1Und du, Menschensohn, weissage über die Berge Israels und sprich: Berge Israels, höret das Wort Jehovas! 2So spricht der Herr, Jehova: Weil der Feind über euch spricht: Haha! und: Die ewigen Höhen, sie sind uns zum Besitztum geworden! 3darum weissage und sprich: So spricht der Herr, Jehova: Darum, ja darum, daß man euch von allen Seiten her verwüstet und angeschnaubt hat, so daß ihr dem Überrest der Nationen ein Besitztum geworden und ins Gerede der Zunge und ins Geschwätz der Leute gekommen seid: 4darum, ihr Berge Israels, höret das Wort des Herrn, Jehovas! So spricht der Herr, Jehova, zu den Bergen und zu den Hügeln, zu den Gründen und zu den Tälern, und zu den wüsten Trümmern und zu den verlassenen Städten, welche dem Überrest der Nationen ringsum zur Beute und zum Spott geworden sind - 5darum, so spricht der Herr, Jehova: Wahrlich, im Feuer meines Eifers habe ich geredet wider den Überrest der Nationen und wider ganz Edom, die sich mein Land zum Besitztum gemacht haben, mit ganzer Herzensfreude, mit Verachtung der Seele, um es zur Plünderung auszuleeren! 6Darum weissage von dem Lande Israel und sprich zu den Bergen und zu den Hügeln, zu den Gründen und zu den Tälern: So spricht der Herr, Jehova: Siehe, in meinem Eifer und in meinem Grimm habe ich geredet, weil ihr die Schmach der Nationen getragen habt. 7Darum, so spricht der Herr, Jehova: Ich, ich habe meine Hand erhoben: Wenn nicht die Nationen, welche rings um euch her sind, ihre eigene Schmach tragen sollen! 8Ihr aber, Berge Israels, ihr sollt meinem Volke Israel eure Zweige treiben und eure Frucht tragen, denn sie sind nahe daran zu kommen. 9Denn siehe, ich will zu euch kommen, und ich will mich zu euch wenden, und ihr sollt bebaut und besät werden. 10Und ich werde die Menschen auf euch vermehren, das ganze Haus Israel insgesamt; und die Städte sollen bewohnt und die Trümmer aufgebaut werden. 11Und ich werde Menschen und Vieh auf euch vermehren, und sie werden sich mehren und fruchtbar sein; und ich werde euch bewohnt machen, wie in euren Vorzeiten, und werde euch wohltun, mehr als in euren Anfängen. Und ihr werdet wissen, daß ich Jehova bin. 12Und ich werde Menschen, mein Volk Israel, auf euch wandeln lassen, und sie werden dich besitzen, und du wirst ihnen zum Erbteil sein; und du wirst sie hinfort nicht mehr der Kinder berauben. - 13So spricht der Herr, Jehova: Weil sie zu euch sprechen: Du verzehrst Menschen und hast deine Nation der Kinder beraubt, 14darum wirst du nicht mehr Menschen verzehren, und wirst deine Nation nicht mehr straucheln machen , spricht der Herr, Jehova. 15Und ich will dich nicht mehr die Schmähung der Nationen hören lassen, und den Hohn der Völker sollst du nicht mehr tragen; und du sollst deine Nation nicht mehr straucheln machen, spricht der Herr, Jehova. 16Und das Wort Jehovas geschah zu mir also: 17Menschensohn, das Haus Israel wohnte in seinem Lande, und sie verunreinigten es durch ihren Weg und durch ihre Handlungen; ihr Weg war vor mir wie die Unreinigkeit eines unreinen Weibes. 18Da goß ich meinen Grimm über sie aus wegen des Blutes, das sie im Lande vergossen, und weil sie es durch ihre Götzen verunreinigt hatten. 19Und ich versprengte sie unter die Nationen, und sie wurden in die Länder zerstreut; ich richtete sie nach ihrem Wege und nach ihren Handlungen. 20Und als sie zu den Nationen kamen, wohin sie kamen, da entweihten sie meinen heiligen Namen, indem man von ihnen sagte: Jehovas Volk sind diese, und aus seinem Lande sind sie gezogen. 21Aber ich habe meinen heiligen Namen verschont, welchen das Haus Israel entweiht hat unter den Nationen, wohin sie kamen. - 22Darum sprich zum Hause Israel: So spricht der Herr, Jehova: Nicht um euretwillen tue ich es, Haus Israel, sondern um meines heiligen Namens willen, den ihr entweiht habt unter den Nationen, wohin ihr gekommen seid. 23Und ich werde meinen großen Namen heiligen, der entweiht ist unter den Nationen, welchen ihr entweiht habt in ihrer Mitte. Und die Nationen werden wissen, daß ich Jehova bin, spricht der Herr, Jehova, wenn ich mich vor ihren Augen an euch heilige . - 24Und ich werde euch aus den Nationen holen und euch sammeln aus allen Ländern und euch in euer Land bringen. 