Ezekiel 36 - Introduction
XXXVI. The first fifteen verses of this chapter, as already noted, belong to Ezekiel 35, and form part of the same prophecy.... [ Continue Reading ]
XXXVI. The first fifteen verses of this chapter, as already noted, belong to Ezekiel 35, and form part of the same prophecy.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MOUNTAINS OF ISRAEL. — The word “mountains” is used for the land and people of Israel, to keep up the connection (by contrast) with the Mount Seir of the previous chapter. The personification is a strong one, by which the mountains represent the people as well as the land.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ANCIENT HIGH PLACES. — This is very nearly the same expression as in Genesis 49:26; Deuteronomy 33:15, where it is translated “everlasting (or lasting) hills,” and is probably an allusion to those passages. “The enemy” is a general term, which may refer to Edom; but from the following verses it... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE LIPS OF TALKERS, AND ARE AN INFAMY. — A phrase equivalent to _a by-word and a reproach._ (Comp. Deuteronomy 28:37; 1 Kings 9:7, &c.) In the previous clause the words, “have swallowed you up,” should rather be “pant for you,” the word being taken from the snuffing and panting of wild beasts. I... [ Continue Reading ]
IDUMEA = Edom, as in Ezekiel 35:15, where see Note. For “cast it out,” in the last clause of the verse, read, _empty it out._ The idea of casting out a land for a prey is incongruous, and the other sense is admissible.... [ Continue Reading ]
LIFTED UP MINE HAND. — As in Ezekiel 20:6 = “I have sworn.” SHALL BEAR THEIR SHAME. — Comp. Ezekiel 36:6. The Israelites have been compelled to bear the reproaches of the heathen, but these now return upon themselves.... [ Continue Reading ]
SHOOT FORTH YOUR BRANCHES. — The land of Israel, represented by its mountains, is now to put forth its fruit, for the time is at hand when the people will return — a strong and vivid way of setting forth at once the certainty and the nearness of the return.... [ Continue Reading ]
WILL MULTIPLY UPON YOU. — The promises of abundant blessing of this, with the previous and following verses, certainly received a partial fulfilment at the time following the return from the exile, and in the subsequent Maccabean period; yet one cannot but feel that the language of promise, if taken... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU LAND DEVOUREST UP MEN. — Comp. Numbers 13:32, a passage probably in the prophet’s mind, though he uses it for a different reason. Israel had so often sinned, and so often, in consequence, suffered the Divine punishments, that the heathen, not recognising the true cause, superstitiously attribut... [ Continue Reading ]
CAUSE... TO FALL. — In the last four verses there is a delicate play upon words which cannot well be expressed in English. Two verbs are used, each of them twice (“bereave” in Ezekiel 36:14 should be _cause to fall,_ as in margin), one of them meaning to _bereave,_ the other to _cause to fall;_ and... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY DEFILED IT. — In Ezekiel 36:17 the sin of Israel in the past is set forth as the reason of their present condition. “The land” is always regarded in Scripture as peculiarly consecrated to God, and defiled by the sin of the people. (Comp. Leviticus 18:28; Numbers 35:34.) The comparison is with a... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THEY SAID TO THEM. — We are not here to understand that the Israelites profaned God’s name among the heathen in the way spoken of in Romans 2:24, though this also may have been done; but they profaned it by the very fact of their captivity, the consequence of their former sins. The heathen rega... [ Continue Reading ]
PITY FOR MINE HOLY NAME. — The meaning of this has been already explained in the Note on the previous verse; and in the following verses it is emphasised that God would restore His people, not for their sakes, but for His own.... [ Continue Reading ]
NOT... FOR YOUR SAKES,... BUT FOR MINE HOLY NAME’S SAKE. — Comp. Exod. xxxii; Numbers 14; Deuteronomy 9. This is the constant burden of God’s teaching to His people throughout their history. Hence it is an idle objection to the Scripture narrative that it represents Israel as the favourite of heaven... [ Continue Reading ]
BEFORE THEIR EYES. — The Hebrew text as it stands has _your_ eyes, as in the margin. Many manuscripts and other authorities have _their._ Either of them admits of an excellent sense; but the reading _your_ brings out the important truth that God must first be sanctified in the eyes of the people the... [ Continue Reading ]
SPRINKLE CLEAN WATER. — Comp. Hebrews 9:13; Hebrews 10:22. Ezekiel, the priest, here refers to those manifold purifications of the Law (_e.g.,_ Numbers 8:7; Numbers 19:9; Numbers 19:17; Leviticus 14:5; Leviticus 14:9, &c.) which were performed by means of water; yet he refers to these as a whole, in... [ Continue Reading ]
A NEW HEART. — Comp. Ezekiel 11:18, where the same promise is given, although somewhat less fully than here. On the expression “heart of flesh,” see Note there on Ezekiel 36:19. With this prophetic preaching of the Gospel comp. Jeremiah 31:31, and particularly the connection of that passage with the... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL DWELL IN THE LAND. — The Israelites were not yet able to seek the spiritual, except as con. nected with the temporal blessing; and, indeed, the temporal was, in the ordering of Providence, a necessary means to the spiritual. Therefore the promise of earthly restoration must yet be made, and... [ Continue Reading ]
YOUR UNCLEANNESSES. — In Ezekiel 36:25 they had already been made clean, and in Ezekiel 36:26 a new heart had been given them; why, then, was there yet further need of cleansing? This cannot, therefore, refer to the idolatries from which they had been already purged, but is plain enough if understoo... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL LOTHE YOURSELVES. — Comp. Note on Ezekiel 20:43.... [ Continue Reading ]
NOT FOR YOUR SAKES. — See Ezekiel 36:22.... [ Continue Reading ]
LIKE THE GARDEN OF EDEN. — This may be meant merely to describe the exceeding excellence and prosperity of the land; but, in connection with what has been previously said, it seems rather to point forward to that state in which man shall again be entirely freed from sin, which has been the state for... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL YET FOR THIS BE ENQUIRED OF. — Comp. Ezekiel 14:3; Ezekiel 20:3. Formerly God refused to be inquired of by a people whose hearts were far from Him; now that He has given them a new heart He is ready to hear them.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FLOCK OF JERUSALEM. — The comparison is with the vast flocks of sacrificial animals accustomed to be carried to Jerusalem at the great annual feasts. The object is to give a vivid idea of the numbers of the people, but there is an especial appropriateness in the simile from the fact that these f... [ Continue Reading ]