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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Eze_36:2. Sept: ... åἰðåí … ἐñçìê áἰùíéá —
Eze_36:3. ... ʼ Áíôé ôïõ ἀôéìêáóèçíáé ὑìáò ê . ìéóçèçíáé ὑìáò ὑðï ô . ἐèíùí —Vulg.: quod desolati estis et conculcati per circuitum—(Another reading: áäéåúëí .)
Eze_36:4. ... ê . ô . íáðáéò ô . ἑñçìùìåíáéò ê . ἠöáíéóìåíáéò , ê . ô . ðïëåóéí ô . êáôáëåëåéììåíáéò … ê . åἰò êáôáðáôçìá —
Eze_36:5. Another reading: ëìä c. ä and ëðôù , Sept.: ... ἀôéìáóíôåò øõ÷áò ôïõ ἀöáíéóáò ἐí ðñïíïìç . Vulg.: … et ex animo, et ejecerunt eam ut vastarent.
Eze_36:8. Sept.: ... ôìí óôáöõëçí ê . ôïí êáñðïí ὐìùí öêãåôáé ὁ ëáïò ìïí , ὁôé ἑëðéæïõóéí ôïõ ἐëèåéí .
Eze_36:10. ... ðáí ïἰêïí ʼ Éóñ . åἰò ôåëïò
Eze_36:12. ... ἐôé ἀôåêíùèíáé ἀð ’ áὐôùí . Vulg.: et non addes ultra, ut absque eis sis.
Eze_36:13. ... ê . ἠôåêíùìåíç ὑðï ôïõ ἐèíïõò , Vulg.: … et suffocans gentem tuam.
Eze_36:14. Vulg.: … Gentem tuam non necabis ultra—
Eze_36:17. Sept.: ... ὁäù . . ê . ἐí ô . åἰäùëïéò … ê . ἐí ô . ἀêáèáñóéêéò áὠôïùí .
Eze_36:19. ... ê . ἐëéêìçóá áὐôïõò —
Eze_36:20. Another reading: åéáàå , so the old translations.
Eze_36:21. Ê . ἐöåéóáìçí áὐôùí —Et peperci nomini—
Eze_36:23. Another reading: áäí and ìòéðéäí (so also the Masora).
Eze_36:31. Sept.: ... ê . ðñïòï÷èéåéôå êáôá ðñïòùðïí áὐôùí ἐí ôáéò —
Eze_36:32. Sept.: ... ê . ἐíôñáðçôå ἐê ô . ὁäùí —
Eze_36:35. ... ὡò êçðïò ôñõöçò … ὀ÷õñáé ἐêáèéóáí .
Eze_36:37. ... æçôçèçóïìáé ôù —Vulg.: … invenient me—Another reading: àֶãøùׁ , active (Syr. Arabs.)
Eze_36:38. ... ὡò ðñïâáôá ἁãéá —
[“In this chapter we have a continuation of the present great theme of the prophet—Israel’s prospective revival and prosperity as the Lord’s covenant-people. But it treats of this under different aspects. In the first section (Eze_36:1-15) the prophet unfolds the essential distinction between Israel and Edom with the other nations of heathendom, in that the former had, what the others had not, an interest in the power and faithfulness of God, in consequence of which Israel’s heritage must revive and flourish, and the hopes of the heathen concerning it must be disappointed. In the next section (Eze_36:16-21) the reason is given why the Lord had for a time acted toward His land and people as if their connection with Him was an evil rather than a blessing; it is traced up to the incorrigible wickedness of the people, and the necessity of God’s vindicating the cause of His holiness by exercising upon them the severity of His displeasure. Then in another section (Eze_36:22-33) the purpose of the Lord for their future good is unfolded—His purpose for His own name’s sake to revive His cause among His people, and that in the most effectual manner, by first renewing their hearts to holiness, and then by restoring them to a flourishing condition outwardly. And in a short concluding section (Eze_36:34-38) the general result is summed up, and the impressions noticed which the whole was fitted to produce upon the minds of others.”—Fairbairn’s Ezekiel, p. 386.—W. F.]
Eze_36:1-15.The Mountains of Israel.
Eze_36:1. àֶì , see on Eze_6:2. Here, too, by the mountains of Israel it is not the land that is characterized after its most prominent part, but, as Eze_36:2 will immediately show, the mountains come into consideration according to their religious signification for Israel.
