Text -- Ezekiel 36:12-38 (NET)

36:12 I will lead people, my people Israel, across you; they will possess you and you will become their inheritance. No longer will you bereave them of their children. 36:13 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Because they are saying to you, “You are a devourer of men, and bereave your nation of children,” 36:14 therefore you will no longer devour people and no longer bereave your nation of children, declares the sovereign Lord. 36:15 I will no longer subject you to the nations’ insults; no longer will you bear the shame of the peoples, and no longer will you bereave your nation, declares the sovereign Lord.’” 36:16 The word of the Lord came to me: 36:17 “Son of man, when the house of Israel was living on their own land, they defiled it by their behavior and their deeds. In my sight their behavior was like the uncleanness of a woman having her monthly period. 36:18 So I poured my anger on them because of the blood they shed on the land and because of the idols with which they defiled it. 36:19 I scattered them among the nations; they were dispersed throughout foreign countries. In accordance with their behavior and their deeds I judged them. 36:20 But when they arrived in the nations where they went, they profaned my holy name. It was said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, yet they have departed from his land.’ 36:21 I was concerned for my holy reputation which the house of Israel profaned among the nations where they went. 36:22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: It is not for your sake that I am about to act, O house of Israel, but for the sake of my holy reputation which you profaned among the nations where you went. 36:23 I will magnify my great name that has been profaned among the nations, that you have profaned among them. The nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the sovereign Lord, when I magnify myself among you in their sight. 36:24 “‘I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries; then I will bring you to your land. 36:25 I will sprinkle you with pure water and you will be clean from all your impurities. I will purify you from all your idols. 36:26 I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh. 36:27 I will put my Spirit within you; I will take the initiative and you will obey my statutes and carefully observe my regulations. 36:28 Then you will live in the land I gave to your fathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God. 36:29 I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and multiply it; I will not bring a famine on you. 36:30 I will multiply the fruit of the trees and the produce of the fields, so that you will never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. 36:31 Then you will remember your evil behavior and your deeds which were not good; you will loathe yourselves on account of your sins and your abominable deeds. 36:32 Understand that it is not for your sake I am about to act, declares the sovereign Lord. Be ashamed and embarrassed by your behavior, O house of Israel. 36:33 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: In the day I cleanse you from all your sins, I will populate the cities and the ruins will be rebuilt. 36:34 The desolate land will be plowed, instead of being desolate in the sight of everyone who passes by. 36:35 They will say, “This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden; the ruined, desolate, and destroyed cities are now fortified and inhabited.” 36:36 Then the nations which remain around you will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruins and replanted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken– and I will do it!’ 36:37 “This is what the sovereign Lord says: I will allow the house of Israel to ask me to do this for them: I will multiply their people like sheep. 36:38 Like the sheep for offerings, like the sheep of Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so will the ruined cities be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Wesley: Eze 36:12

O land of Canaan.

Wesley: Eze 36:12

Consume thine inhabitants.

Wesley: Eze 36:13

The heathen round about.

Wesley: Eze 36:14

I will so bless thee, O land, that thou shalt bring forth and breed up many sons and daughters, and this reproach shall cease for ever.

Wesley: Eze 36:17

By their carriage, and whole conversation.

Wesley: Eze 36:17

Or as one cut off from the congregation, because of some great sin.

Wesley: Eze 36:20

When they were come into Babylon.

Wesley: Eze 36:20

They sinned.

Wesley: Eze 36:20

Their heathen neighbours.

Wesley: Eze 36:20

The profane Jews.

Wesley: Eze 36:20

These profane slaves, call themselves the people of the Lord and say, he gave them the land out of which they are driven.

Wesley: Eze 36:21

For these sins I had just cause to cut them off; but I had pity, for the glory of my name: had I destroyed them, the heathen would have concluded against my omnipotence, and my truth.

Wesley: Eze 36:23

They gave the heathen occasion to think meanly of me, but I will shew I am as great as good. When God performs what he hath sworn by his holiness, then he sanctifies his name.

Wesley: Eze 36:25

"This signifies both the blood of Christ sprinkled upon their conscience, to take away their guilt, as the water of purification was sprinkled, to take away their ceremonial uncleanness and the grace of the spirit sprinkled on the whole soul, to purify it from all corrupt inclinations and dispositions."

Wesley: Eze 36:26

A new frame of soul, a mind changed, from sinful to holy, from carnal to spiritual. A heart in which the law of God is written, Jer 31:33. A sanctified heart, in which the almighty grace of God is victorious, and turns it from all sin to God.

Wesley: Eze 36:26

A new, holy frame in the spirit of man; which is given to him, not wrought by his own power.

Wesley: Eze 36:26

The senseless unfeeling.

Wesley: Eze 36:26

Out of you.

Wesley: Eze 36:26

That is, quite of another temper, hearkening to God's law, trembling at his threats, moulded into a compliance with his whole will; to forbear, do, be, or suffer what God will, receiving the impress of God, as soft wax receives the impress of the seal.

Wesley: Eze 36:27

The holy spirit of God, which is given to, and dwelleth in all true believers.

Wesley: Eze 36:27

Sweetly, powerfully, yet without compulsion; for our spirits, framed by God's spirit to a disposition suitable to his holiness, readily concurs.

Wesley: Eze 36:27

Be willing; and able to keep the judgments, and to walk in the statutes of God, which is, to live in all holiness.

Wesley: Eze 36:28

Observe: then, and not before, are these promises to be fulfilled to the house of Israel.

Wesley: Eze 36:28

This is the foundation of the top - stone of a believer's happiness.

Wesley: Eze 36:29

I will continue to save you.

Wesley: Eze 36:29

Salvation from all uncleannessess, includes justification, entire sanctification, and meetness for glory.

Wesley: Eze 36:29

All necessaries comprised in one.

Wesley: Eze 36:35

Strangers, or foreigners.

Wesley: Eze 36:37

Though I have repeated so often my promise to do this, yet it is their duty to intreat it, to wait on me, and then I will do it.

Wesley: Eze 36:38

Flocks designed to holy uses.

Wesley: Eze 36:38

These flocks were for quality, the best of all; and for numbers, very great, on the solemn feasts. Thus shall men multiply, and fill the cities of replanted Judea. And the increase of the numbers of men is then honourable, when they are all dedicated to God as a holy flock, to be presented to him for living sacrifices. Crowds are a lovely sight in God's temple.

JFB: Eze 36:12

O mountains of Israel (Eze 36:8)!

JFB: Eze 36:12

Change from plural to singular: O hill of Zion, singled out from the other mountains of Israel (Eze 34:26); or land.

JFB: Eze 36:12

Thou shalt no more provoke God to bereave them of children (so the ellipsis ought to be supplied, as Ezekiel probably alludes to Jer 15:7, "I will bereave them of children").

JFB: Eze 36:13

Alluding to the words of the spies (Num 13:32). The land personified is represented as doing that which was done in it. Like an unnatural mother it devoured, that is, it was the grave of its people; of the Canaanites, its former possessors, through mutual wars, and finally by the sword of Israel; and now, of the Jews, through internal and external ills; for example, wars, famine (to which Eze 36:30, "reproach of famine among the heathen," implies the allusion here is).

JFB: Eze 36:14

So the Keri, or Hebrew Margin reads, to correspond to "bereave" in Eze 36:13; but "cause to fall" or "stumble," in the Hebrew text or Chetib, being the more difficult reading, is the one least likely to come from a corrector; also, it forms a good transition to the next subject, namely, the moral cause of the people's calamities, namely, their falls, or stumblings through sin. The latter ceasing, the former also cease. So the same expression follows in Eze 36:15, "Neither shalt thou cause thy nations to fall any more."

JFB: Eze 36:17

(Lev 15:19, &c.).

JFB: Eze 36:18-19

The reason for their removal was their sin, which God's holiness could not let pass unpunished; just as a woman's legal uncleanness was the reason for her being separated from the congregation.

JFB: Eze 36:20

The heathen

JFB: Eze 36:20

The Israelites.

JFB: Eze 36:20

The Israelites gave a handle of reproach to the heathen against God, who would naturally say, These who take usury, oppress, commit adultery, &c., and who, in such an abject plight, are "gone forth" as exiles "out of His land," are specimens of what Jehovah can or will effect, for His people, and show what kind of a God this so-called holy, omnipotent, covenant-keeping God must be! (Isa 52:5; Rom 2:24).

JFB: Eze 36:21

That is, I felt pity for it; God's own name, so dishonored, was the primary object of His pitying concern; then His people, secondarily, through His concern for it [FAIRBAIRN].

JFB: Eze 36:22

That is, not for any merit in you; for, on the contrary, on your part, there is everything to call down continued severity (compare Deu 9:5-6). The sole and sure ground of hope was God's regard to "His own name," as the God of covenant grace (Psa 106:45), which He must vindicate from the dishonor brought on it by the Jews, before the heathen.

JFB: Eze 36:23

Vindicate and manifest as holy, in opposition to the heathen reproaches of it brought on by the Jews' sins and their punishment (see on Eze 36:20).

JFB: Eze 36:23

That is, in respect of you; I shall be regarded in their eyes as the Holy One, and righteous in My dealings towards you (Eze 20:41; Eze 28:22).

JFB: Eze 36:24

Fulfilled primarily in the restoration from Babylon; ultimately to be so in the restoration "from all countries."

JFB: Eze 36:25

The external restoration must be preceded by an internal one. The change in their condition must not be superficial, but must be based on a radical renewal of the heart. Then the heathen, understanding from the regenerated lives of God's people how holy God is, would perceive Israel's past troubles to have been only the necessary vindications of His righteousness. Thus God's name would be "sanctified" before the heathen, and God's people be prepared for outward blessings.

JFB: Eze 36:25

Phraseology taken from the law; namely, the water mixed with the ashes of a heifer sprinkled with a hyssop on the unclean (Num 19:9-18); the thing signified being the cleansing blood of Christ sprinkled on the conscience and heart (Heb 9:13-14; Heb 10:22; compare Jer 33:8; Eph 5:26).

JFB: Eze 36:25

Literal idolatry has ceased among the Jews ever since the captivity; so far, the prophecy has been already fulfilled; but "cleansing from all their idols," for example, covetousness, prejudices against Jesus of Nazareth, is yet future.

JFB: Eze 36:26

Mind and will.

JFB: Eze 36:26

Motive and principle of action.

JFB: Eze 36:26

Unimpressible in serious things; like the "stony ground" (Mat 13:5, Mat 13:20), unfit for receiving the good seed so as to bring forth fruit.

JFB: Eze 36:26

Not "carnal" in opposition to "spiritual"; but impressible and docile, fit for receiving the good seed. In Eze 18:31 they are commanded, "Make you a new heart, and a new spirit." Here God says, "A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you." Thus the responsibility of man, and the sovereign grace of God, are shown to be coexistent. Man cannot make himself a new heart unless God gives it (Phi 2:12-13).

JFB: Eze 36:27

(Eze 11:19; Jer 32:39). The partial reformation at the return from Babylon (Ezr 10:6, &c.; Neh. 8:1-9:38) was an earnest of the full renewal hereafter under Messiah.

JFB: Eze 36:28

(Eze 11:20; Jer 30:22).

JFB: Eze 36:29

The province of Jesus, according to the signification of His name (Mat 1:21). To be specially exercised in behalf of the Jews in the latter days (Rom 11:26).

JFB: Eze 36:29

As a master "calls for" a servant; all the powers and productions of nature are the servants of Jehovah (Psa 105:16; Mat 8:8-9). Compare as to the subordination of all the intermediate agents to the Great First Cause, who will give "corn" and all good things to His people, Hos 2:21-22; Zec 8:12.

JFB: Eze 36:30

To which their taunt (Eze 36:13), "Thou land devourest up men," in part referred.

JFB: Eze 36:31

With shame and loathing. The unexpected grace and love of God, manifested in Christ to Israel, shall melt the people into true repentance, which mere legal fear could not (Eze 16:61, Eze 16:63; Psa 130:4; Zec 12:10; compare Jer 33:8-9).

JFB: Eze 36:35

The heathen, who once made Israel's desolation a ground of reproach against the name of Jehovah Himself (Eze 36:20-21); but now He so vindicates its sanctity (Eze 36:22-23) that these same heathen are constrained to acknowledge Israel's more than renewed blessedness to be God's own work, and a ground for glorifying His name (Eze 36:36).

JFB: Eze 36:35

As Tyre (the type of the world powers in general: so Assyria, a cedar "in the garden of God, Eden," Eze 31:8-9), in original advantages, had been compared to "Eden, the garden of God" (Eze 28:13), from which she had fallen irrecoverably; so Israel, once desolate, is to be as "the garden of Eden" (Isa 51:3), and is to be so unchangeably.

JFB: Eze 36:36

(Num 23:19).

JFB: Eze 36:37

So as to grant it. On former occasions He had refused to be inquired of by Israel because the inquirers were not in a fit condition of mind to receive a blessing (Eze 14:3; Eze 20:3). But hereafter, as in the restoration from Babylon (Neh. 8:1-9:38; Dan. 9:3-20, 21, 23), God will prepare His people's hearts (Eze 36:26) to pray aright for the blessings which He is about to give (Psa 102:13-17, Psa 102:20; Zec 12:10-14; Zec 13:1).

JFB: Eze 36:37

Resuming the image (Eze 34:23, Eze 34:31).

JFB: Eze 36:38

The great flock of choice animals for sacrifice, brought up to Jerusalem at the three great yearly festivals, the passover, pentecost, and feast of the tabernacles.

Three stages in Israel's revival present themselves to the prophet's eye. (1) The new awakening of the people, the resurrection of the dead (Eze 37:1-14). (2) The reunion of the formerly hostile members of the community, whose contentions had affected the whole (Eze 37:15-28). (3) The community thus restored is strong enough to withstand the assault of Gog, &c. (Eze. 38:1-39:29) [EWALD].

Clarke: Eze 36:17

When the house of Israel dwelt in their own land - Had they continued faithful to me, they had never been removed from it: but they polluted it with their crimes; and I abhorred the land on that account, and gave both them and it up to the destroyers.

Clarke: Eze 36:20

And when they entered unto the heathen - So bad were they, and so deeply fallen, that they profaned the Lord’ s name among the heathen; and, on their account, the true God was blasphemed. These, say they, are the people of Jehovah! O what an abominable people are these! and what a being must that God be who can have and own such for his people!

Clarke: Eze 36:23

I will sanctify my great name - By changing your hearts and your conduct, I shall show my hatred to vice, and my love to holiness: but it is not for your sakes, but for my holy name’ s sake, that I shall do you good in your latter days.

Clarke: Eze 36:24

I will take you from among the heathen - This does not relate to the restoration from Babylon merely. The Jews are at this day scattered in all Heathen, Mohammedan, and Christian countries. From these they are to be gathered, and brought to repossess their own land.

Clarke: Eze 36:25

Then - At the time of this great restoration - will I sprinkle clean water upon you - the truly cleansing water; the influences of the Holy Spirit typified by water, whose property it is to cleanse, whiten, purify, refresh, render healthy and fruitful

Clarke: Eze 36:25

From all your filthiness - From every sort of external and internal abomination and pollution

Clarke: Eze 36:25

And from all your idols - False gods, false worship, false opinions, and false hopes

Clarke: Eze 36:25

Will I cleanse you - Entirely separate you.

Clarke: Eze 36:26

A new heart also will I give you - I will change the whole of your infected nature; and give you new appetites, new passions; or, at least, the old ones purified and refined. The heart is generally understood to mean all the affections and passions

Clarke: Eze 36:26

And a new spirit will I put within you - I will renew your minds, also enlighten your understanding, correct your judgment, and refine your will, so that you shall have a new spirit to actuate your new heart

Clarke: Eze 36:26

I will take away the stony heart - That heart that is hard, impenetrable, and cold; the affections and passions that are unyielding, frozen to good, unaffected by heavenly things; that are slow to credit the words of God. I will entirely remove this heart: it is the opposite to that which I have promised you; and you cannot have the new heart and the old heart at the same time

Clarke: Eze 36:26

And I will give you a heart of flesh - One that can feel, and that can enjoy; that can feel love to God and to all men, and be a proper habitation for the living God.

Clarke: Eze 36:27

And I will put my Spirit within you - To keep the heart of flesh alive, the feeling heart still sensible, the loving heart still happy. I will put my Spirit, the great principle of light, life, and love, within you, to actuate the new spirit, and to influence the new affections and passions; that the animal spirit may not become brutish, that the mental powers become not foolish. I will put my Spirit within you, so that as the new spirit may influence the new heart, so will My Spirit influence Your new spirit, that each may have a proper mover; and then all will be pure, regular, and harmonious, when passion is influenced by reason, and reason by the Holy Ghost

And the cause shall be evidenced by the effects; for I will cause you to walk in my statutes - not only to believe and reverence my appointments relative to what I command you to perform; but ye shall walk in them, your conduct shall be regulated by them. "And ye shall keep my judgments;"whatsoever I enjoin you to avoid. And ye shall do them - ye shall not only avoid every appearance of evil, but keep all my ordinances and commandments unblamably

Here is the salvation that God promises to give to restored Israel; and here is the salvation that is the birthright of every Christian believer: the complete destruction of all sin in the soul, and the complete renewal of the heart; no sin having any place within, and no unrighteousness having any place without

"But where are they that are thus saved?

Ans. Wherever true Christians are to be found

"But I know many true Christians that have not this salvation, but daily mourn over their evil hearts?

Ans. They may be sincere, but they are not true Christians; i.e., such as are saved from their sins; the true Christians are those who are filled with the nature and Spirit of Christ. But I will ask a question in my turn

"Do those you mention think it a virtue to be always mourning over their impurities?"Most certainly. Then it is a pity they were not better instructed. It is right they should mourn while they feel an impure heart; but why do they not apply to that blood which cleanses from all unrighteousness, and to that Spirit which cleanses the very thoughts of the heart by his inspiration? Many employ that time in brooding and mourning over their impure hearts, which should be spent in prayer and faith before God, that their impurities might be washed away. In what a state of nonage are many members of the Christian Church!

Clarke: Eze 36:28

Ye shall be my people - Wholly given up to me in body, soul, and spirit

Clarke: Eze 36:28

And I will be your God - To fill you with love, joy, peace, meekness, gentleness, longsuffering, fidelity and goodness, to occupy your whole soul, and gratify your every desire.

Clarke: Eze 36:29

I will also save you from all your uncleannesses - I repeat it; "I Will save you from all your sins."

Clarke: Eze 36:30

Ye shall receive no more reproach of famine - Ye shall be daily and hourly fed with the bread that endures unto eternal life. "But will not those get proud, who are thus saved, if there be any such? and will they not undervalue the blood of the covenant, for then they shall not need it?"Ans. Hear what the Lord saith: -

Clarke: Eze 36:31

Then shall ye remember your own evil ways - Ye shall never forget that ye were once slaves of sin, and sold under sin; children of the wicked one; heirs to all God’ s curses, with no hope beyond hell. Such cleansed people never forget the horrible pit and the miry clay out of which they have been brought. And can they then be proud? No; they loathe themselves in their own sight. They never forgive themselves for having sinned against so good a God, and so loving a Savior. And can they undervalue Him by whose blood they were bought, and by whose blood they were cleansed? No! That is impossible: they now see Jesus as they ought to see him; they see him in his splendor, because they feel him in his victory and triumph over sin. To them that thus believe he is precious, and he was never so precious as now. As to their not needing him when thus saved from their sins, we may as well say, as soon may the creation not need the sustaining hand of God, because the works are finished! Learn this, that as it requires the same power to sustain creation as to produce it, so it requires the same Jesus who cleansed to keep clean. They feel that it is only through his continued indwelling, that they are kept holy, and happy, and useful. Were he to leave them the original darkness and kingdom of death would soon be restored.

Clarke: Eze 36:35

This land that was desolate by sin, is become like the garden of Eden by righteousness - Satan’ s blast is removed; God’ s blessing has taken place.

Clarke: Eze 36:36

Then the heathen - They shall see how powerful Jehovah is, and how fully he saves those who come unto and worship him.

Clarke: Eze 36:37

Thus saith the Lord God - In answer to the question, "Who shall have such blessings?"we say, they that pray, that seek earnestly, that strive to enter in at the strait gate. "Thus saith the Lord, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel."Neither Jew nor Gentile shall be thus saved who do not earnestly pray to God; and for this thing; for this complete salvation; this setting up of the kingdom of Christ upon earth, and particularly in their own souls.

Clarke: Eze 36:38

As the holy flock - The Church of Christ, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing

Clarke: Eze 36:38

The flock of Jerusalem - The Jerusalem that is from above, the city of the living God, the place where his Majesty dwells. As they came in ancient times to the solemn national feasts so shall they come when they have fully returned unto the Lord, and received his salvation by Christ Jesus

I do not ask my reader’ s pardon for having considered this most beautiful chapter as relating, not to the restoration from the Babylonish captivity, but to the redemption under the new covenant by Jesus Christ. There is no period of the Jewish history from that time until now, to which it can be applied. It must belong to the Gospel dispensation, and if the Jews will still refuse, contradict, and blaspheme, let no Christian have any fellowship with them in their opposition to this Almighty Savior. Let none be indifferent to his salvation; let all plead his promises; and let the messengers of the Churches proclaim to the Christian world a Free, a Full, and a Present Salvation! And may great grace rest upon themselves, and upon all their flocks!

Defender: Eze 36:21

God thus prophesied, through Ezekiel, that the Israelites would continue to reject Him during the time they were dispersed among the Gentiles (Eze 36:19, Eze 36:20) just as they had in their own land. Nevertheless, He would finally bring them back, not because they had repented while among the heathen, but "for mine holy name's sake" (Eze 36:22), so that "the heathen shall know that I am the Lord" (Eze 36:23). Their return - especially while still in unbelief - would be a great testimony to the world that God's Word is true and that He will surely fulfill all His prophecies - both of promise and of judgment. And it is exactly that today!"

Defender: Eze 36:27

This regeneration of Israel is to be accomplished by God sometime after their return to Israel in unbelief. This has not yet been fulfilled, but God will do it in such a striking way that "the heathen shall know that I am the Lord" (Eze 36:23), and even "the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward" (Eze 39:22). Chapters 37, 38 and 39 tell how all this will be accomplished."

Defender: Eze 36:35

This is an incidental testimony to the historicity of Eden's garden. This prophecy is being precursively fulfilled at present, but its complete accomplishment awaits the future spiritual restoration of Israel."

TSK: Eze 36:12

I will cause : The prophet is still personifying the mountains, valleys, and wastes of Judea.

they shall : Jer 32:15, Jer 32:44; Oba 1:17-21

no more : Eze 36:13; Num 13:32; Jer 15:7

TSK: Eze 36:14

no more : Eze 37:25-28; Isa 60:21; Amo 9:15

bereave : or, cause to fail

TSK: Eze 36:15

men : Eze 36:6, Eze 34:29; Isa 54:4, Isa 60:14; Mic 7:8-10; Zep 3:19, Zep 3:20

thou bear : Psa 89:50; Zep 2:8

TSK: Eze 36:17

they defiled : Lev 18:24-28; Num 35:33, Num 35:34; Psa 106:37, Psa 106:38; Isa 24:5; Jer 2:7, Jer 3:1, Jer 3:2, Jer 3:9; Jer 16:18; Mic 2:10

as the : Lev 15:19-33; Isa 64:6

TSK: Eze 36:18

I poured : Eze 7:8, Eze 14:19, Eze 21:31; 2Ch 34:21, 2Ch 34:26; Isa 42:25; Jer 7:20, Jer 44:6; Lam 2:4; Lam 4:11; Nah 1:6; Rev 14:10, 16:1-21

for the : Eze 16:36-38, Eze 23:37

TSK: Eze 36:19

I scattered : Eze 5:12, Eze 22:15; Lev 26:38; Deu 28:64; Amo 9:9

according to their way : Eze 7:3, Eze 7:8, Eze 18:30, Eze 22:31, Eze 39:24; Rom 2:6; Rev 20:12-15

TSK: Eze 36:20

they profaned : The Jews, when thus scattered, appeared to them an abject and wretched company of people. They were recognized as the worshippers of Jehovah wherever they went; but they were looked upon as a viler and more worthless race than any of the idolaters among whom they were driven. Many would ascribe their wickedness to the tendency of their religion, which they abhorred, and not to their having acted inconsistently with it; and regard their miseries, not as the punishment of their sins, but as proofs of God’ s inability to protect them. This profanation of his holy name, Jehovah was determined to wipe away, by shewing mercy unto them. Isa 52:5; Rom 2:24

These : Exo 32:11-13; Num 14:15, Num 14:16; Jos 7:9; 2Ki 18:30,2Ki 18:35, 2Ki 19:10-12; Jer 33:24; Dan 3:15

TSK: Eze 36:21

Eze 20:9, Eze 20:14, Eze 20:22; Deu 32:26, Deu 32:27; Psa 74:18; Isa 37:35, Isa 48:9

TSK: Eze 36:22

Eze 36:32; Deu 7:7, Deu 7:8, Deu 9:5-7; Psa 106:8, Psa 115:1, Psa 115:2

TSK: Eze 36:23

sanctify : Eze 20:41, Eze 38:22, Eze 38:23; Num 20:12, Num 20:13; Psa 46:10; Isa 5:16; 1Pe 3:15

and the heathen : Eze 39:28; Exo 15:4-16; Psa 102:13-16, Psa 126:1-3; Dan 2:47, Dan 3:28, Dan 3:29, Dan 4:2, Dan 4:3; Dan 4:34-37, Dan 6:26, Dan 6:27

when I shall : Eze 28:22; 1Pe 2:9

their : or, your

TSK: Eze 36:24

Eze 11:17, Eze 34:13, Eze 37:21, Eze 37:25, Eze 39:27, Eze 39:28; Deu 30:3-5; Psa 107:2, Psa 107:3; Isa 11:11-16, Isa 27:12, Isa 27:13, Isa 43:5, Isa 43:6; Jer 23:3-8, Jer 30:3, Jer 30:18, Jer 31:8, Jer 32:37; Jer 50:17-20; Hos 1:11; Amo 9:14, Amo 9:15; Rom 11:25, Rom 11:26

TSK: Eze 36:25

will I : Lev 14:5-7; Num 8:7, Num 19:13-20; Psa 51:7; Isa 52:15; Joh 3:5; Tit 3:5, Tit 3:6; Heb 9:13, Heb 9:14, Heb 9:19, Heb 10:22; 1Jo 5:6

filthiness : Eze 36:17, Eze 36:29, Eze 37:23; Psa 51:2; Pro 30:12; Isa 4:4; Jer 33:8; Zec 13:1; Act 22:16; 1Co 6:11; 2Co 7:1; Eph 5:26, Eph 5:27; Tit 2:14; 1Jo 1:7; Rev 1:5; Rev 7:14

from all your idols : Isa 2:18-20, Isa 17:7, Isa 17:8; Jer 3:22, Jer 3:23; Hos 14:3, Hos 14:8; Zec 13:2

TSK: Eze 36:26

new heart : Deu 30:6; Psa 51:10; Jer 32:39; Joh 3:3-5; 2Co 3:18, 2Co 5:17; Gal 6:15; Eph 2:10; Rev 21:5

the stony : Eze 11:19, Eze 11:20; Zec 7:12; Mat 13:5, Mat 13:20,Mat 13:21; Mar 4:16, Mar 4:17; 2Co 3:3

TSK: Eze 36:27

I will : Eze 37:14, Eze 39:29; Pro 1:23; Isa 44:3, Isa 44:4, Isa 59:21; Joe 2:28, Joe 2:29; Zec 12:10; Luk 11:13; Rom 8:9, Rom 8:14-16; 1Co 3:16; Gal 5:5, Gal 5:22, Gal 5:23; Eph 1:13, Eph 1:14; 2Th 2:13; Tit 3:3-6; 1Pe 1:2, 1Pe 1:22; 1Jo 3:24

cause : Eze 37:24; Jer 31:33; Gal 5:16; Col 2:6; Phi 2:12, Phi 2:13; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 13:21; 1Jo 1:6, 1Jo 1:7; 2Jo 1:6

TSK: Eze 36:28

dwell : Eze 36:10, Eze 28:25, Eze 37:25, Eze 39:28,

be people : Eze 11:20, Eze 37:23, Eze 37:27; Son 6:3; Jer 30:22, Jer 30:23, Jer 31:33, Jer 32:38; Hos 1:10; Zec 13:9; Mat 22:32; 2Co 6:16-18, 2Co 7:1; Heb 8:10, Heb 11:16; Rev 21:3, Rev 21:7

TSK: Eze 36:29

save : Eze 36:25; Jer 33:8; Hos 14:2, Hos 14:4, Hos 14:8; Joe 3:21; Mic 7:19; Zec 13:1; Mat 1:21; Joh 1:7-9; Rom 6:14, Rom 11:26; Tit 2:14

call : Eze 36:8, Eze 36:9, Eze 34:27-29; Psa 105:6; Hos 2:21-23; Mat 6:33

TSK: Eze 36:30

reproach : Deu 29:23-28; Joe 2:17, Joe 2:26

TSK: Eze 36:31

shall ye : Eze 6:9, Eze 16:61-63, Eze 20:43; Lev 26:39; Ezr 9:6-15; Neh 9:26-35; Jer 31:18-20; Dan. 9:4-20

shall loathe : Job 42:6; Isa 6:5, Isa 64:6; Zec 12:10,Zec 12:11; Luk 18:13; Rom 6:21; 2Co 7:10,2Co 7:11

TSK: Eze 36:32

for your : Eze 36:22; Deu 9:5; Dan 9:18, Dan 9:19; 2Ti 1:9; Tit 3:3-6

be ashamed : Eze 16:63; Ezr 9:6; Rom 6:21; 1Pe 4:2, 1Pe 4:3

TSK: Eze 36:33

cause : Zec 8:7, Zec 8:8

wastes : Eze 36:10; Isa 58:12; Jer 32:43, Jer 33:10, Jer 50:19, Jer 50:20; Amo 9:14, Amo 9:15

TSK: Eze 36:34

Eze 6:14; Deu 29:23-28; 2Ch 36:21; Jer 25:9-11

TSK: Eze 36:35

they shall : Psa 58:11, Psa 64:9, Psa 126:2; Jer 33:9

like the : Eze 37:13; Gen 2:8, Gen 2:9, Gen 13:10; Isa 51:3; Joe 2:3

TSK: Eze 36:36

know : Eze 17:24, Eze 34:30, Eze 37:28, Eze 39:27-29; Mic 7:15-17

I the Lord have : Eze 22:14, Eze 24:14, Eze 37:14; Num 23:19; Hos 14:4-9; Mat 24:35

TSK: Eze 36:37

I will yet : Eze 14:3, Eze 20:3, Eze 20:31; Psa 10:17, Psa 102:17; Isa 55:6, Isa 55:7; Jer 29:11-13, Jer 50:4, Jer 50:5; Zec 10:6, Zec 10:9, Zec 13:9; Mat 7:7, Mat 7:8; Phi 4:6; Heb 4:16, Heb 10:21, Heb 10:22; Jam 4:2, Jam 4:3; 1Jo 5:14

I will increase : Eze 36:10

TSK: Eze 36:38

holy flock : Heb. flock of holy things

as the flock : Exo 23:17, Exo 34:23; Deu 16:16; 2Ch 7:8, 2Ch 30:21-27, 2Ch 35:7-19; Zec 8:19-23; Act 2:5-11

the waste : Eze 36:33-35, Eze 34:31; Jer 30:19, Jer 31:27, Jer 31:28; Joh 10:16; Rev 7:4-9

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: Eze 36:13

The judgments which God sent upon the land, had so destroyed the inhabitants that men deemed it a fatal land, which brought destruction to all that should occupy it (compare 2Ki 17:25).

