1Ty synu člověčí, prorokuj i o horách Izraelských a rci: Hory Izraelské, slyšte slovo Hospodinovo. 2Takto praví Panovník Hospodin: Proto že říká ten nepřítel o vás: Aj, to dobře, takéť i výsosti věčné v dědictví se nám dostanou, 3Protož prorokuj a rci: Takto praví Panovník Hospodin: Proto, proto že poplénili a sehltili vás vůkol, abyste byli za dědictví ostatku národů, a vydáni jste v pomluvu a v zlou pověst lidem, 4Protož hory Izraelské, slyšte slovo Panovníka Hospodina: Takto praví Panovník Hospodin horám i pahrbkům, potokům i údolím, pustinám hrozným i městům opuštěným, jenž jsou za loupež a posměch ostatku národů okolních, 5Protož takto dí Panovník Hospodin: jistě že v ohni horlivosti své mluviti budu proti ostatku těch národů, i proti vší zemi Idumejské, kteříž sobě osobili zemi mou za dědictví, veselíce se z celého srdce, a pléníce s chutí, aby sídlo vyhnaných z něho bylo v loupež. 6Protož prorokuj o zemi Izraelské, a mluv k horám a pahrbkům, potokům i k údolím: Takto praví Panovník Hospodin: Aj, já v horlivosti své a v prchlivosti své mluvím, proto že pohanění od národů snášíte. 7Protož takto praví Panovník Hospodin: já zdvihna ruku svou, přisahám, že ti národové, kteříž jsou vůkol vás, pohanění své nésti musejí. 8Vy pak hory Izraelské, ratolesti své vypouštěti, a ovoce své přinášeti budete lidu mému Izraelskému, když se přiblíží a přijdou. 9Nebo aj, já jsem s vámi, a patřím na vás, abyste dělány a osívány byly. 10A rozmnožím v vás lidi, všecken dům Izraelský, jakýžkoli jest, i budou se osazovati města, a pustiny vzdělávati. 11Rozmnožím, pravím, v vás lidi i hovada, a budou se množiti a ploditi, i učiním, že bydliti budete jako za předešlých let vašich, čině vám dobře, více než v prvotinách vašich. A zvíte, že já jsem Hospodin. 12Nebo uvedu do vás lidi, lid svůj Izraelský, a budou tebou dědičně vládnouti; a budeš jim za dědictví, aniž kdy více siroby na ně uvedeš. 13Takto praví Panovník Hospodin: Proto že říkají vám, že jsi ty ta země, kteráž zžíráš lidi, a sirotky činíš z národů svých, 14Protož nebudeš více zžírati lidi, a národů svých více k sirobě přivoditi, praví panovník Hospodin. 15Aniž dopustím, aby více slýcháno bylo v tobě potupy národů, aniž útržky lidské snášeti budeš více, ani ku pádu přivoditi více národů svých, praví Panovník Hospodin. 16I stalo se slovo Hospodinovo ke mně, řkoucí: 17Synu člověčí, dům Izraelský, bydlíce v zemi své, poškvrnili jí cestou svou a skutky svými; podobná nečistotě ženy pro nečistotu oddělené byla cesta jejich před očima mýma. 18Pročež vylil jsem prchlivost svou na ně, proto že krev vylévali na zemi, a ukydanými bohy svými poškvrnili jí. 19I rozptýlil jsem je po národech, tak že rozplašeni jsou po zemích; podlé cesty jejich a podlé skutků jejich soudil jsem je. 20Nýbrž odšedše mezi národy, kamž přišli, poškvrnili jména svatosti mé, když říkáno o nich: Že jsou lid Hospodinův, a že z jeho země vyšli. 21Ale slitoval jsem se pro jméno svatosti své, kteréhož poškvrnili dům Izraelský mezi národy, kamž přišli. 22Protož rci domu Izraelskému: Takto praví Panovník Hospodin: Ne pro vás já to učiním, ó dome Izraelský, ale pro jméno svatosti své, kteréhož jste poškvrnili mezi národy, kamž jste přišli, 23Abych posvětil jména svého velikého, kteréž bylo poškvrněno mezi národy, kteréhož jste poškvrnili u prostřed nich, aby poznali národové, že já jsem Hospodin, praví Panovník Hospodin, když posvěcen budu v vás před očima jejich. 24Nebo poberu vás z národů, a shromáždím vás ze všech zemí, a uvedu vás do země vaší. 25A pokropím vás vodou čistou, a čisti budete; ode všech poškvrn vašich, i ode všech ukydaných bohů vašich očistím vás. 26A dám vám srdce nové, a ducha nového dám do vnitřností vašich, a odejma srdce kamenné z těla vašeho, dám vám srdce masité. 27Ducha svého, pravím, dám do vnitřností vašich, a učiním, abyste v ustanoveních mých chodili, a soudů mých ostříhali a činili je. 28I budete bydliti v zemi, kterouž jsem byl dal otcům vašim, a budete lidem mým, a já budu vaším Bohem. 29Nebo vysvobodím vás ze všelijakých poškvrn vašich, a přivolám obilé, a rozmnožím je, a nedopustím na vás hladu. 30Rozmnožím i ovoce stromů a úrody polní, tak že neponesete více potupy hladu mezi národy. 31I rozpomenete se na zlé cesty vaše a na skutky vaše nedobré, tak že sami se býti hodné ošklivosti uznáte pro nepravosti vaše a pro ohavnosti vaše. 32Ne pro vás já to učiním, praví Panovník Hospodin, známo vám buď. Zahanbětež se a zastyďte za cesty své, dome Izraelský. 33Takto praví Panovník Hospodin: V ten den, v kterémž vás očistím ode všech nepravostí vašich, osadím města, a vzdělány budou pustiny. 34A tak země pustá bude dělána, kteráž prvé byla pouští před očima každého tudy jdoucího. 35I řeknou: Země tato zpuštěná jest jako zahrada Eden, ano i města pustá, zkažená a zbořená jsou ohrazena a osazena. 36I zvědí národové, kteříž pozůstanou vůkol vás, že já Hospodin vystavěl jsem zbořeniny, a vysadil pustiny. Já Hospodin mluvil jsem i učiním. 37Takto praví Panovník Hospodin: Ještě toho hledati bude při mně dům Izraelský, abych je rozmnožil. Rozmnožím je lidmi jako stády. 38Jako stádo k obětem, jako stádo Jeruzalémské při slavnostech jeho, tak města pustá budou plná stád lidí, i zvědí, že já jsem Hospodin.
