Ezekiel 35

25-28. The figure of the flock is still kept up with great beauty and force. God will make with them a covenant of peace, binding the wild beasts (outside enemies) to keep the peace with them and do them no harm. So the flock will be safe anywhere, in the wilderness or the forests. The last part of verse 26 should read, “I will bring down the great rain in its time; floods of blessing shall it be.” The Hebrew word used here always means a great rain. The figure of rain as a symbol and pledge of all Divine blessings appears in Lev. 26: 3-6, 19, 20. H. C.

25. Concerning the great charter by which the kingdom of the Messiah should be incorporated, and upon which it should be founded (verse 25): I will make with them a covenant of peace. The covenant of grace is a covenant of peace. In it God is at peace with us, speaks peace to us, and assures us of peace, of all good, all the good we need to make us happy. The tenor of this covenant is: “I the Lord will be their God, a God all-sufficient to them (verse 24), will own them, and will be owned by them; in order to this My servant David shall be a prince among them, to reduce them to their allegiance, to receive their homage, and to reign over them, in them, and for them.” Note, those and those only that have the Lord Jesus for their Prince have the Lord Jehovah for their God. And then they, even the house of Israel, shall be My people. If we take God to be our God, He will take us to be His people. From this covenant between God and Israel there results communion: “I the Lord their God am with them, to converse with them; and they shall know it and have the comfort of it.” H.

29. The reference is probably to the Garden of Eden. It promises that the Zion of the Lord shall be a second Eden in beauty, fertility and glory. The idea of renown, a good name, stands opposed to “the shame of the heathen” which they shall bear no more. They shall be no more reproached as a broken-down nationality, nor shall the name of the Lord be any more blasphemed on their account. The fertility of this plantation will sustain a great people and a strong nation; its splendor and beauty will lift them high above the reproach of the heathen. H. C.

31. “Ye are men;” then God knows what kind of persons we are, whom He has loved with an everlasting love. We are Adams, not angels. If you come into the Church of God, and expect to get among angels, you will be mightily mistaken; and if the brethren should receive you, and hope that they are receiving angels unawares, they will be mistaken, too. We make absurd mistakes through foolish expectations. We shall not find that our brethren and sisters are male and female cherubim, for they are men and women, and nothing more. They are fallen men, too, bearing about them traces of the ruin of their nature; they went astray like lost sheep, even the best of them. They are men—that is to say, they are only men; for the best of men are but men at the best. God’s people are true men; when the Spirit of God is in them they quit themselves like men; they come to the front and bear the brunt of the battle. Spurgeon.

35: 1, 2 MOREOVER the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face against mount Seir, and prophesy against it, and say unto it, Thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against thee, O mount Seir, and I will stretch out mine hand against thee, and I will make thee a desolation and an astonishment. I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD. Because thou hast had a perpetual enmity, and hast given over the children of Israel to the power of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time of the iniquity of the end: therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee; sith thou hast not hated blood, therefore blood shall pursue thee. Thus will I make mount Seir an astonishment and a desolation; and I will cut off from it him that passeth through and him that returneth. And I will fill his mountains with his slain: in thy hills and in thy valleys and in all thy watercourses shall they fall that are slain with the sword. I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not be inhabited: and ye shall know that I am the 10 LORD. Because thou hast said, These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, 11 and we will possess it; whereas the LORD was there: therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will do according to thine anger, and according to thine envy which thou hast shewed out of thy hatred against them; and I will make myself known among them, when I shall 12 judge thee. And thou shalt know that I the LORD have heard all thy blasphemies which thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid desolate, they are 13 given us to devour. And ye have magnified yourselves against me with your mouth, and 14 have multiplied your words against me: I have heard it. Thus saith the Lord GOD: When 15 the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate. As thou didst rejoice over the inherit- ance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee: thou shalt be desolate, O mount Seir, and all Edom, even all of it: and they shall know that I am the LORD.

36: 1 And thou, son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel, and say, Ye moun- 2 tains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD. Thus saith the Lord GOD: Because the enemy 3 hath said against you, Aha! and, The ancient high places are ours in possession: therefore prophesy, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD: Because, even because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto the residue of the nations, and ye are taken up in the lips of talkers, and the evil report of the people: 4 therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the cities that are forsaken, which are become a prey and derision to the residue 5 of the nations that are round about: therefore thus saith the Lord GOD: Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the nations, and against all Edom, which have appointed my land unto themselves for a possession with the joy of all their heart, with 6 despite of soul, to cast it out for a prey: therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say unto the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys, Thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because ye have 7 borne the shame of the heathen: therefore thus saith the Lord GOD: I have lifted up mine hand, saying, Surely the heathen that are round about you, they shall bear their shame. 8 But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my 9 people Israel; for they are at hand to come. For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn 10 unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown: and I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the waste places shall be 11 builded: and I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and be fruit- 12 ful: and I will cause you to be inhabited after your former estate, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I am the LORD. Yea, I will cause men to walk upon you, even my people Israel; and they shall possess thee, and thou shalt be 13 their inheritance, and thou shalt no more henceforth bereave them of children. Thus saith the Lord GOD: Because they say unto you, Thou land art a devourer of men, and hast been 14 a bereaver of thy nation; therefore thou shalt devour men no more, neither bereave thy 15 nation any more, saith the Lord GOD; neither will I let thee hear any more the shame of the heathen, neither shalt thou bear the reproach of the peoples any more, neither shalt thou cause thy nation to stumble any more, saith the Lord GOD. 16, 17 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their way and by their doings: their way 18 before me was as the uncleanness of a woman in her separation. Wherefore I poured out my fury upon them for the blood which they had poured out upon the land, and because 19 they had defiled it with their idols: and I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I 20 judged them. And when they came unto the nations, whither they went, they profaned my holy name; in that men said of them, These are the people of the LORD, and are gone 21 forth out of his land. But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had 22 profaned among the nations, whither they went. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD: I do not this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for mine holy 23 name, which ye have profaned among the nations, whither ye went. And I will sanctify my great name, which hath been profaned among the nations, which ye have profaned in the midst of them ; and the nations shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when 24 I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the nations, 25 and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land. And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean : from all your filthiness, and from all 26 your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you : and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an 27 heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, 28 and ye shall keep my judgements, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave 29 to your fathers ; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. And I will save you from all your uncleannesses : and I will call for the corn, and will multiply it, and lay no 30 famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, 31 that ye shall receive no more the reproach of famine among the nations. Then shall ye re- member your evil ways, and your doings that were not good ; and ye shall loathe yourselves 32 in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. Not for your sake do I this, saith the Lord GOD, be it known unto you : be ashamed and confounded for your ways, 33 O house of Israel. Thus saith the Lord GOD : In the day that I cleanse you from all your 34 iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be builded. And the land that was desolate shall be tilled, whereas it was a desolation in the sight of all that 35 passed by. And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of 36 Eden ; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are fenced and inhabited. Then the nations that are left round about you shall know that I the LORD have builded the ruined places, and planted that which was desolate : I the LORD have spoken it, and I will do it. 37 Thus saith the Lord GOD : For this moreover will I be inquired of by the house of Israel, 38 to do it for them ; I will increase them with men like a flock. As the flock for sacrifice, as the flock of Jerusalem in her appointed feasts ; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men : and they shall know that I am the LORD.

Chaps. 35, 36. The devastation of Edom and the restoration of Israel. Edom was included among the nations against which Ezekiel prophesied (25 : 12-14). But the fuller doom of Edom was reserved for this place, because Edom was one of the surrounding nations that profited at first by Judah’s fall, and because it helps by way of contrast to bring out in a marked way the better future designed for Israel. Edom is the God-hating, God-opposing power, for Edom was ever distinguished for its bitter hatred against Israel, and so the ruin of Edom is the triumph of Israel in the power of God. B. C.

Chap. 35. This chapter records a prophecy of judgments on Mount Seir and the people of Edom. Of all the contiguous nations none seem to have cherished more intense and inveterate hatred against Israel than Edom. Hence the prophecy against her, put in brief terms before (chap. 25 : 12-14) is resumed and amplified here, manifestly in part for the interesting purpose of bringing into connection with it the greater mercies which God had in store for His own Israel. The next chapter (36) develops the nature and the force of this connection, showing how the jealousy of the Lord was enkindled against the ancient enemies of His people, and how His soul was aroused to great achievements in their behalf out of regard for the glory of His name which Zion’s enemies had blasphemed.

5,6. The personal ill-feeling of Esau toward his brother Jacob seems to have become the inheritance of his posterity age after age with scarce any perceptible abatement. The second clause of verse 5 refers to the day when the Chaldeans broke up their city, and the people fled for their lives. Obadiah (verses 10-15) implies that in this day of chief calamity upon the Jews, Edom was bitter and revengeful as even the proud Chaldeans ; looked exultingly upon the fall of his brother as of an old enemy ; “spake of them proudly in the day of their distress ;” “entered into their gates in that day of their calamity” for pillage and exultant joy ; “stood in the crossways to cut off those that were escaping,” and “delivered them up” to their Chaldean foes. To this great, damning sin the last clause refers as “the end-sin"—that crowning iniquity which God could bear no longer, but must punish with exemplary severity—the last sin in the series, and lying next beyond all those which God could bear in the sense of long-suffering delay to punish. This one He could not “bear.” Verse 6, “I will prepare thee unto blood,” is better read, “I will appoint or destine thee for blood.” Edom had not been averse to blood in the day of his brother’s calamity; now let him have his fill of it. Let it pursue him, even as his greedy sword thirsted for the blood of his Jewish brother, and chased him down to drink it!