Barnes: Eze 36:14

Bereave - Or, as in the margin: i. e., the land shall not prove the ruin of its inhabitants by tempting them (as of old time) to the sin of idolatry.

Barnes: Eze 36:15

Hear in thee the shame of the pagan - Hear the pagan putting thee to shame by their contemptuous words.

The reproach of the people - " Thy people"(thy rightful possessors) shall have no cause to reproach thee for want of fertility. Were the blessings promised here merely temporal they could not be said to be fulfilled. The land is still subject to pagan masters. The words must point to blessings yet future, spiritual blessings.

In the following chapters to the end of Ezek. 39 the conflict between the world mid God is described in its most general form, and the absolute triumph of the kingdom of God fully depicted. The honor of God is asserted in the gathering together, and the purification of, His people. As the dispersion of the children of Israel was far wider and more lasting than the sojourn in Chaldaea, so the reunion here predicted is far more extensive and complete. The dispersion yet continues, the reunion will be in those days when Israel shall be gathered into the Church of God.

Barnes: Eze 36:16-20

The defilement of the people described in order to its removal.

Eze 36:20

They profaned my holy name - Caused it to be dishonored by the pagan who said in scorn, "This is the people of God."The pagan, seeing the miserable state of the exiles, fancied that Yahweh was no more than a national god, powerless to protect his subjects.

Barnes: Eze 36:21

I had pity for mine holy name - Render it: I "had"a pitiful regard to "Mine Holy Name."

Barnes: Eze 36:25

Ezekiel the priest has in view the purifying rites prescribed by the Law, the symbolic purport of which is exhibited in Heb 9:13-14; Heb 10:22. As the Levites were consecrated with sprinkling of water, so should the approved rite "sprinkling of water"thus prescribed by the Law and explained by the prophets, give occasion to the use of water at the admission of proselytes in later days, and so to its adoption by John in his baptism unto repentance. It was hallowed by our Lord when in His discourse with Nicodemus, referring, no doubt, to such passages as these, He showed their application to the Church of which He was about to be the Founder; and when He appointed Baptism as the sacrament of admission into that Church. In this sacrament the spiritual import of the legal ordinance is displayed - the second birth by water and the Spirit. As Israel throughout the prophecy of Ezekiel prefigures the visible Church of Christ, needing from time to time trim or purification - so does the renovated Israel represent Christ’ s mystical Church Eph 5:26. The spiritual character of the renovation presumes a personal application of the prophet’ s words, which is more thoroughly brought out under the new covenant (e. g., Heb 11:16). Thus the prophecy of Ezekiel furnishes a medium through which we pass from the congregation to the individual, from the letter to the spirit, from the Law to the Gospel, from Moses to Christ.

Barnes: Eze 36:28

Ye shall be my people - (Compare 2Co 6:16-18; Heb 8:10. The writers of the New Testament appropriated these and similar phrases of the Old Testament to the Church of Christ. Between the restoration of the Jews (the first step) there are many steps toward the end - the spread of Christ’ s Church throughout the world, the conversion of the Gentiles, and the acknowledgment of the true God - which justify men in looking forward to a time when the Gospel shall be preached in all the world, and the earth become the kingdom of God in a fuller sense than it has ever yet been. But all these are "steps."Our prophecies look beyond all this to a new heaven to a new earth, and to a new Jerusalem Rev 21:3.

Barnes: Eze 36:36

The pagan that are left - Gathered out of pagandom into the community of God - accepted and redeemed.

Barnes: Eze 36:37

Their sin had prevented God’ s hearing them. Now their purification opens God’ s ears to their words.

Barnes: Eze 36:38

As the holy flock - A reference to the flocks and herds brought up to Jerusalem to be consecrated and offered unto the Lord 2Ch 35:7. Thus, the idea is brought out:

\tx720 \tx1080 (1) of the multiplication of the people,

(2) of their dedication to the service of God.

Poole: Eze 36:12

For years past since your captivity wild devouring beasts ranged up and down, but now, instead of such, men shall walk up and down in the mountains of Israel; I will take away the beasts from off you, and bring men upon you.

My people Israel a people that are mine by covenant, whom I will own, my Israel.

They shall possess thee Edom boasted he would possess you, O mountains; not Edom, or heathens, but your own ancient dwellers shall possess you, even Abraham’ s seed.

Their inheritance for perpetuity, as inheritances are.

Thou O land of Canaan.

Bereave them consume and destroy thine inhabitants.

Poole: Eze 36:13

They say the heathen round about, the enemies of Israel, accuse the land of destroying its natives, and bring an evil report on it.

Devourest up men either by intestine wars, or foreign invasions, or by unhealthful air, or by multitude of wild beasts, or by barrenness and famine, thou killest them, art like a womb that conceives often, but almost as often miscarrieth, as the word implieth.

Hast bereaved consumed thy nations, so the French; deprived them of their hope of increasing in numbers of men, as a miscarrying womb deprives a family of hoped children.

Poole: Eze 36:14

I will so bless thee, O land, that thou shalt bring forth and breed up many sons and daughters, thou shalt see thy children’ s children increase, and this reproach shall cease for ever.

Poole: Eze 36:15

This verse is a confirmation of what was promised in Eze 36:12-14 , all which is doubled for more assurance, and each part already explicated. See Eze 36:6 .

Poole: Eze 36:17

In their own land in fullness, case, and security, as in days past they did.

They defiled it brought in much sin and great guilt upon the land, i.e. on themselves who dwelt there, and sinned greatly.

By their own way leaving my law, despising my counsel, forsaking my worship and temple.

By their doings by their carriage and practices in their whole conversation.

As the uncleanness & c.; or as one excommunicate, and cut off from the congregation, because of some great sin. Or, since idolatry is so often compared to fornication and whoredom, possibly it may be here the filthiness of spiritual whoredom. I hated and loathed the filthiness of their ways, as I would the impurity of a whorish woman prostituting herself for gain. The word may include the reward of a whore, as it doth Eze 16:33 .

Poole: Eze 36:18

Wherefore these and other sins were the true cause that the land was emptied of men, there was no ground for the heathen’ s calumny.

I poured my fury I was angry with them, and the effects of my anger were such as made the land and cities desolate.

For the blood that they had shed for murders committed in the land, and frequently charged on them, Eze 22:3,6,9,12,27 23:45 .

For their idols: idolatry was another of their sins, which brought desolation on them.

Poole: Eze 36:19

My hand scattered them, and what hand can retain the inhabitants that God will fling out?

They were driven away, as chaff before the wind. As their ways and doings provoked me, and deserved what I brought on them, so I judged them, and punished them with desolation.

Poole: Eze 36:20

When they entered when they were come into Babylon, and entered into familiarity with the inhabitants as neighbours.

Profaned my holy name did profanely sin against those precepts of my law, which heathens did know, venerate, and observe better than the Jews; or it may include the misery their sins had brought them to, which misery reflected upon their God in the opinion of the heathen.

They said their heathen neighbours, to them, the miserable and profane Jews,

These are the people of the Lord with taunt and cutting reprimand. These, these captive slaves, that are most forlorn of men, will have it that their God is the Lord, the mighty and the good God, the true and faithful One, that gave them the land out of which they are driven. If he be good, as they boast, how comes it to pass his people are in such ill state? Or is he not able to better their state? Was he weak, and could not keep them in their own land? or doth he falsify his word? You miserable Jews, say what this meaneth. But by their impure life they opened the mouths of the heathen more to blaspheme, and call the holiness of God into question; when they saw his people so unholy, they concluded. As is the people so is their God; and this, as it was a great offence and scandal to the heathen, so it was a great dishonour to God.

Poole: Eze 36:21

I had pity I spared them, who in captivity continued to sin greatly against me, and for which sins I had just cause to cut them off; but I had pity.

For mine holy name for my own sake, and for the glory of my name: had I destroyed them, the heathen would have concluded against my omnipotence and my truth. I preserved, I reduced, I re-established them for the honour of my mercy, truth, and power.

Poole: Eze 36:22

I do not this which I have done, sparing you and preserving you, and giving you favour in the sight of the heathen; nor do I that I am about to do for you, returning you to Judea, planting you, increasing you, and establishing you, and making you a blessing; I do not this for your sake, you deserve no such kindness from me.

For mine holy name’ s sake my infinite mercy is the spring and fountain; the vindicating my name from all imputation of weakness or unfaithfulness, and the magnifying the glory of my goodness, wisdom, truth, and power, are the reasons on which I do what I do for Israel.

Which ye have profaned brought under suspicion with the heathen, who think that the only and almighty God should do better for his own and only people!

Poole: Eze 36:23

Will sanctify by clearing it up, and removing the objection that the Jews’ sufferings and sins among the Babylonians had raised.

My great name they gave the heathen occasion to think meanly and contemptibly of me, but I will show I am as great as good, in both infinite.

Was profaned: see Eze 36:20,22 .

Which ye have profaned God chargeth the Jews with the blasphemies the heathen cast on God, the Jews were the cause of them, and they are therefore justly imputed to the Jews.

That I am the Lord by what I do, the heathen shall know what I am, and from the great and good things I do for you, performing my promises, and purifying you, shall see I am great, good, faithful, and holy; then shall I be sanctified in you, as I have been profaned by you in their eyes: and so it was, Psa 127:2 .

Poole: Eze 36:24

The heathen purpose, as Pharaoh did, to detain you servants, and think it impossible any power should take you out of their hand or break the yoke; but I will do it. I will by my omnipotent hand rescue you from their power.

Gather you they were scattered so through a hundred and twenty-seven provinces, that the heathen judged it impossible to reassemble them, but God will do this too. Will bring you into your own land : so many difficulties lay in their way of getting into their own land, that they thought them insuperable, so long a journey, so many enemies, and strong, crafty, and malicious, such weak, poor, and unarmed people, &c.; yet all these shall not prevent me; I will bring them safe to their own land, and settle them. When this is done, they shall confess, and the heathen shall confess, that I am great, good, wise, and faithful to my promise; a God not like theirs, but-worthy to be thought well of, and to be spoken well of, to be praised and obeyed.

Poole: Eze 36:25

He alludes to the sprinklings under the law, perhaps to that Num 19:9 , which was for purification of sin; and Eze 36:19,20 . So God will purify them from their guilt. Clean water : some think it may refer to baptismal water; if so, it is to the blood of Christ, signified by it, and this, say the best expositors, is here intended, and this is

the blood of sprinkling Heb 12:24 .

Ye shall be clean when sin is remitted, the person is indeed clean, both in the account of God and Christ.

From all your filthiness though they have been many of all sorts, and among all ranks of men, yet multitude of sins shall not hinder me from pardoning.

From all your idols that notorious great abomination, your multiplied idolatry, I will pardon that also, that ye may be clean. Thus remission of sin is promised.

Poole: Eze 36:26

A new heart a renewed frame of soul, a disposition and mind changed from sinful to holy, from evil to good, from carnal to spiritual. See Eze 11:19 . A heart in which the law of God is written, as Jer 31:33 . It is a sanctified heart, in which the almighty grace of God is victorious, and turns it from sin to God.

Will I give you God takes it to himself, as indeed it is his only work, see Eze 11:19 .

A new spirit: this is exegetical, and tells us what the new heart is; it is a new holy frame in the spirit of man, which is put in him, not found in him; given to him, not wrought by his own power.

The stony heart stubborn, senseless, untractable heart, that receives no kindly impressions from the word, providences, or Spirit of God in its ordinary operations and influences, that hardens itself in a day of provocation, that is hardened by the deceitfulness of sin; this evil heart shall be taken away, and this God will do, who only can do it.

Out of your flesh put for the man. An heart of flesh ; that is, a heart different from the stony, hard heart, quite of another temper and frame, hearkening to God’ s law, trembling at his threats, by gentlest providences mounded to a compliance with his will; to forbear, do, be, or suffer what God will, receiving the impress of God, as softened wax receiveth the impress of the seal.

Poole: Eze 36:27

Put elsewhere pour out; God will give freely and abundantly.

My spirit the Holy Spirit of God, which is the immediate principal cause of that change of an old heart into new, and of hard into soft. By the efficient cause we may know the effect; and understand what a new heart is, and what the new spirit is, when we know they are wrought in us by the Spirit of God, which is given to and dwelleth in the saints, which makes them saints, and then abideth with them.

Cause you sweetly, powerfully, successfully, yet without compulsion; for our spirit, framed by God’ s Spirit to a disposition suitable to his holiness, readily concurreth and co-worketh.

Keep my judgments be willing and ready, able, and in your degree sufficient, to keep the judgments and to walk in the statutes of God, which is to live holiness.

Poole: Eze 36:28

Spiritual blessings, promised in Eze 36:25-27 , are now followed with temporal blessings; so earth doth follow heaven.

Ye shall dwell: God adds this to his taking, gathering, and bringing into the land, Eze 36:24 ; when they are there, they shall settle and continue proprietors, possessing their own houses and lands.

Which I gave they were greatly pleased to think Canaan their land was by God given to their fathers; in this land under this character you shall dwell, the land that was your right by promise to Abraham, 1346 years or near it.

My people as your fathers were, who reverenced, loved, worshipped, obeyed, and believed in me.

Your God as I was their God, to protect, guide, comfort, and enrich, &c.; see Eze 11:20 ; to perform my promise to their faith and patience; and so you shall inherit the blessing.

Poole: Eze 36:29

Perhaps the former part of this verse would have been better joined with the former verse, as a glorious fruit of God’ s taking them to be his people, and his condescending to be their God. Salvation from all uncleannesses includeth justification, in our pardon, sanctification, the renewing our minds, somewhat of adoption in peace and hope, and a consummate glorification in heaven, that state of absolute purity. All this God gives when he is our God. Corn; all necessaries for aliment comprised in one, and these brought to them at God’ s call, which they will hear, Psa 105:16,40 Ho 2:21,22 .

Famine is God’ s arrow, he shoots it; where it is, he layeth it; but his people shall neither have it their misery nor their reproach any more; as in the next verse.

Poole: Eze 36:30

The former part of this verse is explained Eze 34:27 , and Eze 36:8-10 of this chapter. The latter part is explained in Eze 36:29 .

Poole: Eze 36:31

Then when I have given you my Spirit, renewed your hearts, brought you by miraculous mercy out of captivity in a strange land unto liberty in your own, ye shall call to mind, review, and examine all your past life, your ways opposite to God’ s; therefore both their own by choice, and also evil in their very nature, the ways the prophets condemned and threatened, as Eze 22 Jer 3:5 , &c.

Not good it is a meiosis; not good, i.e. exceeding evil, like, yea worse than, other nations, Eze 5:6 , than Sodom, Eze 16:46 .

Loathe yourselves: see Eze 6:9 . Your mind shall abhor what you loved, and deeply grieve at what you rejoiced in; when swine, ye wallowed in mire; when made sheep, you shall as much fear and flee from it.

In your own right not in sight of others, but repentance in the chief parts lieth more retired and inward, and loathes sins that are in the heart, though none ever knew them beside God and his own soul. This fruit is the first and most sure sign of true repentance.

Poole: Eze 36:32

Not for your sakes: to a self-exalting people, who have too high thoughts of themselves, this is a necessary monition; we are all like the Jews, proud of somewhat we have not; see veri. 22; an old disease, and we are long since warned of it, as well as they, Deu 9:5,6 .

Be ashamed and confounded: shame and confusion, self-abhorrence and deepest humiliation, will become you, for you have walked stubbornly in your own ways, though I would have reclaimed you, and did call you back from them by my prophets.

Poole: Eze 36:33

Committed sin, that deserveth, and imputed sin, that doth bring down, judgments on the sinner, so did the Jews’ sins, and continued the punishment in those judgments, until a pardon take away guilt, and then judgments will be removed; so here, pardoned captives return to and dwell in their own cities. Sin unpardoned wasted the country, but sinners repenting and pardoned shall build the wastes. Sin unpardoned leaves the land untilled and barren, but pardoned ones shall plough, sow, reap, and eat.

Poole: Eze 36:35

They shall say strangers or foreigners, who had heard or seen the sad wastes, and now either hear or see the replanting of it, and how it succeedeth.

Like the garden of Eden see the phrase Eze 28:13 ; most fruitful, pleasant, and desirable. This is true of the church of Christ without an hyperbole, but here it is to be accommodated by a comparative, thus; that good state the Jews are now in, compared with what they were in, is as an Eden to a wilderness. Fenced ; not only built for habitation, but fortified for defence.

Poole: Eze 36:36

That are left that were not carried away and dispersed, whether they were Tyrians, Zidonians, on the north, or Ammon, and Moab, and the Philistines, and Edomites, eastward and southward, these remnants of the heathen shall see and confess a peculiar providence of God toward the Jews, in their flourishing so greatly upon their return.

Poole: Eze 36:37

Though I have repeated so often my promise to return them, to rebuild, to multiply them, yet they shall know it is their duty to entreat it, to wait on me, and then I will give a merciful answer and do it. Thus Daniel prayed, when he knew the return was sure and near. Or else it may be thus; Above all this, or yet more than all this, I will be found of them when they do seek me: thus it is a promise made to their prayer, in the other it is a requiring them to pray, so they shall increase as a flock.

Poole: Eze 36:38

The holy flock flocks designed to holy uses, as sacrifices, and therefore further described by the place where they are, Jerusalem.

Her solemn feasts the occasion and time, solemn feasts, either the three annual great feasts, or you may hake in the daily sacrifices. These flocks were for quality the best of all, and for numbers very great, on the solemn feasts; thirty thousand at once of lambs and kids in Josiah’ s time, and many more at the passover in aftertimes. Thus should men multiply, and fill the cities of replanted Judea.

PBC: Eze 36:25

" sprinkle clean water"

This sprinkling of clean water is a type or figure of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. It is not a figure or type of baptism. Sprinkling and pouring in the bible is never used as a figure of baptism. Many times it is used as a figure or type of the Holy Spirit.

243

" from all your idols, will I cleanse you"

See Philpot: FROM ALL YOUR IDOLS WILL I CLEANSE YOU

Haydock: Eze 36:12

Them. Antiochus and the Romans laid waste the country; (Calmet) and Adrian would not allow the Jews to come near Jerusalem. (St. Jerome) (Eusebius, [History of the Church] iv. 6.) ---

The people were not indeed removed together, as they had been. But all this is verified only in the Church, which in the midst of persecutions always subsists. Theodoret thinks these promises were conditional with respect to the Jews.

Haydock: Eze 36:13

Men. This remark was very ancient, Numbers xiii. 33. Wars had almost always raged in the country. (Calmet)

Haydock: Eze 36:18

Blood of their own children, and of the innocent, chap. xvi. 36., and xxii. 2., and xxxiii. 25.

Haydock: Eze 36:20

Land. Yet their conduct was no better than that of infidels. Thus they throw the blame on the law, and upon God himself, Jeremias xlviii. 9., &c. (Calmet) ---

The Jews had provoked God to punish them with captivity; and hence the nations took occasion to blaspheme, that he could not protect them. (Worthington)

Haydock: Eze 36:22

Holy, that my attributes of justice and mercy may be confessed, Isaias xlviii. 2., Daniel iii. 49., and Judith viii. 24.

Haydock: Eze 36:25

Water. R. David and the Chaldean explain this of the remission of sin; and all Christians understand it of baptism in water, remitting all offences, Ephesians v. 26., and Titus iii. 5. (Worthington) ---

He alludes to the purification of the Jews, which prefigured baptism and penance, in which the blood of Christ is applied to our souls. This of course was only fulfilled in his church.

Haydock: Eze 36:26

Flesh. The Jews at their return fell not so often into the sins of idolatry, &c., of which the prophets complained. But yet they were far from answering this character. Great irregularities prevailed under Nehemias, and in the days of the Machabees the priests publicly worshipped idols, 1 Esdras ix., and 2 Esdras v., and viii., and 2 Machabees iv., and v. Christ enables his servants to act with purity unto the end, by the influence of his all-powerful grace. (Calmet)

Haydock: Eze 36:27

Do them. Hence the efficacy of grace appears, (St. Augustine; Haydock) and hereby some keep the commandments. (Worthington) ---

God assists our free-will. (Theodoret) (Cornelius a Lapide) (Calmet)

Haydock: Eze 36:37

Find. Hebrew, "seek." I will cause great multitudes to come to the solemn feast. This was seen still more after the conversion of the Gentiles. (Calmet)

Gill: Eze 36:12

Yea, I will cause men to walk upon you,.... And not beasts, as during the captivity; and that without fear of wild beasts, or any enemy; and not as travellers upon them, but as inhabitants of them; who shall walk to and fro upon them, as the owners of them, and doing their proper business there:

even my people Israel; and them only: some read it, "with my people Israel" ⁱ; as if other men, Gentiles called by grace, should dwell with the Jews at this time, particularly at their restoration in the latter day; which may be true, and, which seems to be the sense of the whole sixtieth chapter of Isaiah's prophecy:

and they shall possess thee, and thou shall be their inheritance; that is, thou mountain; a change of number, meaning everyone of the mountains, even the whole land of Canaan, which was given to the Israelites for an inheritance; and was typical of the eternal inheritance in heaven:

and thou shall no more henceforth bereave them; of men, or of children; or be no more the cause of their being childless, or of bereaving them of men; sins committed on the mountains being the cause of provoking the Lord to bereave them; or men should be no more killed upon them, as they had been.

Gill: Eze 36:13

Thus saith the Lord God, because they say unto you,.... The Heathens that dwelt round about the land of Judea said to the mountains, or to the whole land,

thou land devourest up men; eats up the inhabitants of it; which is part of the ill report the spies, in the times of Moses, brought on it, Num 13:32, to which the allusion is here; suggesting, that either the air was unwholesome; or that the land did not produce a sufficiency of food to support the inhabitants of it; or that the curse of God was upon it; and that one judgment or another was ever on it; either famine, or pestilence, or the sword of the enemy, or internal broils among themselves, or wild beasts, whereby the inhabitants of the land were wasted and consumed:

and hast bereaved thy nations; the several tribes, of men and children; so that they were diminished and depopulated: the allusion seems to be to miscarrying women, or such who kill their children in the womb, and become abortive.

Gill: Eze 36:14

Therefore thou shalt devour men no more,.... Or they shall be no more destroyed in thee by pestilence, famine, sword, or other means:

neither bereave that nations any more, saith the Lord; or, "thou shalt not cause them to fall any more" ^k, for so it is written, as in Eze 36:15, though the marginal reading is, "thou shalt not bereave", which we follow; and both are to be received, since miscarriages often come by falls.

Gill: Eze 36:15

Neither will I cause men to hear in thee the shame of the Heathen any more,.... Their calumnies and revilings, their scoffs and jeers:

neither shalt thou bear the reproach of the people any more; or be any more a taunt and a curse, a proverb and a byword of the people; or be their laughing stock, and the object of their derision:

neither shalt thou cause thy nations to fall any more, saith the Lord God; by famine, sword, or pestilence, or any other judgment caused by sin: or, "thou shalt not bereave" ^l, as the marginal reading is; and which the Targum and many versions follow: now what is here promised, in this and the preceding verse, had not its full accomplishment upon the Jews' return from the Babylonish captivity; for since that time their men have been devoured, and their tribes have been bereaved of them by famine, sword, and pestilence; and they have heard and bore the shame and reproach of the nations where they have been dispersed, and do to this day; wherefore these prophecies must refer to a future restoration of that people.

Gill: Eze 36:16

Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me,.... Here begins another prophecy, which was delivered about the same time with the former:

saying; as follows:

Gill: Eze 36:17

Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land,.... The land of Canaan, which the Lord their God gave unto them; a land abounding with all good things, where they dwelt in great ease, plenty, and prosperity; and which also was a holy land, peculiarly chosen of God for his worship and service:

they defiled it by their own way and by their doings: by their sinful ways and evil works: sin is of a defiling nature; it defiles the bodies and souls of men; it defiles their own, and it defiles others; it defiles a land, and the inhabitants of it, and makes them loathsome and abominable to a pure and holy God:

their way was before me, as the uncleanness of a removed woman: of a menstruous woman in the time of her separation; when she was debarred the company of her husband, and might not enter into the sanctuary of the Lord: this shows what an evil thing sin is, what an uncleanness it is in the sight of God, how abhorrent sinful ways are to him; and though he was the husband of these people, yet, because of their sins, he separated from them, and removed them from and out of their land, as not fit to be in his presence, nor to live there.

