‏ Ezekiel 34

Summary for Ezek 34:1-31: 34:1–37:28  ^a These chapters show us the blessings that would flow from the Lord’s return to his people. He would be their shepherd and provide them with better leadership (ch 34  ^b); he would restore the fruitfulness of the land and thus vindicate his own honor (chs 35–36  ^c); he would restore his people to life and unity (ch 37  ^d).
Summary for Ezek 34:1-24: 34:1-24  ^e This chapter contains declarations of judgment and salvation. There would be judgment on the shepherds (the former kings of Judah) because they failed to care for their flocks (the people of Judah). The Lord would also judge the fat sheep, but he would intervene as a good shepherd to feed the remainder of the flock. The image of the shepherd perfectly conveys the toughness and tenderness of God’s dealings with his people. The shepherd was also a common metaphor for a king in the ancient Near East. The earthly king was understood to represent the divine shepherd who had set him over his people. Shepherds had to protect their flocks against beasts, including lions and bears, while also knowing their sheep by name and tenderly leading them to good pasture and quiet waters. They had to endure cold, heat, wind, rain, and snow out on the hills with their charges. Good kings who led their people strongly and wisely resembled shepherds. The same image is used in the New Testament to describe pastors and elders, who are to oversee the flock assigned to their care without lording it over them (1 Pet 5:2-4  ^f). Jesus perfectly combines toughness and tenderness as the “great Shepherd of the sheep” (Heb 13:20  ^g).
Summary for Ezek 34:2-6: 34:2-6  ^h What sorrow awaits you shepherds: Israel’s leaders had not taken care of the weak or gone looking for those who had wandered away and were lost. They had pursued their own interests, feeding themselves at their flock’s expense. They ruled the sheep with harshness and cruelty, recalling how the Egyptians treated the Israelites in Moses’ time (Exod 1:13-14  ⁱ). The neglect and abuse of these cruel shepherds had scattered the Lord’s flock across the face of the earth.
Summary for Ezek 34:7-11: 34:7-11  ^j The Lord vowed to hold the self-serving shepherds responsible for the consequences of their actions. He would remove them from their pastoral office and rescue his flock from their clutches so that they were no longer their prey. The Lord would go looking for his scattered flock (34:12  ^k) and bring them home.
Summary for Ezek 34:12-16: 34:12-16  ^l The dark and cloudy day, the day of judgment (cp. 32:7-8  ^m), was completed. Now God would bring his people back to the mountains of Israel, the center of the land promised to the patriarchs, and tend his sheep (see Ps 23  ⁿ).
Summary for Ezek 34:17-19: 34:17-19  ^o The goats were the powerful, unrighteous members of the community.
Summary for Ezek 34:20-22: 34:20-22  ^p the fat sheep and the scrawny sheep: Those with power and influence in society had taken all the good things for themselves and had left others without resources. God would judge between them and set things right.
Summary for Ezek 34:23-24: 34:23-24  ^q one shepherd, my servant David: God planned to raise up David’s offspring to succeed him (2 Sam 7:12-16  ^r). This “new David,” like the first one, would be the Lord’s servant, a man after God’s own heart, and a good shepherd of his people.
Summary for Ezek 34:25-26: 34:25-26  ^s God planned to provide his people with a new and better ruler and to make a covenant of peace with them. Their present experience of dangerous animals, drought, famine, and sword was the outworking of the curses of the covenant made at Sinai (see Lev 26:14-35  ^t). From now on, they would camp safely, experiencing the blessings of that covenant; God would send the showers they needed for fruitfulness and peace (see Lev 26:4-13  ^u).
Summary for Ezek 34:27-31: 34:27-31  ^v In this covenant of peace, God’s people experience the blessings that flow from wholeness of relationship with God. This covenant was not essentially different from the original covenant established at Sinai. It offered the experience of genuine, lasting peace that the Sinai covenant offered but never delivered because of the sin of God’s people. In place of the failed kings of the past, they would receive a new and perfect king. In place of the relationship with God that had been repeatedly broken by sin, they would once again be God’s people, the sheep of his pasture. Then they would achieve the goal of the covenant in that the Sovereign Lord would be their God and once again dwell in their midst.