7-9. “Him that passeth out and him that returneth,” is the usual Hebrew phrase for the travel incident to traffic in those ages. This prophecy is the more noticeable because Edom and its great capital, Petra, had been for ages the great thoroughfare of commercial travel between Central and Southern Asia on the east, and Egypt and North Africa on the southwest. Her capital had amassed great wealth and had risen to splendor by means of trade and travel; yet under the curse denounced in this prophecy, no spot on this wide earth ever trod by human foot is less frequented to day than this same Petra! Desolation has made her deepest imprints of ruin there. H. C.

14. When the whole earth rejoiceth. After the return from the Captivity, when all thy neighbors, conquered by the king of Babylon, shall be restored in peace and prosperity, thou shalt be reduced to distress and desolation. Calmet.—The Edomites never recovered their country after their expulsion from it by the Nabatheans, who drove them out of their ancient habitations in the time of the Babylonish captivity; they then settled themselves in the southern part of Judea, where they were afterward conquered by Hyrcanus, and obliged to embrace the Jewish religion, and so become incorporated with that nation. Prideaux.

Chap. 36. This prophecy is the sequel of that contained in the last chapter. Calmet.—The Edomites have made their boasts (chap. 35: 10) that they should become masters of the mountainous parts of Judea, where the ancient fortresses were placed which commanded all the rest of the country. W. Lowth.—When the prophet speaks Judea is waste. The heathen nations around, and Edom in particular, rejoice in scorn; but the land of Israel is a holy land given by Jehovah to His people, and it shall be theirs. The promises are those of temporal blessings—the rebuilding of the cities, the peopling of the land—the fruitfulness and increase. Although these temporal blessings were typical of Messiah’s reign, yet we may not doubt that this prophecy had for its first object the return of prosperity to the land and to the people after their return from Babylon. In fact, the Jews did, after their return, enjoy considerable wealth and prosperity, especially under the Maccabean rulers. At the same time, since peace and plenty were ever characteristic of the kingdom of Messiah, we may believe that here, as elsewhere, the full consummation of all blessings in His kingdom is delineated and foretold. B. C.

The central idea of this chapter is that God’s people having brought reproach on His name before the heathen, He will retrieve it from this disgrace. For the sake of His own glory He will restore His people to their land, renew the fertility of its soil, rebuild its long-time wasted cities, and (more and better than all) will renew the hearts of His people, taking away the stone and giving flesh instead; “putting His own Spirit within them, and causing them henceforth to walk in His statutes and do them.” Yet lying back of this idea of interposing to retrieve His name from reproach before the heathen, is doubtless the more fundamental one—the Divine purpose and promise of salvation to His people; that in His own eternal counsels He had purposed to have a people saved unto holiness, and therefore could not and would not be frustrated in His purpose by their waywardness and sin, but would press the agencies of discipline and the yet mightier agencies of His Spirit to reclaim, renew and save. Thus He would show His people that He is really the very God, ever faithful to His promise, ever abiding in His love for His people. H. C.

8. For they are at hand to come. They, My people Israel, are near the time of their coming from Babylon into their own land. Abp. Newcome.—The most sensible interpreters seem to agree that there are several expressions in this chapter, particularly in the latter part of it, which cannot be literally understood of any event excepting of the reign of the Messiah, of the freedom that He has procured for His Church, of another promised land and of a chosen people, different from that of the Jews; but at the same time that there may be recognized in it certain forms of speech which have had their literal accomplishment since the return of the Jews from the Captivity. Calmet.

12-15. The general thought is that the land will be depopulated no more. But the real fulfilment of this promise appears only in its spiritual significance as relating to the true Zion of the living God. For Palestine has long been forsaken of the seed of Abraham and has long since ceased to be the local home of the organized people, worship, and institutions of God. But God’s true Zion lives; has not been depopulated, but has been exceedingly multiplied even already, and doubtless is yet to be far more. (Cf. Isa. 54: 1-8.) H. C.

16-36. In this section the subjugation of

the world is contemplated in the overthrow of nations (Edom in particular) which immediately surrounded the Holy Land—the triumph of the kingdom of God in the restoration of the children of Israel to their native soil, a hint, but only a hint, being given at the close, of a more extensive and enduring dominion. In the following chapters to the end of 39 the conflict between the world and God is described in its most general form, and the absolute triumph of the kingdom of God fully depicted.