Gill: Eze 36:18

Wherefore I poured my fury on them,.... Like a mighty flood that carries all before it, in just retaliation

for the blood they had shed upon the land; the innocent blood, as the Targum; the blood of righteous men, that opposed and reproved them for their sinful ways; the blood of the prophets, that were sent to warn them of them; and especially the blood of the Son of God; for this prophecy reaches further than to the times of the Babylonish captivity:

and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it; or, "for their dung" ^m; their dunghill gods; not only for their idols, and their idolatry, before the Babylonish captivity, which they after that were free from; but for the traditions of their elders, they set up against and above the word of God; and their own legal righteousness, their idols, the works of their hands, which wore as dung; and through their attachment to which they rejected Christ and his righteousness; and which brought wrath upon them, and them into their present captivity.

Gill: Eze 36:19

And I scattered them among the Heathen,.... First by the Chaldeans, in the various provinces of Babylon; and next by the Romans, in the various parts of the world; and in this condition they now are:

and they were dispersed through the countries; or blown about as chaff, stubble, or any such like thing, is by the wind:

according to their way and according to their doings I judged them; condemned and punished them as their evil ways and wicked works deserved, according to the rules of justice and equity; so that no injustice was done them, nor could any fault be justly found in the proceedings of God towards them.

Gill: Eze 36:20

And when they entered unto the Heathen, whither they went,.... When the Jews went into the Heathen countries, whither they were carried captive, either by the Chaldeans, or by the Romans:

they profaned my holy name; by their irreligion and immorality; by their violation of both tables of the law; by their wicked lives and conversations, whereby they gave the enemy an occasion to reproach them, their religion, and their God, Rom 2:24,

when they said to them, these are the people of the Lord, and are gone forth out of his land; these are the men that boast they are the people of the Lord, whom he has chosen above all people, and see what a wicked people they are; for their sins they are driven out of the land, and become our captives: or though they were the Lord's people, as they pretend, and were under his care and protection; yet he was not able to keep them in their own land, and deliver them out of our hands, but they are carried captive by us; and thus the name of God, his being and perfections, were blasphemed, and his word, worship, and worshippers, were ridiculed by them. The Targum is,

"if these are the people of the Lord, how is it that they are gone out of the land of the house of his majesty?''

Gill: Eze 36:21

But I had pity for my holy name,.... Had pity on the Jews for his name's sake, and not theirs; or he had a tender concern for his own honour and glory:

which the house of Israel had profaned among the Heathen, whither they went; and therefore was resolved to take a method for the glorifying of it, and that in a way of special grace and mercy to his people; See Gill on Eze 36:20.

Gill: Eze 36:22

Therefore say unto the house of Israel,.... This is an order to the prophet, the son of man, Eze 36:17,

thus saith the Lord God, I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel; what he hereafter promises to do for them, both with respect to things temporal and spiritual; which he did, not on account of any deserts or worthiness in them; for they had none, having done nothing to merit his favour, but, on the contrary, everything to provoke the eyes of his glory:

but for my holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the Heathen, whither ye went; for the honour of his holy name, for the glory of his holy word, holy worship, and holy religion; all which were traduced and reproached among the Heathen, by reason of the ungodly behaviour of the Jews.

Gill: Eze 36:23

And I will sanctify my great name,.... The same with his holy name; for his greatness lies in his holiness; which name he sanctifies when he clears it from all charges and imputations; when he makes it appear to be holy and himself to be glorious in holiness; when he vindicates the honour of his name, not in a way of punishment, as he justly might, but in a way of grace and mercy; he sanctifies his name when he proclaims it, a God gracious and merciful; for it was in this way and manner he determined to make himself illustrious and glorious, and do honour to his name:

which was profaned among the Heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; this is repeated again and again, to show the heinousness of this sin, how ill he took it at their hands, and what a concern it gave him:

and the Heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes; when the Lord shall fulfil his promises, and deliver his people; when he shall sanctify, justify, and save them; and he shall be sanctified, served, and worshipped by them, and among them: it will be taken notice of by infidels themselves; and they shall hereby know, and be obliged to acknowledge, that the God of Israel is the only Lord God; that he is true and faithful to his word, righteous and holy, in his ways, the Lord God omniscient and omnipotent.

Gill: Eze 36:24

For I will take you from among the Heathen,.... The Chaldeans and other nations, among whom they were carried captive; and the Papists, among whom many of them now are, often called Heathens and Gentiles in Scripture: this will be fully completed at the time of the Jews' conversion in the latter day: the phrase fitly expresses the act of divine grace, in taking his people from among the world by the effectual calling:

and gather you out of all countries; to himself, and to his Son, and to his church, and to some certain place from whence they will go up in a body to their own land, as follows: see Hos 1:11,

and will bring you into your own land; into the land of Canaan literally understood, as well as into the church of God here, and into the heavenly country hereafter, of which Canaan was a type.

Gill: Eze 36:25

Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you,.... Not baptismal water, as Jerom; an ordinance indeed of the Gospel, and to which the Jews will submit when converted; and which is performed by water, but not by sprinkling, nor does it cleanse from sin; and is administered by men, and is not an operation of God, as this is: rather the regenerating grace of the Spirit; though this does not purify from all sin, and besides is intended in the next verse: it seems best to understand it of the blood of Christ, the blood of sprinkling, and of justification from sin, and pardon of it by it; so Kimchi and Jarchi interpret of purification by atonement; and the Targum is,

"I will forgive your sins, as one is cleansed by the water of sprinkling, and the ashes of a heifer, which is for a sin offering:''

and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you; the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin; by it men are justified from all things, and are made perfectly pure and spotless in the sight of God; they are cleansed from original sin, the pollution of their nature; from all actual sins and transgressions, which are very defiling; from sins of heart, lip, and life; even from such as are idols, set up in the heart, and served.

Gill: Eze 36:26

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you,.... A "new heart" and a "new spirit" are one and the same; that is, a renewed one; renewed by the Spirit and grace of God; in which a new principle of life is put; new light is infused; a new will, filled with new purposes and resolutions; where new affections are placed, and new desires are formed; and where there are new delights and joys, as well as new sorrows and troubles; the same which in the New Testament is called the "new man", and the new creature, Eph 4:24. The Targum paraphrases it,

"a heart fearing, and a spirit fearing;''

where the true fear of God is, a truly gracious heart; and which is purely the gift of God, and is the fruit of his rich grace, abundant mercy, and great love:

and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh; the Targum is,

"and I will break the heart of the wicked, which is hard as a stone;''

this is a heart hardened by sin, and confirmed in it; destitute of spiritual life and motion; senseless and stupid, stubborn and inflexible; on which no impressions are made; and which remains hard and impenitent: now this is in "the flesh", in corrupt nature; and this hardness of heart is natural to men; and all who have it are after the flesh, or are carnal; and it requires omnipotence to remove it; it cannot be taken out by men of themselves: nor by ministers of the word; nor by the bare mercies and judgments of God; but by the powerful and efficacious grace of God; giving repentance unto life; working faith in the soul, to look to a crucified Christ; and shedding abroad the love of God in the heart, which softens and melts it; all which is done by the Spirit, and frequently by means of the word. This is interpreted, in the Talmud ⁿ, of the evil imagination, or corruption of nature; and is one of the names of it, a stone; and it refers, it is said ^o, to the time or world to come, the days of the Messiah:

and I will give you an heart of flesh; a heart sensible of sin and danger; a penitent one, soft and tender, through the love and fear of God; a spiritual and sanctified heart; submissive to the will of God; flexible and obsequious to the commands of Christ; on which impressions are made by the grace of God; where the laws of God are written, the Gospel of Christ is put; where Christ himself is formed; where are the fear of God, faith, hope, and love, and every other grace.

Gill: Eze 36:27

And I will put my Spirit within you,.... My Holy Spirit, as the Targum; the Spirit of holiness; the author of internal sanctification, of the new heart and spirit, and of the fleshy one before mentioned; and through whose grace and strength the saints do what is after said they shall do:

and cause you to walk in my statutes: men are first made alive by the Spirit of God, and have spiritual strength put into them, who of themselves can do nothing; by means of which they are enabled to walk in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, and to continue in the observation of them; which walking in them supposes:

and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them; being constrained by the love of God; influenced by the grace of Christ; and strengthened by the blessed Spirit: and such persons observe and do them willingly and cheerfully; from a principle of love; in faith, and to the glory of God; without any mercenary and selfish views; without trusting to, and depending upon, what is done for salvation.

Gill: Eze 36:28

And ye shall dwell in the land which I gave to your fathers,.... Not only shall be brought into it, but shall inhabit it, and continue there, and that in great safety and plenty; and which will be the more valued and esteemed, and reckoned a great blessing to enjoy; because this land is the gift of God, and what he gave to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, by promise so long ago, and to their seed; of which promise it appears he is not unmindful:

and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God; which is the sum and substance of the covenant of grace; which will now be renewed, and the blessings of it applied. The Jews will appear to be the people of God by their effectual calling and conversion; and God will show himself to be their God, by his presence with them, his protection of them, and that communion with himself he will admit them to: see Jer 31:1, "the loammi" will be taken off, and they will be again declared to be the covenant people of God, Hos 1:9.

Gill: Eze 36:29

And I will also save you from all your uncleannesses,.... From all their filthy lusts of pride, envy, malice, covetousness, whoredom, blasphemy, and infidelity, to which the Jews are now addicted; but at this time shall be saved from the power and dominion of them by the sanctifying grace of the Spirit; and from the guilt and pollution of them by the blood of Christ sprinkled on them; and this, not from one, or some of them only, but from all of them; all Israel will be saved, and they will be saved from all their sins, Rom 11:25,

and I will call for the corn, and will increase it; which shall answer to the call of God, as a servant to his master; and shall spring up out of the earth in great abundance; and which shall grow, and increase, and bring forth much fruit; and yield bread to the eater, and seed to the sower: and which is to be understood, not of corn in a literal sense only, but of corn in a spiritual sense; of all spiritual provisions, the word and ordinances, and especially the corn of wheat, Christ Jesus; who is the sum and substance of the Gospel and his ordinances, and is in them food for the faith of his people; see Zec 9:17, and

lay no famine upon you; neither a famine of bread, or of water; nor of hearing the word of the Lord; but shall have plenty of provisions, both for soul and body; see Amo 8:11.

Gill: Eze 36:30

And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field,.... The fruit of trees that grow in gardens, and orchards, and vineyards, as pomegranates, apples, olives, grapes, &c. and the corn and grass of the field; so that there shall be great plenty of each of these, and no want of anything for man or beast: and by these are mystically designed spiritual blessings; the fruits of righteousness, with which the saints, who are trees of righteousness, shall be laden; and an increase of gifts and grace in the churches of Christ, and the members of them:

that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the Heathen; who upbraided them with it, that they were forced to go to other nations for food, as in the times of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and that their land wanted rain, and waited for it; which, if it had not, became barren; whereas the Egyptians particularly needed it not, their land being watered yearly with the overflowings of the Nile: or the sense is, they should not be reproached with their penury and want of the things of life; and spiritually, that they should not be upbraided by the Gentiles with their want of the Gospel, and their contempt of it, their blasphemy and their unbelief; since they should now have it, receive, embrace, and love it, and feed upon it.

Gill: Eze 36:31

Then shall ye remember your own evil ways,.... That were of their own choosing; in which they walked, and delighted to walk: and very evil ones they were; opposite to the ways of God; such as open violation of the law of God; neglect of his worship; idolatry, and many other sins, before the captivity; adhering to the traditions of their elders; and setting up their own righteousness as a justifying one afterwards; also their disbelief and rejection of the Messiah; their blasphemy against him, and persecution of his interest and people: now these will all be remembered with shame and confusion when the Lord shall bestow upon them the above blessings, spiritual and temporal; especially when a new heart and spirit shall be given them; the goodness of God will have such an influence upon them as to refresh their memories with former sins, and bring them to repentance for them; as well as to affect their minds, and make them thankful for present mercies: sins, which were before forgotten, or were not thought to be sins, shall now come fresh in their minds, with all their aggravated guilt:

and your doings that were not good: far from being so, they were very evil, contrary to the law of God and Gospel of Christ; as they will at this time appear to themselves to be:

and shall loath yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations; their sins will be abominable to them, as they are in themselves, and to the Lord; and they will not only loath them, but themselves for them, when they shall come to have a true sight of them in their own colours, and a true sense of the evil nature of them; and this shall not be expressed only in the sight of men, and so as to be observed by them; but in their own sight, secretly and within themselves, under a clear and full conviction of their sins. The Syriac version is, "your faces shall be wrinkled"; as men's are when they are displeased with themselves for what they have done. The Targum is,

"and ye shall groan when ye shall see, because of your sins, and because of your abominations;''

which is the case of sensible sinners, 2Co 5:4.

Gill: Eze 36:32

Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord,.... Not for any worth or worthiness in them; for any merit or desert of theirs; for any goodness in them, or works of righteousness done by them; no, it purely flowed from his own unmerited grace and goodness; for his own sake, and for his own glory, will he do it; see Deu 9:4,

be it known unto you; this the Lord would have this people take notice of, who were very fond of their own righteousness and merits, and to trust therein, and ascribe much thereunto, as most men are too apt to do; and therefore, to take down their pride, and take them off of their boastings and vain opinions of themselves, he would have them know and acknowledge this; and be so far from placing any of the favours bestowed on them to the account of the merit of their good works, that they ought to take shame for their evil ones, as follows:

be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel; as men are when they are brought to a true sight and sense of them, and reflect upon the evil of them, and are brought to true repentance for them; see Eze 16:61.

Gill: Eze 36:33

Thus saith the Lord God, in the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities,.... By the free and full pardon of them; by sprinkling clean water on them, the blood of Christ on their consciences; and by applying the righteousness of Christ to them for their justification; as well as by creating clean hearts in them, for their sanctification; and enabling them by grace to escape and abstain from the pollutions of the world:

I will also cause you to dwell in the cities; that is, of Judea, which, as well as Jerusalem, shall be rebuilt and inhabited, as follows:

and the wastes shall be builded: such cities and towns as lay in ruins: temporal prosperity shall go along with or follow spiritual blessings to the people of the Jews at their conversion; or they shall dwell in the churches of Christ, which are as cities compact together, well regulated, and where Jews and Gentiles at this time will be fellow citizens.

Gill: Eze 36:34

And the desolate land shall be tilled,.... The land of Judea, which lay desolate during the captivity, and which now is under the dominion of the Turks, and in a ruinous state, shall be manured and cultivated, and become fruitful, as it formerly was: or the people of the Jews, who, in a spiritual sense, are like barren and uncultivated ground; these shall have the fallow ground of their hearts ploughed up, and the seeds of grace, truth, and righteousness, shall be sown in them, and they shall bring forth the fruit of good works:

whereas it lay desolate in the eyes of all that passed by: as the land of Canaan now does to every traveller in it, that observes it, and compares it with what it once was; and as the present state of the Jews is, in the eyes of every Christian pilgrim and traveller, that takes notice of their blindness and ignorance, their unbelief and hardness of heart.

Gill: Eze 36:35

And they shall say,.... Either the neighbouring nations that lived round about the land of Israel, Eze 36:36, or rather the travellers, as before, who having as they passed by observed what it had been, and now see what it is; these shall say to one another:

this land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; for delight and fruitfulness: this may well be applied to the flourishing and fruitful state of the church of God, consisting of converted Jews, in the latter day:

and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited; which, as it will be true of cities in a literal sense, so of the churches of Christ in Judea in a spiritual sense; which will be rebuilt by the grace of God, fenced and fortified by his almighty power, and inhabited by true believers.

Gill: Eze 36:36

Then the Heathen that are left round about you,.... Not cut off by the judgments which came upon them, according to the prophecies in chapter twenty five and twenty six, the residue of the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, and Tyrians; and, in the mystical sense, this may design the residue of the antichristian states not destroyed by the vials of God's wrath; see Rev 11:13,

shall know that I the Lord build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate; this work of rebuilding Jerusalem, and other cities of Judea, and planting desolate places with trees, and all manner of corn and herbage for man and beast, as well as of building up and planting churches, will appear so manifestly the work of God, and not of men; which is brought about by his wonderful providence, or more surprising grace; that even the Heathen round about will take notice of it, and own and acknowledge it to be the Lord's work:

I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it; he has spoken of it by his prophets; he has promised it in his word, and he will surely do it; for he is true and faithful to his promises, and able to perform.

Gill: Eze 36:37

Thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel,.... Besought and prayed unto for the accomplishment of the above promises, as well as what follows: for though God has promised and will perform, yet he expects that his people will apply to him for it; it is our duty to put the Lord in mind of his promises, to plead them with him, and pray unto him for the fulfilment of them. The Syriac version is, "even for this I seek Israel"; and so the Arabic version; as if the sense was, that the Lord will seek the people of Israel wherever they are, and find them out, and call them by his grace, and gather them out of all countries, and bring them into their own land: "to do it for them"; everything before promised, and what next follows:

I will increase them with men like a flock; as a flock of sheep is increased, which is a very increasing creature: or, "as a flock of men" ^p; it signifies that the people of the Jews will be very numerous at their conversion; see Hos 1:10.

Gill: Eze 36:38

As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts,.... Like flocks of sheep, which were consecrated and set apart for holy uses, for sacrifices; even like the flocks of sheep, which were brought to Jerusalem to be offered in sacrifice at the three solemn festivals in the year; especially at the passover, when the Jews came from all parts of the country to slay and eat their passover; and every family had a lamb, which in all must be a great number: we read of thirty thousand lambs and three thousand bullocks given at one time for this service by King Josiah, besides what was given by the princes, 2Ch 35:7. The Targum is,

"as the holy people, as a people that is cleansed, and comes to Jerusalem at the feasts of the passover:''

or, "as the flock of the Holy Ones" ^q; either of the holy God, Father, Son, and Spirit; or of holy men, who are made holy or sanctified by the Spirit of God:

so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men; or with men that are like sheep for meekness, harmlessness, patience, cleanness, society, and usefulness; and not with such as are comparable to unclean beasts, or beasts of prey; so it denotes both the quantity of persons that shall inhabit Judea, and dwelt both in the cities and churches there, and the quality of them.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Eze 36:15

¹ tn Heb “cause you to hear.”

² tc The MT reads תַכְשִׁלִי (takhshiliy), a metathesis for תַשְׁכִלִי (tashkhiliy) from the root שָׁכַל (shakhal) which is used in each of the previous verses.

NET Notes: Eze 36:17

¹ tn Heb “way.”

NET Notes: Eze 36:18

¹ sn See Ezek 7:8; 9:8; 14:19; 20:8, 13, 21; 22:22; 30:15.

² sn For the concept of defiling the land in legal literature, see Lev 18:28; Deut 21:23.

NET Notes: Eze 36:21

¹ tn Heb “name.”

NET Notes: Eze 36:22

¹ sn In Ezek 20:22 God refrained from punishment for the sake of his holy name. Here God’s reputation is the basis for Israel’s restoration.

NET Notes: Eze 36:23

¹ tn Or “sanctify,” Heb “make holy.”

NET Notes: Eze 36:25

¹ sn The Lord here uses a metaphor from the realm of ritual purification. For the use of water in ritual cleansing, see Exod 30:19-20; Lev 14:51; Num 19:18; Heb 10:22.

NET Notes: Eze 36:26

¹ sn That is, a heart which symbolizes a will that is stubborn and unresponsive (see 1 Sam 25:37). In Rabbinic literature a “stone” was associated with an evil inclination (b. Sukkah 52a).

² sn That is, a heart which symbolizes a will that is responsive and obedient to God.

NET Notes: Eze 36:27

¹ tn Or “in the midst of you.” The word “you” is plural.

² tn Heb “and I will do that which in my statutes you will walk.” The awkward syntax (verb “to do, act” + accusative sign + relative clause + prepositional phrase + second person verb) is unique, though Eccl 3:14 contains a similar construction. In the last line of that verse we read that “God acts so that (relative pronoun) they fear before him.” However, unlike Ezek 36:27, the statement has no accusative sign before the relative pronoun.

³ tn Heb “and my laws you will guard and you will do them.” Jer 31:31-34 is parallel to this passage.

NET Notes: Eze 36:28

¹ sn This promise reflects the ancient covenantal ideal (see Exod 6:7).

NET Notes: Eze 36:31

¹ tn Heb “ways.”

NET Notes: Eze 36:32

¹ tn Heb “Let it be known.”

NET Notes: Eze 36:37

¹ tn The Niphal verb may have a tolerative function here, “Again (for) this I will allow myself to be sought by the house of Israel to act for them.” Or it may be reflexive: “I will reveal myself to the house of Israel by doing this also.”

² sn Heb “I will multiply them like sheep, human(s).”

NET Notes: Eze 36:38

¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

Geneva Bible: Eze 36:12

Yea, I will cause men to walk ^{( i )} upon you, [even] my people Israel; and they shall possess thee, and thou shalt be their inheritance, and thou shalt no more henceforth bereave them [of men].

^{( i )} That is, on the mountains of Jerusalem.

Geneva Bible: Eze 36:13

Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because they say to you, Thou ^{( k )} [land] devourest men, and hast bereaved thy nations;

^{( k )} This the enemies imputed as the reproach of the land, which God did for the sins of the people according to his just judgments.

Geneva Bible: Eze 36:21

But I had pity for my holy ^{( l )} name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations, to which they went.

^{( l )} And therefore would not permit my Name to be had in contempt, as the heathen would have reproached me, if I had allowed my Church to perish.

Geneva Bible: Eze 36:22

Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I do not [this] for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for my ^{( m )} holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the nations, to which ye went.

^{( m )} This excludes from man all dignity and means to deserve anything by, seeing that God refers the whole to himself and that only for the glory of his holy Name.

Geneva Bible: Eze 36:25

Then will I sprinkle clean ^{( n )} water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.

^{( n )} That is, his spirit by which he reforms the heart and regenerates his. See Isa 44:3

Geneva Bible: Eze 36:29

I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the ^{( o )} grain, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you.

^{( o )} Under the abundance of temporal benefits he concludes the spiritual graces.

Geneva Bible: Eze 36:31

Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that [were] not good, and shall ^{( p )} lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.

^{( p )} You will come to true repentance and think yourselves unworthy to be of the number of God's creatures, for your ingratitude against him.

Geneva Bible: Eze 36:36

Then the nations that are left around you shall ^{( q )} know that I the LORD build the ruined [places, and] plant that which was desolate: I the LORD have spoken [it], and I will do [it].

^{( q )} He declares that it ought not to be referred to the soil or plentifulness of the earth that any country is rich and abundant, but only to God's mercies, as his plagues and curses declare, when he makes it barren.

Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: Eze 36:1-38

1 The land of Israel is comforted, both by destruction of the heathen, who spitefully used it,

8 and by the blessings of God promised unto it.

16 Israel was rejected for their sin,

21 and shall be restored without their desert.

25 The blessings of Christ's kingdom.

Maclaren: Eze 36:25-38

The Holy Nation

Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. 26. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them. 28. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be My people, and I will be your God. 29. I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you. 30. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen. 31. Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. 32. Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel. 33. Thus saith the Lord God; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded. 34. And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. 35. And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited. 36. Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the Lord build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it. 37. Thus saith the Lord God; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock. 38. As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the Lord.'--Ezekiel 36:25-38.

THIS great prophecy had but a partial fulfilment, though a real one, in the restored Israel. The land was given back, the nation was multiplied, fertility again blessed the smiling fields and vineyards, and, best of all, the people were cleansed from all their idols' by the furnace of affliction. Nothing is more remarkable than the transformation effected by the captivity, in regard to the idolatrous propensities of the people. Whereas before it they were always hankering after the gods of the nations, they came back from Babylon the resolute champions of monotheism, and never thereafter showed the smallest inclination for what had before been so irresistible.

But the fulness of Ezekiel's prophecy is not realised until Jeremiah's prophecy of the new covenant is brought to pass. Nor does the state of the militant church on earth exhaust it. Future glories gleam through the words. They have a springing accomplishment' in the Israel of the restoration, a fuller in the New Testament church, and their ultimate realisation in the New Jerusalem, which shall yet descend to be the bride, the Lamb's wife. The principles involved in the prophecy belong to the region of purely spiritual religion, and are worth pondering, apart from any question of the place and manner of fulfilment.

First comes the great truth that the foundation, so far as concerns the history of a soul or of a community, of all other good is divine forgiveness (Ezekiel 36:25). Ezekiel, the priest, casts the promise into ceremonial form, and points to the sprinklings of the polluted under the law, or to the ritual of consecration to the priesthood. That cleansing is the removal of already contracted defilement, especially of the guilt of idolatry. It is clearly distinguished from the operation on the inward nature which follows; that is to say, it is the promise of forgiveness, or of justification, not of sanctification.

From what deep fountains in the divine nature that , clean water' was to flow, Ezekiel does not know; but we have learned that a more precious fluid than water is needed, and have to think of Him who came not by water only, but by water and blood,' in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of our sins. But the central idea of this first promise is that it must be God's hand which sprinkles from an evil conscience. Forgiveness is a divine prerogative. He only can, and He will, cleanse from all filthiness. His pardon is universal. The most ingrained sins cannot be too black to melt away from the soul. The dyestuffs of sin are very strong, but there is one solvent which they cannot resist. There are no fast colours' which God's clean water' cannot move. This cleansing of pardon underlies all the rest of the blessings. It is ever the first thing needful when a soul returns to God.

Then follows an equally exclusively divine act, the impartation of a new nature, which shall secure future obedience (Ezekiel 36:26-27). Who can thrust his hand into the depths of man's being, and withdraw one life-principle and enshrine another, while yet the individuality of the man remains untouched? God only. How profound the consciousness of universal obstinacy and insensibility which regards human nature, apart from such renewal, as possessing but a heart of stone'! There are no sentimental illusions about the grim facts of humanity here. Superficial views of sin and rose-tinted fancies about human nature will not admit the truth of the Scripture doctrine Of sinfulness, alienation from God. They diagnose the disease superficially, and therefore do not know how to cure it. The Bible can venture to give full weight to the gravity of the sickness, because it knows the remedy. No surgery but God's can perform that operation of extracting the stony heart and inserting a heart of flesh. No system which cannot do that can do what men want. The gospel alone deals thoroughly with man's ills.

And how does it effect that great miracle? I will put My Spirit within you.' The new life-principle is the effluence of the Spirit of God. The promise does not merely offer the influence of a divine spirit, working on men as from without, or coming down upon them as an afflatus, but the actual planting of God's Spirit in the deep places of theirs. We fail to apprehend the most characteristic blessing of the gospel if we do not give full prominence to that great gift of an indwelling Spirit, the life of our lives. Cleansing is much, but is incomplete without a new life-principle which shall keep us clean; and that can only be God's Spirit, enshrined and operative within us; for only thus shall we walk in His statutes, and keep His judgments.' When the Lawgiver dwells in our hearts, the law will be our delight; and keeping it will be the natural outcome and expression of our life, which is His life.

Then follows the picture of the blessed effects of obedience (Ezekiel 36:28-30). These are cast into the form appropriate to the immediate purpose of the prophecy, and received fulfilment in the actual restoration to the land, which fulfilment, however, was imperfect, inasmuch as the obedience and renewal of the people's hearts were incomplete. These can only be complete under the gospel, and, in the fullest sense, only in another order than the present. When men fully keep God's judgments, they shall dwell permanently in a good land. Israel's hold on its country was its obedience, not its prowess. Our real hold on even earthly good is the choosing of God for our supreme good. In the measure in which we can say Thy law is within my heart,' all things are ours; and we may possess all things while having nothing in the vulgar world's sense of having. Similarly that obedience, which is the fruit of the new life of God's Spirit in our spirits, is the condition of close mutual possession in the blessed reciprocity of trust and faithfulness, love bestowing and love receiving, by which the quiet heart knows that God is its, and it is God's. If stains and interruptions still sometimes break the perfectness of obedience and continuity of reciprocal ownership, there will be a further cleansing for such sins. If we walk in the light, the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin' (Ezekiel 36:29).

