ps. 137:7).