Therefore thou shalt devour men no more, neither bereave thy nations any more, saith the Lord GOD.
The verse promises that the land of Israel will no longer consume its inhabitants or deprive its peoples of life, removing the reproach against it, as part of God's pledged blessing and restoration of his people, land, city and sanctuary after judgment. It belongs to a conditional offer that God would plant and build up Israel and fulfill all that follows in Ezekiel 36-48 only if the nation turned with all the heart, forsook sin and obeyed his voice, according to Jeremiah 18:7-10. Israel did not meet those conditions but returned only half-heartedly and disobediently, so the promise was fulfilled only in small part and never literally in its full glory. The promise is not confined to Israel's past or to Jacob's natural descendants, but belongs to Israel in the highest sense, to Abraham and his faithful seed by faith, both Jews and Gentiles. All that God promised will yet be fulfilled in Christ in glorious measure in the new creation and the New Jerusalem of Revelation 20 and 21, when at Christ's coming and the resurrection of the just the renewed deathless earth will no more devour its inhabitants nor suffer utter destruction.
Context and Plain Meaning
The book turns from warning and correction to consolation and promise, and this word stands within that restoring portion. It is spoken to the mountains and to the land and to the people of Israel, pledging God's own blessing in saving Israel his people and in glorifying the land and the city and the sanctuary. The land shall no more eat up and consume its inhabitants unto their loss and destruction, nor rob and bereave its nations of people in the restored inheritance, so that Israel shall no more bear the blame of devouring men. The word was given while Judah was in captivity, reckoned to 587 B.C., and looks toward Jerusalem's restoration under the decree of Artaxerxes in 457 B.C. It belongs with forgiveness and new hearts and rebuilt cities, by which Israel should become a holy people.
Conditional Offer to Israel
Ezekiel 36 belongs to a conditional prophecy in which God warned Israel and pleaded with them to turn to him, with the promised blessings depending on their response. It runs from Ezekiel 36 onward to the close of the book, joined with Ezekiel 38 and 39 and certainly including Ezekiel 40-48. Its fulfillment was based on conditions.
All divine promises are governed by the conditions stated in Jeremiah 18:7-10. God would build and plant Israel as promised only if the nation obeyed his voice, and would withhold the promised good if it did evil and disobeyed. The promise that the land would no more devour men nor bereave its nations was part of that conditional promise of restoration in Ezekiel 36-48 that will never be fulfilled exactly as written.
What God would do if Israel yielded, obeyed his call to return, came with all their hearts, and were ashamed of their sins was to receive the poor captive nation made alive again. He would bring up the sleeping dead as shown by the dry bones in Ezekiel 37, call back the wandering honest-hearted ones from the nations and restore them to their own land, and divide the land on a different plan. He would build the new glorious temple with his presence among his people, cut off their enemies, conquer all the northern nations before them in the detail of Ezekiel 38 and 39, and raise the dead. Had God's people heeded the prophet, their enemies would have been cut off and the dead would have been raised.
This would have been fulfilled to Israel at the time of the Babylonian restoration and after the return from Babylon if they had forsaken sin and returned wholeheartedly to God in faith and obedience. It was part of a restoration God was ready to accomplish after Israel returned from Babylon, in which the land would no longer consume its inhabitants or deprive the nation of its people. It was offered to Israel when divided and scattered, that if they returned to God wholeheartedly he would restore them to their own land and gather those of the scattered tribes who would come.
Israel did not meet the stated conditions, was not ashamed of its sins and iniquities, did not truly repent, and would not obey his voice. They returned only half-heartedly, mingling with other nations and doing their deeds, as Ezra and Nehemiah show, while the people were still divided and scattered. Only about forty thousand returned from captivity. Because Israel failed to meet God's requirements, the promise could not be fulfilled in its fullness and was never literally fulfilled as described and never will be in those original details. Israel's victory was only partial, the restored temple was only a small affair compared with what it would have been, and the prophecy was fulfilled only in small part.