The lovely picture of the blessed dwellers in their good land is closed by the promise of abundant harvests from corn and fruit-tree; that is, all that nourishes or delights. The deepest truth taught thereby is that he who lives in God has no unsatisfied desires, but finds in Him all that can sustain, strengthen, and minister to growth, and all that can give gladness and delight. If we make God our heritage, we dwell secure in a good land; and the dust of that land is gold,' and its harvests ever plenteous.

Very profoundly and beautifully does Ezekiel put as the last trait in his picture, and as the upshot of all this cornucopia of blessings, the penitent remembrance of past evils. Undeserved mercies steal into the heart like the breath of the south wind, and melt the ice. The more we advance in holiness and consequent blessed communion with God, the more clearly shall we see the evil of our past. Forgiven sin looks far blacker because it is forgiven. When we are not afraid of sin's consequences, we see more plainly its sinfulness. When we have tasted God's sweetness, we think with more shame of our ingratitude and folly. If God forgets, the more reason for us to remember our transgressions. The man who has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins' is in danger of finding out that he is not purged from them. There is no gnawing of conscience, nor any fearful looking for of judgment in such remembrance, but a wholesome humility passing into thankful wonder that such sin is pardoned, and such a sinner made God's friend.

The deep foundation of all the blessedness is finally laid bare (Ezekiel 36:32) as being God's undeserved mercy. For Mine holy name' (Ezekiel 36:22) is God's reason. He is His own motive; and He wills that the world should know His name,--that is, His manifested character,--and understand how loving and long-suffering He is. So He wills, not because such knowledge adds to His glory, but because it satisfies His love, since it will make the men who know His name blessed. The truth that God's motive is His own name's sake may be so put as to be hideous and repellent; but it really proclaims that He is love, and that His motive is His poor creatures' blessing.

To this great outline of the blessings of the restored nations are appended two subsidiary prophecies, marked by the recurring Thus saith the Lord.' The former of these (Ezekiel 36:33-36) deals principally with the new beauty that was to clothe the land. The day in which the inhabitants were cleansed from their sins was to be the day in which the land was to be raised from its ruin. Cities are to be rebuilt, the ground that had lain fallow and tangled with briers and thorns is to be tilled, and to bloom like Eden, a restored paradise. How far the fulfilment has halted behind the promise, the melancholy condition of Palestine to-day may remind us. Whether the literal fulfilment is to be anticipated or no seems less important than to note that the experience of forgiveness (and of the consequent blessings described above) is the precursor of this fair picture. Therefore, the Church's condition of growth and prosperity is its realisation in the persons of its individual members, of pardon, the renewal of the inner man by the indwelling Spirit, faithful obedience, communion with God, and lowly remembrance of past sins. Where churches are marked by such characteristics, they will grow. If they are not, all their evangelistic efforts' will be as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.

The second appended prophecy (Ezekiel 36:37-38) is that of increase of population. The picture of the flocks of sheep for sacrifice, which thronged Jerusalem at the feasts, is given as a likeness of the swarms of inhabitants in the waste cities.' The point of comparison is chiefly the number. One knows how closely a flock huddles and seems to fill the road in endless procession. But the destination as well as the number comes into view. All these patient creatures, crowding the ways, are meant for sacrifices. So the inhabitants of the land then shall all yield themselves to God, living sacrifices. The first words of our text point to the priesthood of all believers; the last words point to the sacrifice of themselves which they have to offer.

For this moreover will I be inquired of by the house of Israel.' The blessings promised do not depend on our merits, as we have heard, but yet they will not be given without our co-operation in prayer. God promises, and that promise is not a reason for our not asking the gifts from Him, but for our asking. Faith keeps within the lines of God's promise, and prayers which do not foot themselves on a promise are the offspring of presumption, not of faith. God lets Himself be inquired of' for that which is in accordance with His will; and, accordant with His will though it be, He will not' do it for them,' unless His flock ask of Him the accomplishment of His own word.

MHCC: Eze 36:1-15

Those who put contempt and reproach on God's people, will have them turned on themselves. God promises favour to his Israel. We have no reason to complain, if the more unkind men are, the more kind God is. They shall come again to their own border. It was a type of the heavenly Canaan, of which all God's children are heirs, and into which they all shall be brought together. And when God returns in mercy to a people who return to him in duty, all their grievances will be set right. The full completion of this prophecy must be in some future event.

MHCC: Eze 36:16-24

The restoration of that people, being typical of our redemption by Christ, shows that the end aimed at in our salvation is the glory of God. The sin of a people defiles their land; renders it abominable to God, and uncomfortable to themselves. God's holy name is his great name; his holiness is his greatness, nor does any thing else make a man truly great.

MHCC: Eze 36:25-38

Water is an emblem of the cleansing our polluted souls from sin. But no water can do more than take away the filth of the flesh. Water seems in general the sacramental sign of the sanctifying influences of the Holy Ghost; yet this is always connected with the atoning blood of Christ. When the latter is applied by faith to the conscience, to cleanse it from evil works, the former is always applied to the powers of the soul, to purify it from the pollution of sin. All that have an interest in the new covenant, have a new heart and a new spirit, in order to their walking in newness of life. God would give a heart of flesh, a soft and tender heart, complying with his holy will. Renewing grace works as great a change in the soul, as the turning a dead stone into living flesh. God will put his Spirit within, as a Teacher, Guide, and Sanctifier. The promise of God's grace to fit us for our duty, should quicken our constant care and endeavour to do our duty. These are promises to be pleaded by, and will be fulfilled to, all true believers in every age.

Matthew Henry: Eze 36:1-15

The prophet had been ordered to set his face towards the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them, Eze 6:2. Then God was coming forth to contend with his people; but now that God is returning in mercy to them he must speak good words and comfortable words to these mountains, Eze 36:1 and again Eze 36:4. You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord; and what he says to them he says to the hills, to the rivers, to the valleys, to the desolate wastes in the country, and to the cities that are forsaken, Eze 36:4. and again Eze 36:6. The people were gone, some one way and some another; nothing remained there to be spoken to but the places, the mountains and valleys; these the Chaldeans could not carry away with them. The earth abides for ever. Now, to show the mercy God had in reserve for the people, he is to speak of him as having a dormant kindness for the place, which, if the Lord had been pleased for ever to abandon, he would not have called upon to hear the word of the Lord, nor would he as at this time have shown it such things as these. Here is,

I. The compassionate notice God takes of the present deplorable condition of the land of Israel. It has become both a prey and a derision to the heathen that are round about, Eze 36:4. 1. It has become a prey to them; and they are all enriched with the plunder of it. When the Chaldeans had conquered them all their neighbours flew to the spoil as to a shipwreck, every one thinking all his own that he could lay his hands on (Eze 36:3): They have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that you might be a possession to the heathen, to the residue of them, even such as had themselves narrowly escaped the like desolation. No one thought it any crime to strip an Israelite. Turba Romae sequitur fortunam ut semper - The mob of Rome still praise the elevated and despise the fallen. It is the common dry, when a man is down, Down with him. 2. It has become a derision to them. They took all they had and laughed at them when they had done. The enemy said, " Aha! even the ancient high places are ours in possession, Eze 36:2. Neither the antiquity, nor the dignity, neither the sanctity nor the fortifications, of the land of Israel, are its security, but we have become masters of it all."The more honours that land had been adorned with, and the greater figure it had made among the nations, the more pride and pleasure did they take in making a spoil of it, which is an instance of a base and sordid spirit; for the more glorious and prosperity was the more piteous is the adversity. God takes notice of it here as an aggravation of the present calamity of Israel: You are taken up in the lips of talkers and are an infamy of the people, Eze 36:3. All the talk of the country about was concerning the overthrow of the Jewish nation; and every one that spoke of it had some peevish ill-natured reflection or other upon them. They were the scorning of those that were at ease and the contempt of the proud, Psa 123:4. There are some that are noted for talkers, that have something to say of every body, but cannot find in their hearts to speak well of any body; God's people, among such people, were sure to be a reproach when the crown had fallen from their head. Thus it was the lot of Christianity, in its suffering days, to be every where spoken against.

II. The expressions of God's just displeasure against those who triumphed in the desolations of the land of Israel, as many of its neighbours did, even the residue of the brethren, and Idumea particularly. Let us see, 1. How they dealt with the Israel of God. They carved out large possessions to themselves out of their land, out of God's land; for so indeed it was: " They have appointed my land into their possession (Eze 36:5), and so not only invaded their neighbour's property, but intrenched upon God's prerogative."It was the holy land which they laid their sacrilegious hands upon. They did not own any dependence upon God, as the God of that land, nor acknowledge any remaining interest that Israel had in it, but cast it out for a prey, as if they had won it in a lawful war. And this they did without any dread of God and his judgments and without any compassion for Israel and their calamities, but with the joy of all their hearts, because they got by it, and with despiteful minds to Israel that lost by it. Increasing wealth, by right or wrong, is all the joy of a worldly heart; and the calamities of God's people are all the joy of a despiteful mind. And those that had not an opportunity of making a prey of God's people made a reproach of them; so that they were the shame of the heathen, Eze 36:6. Every body ridiculed them and made a jest of them; and the truth is they had by their own sin made themselves vile; so that God was righteous herein, but men were unrighteous and very barbarous. 2. How God would deal with those who were thus in word and deed abusive to his people. He has spoken against the heathen; he has passed sentence upon them; he has determined to reckon with them for it, and this in the fire of his jealousy, both for his own honour and for the honour of his people, Eze 36:5. Having a love for both as strong as death, he has a jealousy for both as cruel as the grave. They spoke in their malice against God's people, and he will speak in his jealousy against them; and it is easy to say which will speak most powerfully. God will speak in his jealousy and in his fury, Eze 36:6. Fury is not in God; but he will exert his power against them and handle them as severely as men do when they are in a fury. He will so speak to them in his wrath as to vex them in his sore displeasure. What he says he will stand to, for it is backed with an oath. He has lifted up his hand and sworn by himself, has sworn and will not repent. And what is it that is said with so much heat, and yet with so much deliberation? It is this (Eze 36:7), Surely the heathen that are about you, they shall bear their shame. Note, The righteous God, to whom vengeance belongs, will render shame for shame. Those that put contempt and reproach upon God's people will, sooner or later, have it burned upon themselves, perhaps in this world (either their follies or their calamities, their miscarriages or their mischances, shall be their reproach), at furthest in that day when all the impenitent shall rise to shame and everlasting contempt.

III. The promises of God's favour to his Israel and assurances given of great mercy God had in store for them. God takes occasion from the outrage and insolence of their enemies to show himself so much the more concerned for them and ready to do them good, as David hoped that God would recompense him good for Shimei's cursing him. Let them curse, but bless thou. In this way, as well as others, the enemies of God's people do them real service, even by the injuries they do them, against their will and beyond their intention. We shall have no reason to complain if, the more unkind men are, the more kind God is - if, the more kindly he speaks to us by his word and Spirit, the more kindly he acts for us in his providence. The prophet must say so to the mountains of Israel, which were now desolate and despised, that God is for them and will burn to them, Eze 36:9. As the curse of God reaches the ground for man's sake, so does the blessing. Now that which is promised is, 1. That their rightful owners should return to the possession of them: My people Israel are at hand to come, Eze 36:8. Though they are at a great distance from their own country, though they are dispersed in many countries, and though they are detained by the power of their enemies, yet they shall come again to their own border, Jer 31:17. The time is at hand for their return. Though there were above forty years of the seventy (perhaps fifty) yet remaining, it is spoken of as near, because it is sure, and there were some among them that should live to see it. A thousand years are with God but as one day. The mountains of Israel are now desolate; but God will cause men to walk upon them again, even his people Israel, not as travellers passing over them, but as inhabitants - not tenants, but freeholders: They shall possess thee, not for term of life, but for themselves and their heirs; thou shalt be their inheritance. It was a type of the heavenly Canaan, to which all God's children are heirs, every Israelite indeed, and into which they shall shortly be all brought together, out of the countries where they are now scattered. 2. That they should afford a plentiful comfortable maintenance for their owners at their return. When the land had enjoyed her sabbaths for so many years, it should be so much the more fruitful afterwards, as we should be after rest, especially a sabbath rest: You shall be tilled and sown (Eze 36:9) and shall yield your fruit to my people Israel, Eze 36:8. Note, It is a blessing to the earth to be made serviceable to men, especially to good men, that will serve God with cheerfulness in the use of those good things which the earth serves up to them. 3. That the people of Israel should have not only a comfortable sustenance, but a comfortable settlement, in their own land: The cities shall be inhabited; the wastes shall be builded, Eze 36:10 And I will settle you after your old estates, Eze 36:11. Their own sin had unsettled them, but now God's favour shall resettle them. When the prodigal son has become a penitent he is settled again in his father's house, according to his former estate. Bring hither the first robe, and put it on him. Nay, I will do better unto you now than at your beginnings. There is more joy for the sheep that is brought back than there would have been if it had never gone astray. And God sometimes multiplies his people's comforts in proportion to the time that he has afflicted them. Thus God blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning, and doubled to him all he had. 4. That the people, after their return, should be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the land, so that it should not only be inhabited again, but as thickly inhabited, and as well peopled, as ever. God will bring back to it all the house of Israel, even all of it (observe what an emphasis is laid upon that, Eze 36:10), all whose spirits God stirred up to return; and those only were reckoned of the house of Israel, the rest had cut themselves off from it; or, though but few, in comparison, returned at first, yet afterwards, at divers times, they all returned; and then (says God) I will multiply these men (Eze 36:10), multiply man and beast; and they shall increase, Eze 36:11. Note, God's kingdom in the world is a growing kingdom; and his church, though for a time it may be diminished, shall recover itself and be again replenished. 5. That the reproach long since cast upon the land of Israel by the evil spies, and of late revived, that it was a land that ate up the inhabitants of it by famine, sickness, and the sword, should be quite rolled away, and there should never be any more occasion for it. Canaan had got into a bad name. It had of old spued out the inhabitants (Lev 18:28), the natives, the aborigines, which was turned to its reproach by those that should have put another construction upon it, Num 13:32. It had of late devoured the Israelites, and spued them out too; so that it was commonly said of it, It is a land which, instead of supporting its nations or tribes that inhabit it, bereaves them, overthrows them, and causes them to fall; it is a tenement which breaks all the tenants that come upon it. This character it had got among the neighbours; but God now promises that it shall be so no more: Thou shalt no more bereave them of men (Eze 36:12), shalt devour men no more, Eze 36:14. But the inhabitants shall live to a good old age, and not have the number of their months cut off in the midst. Compare this with that promise, Zec 8:4. Note, God will take away the reproach of his people by taking away that which was the occasion of it. When the nation is made to flourish in peace, plenty, and power, then they hear no more the shame of the heathen (Eze 36:15), especially when it is reformed; when sin, which is the reproach of any people, particularly of God's professing people, is taken away, then they hear no more the reproach of the people. Note, When God returns in mercy to a people that return to him in duty, all their grievances will be soon redressed and their honour retrieved.

Matthew Henry: Eze 36:16-24

When God promised the poor captives a glorious return, in due time, to their own land, it was a great discouragement to their hopes that they were unworthy, utterly unworthy, of such a favour; therefore, to remove that discouragement, God here shows them that he would do it for them purely for his own name's sake, that he might be glorified in them and by them, that he might manifest and magnify his mercy and goodness, that attribute which of all others is most his glory. And, the restoration of that people being typical of our redemption by Christ, this is intended further to show that the ultimate end aimed at in our salvation, to which all the steps of it were made subservient, was the glory of God. To this end Christ directed all he did in that short prayer, Father, glorify thy name; and God declared it was his end in all he did in the immediate answer given to that prayer, by a voice from heaven: I have glorified it, and I will glorify it yet again, Joh 12:28. Now observe here,

I. How God's name had suffered both by the sins and by the miseries of Israel; and this was more to be regretted than all their sorrow, which they had brought upon themselves; for the honour of God lies nearer the hearts of good men than any interests of their own. 1. God's glory had been injured by the sin of Israel when they were in their own land, Eze 36:17. It was a good land, a holy land, a land that had the eye of God upon it. But they defiled it by their own way, their wicked way; that is our own way, the way of our own choice; and we ourselves must bear the blame and shame of it. The sin of a people defiles their land, renders it abominable to God and uncomfortable to themselves; so that they cannot have any holy communion with him nor with one another. What was unclean might not be made use of. By the abuse of the gifts of God's bounty to us we forfeit the use of them; and, the mind and conscience being defiled with guilt, no comfort is allowed us, nothing is pure to us. Their way in the eye of God was like the pollution of a woman during the days of her separation, which shut her out from the sanctuary and made very things she touched ceremonially unclean, Lev 15:19. Sin is that abominable thing which the Lord hates, and which he cannot endure to look upon. They shed blood and worshipped idols (Eze 36:18) and with those sins defiled the land. For this God poured out his fury upon them, scattered them among the heathen. Their own land was sick of them, and they were sent into other lands. Herein God was righteous, and was justified in what he did; none could say that he did them any wrong, nay, he did justice to his own honour, for he judged them according to their way and according to their doings, Eze 36:19. And yet, the matter being not rightly understood, he was not glorified in it; for the enemies did say, as Moses pleaded the Egyptians would say if he had destroyed them in the wilderness, that for mischief he brought them forth. Their neighbours considered them rather as a holy people than as a sinful people, and therefore took occasion from the calamities they were in, instead of glorifying God, as they might justly have done, to reproach him and put contempt upon him; and God's name was continually every day blasphemed by their oppressors, Isa 52:5. 2. When they entered into the land of the heathen God had no glory by them there; but, on the contrary, his holy name was profaned, Eze 36:20. (1.) It was profaned by the sins of Israel; they were no credit to their profession wherever they went, but, on the contrary, a reproach to it. The name of God and his holy religion was blasphemed through them, Rom 2:24. When those that pretended to be in relation to God, in covenant and communion with him, were found corrupt in their morals, slaves to their appetites and passions, dishonest in their dealings, and false to their words and the trust reposed in them, the enemies of the Lord had thereby great occasion given them to blaspheme, especially when they quarrelled with their God for correcting them, than which nothing could be more scandalous. (2.) It was profaned by the sufferings of Israel; for from them the enemies of God took occasion to reproach God, as unable to protect his own worshippers and to make good his own grants. They said, in scorn, " These are the people of the land, these wicked people (you see he could not keep them in their obedience to his precepts), these miserable people - you see he could not keep them in the enjoyment of his favours. These are the people that came out of Jehovah's land, they are the very scum of the nations. Are these those that had statues so righteous whose lives are so unrighteous? Is this the nation that is so much celebrated for a wise and understanding people, and that is said to have God so nigh unto them? Do these belong to that brave, that holy nation, who appear here so vile, so abject?"Thus God sold his people and did not increase his wealth by their price, Psa 44:12. The reproach they were under reflected upon him.

II. Let us now see how God would retrieve his honour, secure it, and advance it, by working a great reformation upon them and then working a great salvation for them. He would have scattered them among the heathen, were it not that he feared the wrath of the enemy, Deu 32:26, Deu 32:27. But, though they were unworthy of his compassion, yet he had pity for his own holy name, and a thousand pities it was that that should be trampled upon and abused. He looked with compassion on his own honour, which lay bleeding among the heathen, on that jewel which was trodden into the dirt, which the house of Israel, even in the land of their captivity, had profaned, Eze 36:21. In pity to that God brought them out from the heathen, because their sins were more scandalous there than they had been in their own land. "Therefore I will gather you out of all countries and bring you into your own land, Eze 36:24. Not for your sake, because you are worthy of such a favour, for you are most unworthy, but for my holy name's sake (Eze 36:22), that I may sanctify my great name, "Eze 36:23. Observe, by the way, God's holy name is his great name. His holiness is his greatness; so he reckons it himself. Nor does any thing make a man truly great but being truly good, and partaking of God's holiness. God will magnify his name as a holy name, for he will sanctify it: I will sanctify my name which you have profaned. When God performs that which he has sworn by his holiness, then he sanctifies his name. The effect of this shall be very happy: The heathen shall know that I am the Lord when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes and yours. When God proves his own holy name, and his saints praise it, then he is sanctified in them, and this contributes to the propagating of the knowledge of him. Observe, 1. God's reasons of mercy are all fetched from within himself; he will bring his people out of Babylon, not for their sakes, but for his own name's sake, because he will be glorified. 2. God's goodness takes occasion from man's badness to appear so much the more illustrious; therefore he will sanctify his name by the pardon of sin, because it has been profaned by the commission of sin.

Matthew Henry: Eze 36:25-38

The people of God might be discouraged in their hopes of a restoration by the sense not only of their unworthiness of such a favour (which was answered, in the foregoing verses, with this, that God, in doing it, would have an eye to his own glory, not to their worthiness), but of their unfitness for such a favour, being still corrupt and sinful; and that is answered in these verses, with a promise that God would by his grace prepare and qualify them for the mercy and then bestow it on them. And this was in part fulfilled in that wonderful effect which the captivity in Babylon had upon the Jews there, that it effectually cured them of their inclination to idolatry. But it is further intended as a draught of the covenant of grace, and a specimen of those spiritual blessings with which we are blessed in heavenly things by that covenant. As (ch. 34) after a promise of their return the prophecy insensibly slid into a promise of the coming of Christ, the great Shepherd, so here it insensibly slides into a promise of the Spirit, and his gracious influences and operations, which we have as much need of for our sanctification as we have of Christ's merit for our justification.

I. God here promises that he will work a good work in them, to qualify them for the good work he intended to bring about for them, Eze 36:25-27. We had promises to the same purport, Eze 11:18-20. 1. That God would cleanse them from the pollutions of sin (Eze 36:25): I will sprinkle clean water upon you, which signifies both the book of Christ sprinkled upon the conscience to purify that and to take away the sense of guilt (as those that were sprinkled with the water of purification were thereby discharged from their ceremonial uncleanness) and the grace of the Spirit sprinkled on the whole soul to purify it from all corrupt inclinations and dispositions, as Naaman was cleansed from his leprosy by dipping in Jordan. Christ was himself clean, else his blood could not have been cleansing to us; and it is a Holy Spirit that makes us holy: From all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. And (Eze 36:29) I will save you from all your uncleannesses. Sin is defiling, idolatry particularly is so; it renders sinners odious to God and burdensome to themselves. When guilt is pardoned, and the corrupt nature sanctified, then we are cleansed from our filthiness, and there is no other way of being saved from it. This God promises his people here, in order to his being sanctified in them, Eze 36:23. We cannot sanctify God's name unless he sanctify our hearts, nor live to his glory, but by his grace. 2. That God would give them a new heart, a disposition of mind excellent in itself and vastly different from what it was before. God will work an inward change in order to a universal change. Note, All that have an interest in the new covenant, and a title to the new Jerusalem, have a new heart and a new spirit, and these are necessary in order to their walking in newness of life. This is that divine nature which believers are by the promises made partakers of. 3. That, instead of a heart of stone, insensible and inflexible, unapt to receive any divine impressions and to return any devout affections, God would give a heart of flesh, a soft and tender heart, that has spiritual senses exercised, conscious to itself of spiritual pains and pleasures, and complying in every thing with the will of God. Note, Renewing grace works as great a change in the soul as the turning of a dead stone into living flesh. 4. That since, besides our inclination to sin, we complain of an inability to do our duty, God will cause them to walk in his statutes, will not only show them the way of his statutes before them, but incline them to walk in it, and thoroughly furnish them with wisdom and will, and active powers, for every good work. In order to this he will put his Spirit within them, as a teacher, guide, and sanctifier. Note, God does not force men to walk in his statutes by external violence, but causes them to walk in his statutes by an internal principle. And observe what use we ought to make of this gracious power and principle promised us, and put within us: You shall keep my judgments. If God will do his part according to the promise, we must do ours according to the precept. Note, The promise of God's grace to enable us for our duty should engage and quicken our constant care and endeavour to do our duty. God's promises must drive us to his precepts as our rule, and then his precepts must send us back to his promises for strength, for without his grace we can do nothing.

II. God here promises that he will take them into covenant with himself. The sum of the covenant of grace we have, Eze 36:28. You shall be my people, and I will be your God. It is not, "If you will be my people, I will be your God"(though it is very true that we cannot expect to have God to be to us a God unless we be to him a people), but he has chosen us, and loved us, first, not we him; therefore the condition is of grace, is by promise, as well as the reward; not of merit, not of works: " You shall be my people; I will make you so; I will give you the nature and spirit of my people, and then I will be your God. "And this is the foundation and top-stone of a believer's happiness; it is heaven itself, Rev 21:3, Rev 21:7.

III. He promises that he will bring about all that good for them which the exigence of their case calls for. When they are thus prepared for mercy, 1. Then they shall return to their possessions and be settled again in them (Eze 36:28): You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. God will, in bringing them back to it, have an eye not to any merit of theirs, but to the promise made to the fathers; for therefore he gave it to them at first, Deu 7:7, Deu 7:8. Therefore he is gracious, because he has said that he will be so. This shall follow upon the blessed reformation God would work among them (Eze 36:33): " In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities, and so shall have made you meet for the inheritance, I will cause you to dwell in the cities, and so put you in possession of the inheritance."This is God's method of mercy indeed, first to part men from their sins, and then to restore them to their comforts. 2. Then they shall enjoy a plenty of all good things. When they are saved from their uncleanness, from their sins which kept good things from them, then I will call for the corn and will increase it, Eze 36:29. Plenty comes at God's call, and the plenty he calls for shall be still growing; and when he speaks the word the fruit both of the tree and of the field shall multiply. As the inhabitants multiply the productions shall multiply for their maintenance; for he that sends mouths will send meat. Famine was one of the judgments which they had laboured under, and it had been as much as any a reproach to them, that they should be starved in a land so famed for fruitfulness. But now I will lay no famine upon you; and none are under that rod without having it laid on by him. Then they shall receive no more reproach of famine, shall never be again upbraided with that, nor shall it ever be said that God is a Master that keeps his servants to short allowance. Nay, they shall not only be cleared from the reproach of famine, but they shall have the credit of abundance. The land that had long lain desolate in the sight of all that passed by, that looked upon it, some with contempt and some with compassion, shall again be tilled (Eze 36:34), and, having long lain fallow, it will now be the more fruitful. Observe, God will call for the corn and yet they must till the ground for it. Note, Even promised mercies must be laboured for; for the promise is not to supersede, but to quicken and encourage our industry and endeavour. And such a blessing will God command on the hand of the diligent that all who pass by shall take notice of it, with wonder, Eze 36:35. They shall say, "See what a blessed change here is, how this land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, the desert turned again into a paradise,"Note, God has honours in reserve for his people to be crowned with sufficient to counterbalance the contempt they are now loaded with, and in them he will be honoured. This wonderful increase both of the people of the land and of its products is compared (Eze 36:38) to the large flocks of cattle that are brought to Jerusalem, to be sacrificed at one of the solemn feasts. Even the cities that now lie waste shall be filled with flocks of men, not like the flocks with which the pastures are covered over (Psa 65:13), but like the holy flock which is brought to the courts of the Lord's house. Note, Then the increase of the numbers of a people is honourable and comfortable indeed when they are all dedicated to God as a holy flock, to be presented to him for living sacrifices. Crowds are a lovely sight in God's temple.

