Ezekiel 36:38

the holy flock i.e. the sacrificial sheep. The solemn feasts (where solemn has its proper sense of "customary," appointed) may be the three great yearly festivals, though in point of fact Ezek. does not refer to Pentecost, or the feast of weeks, in his concluding Chapter s. The comparison shews that already in pre-exile times enormous numbers of sacrificial animals were brought to Jerusalem for offerings at the feasts.

flocks of men lit. sheep-flocks in men. The word "flock" in Heb. is not generalized so as to express a great number it means a sheep-flock, and is explained by "men."

Probably no passage in the Old Testament of the same extent offers so complete a parallel to New Testament doctrine, particularly to that of St Paul. It is doubtful if the Apostle quotes Ezek. anywhere, but his line of thought entirely coincides with his. The same conceptions and in the same order belong to both forgiveness (Ezekiel 36:25); regeneration, a new heart and spirit (Ezekiel 36:26); the spirit of God as the ruling power in the new life (Ezekiel 36:27); the issue of this, the keeping of the requirements of God's law (Ezekiel 36:27; Romans 8:4); the effect of being "under grace" in softening the human heart and leading to obedience (Ezekiel 36:31; Romans 6:7); and the organic connexion of Israel's history with Jehovah's revelation of himself to the nations (Ezekiel 36:33; Romans 11). The prophet's idea of the divine pedagogic is not precisely the same as that of the Apostle, and the present passage has in some particulars to be supplemented from ch. 16. As put here it is Israel's historical experiences, their dispersion and restoration, with the thoughts which these suggest, that impress the nations and teach them what Jehovah is.