Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 36:24
For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
Eze 36:24
I will take you from among the heathen.
The benefits flowing from redemption
I. In carrying out the work of redemption God will call His people out of the world. I will take you from among the heathen. By nature His people are no better than other people. They were no better till grace made them so. Here are two children. They were born of one mother; nestled in one loving bosom; rocked in one cradle; baptized in one font. Reared under the same roof, they grew up under the same training; sat under the same ministry; and, in death not divided, are sleeping now, where their dust mingles in a common grave. But the one is taken, and the other left. This, a child of God, ascends to heaven; the other, alas! is lost. Mysterious fate! Yet who dare challenge the justice and decree of God? By nature this whole world is sunk in sin, and in a sense all men are idolaters. The Hindu reckons his divinities by thousands and tens of thousands; yet the world has a larger Pantheon; as many gods as it has objects, be they innocent or guilty, which usurp the place of Jehovah, and dethrone Him in the creatures heart. Nor are men less idolaters if drunkards, though they pour out no libation to Bacchus, the god of wine; nor less idolaters, if impure, that they burn no incense at the shrine of Venus; nor less idolaters, if lovers of wealth, that they do not mould their gold into an image of Plutus, and, giving a shrine to what lies hoarded in their coffers, offer it their morning and evening prayers. It may therefore be justly said of all who have been converted by the grace of God, that He has taken them from among the heathen.
II. The power of Divine grace is strikingly displayed in this effectual calling. It is a remarkable fact that, while the baser metals are often diffused through the body of the rocks, gold and silver lie in veins, collected together in distinct metallic masses. They are in the rocks, but not of the rocks. Some believe that there was a time, long gone by, when, like other metals, these lay in intimate union with the mass of rock, until by virtue of some electric agency, their scattered atoms were put in motion, and, made to pass through the solid stone, were aggregated in those shining veins, where they now lie to the miners hand. These precious metals are the emblems of Gods people. And as by some power in nature God has separated them from the base and common earths, even so by the power of His grace will He separate His chosen from a reprobate and rejected world. They shall come at His call. It is in a state of deep ungodliness–without God, without the love of God, without holiness, without purity of heart, without solid peace of conscience–that grace finds all it saves. It is indeed amazing to see what grace will do, and where grace will grow; in what unlikely places God has His people, and out of what unfavourable circumstances He calls them. I have seen a tree proudly crowning the summit of a naked rock; and there, sending its roots out over the bare stone, and down into every cranny in search of food, it stood securely anchored by these moorings to the stormy crag. I have wondered how it could grow up there, starved on the bare rock, and how it had survived the rough, unkindly nursing of many a wintry blast. Yet, like some neglected, ragged child, who from early infancy has been familiar with adversities, it has lived and grown; it has stood erect on its weather-beaten crag when the pride of the valley has bent to the storm; and, like brave men, who, scorning to yield, nail their colours to the mast, there it maintains its defiant position, and keeps its green flag waving on natures rugged battlements. More wonderful still is it to see where the grace of God will live and grow. Never despair should be the motto of the Christian; and how ought it to keep hope alive under the darkest and most desponding circumstances, to see God calling grace out of the foulest sin! Look at this cold creeping worm! Playful childhood shrinks shuddering from its slimy touch; yet a few weeks, and with merry laugh and feet that press the flowery meadow that same childhood is hunting an insect which never alights upon the ground, but, flitting in painted beauty from flower to flower, drinks honeyed nectar from their fairy cups, and sleeps the short summer night away in the bosom of their perfumes. If that is the same boy, this is no less the self-same creature. Change most wonderful! yet but an imperfect emblem of the Divine transformation wrought on those who are transformed by the renewing of their minds. Glorious change! Have you experienced its Divine gracious influences?
