Ezekiel 36

Eze 36:1-38.

ISRAEL

AVENGED OF

HER

FOES, AND

RESTORED,

FIRST TO

INWARD

HOLINESS,

THEN TO

OUTWARD

PROSPERITY.

The distinction between Israel and the heathen (as Edom) is: Israel has

a covenant relation to God ensuring restoration after chastisement, so

that the heathen's hope of getting possession of the elect people's

inheritance must fail, and they themselves be made desolate

(Eze 36:1-15).

The reason for the chastisement of Israel was Israel's sin and

profanation of God's name

(Eze 36:16-21).

God has good in store for Israel, for His own name's sake, to revive

His people; first, by a spiritual renewal of their hearts, and, next,

(Eze 36:22-33).

The result is that the heathen shall be impressed with the power and

goodness of God manifested so palpably towards the restored people

(Eze 36:34-38).

1, 2. mountains of Israel--in contrast to "Mount Seir" of the

previous prophecy. They are here personified; Israel's elevation is

moral, not merely physical, as Edom's. Her hills are "the everlasting

hills" of Jacob's prophecy

(Ge 49:26).

"The enemy" (Edom, the singled-out representative of all God's foes),

with a shout of exultation, "Aha!" had claimed, as the nearest kinsman

of Israel (the brother of their father Esau), his vacated inheritance;

as much as to say, the so-called "everlasting" inheritance of Israel

and of the "hills," which typified the unmoved perpetuity of it

(Ps 125:1, 2),

has come to an end, in spite of the promise of God, and has become

"ours" (compare

De 32:13; 33:15).

3. Literally, "Because, even because."

swallowed you up--literally, "panted after" you, as a beast after its

prey; implying the greedy cupidity of Edom as to Israel's inheritance

(Ps 56:1, 2).

lips of talkers--literally, "lips of the tongue," that is, of the

slanderer, the man of tongue. Edom slandered Israel because of the

connection of the latter with Jehovah, as though He were unable to save

them.

De 28:37,

and Jer 24:9

had foretold Israel's reproach among the heathen

(Da 9:16).

4. Inanimate creatures are addressed, to imply that the creature

also, as it were, groans for deliverance from the bondage of corruption

into the glorious liberty of the children of God

(Ro 8:19-21)

[POLANUS]. The completeness of the renewed

blessedness of all parts of the land is implied.

derision--

(Ps 79:4).

5. to cast it out for a prey--that is, to take the land for a prey,

its inhabitants being cast out. Or the land is compared to a prey cast

forth to wild beasts. FAIRBAIRN needlessly alters the Hebrew pointing

and translates, "that they may plunder its pasturage."

6. the shame of the heathen--namely, the shame with which the heathen

cover you

(Ps 123:3, 4).

7. lifted . . . mine hand--in token of an oath

(Eze 20:5;

Ge 14:22).

they shall bear their shame--a perpetual shame; whereas the "shame"

which Israel bore from these heathen was only for a time.

8. they are at hand to come--that is, the Israelites are soon

about to return to their land. This proves that the primary reference

of the prophecy is to the return from Babylon, which was "at hand," or

comparatively near. But this only in part fulfilled the prediction, the

full and final blessing in future, and the restoration from Babylon was

an earnest of it.

10. wastes builded--

Isa 58:12; 61:4;

Am 9:11, 12, 14,

where, as here

(Eze 34:23, 24),

the names of David, Messiah's type, and Edom, Israel's foe, are

introduced in connection with the coming restoration.

11. do better . . . than at your beginnings--as in the case of Job

(Job 42:12).

Whereas the heathen nations fall irrevocably, Israel shall be more than

restored; its last estate shall exceed even its first.

12. to walk upon you--O mountains of Israel

(Eze 36:8)!

thee . . . thou--change from plural to singular: O hill of

Zion, singled out from the other mountains of Israel

(Eze 34:26);

or land.

thou shall no more . . . bereave them of men--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").

13. Thou land devourest up men--alluding to the words of the spies

(Nu 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).

14. bereave--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."

17. removed woman--

(Le 15:19,

&c.).

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.

20. profaned my holy name, when they--the heathen

said to them--the Israelites.

These, &c.--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;

Ro 2:24).

21. I had pity for mine holy name--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].

22. not . . . for your sakes--that is, not for any

merit in you; for, on the contrary, on your part, there is everything

to call down continued severity (compare

De 9:5, 6).

The sole and sure ground of hope was God's regard to "His own name," as

the God of covenant grace

(Ps 106:45),

which He must vindicate from the dishonor brought on it by the Jews,

before the heathen.

23. sanctify--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).

sanctified in you--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; 28:22).

24. Fulfilled primarily in the restoration from Babylon; ultimately

to be so in the restoration "from all countries."

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.

sprinkle . . . water--phraseology taken from the law; namely, the

water mixed with the ashes of a heifer sprinkled with a hyssop on the

unclean

(Nu 19:9-18);

the thing signified being the cleansing blood of Christ sprinkled on

the conscience and heart

(Heb 9:13, 14; 10:22;

compare

Jer 33:8;

Eph 5:26).

from all your idols--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.

26. new heart--mind and will.

spirit--motive and principle of action.

stony heart--unimpressible in serious things; like the "stony ground"

(Mt 13:5, 20),

unfit for receiving the good seed so as to bring forth fruit.

heart of flesh--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

(Php 2:12, 13).

27. my spirit--

(Eze 11:19;

Jer 32:39).

The partial reformation at the return from Babylon

(Ezr 10:6,

&c.; Ne 8:1-9:38)

was an earnest of the full renewal hereafter under Messiah.

28. ye . . . my people, . . . I . . . your

God--

(Eze 11:20;

Jer 30:22).

29. save . . . from all . . . uncleannesses--the province of Jesus,

according to the signification of His name

(Mt 1:21).

To be specially exercised in behalf of the Jews in the latter days

(Ro 11:26).

call for . . . corn--as a master "calls for" a servant; all the powers

and productions of nature are the servants of Jehovah

(Ps 105:16;

Mt 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,

Ho 2:21, 22;

Zec 8:12.

30. no more reproach of famine among the heathen--to which their taunt

(Eze 36:13),

"Thou land devourest up men," in part referred.

31. remember your . . . evil ways--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, 63;

Ps 130:4;

Zec 12:10;

compare

Jer 33:8, 9).

35. they shall say--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).

Eden--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.

36. Lord . . . spoken . . . do it--

(Nu 23:19).

37. I will yet for this be inquired of--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; 20:3).

But hereafter, as in the restoration from Babylon

(Ne 8:1-9:38;

Da 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

(Ps 102:13-17, 20;

Zec 12:10-14; 13:1).

like a flock--resuming the image

(Eze 34:23, 31).

38. As the holy flock--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.