IV. He shows what shall be the happy effects of this blessed change. 1. It shall have a happy effect upon the people of God themselves, for it shall bring them to an ingenuous repentance for their sins (Eze 36:31): Then shall you remember your own evil ways and shall loathe yourselves. See here what sin is; it is an abomination, a loathsome thing, that abominable thing which the Lord hates. See what is the first step towards repentance; it is remembering our own evil ways, reflecting seriously upon the sins we have committed and being particular in recapitulating them. We must remember against ourselves not only our gross enormities, our own evil ways, but our defects and infirmities, our doings that were not good, not so good as they should have been; not only our direct violations of the law, but our coming short of it. See what is evermore a companion of true repentance, and that is self-loathing, a holy shame and confusion of face: "You shall loathe yourselves in your own sight, seeing how loathsome you have made yourselves in the sight of God."Self-love is at the bottom of sin, which we cannot but blush to see the absurdity of; but our quarrelling with ourselves is in order to our being, upon good grounds, reconciled to ourselves. And, lastly, see what is the most powerful inducement to an evangelical repentance, and that is a sense of the mercy of God; when God settles them in the midst of plenty, then they shall loathe themselves for their iniquities. Note, The goodness of God should overcome our badness and lead us to repentance. The more we see of God's readiness to receive us into favour upon our repentance the more reason we shall see to be ashamed of ourselves that we could ever sin against so much love. That heart is hard indeed that will not be thus melted. 2. It shall have a happy effect upon their neighbours, for it shall bring them to a more clear knowledge of God (Eze 36:36): " Then the heathen that are left round about you, that spoke ignorantly of God (for so all those do that speak ill of him) when they saw the land of Israel desolate, shall begin to know better, and to speak more intelligently of God, being convinced that he is able to rebuild the most desolate cities and to replant the most desolate countries, and that, though the course of his favours to his people may be obstructed for a time, they shall not be cut off for ever."They shall be made to know the truth of divine revelation by the exact agreement which they shall discern between God's word which he has spoken to Israel and his works which he has done for them: I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it. With us saying and doing are two things, but they are not so with God.

V. He proposes these things to them, not as the recompence of their merits, but as the return of their prayers.

1. Let them not think that they have deserved it: Not for your sakes do I this, be it known to you (Eze 36:22, Eze 36:32); no, be you ashamed and confounded for your own ways. God is doing this, all this which he has promised; it is as sure to be done as if it were done already, and present events have a tendency towards it. But then, (1.) They must renounce the merit of their own good works, and be brought to acknowledge that it is not for their sakes that it is done; so, when God brought Israel into Canaan the first time, an express caveat was entered against this thought. Deu 9:4-6, It is not for thy righteousness. It is not for the sake of any of their good qualities or good deeds, not because God had any need of them, or expected any benefit by them. No, in showing mercy he acts by prerogative, not for our deserts, but for his own honour. See how emphatically this is expressed: Be it known to you, it is not for your sakes, which intimates that we are apt to entertain a high conceit of our own merits and are with difficulty persuaded to disclaim a confidence in them. But, one way or other, God will make all his favourites to know and own that it is his grace, and not their goodness, his mercy, and not their merit, that made them so; and that therefore not unto them, not unto them, but unto him, is all the glory due. (2.) They must repent of the sin of their own evil ways. They must own that the mercies they receive from God are not only not merited, but that they are a thousand times forfeited; and therefore they must be so far from boasting of their good works that they must be ashamed and confounded for their evil ways, and then they are best prepared for mercy.

2. Yet let them know that they must desire and expect it (Eze 36:37): I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel. God has spoken, and he will do it, and he will be sought unto for it. He requires that his people should seek unto him, and he will incline their hearts to do it, when he is coming towards them in ways of mercy. (1.) They must pray for it, for by prayer God is sought unto, and enquired after. What is the matter of God's promises must be the matter of our prayers. By asking for the mercy promised we must give glory to the donor, express a value for the gift, own our dependence, and put honour upon prayer which God has put honour upon. Christ himself must ask, and then God will give him the heathen for his inheritance, must pray the Father, and then he will send the Comforter; much more must we ask that we may receive. (2.) They must consult the oracles of God, and thus also God is sought unto and enquired after. The mercy must be, not an act of providence only, but a child of promise; and therefore the promise must be looked at, and prayer made for it with an eye of faith fastened upon the promise, which must be both the guide and the ground of our expectations. Both these ways we find God enquired of by Daniel, in the name of the house of Israel, when he was about to do those great things for them; he consulted the oracles of God, for he understood by books, the book of the prophet Jeremiah, both what was to be expected and when; and then he set his face to seek God by prayer, Dan 9:2, Dan 9:3. Note, Our communion with God must be kept up by the word and prayer in all the operations of his providence concerning us and in both he must be enquired of.

Keil-Delitzsch: Eze 36:1-15

The Restoration and Blessing of Israel

Eze 36:1. And thou, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, Mountains of Israel, hear the word of Jehovah: Eze 36:2. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because the enemy saith concerning you, Aha! the everlasting heights have become ours for a possession: Eze 36:3. Therefore prophesy, and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because, even because they lay you waste, and pant for you round about, so that ye have become a possession to the remnant of the nations, and have come to the talk of the tongue and gossip of the people: Eze 36:4. Therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Jehovah: Thus saith the Lord Jehovah to the mountains and hills, to the low places and valleys, and to the waste ruins and the forsaken cities, which have become a prey and derision to the remnant of the nations round about; Eze 36:5. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Truly in the fire of my jealousy I have spoken against the remnant of the nations, and against Edom altogether, which have made my land a possession for themselves in all joy of heart, in contempt of soul, to empty it out for booty. Eze 36:6. Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains and hills, to the low places and valleys, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, in my jealousy and fury have I spoken, because ye have borne the disgrace of the nations. Eze 36:7. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, I, I have lifted up my hand; truly the nations round about you, they shall bear their disgrace. Eze 36:8. But ye, ye mountains of Israel, shall put forth your branches, and bear your fruit to my people Israel; for they will soon come. Eze 36:9. For, behold, I will deal with you, and turn toward you, and ye shall be tilled and sown. Eze 36:10. I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel at once; and the cities shall be inhabited, and the ruins built. Eze 36:11. And I will multiply upon you man and beast; they shall multiply and be fruitful: and I will make you inhabited as in your former time, and do more good to you than in your earlier days; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah. Eze 36:12. I will cause men, my people Israel, to walk upon you; and they shall possess thee, and thou shalt be an inheritance to them, and make them childless no more. Eze 36:13. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because they say to you, "Thou art a devourer of men, and hast made thy people childless;" Eze 36:14. Therefore thou shalt no more devour men, and no more cause thy people to stumble, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. Eze 36:15. And I will no more cause thee to hear the scoffing of the nations, and the disgrace of the nations thou shalt bear no more, and shalt no more cause thy people to stumble, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah.

This prophecy is uttered concerning the land of Israel, as is plainly declared in Eze 36:6; whereas in Eze 36:1 and Eze 36:4 the mountains of Israel are mentioned instead of the land, in antithesis to the mountains of Seir (Eze 35:1-15; see the comm. on Eze 35:12). The promise takes throughout the form of antithesis to the threat against Edom in Eze 35:1-15. Because Edom rejoices that the Holy Land, which has been laid waste, has fallen to it for a possession, therefore shall the devastated land be cultivated and sown again, and be inhabited by Israel as in the former time. The heathen nations round about shall, on the other hand, bear their disgrace; Edom, as we have already observed, being expanded, so far as the idea is concerned, into all the heathen nations surrounding Israel (Eze 36:3-7). In Eze 36:2, האויב , the enemy, is mentioned in quite a general manner; and what has already been stated concerning Edom in Eze 35:5 and Eze 35:10, is her predicted of the enemy. In Eze 36:3 and Eze 36:4 this enemy is designated as a remnant of the heathen nations; and it is not till Eze 36:5 that it is more precisely defined by the clause, "and all Edom altogether."The גּוים round about ( אשׁר , Eze 36:4, compared with Eze 36:3) are the heathen nations which are threatened with destruction in Ezekiel 25 and 26, on account of their malicious rejoicing at the devastation of Jerusalem and Judah. This serves to explain the fact that these nations are designated as שׁארית הגּוים , the rest, or remnant of the heathen nations, which presupposes that the judgment has fallen upon them, and that only a remnant of them is left, which remnant desires to take possession of the devastated land of Israel. The epithet applied to this land, בּמות , everlasting, i.e., primeval heights, points back to the גּבעות עולם of Gen 49:26 and Deu 33:15, and is chosen for the purpose of representing the land as a possession secured to the people of Israel by primeval promises, in consequence of which the attempt of the enemy to seize upon this land has become a sin against the Lord God. The indignation at such a sin is expressed in the emotional character of the address. As Ewald has aptly observed, "Ezekiel is seized with unusual fire, so that after the brief statement in Eze 36:2 'therefore' is repeated five times, the charges brought against these foes forcing themselves in again and again, before the prophecy settles calmly upon the mountains of Israel, to which it was really intended to apply."For יען בּיען , see the comm. on Eze 13:10. שׁמּות is an infinitive Kal , formed after the analogy of the verbs ה ' ל (cf. Ewald, §238 e ), from שׁמם , to be waste, to devastate, as in Dan 8:13; Dan 9:27; Dan 12:11, and is not to be taken in the sense of נשׁם , after Isa 42:14, as Hitzig supposes. שׁאף , to pant for a thing; here it is equivalent to snapping at anything. This is required by a comparison with Eze 36:4 , where היה לבז corresponds to שׁמּות ושׁאף , and ללעג to ' תּעלוּ על שׂפת וגו . In the connection שׂפת לשׁון , שׂפה signifies the lip as an organ of speech, or, more precisely, the words spoken; and לשׁון , the tongue, is personified, and stands for אישׁ לשׁון (Psa 140:12), a tongue-man, i.e., a talker.

In Eze 36:4 the idea expressed in "the mountains of Israel"is expanded into mountains, hills, lowlands, and valleys (cf. Eze 31:12; Eze 32:5-6); and this periphrastic description of the land is more minutely defined by the additional clause, "waste ruins and forsaken cities." אם לא in Eze 36:5 is the particle used in oaths (cf. Eze 5:11, etc.); and the perfect דּבּרתּי is not merely prophetic, but also a preterite. God has already uttered a threatening word concerning the nations round about in Ezekiel 25, 26, and Eze 35:1-15; and here He once more declares that they shall bear their disgrace. אשׁ קנאח is the fiery jealousy of wrath. כּלּא is an Aramean form for כּלּהּ (Eze 35:15). For בשׁאט נפשׁ , see Eze 25:6. In the expression למען מגרשׁהּ לבז n o isserp , which has been rendered in various ways, we agree with Gesenius and others in regarding מגרשׁ as an Aramean form of the infinitive of גּרשׁ , with the meaning to empty out, which is confirmed by the Syriac; for מגרשׁ cannot be a substantive, on account of the למען ; and Hitzig's conjecture, that לבז should be pointed לבז , and the clause rendered "to plunder its produce,"is precluded by the fact that the separation of the preposition למען ל , by the insertion of a word between, is unexampled, to say nothing of the fact that מגרשׁ does not mean produce at all. The thought expressed in Eze 36:6 and Eze 36:7 is the following: because Israel has hitherto borne the contempt of the heathen, the heathen shall now bear their own contempt. The lifting of the hand is a gesture employed in taking an oath, as in Eze 20:6, etc. But the land of Israel is to receive a blessing. This blessing is described in Eze 36:8 in general terms, as the bearing of fruit by the mountains, i.e., by the land of Israel; and its speedy commencement is predicted. It is then depicted in detail in Eze 36:9. In the clause כּי קרבוּ לבוא , the Israelites are not to be regarded as the subject, as Kliefoth supposes, in which case their speedy return from exile would be announced. The כּי shows that this cannot be the meaning; for it is immediately preceded by ' לעמּי ישׁ' yb , which precludes the supposition that, when speaking of the mountains, Ezekiel had the inhabitants in his mind. The promised blessings are the subject, or the branches and fruits, which the mountains are to bear. Nearly all the commentators have agreed in adopting this explanation of the words, after the analogy of Isa 56:1. With the כּי in Eze 36:9 the carrying out of the blessing promised is appended in the form of a reason assigned for the general promise. The mountains shall be cultivated, the men upon them, viz., all Israel, multiplied, the desolated cities rebuilt, so that Israel shall dwell in the land as in the former time, and be fruitful and blessed. This promise was no doubt fulfilled in certain weak beginnings after the return of a portion of the people under Zerubbabel and Ezra; but the multiplying and blessing, experienced by those who returned from Babylon, did not take place till long after the salvation promised here, and more especially in Eze 36:12-15.

According to Eze 36:12, the land is to become the inheritance of the people Israel, and will no more make the Israelites childless, or (according to Eze 36:14) cause them to stumble; and the people are no more to bear the contempt of the heathen. But that portion of the nation which returned from exile not only continued under the rule of the heathen, but had also in various ways to bear the contempt of the heathen still; and eventually, because Israel not only stumbled, but fell very low through the rejection of its Saviour, it was scattered again out of the land among the heathen, and the land was utterly wasted...until this day. In Eze 36:12 the masculine suffix attached to וירשׁוּך refers to the land regarded as הר , which is also the subject to היית and תּוסף . It is not till Eze 36:13, Eze 36:14, where the idea of the land becomes so prominent, that the feminine is used. שׁכּלם , to make them (the Israelites) childless, or bereaved, is explained in Eze 36:13, Eze 36:14 by אכלת , devouring men. That the land devours its inhabitants, is what the spies say of the land of Canaan in Num 13:32; and in 2Ki 2:19 is it affirmed of the district of Jericho that it causes משׁכּלת , i.e., miscarriages, on account of its bad water. The latter passage does not come into consideration; but the former (Num 13:32) probably does, and Ezekiel evidently refers to this. For there is no doubt whatever that he explains or expands שׁכּלם by אכלת אדם yb . Although, for example, the charge that the land devours men is brought against it by the enemies or adversaries of Israel ( אמרים לּכם , they say to you), the truth of the charge is admitted, since it is said that the land shall henceforth no more devour men, though without a repetition of the שׁכּל . But the sense in which Ezekiel affirms of the land that it had been אכלת אדם , and was henceforth to be so no more, is determined by וגויך לא תכשׁלי אוד , thou wilt no more cause thy people to stumble, which is added in Eze 36:14 in the place of משׁכּלת גּויך היית in Eze 36:14 . Hence the land became a devourer of men by the fact that it caused its people to stumble, i.e., entangled them in sins (the Keri תּשׁכּלי for תכשׁלי is a bad conjecture, the incorrectness of which is placed beyond all doubt by the לא־תכשׁלי עוד of Eze 36:15). Consequently we cannot understand the "devouring of men,"after Num 13:32, as signifying that, on account of its situation and fruitfulness, the land is an apple of discord, for the possession of which the nations strive with one another, so that the inhabitants are destroyed, or at all events we must not restrict the meaning to this; and still less can we agree with Ewald and Hitzig in thinking of the restless hurrying and driving by which individual men were of necessity rapidly swept away. If the sweeping away of the population so connected with the stumbling, the people are devoured by the consequences of their sins, i.e., by the penal judgment, unfruitfulness, pestilence, and war, with which God threatened Israel for its apostasy from Him. These judgments had depopulated the land; and this fact was attributed by the heathen in their own way to the land, and thrown in the teeth of the Israelites as a disgrace. The Lord will henceforth remove this charge, and take away from the heathen all occasion to despise His people, namely, by bestowing upon His land and people the blessing which He promised in the law to those who kept His commandments. But this can only be done by His removing the occasion to stumble or sin, i.e., according to Eze 36:25. (compared with Eze 11:18.), by His cleansing His people from all uncleanness and idols, and giving them a new heart and a new spirit. The Keri גּוייך in Eze 36:13, Eze 36:14, and Eze 36:15 is a needless alteration of the Chetib גּויך . - In Eze 36:15 this promise is rounded off and concluded by another summing up of the principal thoughts.

Keil-Delitzsch: Eze 36:16-38

The Salvation of Israel Founded upon Its Sanctification

Because Israel has defiled its land by its sins, God has scattered the people among the heathen; but because they also profaned His name among the heathen, He will exercise forbearance for the sake of His holy name (Eze 36:16-21), will gather Israel out of the lands, cleanse it from its sins, and sanctify it by the communication of His Spirit, so that it will walk in His ways (Eze 36:22-28), and will so bless and multiply it, that both the nations around and Israel itself will know that He is the Lord (Eze 36:29-38). - This promise is shown by the introductory formula in Eze 36:16 and by the contents to be an independent word of God; but it is substantially connected in the closest manner with the preceding word of God, showing, on the one hand, the motive which prompted God to restore and bless His people;, and, on the other hand, the means by which He would permanently establish the salvation predicted in Ezekiel 34 and Eze 36:1-15. - The kernel of this promise is formed by Eze 36:25-28, for which the way is prepared in Eze 36:17-24, whilst the further extension is contained in Eze 36:29-38.

Eze 36:16-21

The Lord will extend His forbearance, for the sake of His holy name, to the people who have been rejected on account of their sins. - Eze 36:16. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Eze 36:17. Son of man, the house of Israel dwelt in its land, and defiled it with its way and its doings; like the uncleanness of the unclean woman, was its way before me. Eze 36:18. Then I poured out my fury upon them on account of the blood which they had shed in the land, and because they had defiled it through their idols, Eze 36:19. And scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed in the land; according to their way and their doings I judge them. Eze 36:20. And they came to the nations whither they came, and profaned my holy name, for men said of them, "These are Jehovah's people, and they have come out of His land." Eze 36:21. And so I had pity upon my holy name, which the house of Israel profaned among the nations whither they came. - The address commences with a description of the reasons why God had thrust out His people among the heathen, namely, on account of their sins and idolatrous abominations, by which the Israelites had defiled the land (cf. Lev 18:28 and Num 35:34). Their conduct resembled the most offensive uncleanness, namely, the uncleanness of a woman in her menstruation (Lev 15:19), to which the moral depravity of the people had already been compared in Isa 64:5. - In Eze 36:18 the consequence of the defiling of the land by the people is introduced with the impression ואשׁפּך . In Eze 36:17, ויטמּאוּ is the continuation of the participle ישׁבים ; and the participle is expressive of the condition in the past, as we may see from the words ' ואשׁפּך וגו . The simile in Eze 36:17 is an explanatory, circumstantial clause. For Eze 36:18, compare Eze 7:8, and for ' על הדּם וגו , Eze 22:3, Eze 22:6. The last clause, "and through their idols they have defiled it,"is loosely appended; but it really contains a second reason for the pouring out of the wrath of God upon the people. For Eze 36:19, compare Eze 22:15. ויּבוא in Eze 36:20 refers to בּית־ישׂראל ; but there is no necessity to read ויבאוּ on that account. It is perfectly arbitrary to supply the subject proposed by Kliefoth, viz., "the report of what had happened to Israel"came to the heathen, which is quite foreign to the connection; for it was not the report concerning Israel, but Israel itself, which came to the heathen, and profaned the sacred name of God. This is not only plainly expressed in Eze 36:21 , but has been already stated in Eze 36:20. The fact that the words of the heathen, by which the name of God was profaned, are quoted here, does not prove that it is the heathen nations who are to be regarded as those who profaned the name of God, as Kliefoth imagines. The words, "these are Jehovah's people, and have come out of His (Jehovah's) land,"could only contain a profanation of the holy name of God, if their coming out was regarded as involuntary, i.e., as an exile enforced by the power of the heathen; or, on the other hand, if the Israelites themselves had denied the holiness of the people of God through their behaviour among the heathen. Most of the commentators have decided in favour of the former view. Vatablus, for example, gives this explanation: "if their God whom they preach had been omnipotent, He would not have allowed them to be expelled from His land."And we must decide in favour of this exposition, not only because of the parallel passages, such as Num 14:16 and Jer 33:24, which support this view; but chiefly on account of the verses which follow, according to which the sanctification of the name of God among the nations consists in the fact that God gathers Israel out of its dispersion among the nations, and leads them back into His own land (vid., Eze 36:23 and Eze 36:24). Consequently the profanation of His name can only have consisted in the fact that Israel was carried away out of its own land, and scattered in the heathen lands. For, since the heathen acknowledged only national gods, and regarded Jehovah as nothing more than such a national god of Israel, they did not look upon the destruction of the kingdom of Judah and the carrying away of the people as a judgment of the almighty and holy God upon His people, but concluded that that catastrophe was a sign of the inability of Jehovah to defend His land and save His people. The only way in which God could destroy this delusion was by manifesting Himself to the heathen as the almighty God and Lord of the whole world through the redemption and glorification of His people. ואחמל על־שׁם ק : so I had pity, compassion upon my holy name. The preterite is prophetic, inasmuch as the compassion consists in the gathering of Israel out of the nations, which is announced in Eze 36:22. as still in the future. The rendering, "I spared (them) for my holy name's sake"(lxx, Hävernick), is false; for חמל is construed with על , governing the person or the thing toward which the compassion is shown (vid., Eze 16:5 and 2Ch 36:15, 2Ch 36:17).

Eze 36:22-28

For His holy name's sake the Lord will bring Israel back from its dispersion into His own land, purify it from its sins, and sanctify it by His Spirit to be His own people. - Eze 36:22. Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, I do it not for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for my holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the nations whither ye have come. Eze 36:23. I will sanctify my great name, which is profaned among the nations, which ye have profaned in the midst of them, so that the nations shall know that I am Jehovah, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah, when I prove myself holy upon you before their eyes. Eze 36:24. I will take you out of the nations, and gather you out of all lands, and bring you into your land, Eze 36:25. And will sprinkle clean water upon you, that ye may become clean; from all your uncleannesses and from all your idols will I cleanse you, Eze 36:26. And I will give you a new heart, and give a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh. Eze 36:27. I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and keep my rights, and do them. Eze 36:28. And ye shall dwell in the land which I have given to your fathers, and shall become my people, and I will be your God. - These verses show in what way the Lord will have compassion upon His holy name, and how He will put an end to the scoffing thereat, and vindicate His honour in the sight of the heathen. "Nor for your sake,"i.e., not because you have any claim to deliverance on account of your behaviour (cf. Isa 48:11 and Deu 9:6), but for my holy name's sake, i.e., to manifest as holy the name which has been profaned among the heathen, I do it, namely, what follows from Eze 36:23 onwards. The Lord will sanctify His name, i.e., show it to be holy by proving Himself to be holy upon Israel. קדּשׁ is not equivalent to glorify, although the holiness of God involves the idea of glory. Sanctifying is the removing or expunging of the blots and blemishes which adhere to anything. The giving up of His people was regarded by the heathen as a sign of the weakness of Jehovah. This blot through which His omnipotence and glory were dishonoured, God would remove by gathering Israel out of the heathen, and glorifying it. Instead of לעיניכם , the ancient versions have rendered לעיניהם . This reading is also found in many of the codices and the earliest editions, and is confirmed by the great Masora, and also commended by the parallel passages, Eze 20:41 and Eze 28:25, so that it no doubt deserves the preference, although לעיניכם can also be justified. For inasmuch as Israelites had despaired in the midst of their wretchedness through unbelief, it was necessary that Jehovah should sanctify His great name in their sight as well. The great name of Jehovah is His almighty exaltation above all gods (cf. Mal 1:11-12). The first thing that Jehovah does for the sanctification of His name is to bring back Israel from its dispersion into its own land (Eze 36:24, compare Eze 11:17 and Eze 20:41-42); and then follows the purifying of Israel from its sins. The figurative expression, "to sprinkle with clean water,"is taken from the lustrations prescribed by the law, more particularly the purifying from defilement from the dead by sprinkling with the water prepared from the ashes of a red heifer (Num 19:17-19; compare Psa 51:9). Cleansing from sins, which corresponds to justification, and is not to be confounded with sanctification (Schmieder), is followed by renewal with the Holy Spirit, which takes away the old heart of stone and puts within a new heart of flesh, so that the man can fulfil the commandments of God, and walk in newness of life (Eze 36:26-28; compare Eze 11:18-20, where this promise has already occurred, and the necessary remarks concerning its fulfilment have been made). - With regard to the construction ' עשׂה את אשׁר , to make or effect your walking, compare Ewald, §337 b .

Eze 36:29-38

The Lord will richly bless, multiply, and glorify His people, when thus renewed and sanctified. - Eze 36:29. And I will save you from all your uncleannesses, and will call the corn, and multiply it, and no more bring famine upon you; Eze 36:30. But I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that ye will no more bear the reproach of famine among the nations. Eze 36:31. But ye will remember your evil ways, and your deeds which were not good, and will loathe yourselves on account of your iniquities and your abominations. Eze 36:32. Not for your sake do I this, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah, be this known to you; be ye ashamed and blush for your ways, O house of Israel! Eze 36:33. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, In the day when I shall cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will make the cities inhabited, and the ruins shall be built, Eze 36:34. And the devastated land shall be tilled instead of being a desert before the eyes of every one who passed by. Eze 36:35. And men will say, This land, which was laid waste, has become like the garden of Eden, and the desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited. Eze 36:36. And the nations, which have been left round about you, shall know that I Jehovah build up that which is destroyed, and plant that which is laid waste. I, Jehovah, have said it, and do it. Eze 36:37. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, I will still let myself be sought by the house of Israel in this, to do it for them; I will multiply them, like a flock, in men; Eze 36:38. Like a flock of holy sacrifices, like the flock of Jerusalem on its feast-days, so shall the desolate cities be full of flocks of men; and they shall know that I am Jehovah. - The words ' הושׁעתּי , I help or save you from all your uncleannesses, cannot be understood as relating to their purification from the former uncleannesses; for they have already been cleansed from these, according to Eze 36:25. The טמאות can only be such defilements as are still possible even after the renewing of the people; and הושׁע , to help, means to guard them against any further recurrence of such defilements (cf. Eze 37:23), and not to deliver them from the consequences of their former pollutions. But if God preserves His people from these, there is no longer any occasion for a fresh suspension of judgments over them, and God can bestow His blessing upon the sanctified nation without reserve. It is in this way that the further promises are appended; and, first of all, in Eze 36:29 and Eze 36:30, a promise that He will bless them with an abundant crop of fruits, both of the orchard and the field. "I call to the corn,"i.e., I cause it to come or grow, so that famine will occur no more (for the fact, compare Eze 34:29).

In consequence of this blessing, Israel will blush with shame at the thought of its former sins, and will loathe itself for those abominations (Eze 36:31); compare Eze 20:43, where the same thought has already occurred. To this, after repeating what has been said before in Eze 36:22, namely, that God is not doing all this for the sake of the Israelites themselves, the prophet appends the admonition to be ashamed of their conduct, i.e., to repent, which is so far inserted appropriately in the promise, that the promise itself is meant to entice Israel to repent and return to God. Then, secondly, in two strophes introduced with ' כּה אמר יי , the promise is still further expanded. In Eze 36:33-36, the prophet shows how the devastated land is to be restored and rebuilt, and to become a paradise; and in Eze 36:37 and Eze 36:38, how the people are to be blessed through a large increase in their numbers. Both of these strophes are simply a further elaboration of the promise contained in Eze 36:9-12. הושׁיב , causative of ישׁב , to cause to be inhabited, to populate, as in Isa 54:3. לעיני כּל־עובר , as in Eze 5:14. The subject to ואמרוּ in Eze 36:35 is, "those who pass by."For the comparison to the garden of Eden, see Eze 31:9. בּצוּרות is a circumstantial word belonging to ישׁבוּ : they shall be inhabited as fortified cities, that is to say, shall afford to their inhabitants the security of fortresses, from which there is no fear of their being expelled. In Eze 36:36 the expression, "the heathen nations which shall be left round about you,"presupposes that at the time of Israel's redemption the judgment will have fallen upon the heathen (compare Eze 30:3 with Eze 29:21), so that only a remnant of them will be still in existence; and this remnant will recognise the work of Jehovah in the restoration of Israel. This recognition, however, does not involve the conversion of the heathen to Jehovah, but is simply preparatory to it. For the fact itself, compare Eze 17:24. הדּרשׁ , to let oneself be asked or entreated, as in Eze 14:3. זאת , with regard to this, is explained by לעשׂות . What God will do follows in ' ארבּה ותו . God will multiply His people to such an extent, that they will resemble the flock of lambs, sheep, and goats brought to Jerusalem to sacrifice upon the feast days. Compare 2Ch 35:7, where Josiah is said to have given to the people thirty thousand lambs and goats for the feast of the passover. כּצּאן אדם does not mean, like a flock of men. אדם cannot be a genitive dependent upon צאן , on account of the article in כּצּאן , but belongs to ארבּה , either as a supplementary apposition to אותם , or as a second object, so that ארבּה would be construed with a double accusative, after the analogy of verbs of plenty, to multiply them in men. Kliefoth's rendering,, "I will multiply them, so that they shall be the flock of men"(of mankind), is grammatically untenable. צאן קדשׁים , a flock of holy beasts, i.e., of sacrificial lambs. The flock of Jerusalem is the flock brought to Jerusalem at the yearly feasts, when the male population of the land came to the sanctuary (Deu 16:16): So shall the desolate cities be filled again with flocks of men (compare Mic 2:12).