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 (
Gn 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 (
Sal 125:1-
Sal 125:2), has come to an end, in spite of the promise of God, and has become "ours" (compare
Dt 32:13;
Dt 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 (
Sal 56:1-
Sal 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.
Dt 28:37, and
Jer 24:9 had foretold Israel's reproach among the heathen (
Dn 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 (
Rm 8:19-
Rm 8:21) [POLANUS]. The completeness of the renewed blessedness of all parts of the land is implied.
derision-- (
Sal 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 (
Sal 123:3-
Sal 123:4).
7 lifted . . . mine hand--in token of an oath (
Ez 20:5;
Gn 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--
Is 58:12;
Is 61:4;
Am 9:11-
Am 9:12,
Am 9:14, where, as here (
Ez 34:23-
Ez 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 (
Ez 36:8)!
thee . . . thou--change from plural to singular: O hill of Zion, singled out from the other mountains of Israel (
Ez 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 (
Nm 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
Ez 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
Ez 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
Ez 36:15, "Neither shalt thou cause thy nations to fall any more."
17 removed woman-- (
Lv 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! (
Is 52:5;
Rm 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
Dt 9:5-
Dt 9:6). The sole and sure ground of hope was God's regard to "His own name," as the God of covenant grace (
Sal 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
Ez 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 (
Ez 20:41;
Ez 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 (
Nm 19:9-
Nm 19:18); the thing signified being the cleansing blood of Christ sprinkled on the conscience and heart (
He 9:13-
He 9:14;
He 10:22; compare
Jer 33:8;
Ef 5:26).
from all your idols--Literal idolatry has ceased among the Jews ever since the captivity; so far, the prophecy has been already fulfilled; but "cleansing from all their idols," for example, covetousness, prejudices against Jesus of Nazareth, is yet future.
26 new heart--mind and will.
spirit--motive and principle of action.
stony heart--unimpressible in serious things; like the "stony ground" (
Mt 13:5,
Mt 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
Ez 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 (
Fil 2:12-
Fil 2:13).
27 my spirit-- (
Ez 11:19;
Jer 32:39). The partial reformation at the return from Babylon (
Esd 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-- (
Ez 11:20;
Jer 30:22).
29 save . . . from all . . . uncleannesses--the province of Jesus, according to the signification of His name (
Mt 1:21). To be specially exercised in behalf of the Jews in the latter days (
Rm 11:26).
call for . . . corn--as a master "calls for" a servant; all the powers and productions of nature are the servants of Jehovah (
Sal 105:16;
Mt 8:8-
Mt 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,
Os 2:21-
Os 2:22;
Zac 8:12.
30 no more reproach of famine among the heathen--to which their taunt (
Ez 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 (
Ez 16:61,
Ez 16:63;
Sal 130:4;
Zac 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 (
Ez 36:20-
Ez 36:21); but now He so vindicates its sanctity (
Ez 36:22-
Ez 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 (
Ez 36:36).
Eden--as Tyre (the type of the world powers in general: so Assyria, a cedar "in the garden of God, Eden,"
Ez 31:8-
Ez 31:9), in original advantages, had been compared to "Eden, the garden of God" (
Ez 28:13), from which she had fallen irrecoverably; so Israel, once desolate, is to be as "the garden of Eden" (
Is 51:3), and is to be so unchangeably.
36 Lord . . . spoken . . . do it-- (
Nm 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 (
Ez 14:3;
Ez 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 (
Ez 36:26) to pray aright for the blessings which He is about to give (
Sal 102:13-
Sal 102:17,
Sal 102:20;
Zac 12:10-
Zac 12:14;
Zac 13:1).
like a flock--resuming the image (
Ez 34:23,
Ez 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 (
Ez 37:1-
Ez 37:14). (2) The reunion of the formerly hostile members of the community, whose contentions had affected the whole (
Ez 37:15-
Ez 37:28). (3) The community thus restored is strong enough to withstand the assault of Gog, &c. (Eze. 38:1-39:29) [EWALD].