25Und ich werde reines Wasser auf euch sprengen, und ihr werdet rein sein; von allen euren Unreinigkeiten und von allen euren Götzen werde ich euch reinigen. 26Und ich werde euch ein neues Herz geben und einen neuen Geist in euer Inneres geben; und ich werde das steinerne Herz aus eurem Fleische wegnehmen und euch ein fleischernes Herz geben. 27Und ich werde meinen Geist in euer Inneres geben; und ich werde machen, daß ihr in meinen Satzungen wandelt und meine Rechte bewahret und tut. 28Und ihr werdet in dem Lande wohnen, das ich euren Vätern gegeben habe; und ihr werdet mein Volk, und ich werde euer Gott sein. 29Und ich werde euch befreien von allen euren Unreinigkeiten. Und ich werde das Getreide herbeirufen und es mehren, und keine Hungersnot mehr auf euch bringen; 30und ich werde die Frucht des Baumes und den Ertrag des Feldes mehren, auf daß ihr nicht mehr den Schimpf einer Hungersnot traget unter den Nationen. 31Und ihr werdet eurer bösen Wege gedenken und eurer Handlungen, die nicht gut waren, und werdet Ekel an euch selbst empfinden wegen eurer Missetaten und eurer Greuel. 32Nicht um euretwillen tue ich es, spricht der Herr, Jehova, das sei euch kund; schämet euch und werdet beschämt vor euren Wegen, Haus Israel! - 33So spricht der Herr, Jehova: An dem Tage, da ich euch reinigen werde von allen euren Missetaten, da will ich die Städte bewohnt machen, und die Trümmer sollen aufgebaut werden. 34Und das verwüstete Land soll bebaut werden, statt daß es eine Wüste war vor den Augen jedes Vorüberziehenden. 35Und man wird sagen: Dieses Land da, das verwüstete, ist wie der Garten Eden geworden, und die verödeten und verwüsteten und zerstörten Städte sind befestigt und bewohnt. 36Und die Nationen, welche rings um euch her übrigbleiben werden, werden wissen, daß ich, Jehova, das Zerstörte aufbaue, das Verwüstete bepflanze. Ich, Jehova, habe geredet und werde es tun. - 37So spricht der Herr, Jehova: Auch noch um dieses werde ich mich vom Hause Israel erbitten lassen, daß ich es ihnen tue: Ich werde sie an Menschen vermehren wie eine Herde. 38Wie eine geheiligte Herde, wie die Herde Jerusalems an seinen Festen, also werden die verödeten Städte voll Menschenherden sein. Und sie werden wissen, daß ich Jehova bin.
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary 1 The prophet had been ordered to set his face
towards the mountains of Israel and
prophesy against them, Ezek 6:2. Then God was coming forth to contend with his people; but now that God is returning in mercy to them he must speak good words and comfortable words to these mountains,
Ezek 36:1 and again
Ezek 36:4.
You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord; and what he says to them he says
to the hills, to the rivers, to the valleys, to the desolate wastes in the country, and to the cities
that are forsaken, Ezek 36:4. and again
Ezek 36:6. The people were gone, some one way and some another; nothing remained there to be spoken to but the places, the mountains and valleys; these the Chaldeans could not carry away with them.
The earth abides for ever. Now, to show the mercy God had in reserve for the people, he is to speak of him as having a dormant kindness for the place, which, if the Lord had been pleased for ever to abandon, he would not have called upon to
hear the word of the Lord, nor
would he as at this time have shown it such things as these. Here is,
I. The compassionate notice God takes of the present deplorable condition of the land of Israel. It has become both a
prey and a
derision to the heathen that are round about, Ezek 36:4. 1. It has become a prey to them; and they are all enriched with the plunder of it. When the Chaldeans had conquered them all their neighbours flew to the spoil as to a shipwreck, every one thinking all his own that he could lay his hands on (
Ezek 36:3):
They have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that you might be a possession to the heathen, to the
residue of them, even such as had themselves narrowly escaped the like desolation. No one thought it any crime to strip an Israelite.