‏ Ezekiel 35

Summary for Ezek 35:1-15: 35:1-15  ^w This oracle is addressed to Edom, Israel’s neighbor to the southeast, here identified by its central mountain, Mount Seir. Edom was emblematic of all Israel’s enemies (e.g., in their rejoicing at Israel’s fall, 36:2  ^x; see also 25:12-14  ^y). The demise of Judah at the hands of the Babylonians might have given Edom room to thrive, but the Lord declared that this prosperity would be short-lived.
Summary for Ezek 35:5-10: 35:5-10  ^z The eternal [or ancient] hatred of Edom for Israel went all the way back to their respective ancestors, Esau and Jacob (see Gen 25:19-34  ^aa; 27:1-46  ^ab; Num 20:14-21  ^ac; 24:18  ^ad; 2 Sam 8:13-14  ^ae; 1 Kgs 11:14  ^af). Because of that enmity, the Edomites took advantage of the Babylonian destruction to butcher the Israelites when they were helpless. They wanted to wipe out the descendants of Jacob and seize the lands of Israel and Judah. The bloodbath they delighted to inflict on Israel would return on their own heads, as their people would be slaughtered by the sword. Their everlasting hatred would be punished: Their land would become desolate forever. This prophecy was fulfilled when the Edomites were displaced by a coalition of Arab tribes sometime during the 400s BC.
Summary for Ezek 35:13-15: 35:13-15  ^ag The Edomites mistakenly assumed that God’s judgment of his people and his abandonment of the Temple meant that his covenant with Israel was no longer in effect. The Edomites had boasted and elevated themselves against both Israel and the Lord. The God of Israel would not tolerate such boasting, for he is the sovereign Lord of all. His choice of Israel and his giving them the land would not be revoked.

‏ Ezekiel 36

Summary for Ezek 36:1-15: 36:1-15  ^ah The destruction of Edom (ch 35  ^ai) would prepare the way for the restoration of the mountains of Israel, reversing the devastation threatened in ch 6  ^aj.
36:2  ^ak The ancient heights of Israel could not be stolen by their enemies because the Lord had given them to his people.
Summary for Ezek 36:6-7: 36:6-7  ^al The period of enduring the shame of mockery and plundering would now be over for Israel, and Israel’s enemies would soon endure their own shame by being mocked and plundered.
Summary for Ezek 36:8-11: 36:8-11  ^am When God’s people returned, Israel would experience an increase in population and fruitfulness, fulfilling the creation mandate of Gen 1:28  ^an.
Summary for Ezek 36:12-13: 36:12-13  ^ao God had intended for the land to provide abundantly for his people and their offspring; instead, it had robbed them of their children and devoured its own people. This was the direct result of Israel’s failure to keep the terms of the covenant, which led to the Lord’s judgment being imposed upon them with catastrophic results for them and their children (see 5:17  ^ap). Now that the people were being transformed, they would receive the covenant blessing of a fruitful land.
Summary for Ezek 36:16-38: 36:16-38  ^aq Ezekiel reminded his hearers of their guilt and their need for God to change their hearts. In the future, God would cleanse his people.

• Objects and people are divided in the Old Testament into the categories of “clean” and “unclean,” “sacred” and “profane” (see thematic note for Clean, Unclean, and Holy at end of chapter). God had made Israel clean, while the Gentile nations had remained unclean. Then Israel as a nation became unclean because of their bloodshed and idolatry, which defiled the land. Because they behaved like the unclean nations, Israel’s punishment of being scattered among the nations was fitting. In the future, God would make them clean so that he could dwell among them again. The other nations, seeing his holiness in his people, would once again know that he is the Holy One. In the New Testament, God’s redemption through Christ redraws the lines between clean and unclean (see Acts 10:15  ^ar). The Gentiles are no longer outside of God’s grace; they too can receive the Holy Spirit and become clean. Jews and Gentiles together now make up the one people of God in Christ. Those who are in Christ Jesus are not only clean, but also holy by virtue of his priesthood. Therefore, they are able to come boldly into God’s presence and experience his grace (Heb 12:18-29  ^as).
36:17  ^at Covenant curses had come to Israel because God’s people had defiled ... their own land by their sinful behavior.

