Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 11:17
Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.
17 20. But this time of privation for the exiles shall come to an end. They shall be gathered out of the countries, and the land of Israel given to them; from which they shall remove all its abominations. They shall receive a new heart to walk in the Lord’s commandments; and he shall be their God and they his people.
give you the land of Israel ] Those left in the country said: The land is given unto us. They shall be cast out and the land again given to those now in exile. The flower of the nation had been carried away in the captivity of Jehoiachin. Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel regard the exiles as the hope of the nation and speak bitterly against the population remaining at home; comp. the former’s parable of the very naughty figs (ch. 24), and the latter’s scornful questions, ch. Eze 33:24-26. Cp. ch. Eze 28:25, Eze 34:13, Eze 36:24.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Say; add to the former apology this promise.
The Lord God; the faithful and eternal God, the supreme and sovereign Lord.
I will gather; by my advice and hand they were scattered, and by my hand they shall be gathered.
Assemble you; and to confirm them, it is added in different words, and the promise is repeated, and thus it was punctually performed, Ezr 1:1-4, with Eze 8:15.
I will give you the land of Israel; though your brethren do say you are not to dwell at Jerusalem, nor inherit the land, yet my purpose is otherwise, and I do promise you, that you who followed my counsel, and now are in Babylon, you, or your seed, shall return and inherit Canaan. All this was so worded, that some have thought it no groundless inquiry whether any of those that went with Zedekiah into captivity, or only such as went with Jeconiah, did return out of captivity; and though it is most probable some did, yet of the returners the far greater part were of those that with Jeconiah were gone into captivity.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. (Eze 28:25;Eze 34:13; Eze 36:24).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Therefore thus saith the Lord God, I will even gather you from the people,…. The Babylonians, Medes, and Persians, where they had been carried captive:
and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered; that is, out of Chaldea and Media, out of which they should come in a body, and not singly, or in small numbers, as they did when Cyrus issued out his proclamation:
and I will give you the land of Israel; not only the Jews of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, but many of the ten tribes came out of Babylon with Zerubbabel, and settled in the land of Israel; and hither they came also in later times, even those that settled in other countries; at their several festivals, and about such time more especially that the Messiah was expected, and continued there; and this will have a fuller completion at the restoration of the Jews in the latter days.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
ISRAEL TO BE RESTORED TO CANAAN AND CONVERTED Verses 17-21:
Verse 17 recertifies that the Lord, in addition to being a sanctuary to them, would gather them, His covenant people, Israel, from their dispersion among all nations and assemble them again in the land of Israel, Eze 28:25; Eze 34:13; Eze 36:24. It is a prophecy, promise, and pledge yet to be fulfilled, as surely as the sun shines, the wind blows, the rain falls, and the birds sing, to bless the earth, Joh 4:24; Eze 28:25; Eze 34:13; Eze 36:24; Jer 24:6.
Verse 18 assures the exiles of Israel in Babylon and their children, that their people shall one day return to their city, their temple area, and their land and sanctify it, removing all detestable things, perhaps even the mosque of Omar, where Mohammed is now worshipped, rather than Jesus Christ; For it is stated that His people will, after their return and assembly, remove all abominations, all God-offending objects of worship, all idolatry from the city and place of their worship, as they did before Jesus came, Hag 2:9. The day seems to be now, very near at hand, Dan 9:26-27; Luk 21:24.
Verse 19 is a pledge from the Lord that in that future day of Israel’s repentance, return, and restoration to their covenant-promised land He will give to them both a (new) heart (of affection) and unity, and a new spirit (attitude or disposition), Eze 36:26; Jer 32:39; Zep 3:9. He also pledges to take away from them the stony, obstinate, and rebellious heart, out of their flesh, and give them an heart of flesh, or an heart of sensitive affection toward truth and right, Eze 18:31; Psa 51:10: Jer 31:33; Jer 32:39; Zec 7:12.
Verse 20, declares that such is given that (in order that) they of converted Israel might – 1) walk in harmony with His statutes, 2) keep or guard His ordinances, and 3) be doers of them, Jas 1:22. Then, it was certified, they would be, or exist as, His people, and He would be (exist as) their God, Eze 14:11; Eze 36:28; Eze 37:27; Jer 24:7. Regeneration is shown by holy fruit, Gal 5:22; Gal 5:25. God will then claim Israel as His people, Zec 13:9.
