God's judgment upon the nations is covered in Ezekiel 25 through 32. According to Genesis 11, rebellious mankind sought to build the tower and city of Babel in order to concentrate themselves and make a name for themselves. The Lord then came down to exercise His judgment over the rebellious people. Babel, under the Lord's judgment, became a center of scattering, not a center of gathering. The human race was scattered from Babel as the center.
Deuteronomy 32:8 tells us that God set up the boundaries of all the nations according to the number of the people of Israel. This means that in God's economy on earth among the human race, Israel is the center. Israel is the center of the population upon earth. By looking at a map, we can see that Palestine, the good land where God put Israel, is in fact a real center on this earth. Palestine is situated at the very center of the three main continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa. These three continents are the old continents where the human population began. Later, the human population spread to America and also to Australia. According to the geography of the inhabited earth, the land of Israel is right at the center. This provided a good opportunity for the spreading of the gospel. According to history, the preaching of the gospel began in Jerusalem, spread to Europe and to Egypt, and then to Asia. Afterwards, it spread to America and Australia. Thus, it was God's purpose to put His people at the very center of the human population. Furthermore, according to the prophecies concerning the coming age, the millennium, the people of Israel will be priests on the earth teaching all the nations to worship God (Isa. 61:6). Even this prophecy shows us that the center of the earth is Palestine.
At the time of Ezekiel, however, the people of Israel had become degraded and unsuitable for God's purpose. They forced God to exercise His judgment upon them and to temporarily give up Palestine as His center. God turned to Babel again and raised up King Nebuchadnezzar who built the empire of Babylon. The Babylonian empire became God's center for executing His judgment. Through Babylon under King Nebuchadnezzar, God executed His judgment not only over His people Israel, but also over all the nations.
According to Ezekiel 25 through 32, seven nations were surrounding the nation of Israel. Actually, there were more nations surrounding the nation of Israel, but the record only mentions seven. This is according to the principle also followed in Revelation 2 and 3. When the Spirit spoke of the churches in Asia, He selected only seven churches (Rev. 1:11). This did not mean there were only seven churches in Asia, but that the Lord selected seven representative churches. Ezekiel did the same thing. It does not mean there were only seven nations surrounding Israel, but that the Lord selected seven nations as representative of all the nations. What were these seven nations? They were Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, Tyrus, Zidon, and Egypt.
The first four nations, Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Philistia form one group, and Tyrus and Zidon form a second group. Egypt stands alone. We know that the nations are divided into these three groups because Ezekiel saw three separate visions at three different times concerning these groups. His first vision covered the first four nations. His second vision covered the judgment over Tyrus and Zidon. Then the third vision covered God's judgment over Egypt. Furthermore, the first two, Ammon and Moab, fit together as a pair. The third and fourth, Edom and Philistia, stand as a pair, and Tyrus and Zidon also are a pair. Only Egypt stands alone.