• A menstrual cloth became polluted by contact with a woman’s monthly flow of blood. This natural process was not sinful, but it was defiling in the same way that any loss of bodily life-fluids such as blood, sweat (see study note on 44:17-19), or semen made people ceremonially unclean (see Lev 15  ^au).
36:18  ^av Israel had made the land unfit for God’s presence through murder and the worship of idols. As a result of their covenant breaking, they were expelled from the land and scattered among the nations (see Deut 29:22-28  ^aw).
36:20  ^ax This scattering also brought shame on the Lord’s holy name. It was not so much the behavior of the exiles that robbed the Lord of his glory, but the very fact that they were in exile, insofar as it made the surrounding nations conclude that Israel’s God had been unable to keep them safe in his own land.
Summary for Ezek 36:21-24: 36:21-24  ^ay Out of concern for his own holiness, God sent Israel into exile. Concern for the honor of his holy name would lead him to gather them again to the land. Israel did not deserve this return from exile; it was simply a manifestation of the Lord’s holiness and power in the sight of the nations. Israel could not remain forever outside the land that God had sworn to give to Abraham and his descendants.
36:25  ^az It was not enough to bring Israel back to the land; they would also become a new, transformed Israel. God would sprinkle them with clean water to cleanse them from all of the impurities that had defiled the land. Such sprinkling with water was a routine part of Jewish purification ceremonies (see Num 19  ^ba); it symbolized a fresh start, with their old sins washed away.
36:26  ^bb The Lord’s renewal of his people was not merely an outward cleansing; the Lord would give Israel a new heart and a new spirit (11:19  ^bc; 18:31  ^bd). The heart and spirit are the sources of the thoughts and will that underlie action. Their stony, stubborn heart would now become a tender, responsive heart, ready to serve the Lord. The spirit of rebellion would be replaced with a spirit of obedience.
Summary for Ezek 36:27-28: 36:27-28  ^be The Spirit of God would create life and light out of darkness and chaos (cp. Gen 1:2  ^bf), producing an entirely new ability to follow God’s decrees and ... regulations. In the past, the Spirit of God had empowered people for specific tasks of service to the Lord (see Judg 3:10  ^bg; 1 Sam 16:13  ^bh). In the future, a more widespread empowerment by God’s Spirit would enable his people to lead holy lives (see Joel 2:28-29  ^bi). This renewed people would again live in Israel and make it fit for God’s presence to dwell among them once again.
Summary for Ezek 36:29-32: 36:29-32  ^bj This transformation would bring the blessings of the covenant made with Moses, not its curses, and a new glory among the surrounding nations. This blessing would cause God’s people to be profoundly ashamed of their past and to appreciate both their lack of merit and God’s overwhelming grace.
Summary for Ezek 36:35-38: 36:35-38  ^bk The restored land would become like the Garden of Eden, the ultimate symbol of fertility and fruitfulness. The original garden would be enhanced by restored cities, overflowing with renewed humanity like Jerusalem’s streets at the time of her festivals. The greatest blessing, however, would be God’s willingness to hear Israel’s prayers once more. He had once refused to listen to his rebellious people (14:3  ^bl; 20:3  ^bm), but now the Lord would turn his face toward them and hear their cries. The proof of this would be the number of people in the rebuilt cities who would acknowledge that the Lord is God.