Eze_36:2. The phrase: thus saith the Lord Jehovah, which, when one cannot put one’s self in the position of those concerned, is repeated to weariness in our chapter, belongs to its peculiarities. It is intended not only to contradict the saying of the adversary, but still more to contravene what the poor doubting heart itself says, when looking at that which the eyes see; at the same time the divine comfort appears in presence of this visibility as a comfort solely in word, as correspondingly in the closing part of the chapter the name of the Lord will come forth above all.—The enemy is, as the word implies, he who turns himself against any one, in the connection here Edom (Eze_35:10), but in the signification developed Ezekiel 35; hence, as we go on farther, illustrated also by the heathen round about (Eze_36:5; Eze_25:3; Eze_25:8; Eze_25:12).—Comp. on Eze_25:3. That the everlasting heights refer primarily to the temple is clear; at the same time, however, Zion will have to be viewed as the seat of the everlasting royal dominion. “An allusion to the inmost and most tender feelings of Israel” (Schmieder). [Hävernick refers to Gen_49:26 (Deu_33:15), according to which the mountains are held to stand in relation to the promises of Israel as imperishable memorials of the patriarch’s blessing. Hengst: The natural mountains as a figure of the unchangeable grandeur of which Israel boasted, because it had in the Eternal its protector and the guarantee of its own perpetuity (Psa_125:2).]—Eze_35:10.
Eze_36:3. Ewald directs attention to the first five repetitions of therefore, because the grounds against these enemies always press on anew before the discourse becomes calmer, and will have it observed that, as in Eze_5:12 sq., sacred numbers (Eze_3:5) fit into one another, and that in various ways, as for most certain assurance; there is a threefold address to the mountains; and the assignment of reasons has five steps in its process.—Ezekiel 21:14, 33.— éַòַï áְּéַòַï , see Eze_13:10.— ùַׁîּåֹú (Ewald, Ausf.-Lehrb. 8th ed. p. 611), according to Gesenius, properly nom. verbale, but here only for the inf. Kal of ùָׁîַí transitive: “to devastate.” [Ewald: “they snap and puff at you round about.” Hitzig: “they puff and snap after you,” under a mistaken comparison of Isa_42:14 from ðָùַׁí ] Now if it cannot be rendered: “they devastate you” (Keil), and will scarcely be rendered, with Hengst.: “ye are devastated,” then perhaps the most obvious thing is, in accordance with Eze_35:12; Eze_35:14 sq., to think of the standing: “make desolate,” “desolation”! They appear to the enemy round about as a morsel ready for swallowing, that they are already a possession for the remnant of the heathen, as îִíָּáִéá is more definitely explained to he. The presupposition in ùְׁàֵãִéú (what remains after defeat) is the judgment inflicted by the Chaldeans. As with a little brotherly love the injury received would have kept them back, so with their enmity against Israel it goaded them on to commit still farther injury to indemnify themselves on Israel.— åַúֵּòֲìåּ , according to Rosenm., imperf. Niph. from òָìַä (to be lifted or taken up); according to Ewald, intransitive imperf. Kal from òָìì (Aramaic, “to press in,” “to go in”); according to Hitzig, 2d plur. Kal from òָìַä , for åַúַּòֲìåּ (“ye are gone up”). The lip as instrument, the tongue as originator; the former having as its parallel calumny, and the latter, people; so that ùָׂôָä is not = talk, and ìָּùׁåֹï not a personification for talkers, as Klief. thinks, yet it need not be tautology (Gesen.), or ìָùׁåֹï =; speech, people (Hävern.).
Eze_36:4. Eze_6:3. (“The mountains are for the land what the heads of the tribes are for the people, as it were the elders, the venerable fathers of the land, to whom the word of the Lord which is applicable to the whole land is announced,” Schmieder.) The mention of particulars is meant to point to the eye which observes all, the divine care which beholds each and all, over which only a human eye weeps, or on the contrary rejoices. As a prey points back to the beginning of Eze_36:3, so a derision points to its close.