Turba Romae sequitur fortunam ut semper -
The mob of Rome still praise the elevated and despise the fallen. It is the common dry, when a man is down,
Down with him. 2. It has become a derision to them. They took all they had and laughed at them when they had done.
The enemy said, Aha! even the ancient high places are ours in possession, Ezek 36:2. Neither the antiquity, nor the dignity, neither the sanctity nor the fortifications, of the land of Israel, are its security, but we have become masters of it all. The more honours that land had been adorned with, and the greater figure it had made among the nations, the more pride and pleasure did they take in making a spoil of it, which is an instance of a base and sordid spirit; for the more glorious and prosperity was the more piteous is the adversity. God takes notice of it here as an aggravation of the present calamity of Israel:
You are taken up in the lips of talkers and are an infamy of the people, Ezek 36:3. All the talk of the country about was concerning the overthrow of the Jewish nation; and every one that spoke of it had some peevish ill-natured reflection or other upon them. They were the
scorning of those that were at ease and the contempt of the proud, Pss 123:4. There are some that are noted for talkers, that have something to say of every body, but cannot find in their hearts to speak well of any body; God's people, among such people, were sure to be a reproach when the crown had fallen from their head. Thus it was the lot of Christianity, in its suffering days, to be
every where spoken against. II. The expressions of God's just displeasure against those who triumphed in the desolations of the land of Israel, as many of its neighbours did, even the residue of the brethren, and Idumea particularly. Let us see, 1. How they dealt with the Israel of God. They carved out large possessions to themselves out of their land, out of God's land; for so indeed it was:
They have appointed my land into their possession (
Ezek 36:5), and so not only invaded their neighbour's property, but intrenched upon God's prerogative. It was the holy land which they laid their sacrilegious hands upon. They did not own any dependence upon God, as the God of that land, nor acknowledge any remaining interest that Israel had in it, but
cast it out for a prey, as if they had won it in a lawful war. And this they did without any dread of God and his judgments and without any compassion for Israel and their calamities, but with the
joy of all their hearts, because they got by it, and
with despiteful minds to Israel that lost by it. Increasing wealth, by right or wrong, is all the joy of a worldly heart; and the calamities of God's people are all the joy of a despiteful mind. And those that had not an opportunity of making a prey of God's people made a reproach of them; so that they were
the shame of the heathen, Ezek 36:6. Every body ridiculed them and made a jest of them; and the truth is they had by their own sin made themselves vile; so that God was righteous herein, but men were unrighteous and very barbarous. 2. How God would deal with those who were thus in word and deed abusive to his people. He has
spoken against the heathen; he has passed sentence upon them; he has determined to reckon with them for it, and this
in the fire of his jealousy, both for his own honour and for the honour of his people,
Ezek 36:5. Having a
love for both as
strong as death, he has a
jealousy for both as
cruel as the grave. They spoke in their malice against God's people, and he will speak in his jealousy against them; and it is easy to say which will speak most powerfully. God will speak
in his jealousy and in his fury, Ezek 36:6. Fury is not in God; but he will exert his power against them and handle them as severely as men do when they are in a fury. He will so
speak to them in his wrath as to vex them in his sore displeasure. What he says he will stand to, for it is backed with an oath. He has
lifted up his hand and sworn by himself, has sworn and will not repent. And what is it that is said with so much heat, and yet with so much deliberation? It is this (
Ezek 36:7),
Surely the heathen that are about you, they shall bear their shame. Note, The righteous God, to whom vengeance belongs, will render shame for shame. Those that put contempt and reproach upon God's people will, sooner or later, have it
burned upon themselves, perhaps in this world (either their follies or their calamities, their miscarriages or their mischances, shall be their reproach), at furthest in that day when all the impenitent shall
rise to shame and everlasting contempt.
III. The promises of God's favour to his Israel and assurances given of great mercy God had in store for them. God takes occasion from the outrage and insolence of their enemies to show himself so much the more concerned for them and ready to do them good, as David hoped that God would recompense him good for Shimei's cursing him.
