YHWH’s Land May 31, 2017
Hashem
Ezekiel 36:1-22 Page 1
As we learned last week, God has not turned left in His discussion about the future for His people.
Yes, they are in exile.
Yes, the entire area has been made a desolation.
Yes, God’s judgment has fallen on His people.
But as we saw starting in chapter 32, the message after the fall of Jerusalem has changed to one of hope.
We learned something unusual about that hope last week
We saw, in His message of hope that God is giving Ezekiel to relate to the people, that Edom and their final judgment is tied into the future of the Jews.
Chapter 35 contained a three part indictment against Edom:
1. Everlasting enmity
2. The land belongs to me (Edom), not Israel
3. Their arrogance to the Lord
Since the 1890’s, God’s people, the Jews, have been returning to the Land.
The Land has ceased to be a drought-stricken unforgiving desert land and has become a garden.
We have not seen all of this…yet
Amos 9:13–15
“A time is coming —declares the LORD— When the plowman shall meet the reaper, And the treader of grapes Him who holds the bag of seed; When the mountains shall drip wine And all the hills shall wave with grain. I will restore My people Israel. They shall rebuild ruined cities and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and drink their wine; They shall till gardens and eat their fruits. And I will plant them upon their soil, Nevermore to be uprooted From the soil I have given them —said the LORD your God.” (Tanakh)
You have all that backdrop and here in Ezekiel, this is why it would make sense to an Israelite after Jerusalem falls and we begin to talk about what the future holds may be. We include in that transition this comment about Edom, this diatribe, this oracle against Edom. This was a trigger point. This was something that an Israelite would get. "When Edom gets its own, that is part of our restoration. That's just part of what needs to happen." So to an Israelite, this would not have seemed out of place at all, but to us it looks a little quirky.
Michael S. Heiser, PhD, Naked Bible Podcast, Episode 150, Ezekiel 35 – 36; March 81, 2017.
Ezekiel 34:28
“They will no longer be a prey to the nations, and the beasts of the earth will not devour them; but they will live securely, and no one will make them afraid.” (NASB95)
Ezekiel 35:12–15
“Then you will know that I, the LORD, have heard all your revilings which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel saying, ‘They are laid desolate; they are given to us for food.’ And you have spoken arrogantly against Me and have multiplied your words against Me; I have heard it.” Thus says the Lord GOD, “As all the earth rejoices, I will make you a desolation. As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, so I will do to you. You will be a desolation, O Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it. Then they will know that I am the LORD.” (NASB95)
Here is lex talionis, the just judgment of God upon evil-doers: all the enemies of Zion God will meet with in due time, and return the same or like things into their bosoms.
William Greenhill, An Exposition of the Prophet Ezekiel, with Useful Observations Thereupon, ed. James Sherman (London: Samuel Holdsworth, 1839), 705.
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Ezekiel 36:1–12
“And you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say, ‘O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the Lord GOD, “Because the enemy has spoken against you, ‘Aha!’ and, ‘The everlasting heights have become our possession,’ therefore prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “For good reason they have made you desolate and crushed you from every side, that you would become a possession of the rest of the nations and you have been taken up in the talk and the whispering of the people.”’” ‘Therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD. Thus says the Lord GOD to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the forsaken cities which have become a prey and a derision to the rest of the nations which are round about, therefore thus says the Lord GOD, “Surely in the fire of My jealousy I have spoken against the rest of the nations, and against all Edom, who appropriated My land for themselves as a possession with wholehearted joy and with scorn of soul, to drive it out for a prey.” ‘Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel and say to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, “Thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy and in My wrath because you have endured the insults of the nations.’ “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, ‘I have sworn that surely the nations which are around you will themselves endure their insults. But you, O mountains of Israel, you will put forth your branches and bear your fruit for My people Israel; for they will soon come. For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you will be cultivated and sown. I will multiply men on you, all the house of Israel, all of it; and the cities will be inhabited and the waste places will be rebuilt. I will multiply on you man and beast; and they will increase and be fruitful; and I will cause you to be inhabited as you were formerly and will treat you better than at the first. Thus you will know that I am the LORD. Yes, I will cause men—My people Israel—to walk on you and possess you, so that you will become their inheritance and never again bereave them of children.’” (NASB95)
After the desolation of the and by Babylon, nations of the area moved in to take up the land.
God has a message for them which still holds for today…The arrogance of the surrounding nations over the demise of YHWH’s people and their annexing her lands causes Him to act!