Eze_36:5.The fire of my jealousy reminds of Eze_35:11.—Eze_35:15.—Ch. 25 and 35 also testify that Jehovah has spoken in this manner.—Comp. Eze_25:6; Eze_25:5, although the application here is somewhat different. Ewald: “in mortal contempt.” Hitzig: “contempt from the soul” (?).— îִâְøָùָׁäּ , according to Gesenius, an Aramaic infinitive from ðָּãַùׁ , “in order to empty it (the uninhabited land) for a prey.” But what would be still there to empty? Ewald’s translation: “in order to drive it out for pillage,” is quite as unsuitable. Hitzig does better, taking, it as a substantive, but wrongly in the sense of ‘produce,’ and according to a peculiar construction translating: “in order to plunder ( ìָáֹæ ) its produce.” Hengst. (Cocc.): “that its environs should be a prey to them.” But which environs? of the land? Hence he is obliged to substitute the capital as the centre! The signification pasturage would at least be simpler; and the emptied land is in keeping with this, and is consequently a desirable prey. [Many interpret also: “on account of the expulsion of the land” (land for people), Eze_31:11, whereby it (now again the land) has become a prey.]
Eze_36:6. òַìÎàַãְîַú , hence as the native home of Israel, with precursory reference to the return of the people, Eze_36:8 sq., 28 sq.—Partly a repetition of Eze_36:4.
Eze_36:5. The reproach is to be understood of words (invectives, Eze_36:3-4) as well as of deeds.
Eze_36:7. Eze_20:5. The attitude of swearing, yet not that alone, but also a sign of the intended action.—The roles shall change. Eze_36:6, Eze_16:52. Upon the heathen the reproach shall abide, but not upon the land which they have thus reproached to its inhabitants !
Eze_36:8. The honour to be restored to the land is represented as the causing of it to yield leaves and fruit; Hengst. thinks: leaves and branches as food for cattle, while the fruit is for man.— ÷ֵøְáåּ ìָáåֹà can only be individuals concerned of the people. “Of the seventy years of Jeremiah, twenty had already elapsed (Eze_33:21)” (Hengst.).
Eze_36:9. Because hitherto (as late as Eze_34:10) employed in a hostile sense, an explanation follows the äִðְðִéִ àֲì× (Deu_11:12). The sowing shows that the work of cultivation is the subject spoken of, hence already with reference to men.
Eze_36:10. Then farther in correspondence with the cultivation of the land is the peopling of it.— ëָּìÎáֵּéú× ëֻּìִּä , antithesis to Eze_35:15.
Eze_36:4.
Eze_36:11. To the men also cattle.—Gen_1:28. “A new creation-blessing, as it were” (Hävern.). The more than indicates the figurative in the manner of expression (Deu_30:5), as does also the fact that the mountains are addressed.
Eze_36:12 rounds off as commerce ( åְäåֹìַáְúִּé ) what has been said of the peopling, after there has previously been a rural population with tilling of fields and rearing of cattle, and a town population with building of ruins; and the mention is made of the abiding, enduring possession of the land ( ìְðַçֲìָä , as inheritance).— Îêָ , what must be meant is the land, mountains and all; masc., which àֶøֶõ (Eze_36:5) may be also, as afterwards fem. gen.—The make childless, said of the land, may also be referred to the wild beasts introduced in consequence of its desolation (Eze_5:17; Eze_14:15).
Eze_36:13. What is here said has in reality as little to do with Num_13:32 (observe, however, the statement of motive there) as with 2Ki_2:24 (a mere particular case). The promised land was neither in itself of such a kind (Deu_8:7 sq., Eze_11:10 sq.), nor, without giving a forced meaning, can we, with Hengst., understand a reference to its position between Asiatic and African powers; but what is here said to the mountains of Israel (as previously, Eze_36:12, of the land) is directed against the reproach, the scorn of the heathen (Eze_36:15), who would draw an inference from the desolation of the capital against its holy character as this land of divine promise. The reference here made to Numbers 13. can only be this, that what the adversaries say appears as a repetition of the unbelieving speech of those spies ( àֶøֶõ àִëֶìֶú éåֹùְׁáֶéäָ ), with which they brought out ãִּáַּú äָàָøֶõ (comp. here Eze_36:3); hence here somewhat in the sense of: Israel should have stayed away from it, not have come into the land, not have trod on the trap (birdlime) of the promise. [Ewald: “an exterminator of men art thou, and an unnatural mother of thy people wast thou.” Hävern.: “a swallower of men,” and “making nations (Israel and Judah) childless.” Hitzig observes: ùִׁëֵּì is said of a mother—to bring children dead into the world, or to kill them afterwards. But is it, then, the children of the land, and not rather of the inhabitants, that are here spoken of?] The land is desolation, fit now only for pasture (Eze_36:5), thinks and says the surrounding heathen world. In opposition to this there was forcibly set forth the cultivation of the land already and the peopling of it with men, to whom the cattle (Eze_36:11) were only an adjunct; also the rebuilding of the ruins, in view, however, of the cities being again inhabited (Eze_36:10). But the sight of the desolation of the land took this general form in the mind and the mouth of the heathen, that this promised land consumes those who receive it, and especially that it can be no possession for their children, and consequently no inheritance. Comp. on this what was said in reference to the wilderness, Num_14:16; Deu_9:28; Exo_32:12 sq. (Ezekiel 20). To this repeated reproaching, which is at the same time a reproaching of the name of Jehovah as the promiser of the land,—especially, however, to the second part of it (Eze_36:12-13), the making childless, a statement immediately, Eze_36:12, explained perfectly by: and thou art to them for an inheritance,
