Ezekiel 37:15-28

B. The Oracle of the Two Sticks 37:15-28

TRANSLATION

(15) And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, (16) Now as for you, son of man, take for yourself a stick, and write upon it: For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions; then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel his companions; (17) And bring them near one to the other into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. (18) And when the children of your people say to you: Will you not declare to us what you mean by these things? (19) say unto them: Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am about to take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and tribes of Israel his companions, and I will put them upon the stick of Judah, and I will make them to be one stick; and they shall be one in My hand. (20) And the sticks upon which you have written shall be in your hand before their eyes. (21) And say unto them: Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am about to take the children of Israel from among the nations where they went, and I will gather them from round about; and I will bring them into their land. (22) And I will make them one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to all of them; and they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they be divided anymore into two kingdoms. (23) They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their abominations and with all their transgressions; and I will save them out of all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and I will cleanse them, and they shall be My people, and I shall be their God. (24) And My servant David shall be king over them, and there shall be one shepherd to all of them; and they shall walk in My ordinances, and they shall keep My statutes, and do them. (25) And they shall dwell upon the land which I gave to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers dwell; and they shall dwell therein, they and their sons and their grandsons forever; and David My servant shall be prince forever. (26) And I will make a covenant of peace with them it shall be an everlasting covenant, with them; and I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forever. (27) And My dwelling place shall be over them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. (28) And the nations shall know that I the LORD sanctified Israel, when My sanctuary shall be in their midst forever.

COMMENTS

Revived Israel would be a unified nation. The schism which occurred in 931 B.C. between the northern tribes and Judah would be a thing of the past. To symbolically portray this reunion of the tribes, Ezekiel was told to take two sticks emblems of the royal scepters and to label each. The first stick represented Judah and those of the children of Israel who had allied themselves with Judah. The tribe of Benjamin, though related to the northern tribes, chose to remain loyal to the Davidic dynasty in 931 B.C. The second stick represented the Northern Kingdom which is here as frequently in the Old Testament called Ephraim after the largest and most influential tribe of the north. All the house of Israel refers to the other nine tribes who joined Ephraim in constituting the Northern Kingdom (Ezekiel 37:16).

The prophet was to take the newly inscribed sticks and hold them end to end to make it appear that they were one stick (Ezekiel 37:17). Such an action was designed to provoke interrogation and provide a preaching point (Ezekiel 37:18). When asked about the sticks Ezekiel was to explain the parable thusly. All the tribes which had joined Ephraim in the secession of 931 B.C. would be joined with Judah to form a single kingdom. This reunification would be a divine act brought about by the hand of God (Ezekiel 37:19).

Holding the sticks together in his hand (Ezekiel 37:20), Ezekiel was to amplify this reunification theme. Israelites as well as Jews would be gathered up from captive lands and brought to Canaan (Ezekiel 37:21). There they would form one nation with the tribe of Judah. All citizens of that kingdom would pay homage to one king (Ezekiel 37:22). All would be dedicated to the Lord. Heathen practices absorbed from the pagan environment of captivity would be purged from these people. God would then rescue them out of those pagan lands where they were currently dwelling. These cleansed and redeemed people would then enter into a new relationship with the Lord. He would be their God the object of their devotion and worship and they would be His people the object of His concern and blessing (Ezekiel 37:23).

The king who would rule that united kingdom is now identified. He would be My servant David, not David in the flesh of course, but a scion of David's house (cf. Ezekiel 34:23). This king would be their spiritual as well as their political ruler, for He would be their shepherd. Under the tender leadership of this shepherd-king God's people would faithfully carry out the commandments and ordinances of the Lord (Ezekiel 37:24).

To Jacob, the ancestor of Israel, God had promised a land. The physical terrain of Canaan was but a preview of that land. The patriarchs knew this. Abraham looked for a city whose maker and builder was God (Hebrews 11:10). The redeemed children of Israel and Judah would dwell in that land forever. What land is that? The territory, the kingdom, the nation over which the glorious Prince of the house of David would rule (Ezekiel 37:25).

Other blessings of the coming age are spelled out in the closing verses of chapter 37.
1. The citizens of that future kingdom would be under a new covenant a covenant of peace which would be everlasting. No covenant other than that one inaugurated by the death and ratified by the resurrection of Jesus Christ could possibly be intended. Through Christ peace with God becomes a reality and peace with man a potentiality.
2. These believers would enjoy security under that new covenant for God would establish (lit., give) them.

3. God would multiply them in that Holy Land. The Book of Acts records the thrilling fulfillment of this blessed promise.

4. The sanctuary of God would be in the midst of His people forever (Ezekiel 37:26). The physical Temple erected by Zerubbabel after the return from exile was but a preview of the true sanctuary in which Jesus ministers (Hebrews 8:2). This promise receives its highest realization first in the Incarnation (John 1:14), next in God's inhabitation of the church through the Spirit (2 Corinthians 6:16), and finally in His tabernacling with redeemed men in the heavenly Jerusalem (Revelation 21:3; Revelation 21:22). Just as the old Temple towered over the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so in the future age God's dwelling place would be over His people. This figure sets forth the idea of God's protective grace.

5. The people of God would enjoy intimate communion with their Maker in that day (Ezekiel 37:27). Once again the promise only attains complete realization in the relationship of Christian believers to the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 6:16).

6. This glorious transformation of Israel's condition would have a profound effect upon the heathen world round about. They would see the sanctuary of God (see promise 4 above) in the midst of Israel and they would recognize His presence and power among them. They would recognize in the lives of the redeemed the power of God to sanctify people, and having recognized this, they would seek admittance to the congregation and fellowship of God's spiritual Israel, the church of Christ.