20:30 Ezekiel was to ask his hearers if they planned to defile themselves and to prostitute themselves to things the Lord detested as their ancestors had done.
20:31 They were defiling themselves by practicing child sacrifice. For this reason the Lord would not give them the answers to the questions that they brought to him (cf. vv. 1, 3).
20:32-35 The Lord would not allow them to become like the idolaters all around them who served wood and stone. He would be their king, He swore, and bring judgment on them. But He would regather them to their land from the distant countries where He had scattered them (cf. 36:14-38; 37:21-23; Deut. 30:1-10; Isa. 11:11-16; 49:17-23; 60; 61:4-9; Jer. 23:1-8; Amos 9:11-15; Zech. 10:8-12; et al.). The descriptions of God doing this with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm recall the terms used of His liberation of the Israelites from Egypt (Exod. 6:6; 32:11; cf. Deut. 4:34; 5:15; 7:19; 11:2; Ps. 136:12). A second exodus is in view. He would bring them into another type of wilderness, a wilderness full of people, and there He would personally judge them. This probably refers to the present worldwide dispersion of the Jews that began in A.D. 70 when the Jews had to leave the Promised Land again.286
20:36-38 As the Lord had judged the fathers in the wilderness long ago, so He would judge the children of His people. He would discipline them to sanctify them (cf. Jer. 33:13). It was customary for shepherds to count their sheep as they passed under their staff that they held over the doorway of the sheepfold.
"Reference to those who pass under my rod' was first an allusion to the tithe (Lev 27:32). Every tenth animal that passed under a rod' held over the sheep was separated and declared to be holy. The purification of the exile, likewise, would separate the righteous and the wicked. The rod' also was an instrument of discipline, correction, and punishment. This was another way of communicating the purpose of the exile, which was to purge' and purify those who rebelled against God (v. 38)."287
The Lord would also bring His people under obligation to keep the terms of a covenant. This is evidently a reference to the New Covenant (cf. 36:25-38; Jer. 31:31-34). He would weed out the rebels and transgressors from among them and bring them out of the countries where they lived but would not bring them into the Promised Land. This probably refers to the Jews who will die during the Tribulation period (cf. Zech. 13:8; Rev. 12:15-17) and or when the Lord returns to the earth (cf. Matt. 25:31-46).288Then His people would know that the One who did this was Yahweh.