Eze_36:14 forms a parallel, with repetition only of the phrase: to devour men. The alliterative ( ëִּùֵּׁì , Piel instead of ùִׁëֵּì ), “making to stumble (to fall),” of the Kethib is significant, for thus is brought to view what the heathen standpoint of reproach so entirely overlooked, what, when the promised land had to be spoken of, should have been said of its abundance and beauty, namely, that thereby, by the misuse of its resources, it had been the occasion of Israel’s sin and downfall; and thus also a preparation is already made for speaking of, first, the profaning, and then the sanctifying of the name of Jehovah treated of in the course of the chapter. (Keil: “if the consuming of the population stands connected with the stumbling, then the people are devoured by the consequences of their sins, that is, by judicial punishments, sterility, pestilence, and war,” etc.) And inasmuch as Israel is now to possess the land abidingly, hence in his descendants, ùִׁëֵּì , “to make childless,” is accordingly not repeated. This decides as completely as possible against the Qeri úְùַׁëְּìé (also against Hitzig); while, moreover, ëùì is repeated in Eze_36:15 without Qeri in the Hiphil. [Hengst. understands the stumbling in the sense of the Qeri, and evidently under the influence of Hitzig’s absurd objection, as signifying “to make unfortunate”!]
Eze_36:15. According to another translation: “and I will no longer make thee hear” (Keil).
Eze_36:6; Eze_36:3-4.
Eze_36:16-38. Profanation of the Name of Jehovah by Israel (Eze_36:16-21), and Sanctification of it by Jehovah Himself (Eze_36:22-38).
Eze_36:16. A new word of God, but, as we have seen, prepared for by what has preceded (Eze_36:14-15).
Eze_36:17 begins with a retrospect into the moral history of the house of Israel, for which comp. Lev_18:28; Num_35:34; Jer_2:7.—Their way, their walk, as the expression their works explains (Eze_14:22-23), and ëְּèֻîְàַú× renders still more clear. ðִãָּä (from ðָãַã ) is: “rejection” = abhorrence, abomination, Eze_7:19 sq.; then: separation= purification, especially the monthly purification of a woman by separation, issue of blood (Leviticus 15). Gesen., on the other hand, explains the word by “uncleanness,” i.e., an unclean issue of blood. Comp. besides Isa_64:5 [6]. Yet not, however, as the “most loathsome uncleanness” (Keil)—it is in reality the natural peculiarity of woman—but the comparison appears to be used on account of the blood, as Eze_36:18 makes obvious. Concerning the tenses comp. Hitzig. In Eze_36:17 a habitual state in the past, on which the action in Eze_36:18 breaks in. Eze_7:8.—Eze_22:3; Eze_22:6; Eze_33:25.—Comp. on Eze_6:4 (Eze_8:10). “Murder and idolatry, with reference to the first commandment of the first table and the first of the second” (Hengst.).
Eze_36:19. Eze_22:15.—Eze_7:3; Eze_7:8.
Eze_36:20. The singular is interpreted by Hengst. of the fate spoken of in Eze_36:19, namely, the news (!) of it, although he goes on giving the following turn: the news came at the same time with themselves; they were the embodied intelligence. Keil understands it more simply as meaning the house of Israel. Hitzig, like the ancient versions, reads the plural, which, however, should be doubly avoided. That they themselves came to the heathen is repeatedly expressed in what follows, and that for the very purpose of explaining the fact therewith connected, the actual profanation of the name of the Lord by Israel’s presence there. As in their own land, so also outside of it. The name of My holiness is not simply: the holy name of Jehovah, but the name in which His holiness is manifest, so that by it man names His holiness, and hence the Holy God Himself. The profanation is traced home to the Jews as originators, as occasion of the saying which follows; and hence it is said indefinitely áֶּàֱîֹø ìָäֶí , so that the heathen, who certainly also desecrated the name of Jehovah in their mouth, are yet not looked upon as the desecrators of the name of His holiness, but the Jews [Hengst.: “not by their doing, Rom_2:24, but by their suffering, because they had brought on the fate by their active desecration”], who, moreover, unrepentingly remained silent concerning their sin and guilt. They just came where they came; and with their impenitence gave there the impression merely of wretched, unfortunate, deceived, betrayed beings, in whom the blame was not to be sought, but in their God, who was powerless in comparison with the gods of the heathen, or unfaithful to His chosen people.— òַí× has also been interpreted interrogatively by various expositors.— éָöָàåּ is as much as to say: and they have run away out of Jehovah’s land which He had promised to them, where He dwelt among them; so that their having gone might be ironically held as a voluntary departure.
