CHAPTER 36

(587 B.C.)

GOD WILL JUDGE ISRAELS ENEMIES

¹Also, you son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel, and say, You mountains of Israel, hear the Word of the LORD (this Prophecy is divided into two parts, with Verses 1 through 15 connecting with the previous Chapter, and the second part beginning with Verse 16 and closing at 37:14. The subject of the first part is Israels restoration):

²Thus says the Lord GOD; Because the enemy has said against you, Aha, even the ancient high places are ours in possession (this enemy was Edom):

³Therefore prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord GOD; Because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that you might be a possession unto the residue of the heathen, and you are taken up in the lips of talkers, and are an infamy of the people (the sense of Verse 3 is that the heathen charged Jehovah with inability to protect His Land):

THE FUTURE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL

⁴Therefore, you mountains of Israel, hear the Word of the Lord GOD; Thus says the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes, and to the cities that are forsaken, which became a prey and derision to the residue of the heathen who are round about (God chastens His People, as this Verse proclaims, but destroys their enemies);

⁵Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Surely in the fire of My Jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen, and against all Idumea, which have appointed My Land into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey. (Edom not only proposed to take My Land, but to do so with a gleeful joy, and with despiteful minds, i.e., with contempt of soul, meaning that Edom held Judah and Judahs God, Jehovah, in contempt.)

⁶Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say unto the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, Thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I have spoken in My Jealousy and in My Fury, because you have borne the shame of the heathen (the key to this Verse is the phrase, You have borne the shame of the heathen, which means that the shame of Gods People is temporary, while that of their enemies is perpetual. The Law of Retribution is demanded by the absolute Righteousness of God. The judicial visitations of God cannot possibly be one-sided. That which has been meted out to Israel for their sin will be meted out to Edom, as well as all other opposing nations):

⁷Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; I have lifted up My Hand, Surely the heathen who are about you, they shall bear their shame. (The certitude is found in the phrase, I have lifted up My Hand, which refers to God taking an oath that what He has stated about the heathen and their punishment will come to pass.)

⁸But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to My People of Israel; for they are at hand to come. (The phrases, O mountains of Israel and The everlasting hills of Gen. 49:26, are terms expressive of the moral elevation of Israel over the physical elevation of Edom.)

⁹For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and you shall be tilled and sown (as the Lord said that He was against Edom [35:3], He, conversely, says of Israel, I am for you):

¹⁰And I will multiply men upon you, all the House of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be built (as the Lord outlined the destruction of Edom and other nations, He here outlines the coming blessing and prosperity of the House of Israel):

¹¹And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and you shall know that I am the LORD. (This pertains to the coming Kingdom Age.)

¹²Yes, I will cause men to walk upon you, even My People Israel; and they shall possess you, and you shall be their inheritance, and you shall no more henceforth bereave them of men. (Edom said they would possess the Land. They are indicative of the modern Palestinians. The Lord says, My People Israel shall possess you, i.e., the Land.)

¹³Thus says the Lord GOD; Because they say unto you, Your land devours up men, and has bereaved your nations (concerning Israel, the heathen spread the evil report that the Land of Israel had devoured its inhabitants and was, therefore, cursed!);

¹⁴Therefore you shall devour men no more, neither bereave your nations any more, says the Lord GOD. (The idea of the Verse is this: the great Spiritual conflict between Light and darkness has brought about the terrible contest for the Land of Israel, which began immediately upon its inception, and which has continued throughout its history.

Upon the return of Christ, the cause of this conflict will be removed; hence, it will devour men no more, neither bereave the nations.)

¹⁵Neither will I cause men to hear in you the shame of the heathen any more, neither shall you bear the reproach of the people any more, neither shall you cause your nations to fall any more, says the Lord GOD. (This was not fulfilled, not even in the slightest, upon the return of the Exiles from their bondage, but will be fulfilled totally in the coming Kingdom Age.)

ISRAELS PAST SINS AND JUDGMENTS

¹⁶Moreover the Word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

¹⁷Son of man, when the House of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings: their way was before Me as the uncleanness of a removed woman. (The uncleanness pictures the vileness of the sinner in Gods Sight. The first statement of Verse 29 declares the Ability of the Saviour to fully cleanse the sinner.

As the uncleanness of a removed woman, refers to a womans monthly period, and was used as an example of Israels uncleanness.)

¹⁸Wherefore I poured My Fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it (this Verse proclaims that the idol worshipped produced the shedding of blood and the offering up of little children in human sacrifices. Because of this, the Anger of the Lord knew no bounds):

¹⁹And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them. (This not only concerned Ezekiels day, but also concerned itself with A.D. 70, when Titus destroyed Jerusalem. This was done because they had shed the Blood of Christ.)

