After a reminder of the reason for their punishment, Ezekiel shows the people that they will be restored to a fruitful land. Note again that the mountains are addressed, but of course the message is for the people, Ezekiel 36:1.
Ezekiel had previously revealed condemnation of Mount Seir, Ezekiel 35:3. Now he revealed blessing for the mountains of Israel. The mountains stood for all the land.
Israel’s enemies rejoiced because the land came into their possession, Ezekiel 36:2 / Ezekiel 6:3 / Ezekiel 20:29. Israel’s enemies had destroyed Israel because of Israel’s sin, Ezekiel 36:3, and now Israel belongs to these other nations and has become objects for malicious talk and slander, Ezekiel 63:3 / Deuteronomy 28:37 / Jeremiah 24:9.
Because of the apostasy, God had taken His people from the land. However, when He took His people from their inheritance, He did not permanently give it over to other nations.
Israel’s enemies had taken Israel’s land. The land, including its mountains, valleys, and rivers, was the sustenance of the nation of Israel, Ezekiel 36:4. The rest of the nations were land grabbers.
Once the Israelites were taken from the land, countries such as Edom grabbed the land, Ezekiel 36:5. In burning zeal, God is now going to deal with each of these nations, Ezekiel 36:5 / Ezekiel 35:11.
Trapp, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Jealousy is hot as hell; Song of Solomon 8:6, it is implacable, Proverbs 6:34-35, and very vindictive.’
Because Israel had been insulted time and time again by the nations, in jealous wrath, God is going to deal with them, Ezekiel 36:6 / Genesis 12:3.
Block, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The land has borne the insults of the nations long enough, and Yahweh’s own passion has been ignited. He will have the last word.’
The message of hope in this context was that the mountains and valleys would again be productive for the people of God, Ezekiel 36:6. God promises that they themselves will suffer scorn, Ezekiel 36:7.
Poole, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Moabites, Ammonites, and Idumeans shall be repaid in their own coin; I will, as sure as I am God, as sure as I can, so surely make them a taunt, a proverb, and a curse among men.’
Though others took possession of the land, the promise was that the land would again bring forth its fruit for the people of God, Ezekiel 36:8. All twelve tribes would again enjoy their occupation of the land after King Cyrus of the Medo-Persian Empire released the exiles in 536 B.C.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘When God ordered them to go back to Palestine, and when Cyrus the king of Persia himself authorised their departure and even paid part of the cost, only a pitiful little handful of the captives responded. The vast majority, according to Josephus, already growing wealthy in Babylon, elected not to go.’
God says, He is concerned for His people and will look on them with favour, they will be ploughed and sown, Ezekiel 36:9.
Block, in his commentary, says the following.
‘By a clever and unique wordplay, the hostile orientation formula hineni alekem, usually ‘I am against you,’ is transformed into a declaration of commitment: I am on your side.’
The promise was that the cities of the land would be rebuilt, not just the city of Jerusalem, Ezekiel 36:10 / Ezekiel 6:3 / Ezekiel 6:5-7. The mountains will be populated again, not only with people but also with animals; they will be fruitful and become numerous, Ezekiel 36:11 / Genesis 1:22 / Genesis 1:28 / Genesis 9:1 / Genesis 9:7.
Their prosperity in the land would be the sign that God was again with them, Ezekiel 36:11. God will cause His people to live on the mountains, possess them as an inheritance, and He will not deprive them of children again, Ezekiel 36:12 / Genesis 12:7.
Jerusalem was important to the returnees, but it was not the only city that was rebuilt. In fact, according to the history that is given by Ezra and Nehemiah, the completion of the reconstruction of Jerusalem came after the rebuilding of many other cities in the land. There is no emphasis here on the rebuilding of the temple.
The other nations were saying that Israel orphaned herself of children, devouring and depriving them of children, Ezekiel 36:13 / Numbers 13:32. But this reproach of the nation would cease, Ezekiel 36:14.
Neither the people, nor the land, would bear the disgrace that was brought on the land through their apostasy, Ezekiel 36:15. Through repentance and restoration, the Israelites would not become the victims of themselves.
They would no longer be a reproach and a derision among the nations, Deuteronomy 28:13 / Zechariah 8:13 / Zechariah 8:20-23. God says of the land that in the future it will be as follows. 1. Fruitful. Ezekiel 36:8. 2. Peaceful. Ezekiel 36:14. 3. Secure. Ezekiel 36:15.
Here, we read the reason for punishment and the reason for restoration. We are again reminded by the prophet of the reasons for Judah losing her land in the first place. Israel, by the way they were living, had defiled the land when they lived there, Ezekiel 36:16.
With a familiar figure of an unclean woman, Ezekiel 36:17 / Leviticus 15:19-23 / Isaiah 64:6, God shows the remnant that their idolatry and ungodliness, Ezekiel 36:18, caused Him to judge them and remove them from their land by scattering them among the nations, Ezekiel 36:19 / Deuteronomy 29:1-30:10.
It seemed as if the Babylonian gods were more powerful than the God of Israel. This local deity concept was common amongst the people at this time, Isaiah 36:18-22 / 1 Kings 20:23-42 / 2 Kings 5:17.
Feinberg, in his commentary, says the following.
‘When the prophet spoke of blood poured out, he was probably referring to murders, judicial violence and even child sacrifice in the worship of idols, Ezekiel 16:36 / Ezekiel 23:37.’
The exile was a direct result of their sin, but it was carried out by the hand of God. However, their exile caused God’s Name to be profaned among the nations, Ezekiel 35:20.