Let them curse, but bless thou. In this way, as well as others, the enemies of God's people do them real service, even by the injuries they do them, against their will and beyond their intention. We shall have no reason to complain if, the more unkind men are, the more kind God is - if, the more kindly he speaks to us by his word and Spirit, the more kindly he acts for us in his providence. The prophet must say so to the
mountains of Israel, which were now
desolate and despised, that God is
for them and will
burn to them, Ezek 36:9. As the curse of God reaches the ground for man's sake, so does the blessing. Now that which is promised is, 1. That their rightful owners should return to the possession of them:
My people Israel are at hand to come, Ezek 36:8. Though they are at a great distance from their own country, though they are dispersed in many countries, and though they are detained by the power of their enemies, yet they shall
come again to their own border, Jer 31:17. The time is at hand for their return. Though there were above forty years of the seventy (perhaps fifty) yet remaining, it is spoken of as near, because it is sure, and there were some among them that should live to see it. A
thousand years are with God but
as one day. The mountains of Israel are now desolate; but God will
cause men to walk upon them again,
even his people Israel, not as travellers passing over them, but as inhabitants - not tenants, but freeholders:
They shall possess thee, not for term of life, but for themselves and their heirs;
thou shalt be their inheritance. It was a type of the heavenly Canaan, to which all God's children are heirs, every Israelite indeed, and into which they shall shortly be all brought together, out of the countries where they are now scattered. 2. That they should afford a plentiful comfortable maintenance for their owners at their return. When the land had
enjoyed her sabbaths for so many years, it should be so much the more fruitful afterwards, as we should be after rest, especially a sabbath rest:
You shall be tilled and sown (
Ezek 36:9) and shall
yield your fruit to my people Israel, Ezek 36:8. Note, It is a blessing to the earth to be made serviceable to men, especially to good men, that will serve God with cheerfulness in the use of those good things which the earth serves up to them. 3. That the people of Israel should have not only a comfortable sustenance, but a comfortable settlement, in their own land: The
cities shall be inhabited; the wastes shall be builded, Ezek 36:10 And
I will settle you after your old estates, Ezek 36:11. Their own sin had unsettled them, but now God's favour shall resettle them. When the prodigal son has become a penitent he is settled again in his father's house, according to his former estate. Bring hither the
first robe, and put it on him. Nay,
I will do better unto you now
than at your beginnings. There is more joy for the sheep that is brought back than there would have been if it had never gone astray. And God sometimes multiplies his people's comforts in proportion to the
time that he has afflicted them. Thus God blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning, and doubled to him all he had. 4. That the people, after their return, should be
fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the land, so that it should not only be inhabited again, but as thickly inhabited, and as well peopled, as ever. God will bring back to it
all the house of Israel, even all of it (observe what an emphasis is laid upon that,
Ezek 36:10), all
whose spirits God stirred up to return; and those only were reckoned of
the house of Israel, the rest had cut themselves off from it; or, though but few, in comparison, returned at first, yet afterwards, at divers times, they
all returned; and then (says God)
I will multiply these men (
Ezek 36:10),
multiply man and beast; and they shall increase, Ezek 36:11. Note, God's kingdom in the world is a growing kingdom; and his church, though for a time it may be diminished, shall recover itself and be again replenished. 5. That the reproach long since cast upon the land of Israel by the evil spies, and of late revived, that
it was a land that ate up the inhabitants of it by famine, sickness, and the sword, should be quite rolled away, and there should never be any more occasion for it. Canaan had got into a bad name. It had of old
spued out the inhabitants (
Lev 18:28), the natives, the aborigines, which was turned to its reproach by those that should have put another construction upon it,
Num 13:32. It had of late devoured the Israelites, and spued them out too; so that it was commonly said of it, It is a land which, instead of supporting its nations or tribes that inhabit it,
bereaves them,
overthrows them, and
causes them to fall; it is a tenement which breaks all the tenants that come upon it. This character it had got among the neighbours; but God now promises that it shall be so no more:
Thou shalt no more bereave them of men (
Ezek 36:12), shalt
devour men no more, Ezek 36:14. But the inhabitants shall live to a good old age, and not have the number of their months cut off in the midst. Compare this with that promise,
Zech 8:4. Note, God will take away the reproach of his people by taking away that which was the occasion of it. When the nation is made to flourish in peace, plenty, and power, then they
hear no more the shame of the heathen (
Ezek 36:15), especially when it is reformed; when sin, which is the reproach of any people, particularly of God's professing people, is taken away, then they
hear no more the reproach of the people. Note, When God returns in mercy to a people that return to him in duty, all their grievances will be soon redressed and their honour retrieved.
