12 Yea, I will cause men H120 to walk H3212 upon you, even my people H5971 Israel; H3478 and they shall possess H3423 thee, and thou shalt be their inheritance, H5159 and thou shalt no more H3254 henceforth bereave H7921 them of men.
And I will fan H2219 them with a fan H4214 in the gates H8179 of the land; H776 I will bereave H7921 them of children, I will destroy H6 my people, H5971 since they return H7725 not from their ways. H1870
And they brought up H3318 an evil report H1681 of the land H776 which they had searched H8446 unto the children H1121 of Israel, H3478 saying, H559 The land, H776 through which we have gone H5674 to search H8446 it, is a land H776 that eateth up H398 the inhabitants H3427 thereof; and all the people H5971 that we saw H7200 in it H8432 are men H582 of a great stature. H4060
Men shall buy H7069 fields H7704 for money, H3701 and subscribe H3789 evidences, H5612 and seal H2856 them, and take H5749 witnesses H5707 in the land H776 of Benjamin, H1144 and in the places about H5439 Jerusalem, H3389 and in the cities H5892 of Judah, H3063 and in the cities H5892 of the mountains, H2022 and in the cities H5892 of the valley, H8219 and in the cities H5892 of the south: H5045 for I will cause their captivity H7622 to return, H7725 saith H5002 the LORD. H3068
But upon mount H2022 Zion H6726 shall be deliverance, H6413 and there shall be holiness; H6944 and the house H1004 of Jacob H3290 shall possess H3423 their possessions. H4180 And the house H1004 of Jacob H3290 shall be a fire, H784 and the house H1004 of Joseph H3130 a flame, H3852 and the house H1004 of Esau H6215 for stubble, H7179 and they shall kindle H1814 in them, and devour H398 them; and there shall not be any remaining H8300 of the house H1004 of Esau; H6215 for the LORD H3068 hath spoken H1696 it. And they of the south H5045 shall possess H3423 the mount H2022 of Esau; H6215 and they of the plain H8219 the Philistines: H6430 and they shall possess H3423 the fields H7704 of Ephraim, H669 and the fields H7704 of Samaria: H8111 and Benjamin H1144 shall possess Gilead. H1568 And the captivity H1546 of this host H2426 of the children H1121 of Israel H3478 shall possess that of the Canaanites, H3669 even unto Zarephath; H6886 and the captivity H1546 of Jerusalem, H3389 which is in Sepharad, H5614 shall possess H3423 the cities H5892 of the south. H5045 And saviours H3467 shall come up H5927 on mount H2022 Zion H6726 to judge H8199 the mount H2022 of Esau; H6215 and the kingdom H4410 shall be the LORD'S. H3068
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Ezekiel 36
Commentary on Ezekiel 36 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 36
We have done with Mount Seir, and left it desolate, and likely to continue so, and must now turn ourselves, with the prophet, to the mountains of Israel, which we find desolate too, but hope before we have done with the chapter to leave in better plight. Here are two distinct prophecies in this chapter:-
Eze 36:1-15
The prophet had been ordered to set his face towards the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them, ch. 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, v. 1 and again v. 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, v. 4. and again v. 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,
Eze 36:16-24
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, Jn. 12:28. Now observe here,
Eze 36:25-38
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.