Eze_36:21. çָîַì is: to draw one’s self together, to bend over ( òì ) any one, to incline one’s self to him; hence: to compassionate him. [Hävern, wrongly: “and I spared for My holy name’s sake” (Sept.). The Vulgate is confused. Rosenm.: “I will take care for it, so that it shall not come to harm.” In this striking expression also lies something more active than: “to have compassion” (Klief.), or as Hengst.: “I had pity for My,” sq.] What follows shows what is contained in this prophetic preterite.
Eze_36:22. There is first the announcement, which is at the same time an explanation of the divine pity, as His pitying of Himself in harmony with His holiness, in short, as a holy love,—an explanation which cuts off everything possible with men. The self-existent majesty of the Holy One of Israel, who stands in need of no one, says: ìֹà ìְîַòַðְëֶí (Deu_9:6). Neither in Israel’s virtue, nor yet in his misery, is there now any ground for Jehovah to act. Israel has no qualification whatever.— àֲðִé òùֶֹׁä , namely, what I do,—thus spoken absolutely, denoting the pure action, just as is specially suitable here. He does it, however, for glory and honour to ( ì , dat. comm.) His name.
Eze_36:23. The “acting” of Jehovah is expressed and here announced as a sanctifying, i.e. of My holiness as expressed in My name, securing due weight to it, so that it shall not simply be named as name, but evidently experienced as fact. In its being the name of His holiness lies the necessity, when the people who can thus name God do not sanctify it, but on the contrary only contribute everywhere to its profanation, that then Jehovah should take in hand the sanctification of His name and thereby of Himself ( áְּäִ÷ָּãְùִׁé ) .— äַâָּãåֹì , together with the following äַîְçֻìָּì , makes observable the infinite grandeur as well as the omnipotence which are able to secure due regard for themselves (Jos_7:9; Mal_1:11). That we might well expect: “before their (instead of: before your) eyes,” which reading is almost universally preferred, Hengst. also acknowledges, but finds, however, the thought of the manifest salvation better expressed in those immediately concerned. These, however, are not the Jews, because they have beheld the misery (Job_19:27), but the heathen as spectators of the profanation of the divine name by the Jews (Eze_20:41; Eze_28:25). The Jews’ part in the matter is sufficiently expressed by áָëֶí (in your persons).
[“The expression: ‘when I sanctify Myself in you before your eyes,’ for which many critical authorities, both ancient and modern, would substitute ‘before their eyes,’ namely, those of the heathen—this expression creates no difficulty to a person who enters thoroughly into the import of the passage. For it points to the fact that Israel, as well as the heathen, needed the manifestation in question of Jehovah’s righteousness. It must be done first before the eyes of the people, who by their depravity had lost sight of God’s real character; and then what was seen by them experimentally would also be seen reflectively by the heathen who dwelt around. This twofold perception of God’s character is also brought out in other passages of our prophet; as in Eze_20:41-42 : ‘And I will be sanctified in you before the eyes of the heathen, and ye shall know that I am Jehovah. ’ ”—Fairbairn’s Ezekiel.—W. F.]
Eze_36:24. The first thing in this self-sanctification of Jehovah is an act of power, which puts an end to the outward occasion for the saying in Eze_36:20, and to the actual profanation of the name of His holiness among the heathen (Eze_11:17; Eze_20:34; Eze_20:41).
