A MOST interesting section now lies before us (Ezek. 20:32-4432And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all, that ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone. 33As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you: 34And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out. 35And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face. 36Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God. 37And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant: 38And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the Lord. 39As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God; Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken unto me: but pollute ye my holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols. 40For in mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the firstfruits of your oblations, with all your holy things. 41I will accept you with your sweet savor, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen. 42And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to your fathers. 43And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed. 44And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have wrought with you for my name's sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord God. (Ezekiel 20:32‑44)). The opening part of the chapter records the sorrowful story of Israel’s long-continued sin. Many a time was judgment about to fall, but Jehovah’s eye spared His people, and time after time He withdrew the hand that was outstretched to destroy them.
His gifts and calling were without repentance (Rom. 11:2929For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. (Romans 11:29)), that is to say, they were without change of mind on His part; His promises to the fathers He must fulfill for His own name’s sake. But what stubborn unbelief is shown in verse 32! A determination had even come into their minds — it was not a mere fall in an unguarded moment, but a positive choice of their wicked hearts, when they said, “We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.”
But Jehovah would not allow it, “As I live, saith the Lord,... will I rule over you.” This is what God will bring about in the end for His people; but His ways in government must take their course.
In this passage we have specially to do with the judgment in the last days of the ten tribes in contrast with Judah. As may be seen by the dates in the margin of our Bibles, about 150 years before Ezekiel’s prophecy the ten tribes had been carried away by the King of Assyria (2 Kings 17); this judgment upon them was in fulfillment of God’s solemn warning through Moses (see Leviticus 26, Deut. 32) 750 years before that again: “For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, which had brought them out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh, King of Egypt, and had feared other gods” (2 Kings 17:77For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, (2 Kings 17:7)). The heinousness of their sin was seen in the light of the great deliverance God had wrought on their behalf. “The children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the Lord their God;” they set them up idols, and burned incense before them, as the heathen had done whom God had driven out before them. Would God tolerate in His people wickedness for which He had already judged the heathen? Surely not. “You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities” (Amos 3:22You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. (Amos 3:2)).
But in the passage we are now considering, God is seen coming in and dealing for the ultimate and permanent blessing of His people in a day yet to come, though possibly not far distant.
As we have said, the future restoration of the ten tribes is here in question, and not the special dealings with Judah. It was a remnant of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and the Levites (Ezra 1:55Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem. (Ezra 1:5)), that responded to the proclamation of Cyrus inviting them to return to Jerusalem, and there build the house of the Lord. It was to this remnant that the Messiah was presented; and at their door lay the terrible guilt of betraying Him, and putting Him to death. On them, therefore, a special judgment must fall, and from various prophetic portions of the Word of God it is clear that they will pass through this time of terrible tribulation in the land of Palestine (see Zech. 13:8, 98And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. 9And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God. (Zechariah 13:8‑9)).
But in the case of the ten tribes, sometimes called Ephraim in contrast to Judah, the case is different. Through all the centuries of their dispersion, lost to the eye of their brethren of Judah, and scattered amongst the nations of the earth, they are nevertheless watched over by Jehovah, and kept separate in spite of themselves. When all God’s plans for the glory of Christ are ripe, He who scattered them will gather them “with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out” (vs. 34).
He will bring them, not into the land, but “into the wilderness of the people.” The history of His early dealings with them when brought out of Egypt will be repeated: “Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God” (vs. 36).
Nothing can be plainer than what is here stated in reference to those ten tribes: “I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against Me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and THEY SHALL NOT ENTER INTO THE LAND OF ISRAEL: and ye shall know that I am the Lord” (vers. 37-39). Judah’s future judgment will take place in the land — that of the ten tribes, on the way to the land.
It would appear that verse 39 refers to Israel’s past history of idolatry. In their rebelliousness they said, “We will be as the heathen... to serve wood and stone” (vs. 32). Jehovah then takes them at their word, and says to them, “Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken unto Me: but pollute ye My holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols” (vs. 39). In other words, the Lord would no longer tolerate this unholy mingling of idolatry with the worship that was due to Himself alone. As He had said through Elijah before, “How long hall ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him” (1 Kings 18:2121And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. (1 Kings 18:21)).