The nations believed God was not able to take care of His people, which was evidenced in their exile, hence why they profaned God’s Name, Ezekiel 36:21. God says it wasn’t for Israel’s sake that He delivered them, but for the sake of my holy name’s sake, which they had profaned, Ezekiel 36:22 / Ezekiel 20:39.
God was going to restore in holiness and show the holiness of His great name, the great name that Israel and other nations profaned, Ezekiel 36:22 / Exodus 5:2 / Exodus 9:16 / Exodus 32:11-18 / Leviticus 18:21 / Leviticus 20:3 / Leviticus 22:31-33 / Numbers 14:13-19 / Deuteronomy 29:1-30:10.
Taylor, in his commentary, says the following.
‘He wants his name to be great, so that the nations may regard him not as an ineffective tribal god, but as the Lord of the whole earth. And Israel is to be the channel through which this vindication is going to be achieved.’
God proves He is strong by returning them to the land, Ezekiel 36:24 / Ezekiel 11:16-17 / Ezekiel 20:34 / Ezekiel 34:13 / Ezekiel 37:21. The people would be cleansed of their former sins because of their repentance from their idolatrous past, Ezekiel 36:25.
They would once again be His holy people, Exodus 12:22 / Ezekiel 11:18 / Ezekiel 36:17 / Leviticus 11:44 / Leviticus 14:4-7 / Jeremiah 31:31-34 / Psalms 51:7 / 1 Corinthians 6:11 / 1 Peter 1:15-16.
God promises to give them a new heart and a new spirit in them. He promises to remove their heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh, Ezekiel 36:26 / Ezekiel 11:19 / Ezekiel 18:31 / Ephesians 4:21-24 / 2 Corinthians 3:3-6. In other words, it would be a humbled heart.
The purpose of the captivity of Israel was not simply punishment. If we do not understand that God was working to preserve a remnant of Israel in order to re-establish their identity for the fulfilment of the promises made to the fathers, then we have missed the point.
In order to re-establish the identity of Israel, they had to be humbled through captivity. This was God putting a new heart and spirit within them, Ezekiel 36:27. They had to voluntarily submit to His will, realising that the only way out of captivity was through humble submission to Him.
Once this was accomplished after the first generation of captives died, then through scribes such as Ezra, with the leadership of spiritual men like Nehemiah, the humble and dedicated could be brought back into the land in order to prepare for the coming Messiah and Saviour of the world.
‘I will put My Spirit within you’, Ezekiel 36:27, this statement would possibly take these promises beyond the restoration of the captives to the land after the Babylonian captivity.
The prophecy possibly looks to the fulfilment of Joel 2:28-32. God poured out the Holy Spirit on the apostles in Acts 2, afterwards filling His people with the Spirit upon their obedience to the Gospel, Acts 2:38 / Romans 8:9.
However, the meaning would also be applicable from the time of the restoration to the coming of the Messiah, the time when God did not work through prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the other prophets.
The Old Testament prophets were sent in order to call Israel back to God from their idolatry. But after the return, they would need no message as was given to them by the Old Testament prophets. God caused them to go through the cleansing of the captivity by humiliating the proud and arrogant idolaters.
God says they will live in the land He gave their ancestors, they will be His people, and He will be their God, Ezekiel 36:28. Since we would also interpret this to refer to a restoration of the people to return to God, then we would assume that the teaching of Jeremiah 31:31-34 would apply to this prophecy. The new heart would be the people’s desire for God alone, and being their God means He desires an intimate relationship with them.
God is also going to save them from uncleanness, Ezekiel 36:25 / Romans 11:26-27, and bless them richly with food, so they won’t experience famine, Ezekiel 36:29-30 / Ezekiel 34:29.
Because they would give their hearts to God, God would not bring famine and pestilence on them in an effort to turn them from their sin, Ezekiel 36:29-30. Thus, the nations would never again mock them because their God had brought punishment on them for their sin, Ezekiel 36:31.
They would no longer give themselves over to false gods that they had created after their own imaginations, Ezekiel 36:31. They would be restored to the one true God and thus made to be His people.
When restored to the land, the generation of Israelites that would return would look back on the idolatry of their fathers and loathe the behaviour of their fathers, Ezekiel 36:32. They would realise that their fathers brought independent Israel down because they ran after false gods, Ezekiel 36:32.
God is going to cleanse them of their sins, Ezekiel 36:33 / Hebrews 10:22 / John 3:5 / Ephesians 5:25-26 / Titus 3:5. He is also going to restore them to their towns, which will be rebuilt, Ezekiel 36:33. Prosperity is promised by God in the land to which they have returned, Ezekiel 36:34.
People will be amazed when they see this once desolate land becoming like the Garden of Eden, fortified and inhabited, Ezekiel 36:34 / Isaiah 11:6-9 / Isaiah 51:3 / Joel 3:18 / Amos 9:13-15 / Romans 8:19-22 / 2 Peter 3:13 / Revelation 21:1-4 / Revelation 21:23-27.
We are again shown that God is the motivating factor in the restored blessings, Ezekiel 36:34. It seems that God is just as determined to restore their fortunes now as He was to waste the city in the earlier part of the book.
There is a willingness on God’s part now to listen to the people and even give them what they are asking of him, Ezekiel 36:37. Not only will the cities prosper and multiply, but the people are also promised prosperity, Ezekiel 36:37-38.
When a nation was conquered in ancient times and taken into captivity, that was the end of the nation. However, in the case of Israel, God would resurrect His people out of captivity.
And re-establish them as a people within their land that had been given to them one thousand years before. When this would happen, then all the nations would perceive that the God of Israel was the true God of heaven, Ezekiel 36:38.