Eze_36:25. The next thing, to which the first only subserves, is the raising up of Israel inwardly to a holy nation, so that áָëֶí (Eze_36:23) signifies: in them, as well as: on them; this, too, is a forth-putting, yea, the most mighty forth-putting of power, because wrought in the core of the national life. In Eze_36:24, Israel’s justification before the heathen; in Eze_36:25, Israel’s sanctification in himself as also among the heathen.—The “sprinkling,” as it will be in respect to a nation the only imaginable method of lustration, so, moreover, from the clean water( îַåִéí èְäåֹøִéí cannot be = îֵé ðִãָּä ) it cannot in the least point to the rite with the ashes, Numbers 19 (Hengst.); it would be preferable, with Hävern., to think of Num_8:7 sq., but îֵé çַèָּàú there also is something different from what clean water expresses here. The latter is meant expressly to symbolize the idea of purification, and specially from all etc., the èֻּîְåֹúֵéáֶí of the people, which, if not directly explained, is yet illustrated by åִּìåּìֵéëֶí ; the “sprinkling,” again (comp. Exodus 25.), is doubtless meant to signify an act of consecration. Because sacrificial blood is not mentioned here, but such emphasis is laid on clean water, the best known means of purification, and also the most suitable for stains which show outwardly, we are as little at liberty to import without farther mediation—as Hengst. attempts under citation of Isa_53:11; Isa_52:15—New Testament ideas into our chapter as into Eze_11:19 sq. (see Comm. there). Neither does Psalms 51 coincide with our passage. The immediate sense of our verse is: That Jehovah leads back Israel from exile into their own land, and consecrates them there to be a people, since the punishment, so characteristic for the sin that occasioned it, is shown to be removed by the bringing of them again into their own land; the forgiveness of sin thereby already proclaimed at once evinces and manifests itself as purification of the people, and the people (as in point of fact took place after the exile) put from them their old life, especially their idolatry (Eze_11:18; Eze_18:31). Certainly not without some ground has Abarbanel referred back to the comparison of the issue of blood used in Eze_36:17.—As to how Eze_36:26 is to be understood, comp. on Eze_11:19. Instead of the new heart here, ìֵá àֶçָø is mentioned there, and only the “new spirit” is spoken of; while here both heart and spirit (as Eze_18:31) appear as new, whereby the religious moral regeneration of the nation, a national restoration, is placed in prospect. “It is very consonant to the priestly character to portray the new community as a truly spiritually purified band of Levites or priests, Isa_61:6” (Hävern. ?).
Eze_36:27. Since Jehovah’s Spirit is put áְּ÷ִøְáְּëֶí , and thus is brought to pass that Israel’s conformity to law in walk and honesty of dealing return again, therefore the “new spirit” of Eze_36:26 is primarily to be understood as a divine spiritual impulse back to the law of Jehovah (Eze_11:20).
Eze_36:28. By the dwelling in the land, etc. (the “renewal of old gifts”), we are reminded of the close of Ezekiel 35. [Kliefoth here looks forward as far as the “last times,” since God will gather out of the whole world His people, who are still scattered in a quite different manner and far wider in the world, and will place them in the heavenly Canaan, free them absolutely from sin (Eze_36:25), and as absolutely renew them inwardly (Eze_36:26), and by both acts as absolutely sanctify them (Eze_36:27).] Comp. Lev_25:18; Lev_26:12.
Eze_36:29. åְäåֹùַׁòְúִּé is by anticipation understood Messianically (Mat_1:21) by those resolved to find the New Testament ordo salutis in Ezekiel, interpreted of the divine protection (Eze_34:22), or, by way of distinction from Eze_36:25, referred to the consequences of the defilements of Israel. The expression rather sums up the foregoing, which regarded the people, while now, subjoined to Eze_36:28, a transition is made to the land. Idolatry disappears, and the promises concerning the land are fulfilled, Eze_34:29. (The opposite, although in the same figure, we find in 2Ki_8:1.)
Eze_36:30. Eze_34:27; Eze_34:29.
Eze_36:31. Eze_20:43; comp. on Eze_6:9. The anti-heathen abhorrence and loathing became national, and still speaks out of its distorted pietism in Pharisaism. If the gospel order of salvation were to be sought in Eze_36:25 sq., then we would rather expect to find here joy in the Holy Ghost (Lev_26:40).
Eze_36:32. Comp. on Eze_36:22.—That this acting of Jehovah, irrespective of them, is still so particularly placed before and inculcated on them, is, however, by no means designed to leave the Jews undisturbed, as if they might simply wait for the things which would come upon them and happen to them; but as the love of God, without worthiness deserving it, certainly excludes any merit on the part of man, yet should so much the more awaken to reception and love in return, so there is attached to the promise here the imperative, repeated with additional emphasis, in relation to the family, the household of Israel.