²⁰And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned My Holy Name, when they said to them, These are the People of the LORD, and are gone forth out of His Land. (These are the People of the LORD, is the key phrase to this Verse. Their being defeated caused the heathen to conclude that Jehovah had either behaved capriciously toward His People and cast them off, or had proved unequal to the task of protecting them. In either case, the Honor of Jehovah had been lessened in the mind and tarnished by the words of the heathen. This had been brought about by Israels sin.)

²¹But I had pity for My Holy Name, which the House of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went. (The idea is: the Lord will restore Israel, but not because of any good in them, but because of good in Himself.)

THE REGATHERING AND RESTORATION OF ISRAEL

²²Therefore say unto the House of Israel, thus says the Lord GOD; I do not this for your sakes, O House of Israel, but for My Holy Names sake, which you have profaned among the heathen, whither you went. (This Scripture further reinforces the statement regarding Verse 21, in that the Lord is not doing what He is doing for Israels sake, but instead for His Holy Names sake.)

²³And I will sanctify My great Name, which was profaned among the heathen, which you have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, says the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. (Gods Acts of Grace toward guilty men solely because of His Name as Saviour and not because of any moral excellence in them are shown in Verses 21 through 23 and 32. The sinners only claim for Life and Righteousness is the admitting of his sinfulness and not his righteousness, of which he has none.)

²⁴For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. (This Passage was not fulfilled when the Children of Israel came back from Babylonian captivity, and has not even been fulfilled as of yet! It will be fulfilled immediately after the Second Coming of Christ.)

²⁵Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. (The word then marks the time for the fulfillment of these Prophecies. Israel, as a nation, will not be won to Christ until the Antichrist is defeated by the Second Coming of Christ. Israel then will accept Christ as Saviour, Lord, and Messiah.)

²⁶A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. (This speaks of the New Birth, and totally refutes the claims of those who say that modern Israel will not be restored, and that they have no part or parcel in the Gospel program, presently or in the future.)

²⁷And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My Statutes, and you shall keep My Judgments, and do them. (And I will put My Spirit within you, refers both to Regeneration, as carried out by the Holy Spirit at the time of one being Born-Again, and also to the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, which was first evidenced on the Day of Pentecost [Acts 2:1-4]. The entrance of the Holy Spirit is made possible solely by the Cross of Christ [Jn. 14:17], and the Statutes and Judgments fall into the same category. In other words, one can keep those only by and through the Power of the Holy Spirit, Who works exclusively within the framework of the Finished Work of Christ, which demands the constant Faith of the Believer [Rom. 6:3-5; 8:1-2, 11; Lk. 9:23-24].)

²⁸And you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and you shall be My People, and I will be your God. (The conflict regarding the Land of Israel will be solved only when Christ comes back. All hinges on Christ, as all always hinges on Christ.)

²⁹I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you. (Regeneration, not reformation a new heart, and not a changed heart is essential to Salvation.)

³⁰And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that you shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.

³¹Then shall you remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. (The effect of Grace is self-judgment, which will then make possible the Blessing of Verse 30.)

³²Not for your sakes do I this, says the Lord GOD, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O House of Israel. (All that is done for the Child of God is done for Christs sake [Eph. 4:32; 1 Jn. 2:12].)

³³Thus says the Lord GOD; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be built. (Israels Conversion to Christ will precipitate their Blessing. Only when all iniquities have been cleansed can the individual then dwell in the inheritance, with the wastes then being reclaimed, i.e., built.)

³⁴And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all who passed by. (For nearly 2,000 years, the Land of Israel lay desolate. This was the Promised Land, and yet there was little semblance of that which originally was. It is now beginning to be restored, but will not fully be made right until the Coming of the Lord.)

³⁵And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the Garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited. (Tyre and Assyria claimed to be like the Garden of Eden. But this similitude belongs only to Israel [Ezek. 28:13; 31:8-9; Isa. 51:3].)

³⁶Then the heathen who are left round about you shall know that I the LORD build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the LORD have spoken it, and I will do it. (All that the Lord says He will do in this Verse is predicated on Israels acceptance of Him as Lord and Saviour.)

³⁷Thus sa ys the Lord GOD; I will yet for this be enquired of by the House of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock. (I will yet for this be enquired of by the House of Israel, refers to the coming Great Tribulation of the future, which will bring them to utter desolation and threatened annihilation, which will precipitate their crying to Him for Deliverance. This will bring Israel to a full Repentance and dependence upon God [Isa., Chpt. 64; Zech. 12:10; 13:1; Mat. 23:37-39; Rom. 11:25-29].)

³⁸As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn Feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the LORD. (The theme of these Chapters is the relationship between Jehovah and His People. Hence, there are no details given respecting the First Advent. The Chapters present a general picture of the Last Days, of the rebirth of Israel, and of her enjoyment of Earthly Glory and Blessing, which will take place in the coming Kingdom Age.)