Ez 25:15-17 and the application of the lex talionis to the Philistines:

Abstract

Oracles of condemnation, aimed at Gentiles, are common in prophetic writings. They are generally understood in terms of YHWH's salvific plans in favor of Israel, constituted as a holy nation and kingdom of priests (Ex 19,5-6). However, the universalist view of YHWH's dominion would offer a more consistent and comprehensive line of interpretation regarding these oracles. From this perspective, we proceeded with verifying the application of the lex talionis by YHWH, such as gō’ēl against the Philistines in Ez 25,15-17, in order to understand the criteria and arguments that the prophet Ezekiel used to reinvigorate depleted faith and hope in exiles. Diachronic and synchronic approaches were applied to the text. Through these, it was possible to verify the good quality of the text transmitted in Hebrew, compared, in particular, with the Septuagint and the Vulgate, as well as delimiting, structuring and classifying the text according to literary genre. Such procedures and their results made it possible to obtain the possible meaning intended by the prophet, verifying the relevance of his message in line with the final form of the book and with other elements narrated in other corpora of the Hebrew Bible.