1And you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, O mountains of Israel, hear the Word of Jehovah! 2Thus says the Lord Jehovah: Because the enemy has said of you, Aha! The ancient heights have become our possession, 3therefore prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord Jehovah: Because they made you desolate and swallowed you up on every side, so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations, and you are taken up by the lips of talkers and slandered by the people; 4therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the Word of the Lord Jehovah! Thus says the Lord Jehovah to the mountains, the hills, the rivers, the valleys, the desolate wastes, and the cities that have been forsaken, which became plunder and mockery to the rest of the nations all around; 5therefore thus says the Lord Jehovah: Surely I have spoken in My burning jealousy against the rest of the nations and against Edom, all who gave My land to themselves as a possession, with whole-hearted joy and spiteful minds, in order to plunder its open land. 6Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains, the hills, the rivers, and the valleys, Thus says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy and My fury, because you have borne the shame of the nations. 7Therefore thus says the Lord Jehovah: I have raised My hand and sworn that surely the nations that are around you shall bear their shame. 8But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to My people Israel, for they are drawing near to come. 9For indeed I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown. 10I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt. 11I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and be fruitful; I will make you inhabited as in former times, and do better for you than at your beginnings. And you shall know that I am Jehovah. 12Yes, I will cause men to walk on you, My people Israel; they shall take possession of you, and you shall be their inheritance; no more shall you bereave them. 13Thus says the Lord Jehovah: Because they say to you, You devour men and bereave your nation, 14therefore you shall devour men no more, nor bereave your nation anymore, says the Lord Jehovah. 15Nor will I let you hear the insults of the nations anymore, nor bear the reproach of the peoples anymore, nor shall you cause your nation to stumble anymore, says the Lord Jehovah. 16Moreover the Word of Jehovah came unto me, saying: 17Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their land, they defiled it by their own ways and deeds. To Me their way was like the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual impurity. 18Therefore I poured out My fury on them because of the blood they had shed on the land, and because of their idols with which they had defiled it. 19And I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the earth. I judged them according to their ways and their deeds. 20When they came to the nations, wherever they went, they profaned My holy name. They said of them, These are the people of Jehovah, and they have come out of His land. 21But I had compassion for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations, there where they went. 22Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord Jehovah: I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for the sake of My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations, there where you went. 23And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am Jehovah, says the Lord Jehovah, when I am sanctified in you before their eyes. 24For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all the lands, and bring you into your own land. 25Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your defilement and from all your idols. 26I will also give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 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. 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. 29I will deliver you from all your defilements. I will call for the grain and multiply it, and bring no famine upon you. 30And I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the produce of your fields, so that you never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations. 31Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations. 32Let it be known to you that I do not do this for your sakes, says the Lord Jehovah. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel! 33Thus says the Lord Jehovah: On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the ruins shall be rebuilt. 34The desolate land shall be tilled instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass by. 35And they will say, This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited. 36Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, Jehovah, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, Jehovah, have spoken it, and I will do it. 37Thus says the Lord Jehovah: I will also be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do this for them. I will increase their men like a flock. 38Like a holy flock, like the flock of Jerusalem on its appointed feasts, so shall the ruined cities be filled with flocks of men. And they shall know that I am Jehovah.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 ISRAEL AVENGED OF HER FOES, AND RESTORED, FIRST TO INWARD HOLINESS, THEN TO OUTWARD PROSPERITY. (Eze. 36:1-38)
mountains of Israel--in contrast to "Mount Seir" of the previous prophecy. They are here personified; Israel's elevation is moral, not merely physical, as Edom's. Her hills are "the everlasting hills" of Jacob's prophecy (
Gen 49:26). "The enemy" (Edom, the singled-out representative of all God's foes), with a shout of exultation, "Aha!" had claimed, as the nearest kinsman of Israel (the brother of their father Esau), his vacated inheritance; as much as to say, the so-called "everlasting" inheritance of Israel and of the "hills," which typified the unmoved perpetuity of it (
Ps 125:1-
Ps 125:2), has come to an end, in spite of the promise of God, and has become "ours" (compare
Deut 32:13;
Deut 33:15).
3 Literally, "Because, even because."
swallowed you up--literally, "panted after" you, as a beast after its prey; implying the greedy cupidity of Edom as to Israel's inheritance (
Ps 56:1-
Ps 56:2).
lips of talkers--literally, "lips of the tongue," that is, of the slanderer, the man of tongue. Edom slandered Israel because of the connection of the latter with Jehovah, as though He were unable to save them.
Deut 28:37, and
Jer 24:9 had foretold Israel's reproach among the heathen (
Dan 9:16).
4 Inanimate creatures are addressed, to imply that the creature also, as it were, groans for deliverance from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God (
Rom 8:19-
Rom 8:21) [POLANUS]. The completeness of the renewed blessedness of all parts of the land is implied.
derision-- (
Ps 79:4).