III. God will make up the number of His people. I will gather you out of all countries. There are some pleasant gatherings in this world which are alloyed with pain. Christmas, the New Year, or a birthday time comes round, summoning the members of a scattered family. Some are dead and gone–Joseph is not, and Simeon is not; and a dark cloud hangs on a mothers brow, as on the cheek of yet another her anxious eye, quick to see, discovers an ominous spot that threatens to take Benjamin away. There is a gathering also when, at the close of a hard-fought day, the roll of the regiment is called, and to familiar names there comes no answer back. They shall answer no trumpet but that which calls a world to judgment. When daylight breaks on the shore and the shipwreck, there is also a mustering and reckoning of numbers. There, a mother clasps and kisses the living babe which the waves had plucked from her arms, and she never hoped more to see; and here, a true brother cheers up the boy whom he held in a grasp strong as death, while, with the other hand buffeting the billows, he bore him safely to the beach. But many, less fortunate, are wringing their hands in the wildness of unavailing grief. Flying from group to group, distracted mothers cry, Where is my child? These are mournful mutterings. In striking contrast to them look at the gathering in that land-locked creek on Melitas shore:–It was a frightful storm; the coast is unknown; the ship, run ashore, grounds in deep water with nigh three hundred souls on board. Some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship; but, by whatever way it came to pass, it did come to pass, as the narrative tells, they escaped all safe to land. Even so shall it be with those of whom Jesus says, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. My Father that gave them Me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of My Fathers hand. Happy those who sail in the ship, and have embarked in the same good cause with Christ. The Lord knoweth them that are His; and all that His Father hath given Him He shall keep. But my text tells us not only that He will gather His people, but gather them out of all countries. Let those mark that who, indulging an extravagant patriotism, or shrivelled up in the cold and contracted spirit of bigotry, allow themselves to limit the Holy One of Israel, and say with the Jews of old, We have Abraham to our father, we are the people of the Lord; the temple of the Lord are we. God has people both where we look not for them, and know not of them. The Gospel is indigenous in no country, and yet belongs to all. Every sea is not paved with pearl shelves; nor does every soil grow vines and stately palms; nor does every mine sparkle with precious gems; nor do the streams of every land roll their waters over gold-glittering sands. These symbols of grace have a narrow range; not grace itself. She owns no lines of latitude or longitude. All climates are one to her. She wears no party badge; and belongs neither to caste, nor class, nor colour. With this truth, as by a zone of love, elastic enough to stretch round the globe, we would bind together the whole family of man. Let it awaken in Christian hearts an interest in every land, and an affection for every race.
IV. We are assured that God will bring all His people to glory, by the fact that His own honour, as well as their welfare, is concerned in the matter. When I think of the sins to be forgiven, and the difficulties to be overcome, the wonder seems, not that few reach heaven, but that any get there. We have read the story of voyages during which for nights the weary and storm-tossed sailors enjoyed no sleep, and for days saw no sun. Lying at one time becalmed beneath a fiery sky, at another time shivering amid fields of ice; here with sunken rocks around them, and treacherous currents there sweeping them on dangerous reefs, exposed to sudden squalls, long dark nights, and fearful tempests, the wonder was that their battered ship ever reached her port. Some while ago a vessel entered one of our western harbours, and all the town went out to see her. Well they might. She had left the American shore with a large and able-bodied crew. They have hardly lost sight of land when the pestilence boards them; victim drops after victim; another and another is committed to the deep: from deck to deck, from yard to yard, she pursues her prey; nor spreads her wings to leave that ill-fated ship till but two survive to work her over the broad waters of a wintry sea. And when, with providence at the helm, these two men, worn by toil and watching to ghastly skeletons, have brought their bark to land, and now kiss once more the wives and little ones they never thought more to see, and step once more on a green earth they never more hoped to touch, thousands throng the pier to see the sight, and hear the adventures of a voyage brought to such a happy issue against such dreadful odds. Yet there is never a bark drops anchor in heaven, nor a weary voyager steps out on its welcome strand, but is a greater wonder. Save for the assurance that what God hath begun He will finish, but for the promise that what concerns His people He will perfect, oh, how often would our hope of final blessedness expire! To compare small things with great, our heavenward journey, with its dangers and changes, has sometimes appeared to me like that of a passenger to our own lovely, romantic city. On these iron roads he now rolls along rich and fertile plains; now, raised to a dangerous and dizzy height, he flies across intervening valleys; now he rushes through a narrow gorge excavated in the solid rock, with nothing seen but heaven; now, plunging into the earth, he dashes into some gaping cavern, and for a while loses sight even of heaven itself; then again he sweeps forth and on in sunshine, till the domes and towers and temples of the city burst upon his view; and, these now near at hand, he concludes his journey by passing through an emblem of death. Entering a gloomy arch, he advances slowly and in darkness through a place of graves, and then all of a sudden emerges into day, to feast his eyes on the glorious scenery, and receive the kind welcomes and congratulations of waiting friends, as he finds himself safe in the midst of the city. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 24. I will take you from among the heathen] This does not relate to the restoration from Babylon merely. The Jews are at this day scattered in all Heathen, Mohammedan, and Christian countries. From these they are to be gathered, and brought to repossess their own land.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The heathen purpose, as Pharaoh did, to detain you servants, and think it impossible any power should take you out of their hand or break the yoke; but I will do it. I will by my omnipotent hand rescue you from their power.
Gather you; they were scattered so through a hundred and twenty-seven provinces, that the heathen judged it impossible to reassemble them, but God will do this too. Will bring you into your own land: so many difficulties lay in their way of getting into their own land, that they thought them insuperable, so long a journey, so many enemies, and strong, crafty, and malicious, such weak, poor, and unarmed people, &c.; yet all these shall not prevent me; I will bring them safe to their own land, and settle them. When this is done, they shall confess, and the heathen shall confess, that I am great, good, wise, and faithful to my promise; a God not like theirs, but-worthy to be thought well of, and to be spoken well of, to be praised and obeyed.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
24. Fulfilled primarily in therestoration from Babylon; ultimately to be so in the restoration”from all countries.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For I will take you from among the Heathen,…. The Chaldeans and other nations, among whom they were carried captive; and the Papists, among whom many of them now are, often called Heathens and Gentiles in Scripture: this will be fully completed at the time of the Jews’ conversion in the latter day: the phrase fitly expresses the act of divine grace, in taking his people from among the world by the effectual calling:
and gather you out of all countries; to himself, and to his Son, and to his church, and to some certain place from whence they will go up in a body to their own land, as follows: see Ho 1:11:
and will bring you into your own land; into the land of Canaan literally understood, as well as into the church of God here, and into the heavenly country hereafter, of which Canaan was a type.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you to your own land.”
This gathering of the people of Israel back to the land began as a relative trickle on the decree of Cyrus (Ezra 1), and continued over a long period, with more and more people returning from all over the known world, until Israel was a recognised nation again established in its own land with its own capital city, relatively free from idolatry and worshipping in its own way. Interestingly enough the same is true of the present day restoration of Israel to its land. That too has been a slow process which is still going on. So neither was a once for all event. Both were continual events, in the first case at least, taking centuries.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
DISCOURSE: 1117
OUT-POURING OF THE SPIRIT ON THE JEWS
Eze 36:24-28. I will take you from among the. Heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all 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 heart of flesh. And will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes: and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
IT will appear strange to say to a Christian assembly, that the true nature of Christianity is but little understood: but it is even so: for almost all persons regard it only as a code of laws, or a system of restraints: whereas, in truth, it is a mine of promises, of exceeding great and precious promises, which are made to every one who feels his need of them, and desires to embrace them. I say not that it does not also contain precepts; for no doubt it enjoins a total surrender of ourselves to God: but there is not any thing which it requires, which it does not also make over to us as a free gift of God for Christs sake. Take, for example, the passage before us. It is delivered to the Jews in their present dispersed state: and it provides for them all the blessings which they stand in need of, both in this world and in the world to come.
Let us consider these promises,
I.
As delivered more immediately to the Jewish people
Whatever reference these promises might have to the period of their return from Babylon, it is manifest that they did not receive at that time a full accomplishment; and, consequently, that we must look forward to the future restoration of the Jews as the period fixed for their final completion.
The Jews are destined to be restored to their own land
[Of this, I conceive, there can be no reasonable doubt. The prophets speak so fully and so plainly on this subject, that we must divest language of all force and certainty before we can set aside the hope of their restoration to their own land. Whether that event shall precede or follow their conversion, I presume not to determine.
It should seem, from the writings of Moses, that the conversion of some, at least, will precede their return to Palestine: When thou shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and obey his voice, then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity [Note: Deu 30:1-3.]. The Prophet Jeremiah, on the other hand, represents both events as simultaneous: They shall come with weeping; and with supplications will I lead them [Note: Jer 31:8-9.]. But in the passage before us, the prophet speaks of their conversion as subsequent to their restoration: I will bring you into your own land: then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean. All of these testimonies doubtless are true; and they are easily reconciled, by only referring them to the different stages of their conversion, as viewed in its commencement, its progress, and its consummation. But, whatever be determined with respect to this, their future restoration to the land of their fathers is as certain as any event which yet remains to be fulfilled.]
It is, however, not to this, but to the conversion of their souls, that I would chiefly draw your attention
[This is indisputably promised to them in the words of my text. And it is surprising how universally this view of the passage has been overlooked by the Christian world. There are few passages of Holy Scripture that are more frequently cited by the preachers of the everlasting Gospel than this: but, as though we were determined to rob the Jews of their interest in them, we have always omitted the first and last verses of the text, and applied the remainder altogether to ourselves: thus cutting off, as it were, the head and the feet, which marked the promise as belonging to the Jews, that we might seize upon the body as our own exclusive property. It is surprising that benevolence, which certainly is characteristic of the Christian world, should never have led us to contemplate and delight in the prospects here set forth for the comfort of Gods ancient people. But we have been as unmindful of their spiritual interests as if no such promise had been ever made to them, yea, and as if no such people existed in the world. And this is the more remarkable, because the same connexion between their conversion to God and their restoration to their own land is generally marked in the prophetic writings, and especially in places where these peculiar promises are made to them [Note: See Eze 11:17-20 and Jer 32:37-39.]. But it is certain that God will bestow upon them all the blessings which are here specified; sanctifying them wholly to himself, and making them, as in the days of old, his own peculiar people. The gift of Gods Holy Spirit was declared, upon the day of Pentecost, to be reserved, not for the Jews of that day only, but for them, and for their children, and for all that were afar off, even as many as the Lord their God should call [Note: Act 2:39.].
In the promise which is made to them in my text, there is an especial reference to the consecration of the Levites under the Mosaic Law. They were separated from all the other tribes, to wait upon God in the more immediate services of his sanctuary: and for this purpose they were consecrated to the Lord with peculiar solemnity: Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and cleanse them. And thus shall thou do unto them, to cleanse them: sprinkle water of purifying upon them..Then let them a young bullock with his meat-offering..and another young bullock shalt thou take for a sin-offering and the Levites shall lay their hands upon the heads of the bullocks: and thou shalt offer the one for a sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering, unto the Lord, to make an atonement for the Levites [Note: Num 8:6-8; Num 8:12.]. Thus will God take that whole people for priests and for Levites [Note: Isa 66:21.] in the latter day, and sanctify them wholly to himself as his peculiar people. He will, by the atoning blood of Christ, and by the influence of his Holy Spirit, cleanse them from all their filthiness, and from all their idols: he will altogether renew them, also, in the spirit of their minds, and cause them to walk as holily as any of their most eminent ancestors in the days of old. In the presence of the whole world shall they be thus exalted: and whereas their name is now Lo-ruhamah, arid Lo-ammi, as disowned, and cast off from God; they shall again be recognised as Ammi, and Ruhamah; that is, as his people who have obtained mercy at his hands; and God will say unto them, Thou art my people, and I am your God [Note: Hos 1:6-8; Hos 2:1; Hos 2:23.]. Would you see them in the very act of returning; and behold their reception with their reconciled God, the Prophet Jeremiah, in a fore-cited passage, exhibits them before you, coming to their God with weeping and with supplications; and God, with paternal tenderness, declaring to them, I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born [Note: Jer 31:8-9.].
The Jews, it is true, think but little of these prospects; (they, alas! are occupied rather with expectations of a temporal Messiah, under whom they shall attain the summit of worldly aggrandizement:) but it becomes us to look forward to far higher things in their behalf, and to anticipate with delight their actual enjoyment of them.]
Whilst we rejoice in the prospects held forth in this prophecy to the Jewish people, let us consider it also,
II.
As applicable to the Church of God in all ages
The promises here given are those of the new covenant [Note: Heb 8:8-10.]; and all who lay hold on that covenant, whether Jews or Gentiles, and whether now or in the millennial age, are alike interested in them. From the time that the Holy Spirit was sent forth by our ascended Saviour, have these blessings been poured out, in the richest abundance, on Gods Church and people; and, to every contrite and believing soul, God here promises his Holy Spirit,
1.
To cleanse from sin
[To cleanse from the guilt of sin is, in the first instance, the office of Christ, by the sprinkling of his blood. But it is the work of the Holy Spirit also; because it is he who reveals Christ to the soul, and enables us to apply to ourselves his precious blood. And, in fact, it is by implanting in our hearts the principle of faith, that he renews and sanctifies us after the Divine image: He purifies our hearts by faith [Note: Act 15:9.]. To what an extent we need his gracious influences, it is scarcely in the power of language to declare. Both the flesh and the spirit of man are altogether polluted and corrupt; as the Psalmist expresses it, Our inward parts are very wickedness [Note: Psa 5:9.]. Were all the thoughts and workings of our hearts as visible to men as they are to God, who is there amongst us that would not often be constrained to hide his face with shame and confusion? The idols, too, which we set up in the secret recesses of our hearts, alas! how numerous they are, and how fearfully have they provoked the Most High God to jealousy! But from all our filthiness, and from all our idols, shall we be cleansed, through the operation of the Spirit of God upon our souls; according as it is said by the Apostle, Christ has loved the Church, and given himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish [Note: Eph 5:25-27.]. O! hear this, all ye who are weary and heavy laden with the guilt and burthen of your sins; and know assuredly, that if this is promised to the Jews in the Millennial age, it is no less promised to the Christian Church, and shall be fulfilled to all who will believe in Christ.]
2.
To renew the heart
[Verily, in every unregenerate man is an heart of stone. Who does not feel this? Who has ever addressed himself to the work of repentance, and not found how insensible his heart is of sorrow. or of shame, even on a review of a whole life of sin? With earthly concerns we are easily moved; but not with the concerns of the soul, even though we know that the wrath of Almighty God is revealed against us, and that we are justly obnoxious to his everlasting displeasure. But God promises to take away from us the heart of stone, and to give us an heart of flesh, tender, contrite, abased before God in dust and ashes. Shall the Jews, on their restoration, look on Him whom they have pierced, and mourn, and be in bitterness, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born [Note: Zec 12:10.]? Shall they, in the day to which my text refers, remember their own evil ways, and their doings which were not good, and lothe themselves in their own sight for their iniquities and abominations [Note: ver. 31.]? And shall not such be the effects wrought on our souls, if the Spirit of God be truly poured forth upon us? Our hearts shall be altogether renewed; so that we shall be, as it were, a new creation: old things shall pass away, and all things become new. Our dark understanding shall be enlightened; our rebellious will be subdued; our earthly and sensual affections be purified, even as God is pure. Together with our views, our desires shall be renovated; and all our hopes and fears, and joys and sorrows, be brought into an accordance with them. In a word, we shall be renewed, after the Divine image, in righteousness and true holiness. O! what a blessed change! Who will not from this hour seek to be a partaker of it, through the abounding mercy of our promise-keeping God?]
3.
To sanctify the life
[What has been before spoken metaphorically, is here delivered in plain terms: God will put his Spirit within us, and cause us to walk in his statutes, and do them. Adverse as we are by nature to God, and ready to complain of his commandments as grievous, we shall be made to delight in his law after our inward man, as soon as he has put his Holy Spirit within us: for his law will then be written on the fleshy tables of our hearts. There will be a constraining influence of our souls, which shall overcome all our natural reluctance, and make us the willing servants of our God. To state precisely how this work shall be wrought in us, is beyond our power: but methinks there is some analogy between the first creation of all things and this new creation which takes place in the soul of man. As an impulse was given to all the heavenly bodies, which are kept in their respective orbits by the attractive influence of the sun, around which they move, and whose radiance they reflect; so is there a divine impulse given to the soul of the regenerate man, who, from the first commencement of his course, yields to the attractions of the Sun of Righteousness, and fulfils his destined offices, to the praise and glory of his God. It is by his circuit only that the laws by which he acts are discovered; and they are known to proceed from God, because they lead him invariably to God: the effects produced upon his heart and life are decisive evidences that God is with him of a truth: they shew, that He who hath wrought him to this self-same thing is God, who hath given unto him of his Spirit [Note: 2Co 5:5.].]
Application
1.
Lay hold on these promises yourselves
[You see how freely, and with what sovereign grace, God makes these promises unto you: for, if they are made to the Jews under their present state of degradation and wickedness, there is no one so debased or sinful, but that he may well appropriate them to himself, and seek an interest in them. You will take especial notice, that here are no conditions imposed in order to obtain an interest in them: nothing is required, but that we seek for these blessings in humble and fervent prayer [Note: ver. 37.]. As to the blessings themselves, every part proceeds from the unmerited love and mercy of God: in every clause, Gods will is pointed out as the one source of all the benefits. And when God is thus saying, I will, I will, I will, do these things for you, shall there be any reluctance shewn on our part? Shall it be said of us, as of the Jews of old, How often would I have gathered you, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but ye would not? O, brethren, let me rather entreat you, in reference to every clause, to add your hearty Amen, So be it unto me, O Lord, according to thy will. And I the rather urge this; because, without an experience of the things here promised, no soul from amongst you can ever behold the face of God in peace. Say, I pray you, can you be the Lords people, and Jehovah be your God, whilst these things are disregarded by you? Can you ever be exalted to thrones of glory, if you be not first cleansed by the blood and Spirit of Christ from all your filthiness, and from all your idols? Must not your heart of stone be changed, and your ungodly life be rectified, before you can enjoy the felicity of heaven? Your own consciences will attest, that this change is necessary: and therefore let all of you, whatever your present character may be, lay hold on these promises, as the one ground of your hopes, and as the only means of securing the blessedness to which they lead.]
2.
Endeavour to promote the acceptance of them among the Jews
[It is a shame and a scandal to the Christian world, that they have shewn such indifference to the welfare of the Jews for so many centuries. And surely it is high time that we awake at last to some sense of our duty. Remember, I pray you, what is the object which you are called to effect: it is not the restoration of the Jews to their own land: that you may well leave to the providence of God to accomplish in his own time and way: it is rather the conversion of their souls to God which calls for your aid; and I appeal to you, whether that do not deserve your most active co-operation. You may say, perhaps, That is Gods work, and may also be left to him. But it was not thus that the Apostles judged, in reference to us Gentiles. They could not, by any power of their own, convert a single soul: but did they therefore decline to use the means which God himself had appointed? No: they preached Christ to all to whom they could gain access: and it was in confirmation of their word that the Spirit of God descended on their hearers. St. Peter, when speaking to Cornelius and his company, said, To Christ give all the prophets witness, that, through his name, whosoever believeth on him shall receive remission of sins. And then it is particularly said, While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them that heard the word [Note: Act 10:43-44.]. Thus, in concurrence with your efforts, God in his mercy will return to his deserted people; and again take them as his people, and be their God. Surely, the very hope of this is sufficient to animate you in your exertions: and if only in a few instances you may be instrumental in effecting this blessed end, it will richly repay you for all the liberality that you can exercise, and all the labour you can bestow.