Thematic note: Clean, Unclean, and Holy
The rites and regulations establishing cleanness and uncleanness were to distinguish Israel from the surrounding nations. To understand a rationale behind these regulations, one suggestion has been that unclean things are associated with death or the ground (see, e.g., Lev 21:1  ^bn, 11  ^bo; 22:8  ^bp). Recent studies, however, suggest the principle of “normalcy.” God is a God of order. Things that are normal in God’s order are called “clean” and are “permitted.” Abnormal things would be unfit for food or offerings and would be “unclean.” A normal land animal would be a vegetarian (see Gen 1:30  ^bq). A normal human body would have no infections or discharges. A normal piece of cloth would have no mildew on it. If abnormalities occurred, the animal, person, or cloth was unclean.
What is unclean is not sinful but represents a kind of unworthiness that cannot come in contact with what is holy (e.g., Lev 11:44-45  ^br). If it is cleansed, it acquires the potential for holiness; it may be dedicated to God and become holy. If what is holy (such as the Sabbath) is treated like something common, God is blasphemed and the thing is profaned. If what is clean becomes unclean, it is defiled and requires cleansing. Some things, such as unclean animals, fish, or birds, remain unclean by definition and can never be cleansed, and, thus, can never become holy.
In the new covenant, things that were previously unclean have been declared clean (Acts 10:15  ^bs, 28  ^bt, 45  ^bu). Yet God is still a God of order (1 Cor 14:33  ^bv) and wants worship to be conducted in an orderly way (1 Cor 14:40  ^bw). While God’s grace is abundant to repentant sinners, some things are still repulsive to his holiness and should never be brought into his presence (e.g., Ananias and Sapphira’s offering; see Acts 5:1-11  ^bx).


Passages for Further Study
Gen 7:2  ^by; Lev 11:1–15:33  ^bz; 21:1-23  ^ca; 22:3-8  ^cb; Num 19:1-22  ^cc; Deut 14:1-21  ^cd; 21:1-9  ^ce; Pss 19:9  ^cf; 24:3-4  ^cg; 51:7-10  ^ch; Isa 52:11  ^ci; Matt 8:2-4  ^cj; John 13:10-11  ^ck; Acts 10:9-28  ^cl; Heb 9:13-15  ^cm, 23  ^cn

‏ Ezekiel 37

Summary for Ezek 37:1-14: 37:1-14  ^co From the promise of a vibrant city overflowing with life (36:38  ^cp), the prophet was transported into a valley of death, surrounded on all sides by bones. It was a symbolic restatement of the promise that the Spirit of the Lord gives life (36:16-38  ^cq).
37:2  ^cr This death scene seemed hopeless; these were not recently expired corpses but miscellaneous bones, scattered everywhere across the ground and ... completely dried out. This scene symbolized the attitude of the people. Their hopes for themselves were not merely dead; they were dismembered and desiccated.
37:3  ^cs Son of man, can these bones become living people again? The expected answer was no, but Ezekiel knew that God’s power is unlimited, so he turned the question back to God. The real issue was not whether the Lord was able to make these bones live, but whether it was his will to do so.
Summary for Ezek 37:4-6: 37:4-6  ^ct It was God’s will that these bones should live. His will was mediated through the prophetic message that Ezekiel was to speak ... to these bones, declaring that they should be restored into living, breathing bodies again, complete with flesh and muscles and breath.