Constable: Eze 33:1--48:35

IV. Future blessings for Israel chs. 33--48

"This last major division of the book focuses on the restoration of Israel's blessing. Israel would be judged for her sin (chaps. 1-24) as would the surrounding nations (chaps. 25-32). But Israel will not remain under judgment forever. God had set her apart as His special people, and He will fulfill His promises to her."⁴²⁸

"Chapters 33-39 comprise words of restoration and hope, and chaps. 40-48 present details of the restored community."⁴²⁹

Constable: Eze 33:21--40:1

B. Restoration to the Promised Land 33:21-39:29

"The concept of the land is particularly significant to the six messages [33:21-39:29] delivered in that one night before the news of Jerusalem's fall reached the exiles in Babylonia [cf. 33:21-22]. Since Jerusalem had fallen, would the land be lost to Israel (33:21-33)? It was the false shepherds' of Israel who had lost the land for Israel by leading the people astray from the truth. But the true shepherd,' the Messiah, would ultimately restore the land to Israel (ch. 34). Those foreigners who had possessed the land of Israel and had oppressed her people would be judged and removed so that Israel might again possess her own land (35:1-36:15). Then God would restore Israel to her promised land (36:16-37:14) and reunite the nation in fulfillment of God's covenants with her (37:15-28). Never again would a foreign power have dominion over Israel in her land (chs. 38-39)."⁴³⁵

Constable: Eze 36:1-15

The establishment of Israel in the land 36:1-15

This part of the prophecy of the preparation of the Promised Land sets forth what God would do for Israel. It contains the opposite of the curses against Israel warned of in chapter 6, and it contrasts Israel's glorious destiny with the terrible fate of Edom in chapter 35.

"The chapter contains the most comprehensive enunciation of the plan of redemption to be found in this book, setting forth all the factors that comprise God's plan of salvation."⁴⁶⁰

"Ezekiel 36 parallels the New Covenant God promised to Israel and Judah in Jeremiah 31. This covenant includes at least three specific elements: (a) restoration to the land (Ezek. 36:24; Jer. 31:27-29), (b) forgiveness of sin (Ezek. 36:25; Jer. 31:34), and (c) the indwelling presence of God's Holy Spirit (Ezek. 36:26-27; Jer. 31:33)."⁴⁶¹

36:1-3 Yahweh commanded Ezekiel to prophesy to the mountains of Israel (in contrast to Mount Seir, cf. 6:1-14). The reason was threefold. First, Israel's enemy had spoken against her (cursed her, cf. Gen. 12:3) by rejoicing that the everlasting heights (mountains) of the land had come into their possession (cf. 6:3; 20:29).⁴⁶² Second, the enemy of Israel had destroyed her for good reason, namely, her sinfulness. Third, now she was the possession of the nations of the world and the subject of their scorn (cf. Deut. 28:37; Jer. 24:9). They talked publicly and privately about her fate.

36:4-5 Therefore the sovereign Lord had something to say to the whole land that had fallen prey to Israel's neighbor nations. Because Edom and the other nations had taken over the Lord's land joyfully and had scorned the Israelites, He would pronounce judgment on them in his hot jealousy.⁴⁶³ Israel's enemies had dealt with her in their anger and envy (35:11), but now Yahweh would deal with them in His fierce jealousy over Israel's welfare.

36:6-7 Ezekiel was to announce to the whole Promised Land that Yahweh had spoken in His jealousy and wrath because Israel had suffered the insults of the nations (cf. Gen. 12:3). The nations round about Israel would surely have to endure the consequences of their insults against Israel.

36:8-9 Verses 8-15 contain four promises concerning the land. First, the land would become productive because the Israelites would soon come back into the land. Yahweh assured the land that He was for it, He would bless it, and it would become cultivated again instead of desolate and uninhabited. Formerly the Lord had said that He was against Mount Seir (35:3).

36:10-11 Second, the Lord promised to fill all the land with Israelites, to enable them to live in their cities and to rebuild the places that had become ruins (cf. 6:3, 5-7). Earlier the Lord promised to desolate all the land of Edom (35:15) and to lay waste her cities (35:4). The mountains of Israel would again become populated with people and animals that would become fruitful and multiply. The Lord would bless them more greatly than ever before. Then His people would know that He is God.

36:12 Third, the Lord would cause the people of Israel to take possession of these mountains as their inheritance and never leave them again (cf. Gen. 12:7). The Edomites had formerly purposed to possess these mountains (35:10).

36:13-15 The nations had accused the Promised Land of devouring its inhabitants (cf. Num. 13:32), but Yahweh would see that it no longer did that. Fourth, He would not allow the Israelites to hear insults from their neighbors any longer, to bear disgrace any longer, or to stumble in its affairs any longer. He would restore them to their prestigious position as His Chosen People (cf. Deut. 28:13; Zech. 8:13, 20-23).

All the connections between how God would deal with Israel relative to the nations illustrate the retributive justice of God. He would deal with the enemies of His people as they had dealt with Israel, and He would bless Israel in the very ways the nations sought to humiliate Israel.

A typical covenant theology interpretation follows.

"From the perspective of the New Testament, these promises all apply to the church as the new Israel. How could such seemingly materialistic images have relevance for God's people who are not a single earthly nation farming in a single part of the world? The answer is that they apply literally but not literalistically. The church may take great comfort in the fulfillment of the sort of greatness, confidence, certainty of success, and ultimate victory over all its foes that such a compound oracle (i.e., 35:1-36:15) guarantees. . . . We may instead rejoice that God has had in mind for us things that the eye had not seen nor the ear heard (1 Cor. 2:9)--things that the present description of the abundance of the mountains of Israel is intended only to symbolize."⁴⁶⁴

Constable: Eze 36:16--37:15

4. Restoration to the Promised Land 36:16-37:14

Having prepared the land for the Israelites (35:1-36:15), the Lord would bring them back into it. This prophecy consists of four parts (36:16-21, 22-32, 33-38, and 37:1-14).

Constable: Eze 36:16-21

The reason for Israel's scattering 36:16-21

36:16-17 The Lord told Ezekiel that when the Israelites had lived in the Promised Land they had defiled it by the way they lived. They resembled a woman during her menstrual period who defiled everything she touched (cf. Lev. 15:19-23; Isa. 64:6).

36:18-19 Yahweh had poured out His wrath on them because of their bloodshed and idolatry. He had judged them for their deeds by scattering them among the nations (cf. Deut. 29:1-30:10).

36:20-21 Their dispersion made Yahweh look impotent since the nations concluded that He could not keep them safe in His land. The Lord had risked His reputation by driving Israel out of the land, but He cared about His reputation, which the Israelites had made common. We need to remember that how Christians represent God by our words and deeds likewise concerns Him (cf. Matt. 6:9; Luke 11:2).

Constable: Eze 36:22-32

The method of Israel's restoration 36:22-32

"The next verses in the chapter are among the most glorious in the entire range of revealed truth on the subject of Israel's restoration to the Lord and national conversion."⁴⁶⁵

36:22-23 Ezekiel was to tell the Israelites that it was in spite of them that He would act for them; He would deliver them for the sake of His own reputation that they had profaned (cf. 20:39). He would vindicate His reputation as being a holy (unique) God when He proved Himself such in the sight of the nations (cf. Exod. 5:2; 9:16; 32:11-18; Lev. 18:21; 20:3; 22:31-33; Num. 14:13-19; Deut. 29:1-30:10).

36:24-25 The Lord promised, first, to take the Israelites from all the nations, to regather them, and to bring them back into their land (cf. 11:16-17; 20:34; 34:13; 37:21). He would then, second, purify His people and cleanse them from all their former uncleanness (cf. v. 17; 11:18; Exod. 12:22; Lev. 14:4-7; Ps. 51:7; Jer. 31:31-34; 1 Cor. 6:11). Justification, not sanctification, is in view.⁴⁶⁶

36:26 He would, third, give them a new heart and spirit and would remove their hardness of heart and give them soft hearts (i.e., regenerate them; cf. 11:19; 18:31; 2 Cor. 3:3-6).⁴⁶⁷ The heart stands for the whole person--mind, will, and emotions (cf. 2:4; 3:7)--and the spirit describes the motivation that drives thought and conduct.

"The temptation to find the fulfillment of the new heart' and new spirit' of 36:25-27 exclusively in Christian conversion in this age should be resisted. New Testament conversion is only a preview of the massive spiritual revival God has in store for all of true Israel and Gentiles who believe."⁴⁶⁸

36:27 God would, fourth, also put His Spirit within the Israelites and cause them to obey His commands carefully (cf. 11:19-20; 18:31; 37:14; 39:29; Jer. 31:31; Joel 2:28-29; Acts 2:17-18; Rom. 7:7-8:4; 2 Cor. 3:6-18; Heb. 8:6-10:39). This is a coming of the Holy Spirit on Israel in the future, not His coming on the church at Pentecost.

36:28-30 They would, fifth, live in the Promised Land and enjoy a permanent, intimate relationship with God. He would also deliver them from their uncleanness (v. 25) and, sixth, give them abundant harvests constantly so they would never experience famine (cf. 34:29). In other words, He would bless them with consistent fertility and fruitfulness (cf. 34:29).

36:31-32 Then the Israelites would, seventh, remember their former sins and would loath themselves (cf. 6:9; 20:43). Again, the Lord would not accomplish this regathering for the sake of His people, but for the sake of His reputation among the rest of the world's population (cf. v. 22). This present announcement of God's gracious dealings with His people should shame them and bring them to their knees in repentance.

"This context and that of similar accounts of God's restoration of Israel to her land, along with the historical perspective, make it clear that the return mentioned in this passage does not refer to the return to Canaan under Zerubbabel but to a final and complete restoration under the Messiah in the end times. The details of Israel's reestablishment on her land set forth above simply did not occur in the returns under Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah."⁴⁶⁹

Constable: Eze 36:33-38

The results of Israel's return 36:33-38

36:33-34 Future cleansing from sin and restoration of the Jews to the land and restoration of the land to fruitfulness would all occur at the same time. This shows that the Jews' present occupation of the Promised Land does not fulfill these promises; they have not yet experienced God's cleansing for their sins, which comes with regeneration (cf. Rom. 11).

36:35-36 People would marvel at the lushness of the formerly desolate land and at the strength of the formerly ruined cities of Israel (cf. Isa. 11:6-9; 51:3; Joel 3:18; Amos 9:13-15; Rom. 8:19-22; 2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1-4, 23-27). The other nations of the world would recognize that Israel's God was responsible for this transformation.

36:37-38 The Lord also promised to respond to the prayers of the Israelites to increase their population. The Jews would fill the cities like the sheep used to fill Jerusalem during the feasts when the people offered large numbers of them as sacrifices to the Lord. These would not be sheep for slaughter but living sacrifices in God's service. This increase in the population in the Promised Land would also convince people of Yahweh's unique deity.

"In analyzing Ezekiel's doctrine of the salvation of Israel, the salient factors are as follows: (1) The preeminent motive in their redemption is the glory of God (vv. 22, 32). (2) Israel will know ultimately that their God is the Lord (v. 38). (3) There will be an abhorrence of their sins (vv. 31-32). (4) Forgiveness of their sins will be realized (v. 25). (5) Regeneration will be effected (11:19; 18:31; 36:26-27). (6) The gift of the Holy Spirit will be granted (v. 27; 37:14). No prophet before him assigns the ministry of the Holy Spirit in regeneration such a precise place as Ezekiel does. (7) Included is obedience to God's laws (v. 27; 11:20)."⁴⁷⁰

By faith in Jesus Christ, Gentiles as well as Jews presently experience many of the same blessings that God promised here to bring to the entire nation of Israel in the future. But this should not lead us to conclude that these promises have no future fulfillment with Israel but are only fulfilled spiritually in the church.⁴⁷¹

"It should be clear that the realization of these promises did not come to fruition in the postexilic period, nor have they been fulfilled today. Israel as a nation is not regathered and has not experienced spiritual regeneration, and the land of Palestine is not characterized by the supernatural fecundity described in Ezekiel 36:22-38."⁴⁷²

Introduction / Outline

JFB: Ezekiel (Book Introduction)

The name Ezekiel means "(whom) God will strengthen" [GESENIUS]; or, "God will prevail" [ROSENMULLER]. His father was Buzi (Eze 1:3), a priest, and he probably exercised the priestly office himself at Jerusalem, previous to his captivity, as appears from the matured priestly character to be seen in his prophecies, a circumstance which much increased his influence with his captive fellow countrymen at Babylon. Tradition represents Sarera as the land of his nativity. His call to prophesy was in the fifth year from the date of his being carried away with Jehoiachin (see 2Ki 24:11-15) by Nebuchadnezzar, 599 B.C. The best portions of the people seem to have been among the first carried away (Eze 11:16; Jer 24:2-7-8, Jer 24:10). The ungodly were willing to do anything to remain in their native land; whereas the godly believed the prophets and obeyed the first summons to surrender, as the only path of safety. These latter, as adhering to the theocratic principle, were among the earliest to be removed by the Chaldeans, who believed that, if they were out of the way, the nation would fall to pieces of itself. They were despised by their brethren in the Holy Land not yet captives, as having no share in the temple sacrifices. Thus Ezekiel's sphere of labor was one happier and less impeded by his countrymen than that of Jeremiah at home. The vicinity of the river Chebar, which flows into the Euphrates near Circeslum, was the first scene of his prophecies (Eze 1:1). Tel-Abib there (now Thallaba) was his place of residence (Eze 3:15), whither the elders used to come to inquire as to God's messages through him. They were eager to return to Jerusalem, but he taught them that they must first return to their God. He continued to prophesy for at least twenty-two years, that is, to the twenty-seventh year of the captivity (Eze 29:17), and probably remained with the captives by the Chebar the rest of his life. A treatise, falsely attributed to EPIPHANIUS, states a tradition that he was killed at Babylon by a prince of his people whom he had reproved for idolatry.

He was contemporary with Jeremiah and Daniel. The former had prophesied for thirty-four years before Ezekiel, and continued to do so for six or seven years after him. The call of Ezekiel followed the very next year after the communication of Jeremiah's predictions to Babylon (Jer 51:59), and was divinely intended as a sequel to them. Daniel's predictions are mostly later than Ezekiel's but his piety and wisdom had become proverbial in the early part of Ezekiel's ministry (Eze 14:14, Eze 14:16; Eze 28:3). They much resemble one another, especially in the visions and grotesque images. It is a remarkable proof of genuineness that in Ezekiel no prophecies against Babylon occur among those directed against the enemies of the covenant-people. Probably he desired not to give needless offence to the government under which he lived. The effect of his labors is to be seen in the improved character of the people towards the close of the captivity, and their general cessation from idolatry and a return to the law. It was little more than thirty years after the close of his labors when the decree of the Jews' restoration was issued. His leading characteristic is realizing, determined energy; this admirably adapted him for opposing the "rebellious house" "of stubborn front and hard heart," and for maintaining the cause of God's Church among his countrymen in a foreign land, when the external framework had fallen to pieces. His style is plain and simple. His conceptions are definite, and the details even of the symbolical and enigmatical parts are given with lifelike minuteness. The obscurity lies in the substance, not in the form, of his communications. The priestly element predominates in his prophecies, arising from his previous training as a priest. He delights to linger about the temple and to find in its symbolical forms the imagery for conveying his instructions. This was divinely ordered to satisfy the spiritual want felt by the people in the absence of the outward temple and its sacrifices. In his images he is magnificent, though austere and somewhat harsh. He abounds in repetitions, not for ornament, but for force and weight. Poetical parallelism is not found except in a few portions, as in the seventh, twenty-first, twenty-seventh, twenty-eighth, twenty-ninth through thirty-first chapters. His great aim was to stimulate the dormant minds of the Jews. For this end nothing was better suited than the use of mysterious symbols expressed in the plainest words. The superficial, volatile, and wilfully unbelieving would thereby be left to judicial blindness (Isa 6:10; Mat 13:11-13, &c.); whereas the better-disposed would be awakened to a deeper search into the things of God by the very obscurity of the symbols. Inattention to this divine purpose has led the modern Jews so to magnify this obscurity as to ordain that no one shall read this book till he has passed his thirtieth year.

RABBI HANANIAS is said to have satisfactorily solved the difficulties (Mischna) which were alleged against its canonicity. Ecclesiasticus 49:8 refers to it, and JOSEPHUS [Antiquities, 10.5.1]. It is mentioned as part of the canon in MELITO'S catalogue [EUSEBIUS, Ecclesiastical History, 4.26]; also in ORIGEN, JEROME, and the Talmud. The oneness of tone throughout and the repetition of favorite expressions exclude the suspicion that separate portions are not genuine. The earlier portion, the first through the thirty-second chapters, which mainly treats of sin and judgment, is a key to interpret the latter portion, which is more hopeful and joyous, but remote in date. Thus a unity and an orderly progressive character are imparted to the whole. The destruction of Jerusalem is the central point. Previous to this he calls to repentance and warns against blind confidence in Egypt (Eze 17:15-17; compare Jer 37:7) or other human stay. After it he consoles the captives by promising them future deliverance and restoration. His prophecies against foreign nations stand between these two great divisions, and were uttered in the interval between the intimation that Nebuchadnezzar was besieging Jerusalem and the arrival of the news that he had taken it (Eze 33:21). HAVERNICK marks out nine sections:--(1) Ezekiel's call to prophesy (Eze. 1:1-3:15). (2) Symbolical predictions of the destruction of Jerusalem (Eze. 3:16-7:27). (3) A year and two months later a vision of the temple polluted by Tammuz or Adonis worship; God's consequent scattering of fire over the city and forsaking of the temple to reveal Himself to an inquiring people in exile; happier and purer times to follow (Eze. 8:1-11:25). (4) Exposure of the particular sins prevalent in the several classes--priests, prophets, and princes (Eze. 12:1-19:14). (5) A year later the warning of judgment for national guilt repeated with greater distinctness as the time drew nearer (Eze. 20:1-23:49). (6) Two years and five months later--the very day on which Ezekiel speaks--is announced as the day of the beginning of the siege; Jerusalem shall be overthrown (Eze. 24:1-27). (7) Predictions against foreign nations during the interval of his silence towards his own people; if judgment begins at the house of God, much more will it visit the ungodly world (Eze. 25:1-32:32). Some of these were uttered much later than others, but they all began to be given after the fall of Jerusalem. (8) In the twelfth year of the captivity, when the fugitives from Jerusalem (Eze 33:21) had appeared in Chaldea, he foretells better times and the re-establishment of Israel and the triumph of God's kingdom on earth over its enemies, Seir, the heathen, and Gog (Eze. 33:1-39:29). (9) After an interval of thirteen years the closing vision of the order and beauty of the restored kingdom (Eze. 40:1-48:35). The particularity of details as to the temple and its offerings rather discountenances the view of this vision being only symbolical, and not at all literal. The event alone can clear it up. At all events it has not yet been fulfilled; it must be future. Ezekiel was the only prophet (in the strict sense) among the Jews at Babylon. Daniel was rather a seer than a prophet, for the spirit of prophecy was given him to qualify him, not for a spiritual office, but for disclosing future events. His position in a heathen king's palace fitted him for revelations of the outward relations of God's kingdom to the kingdoms of the world, so that his book is ranked by the Jews among the Hagiographa or "Sacred Writings," not among the prophetical Scriptures. On the other hand, Ezekiel was distinctively a prophet, and one who had to do with the inward concerns of the divine kingdom. As a priest, when sent into exile, his service was but transferred from the visible temple at Jerusalem to the spiritual temple in Chaldea.

JFB: Ezekiel (Outline)

• EZEKIEL'S VISION BY THE CHEBAR. FOUR CHERUBIM AND WHEELS. (Eze. 1:1-28)
• EZEKIEL'S COMMISSION. (Eze 2:1-10)
• EZEKIEL EATS THE ROLL. IS COMMISSIONED TO GO TO THEM OF THE CAPTIVITY AND GOES TO TEL-ABIB BY THE CHEBAR: AGAIN BEHOLDS THE SHEKINAH GLORY: IS TOLD TO RETIRE TO HIS HOUSE, AND ONLY SPEAK WHEN GOD OPENS HIS MOUTH. (Eze. 3:1-27)
• SYMBOLICAL VISION OF THE SIEGE AND THE INIQUITY-BEARING. (Eze. 4:1-17)
• VISION OF CUTTING THE HAIRS, AND THE CALAMITIES FORESHADOWED THEREBY. (Eze. 5:1-17)
• CONTINUATION OF THE SAME SUBJECT. (Eze 6:1-14)
• LAMENTATION OVER THE COMING RUIN OF ISRAEL; THE PENITENT REFORMATION OF A REMNANT; THE CHAIN SYMBOLIZING THE CAPTIVITY. (Eze. 7:1-27)
• CONTINUATION OF THE PRECEDING VISION: THE SEALING OF THE FAITHFUL. (Eze 9:1-11)
• VISION OF COALS OF FIRE SCATTERED OVER THE CITY: REPETITION OF THE VISION OF THE CHERUBIM. (Eze. 10:1-22) The throne of Jehovah appearing in the midst of the judgments implies that whatever intermediate agencies be employed, He controls them, and that the whole flows as a necessary consequence from His essential holiness (Eze 1:22, Eze 1:26).
• PROPHECY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CORRUPT "PRINCES OF THE PEOPLE;" PELATIAH DIES; PROMISE OF GRACE TO THE BELIEVING REMNANT; DEPARTURE OF THE GLORY OF GOD FROM THE CITY; EZEKIEL'S RETURN TO THE CAPTIVES. (Eze. 11:1-25)
• EZEKIEL'S TYPICAL MOVING TO EXILE: PROPHECY OF ZEDEKIAH'S CAPTIVITY AND PRIVATION OF SIGHT: THE JEWS' UNBELIEVING SURMISE AS TO THE DISTANCE OF THE EVENT REPROVED. (Eze. 12:1-28)
• DENUNCIATION OF FALSE PROPHETS AND PROPHETESSES; THEIR FALSE TEACHINGS, AND GOD'S CONSEQUENT JUDGMENTS. (Eze. 13:1-23) As the twelfth chapter denounced the false expectations of the people, so this denounces the false leaders who fed those expectations. As an independent witness, Ezekiel confirms at the Chebar the testimony of Jeremiah (Jer 29:21, Jer 29:31) in his letter from Jerusalem to the captive exiles, against the false prophets; of these some were conscious knaves, others fanatical dupes of their own frauds; for example, Ahab, Zedekiah, and Shemaiah. Hananiah must have believed his own lie, else he would not have specified so circumstantial details (Jer 28:2-4). The conscious knaves gave only general assurances of peace (Jer 5:31; Jer 6:14; Jer 14:13). The language of Ezekiel has plain references to the similar language of Jeremiah (for example, Jer. 23:9-38); the bane of false prophecy, which had its stronghold in Jerusalem, having in some degree extended to the Chebar; this chapter, therefore, is primarily intended as a message to those still in the Jewish metropolis; and, secondarily, for the good of the exiles at the Chebar.
• HYPOCRITICAL INQUIRERS ARE ANSWERED ACCORDING TO THEIR HYPOCRISY. THE CALAMITIES COMING ON THE PEOPLE; BUT A REMNANT IS TO ESCAPE. (Eze. 14:1-23)
• THE WORTHLESSNESS OF THE VINE AS WOOD ESPECIALLY WHEN BURNT, IS THE IMAGE OF THE WORTHLESSNESS AND GUILT OF THE JEWS, WHO SHALL PASS FROM ONE FIRE TO ANOTHER. (Eze 15:1-8) What has the vine-wood to make it pre-eminent above other forest-wood? Nothing. Nay, the reverse. Other trees yield useful timber, but vine-wood is soft, brittle, crooked, and seldom large; not so much as a "pin" (the large wooden peg used inside houses in the East to hang household articles on, Isa 22:23-25) can be made of it. Its sole excellency is that it should bear fruit; when it does not bear fruit, it is not only not better, but inferior to other trees: so if God's people lose their distinctive excellency by not bearing fruits of righteousness, they are more unprofitable than the worldly (Deu 32:32), for they are the vine; the sole end of their being is to bear fruit to His glory (Psa 80:8-9; Isa 5:1, &c.; Jer 2:21; Hos 10:1; Mat 21:33). In all respects, except in their being planted by God, the Jews were inferior to other nations, as Egypt, Babylon, &c., for example, in antiquity, extent of territory, resources, military power, attainments in arts and sciences.
• DETAILED APPLICATION OF THE PARABOLICAL DELINEATION OF THE FIFTEENTH CHAPTER TO JERUSALEM PERSONIFIED AS A DAUGHTER. (Eze. 16:1-63)
• PARABLE OF THE TWO GREAT EAGLES, AND THE CROPPING OF THE CEDAR OF LEBANON. JUDAH IS TO BE JUDGED FOR REVOLTING FROM BABYLON, WHICH HAD SET UP ZEDEKIAH INSTEAD OF JEHOIACHIN, TO EGYPT; GOD HIMSELF, AS THE RIVAL OF THE BABYLONIAN KING, IS TO PLANT THE GOSPEL CEDAR OF MESSIAH. (Eze. 17:1-24)
• THE PARABLE OF THE SOUR GRAPES REPROVED. (Eze. 18:1-32)
• ELEGY OVER THE FALL OF DAVID'S HOUSE. (Eze 19:1-14)
• REJECTION OF THE ELDERS' APPLICATION TO THE PROPHET: EXPOSURE OF ISRAEL'S PROTRACTED REBELLIONS, NOTWITHSTANDING GOD'S LONG-SUFFERING GOODNESS: YET WILL GOD RESTORE HIS PEOPLE AT LAST. (Eze. 20:1-49)
• PROPHECY AGAINST ISRAEL AND JERUSALEM, AND AGAINST AMMON. (Eze. 21:1-32)
• GOD'S JUDGMENT ON THE SINFULNESS OF JERUSALEM. (Eze. 22:1-31) See Eze 20:4; that is, "Wilt thou not judge?" &c. (compare Eze 23:36).
• ISRAEL'S AND JUDAH'S SIN AND PUNISHMENT ARE PARABOLICALLY PORTRAYED UNDER THE NAMES AHOLAH AND AHOLIBAH. (Eze. 23:1-49)
• VISION OF THE BOILING CALDRON, AND OF THE DEATH OF EZEKIEL'S WIFE. (Eze. 24:1-27) Ezekiel proves his divine mission by announcing the very day, ("this same day") of the beginning of the investment of the city by Nebuchadnezzar; "the ninth year," namely, of Jehoiachin's captivity, "the tenth day of the tenth month"; though he was three hundred miles away from Jerusalem among the captives at the Chebar (2Ki 25:1; Jer 39:1).
• APPROPRIATELY IN THE INTERVAL OF SILENCE AS TO THE JEWS IN THE EIGHT CHAPTERS, (TWENTY-FIFTH THROUGH THIRTY-SECOND) EZEKIEL DENOUNCES JUDGMENTS ON THE HEATHEN WORLD KINGDOMS. (Eze. 25:1-17) (Jer 49:1).
• THE JUDGMENT ON TYRE THROUGH NEBUCHADNEZZAR (TWENTY-SIXTH THROUGH TWENTY-EIGHTH CHAPTERS). (Eze. 26:1-21) The specification of the date, which had been omitted in the case of the four preceding objects of judgment, marks the greater weight attached to the fall of Tyre.
• TYRE'S FORMER GREATNESS, SUGGESTING A LAMENTATION OVER HER SAD DOWNFALL. (Eze. 27:1-36)
• PROPHETICAL DIRGE ON THE KING OF TYRE, AS THE CULMINATION AND EMBODIMENT OF THE SPIRIT OF CARNAL PRIDE AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY OF THE WHOLE STATE. THE FALL OF ZIDON, THE MOTHER CITY. THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL IN CONTRAST WITH TYRE AND ZIDON. (Eze. 28:1-26)
• THE JUDGMENT ON EGYPT BY NEBUCHADNEZZAR; THOUGH ABOUT TO BE RESTORED AFTER FORTY YEARS, IT WAS STILL TO BE IN A STATE OF DEGRADATION. (Eze. 29:1-21)
• CONTINUATION OF THE PROPHECIES AGAINST EGYPT. (Eze. 30:1-26)
• THE OVERTHROW OF EGYPT ILLUSTRATED BY THAT OF ASSYRIA. (Eze. 31:1-18)
• TWO ELEGIES OVER PHARAOH, ONE DELIVERED ON THE FIRST DAY (Eze 32:1), THE OTHER ON THE FIFTEENTH DAY OF THE SAME MONTH, THE TWELFTH OF THE TWELFTH YEAR. (Eze. 32:1-32) The twelfth year from the carrying away of Jehoiachin; Jerusalem was by this time overthrown, and Amasis was beginning his revolt against Pharaoh-hophra.
• RENEWAL OF EZEKIEL'S COMMISSION, NOW THAT HE IS AGAIN TO ADDRESS HIS COUNTRYMEN, AND IN A NEW TONE. (Eze. 33:1-33)
• REPROOF OF THE FALSE SHEPHERDS; PROMISE OF THE TRUE AND GOOD SHEPHERD. (Eze. 34:1-31) Jer 23:1 and Zec 11:17 similarly make the removal of the false shepherds the preliminary to the interposition of Messiah the Good Shepherd in behalf of His people Israel. The "shepherds" are not prophets or priests, but rulers who sought in their government their own selfish ends, not the good of the people ruled. The term was appropriate, as David, the first king and the type of the true David (Eze 34:23-24), was taken from being a shepherd (2Sa 5:2; Psa 78:70-71); and the office, like that of a shepherd for his flock, is to guard and provide for his people. The choice of a shepherd for the first king was therefore designed to suggest this thought, just as Jesus' selection of fishermen for apostles was designed to remind them of their spiritual office of catching men (compare Isa 44:28; Jer 2:8; Jer 3:15; Jer 10:21; Jer 23:1-2).
• JUDGMENT ON EDOM. (Eze 35:1-15)
• ISRAEL AVENGED OF HER FOES, AND RESTORED, FIRST TO INWARD HOLINESS, THEN TO OUTWARD PROSPERITY. (Eze. 36:1-38)
• THE VISION OF DRY BONES REVIVIFIED, SYMBOLIZING ISRAEL'S DEATH AND RESURRECTION. (Eze. 37:1-28)
• THE ASSAULT OF GOG, AND GOD'S JUDGMENT ON HIM. (Eze. 38:1-23)
• CONTINUATION OF THE PROPHECY AGAINST GOG. (Eze. 39:1-29) Repeated from Eze 38:3, to impress the prophecy more on the mind.
• THE REMAINING CHAPTERS, THE FORTIETH THROUGH FORTY-EIGHTH, GIVE AN IDEAL PICTURE OF THE RESTORED JEWISH TEMPLE. (Eze. 40:1-49)
• THE CHAMBERS AND ORNAMENTS OF THE TEMPLE. (Eze. 41:1-26)
• CHAMBERS OF THE PRIESTS: MEASUREMENTS OF THE TEMPLE. (Eze. 42:1-20)
• JEHOVAH'S RETURN TO THE TEMPLE. (Eze. 43:1-27)
• ORDINANCES FOR THE PRINCE AND THE PRIESTS. (Eze. 44:1-31)
• ALLOTMENT OF THE LAND FOR THE SANCTUARY, THE CITY, AND THE PRINCE. (Eze. 45:1-25)
• CONTINUATION OF THE ORDINANCES FOR THE PRINCE AND FOR THE PEOPLE IN THEIR WORSHIP. (Eze. 46:1-24) The prince is to go through the east gate without (open on the Sabbath only, to mark its peculiar sanctity) to the entrance of the gate of the inner court; he is to go no further, but "stand by the post" (compare 1Ki 8:14, 1Ki 8:22, Solomon standing before the altar of the Lord in the presence of the congregation; also 2Ki 11:14; 2Ki 23:3, "by a pillar": the customary place), the court within belonging exclusively to the priests. There, as representative of the people, in a peculiarly near relation to God, he is to present his offerings to Jehovah, while at a greater distance, the people are to stand worshipping at the outer gate of the same entrance. The offerings on Sabbaths are larger than those of the Mosaic law, to imply that the worship of God is to be conducted by the prince and people in a more munificent spirit of self-sacrificing liberality than formerly.
• VISION OF THE TEMPLE WATERS. BORDERS AND DIVISION OF THE LAND. (Eze. 47:1-23)
• ALLOTMENT OF THE LAND TO SEVERAL TRIBES. (Eze. 48:1-35)

