Ezekiel 35:8 MEANING

(8) Rivers.--As elsewhere = river-courses, in which water was found only at times.

Verse 8. - And I will fill his mountains with his slain; literally, pierced through; hence mortally wounded. Then Edom's desolation would result from an exterminating war, which should fill its hills, valleys, and rivers, or rather, water-courses, with slaughtered men (cf. Ezekiel 31:12; Ezekiel 32:5). The physical features of Edom here specified by the prophet have often been attested by travelers. "Idumea embraces a section of a broad mountain range, extending in breadth from the valley of the Arabah to the desert plateau of Arabia. The ravines which intersect these sandstone mountains are very remarkable. Take them as a whole, there is nothing like them in the world, especially those near Petra. The deep valleys and the little terraces along the mountain-sides, and the broad downs upon their summits, are covered with rich soil, in which trees, shrubs, and flowers grow luxuriantly" (Porter, in Kitto's 'Cyclopaedia,' art. "Idumea").

35:1-9 All who have God against them, have the word of God against them. Those that have a constant hatred to God and his people, as the carnal mind has, can only expect to be made desolate for ever.And I will fill his mountains with his slain men,.... Not only Mount Seir, but all the rest of the mountains, in Idumea; where they shall flee for refuge, and the enemy shall pursue them, and slay them; and where their carcasses will fall in such numbers, as to cover the mountains with them; compare with this Revelation 19:18,

in thy hills, and in thy valleys, and in all thy rivers, shall they fall that are slain with the sword: expressive of the greatness and universality of the slaughter, that it should be a general one everywhere; hence rivers and fountains are said to become blood, through the number of the slain, Revelation 16:3.