Charles Ellicott Commentary Ezekiel 25:12

"Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them;" — Ezekiel 25:12 (ASV)

Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah. —The reason for Edom’s hostility to Israel is expressly said to be revenge. Descended from the elder son, they had never looked complacently on the spiritual superiority given to the descendants of the younger. They showed their hostility from the first by refusing, with a show of violence, a passage to the Israelites through their territory (Numbers 20:18–21); and although they were subdued and made tributary under David and Solomon (2 Samuel 8:14; 1 Kings 9:26), yet in the decline of the Jewish power they availed themselves of every opportunity for hostility (2 Chronicles 28:17, and other passages).

At this time they not only joined the armies of Nebuchadnezzar but appear to have urged on the conqueror to greater cruelty and to have themselves waylaid the fugitives to cut them off (Ezekiel 35:5; Psalms 137:7; Amos 1:11; Obadiah 1:11). They also, during the Captivity, took possession of many towns of Judea, including Hebron (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 12.8.6; The Jewish War 4.9.7), which were reconquered in the time of the Maccabees. Other prophecies against Edom may be found in Numbers 24:18-19; Isaiah 11:14; Jeremiah 49:7–12; Joel 3:19, besides the extended prophecy of Ezekiel in Ezekiel 35.