Bob Utley, Ezekiel, Study Guide Commentary Series (Marshall, TX: Bible Lessons International, 2008), 305.
Observe that in this message the prophet is commanded to address himself directly to the mountains of Israel: that is, he speaks rather to the land itself than to the people, and this of course that the people may learn from his message what God has in store for the land in the latter days. In the light of what has happened within the last thirty years we can almost apply these words literally to the present time, but they will have a more complete fulfilment later on. Already has that land, which lay desolate so long, begun to answer to the description given in this chapter of what God is yet to do for it. H. A. Ironside, Expository Notes on Ezekiel, the Prophet. (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers, 1949), 248.
Who owns the land that the UN thinks they can freely give away?
Who owns the land that US Presidents have thought they could divide?
Who owns the land that others want to oversee?
Leviticus 25:23
“‘The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are but aliens and sojourners with Me.” (NASB95)
God has taken note of all the bitter enmity that these nations have manifested toward Israel, and He will never overlook the manner in which they have made the land a prey. Their attitude toward the land of the people of Jehovah’s choice has stirred the fire of His jealousy, so that He has declared His judgments against all nations that seek to take possession of that land and bring His people into bondage. He has sworn in His indignation and concern for Israel, that as they have borne the shame of the nations so the nations themselves, who have been the cause of Israel’s distress, should be put to shame in the coming day of the Lord. H. A. Ironside, Expository Notes on Ezekiel, the Prophet. (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers, 1949), 249.
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Ezekiel is providing a prophecy to the mountains of Israel, and of those mountains, of a land which God says is His, is a specific place that is also being addressed.
Mount Zion.
There has been some exploration of the Mount Zion and City of David area just south of the Temple Mount.
Evidence from the fall of Jerusalem discussed in Ezekiel has been found.
Psalm 2:1–12
Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!” He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying, “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.” “I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’” Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!” (NASB95)
Genesis 12:2–3
“And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” (NASB95)
Zechariah 2:8
For thus says the LORD of hosts, “After glory He has sent Me against the nations which plunder you, for he who touches you, touches the apple of His eye.” (NASB95)
Genesis 13:14–17
“The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever. I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be numbered. Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you.” (NASB95)
Genesis 15:7–21
And He said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.” He said, “O Lord GOD, how may I know that I will possess it?” So He said to him, “Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds. The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.” It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.”” (NASB95)
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In the type of treaty being completed by God, normally both parties walked through, in this case, only God. It was to be a one-sided treaty, not breakable by man.
As we have been covering the past few weeks, ownership was clear, God owned the Land and provided it to Israel and they would be able to fully enjoy it, as long as they were obedient.
Is God still keeping track?
Do the promises of blessing and cursing regarding those who love His nation still hold for today?
When the Gulf War ended in 1991, President Bush Sr. began a process to formulate a Middle East peace plan involving Israel, the Palestinians, and the countries surrounding Israel. The current phase of the Middle East peace process was launched at the Madrid conference convened by the United States and the former Soviet Union on October 30– November 1, 1991. Former Secretary of State Baker reached agreement on the conference in a series of trips to the Middle East region between March and October 1991. (As stated in Catastrophe #1, the decision was finalized on October 18 in Jerusalem.) President Bush made it clear to the Israelis, with cancellations of loan guarantees on September 6, 1991, that America did not accept the permanent occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
Koenig William (2016-05-19). Eye to Eye: Facing the Consequences of Dividing Israel (Kindle Locations 964-970). About Him. Kindle Edition.
It was later termed “the perfect storm” and was described by meteorologists as one of the most powerful storms ever. Extremely rare weather patterns, which happen only about once every 100 years, came together to create this weather monster, and record-breaking ocean waves were measured over 100 feet high. This storm ran down the East Coast into the Carolinas, causing millions of dollars in damage. It affected the entire East Coast from Maine to Florida. The “perfect storm” heavily damaged the Bush family home in Kennebunkport, Maine. Eyewitnesses said waves as high as 30 feet smashed into the president’s seafront property. The president had to cancel speaking engagements in order to go and inspect the damage done to his home. The front-page headlines of USA Today on November 1 had the stories of the Madrid conference and the “Perfect Storm” next to each other. One article was titled, “One-on-one peace talks next.” The article touching it was titled, “East Coast hit hard by rare storm.” The connection between dividing the land of Israel and judgment on the nation causing it was made on the front page of America’s largest national newspaper.