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 [Jr 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! ([Is 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], ). The sole and sure ground of hope was God's regard to "His own name," as the God of covenant grace ([Psa 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]; ).
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 ([He 9:13], ; ; compare [Jr 33:8]; [Ep 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], ), 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], ).
27. my spirit--([Eze 11:19]; [Jr 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]; [Jr 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 ([Psa 105:16]; [Mt 8:8], ). 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], ; [Psa 130:4]; [Zec 12:10]; compare [Jr 33:8], ).
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], ); but now He so vindicates its sanctity ([Eze 36:22], ) 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], ), 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" ([Is 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]; ). 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 (Psa 102:13-17, 20; Zec 12:10-14; 13:).
like a flock--resuming the image ([Eze 34:23], ).
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.
Chapter 37
Eze 37:1-28. The Vision of Dry Bones Revivified, Symbolizing Israel's Death and Resurrection
Three stages in Israel's revival present themselves to the prophet's eye. (1) The new awakening of the people, the resurrection of the dead ([Eze 37:1-14). (2]) The reunion of the formerly hostile members of the community, whose contentions had affected the whole ([Eze 37:15-28). (3]) The community thus restored is strong enough to withstand the assault of Gog, &c. ([Eze 38:1-39:29]) [Ewald].
1. carried ... in the spirit--The matters transacted, therefore, were not literal, but in vision.
the valley--probably that by the Chebar ([Eze 3:22]). The valley represents Mesopotamia, the scene of Israel's sojourn in her state of national deadness.
2. dry--bleached by long exposure to the atmosphere.
3. can these bones live? ... thou knowest--implying that, humanly speaking, they could not; but faith leaves the question of possibility to rest with God, with whom nothing is impossible ([De 32:39]). An image of Christian faith which believes in the coming general resurrection of the dead, in spite of all appearances against it, because God has said it ([Joh 5:21]; [Ro 4:17]; [2Co 1:9]).
4. Prophesy--Proclaim God's quickening word to them. On account of this innate power of the divine word to effect its end, prophets are said to do that which they prophesy as about to be done ([Jr 1:10]).
5. I ... cause breath to enter into you--So [Is 26:19], containing the same vision, refers primarily to Israel's restoration. Compare as to God's renovation of the earth and all its creatures hereafter by His breath, [Psa 104:30].
ye shall live--come to life again.