16 When God promised the poor captives a glorious return, in due time, to their own land, it was a great discouragement to their hopes that they were unworthy, utterly unworthy, of such a favour; therefore, to remove that discouragement, God here shows them that he would do it for them purely
for his own name's sake, that he might be glorified in them and by them, that he might manifest and magnify his mercy and goodness, that attribute which of all others is most his glory. And, the restoration of that people being typical of our redemption by Christ, this is intended further to show that the ultimate end aimed at in our salvation, to which all the steps of it were made subservient, was the glory of God. To this end Christ directed all he did in that short prayer,
Father, glorify thy name; and God declared it was his end in all he did in the immediate answer given to that prayer, by a voice from heaven:
I have glorified it, and I will glorify it yet again, John 12:28. Now observe here,
I. How God's name had suffered both by the sins and by the miseries of Israel; and this was more to be regretted than all their sorrow, which they had brought upon themselves; for the honour of God lies nearer the hearts of good men than any interests of their own. 1. God's glory had been injured by the sin of Israel when they were in their own land,
Ezek 36:17. It was a good land, a holy land, a land that had the eye of God upon it.
But they defiled it by their own way, their wicked way; that is
our own way, the way of our own choice; and we ourselves must bear the blame and shame of it. The sin of a people defiles their land, renders it abominable to God and uncomfortable to themselves; so that they cannot have any holy communion with him nor with one another. What was unclean might not be made use of. By the abuse of the gifts of God's bounty to us we forfeit the use of them; and, the mind and conscience being defiled with guilt, no comfort is allowed us,
nothing is pure to us. Their way in the eye of God was like the pollution of a woman during the days of her separation, which shut her out from the sanctuary and made very things she touched ceremonially unclean,
Lev 15:19. Sin is that
abominable thing which the Lord hates, and which he cannot endure to look upon. They
shed blood and
worshipped idols (
Ezek 36:18) and with those sins
defiled the land. For this God
poured out his fury upon them,
scattered them among the heathen. Their own land was sick of them, and they were sent into other lands. Herein God was righteous, and was justified in what he did; none could say that he did them any wrong, nay, he did justice to his own honour, for he
judged them according to their way and according to their doings, Ezek 36:19. And yet, the matter being not rightly understood, he was not glorified in it; for the enemies did say, as Moses pleaded the Egyptians would say if he had destroyed them in the wilderness, that
for mischief he brought them forth. Their neighbours considered them rather as a holy people than as a sinful people, and therefore took occasion from the calamities they were in, instead of glorifying God, as they might justly have done, to reproach him and put contempt upon him; and God's name was
continually every day blasphemed by their oppressors,
Isa 52:5. 2. When they
entered into the land of the heathen God had no glory by them there; but, on the contrary, his holy name was profaned,
Ezek 36:20. (1.) It was profaned by the sins of Israel; they were no credit to their profession wherever they went, but, on the contrary, a reproach to it. The
name of God and his holy religion was
blasphemed through them, Roma 2:24. When those that pretended to be in relation to God, in covenant and communion with him, were found corrupt in their morals, slaves to their appetites and passions, dishonest in their dealings, and false to their words and the trust reposed in them, the enemies of the Lord had thereby great occasion given them to blaspheme, especially when they quarrelled with their God for correcting them, than which nothing could be more scandalous. (2.) It was profaned by the sufferings of Israel; for from them the enemies of God took occasion to reproach God, as unable to protect his own worshippers and to make good his own grants. They said, in scorn,
These are the people of the land, these wicked people (you see he could not keep them in their obedience to his precepts), these
miserable people - you see he could not keep them in the enjoyment of his favours. These are
the people that came out of Jehovah's land, they are the very scum of the nations. Are these those that had statues so righteous whose lives are so unrighteous? Is this the nation that is so much celebrated for a
wise and understanding people, and that is said to have
God so nigh unto them? Do these belong to that brave, that holy nation, who appear here so vile, so abject? Thus God sold his people and did not
increase his wealth by their price, Pss 44:12. The reproach they were under reflected upon him.
II. Let us now see how God would retrieve his honour, secure it, and advance it, by working a great reformation upon them and then working a great salvation for them. He would have
scattered them among the heathen, were it not that he feared the wrath of the enemy, Deut 32:26,
Deut 32:27. But, though they were unworthy of his compassion, yet
he had pity for his own holy name, and a thousand pities it was that that should be trampled upon and abused. He looked with compassion on his own honour, which lay bleeding among the heathen, on that jewel which was trodden into the dirt, which
the house of Israel, even in the land of their captivity,
had profaned, Ezek 36:21. In pity to that God brought them out from the heathen, because their sins were more scandalous there than they had been in their own land. Therefore I
will gather you out of all countries and bring you into your own land, Ezek 36:24.
