Ezekiel 36:8-15

B. The Repopulation of the Land 36:8-15

TRANSLATION

(8) But as for you, O mountains of Israel, you shall put forth your branches, and your fruit you shall bear for My people Israel; for they are near to come. (9) For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown; (10) and I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited, and the waste places shall be built up; (11) and I will multiply men upon you and cattle, and they shall increase and be fruitful; and will cause You to be inhabited as in former times, and I will make it better than your beginnings; and you shall know that I am the LORD. (12) And I will cause men to walk upon you, even My people Israel, and they shall possess you, and you shall be an inheritance for them; and you shall no more bereave them of their children. (13) Thus says the Lord GOD: Because they are saying to you: You are a devourer of men, and you have been a bereaver of your nations; (14) therefore you shall not devour men any more, and your nations you shall not again bereave (oracle of the Lord GOD); (15) nor will I allow the shame of the nations to be heard against you any more; nor shall you bear the reproach of peoples any more; nor shall you bereave your nations any more (oracle of the Lord GOD).

COMMENTS

The fertile hills of Canaan would yet yield their fruit to Israel, not to strangers. The people of God were at hand to come, i.e., the end of the exile was not far off (Ezekiel 36:8). The divine I am against you which God uttered against Mt. Seir (Ezekiel 35:3) is reversed as regards the mountains of Israel. God is not only for the mountains of Israel, He is about to turn unto them, i.e., take an active interest in them. As a result those hills and valleys would once again be cultivated (Ezekiel 36:9). Men would be multiplied in the land as former citizens of both kingdoms united to rebuild their ruined land (Ezekiel 36:10). Beast as well as man would increase until their numbers were equivalent to their former strength in pre-exilic times. Yet God would bless them beyond anything they had experienced in bygone days (Ezekiel 36:11). The feet of God's people would yet walk over the mountains of Canaan. They would again possess those hills as their national inheritance. No more would those hills rob God's people of their children through war, pestilence and famine that in former days had occurred there (Ezekiel 36:12).

One of the derogatory allegations hurled at the land of Canaan was that the land devoured its inhabitants. The original inhabitants, the Canaanites, had been destroyed; now Israel had undergone a similar fate.[460] It seemed that every nation which had occupied that land had been bereaved (Ezekiel 36:13). But once Israel returned to that land things would be different. God's people would neither be devoured nor bereaved (Ezekiel 36:14). No more would they have to endure the derision of the nations because of what occurred to them in that land. The land of Canaan would no more be a stumblingblock to the people who lived in it. They would dwell safely and securely in that land (Ezekiel 36:15). These promises, of course, are conditional. As long as the returnees were faithful to God He would bless them in these ways. History records that even after their return to the land, the Jewish people failed to live up to their commitment to the Lord.

[460] Cf. Numbers 13:12 where the spies reported that Canaan was a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof.