Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 37:21
And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
See this explained Eze 36:24.
The children of Israel; the ten tribes, as well as Judah and Benjamin; at least, many of the ten tribes.
Whither they be gone: the expression seems to look to them that were gone among the heathen by a voluntary peregrination, whether before the captivity or after it I will not conjecture; but it is likely enough to me, that among the Jews carried away, and among their children, there were some that were uneasy where they were against their wills, who would ramble and range over countries, hoping to fare better; and perhaps these wanderers may be the persons meant by this gone, where they are who walked thither, as the Hebrew.
On every side; the wind was to come from the four coasts of heaven, Eze 37:9, thereby telling us they should, as here, be gathered on every side.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And say unto them, thus saith the Lord God,…. Or, as the Targum,
“thou shalt prophesy to them;”
for what follows is a prophecy of what shall be in the latter day:
behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the Heathen, whither they be gone, or, “from among the Gentiles” b; not only the Chaldeans, where they were carried captives; but from among the nations where they are now dispersed, and among whom they go freely of their own accord from place to place, for the sake of traffic: and this phrase, “whither they be gone”, or “are going” c, travelling about from one country to another, better describes the present Jews, and their state, than those in the Babylonian captivity:
and will gather them on every side, or, “round about” d; from the several parts of the world where they are:
and bring them into their own land; the land of Canaan, given by the Lord to their fathers, and to them their posterity, for an inheritance; though now in the possession of others, who, it seems, are not the right owners.
b “e medio ipsarum gentium”, Junius Tremellius “ex gentibus”, Starckius; “e [vel] medio gentium”, Piscator, Cocceius. c “ambulant, vel ambulantes sunt”. d “circumquaque”, Junius & Tremellius, Polanus, Starckius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(21) Will gather them.The restoration of Israel from their captivity among the heathen here, as often elsewhere, is the first step in the fulfilment of the Divine promises. This, however, like the other Divine promises, was fulfilled only to a remnant, a course which, as St. Paul shows in Romans 9, had been foreseen and foretold from the first. A fulfilment on a larger scale was perpetually prevented by the sins of the people; God did for them all that their obdurate disobedience would allow Him to do. Yet He did not wholly reject them, but allowed a remnant to keep alive His Church, and become the channel of those richer blessings of the new covenant, in which all who will accept His salvation are united in a holier bond, and led to a land of higher promise than Israel after the flesh could ever know.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
“And say to them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh, Behold I will take the children of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them to their own land, and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king will be king to them all, and they will no more be two nations, nor will they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.”
The world had been divided at Babel (Babylon – Gen 11:1-9). Then later God’s covenant people had been divided. Now the process of healing and restoration was to begin by their being restored to their land and cemented together as one nation in the land. Then they would come under one king, a son of David ruling over formerly divided Israel. Note the rare use of the word ‘king’ by Ezekiel in relation to the rulers of Israel. Elsewhere it is only used where captivity was in mind or where they are demeaned (Eze 1:2; Eze 7:27; Eze 17:12-16; Eze 43:7). For it was Yahweh and His chosen future representative who were truly king over Israel.
The fact that they were to be ‘gathered in from every side’ again confirms that Israelites were expected to return from many lands. And the purpose of this was that they may be made as one under one king. And when Jesus, the son of David, came, proclaiming the Kingly Rule of God this was His aim, ‘that they may be one even as we are’ (Joh 17:22).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eze 37:21 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
Ver. 21. Behold, I will take the children of Israel, ] This was fulfilled when the Jews, and with them many of the ten tribes also, returned to their own country under Zerubbabel and Ezra. As for the rest of the ten tribes that returned not, they degenerated into Gentiles. The Jews say that they were shut up by Alexander the Great in the Caspian mountains, and shall therehence break forth when the Messiah appeareth. Of the Jews in general Tacitus hath observed, that they are very kind to their own countrymen, but to all others very cruel. This might haply move Alexander to serve them in that kind. There are those who understand that text, Rev 16:12 the kings of the East, concerning the ten tribes whom they place in China, which is called the “land of Sinim,” as Junius conjectureth; Isa 49:12 and who knows but that when all Israel shall be called, Rom 11:26 raised from the dead, Eze 37:14 joined into one stick, as here, many of those poor heathens in Asia and America may have part in the same resurrection?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Behold. heathen; and. land. These words were chosen for the legend on the Zionist medal commemorating the National Federation (of 1896), which is a landmark in the history of the Jewish nation.
I even I. Figure of speech Epizeuxis (App-6).
heathen = nations.
land, Hebrew ‘eretz. Not the same word as in at Eze 12:14, Eze 12:21.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Eze 34:13, Eze 36:24, Eze 39:25, Deu 30:3, Deu 30:4, Isa 11:11-16, Isa 27:12, Isa 27:13, Isa 43:6, Isa 49:12, Jer 16:15, Jer 23:3, Jer 23:8, Jer 29:14, Jer 30:3, Jer 30:10, Jer 30:18, Jer 31:8-10, Jer 32:37, Jer 33:7, Jer 33:11, Jer 50:19, Amo 9:14, Amo 9:15, Oba 1:17-21, Mic 7:11, Mic 7:12
Reciprocal: Psa 106:47 – gather Psa 147:2 – he Isa 32:17 – quietness Isa 43:5 – I will Isa 65:9 – I will Jer 12:14 – and pluck Jer 46:27 – I will save Eze 11:17 – General Eze 20:42 – when I Eze 28:25 – When Eze 37:12 – I will open Eze 37:25 – they shall dwell in Eze 38:8 – into the land Dan 12:1 – thy people Hos 11:11 – and I Joe 3:1 – when Oba 1:19 – the fields of Ephraim Mic 2:12 – surely assemble Mic 4:6 – and I Zep 3:20 – even Joh 1:49 – the King Act 3:19 – when Rom 11:26 – all Eph 4:13 – we all
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 37:21. This verse is a general statement with a literal meaning, The Babylonian Empire was made up of numerous groups from the four quarters of the civilized world. The dominions that were once the Assyrian Em-pire now belonged to Babylon, and that would naturally embrace the remnants of the kingdom of Israel that had been taken by Assyria, recorded in 2 Kings 17, All of God’s people scattered throughout the various localities of heathendom were to be given the privilege of returning to the home land in Palestine after the fall of Babylon and end of the 70-year captivity.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Eze 37:21-25. Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen See the margin. I will make them one nation They shall not be divided any more into separate kingdoms; the consequence of which was, their setting up separate ways of worship, and espousing separate interests: compare Isa 11:13. This promise was in a great degree fulfilled in the restoration of the Jews to their own land from their captivity in Babylon; for then many of the house of Israel returned with the house of Judah, and were united in one body with them, and were under one and the same governor, Zerubbabel; who, though he did not (lest it should give umbrage to the Persian kings) assume the title of king, yet executed the authority, and was looked upon as a king by the Jewish people: but the expressions here made use of seem to imply something further, and to refer, in their full sense, to the final restoration of the Jews, after their conversion to Christianity, when Christ, in a peculiar sense, shall be their king. The Messiah is described as King of the Jews in most of the prophecies in the Old Testament, beginning with that of Gen 49:10, concerning Shiloh. From Davids time he is commonly spoken of as the person in whom the promises relating to the perpetuity of Davids kingdom were to be accomplished. This was a truth unanimously owned by the Jews: see Joh 1:49, to which our Saviour bore testimony before Pontius Pilate, when the question being put to him, Art thou a king? he made answer, Thou sayest [the truth] for I am a king: thus these words should be translated, for St. Paul, alluding to them, calls them a good confession, 1Ti 6:13. The same truth Pontius Pilate himself asserted, in that inscription which he providentially ordered to be written upon the cross; (see Joh 19:19-22;) so that the chief priests impiously renounced their own avowed principles, when they told Pilate that they had no king but Cesar, Eze 37:15. Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols Or, abominations, as the word is elsewhere translated, and generally signifies idols: see the margin. But I will save them out of all their dwelling-places I will bring them safe out of them; and will cleanse them Both justify and sanctify them. And David my servant That is, the son of David, who was also Davids Lord; shall be king over them Shall reign over their hearts and lives; and they shall all have one shepherd This king shall be their one chief shepherd; others that shall feed and rule the flock shall be shepherds by commission from him. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob A promise often repeated in this prophecy: see Eze 37:12; Eze 37:21, and the note on Eze 28:25. Even they and their children for ever The Jews, converted to Christ, shall inherit Canaan till Christ come to judgment at the end of the world.