Not for your sake, because you are worthy of such a favour, for you are most unworthy, but
for my holy name's sake (
Ezek 36:22), that
I may sanctify my great name, Ezek 36:23. Observe, by the way, God's holy name is his great name. His holiness is his greatness; so he reckons it himself. Nor does any thing make a man truly great but being truly good, and partaking of God's holiness. God will magnify his name as a holy name, for he will sanctify it:
I will sanctify my name which you have profaned. When God performs that which he has sworn by his holiness, then he sanctifies his name. The effect of this shall be very happy:
The heathen shall know that I am the Lord when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes and yours. When God proves his own holy name, and his saints praise it, then he is sanctified in them, and this contributes to the propagating of the knowledge of him. Observe, 1. God's reasons of mercy are all fetched from within himself; he will bring his people out of Babylon, not for their sakes, but
for his own name's sake, because he will be glorified. 2. God's goodness takes occasion from man's badness to appear so much the more illustrious;
therefore he will sanctify his name by the pardon of sin, because it has been profaned by the commission of sin.
25 The people of God might be discouraged in their hopes of a restoration by the sense not only of their unworthiness of such a favour (which was answered, in the foregoing verses, with this, that God, in doing it, would have an eye to his own glory, not to their worthiness), but of their unfitness for such a favour, being still corrupt and sinful; and that is answered in these verses, with a promise that God would by his grace prepare and qualify them for the mercy and then bestow it on them. And this was in part fulfilled in that wonderful effect which the captivity in Babylon had upon the Jews there, that it effectually cured them of their inclination to idolatry. But it is further intended as a draught of the covenant of grace, and a specimen of those spiritual blessings with which we are blessed in heavenly things by that covenant. As (ch. 34) after a promise of their return the prophecy insensibly slid into a promise of the coming of Christ, the great Shepherd, so here it insensibly slides into a promise of the Spirit, and his gracious influences and operations, which we have as much need of for our sanctification as we have of Christ's merit for our justification.
I. God here promises that he will work a good work in them, to qualify them for the good work he intended to bring about for them,
Ezek 36:25-
Ezek 36:27. We had promises to the same purport,
Ezek 11:18-
Ezek 11:20. 1. That God would cleanse them from the pollutions of sin (
Ezek 36:25):
I will sprinkle clean water upon you, which signifies both the book of Christ sprinkled upon the conscience to purify that and to take away the sense of guilt (as those that were sprinkled with the water of purification were thereby discharged from their ceremonial uncleanness) and the grace of the Spirit sprinkled on the whole soul to purify it from all corrupt inclinations and dispositions, as Naaman was cleansed from his leprosy by dipping in Jordan. Christ was himself clean, else his blood could not have been cleansing to us; and it is a Holy Spirit that makes us holy:
From all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. And (
Ezek 36:29)
I will save you from all your uncleannesses. Sin is defiling, idolatry particularly is so; it renders sinners odious to God and burdensome to themselves. When guilt is pardoned, and the corrupt nature sanctified, then we are cleansed from our filthiness, and there is no other way of being saved from it. This God promises his people here, in order to his being sanctified in them,
Ezek 36:23. We cannot sanctify God's name unless he sanctify our hearts, nor live to his glory, but by his grace. 2. That God would give them a
new heart, a disposition of mind excellent in itself and vastly different from what it was before. God will work an inward change in order to a universal change. Note, All that have an interest in the new covenant, and a title to the new Jerusalem, have a new heart and a new spirit, and these are necessary in order to their walking in
newness of life. This is that
divine nature which believers are by the promises made partakers of. 3. That, instead of a
heart of stone, insensible and inflexible, unapt to receive any divine impressions and to return any devout affections, God would give a
heart of flesh, a soft and tender heart, that has spiritual senses exercised, conscious to itself of spiritual pains and pleasures, and complying in every thing with the will of God. Note, Renewing grace works as great a change in the soul as the turning of a dead stone into living flesh. 4. That since, besides our inclination to sin, we complain of an inability to do our duty, God will
cause them to walk in his statutes, will not only show them the way of his statutes before them, but incline them to walk in it, and thoroughly furnish them with wisdom and will, and active powers, for every good work. In order to this he will
put his Spirit within them, as a teacher, guide, and sanctifier. Note, God does not force men to walk in his statutes by external violence, but causes them to walk in his statutes by an internal principle. And observe what use we ought to make of this gracious power and principle promised us, and put within us:
You shall keep my judgments. If God will do his part according to the promise, we must do ours according to the precept. Note, The promise of God's grace to enable us for our duty should engage and quicken our constant care and endeavour to do our duty. God's promises must drive us to his precepts as our rule, and then his precepts must send us back to his promises for strength, for without his grace we can do nothing.