Eze_36:33. Eze_36:25.—Hitzig translates åְäåֹùַׁáְúִּé : “then I again erect the cities,” make them to sit instead of lying, since he denies that it ever (Isa_54:3) signifies: “to make inhabited.” So also Hengstenberg always: “sit,” in contrast to: lie prostrate, and here: “cause to sit.” Gesenius, Ewald, etc., on the other hand, support the causative signification, as: to cause that one sit, dwell therein, to make inhabited. Keil: make stocked with inhabitants.
Eze_36:34. Eze_36:9.—Eze_35:3; Eze_6:14.—Eze_5:14.
Eze_36:35. åְàָîְãåּ are those individualized from ëָּìÎòåֹáֵø Eze_36:34. ( äַìָּæֶåּ only here,= äַìָּæֶä , but probably fem.) Observe the antithesis to Eze_35:12; Eze_35:9, and the probable allusion in Eden to Edom (Eze_31:8-9; Gen_13:10; Isa_51:3; Joe_2:3). From this allegorical way of speaking, Hengstenberg justly rejects the idea of “the restoration of Canaan to a really paradisaic glory.”—Ewald: “flourish, well fortified.” Hengst.: “sit fortified;” whereas a city whose wall is broken lies on the ground. According to another translation, said of the inhabitants, who feel themselves secure, protected therein as in fortresses. (Comp. on Eze_38:11.)
Eze_36:36. The heathen brought in as left (“the remnant of the heathen,” Eze_36:3) are, on the contrary, made known only by the judgments that have passed over them, but by no restitution. Comp. Eze_17:24.
Eze_36:37. Eze_14:3 (1Sa_28:6-7). On ìַòֲùׂ× ìָäֶí , comp. on the opposite, the ìֹà× àֲðִéÎòùֶֹׁä (Eze_36:32; Eze_36:22).—The land—well, we are again in it, but where are the people? This question Jehovah will answer by actual ( ìַòֲùׂåֹú ) increase (Eze_36:10 sq.), in that He will show them as a flock (Ezekiel 34; Mic_2:12). [While Hitzig takes àָãָí as in apposition to àֹúָí (them, the men, as a flock), Kliefoth translates incorrectly: “that they became the flock of mankind.”] Hävernick cites Bochart for the particularly great increase of flocks of sheep. (Comp. also Eze_34:31.) But what Eze_36:38 says on this is more significant. According to Hengstenberg, formal mention is made of the festivals in general, but the connection (as Mar_15:6) points to the great accumulation of sheep at the passover (2Ch_35:7), with which the abundance in men of restored Israel is compared. (Thus the Chaldee.) Hengstenberg translates: “as consecrated flocks of sheep” (the people of the saints of the Lord), and seeks the fulfilment in the Church of Christ rather than in the times between the exile and Christ.— ÷ָãָùִׁéí that is, of hallowed ones, in this sense: of sacrificial beasts (Rom_12:1); whereby the reference to the consecration of the people (Eze_36:25) gains confirmation. The people is embraced in its chief points of worship, Deu_16:16.
2. The antithesis of Seir places before our eyes the rugged mountain height and the rude mountain strength, that is, exactly the things which have no value for enduring victory, for abiding blessing in the higher order of things.