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Reader! pray read over again and again those sweet promises; Are they not like the Chapter of the grapes of Eshcol? And oh! how truly blessed to the souls that have partaken of them in the Lord Jesus! Every word is full of grace, and rich with mercy. First, the Lord will gather his redeemed to himself. This begins the promise. Are they scattered far and near? Then will he gather them from all lands. And where will he bring them? Into their own land. And if the Reader would see how the Lord will do it! let him turn to one scripture to see how. Eph 1:10 . And to another scripture to discover the cause why. Jer 32:40 . Well; but when they are brought, what will the Lord do for them; and what will he do to them! These sweet verses declare. Are they polluted? They shall be washed from all their filthiness, in the blood of Jesus; Have they hard hearts? The Lord will soften them. Are they ignorant? The Lord will put his spirit in them. Are they impoverished and poor? The Lord will greatly multiply them. And what shall be the blessed effects of this bounty? They shall remember themselves, and loath themselves for all the evil they have committed, Sweet consideration! Nothing short of a spirit of grace in the soul can induce a self-loathing, for sin in our nature. And on what account is it that the Lord doth all these things to Israel? Because they are Israel his people, his redeemed, his chosen, His own sake, his glorious name’s sake, is the sole cause, and his own glory. No merit, no sorrow, no repentance; nothing in them moving the Lord to it. No not even their misery: for his love, and the glory of his name, preceded even their being. Precious salvation of a precious precious Saviour!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Eze 36:24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
Ver. 24. For I will take you, &c. ] I will effectually call you out of darkness into my marvellous light, and cull you out from this wicked world. And this is the first thing that God here promiseth to his covenanters. More than this, he promiseth them in the following verses justification, sanctification, and preservation, or provision of temporal blessings, that nothing may be wanting to them that may make them happy. We should be often counting of this coin, telling of this treasure.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
will bring you, &c. Compare Eze 11:17; Eze 34:13; Eze 34:37, Eze 34:21, Eze 34:25; Eze 39:27, Eze 39:28, &c. Ref to Pentateuch (Deu 30:3-6). App-92. into your own land on to your own soil. Hebrew ‘ado:oeh. Not the some word as in Eze 36:28.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Eze 11:17, Eze 34:13, Eze 37:21, Eze 37:25, Eze 39:27, Eze 39:28, Deu 30:3-5, Psa 107:2, Psa 107:3, Isa 11:11-16, Isa 27:12, Isa 27:13, Isa 43:5, Isa 43:6, Jer 23:3-8, Jer 30:3, Jer 30:18, Jer 31:8, Jer 32:37, Jer 50:17-20, Hos 1:11, Amo 9:14, Amo 9:15, Rom 11:25, Rom 11:26
Reciprocal: Lev 25:18 – and ye Neh 1:9 – will bring Psa 68:22 – the depths Psa 105:45 – That Psa 106:47 – gather Psa 119:134 – General Psa 147:2 – he Isa 4:3 – shall be Isa 14:1 – set Isa 26:15 – thou hadst Isa 54:7 – with Isa 65:9 – I will Jer 12:14 – and pluck Jer 16:15 – that brought Jer 23:8 – General Jer 24:6 – and I will bring Jer 24:7 – I will give Jer 46:27 – I will save Jer 50:19 – bring Eze 20:41 – I bring Eze 20:42 – when I Eze 28:25 – When Eze 37:12 – and bring Eze 37:23 – but Eze 38:8 – into the land Eze 39:25 – Now will Joe 3:7 – I will Mic 4:6 – and I Zep 3:18 – gather Luk 1:75 – General Heb 11:8 – which
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 36:24. This identical prediction has been made a number of times (Deu 30:3; Jer 23:3; Eze 11:17; Eze 20:41; Eze 34:13). It is a prophecy that was to be fulfilled when the Jews were released from their bondage in the various countries that made up the great Babylonian Empire.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
The Lord promised, first, to take the Israelites from all the nations, to re-gather them, and to bring them back into their land (cf. Eze 11:16-17; Eze 20:34; Eze 34:13; Eze 37:21). He would then, second, purify His people and cleanse them from all their former uncleanness (cf. Eze 36:17; Eze 11:18; Exo 12:22; Lev 14:4-7; Psa 51:7; Jer 31:31-34; 1Co 6:11). Justification, not sanctification, is in view. [Note: Ibid.]
"The new exodus motif occurs ten times in Ezekiel, but it gains increasing prominence in the restoration oracles." [Note: Block, The Book . . . 48, p. 353. Cf. 11:17; 20:34-35; 20:41-42; 28:25; 29:13; 34:13; 36:24; 37:12, 21; 39:27.]