II. God here promises that he will take them into covenant with himself. The sum of the covenant of grace we have,
Ezek 36:28.
You shall be my people, and I will be your God. It is not, If you will be my people, I will be your God (though it is very true that we cannot expect to have God to be to us a God unless we be to him a people), but he has chosen us, and loved us, first, not we him; therefore the condition is of grace, is by promise, as well as the reward; not of merit, not of works:
You shall be my people; I will make you so; I will give you the nature and spirit of my people, and then
I will be your God. And this is the foundation and top-stone of a believer's happiness; it is heaven itself,
Revel 21:3,
Revel 21:7.
III. He promises that he will bring about all that good for them which the exigence of their case calls for. When they are thus prepared for mercy, 1. Then they shall return to their possessions and be settled again in them (
Ezek 36:28):
You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. God will, in bringing them back to it, have an eye not to any merit of theirs, but to the promise made to the fathers; for therefore he gave it to them at first,
Deut 7:7,
Deut 7:8.
Therefore he is gracious, because he has said that he will be so. This shall follow upon the blessed reformation God would work among them (
Ezek 36:33):
In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities, and so shall have made you meet for the inheritance,
I will cause you to dwell in the cities, and so put you in possession of the inheritance. This is God's method of mercy indeed, first to part men from their sins, and then to restore them to their comforts. 2. Then they shall enjoy a plenty of all good things. When they are saved
from their uncleanness, from their sins which kept good things from them, then
I will call for the corn and will increase it, Ezek 36:29. Plenty comes at God's call, and the plenty he calls for shall be still growing; and when he speaks the word the fruit both of the tree and of the field shall multiply. As the inhabitants multiply the productions shall multiply for their maintenance; for he that sends mouths will send meat. Famine was one of the judgments which they had laboured under, and it had been as much as any a reproach to them, that they should be starved in a land so famed for fruitfulness. But now
I will lay no famine upon you; and none are under that rod without having it laid on by him. Then they
shall receive no more reproach of famine, shall never be again upbraided with that, nor shall it ever be said that God is a Master that keeps his servants to short allowance. Nay, they shall not only be cleared from the reproach of famine, but they shall have the credit of abundance. The land that had long
lain desolate in the sight of all that passed by, that looked upon it, some with contempt and some with compassion, shall again
be tilled (
Ezek 36:34), and, having long lain fallow, it will now be the more fruitful. Observe, God will
call for the corn and yet they must
till the ground for it. Note, Even promised mercies must be laboured for; for the promise is not to supersede, but to quicken and encourage our industry and endeavour. And such a blessing will God command on the
hand of the diligent that all who pass by shall take notice of it, with wonder,
Ezek 36:35. They shall say, See what a blessed change here is, how
this land that was desolate has
become like the garden of Eden, the desert turned again into a paradise, Note, God has honours in reserve for his people to be crowned with sufficient to counterbalance the contempt they are now loaded with, and in them he will be honoured. This wonderful increase both of the people of the land and of its products is compared (
Ezek 36:38) to the large flocks of cattle that are brought to Jerusalem, to be sacrificed at one of the solemn feasts. Even the cities that now lie waste shall be filled with
flocks of men, not like the flocks with which the pastures are
covered over (
Pss 65:13), but like the holy flock which is brought to the courts of the Lord's house. Note,
Then the increase of the numbers of a people is honourable and comfortable indeed when they are all dedicated to God as a holy flock, to be presented to him for
living sacrifices. Crowds are a lovely sight in God's temple.