3. The combating of the allegorizing method of explanation—for example, by J. A. Crusius, from whom Rosenmüller quotes when commenting on our chapter—is unquestionably in the right against the arbitrary extravagances and exaggerations of Cocceius and his followers; but where the Bible language in general is symbolical, with the prophets, above all, a symbolical way of speaking will be conceded. A natural or historical sub-stratum on which the symbolical is based is supposed with the symbolical itself. Consequently, all that is here said in Ezekiel has a fulfilment in the time after the exile. On the other hand, modern apocalypticism, by its converting the letter of prophecy into future revelations of any and every kind, sets itself against the apocalyptic mode of expression, the characteristic of which is certainly not literality. The national physiognomy of Israel, as Genesis traces it back to Adam, the father of all men, indicates a reference to humanity as a whole. This reference prevails in Noah’s prophetic discourse, Genesis 9, when Japhet is destined to dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan, the son of Ham, to be a servant in the house. The Holy Land fits in with Abraham to this symbolism of the nation, and Abraham is to be a blessing (as is said in Genesis 12 : “to all the families of the earth, Adamah”), through his seed, which is Christ, as the apostle says in Galatians 3 Hence humanity in Christ will also be the theological point of view in the case of the land of Israel. So long as He who is ôÝëïò íüìïõ (Rom_10:4) was not born in the land of promise, the land remained, in respect to the realization of the blessing of Abraham to the race of Adam, a prophetic symbol of the earth, just as the nation was symbolico-prophetic for the nations of mankind. The land of Israel is also íïìüò (from íÝìù ), and, like the legal nationality of Israel, has its final fulfilment in Christ. As His beatitudes (Matthew 5) assign to His people the kingdom of heaven, so also do they the inheritance of the land. Hitherto out of Israel shines humanity, and representatively for it the Son of man, the true Israel. The Christian interpretation of the people of Israel as the Church, the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, embraces now also the Holy Land in the signification of the land of glory, paradise, and Eden. From the standpoint of the fulfilling of Israel as to its universal human signification by Christ, the Old Testament outward expression of the letter, that is, what is said propædeutically and pædagogically in accordance with the economy of the Old Covenant, in the style of the people and the land, may remain in its full force; but what is given with the idea of Israel, namely, that the promises in question are to be fulfilled in a very different sense from the outward literal sense, that they are to be fulfilled “in spirit and in truth,”—this even the literal expression itself demands from its unmistakable depth of meaning, which often makes plainly ridiculous a merely literal interpretation, whether looking to the time after the exile, or to the very last time. All the prophets and the law prophesied until John, the baptizer of Christ (Mat_11:13; Luk_16:16). And what Christ said (John 4) of worshipping at Jerusalem: “the hour cometh, and now is,” bears witness to the Messianic (Christological) and in general the spiritual sense of the Old Testament letter; as the setting of it free from every temporary limitation as to place or nation bears witness to its sense for eternity, and to the spiritual interpretation as that which is at the same time interpretation “in truth,” the true understanding, so that the Christian truth of the prophecies is also to be regarded as their true and full reality. The Jewish Christianity of individual expositors (e.g. of Baumgarten) is not the Old Testament Christianity of the prophets.
4. On Eze_3:17 the characteristic individualization was noted as a mark of the time; but that which is peculiar to the Christological utterances of our prophet (Introd. § 9), his putting of the Christological thought, as Ezekiel 40 sq., in the form of Palestinian worship, and so generally in the manner of the people and land of Israel, is always to be adhered to. Fundamentally, the latter form was only that of the law as early as Exo_20:12. But when the Son of man, of the seed of David according to the flesh, realized the kingdom of Israel as eternal—when, by the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, His gift of prophecy became the common property of mankind, then, as with the worshipping in spirit and in truth, the peculiar localization of the sanctuary and the priestly service, always accomplished for the time, ceased; Israel also could, in whatever part of the earth, consider themselves as in their own land, and so much the more as their true King had (John 18) witnessed the good confession of the supra-mundane nature of His kingdom before the representative of the Roman earthly world-power. For the Israel of fulfilment Canaan lay, in the first instance, in the world above with Christ, as the apostle Paul says in Php_1:23, where also paradise is (Luk_23:43; 2Co_12:4); and in this world only, in the renewal of heaven and earth according to the Christian hope. So, likewise, the true, the fulfilled nationality of Israel is to be sought for in the Christian world, in humanity, according to the Spirit of Christ; now in measure, in fulness only hereafter, Rev_21:3.
5. Schmieder sums up the moral guilt of Edom as threefold: (1) taking possession at his own hand; (2) doing this in a bad frame of mind, with malignant joy and scornful laughter; (3) doing this not to keep and cultivate the land (for which man was ordained of God in paradise), but to devastate and plunder it.
6. It belongs to the local colour of the land, that, when it is spoken of distinctively, its fruitfulness also is spoken of. Comp. for climate and nature of the soil, the well-known passages of Scripture. Writers in the first century still bear witness to what heathens and Jews of former times celebrated with one accord, the immense population of the land, corresponding to its great fertility. At present, indeed, Jerusalem, the largest city of Palestine, has scarcely more inhabitants than the smaller towns of Galilee had in the time of Josephus.
7. On the parallel minatory prophecy in Ezekiel 6 it was observed (p. 94) how Israel’s idolatrous self-righteousness is broken in pieces in every way by God’s judgment. A parallel observation will correspond to the kernel and inmost contents of our chapter, namely, that divine grace alone will restore Israel, land and people—the latter especially, in the way of Jehovah’s sanctifying His own name. In this, Israel’s misery is as little the motive as any righteousness on the side of Israel. What befalls