TSK: Ezekiel (Book Introduction)

The character of Ezekiel, as a Writer and Poet, is thus admirably drawn by the masterly hand of Bishop Lowth: " Ezekiel is much inferior to Jeremiah in elegance; in sublimity he is not even excelled by Isaiah; but his sublimity is of a totally different kind. He is deep, vehement, tragical; his sentiments are elevated, animated, full of fire and indignation; his imagery is crowded, magnificent, terrific; his language is grand, solemn, austere, rough, and at times unpolished; he abounds in repetitions, not for the sake of grace or elegance, but from vehemence and indignation. Whatever subject he treats of, that he sedulously puruses; from that he rarely departs, but cleaves, as it were, to it; whence the connexion is in general evident and well preserved. In other respects he may perhaps be exceeded by the other prophets; but, for that species of composition to which he seems adapted by natural gifts, the forcible, impetuous, grave, and grand, not one of the sacred writers is superior to him. His diction is sufficiently perspicuous; all his obscurity arises from the nature of his subjects. Visions (as for instance, among others, those of Hosea, Amos, and Zechariah), are necessarily dark and confused. The greater part of Ezekiel, particularly towards the middle of the book, is poetical, whether we regard the matter of the language." Abp. Newcombe judiciously observes, The Prophet is not to be considered merely as a poet, or as a framer of those august and astonishing visions, and of those admirable poetical representations, which he committed to writing; but as an instrument in the hands of God, who vouchsafed to reveal himself, through a long succession of ages, not only in divers parts constituting a magnificant and uniform whole, but also in different manners, as by voice, by dreams, by inspiration, and by plain or enigmatical vision. " Ezekiel is a great poet, full of originality; and, in my opinion, whoever censures him as if he were only an imitator of the old prophets, can never have felt his power. He must not, in general, be compared with Isaiah, and the rest of the old prophets. Those are great, Ezekiel is also great; those in their manner of poetry, Ezekiel in his." To justify this character the learned prelate descends to particulars, and gives apposite examples, not only of the clear, flowing, and nervous, but also of the sublime; and concludes his observations on his style, by stating it to be his deliberate opinion, that if his " style is the old age of Hebrew language and composition (as has been alleged), it is a firm and vigorous one, and should induce us to trace its youth and manhood with the most assiduous attention." As a Prophet, Ezekiel must ever be allowed to occupy a very high rank; and few of the prophets have left a more valuable treasure to the church of God than he has. It is true, he is in several places obscure; but this resulted either from the nature of his subjects, or the events predicted being still unfulfilled; and, when time has rolled away the mist of futurity, successive generations will then perceive with what heavenly wisdom this much neglected prophet has spoken. There is, however, a great proportion of his work which is free from every obscurity, and highly edifying. He has so accurately and minutely foretold the fate and condition of various nations and cities, that nothing can be more interesting than to trace the exact accomplishment of these prophecies in the accounts furnished by historians and travellers; while, under the elegant type of a new temple to be erected, a new worship to be introduced, and a new Jerusalem to be built, with new land to be allotted to the twelve tribes, may be discovered the vast extent and glory of the New Testament Church.

TSK: Ezekiel 36 (Chapter Introduction)

Overview

Eze 36:1, The land of Israel is comforted, both by destruction of the heathen, who spitefully used it, Eze 36:8, and by the blessings of God promised unto it; Eze 36:16, Israel was rejected for their sin, Eze 36:21. and shall be restored without their desert; Eze 36:25, The blessings of Christ’s kingdom.

Poole: Ezekiel (Book Introduction)

BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL

THE ARGUMENT

EZEKIEL was by descent a priest, and by commission a prophet, and received it from heaven, as will appear from the first, second, and third chapters. He was, and had been, a captive in Babylon five years when first called to this office, and there he met with many things that were occasions of grief to himself, and occasion of this prophecy. For in Babylon there were many that did repine at their state, repented they had rendered themselves, called into question the truth and integrity of Jeremiah and himself, and were ready to do violence to him; and not only thus, but they continued so to sin, that the name of God was blasphemed because of them: and these things both grieved and weakened the hearts of the best, and hardened the worst. To redress these is Ezekiel both extraordinarily called, commissioned, qualified, and assisted in the prophetic office, in discharge of which he doth reprove and calm the discontented, that they might return to a right frame of patience and hope. He calls the profane and wicked to acknowledge God’ s just and equal, and their own unequal, ways. He directeth the honest-hearted, who inquire that they might do their duties. He encourages that handful of godly ones among them with many comfortable promises of good in their own land, and of more grace from heaven; and confirmeth what Jeremiah had preached, advised. and foretold in Jerusalem, exactly harmonizing with him, though the one at Babylon, the other at Jerusalem, destitute of all means of conferring with each other. In all these particulars he is sometimes very plain, sometimes speaks in riddles, in which kind he is more frequent than any other of the prophets, in them all deep and mysterious; to the quarrelling and froward these are dark, but to the humble and teachable more significant and clear. In his first three chapters he opens his commission. In the next one and twenty chapters he doth sharply preach against the sins of the Jews; which they dislike, and grow weary of, and violent against the preacher, who for some time is ordered to forbear, and leave them to that severe sermon which the king of Babylon’ s army should preach to them in the destruction of country, city, and temple, which should open the eyes of some, and wound the heart of all the Jews. So the prophet doth by order from the Lord preach against the heathen round about, through the 25th chapter and on to the end of the 32nd chapter; after which he is sent to preach repentance and pardon, with grace and favour, to Israel, to proclaim the Messiah’ s kingdom, and to assure them of the wonderful overthrow of their enemies, the rebuilding the city and temple in greatness beyond whatever it was, upon condition they become a reformed people, ashamed for former sins, loathe themselves, and love the Lord their God, and keep his ordinances; which they did not after their return, as is evident from the complaints, menaces, and reproofs which do every where sound in the mouths of Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, who lived after the joyful return from captivity, and saw the sinful deportment of these returned captives. Much of the prophet’ s discourses in the 33rd, 34th, 36th, and so on to the end, are typical and mysterious, and refer to the return, as to the emblem of our spiritual deliverance out of spiritual captivity.

Poole: Ezekiel 36 (Chapter Introduction)

CHAPTER 36

The land of Israel is comforted with a prospect of the ruin of its spiteful neighbours, and of its own blessings promised by God, Eze 36:1-15 . Israel was rejected for their sin, and shall be restored with blessings for the sake of God’ s name only, Eze 36:16-38 .

Also , Heb. And.

MHCC: Ezekiel (Book Introduction)

Ezekiel was one of the priests; he was carried captive to Chaldea with Jehoiachin. All his prophecies appear to have been delivered in that country, at some place north of Babylon. Their chief object appears to have been to comfort his brethren in captivity. He is directed to warn of the dreadful calamities coming upon Judea, particularly upon the false prophets, and the neighbouring nations. Also to announce the future restoration of Israel and Judah from their several dispersions, and their happy state in their latter days, under the Messiah. Much of Christ will be found in this book, especially in the conclusion.

MHCC: Ezekiel 36 (Chapter Introduction)

(Eze 36:1-15) The land shall be delivered from heathen oppressors.

(Eze 36:16-24) The people are reminded of former sins, and promised deliverance.

(Eze 36:25-38) Also holiness, and gospel blessings.

Matthew Henry: Ezekiel (Book Introduction)

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel

When we entered upon the writings of the prophets, which speak of the things that should be hereafter, we seemed to have the same call that St. John had (Rev 4:1), Come up hither; but, when we enter upon the prophecy of this book, it is as if the voice said, Come up higher; as we go forward in time (for Ezekiel prophesied in the captivity, as Jeremiah prophesied just before it), so we soar upward in discoveries yet more sublime of the divine glory. These waters of the sanctuary still grow deeper; so far are they from being fordable that in some places they are scarcely fathomable; yet, deep as they are, out of them flow streams which make glad the city of our God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. As to this prophecy now before us, we may enquire, I. Concerning the penman of it - it was Ezekiel; his name signifies, The strength of God, or one girt or strengthened of God. He girded up the loins of his mind to the service, and God put strength into him. Whom God calls to any service he will himself enable for it; if he give commission, he will give power to execute it. Ezekiel's name was answered when God said (and no doubt did as he said), I have made thy face strong against their faces. The learned Selden, in his book De Diis Syris, says that it was the opinion of some of the ancients that the prophet Ezekiel was the same with that Nazaratus Assyrius whom Pythagoras (as himself relates) had for his tutor for some time, and whose lectures he attended. It is agreed that they lived much about the same time; and we have reason to think that many of the Greek philosophers were acquainted with the sacred writings and borrowed some of the best of their notions from them. If we may give credit to the tradition of the Jews, he was put to death by the captives in Babylon, for his faithfulness and boldness in reproving them; it is stated that they dragged him upon the stones till his brains were dashed out. An Arabic historian says that he was put to death and was buried in the sepulchre of Shem the son of Noah. So Hottinger relates, Thesaur. Philol. lib. 2 cap. 1. II. Concerning the date of it - the place whence it is dated and the time when. The scene is laid in Babylon, when it was a house of bondage to the Israel of God; there the prophecies of this book were preached, there they were written, when the prophet himself, and the people to whom he prophesied, were captives there. Ezekiel and Daniel are the only writing prophets of the Old Testament who lived and prophesied any where but in the land of Israel, except we add Jonah, who was sent to Nineveh to prophesy. Ezekiel prophesied in the beginning of the captivity, Daniel in the latter end of it. It was an indication of God's good-will to them, and his gracious designs concerning them in their affliction, that he raised up prophets among them, both to convince them when, in the beginning of their troubles, they were secure and unhumbled, which was Ezekiel's business, and to comfort them when, in the latter end of their troubles, they were dejected and discouraged. If the Lord had been pleased to kill them, he would not have used such apt and proper means to cure them. III. Concerning the matter and scope of it. 1. There is much in it that is very mysterious, dark, and hard to be understood, especially in the beginning and the latter end of it, which therefore the Jewish rabbin forbade the reading of to their young men, till they came to be thirty years of age, lest by the difficulties they met with there they should be prejudiced against the scriptures; but if we read these difficult parts of scripture with humility and reverence, and search them diligently, though we may not be able to untie all the knots we meet with, any more than we can solve all the phenomena in the book of nature, yet we may from them, as from the book of nature, gather a great deal for the confirming of our faith and the encouraging of our hope in the God we worship. 2. Though the visions here be intricate, such as an elephant may swim in, yet the sermons are mostly plain, such as a lamb may wade in; and the chief design of them is to show God's people their transgressions, that in their captivity they might be repenting and not repining. It should seem the prophet was constantly attended (for we read of their sitting before him as God's people sat to hear his words, Eze 33:31), and that he was occasionally consulted, for we read of the elders of Israel who came to enquire of the Lord by him, Eze 14:1, Eze 14:3. And as it was of great use to the oppressed captives themselves to have a prophet with them, so it was a testimony to their holy religion against their oppressors who ridiculed it and them. 3. Though the reproofs and the threatenings here are very sharp and bold, yet towards the close of the book very comfortable assurances are given of great mercy God had in store for them; and there, at length, we shall meet with something that has reference to gospel times, and which was to have its accomplishment in the kingdom of the Messiah, of whom indeed this prophet speaks less than almost any of the prophets. But by opening the terrors of the Lord he prepares Christ's way. By the law is the knowledge of sin, and so it becomes our school-master to bring us to Christ. The visions which were the prophet's credentials we have ch. 1-3, the reproofs and threatenings ch. 4-24 betwixt which and the comforts which we have in the latter part of the book we have messages sent to the nations that bordered upon the land of Israel, whose destruction is foretold (ch. 25-35), to make way for the restoration of God's Israel and the re-establishment of their city and temple, which are foretold ch. 36 to the end. Those who would apply the comforts to themselves must apply the convictions to themselves.

Matthew Henry: Ezekiel 36 (Chapter Introduction)

We have done with Mount Seir, and left it desolate, and likely to continue so, and must now turn ourselves, with the prophet, to the mountains of Israel, which we find desolate too, but hope before we have done with the chapter to leave in better plight. Here are two distinct prophecies in this chapter: - I. Here is one that seems chiefly to relate to the temporal estate of the Jews, wherein their present deplorable condition is described and the triumphs of their neighbours in it; but it is promised that their grievances shall be all redressed and that in due time they shall be settled again in their own land, in the midst of peace and plenty (Eze 36:1-15). II. Here is another that seems chiefly to concern their spiritual estate, wherein they are reminded of their former sins and God's judgments upon them, to humble them for their sins and under God's mighty hand (Eze 36:16-20). But it is promised, 1. That God would glorify himself in showing mercy to them (Eze 36:21-24). 2. That he would sanctify them, by giving them his grace and fitting them for his service; and this for his own name's sake and in answer to their prayers (Eze 36:25-38).

Constable: Ezekiel (Book Introduction)

Introduction

Title and Writer

The title of this book comes from its writer, Ezekiel, the son of Buzi (1:3). "Ezekiel" means "God strengthens (or hardens)" or "God will strengthen (harden)" or "May God strengthen (harden)." The Lord strengthened Ezekiel in the face of cynicism and rejection by his fellow Jews. His name appears in only two verses (1:3; 24:24). His hometown is unknown, and no other biblical writer referred to him.

Ezekiel was a Judean priest of Yahweh as well as His prophet, as were Jeremiah (Jer. 1:1) and Zechariah (Zech. 1:1). These three men were the only writing prophet-priests, and they all ministered during or after the Babylonian exile. Like Jeremiah, there is no evidence that Ezekiel ever served as a priest in the Jerusalem temple. Ezekiel's priestly background may account in part for the interest in priestly things that his book reflects: the actions of the priests in Jerusalem, the Jerusalem temple, the glory of the Lord, and the future temple yet to be built. It probably also explains Ezekiel's familiarity with things connected with priestly ministry, such as cherubim. His wife died during the course of his ministry (24:2, 15-18), but there is no mention in the book that they had children. There are no records of Ezekiel's life outside this book, so we have no information about when, where, or how he died.¹

". . . he combined in a unique way the priest's sense of the holiness of God, the prophet's sense of the message that had been entrusted to him, and the pastor's sense of responsibility for his people."²

Until the second quarter of the twentieth century almost all biblical scholars viewed the entire book as the product of Ezekiel. In 1930, C. C. Torrey advanced the view that a fictitious pseudo-author wrote the book around 230 B.C.³ This view drew a few supporters, but by 1962 almost all scholars had abandoned it.⁴ Today almost all commentators view Ezekiel as the source of the prophecies in this book.

Date

The book records the date of the beginning of Ezekiel's ministry as 593 B.C. (1:2-3). The last dated prophecy came to the prophet in 571 B.C. (29:17). He began ministering when he was 30 years old (1:1), and he gave his last prophecy when he was about 52. All of Ezekiel's ministry transpired during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar (605-562 B.C.).

"One of the most complete chronological systems in any book of the Old Testament is found in this prophecy, demonstrating that Ezekiel's ministry covered at least the span of 593 to 571 B.C."⁵

Historical Background

Since Ezekiel began ministering in 593 B.C. when he was 30 years old, he would have been born about 623 B.C and would have grown up in Judah during King Josiah's reforms (622-609 B.C.). The date of Jeremiah's birth was about 643 B.C., 20 years before Ezekiel's. Jeremiah began ministering in Judah about 627 B.C., so Ezekiel would have been familiar with him and his preaching.⁶ There are some indications in this book that he was, though Ezekiel never referred to Jeremiah.

"Both of them seemed to be taking a lone stand for the truth, one in Jerusalem and the other in Babylon: they both insisted that the future of Israel lay with the exiles and not with those left behind in Jerusalem; they both rejected the fatalism of those who quoted the proverb about the fathers eating sour grapes and the children's teeth being set on edge; they both inveighed against the shepherds of Israel who failed to care for the flock; they both emphasized the principle of individual retribution and the need for individual repentance; they both looked forward to a lengthy exile, followed by a restoration under godly leadership; they both spoke in terms of a new covenant which would be inwardly and personally appropriated; and they both spoke against the false prophets who prophesied peace when there was no peace."⁷

Daniel went into captivity in 605 B.C. and was only a teenager then, so his birthday may have been close to 620 B.C. Ezekiel, then, may have been only a few years older than Daniel. Daniel's ministry continued for about 70 years until about 536 B.C. (Dan. 10:1), much longer, apparently, than Ezekiel's.

Ezekiel went to Babylon as a captive during Nebuchadnezzar's second deportation of Jerusalemites in 597 B.C. along with King Jehoiachin, his household, his officials, and many of the leading men of Judah (2 Kings 24:12-17). Ten thousand captives went to Babylon with much confiscated treasure from the temple and the royal palaces. Nebuchadnezzar also took most of the craftsmen and smiths to Babylon, and only the poorest of the people remained in the land. The Babylonian king set Zedekiah up as his puppet in Jerusalem, but Jehoiachin remained the recognized king of Judah in Babylon.⁸

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Ezekiel ministered "in the midst" of the Jewish exiles who had settled at Tel-abib (or Tel Aviv) beside the Chebar (or Kebar) River (3:15).⁹ The Chebar River was the "grand canal" (Aram. naru kabaru) that began at the Euphrates River north of Babylon, bypassed the city to the east, proceeded through the site of Nippur, and rejoined the Euphrates south of Babylon near Uruk (biblical Erech). This site is where most of the Jewish exiles in Babylonia lived.¹⁰ Ezekiel evidently ministered from there entirely; there is no evidence that he ever visited Jerusalem after the Babylonians took him captive.

Life among the Jewish exiles was not a physically difficult existence, certainly not like living in a concentration camp. The exiles enjoyed considerable freedom and even traveled within Babylonia (cf. 33:21; Jer. 29). They were able to own their own homes, to pursue their own businesses and personal interests, and to organize their own communities. Babylon was infamous for its luxurious wealth and its excessive idolatry. Life became so comfortable in Babylon that after Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to their homeland in 538 B.C. most of them chose to remain where they were.¹¹

Audience and Purpose

Ezekiel ministered to the Jews in exile. He probably wrote this book for the benefit of the exiles and the other Jewish communities of his day and beyond his day. In some of his visions (e.g. chs. 8 and 11) the Lord carried the prophet to Jerusalem in his spirit, but his messages were not exclusively for the Jews in Jerusalem.

"Ezekiel ministered to all twelve tribes and his purpose was twofold: (1) to remind them of the sins which had brought judgment and exile upon them; (2) to encourage and strengthen their faith by prophecies of future restoration and glory."¹²

The Jews were in exile because they had proved unfaithful to the Mosaic Covenant that their God had made with them. That covenant had warned the Israelites that if they proved unfaithful they could expect the divine discipline of their sovereign Lord who might even drive them from the land He had given them (Lev. 26; Deut. 28). The covenant also promised restoration to the land eventually. God would not cast His people off permanently no matter how far they departed from Him and His will.

". . . his aim is to convince the people of their utter unworthiness of any consideration from God, in order to shame them into true repentance."¹³

Ezekiel reminded the exiles of their covenant unfaithfulness and of the faithfulness, holiness, and glory of Yahweh, their God. The Lord would judge, cleanse, and ultimately bless His people so that they and all people might come to appreciate His uniqueness and greatness. The purpose of the Exile was to turn God's people away from their sins and back to their Sovereign. The discipline they experienced was an evidence of God's love. When it was over a glorious future lay in store for them. A righteous ruler would eventually lead them back to a radically renovated land where they would enjoy peace, prosperity, and renewed worship.

"Ezekiel, as a watchman for Israel, warned her of the judgment that was imminent and stressed the need for individual responsibility as well as national accountability before God. Each Israelite was personally to turn to the Lord. Likewise, the whole nation must ultimately return to him."¹⁴

The first part of Ezekiel's ministry consisted of predicting the fall of Jerusalem from Babylon (chs. 1-24). When it fell in 586 B.C., he then began predicting God's judgment on the Gentile nations (chs. 25-32) and the restoration of Israel (chs. 33-48).

"The author's purpose throughout the entire prophecy was to keep before the exiles the sins of the nation which were the grounds for her punishment, and to sustain and encourage the faithful remnant concerning future restoration and blessing (cf. 14:21-23)."¹⁵

Structure

There are two major structural peculiarities that set Ezekiel off as distinctive.

First, the book is a collection of prophecies arranged in almost consistent chronological order. No other prophetical book is as consistently chronological as Ezekiel, except Habakkuk, and Zechariah comes close.¹⁶ Furthermore, Ezekiel dated his oracles with unusual precision: usually by year, month, and day of the month.¹⁷ He may have done this to stress the certainty of the predictions so that when they came to pass there would be no question as to their authenticity. A chart of the prophecies and their dates follows.

Ezekiel's Dated Prophecies
Groups of Dated Messages	Passages	Ezekiel's CalendarMonth/Day/Year	Modern CalendarMonth/Day/Year
First	1:1-3:15	4/5/5	July 31, 593
Second	3:16-7:27	4/12/5	Aug. 7, 593
Third	8:1-19:14	6/5/6	Sept. 17, 592
Fourth	20:1-23:49	5/10/7	Aug. 14, 591
Fifth	24:1-25:17	10/10/9	Jan. 15, 588
Sixth	26:1-28:26	?/1/11	? 1, 587 or 586
Seventh	29:1-16	10/12/10	Jan. 5, 587
Eighth	29:17-30:19	1/1/27	Apr. 26, 571
Ninth	30:20-26	1/7/11	Apr. 29, 587
Tenth	31:1-18	3/1/11	June 21, 587
Eleventh	32:1-16	12/1/12	Mar. 3, 585
Twelfth	32:17-33:20	?/15/12	? (Mar.) 17, 585
Thirteenth	33:21-39:29	10/5/12	Jan. 9, 585
Fourteenth	40:1-48:35	1/10/25	Apr. 28 (or Oct. 22), 573

In the table above, the prophecies are in the order in which they appear in the text. For the most part, this is also the chronological order in which Ezekiel delivered them. However, you will note that the seventh and eighth groups of messages (beginning with 27:1 and 17) are not in chronological order. These messages are grouped topically with other prophecies against Egypt in chapters 29-32. Ezekiel's calendar, in the table, dates from the year of King Jehoiachin's (and Ezekiel's) exile (i.e., 598 B.C.; cf. 1:2). Scholars vary somewhat in their understanding of the modern equivalents of these dates. I have followed those of Dyer in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament.

A second structural characteristic of the book is that it is logically organized as well as chronologically organized. First we read the call and preparation of the prophet (chs. 1-3). Then come prophecies announcing God's judgment on Judah culminating in the fall of Jerusalem (chs. 4-24). Next we find prophecies against foreign nations that opposed Israel (chs. 25-32). A section of prophecies on the coming restoration of Israel concludes the book (chs. 33-48).