• The word translated breath can also be translated “spirit” or “wind,” a play on words that continues throughout this chapter.
Summary for Ezek 37:7-8: 37:7-8  ^cu Ezekiel obediently fulfilled his commission to prophesy to the bones, and in response, they came together into whole bodies. Yet a body of bones, muscles and flesh, and skin is still a corpse. These people still had to be filled with breath if they were to live (as in Gen 2:7  ^cv).
Summary for Ezek 37:9-10: 37:9-10  ^cw When Ezekiel prophesied to the four winds ... breath came into the re-formed bodies and they stood up on their feet as a great army prepared for action. This breath, emblematic of being filled with the Spirit, gave them life and empowered them for action, precisely as had happened to the prophet on two earlier occasions (1:28–2:2  ^cx and 3:23-24  ^cy).
Summary for Ezek 37:11-14: 37:11-14  ^cz The oracle that follows explains this vision. The people in exile felt that they were as dead as old, dry bones. As a result, they felt that all hope was gone, but the Lord could and would restore them to life. God would once again call them my people, and he promised that he would open their graves of exile and bring them back to the land of Israel.
37:14  ^da The Lord would put his life-giving Spirit within his people. If the sovereign Lord had determined to raise them, no dryness on their part would hold him back.
Summary for Ezek 37:15-28: 37:15-28  ^db The prophet then performed a sign act (see thematic note for Prophetic Sign Acts at end of chapter) that demonstrated the future reunification of God’s people and the healing of the schism between the northern and southern tribes (see 1 Kgs 12  ^dc).
37:19  ^dd The sovereign Lord would accomplish the reunification of Israel by his own hand.
Summary for Ezek 37:20-25: 37:20-25  ^de When the kingdoms were reunited, the problems that had led to the schism would also be resolved. In place of the abusive and unfaithful leadership of Rehoboam that had split the nation in two (1 Kgs 12  ^df), God would supply a single servant leader, a shepherd king. Like David, he would unite the tribes. This restored people would also be renewed and cleansed from their idols and vile images so that the Lord might once again be their God. Thus purified, they would keep the Lord’s decrees and live there forever.
Summary for Ezek 37:25-28: 37:25-28  ^dg The covenant of peace, which is the blessing of covenant obedience, would be everlasting. The people’s earlier defilement had led to the Lord’s destruction of the Temple; now, their new purity would be matched by a renewed sanctuary, a Temple in which God could dwell in their midst forever. This final Temple would be the culmination of the success of God’s sanctifying program and demonstrate that the Lord is the one who makes Israel holy (see chs 40–48  ^dh).

Thematic note: Prophetic Sign Acts
The prophets of Israel occasionally communicated through sign acts, which were dramatic visual aids performed in public to increase the impact of the message and help people feel the truth as much as hear it. Their purpose was to present an unforgettable message. These acts were unusual, even outlandish—and not just from a modern perspective. Unlike modern readers, however (who might think that the prophet was psychologically disturbed), ancient observers understood these sign acts as a regular part of a prophet’s communication style.
Ezekiel was required to act out his message more frequently than any other prophet, perhaps because he was communicating to a particularly hardened audience (Ezek 2:6-7  ^di). The sign acts reinforced the content of his message and underlined the depth of his personal commitment to it. For example, after he swallowed the word of God (2:8–3:3  ^dj), Ezekiel embodied it for the exiles (3:4-9  ^dk) in a series of judgment scenes (chs 4–6  ^dl). This dramatic form of communication is difficult for even a hostile audience to ignore or forget.
The ultimate sign act was performed by Jesus Christ on the cross (see Matt 27:32-54  ^dm). There God visibly depicted his wrath against sin in the darkness, the earthquake, and the agony of the sinless one who was apparently abandoned by his Father. God also depicted his profound love for the world in that he would rather die than let his people go. The cross is a confrontational message of God’s love and wrath that is hard to ignore or forget.


Passages for Further Study
Jer 13:1-11  ^dn; 19:1-15  ^do; 25:15  ^dp; Ezek 2:6–3:3  ^dq; 3:4-9  ^dr; 4:1-17  ^ds; 5:1–6:14  ^dt; 12:1-28  ^du; 21:19-23  ^dv; 24:1-14  ^dw, 16-27  ^dx; 37:15-28  ^dy; Hos 1:2-9  ^dz; 3:1-3  ^ea; Matt 26:26-28  ^eb; 27:45-54  ^ec; Mark 6:11  ^ed; 11:12-21  ^ee; Luke 22:17-20  ^ef; Rom 6:3-5  ^eg; 1 Cor 10:16-17  ^eh; 11:23-32  ^ei