Verse 21 bears with the previous promises, a dark shadow. The warning is that those of them whose heart yearned after detestable and abominable things, leading them to walk in Godless paths, would all and each be personally chastened, judged, or recompensed for his chosen path of behavior before God, Psa 115:8. For the Lord had repeatedly warned all Israel, that they were without excuse, Num 32:23; Psa 1:4-6; Gal 6:7-8.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Now God expresses the effect of his grace. In the last verse he had said that he would be a sanctuary. I have reminded you that these words ought not to be understood of a visible place in which God was worshipped, but of that hidden influence by which he cherishes his people. But if the exile had been perpetual, that promise might seem vain. Why then did God protect his people in exile, if he wished them to be consumed there? because otherwise his covenant would have been in vain. Therefore lest any one should object that God deceives his faithful ones, when he pronounces that he would be their sanctuary, he now points out its result, viz., that he would restore them to their country. Therefore, says he, I will collect you from the people, and gather you from the nations to which ye have been, driven, and I will give you the land of Israel Since therefore a return to their country was a certain pledge of God’s love, hence he announces that they should at length return On the whole the restitution of the Church is promised, which should confirm God’s covenant. In it had been said to Abraham, I will give this land to thee and to thy seed for ever. (Gen 13:15; and Gen 17:8.) God, therefore, to show his covenant still remaining entire and secure, which he had interrupted for a short time, here speaks concerning this restoration. And as to the Prophet so often inculcating the name of God, and relating his orders in God’s name, and directing his discourse to the captives, this tends to confirm his message, because in such a desperate state of things it was difficult to wait patiently for what the Prophet taught, viz., that a time would come when God would collect them again, and recall them home. Hence the faithful were admonished that they must consider God’s power, and put their trust in this prophecy. It follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(17) I will give you the land of Israel.Again in contrast to the people of Jerusalem, who claimed the land as their own exclusive possession. They shall be cast out; the exiles whom they despised shall be gathered again and possess the land. (Comp. Num. 14:3; Num. 14:31-32, where when the people refused the Divine command to take possession of the land, and feared that their little ones should be a prey, the doom came that they should all themselves perish in the wilderness, but their little ones should inherit the land.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
17. I will even gather you from the people The history of the Jewish captives was peculiar. They alone, of all the nations carried to Babylon and then scattered into many countries, preserved their national characteristics intact and went back to their old home a strong, united people. “Nor were it, perhaps, too much to say, having respect to the issues of things, that the dispersion of the Israelites among the nations was fraught with as much blessing for the Church and the world as even their original settlement in Canaan.” Fairbairn.
I will give you the land of Israel Not those remaining in Jerusalem, who trusted to the external forms of the temple sacrifices, or to their idols, or to Egypt for help, but those who were carried away from the temple, and developed a purer and more spiritual faith amid the penitential fires of captivity, should ultimately possess the holy land. The Jerusalemites scorned the exiles (Eze 11:15), and would not listen to their counsels or pay any attention to their prophets; but, in fact, these exiles represented the true Israel. They were the remnant which should finally be saved and to whom Jehovah would give the land, from which they would remove all detestable idol images ( 1Ki 11:5 ; 1Ki 11:7; 2Ki 23:13), and their abominable accompaniments (Eze 11:18).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh, I will gather you from the peoples, and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. And they shall come there, and they will take away all its detestable things, and all its abominations from there.’ ”
One day Yahweh would again act for His people, and would gather and assemble them wherever they were, and would bring them back to the land and again give it to them. And when they came they would scrupulously remove all idolatry and all that was connected with it. Notice the stress on multiplicity. They would be gathered from far and wide. There is no reason to doubt that connection was maintained between scattered families and once restoration began the clarion call would go out and exiles would come from near and far. With possibly a few exceptions the ‘lost tribes’ were really not lost at all.
‘I will give you the land of Israel.’ This was the guarantee of their continuing part in the covenant. Contrast Eze 11:15 where possession of the land was seen as the proof of blessing by those who were in fact under condemnation. But what they overlooked was that the land was no longer theirs for God had for the time being given it to Nebuchadnezzar. But for the exiles He was promising a new Exodus, a new deliverance, a new journey to the promised land. This giving of the land was part of God’s covenant with Abraham (Gen 12:1-3), and was seen by Israel as evidence that they were God’s people. However it should be noted that the idea of the land drops out of the later covenants (e.g. 2Sa 7:12-16; Isa 55:3, where it is replaced by eternal kingship; Jer 31:31-34 where it is replaced by an eternal relationship) because a greater idea and fulfilment is in view.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eze 11:17 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.
Ver. 17. I will even gather you from the people. ] How impossible or improbable soever you may think it, and those of Jerusalem pronounce it. The prophet Isaiah in many chapters of his gospel, which beginneth at Eze 40:1-49 , setteth himself to cheer up these poor captives with good hopes of a return, after a little while, paulisper, as some render the word megnat in the foregoing Eze 11:16 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
I will even gather you, Compare Jer 31:10. Reference to Pentateuch, (Deu 30:3). App-92.
people = peoples.