IV. He shows what shall be
the happy effects of this blessed change. 1. It shall have a happy effect upon the people of God themselves, for it shall bring them to an ingenuous repentance for their sins (
Ezek 36:31):
Then shall you remember your own evil ways and shall loathe yourselves. See here what sin is; it is an
abomination, a loathsome thing, that abominable thing which the Lord hates. See what is the first step towards repentance; it is
remembering our own evil ways, reflecting seriously upon the sins we have committed and being particular in recapitulating them. We must remember against ourselves not only our gross enormities,
our own evil ways, but our defects and infirmities,
our doings that were not good, not so good as they should have been; not only our direct violations of the law, but our coming short of it. See what is evermore a companion of true repentance, and that is self-loathing, a holy shame and confusion of face: You shall
loathe yourselves in your own sight, seeing how loathsome you have made yourselves in the sight of God. Self-love is at the bottom of sin, which we cannot but blush to see the absurdity of; but our quarrelling with ourselves is in order to our being, upon good grounds, reconciled to ourselves. And,
lastly, see what is the most powerful inducement to an evangelical repentance, and that is a sense of the mercy of God; when God settles them in the midst of plenty,
then they shall loathe themselves for their iniquities. Note, The goodness of God should overcome our badness and
lead us to repentance. The more we see of God's readiness to receive us into favour upon our repentance the more reason we shall see to be ashamed of ourselves that we could ever sin against so much love. That heart is hard indeed that will not be thus melted. 2. It shall have a happy effect upon their neighbours, for it shall bring them to a more clear knowledge of God (
Ezek 36:36):
Then the heathen that are left round about you, that spoke ignorantly of God (for so all those do that speak
ill of him) when they saw the land of Israel desolate, shall begin to know better, and to speak more intelligently of God, being convinced that he is able to rebuild the most desolate cities and to replant the most desolate countries, and that, though the course of his favours to his people may be obstructed for a time, they shall not be cut off for ever. They shall be made to know the truth of divine revelation by the exact agreement which they shall discern between God's word which he has spoken to Israel and his works which he has done for them:
I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it. With us saying and doing are two things, but they are not so with God.
V. He proposes these things to them, not as the
recompence of their merits, but as the return of their prayers.
1. Let them not think that they have deserved it:
Not for your sakes do I this, be it known to you (
Ezek 36:22,
Ezek 36:32); no,
be you ashamed and confounded for your own ways. God is
doing this, all this which he has promised; it is as sure to be done as if it were done already, and present events have a tendency towards it. But then, (1.) They must renounce the merit of their own good works, and be brought to acknowledge that it is not for their sakes that it is done; so, when God brought Israel into Canaan the first time, an express
caveat was entered against this thought.
Deut 9:4-
Deut 9:6,
It is not for thy righteousness. It is not for the sake of any of their good qualities or good deeds, not because God had any need of them, or expected any benefit by them. No, in showing mercy he acts by prerogative, not for our deserts, but for his own honour. See how emphatically this is expressed:
Be it known to you, it is
not for your sakes, which intimates that we are apt to entertain a high conceit of our own merits and are with difficulty persuaded to disclaim a confidence in them. But, one way or other, God will make all his favourites to know and own that it is his grace, and not their goodness, his mercy, and not their merit, that made them so; and that therefore not unto them, not unto them, but unto him, is all the glory due. (2.) They must repent of the sin of their own evil ways. They must own that the mercies they receive from God are not only not merited, but that they are a thousand times forfeited; and therefore they must be so far from boasting of their good works that they must be ashamed and confounded for their evil ways, and then they are best prepared for mercy.
2. Yet let them know that they must desire and expect it (
Ezek 36:37):
I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel. God has spoken, and he will do it, and he will be sought unto for it. He requires that his people should
seek unto him, and he will incline their hearts to do it, when he is coming towards them in ways of mercy. (1.) They must pray for it, for by prayer God is sought unto, and enquired after. What is the matter of God's promises must be the matter of our prayers. By asking for the mercy promised we must give glory to the donor, express a value for the gift, own our dependence, and put honour upon prayer which God has put honour upon. Christ himself must ask, and then God will
give him the heathen for his inheritance, must
pray the Father, and then he will
send the Comforter; much more must we ask that we may receive. (2.) They must consult the oracles of God, and thus also God is sought unto and enquired after. The mercy must be, not an act of providence only, but a child of promise; and therefore the promise must be looked at, and prayer made for it with an eye of faith fastened upon the promise, which must be both the guide and the ground of our expectations. Both these ways we find God enquired of by Daniel, in the name of the house of Israel, when he was about to do those great things for them; he consulted the oracles of God, for he
understood by books, the book of the prophet Jeremiah, both what was to be expected and when; and then he
set his face to seek God by prayer,
Dan 9:2,
Dan 9:3. Note, Our communion with God must be kept up by the word and prayer in all the operations of his providence concerning us and in both he must be enquired of.