Though the special subject of this prophecy is that which will befall the ten tribes in the latter day, both in the way of judgment and blessing, yet without doubt Judah is included in verse 40. “For in Mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve Me.” Has this ever yet been accomplished? Since the days of the Babylonian captivity, at which date Ezekiel was uttering this prediction, never has the whole house of Israel, ALL OF THEM, been in their land. Only a remnant of Judah and Benjamin went back in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah (Ezra 1:55Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem. (Ezra 1:5)), but in the days that are yet to come, the whole nation, no longer divided into the two separate portions of the ten tribes and the two, will be found there. And when restored to their — land what a change will come over their whole position. “I will accept you with your sweet savor,” says Jehovah; “I will be sanctified in you before the heathen. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel... and there shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings... and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have wrought with you for My name’s sake, not according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord God.”
Elsewhere in the prophetic Word do we find allusions to the restoration of Israel nationally. We cannot do more here than refer the reader to such passages as Isaiah 43:1-7, 49:5-24; Jeremiah 31:1-141At the same time, saith the Lord, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people. 2Thus saith the Lord, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest. 3The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. 4Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry. 5Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common things. 6For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the Lord our God. 7For thus saith the Lord; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O Lord, save thy people, the remnant of Israel. 8Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither. 9They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn. 10Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock. 11For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he. 12Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all. 13Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow. 14And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the Lord. (Jeremiah 31:1‑14).
A few words may be added with reference to the passage in Isaiah 49, a passage of transcendent interest. It was the responsibility of Israel to be the testimony for God on the earth amidst the nations, “Thou art My servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified (vs. 3). But Israel turned to idolatry and utterly failed. Then Christ, the Messiah, comes into the world, and has to say in reference to His earthly people, “I have labored in vain,” &c. (vs. 5), for He came to His own, and His own received Him not. But now Christ Himself takes the place of guilty Israel. Jehovah’s answer to the lament of verse 4. is found in the verses that follow. Christ Himself should be glorious as Jehovah’s servant, thus taking the place of Israel as the true servant, Israel having failed. He should raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the preserved of Israel, that is the remnant of the people; and not only this, He should be a light to the Gentiles, and salvation to the ends of the earth.
Through the gospel this is now receiving a partial fulfillment, but the true interpretation of the passage carries us on to the future millennial day, when He who was despised of man, and abhorred of the nation (Israel), will yet be worshipped and adored by earthly rulers, princes and kings.
Connected with that day will be the restoration of Israel to their own land. The scattered people, hidden as prisoners in darkness amongst the nations, will hear the words, “Go forth and show yourselves.” Then a mighty movement will take place. “I will make all My mountains a way, and My highways shall be exalted. Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim (China?).”
Then earth and heaven are called to rejoice, and to break forth into singing, for the Lord hath comforted His afflicted people. Here, we believe, the tribulation of the two tribes in the land is in view. Zion, well-nigh overwhelmed with sorrows, says, “The Lord hath forsaken me,” &c. Most touchingly Jehovah replies that He could no more forget Jerusalem than could a woman forget her sucking child. “Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands: thy walls are continually before Me” (vers. 13-17). Deliverance is at hand, Jerusalem’s destroyers, and those that made her waste, shall go forth of her.
Now follows (vers. 18-24) the description of the return of the ten tribes, after Zion’s tribulation and deliverance. “Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee.” And again, 67:2
“The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other (that is, after the cutting off the two parts in the land, Zechariah 13:8, 98And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. 9And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God. (Zechariah 13:8‑9)), shall say again in thine ears, The place is too straight for me: give place to me that I may dwell.”
The whole passage is of the deepest interest; the wonder with which Zion will behold the return of her long-lost children is most vividly described. “As I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all. But “where had they been?” Zion will exclaim. And until Jehovah’s time has come for their restoration, vain is it for man to attempt to say. When His time comes the whole world will be set in motion to accomplish His counsels on their behalf.