"Apart from these obvious major divisions, this book is one of the easiest in the entire canon to outline, thanks to the clear demarcation of individual oracles. The book consists of fifty literary units, forty-eight of which are introduced either by a date notice or the word-event (also called prophetic word) formula, The word of Yahweh came to me saying.'"¹⁸

Ezekiel saw God's glory departing from the temple in judgment (9:3; 10:4, 18-19; 11:22-25), and then he saw it returning to the temple for blessing (43:1-5). These major events tie the book together. Ezekiel initially received a commission to deliver messages of judgment (chs. 2-3), but later he received another commission to deliver messages of deliverance (ch. 33). These two commissions identify the two major parts of the book that had particular relevance to Israel.

Style

One stylistic characteristic is Ezekiel's autobiographical perspective. Almost all of his oracles (except 1:2-3; 24:24) appear in the first person giving the impression that they are memoirs of a true prophet of Yahweh. However, Ezekiel did not often share his personal struggles or reactions with the reader, as Jeremiah did (except 4:14; 9:8; 11:13; 20:49; 24:20; 37:3).

Two other features mark the oracles in Ezekiel. One is the "halving" of oracles in which the writer first propounded a theme and then pursued a different theme only to end with a coda that links elements from both parts.¹⁹ The second characteristic is the use of an earlier text or tradition, the interpretation of it in the light of current circumstances, and the application of it to new situations.²⁰

Another stylistic characteristic is the formulaic expressions Ezekiel used some of which are unique to him and others shared with other prophets. Ezekiel usually referred to Yahweh as adonay yhwh, "the Lord Yahweh" (217 times). This title emphasized Yahweh's authority as His people's divine master. The name by which Yahweh addressed the prophet (93 times) is consistently ben adam, "son of man;" He never used Ezekiel's personal name. This title, ben adam, appears only in Ezekiel and in Daniel 8:17, which Ezekiel 2:1 may have influenced. This title stresses the prophet's humanity and the distance between God and the human. Ezekiel's favorite title for the Israelites (in the former Northern Kingdom, in Jerusalem, or in exile) is bet yisra'el, "house (or family) of Israel" (83 times or 57 percent of its 146 uses in the Old Testament). This title expresses the solidarity of the Israelites.

Ezekiel almost always carefully distinguished whether he or Yahweh was speaking in contrast to some other prophets who sometimes leave the reader with a question about the speaker's identity. Other formulae of expression common in this book are "the word of the Lord came to me saying," "thus has the Lord Yahweh said," and "the declaration of the Lord Yahweh." "Set your face toward" is also common and means to face the person or persons addressed so they get the full impact of what is said. "The hand of the Lord came upon me" reflects God's control of His prophet as does "the Spirit of Yahweh fell upon me." "I am Yahweh" and "they will know that I am Yahweh" are also distinctive theological formulae.

"Much of Ezekiel's language is repetitive. This sometimes makes for tiresome reading, but it helps to highlight his recurrent themes."²¹

Genre

Ezekiel contains a combination of several types of literature. These include proverbs, visions, parables, symbolic acts, allegories, rhetorical questions, dreams, drama, funeral dirges, history, and apocalyptic revelations.

"The concentration of so many bizarre features in one individual is without precedent: his muteness; lying bound and naked; digging holes in the walls of houses; emotional paralysis in the face of his wife's death; spiritual' travels; images of strange creatures, of eyes, and of creeping things; hearing voices and the sounds of water; withdrawal symptoms, fascination with feces and blood; wild literary imagination; pornographic imagery; unreal if not surreal understanding of Israel's past; and the list goes on."²²

". . . Ezekiel is the great mystic among the inspired writers. Because of the difficulty in interpreting his figurative and visionary prophecies, he is the most neglected of all the prophets."²³

"For most Bible readers Ezekiel is almost a closed book. Their knowledge of him extends little further than his mysterious vision of God's chariot-throne [merkabah], with its wheels within wheels, and the vision of the valley of dry bones. Otherwise his book is as forbidding in its size as the prophet himself is in the complexity of his make-up."²⁴

Ezekiel was a most dramatic and forceful communicator of the messages that God gave him. He used more symbolism and allegory than any other Old Testament prophet.²⁵ Evidently God directed him to use such colorful methods to get the attention of his hearers, who were very discouraged and disinterested in what God had to say to them. Most of the book is prose, but some of it is poetry.

". . . not a colourful, descriptive prose, but a somber, prophetic prose with a cadence but no discernible metre."²⁶

"Visions figure more prominently in Ezekiel than in any other Old Testament prophet except Daniel. They are recounted in detail in chaps. 1-3; 8-11; 37; 40-48. These he received in what must have appeared to be a semiconscious state and then reported to his audience once the vision was over (11:25)."²⁷

"Dream-visions were common in Mesopotamia in the seventh and sixth centuries B.C.²⁸ This literary form had two major parts: (1) the setting of the vision, declaring the time, recipient, place of reception, and general circumstances; and (2) the description of the vision just as it was seen by the recipient. Ezekiel used this common type of literature in his book and also developed (along with Daniel and Zechariah in the OT) apocalyptic literature in the dream-vision format. This may be defined as symbolic visionary prophetic literature, composed during oppressive conditions, consisting of visions whose events are recorded exactly as they were seen by the author and explained through a divine interpreter, and whose theological content is primarily eschatological.'²⁹ Twice Ezekiel used this genre, which would be well known to the exiles, to encourage them during their time of oppression. Both apocalyptic visions contained messages of restoration and blessing."³⁰

". . . the biblical books that could qualify as apocalyptic include Ezekiel, Daniel, Zechariah, and Revelation. Many other passages express apocalyptic eschatology, but these four books alone qualify in content and form as apocalyptic literature."³¹

"Whether one is preaching, teaching, writing, or counseling, getting a message across effectively involves communication in a way that will allow people to form mental images. Unless what we say is clear and vivid enough that people can somehow see' what we're saying, they are not as likely to remember it long enough for it to do any good."³²

Theology

Several theological concepts receive considerable attention in Ezekiel. Alexander identified five central ones: the nature of God, the purpose and nature of God's judgment, individual responsibility, the ethical, religious, and moral history of Israel, and the nature of Israel's restoration and future worship.³³ Cooper mentioned six significant theological themes: the holiness and transcendence of God, the sinfulness of humanity, the inevitability of judgment, individual responsibility, hope of restoration, and God's redemptive purpose.³⁴ Stuart listed seven major themes: the reliability of God's word, the glory of God, individual responsibility, Israel's long history of sin, the power of national leadership for good or bad, God's holiness and our responsibility for obedience, and God's transcendence.³⁵

God's glory is the theme that runs throughout this book, from the prophet's call when that glory first impressed him, to the demonstration of that glory in the eschatological future. References to God's glory keep popping up throughout the book (1:28; 3:12, 23; 8:4; 9:3; 10:4, 18-19; 11:22-23; 39:11, 21; 43:2-5; 44:4). God's glory is an aspect of His character, and His glorious character determines His conduct throughout history and this revelation. Without an appreciation of the glory of God's character the Israelites could not make sense of His dealings with them. Fifteen times God said He acted to keep His name glorious (20:9, 14, 22, 39, 44; 36:20-23; 39:7, 25; 43:7-8). Over 60 times the Lord said He had acted so the people would know that He was Yahweh.³⁶

". . . the phrase you will know that I am the Lord' or they will know that I am the Lord' or the like may well be the central theological theme of the book."³⁷

Ezekiel presented God as the God of Israel. By comparison, Isaiah pictured Him as the God of the entire world. Ezekiel had a great appreciation of the holiness (otherness) of God, as did Isaiah, but He did not use the title "Holy One of Israel" that is so common in Isaiah.

"The vision of the Lord riding upon His chariot-throne (1-3) typified this sense of otherness and majesty. It was unutterably splendid, mysteriously intricate, superhuman and supernatural, infinitely mobile but never earth-bound, all-seeing and all-knowing. This is how God revealed Himself to Ezekiel, not by propositions regarding His character but in personal encounter."³⁸

"The vision Ezekiel had at the time of his call never left him but influenced his thought continually."³⁹

Ezekiel stressed God's relationship to His covenants with Israel, which Ezekiel viewed positively. Yahweh for Ezekiel was a God who acts. The Spirit of God features more prominently in Ezekiel than in any other prophetic book. The prophet also emphasized the fact that God's will for Israel was blessing more than punishment.

Ezekiel viewed Israel as the people of God. He paid little attention to Israel's pre-Egyptian history. He divided Israel's history into seven eras, each of which is characterized by Yahweh's gracious acts on Israel's behalf and Israel's rejection of her covenant (ch. 20). God's relationship with Israel was pure grace from beginning to end. Yahweh sovereignly chose and redeemed Israel. Israel therefore needed to respond to such grace with devotion and obedience to her Lord. The well-being of the Israelites reflected on God's reputation in the world.

Ezekiel looked beyond the present condition of Israel to the time when she would experience restoration and prosperity in the Promised Land. God would bring His chosen people back in a new Exodus cleansed from their former sins and revitalized with a new heart and His Spirit under a new covenant. "David" would be God's agent of salvation and a symbol of unity for the nation. Israel would then enjoy unprecedented prosperity and security in her own land. God would establish residence among the Israelites and reorganize their worship.

"Ezekiel provides much of the evidence for the pronounced Jewish tone of the millennium and the sequence of eschatological events recognized especially by dispensationalist premillenarians."⁴⁰

There are few overt references to Messiah in Ezekiel. The major passages are 34:23-24 and 37:22-25. Minor references appear in 17:22 and 29:21.

"Fundamentally the theology of Ezekiel revolves around the bipolar themes of judgment and restoration. . . .

"Restoration will take two forms or will occur in two phases, however. It will come to pass in history under the beneficent policy of Cyrus the Persian, but that is only a type, a foretaste, of complete renewal and reconstitution that must await the eschaton."⁴¹

Text

The Hebrew text of Ezekiel has suffered more than most Old Testament books in the process of transmission. This is due to the large number of technical expressions, including dates and measurements, that occur only once in the Hebrew Bible. Unknown and difficult words resulted in many copyist errors. Consequently there are many interpretive difficulties in Ezekiel.

Message⁴²

Ezekiel began prophesying when he was 30 years old, and he had gone into captivity five years before that. Thus Ezekiel was familiar with Jeremiah's preaching and ministry. Ezekiel shows quite a bit of similarity to Jeremiah in his book. Ezekiel was a priest, as was Jeremiah. However, neither of them served as priests, Jeremiah evidently because he chose not to in view of the corruption in the priesthood, and Ezekiel because he went into captivity before he was old enough to serve. In captivity there was no temple, so Ezekiel could not minister as a priest there even if he had wanted to do so. Besides, God gave both men a calling to a prophetic ministry.

There are indications in the Book of Ezekiel that Jeremiah had an influence on Ezekiel. They both had the same outlook on the corruption of the Israelites, on the judgment of God, and on the hope that held out promise for a brighter day ahead. Ezekiel was equally as explicit as Jeremiah about the corruption of the people and the inevitability of coming judgment. But it is his vision of the future for which Ezekiel has become famous, and in this he surpassed his older contemporary. He was able to see through the Israelites in exile and so spoke to all Israel, and He was able to see through Israel and so spoke to all humanity.

We might say that Ezekiel saw the dirty glass in his window on the world, but he also saw through the glass far into the future. He saw the reasons for Israel's present misery, but he also saw the reason for her future restoration, namely the faithfulness of Israel's glorious God. Perhaps it is this long view that saved Ezekiel from becoming another weeping prophet like Jeremiah. He had a grip on the big picture that lay ahead of Israel and the nations like few other prophets. Daniel saw the future too, but he did not say as much about the present as Ezekiel did. Really Ezekiel gives us more revelation concerning the eschaton, the far distant future, than Daniel does. Daniel's concerns were mainly political; Ezekiel's were spiritual. Daniel talked about future kings and kingdoms, but Ezekiel spoke of a future covenant of peace and future worship.

The permanent value of the Book of Ezekiel is its revelation of the reason for hope. Whereas Jeremiah sometimes despaired and lost sight of his hope, Ezekiel never did. It is somewhat surprising that Ezekiel was so full of hope when he was in a worse situation than Jeremiah. For most of Jeremiah's ministry the exile was ahead, but Ezekiel spent his whole ministry in exile ministering among Israelites who were more thoroughly discouraged than Jeremiah's audiences. The exiles were an even harder audience to minister to than the Judahites who anticipated exile, as the Book of Ezekiel makes clear. Nonetheless Ezekiel remained hopeful. His perspective is the key to anyone remaining hopeful in the midst of very discouraging circumstances, even us.

The thing that filled his heart with hope was his understanding of the Lord. That understanding came to him from a vision of God. As soon as most Christians hear that some prophet had a vision of God, we say to ourselves, "Well that lets me out. Maybe if I could have a vision of God like Ezekiel did I could have the ministry he did and not lose hope." We fail to appreciate that we have a far greater "vision" of God in Scripture than any Old Testament prophet ever did. We need to get past the vision idea to the product of the vision. Ezekiel's vision of God's glory in chapter 1 just gave him a certain understanding of God, the same understanding of God that we can obtain by reading about Ezekiel's vision and the other revelations of God in the Bible.

Ezekiel's vision of God's glory was mysterious--full of strange images and symbols--but it was a manifestation. In this vision God allowed the prophet to see likenesses of Himself and His celestial throne room. A likeness reveals something else. A photographic likeness reveals the person in the picture. A likeness is a comparison, a parable if you will. A parable is a story placed alongside to explain something else. It is a word picture designed to interpret something. That is what Ezekiel's vision of God was and what his other visions were. He did not really see God. "No man has seen God at any time." He saw images of God that reveal what God is like. That is really what the whole Bible is: images of what God is like. Ezekiel's vision of God in chapter 1, which so many of the readers of this book never get past, was the reason for his hope that shines forth in the rest of the book.

Isaiah reveals the salvation of God; it is the Romans of the Old Testament. Jeremiah reveals the judgment of God, and Lamentations is its outcome. Ezekiel reveals the glory of God.

As the book opens, Ezekiel sees God in all His glory. Then, in a flashback, he sees the glory of God departing from the temple in Jerusalem when the city fell to Nebuchadnezzar (ch. 10). Then at the end of the book and at the end of his writing ministry, he saw in another vision the glory of God returning to the temple (ch. 43). The temple to which God returned was not the same temple from which His glory had departed. It was a future temple in a restored Promised Land where the Israelites had come to live in peace having repented of their sins and having experienced God's regathering from the ends of the earth.

These three visions of the glory of God provide the framework and rationale for the book as well as the hope of Israel and the world. God is the center of this unfolding drama. References to the glory of God frame the first major section of the book (chs. 1-3). It was out of this glorious revelation that God called Ezekiel to his ministry. The oracles of judgment on Judah and Jerusalem that follow (chs. 4-24) make sense because God is full of glory, as do the oracles of judgment on the nations (chs. 25-32). When Ezekiel received word that Jerusalem had fallen (ch. 32), he left the past behind and turned to the future. He began proclaiming future blessings for Israel, blessings assured by the character of Yahweh, a glorious God who would fulfill His covenant promises to His chosen people even though they had been unfaithful to Him. God allowed the prophet to see another vision of His glory returning to the temple in the future. All of chapters 40-48 deal with the setting and accompaniments of that return of God to His people. And the book closes with the Lord being there, among His people forever (48:35).

What is the glory of God? It is the expression, the outshining, of His person. When we say Ezekiel is a revelation of the glory of God we mean that it is an unveiling of God Himself in unusual clarity and relevance. The Book of Revelation is such an unveiling of Jesus Christ; it is the climax of biblical Christology. Ezekiel reveals very important characteristics of God. It does this at times by using pictures, dramas, and symbolic acts as well as straightforward explanations. It often does it in apocalyptic images, pictures of God at work doing things in the end times. Much of the imagery has its roots in Ezekiel's culture, both Israelite and ancient Near Eastern, particularly Babylonian.

The secret of Ezekiel's optimism about the future even though he lived in a situation that led most of the other Israelites to abandon their commitment to God, was his personal acquaintance with God Himself. This book reveals the very nature of God Himself to a degree no other book in the Bible does.

As we read this book and get to know what it reveals, we need to ask God to help us to understand Him better, above everything else, because understanding God is the very foundation for hope. Where there is hope there is joy, there is peace, there is love, there is faith, and there is ministry. In the times in which we live, a commitment to ministry by itself will not preserve us from all the pitfalls that surround us. Only ministry grounded in and growing out of our personal understanding and appreciation of the character of God will do that. That is the practical value of studying this intimidating book.

A phrase that marks this book and that occurs over 60 times in it is, "Then they will know that I am the Lord." This phrase almost becomes boring Ezekiel repeated it so often. God used the events of life to teach His people and all people that He is the only true God. In the future He will bring things to pass that will teach people that only He is God. We can learn that now as we gain God's viewpoint on life from this great book. Then we can help others make sense out of what is happening because we understand the One who is creating history.

Another key phrase is "Son of man." This was God's favorite title for Ezekiel. It should remind us every time we read it that Ezekiel was not, and we are not, God. This book presents God as different from anyone else, that is, He is holy. Whenever God spoke to Ezekiel using this title He was reminding the prophet of Yahweh's uniqueness. Hopefully our study of the book will also teach us and impress us with God's differentness. That is an aspect of His glory.

The knowledge of God is a perennial spring of joy and hope to the Christian and to the church. When we get to know Him we will be able to see sin, and we will hate it. We will also be able to proclaim judgment fearlessly. But most of all we will be able to rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. The future is bright. We just need to be able to see through our dirty windows to the Morning Star rising in the East.

Constable: Ezekiel (Outline)

Outline

I. Ezekiel's calling and commission chs. 1-3

A. The vision of God's glory ch. 1

1. The setting of the vision 1:1-3

2. The vision proper 1:4-28

B. The Lord's charge to Ezekiel chs. 2-3

1. The recipients of Ezekiel's ministry 2:1-5

2. The encouragement in Ezekiel's ministry 2:6-7

3. The nature of Ezekiel's ministry 2:8-3:11

4. The conclusion of the vision 3:12-15

5. Ezekiel's role in Israel 3:16-21

6. Ezekiel's muteness 3:22-27

II. Oracles of judgment on Judah and Jerusalem for sin chs. 4-24

A. Ezekiel's initial warnings chs. 4-7

1. Dramatizations of the siege of Jerusalem chs. 4-5

2. The judgment coming on Judah chs. 6-7

B. The vision of the departure of Yahweh's glory chs. 8-11

1. The idolatry of the house of Israel ch. 8

2. The slaughter of the wicked Jerusalemites ch. 9

3. The departure of God's glory from the temple ch. 10

4. The condemnation of Jerusalem's leaders ch. 11

C. Yahweh's reply to the invalid hopes of the Israelites chs. 12-19

1. The dramatic tragedy of exile 12:1-20

2. The present judgment as evidence of divine faithfulness 12:21-28

3. The condemnation of contemporary false prophets ch. 13

4. The effect of false prophets on Israel's leaders 14:1-11

5. The need of personal righteousness for deliverance 14:12-23

6. The unprofitable vine of Jerusalem ch. 15

7. Jerusalem's history as a prostitute ch. 16

8. The riddle and parable of the two eagles ch. 17

9. The importance of individual righteousness ch. 18

10. A lament for the kings of Israel ch. 19

D. Israel's defective leadership chs. 20-23

1. The history of Israel's rebellion and Yahweh's grace 20:1-44

2. Judgment on Judah's contemporary leaders 20:45-21:32

3. The idolatrous rulers of Judah ch. 22

4. The parable of the two sisters ch. 23

E. The execution of Jerusalem's judgment ch. 24

1. The parable of the cooking pot 24:1-14

2. Signs to the exiles 24:15-27

III. Oracles against foreign nations chs. 25-32

A. Oracles against Judah's closest neighbors ch. 25

1. Judgment on Ammon 25:1-7

2. Judgment on Moab 25:8-11

3. Judgment on Edom 25:12-14

4. Judgment on Philistia 25:15-17

B. Judgment on Tyre 26:1-28:19

1. Judgment by Babylonia and other enemies ch. 26

2. A funeral dirge over Tyre ch. 27

3. A judgment speech against the ruler of Tyre 28:1-10

4. A funeral dirge for the king of Tyre 28:11-19

C. Judgment on Sidon 28:20-24

D. Israel's restoration from the nations 28:25-26

E. Judgment on Egypt chs. 29-32

1. An introductory prophecy of judgment on Egypt 29:1-16

2. The consummation of Egypt's judgment 29:17-21

3. The destruction of Egypt and her allies 30:1-19

4. Pharaoh's broken arms 30:20-26

5. Egypt's fall compared to Assyria's fall ch. 31

6. A funeral dirge for Egypt 32:1-16

7. A summary lament over Egypt 32:17-32

IV. Future blessings for Israel chs. 33-48

A. A warning to the exiles 33:1-20

1. An exhortation to heed the watchman 33:1-9

2. An exhortation to turn from evil 33:10-20

B. Restoration to the Promised Land 33:21-39:29

1. Israel and the Promised Land 33:21-33

2. False and true shepherds ch. 34

3. Preparation of the Promised Land 35:1-36:15

4. Restoration to the Promised Land 36:16-37:14

5. Reunification in the Promised Land 37:15-28

6. Future invasion of the Promised Land chs. 38-39

C. Ezekiel's vision of the return of God's glory chs. 40-48

1. The setting of the vision of the return of God's glory 40:1-4

2. The millennial temple 40:5-42:20

3. The return of God's glory to the temple 43:1-12

4. Temple ordinances 43:13-46:24

5. Topographical aspects of the Millennium chs. 47-48

Constable: Ezekiel

Ezekiel

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Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

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Haydock: Ezekiel (Book Introduction)

THE PROPHECY OF EZECHIEL.

INTRODUCTION.

Ezechiel, whose name signifies the strength of God, was of the priestly race, and of the number of the captives that were carried away to Babylon with king Joachin. He was contemporary with Jeremias, and prophesied to the same effect in Babylon as Jeremias did in Jerusalem; and is said to have ended his days in like manner, by martyrdom. (Challoner) --- He strove to comfort the captives, who began to repine that they had listened too readily to Jeremias, exhorting them to submit to the king of Babylon. Some think that part of his prophecies is lost, as Josephus mentions two books: but the nine last chapters, regarding the new city and temple, might form the second division. The Jews hesitated whether to allow his works to be canonical, as they seemed to differ from Moses, and from the dimensions given of Solomon's temple. But the same God might surely suggest some improvements, and the morality of the prophet is most excellent. (Calmet) --- His style may be compared to that of Homer (Grotius) and Alcæus. Many have thought that (Calmet) Pythagoras was his disciple; (Eusebius, præp. xiii.) yet the latter seems to have lived after the prophet, who was led into captivity with Jechonias, the year of the world 3410, and prophesied for twenty years. He dates from this period, (Calmet) and from the renewal of the covenant under Josias, (chap. i. 1.; Haydock) when the captivity was first announced. (Worthington) --- The Jews allowed none to read the first and the nine (Haydock) last chapters, nor the beginning of Genesis, nor the Canticle of Canticles, before they were thirty years old; and they never attempted to explain the vision nor the building of the temple, supposing it to be above the power of man. (St. Jerome)

Gill: Ezekiel (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL

This book is rightly placed after Jeremiah; since Ezekiel was among the captives in Chaldea, when prophesied; whereas Jeremiah began to prophesy long before that captivity, and concerning it. The name of this prophet signifies, as it is commonly interpreted, "the strength of God", or "strengthened by God", as he was, and as he needed to be, having great work to do, and a perverse people to deal with; see Eze 3:8; but the learned Hillerus ^a chooses to render it, "God shall prevail"; with which compare Jer 20:7. There was a Levite of this name, of whom mention is made in 1Ch 24:16; whose name is there read "Jehezekel"; and this prophet was a priest, Eze 1:3; and both Clemens Alexandrinus ^b and Eusebius ^c cite a Jewish writer of tragedies, of the same name; which some have very wrongly thought to be the same with our prophet; but whether Ezekiel is not the same with Nazaratus or Zabratus, the master of Pythagoras, mentioned by Clemens as such, according to the opinion of some, is a matter of question; and which the learned Selden ^d seems to think probable. According to the judgment and opinion of Jerom ^e, his style is neither very eloquent, nor very rustic; but between both, and has a mixture of each. The visions he saw are very abstruse and difficult of interpretation, especially the vision of the living creatures and wheels; wherefore the Jews ^f forbad the reading of it, as well as the end of this prophecy, until persons were thirty years of age. The divine visions in this book, the whole subject matter of it, its agreement with the prophecy of Jeremiah, and the accomplishment of events predicted in it, prove the authority of it; and its divine authority has always been allowed, both by the Jewish synagogue and the Christian church. There were indeed some ancient Jewish Rabbins, who were perplexed about some things in it, and consulted about laying it aside, because of some words in it, which seemed to them to be contrary to the law of Moses; but R. Chananiah ben Goron, a very famous doctor in those times, withdrew to his chamber, and wrote a commentary, in order to remove those difficulties to satisfaction ^g. This book, in general, contains various visions the prophet saw; several threatenings against the people of the Jews; and prophecies against other nations; and an abundance of comfortable promises of the Messiah, and of blessings of grace by him; and of the state and condition of the Gospel church, and the worship of it. Josephus ^h says Ezekiel left two books written by him; one of which Athanasius ⁱ: or the author of the Synopsis under his name, thinks is lost; but the learned Huetius ^k is of opinion that the prophecy of Ezekiel, in the times of Josephus, was divided into two parts; the first containing the first thirty nine chapters, and the other the nine last chapters; which is not improbable. If the authorities of Epiphanius ^l, or the writer of the lives of the prophets that goes by his name, and of Isidorus ^m, are of any weight, Ezekiel was born in the land of Sarera; killed by the governor in Babylon; and buried by the people in the field of Maur or Mahurim, in the sepulchre of Shem and Arphaxad. The account R. Benjamin Tudelensis ⁿ gives is, that there is a synagogue of the Prophet Ezekiel by the river Euphrates; and over against the synagogue sixty towers, ; and between every tower a synagogue. In the court of the synagogue is a library; and behind it the grave of Ezekiel the son of Buzi the priest; and over it a large vault, of a beautiful building, erected by Jeconiah king of Judah, and thirty five thousand Jews, who came with him, when Evilmerodach brought him out of prison; and over the grave a lamp burns night and day. The Cippi Hebraici say ^o he was buried by, the river Hiddekel; and Menasseh ben Israel ^p affirms that he died in Babylon, and was buried there; and so Kimchi ^q says the tradition is.

Gill: Ezekiel 36 (Chapter Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 36

This chapter is a prophecy concerning the desolations of the land of Israel, and the causes of them; of the return of the people to it, and the fruitfulness of it; and of spiritual blessings bestowed upon them in the latter day. And first, for the comfort of the people of Israel, it is observed that their enemies that insulted them will suffer the vengeance of God's wrath, particularly the Edomites, Eze 36:1, that the land of Israel should again become fruitful, its cities rebuilt, men and beasts be multiplied upon it, and be no more liable to destruction, nor bear any more the reproach of the Heathen, Eze 36:8, the causes of its desolation and destruction, the sins of its inhabitants, especially bloodshed, idolatry, and profanation of the name of God, Eze 36:16, nevertheless the Lord promises to have mercy on them, and return them to their own land, not for their sakes, but for his own name's sake, Eze 36:21, then follow promises of spiritual blessings to them: as purification from all sin by the blood of Christ; regeneration by his Spirit and grace; and evangelical obedience as the fruit of that, Eze 36:25, and others of a mixed kind, respecting partly temporal and partly spiritual blessings, Eze 36:28, for all which it is expected of the Lord that he should be prayed unto for them; particularly their inhabitation in their own land, and the multiplication of them in it, with which the chapter concludes, Eze 36:37.