5 to cast it out for a prey--that is, to take the land for a prey, its inhabitants being cast out. Or the land is compared to a prey cast forth to wild beasts. FAIRBAIRN needlessly alters the Hebrew pointing and translates, "that they may plunder its pasturage."
6 the shame of the heathen--namely, the shame with which the heathen cover you (
Ps 123:3-
Ps 123:4).
7 lifted . . . mine hand--in token of an oath (
Ezek 20:5;
Gen 14:22).
they shall bear their shame--a perpetual shame; whereas the "shame" which Israel bore from these heathen was only for a time.
8 they are at hand to come--that is the Israelites are soon about to return to their land. This proves that the primary reference of the prophecy is to the return from Babylon, which was "at hand," or comparatively near. But this only in part fulfilled the prediction, the full and final blessing in future, and the restoration from Babylon was an earnest of it.
10 wastes builded--
Isa 58:12;
Isa 61:4;
Amos 9:11-
Amos 9:12,
Amos 9:14, where, as here (
Ezek 34:23-
Ezek 34:24), the names of David, Messiah's type, and Edom, Israel's foe, are introduced in connection with the coming restoration.
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 (
Ezek 36:8)!
thee . . . thou--change from plural to singular: O hill of Zion, singled out from the other mountains of Israel (
Ezek 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
Jer 15:7, "I will bereave them of children").
13 Thou land devourest up men--alluding to the words of the spies (
Num 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
Ezek 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
Ezek 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
Ezek 36:15, "Neither shalt thou cause thy nations to fall any more."
17 removed woman-- (
Lev 15:19, &c.).
18 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! (
Isa 52:5;
Rom 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
Deut 9:5-
Deut 9:6). The sole and sure ground of hope was God's regard to "His own name," as the God of covenant grace (
Ps 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
Ezek 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 (
Ezek 20:41;
Ezek 28:22).
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 (
Num 19:9-
Num 19:18); the thing signified being the cleansing blood of Christ sprinkled on the conscience and heart (
Heb 9:13-
Heb 9:14;
Heb 10:22; compare
Jer 33:8;
Eph 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" (
Matt 13:5,
Matt 13:20), 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
Ezek 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 (
Phil 2:12-
Phil 2:13).
27 my spirit-- (
Ezek 11:19;
Jer 32:39). The partial reformation at the return from Babylon (
Ezra 10:6, &c.; Neh. 8:1-9:38) was an earnest of the full renewal hereafter under Messiah.
28 ye . . . my people, . . . I . . . your God-- (
Ezek 11:20;
Jer 30:22).
29 save . . . from all . . . uncleannesses--the province of Jesus, according to the signification of His name (
Matt 1:21). To be specially exercised in behalf of the Jews in the latter days (
Rom 11:26).
call for . . . corn--as a master "calls for" a servant; all the powers and productions of nature are the servants of Jehovah (
Ps 105:16;
Matt 8:8-
Matt 8:9). 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,
Hos 2:21-
Hos 2:22;
Zech 8:12.
30 no more reproach of famine among the heathen--to which their taunt (
Ezek 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 (
Ezek 16:61,
Ezek 16:63;
Ps 130:4;
Zech 12:10; compare
Jer 33:8-
Jer 33:9).
35 they shall say--The heathen, who once made Israel's desolation a ground of reproach against the name of Jehovah Himself (
Ezek 36:20-
Ezek 36:21); but now He so vindicates its sanctity (
Ezek 36:22-
Ezek 36:23) 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 (
Ezek 36:36).
Eden--as Tyre (the type of the world powers in general: so Assyria, a cedar "in the garden of God, Eden,"
Ezek 31:8-
Ezek 31:9), in original advantages, had been compared to "Eden, the garden of God" (
Ezek 28:13), from which she had fallen irrecoverably; so Israel, once desolate, is to be as "the garden of Eden" (
Isa 51:3), and is to be so unchangeably.
36 Lord . . . spoken . . . do it-- (
Num 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 (
Ezek 14:3;
Ezek 20:3). But hereafter, as in the restoration from Babylon (Neh. 8:1-9:38; Dan. 9:3-20, 21, 23), God will prepare His people's hearts (
Ezek 36:26) to pray aright for the blessings which He is about to give (
Ps 102:13-
Ps 102:17,
Ps 102:20;
Zech 12:10-
Zech 12:14;
Zech 13:1).
like a flock--resuming the image (
Ezek 34:23,
Ezek 34:31).
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.
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 (
Ezek 37:1-
Ezek 37:14). (2) The reunion of the formerly hostile members of the community, whose contentions had affected the whole (
Ezek 37:15-
Ezek 37:28). (3) The community thus restored is strong enough to withstand the assault of Gog, &c. (Eze. 38:1-39:29) [EWALD].