the land of Israel. Here, “the land”, in Hebrew is ‘admath (adamah) = the soil of Israel, This expression occurs seventeen times in Ezekiel (Eze 11:17; Eze 12:12 Eze 19:22; Eze 13:9; Eze 18:2; Eze 20:38, Eze 20:42; Eze 21:3 (Hebrew – Eze 11:8); Eze 25:3, Eze 25:6; Eze 33:24; Eze 36:6; Eze 37:1 Eze 37:2; Eze 38:18, Eze 38:19; “unto the land” Eze 7:2; Eze 21:3 (Hebrew. Eze 11:8). The three occurrences of the expres sion, with eretz instead of’admath, are thus safeguarded by the Massorah: viz. Eze 27:17; Eze 40:2, Eze 47:18. (See Ginsburg’s Massorah, vol. i, p. 107, 1100) and App-93.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Eze 28:25, Eze 34:13, Eze 36:24, Eze 37:21-28, Eze 39:27-29, Isa 11:11-16, Jer 3:12, Jer 3:18, Jer 24:5, Jer 30:10, Jer 30:11, Jer 30:18, Jer 31:8-10, Jer 32:37-41, Hos 1:10, Hos 1:11, Amo 9:14, Amo 9:15
Reciprocal: Deu 28:64 – scatter Psa 119:134 – General Jer 9:16 – scatter Jer 23:3 – General Jer 31:16 – they Jer 50:19 – bring Eze 20:41 – I bring Eze 20:42 – when I Joh 11:52 – that were
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 11:17. From this verse through 20 the subject is the return from captivity. with special mention of certain results to be accomplished by the exile. The same people for whom the Lord promised to be a “sanctuary” in the preceding verse were to be brought back to their own country. The great Babylonian Empire was composed of various countries of the civilised world, and the captives were scattered more of less over those sections. That is the reason for the pre-diction that the Lord would assemble them out of the countries.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Eze 11:17-20. I will even gather you from the people This might be, in some degree, fulfilled in those that returned from captivity, but the perfect completion of this promise must be referred to the time of the expected general restoration of the Jewish nation. And they shall come thither They who assemble upon Cyruss proclamation first, and they who afterward assemble upon Dariuss, shall overcome all difficulties, perform their journey, and come safely to their own land. And they shall take away all the detestable things thereof Shall abolish superstition and idolatry from the temple, the city, and the country, and shall live pure from all the pollutions with which the land had been formerly defiled. But this promise also ultimately respects the future conversion of the Jews, as do those contained in the next two verses. And I will give them one heart A heart entire for me, the living and true God, and not divided, as their hearts were formerly, among many gods; a heart firmly fixed and resolved for my worship and service, and not wavering; steady and uniform, and not inconstant, and inconsistent with itself. And hence they shall serve me with one consent, Zep 3:9. And I will put a new spirit within them A disposition of mind agreeable to the new circumstances into which, in the course of my providence, I will bring them. Observe, reader, all that are regenerated have a new spirit: a spirit entirely changed from what it was before: they act from new principles, walk by new rules, and aim at new ends. A new name, a new profession, new opinions, or new modes of worship will not serve without a new spirit. If any man be in Christ he is a new creature: see the margin. And I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh Out of their corrupt nature. Their hearts shall no longer be dead and dry, hard and unfeeling, but tender and apt to receive good impressions, and deeply sensible of, and affected with, things spiritual and divine. These are the same evangelical promises as we read in the other prophets, particularly Jer 32:39. The insensibility of men, with regard to religious matters, is often ascribed to the hardness of their hearts. God promises here to give them teachable dispositions, and to take away the veil from their hearts, as St. Paul expresses it, 2Co 3:16; the same temper being indifferently expressed either by blindness or hardness of heart. Lowth. That they may walk in my statutes In their whole conversation; and keep my ordinances In all acts of religious worship. These two particulars must go together, and not be separated; and those to whom God has given a new heart, and a new spirit, will make conscience of both, and then the following promise shall be fulfilled, They shall be my people, and I will be their God: the ancient covenant, which seemed to have been broken and forgotten, shall be renewed. By their idolatry and other sins, they appeared to have cast God off; and by their being sent into captivity, and divers other punishments, God seemed to have cast them off; but when they are cured of their idolatry and various vices, and delivered from their captivity and other calamities, God and Israel own one another again: God, by his good work in them, makes them his people; and then, by the tokens of his good-will toward them, shows them that he is their God.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Lord also promised to assemble the Jews in exile from the various places where they had scattered from the Promised Land and to give them that land again. This is the first mention of Israel’s future restoration in Ezekiel. When they came back into the land they would purify it of all the things that made it detestable and abominable to the Lord (cf. Eze 5:11; Eze 7:20).
"Such words have a Mosaic ring about them, as if the promised land of Canaan is being held out to the wilderness wanderers once again. The desert experience would not last for ever: one day they would possess the land-not by arrogant claim (as in Eze 11:15), but by a gracious gift of God-and their worship would be purified of all the foreign, corrupting influences that had beset the Israelites since Joshua’s day." [Note: Taylor, p. 111.]
"The promise of restoration to the land, though declared in the blessings of the Mosaic covenant (Lev 26:40-45; Deu 30:1-10), was based on the eternal covenants to Abraham (Gen 12:1-3), David (2Sa 7:12-16), and Jeremiah (Jer 31:31-34)." [Note: Alexander, "Ezekiel," p. 793.]