Future Fulfillment for Believers
How the restoration promise of Ezekiel 36 will finally be met was disputed, whether it belonged to Israel's past, to Israel in a spiritual sense under the law of faith, or remained for Jacob's natural descendants. It is not limited to fulfillment in Israel's past history or to the natural descendants of Jacob, and to reserve it for natural descendants is rejected. The literal nation belongs to the first covenant, while Israel by faith belongs to the new covenant. The promise may refer to Israel in the highest sense, the spiritual descendants who belong to God by faith, including all who prevail by faith, Jews and Gentiles alike, and it belongs to Abraham and his faithful seed.
God himself will gather the house of Israel from among the peoples where they are scattered and bring them to dwell safely in their own land, not Israel gathering themselves and rebuilding Jerusalem by their own doing. All that was promised concerning the restoration of his people will yet be fulfilled in glorious measure as recorded in Revelation 20 and 21. God will fulfill his promises to his people in Christ, in the new creation and the New Jerusalem, giving true Israel the earth made new. The promise also points in a general way to what God will do for his people at Christ's second coming, though not in every detail.
Because the original local conditions will not return, the promises concerning true Israel will be fulfilled in a future form with greater glory rather than in a literal restoration with every detail described by Ezekiel. At the end of the day of the Lord, after the resurrection and the destruction and final destruction of the unjust, the land will no longer devour its inhabitants or suffer utter destruction. This describes the time when there will be no more utter destruction. The faithful receive the inheritance of the earth in the resurrection of the just, in the renewed, deathless world, where the land will no longer devour its people or deprive its nations of inhabitants.
Jerusalem and the country immediately contiguous to it will bear the brunt of the final attack of the nations, when the world powers move against the Turkish power in Palestine just before Christ comes.
The verse promises that the land of Israel will no longer consume its inhabitants or deprive its peoples of life, removing the reproach against it, as part of God's pledged blessing and restoration of his people, land, city and sanctuary after judgment. It belongs to a conditional offer that God would plant and build up Israel and fulfill all that follows in Ezekiel 36-48 only if the nation turned with all the heart, forsook sin and obeyed his voice, according to Jeremiah 18:7-10. Israel did not meet those conditions but returned only half-heartedly and disobediently, so the promise was fulfilled only in small part and never literally in its full glory. The promise is not confined to Israel's past or to Jacob's natural descendants, but belongs to Israel in the highest sense, to Abraham and his faithful seed by faith, both Jews and Gentiles. All that God promised will yet be fulfilled in Christ in glorious measure in the new creation and the New Jerusalem of Revelation 20 and 21, when at Christ's coming and the resurrection of the just the renewed deathless earth will no more devour its inhabitants nor suffer utter destruction.
Context and Plain Meaning
The book turns from warning and correction to consolation and promise, and this word stands within that restoring portion. It is spoken to the mountains and to the land and to the people of Israel, pledging God's own blessing in saving Israel his people and in glorifying the land and the city and the sanctuary. The land shall no more eat up and consume its inhabitants unto their loss and destruction, nor rob and bereave its nations of people in the restored inheritance, so that Israel shall no more bear the blame of devouring men. The word was given while Judah was in captivity, reckoned to 587 B.C., and looks toward Jerusalem's restoration under the decree of Artaxerxes in 457 B.C. It belongs with forgiveness and new hearts and rebuilt cities, by which Israel should become a holy people.
Conditional Offer to Israel
Ezekiel 36 belongs to a conditional prophecy in which God warned Israel and pleaded with them to turn to him, with the promised blessings depending on their response. It runs from Ezekiel 36 onward to the close of the book, joined with Ezekiel 38 and 39 and certainly including Ezekiel 40-48. Its fulfillment was based on conditions.
All divine promises are governed by the conditions stated in Jeremiah 18:7-10. God would build and plant Israel as promised only if the nation obeyed his voice, and would withhold the promised good if it did evil and disobeyed. The promise that the land would no more devour men nor bereave its nations was part of that conditional promise of restoration in Ezekiel 36-48 that will never be fulfilled exactly as written.
What God would do if Israel yielded, obeyed his call to return, came with all their hearts, and were ashamed of their sins was to receive the poor captive nation made alive again. He would bring up the sleeping dead as shown by the dry bones in Ezekiel 37, call back the wandering honest-hearted ones from the nations and restore them to their own land, and divide the land on a different plan. He would build the new glorious temple with his presence among his people, cut off their enemies, conquer all the northern nations before them in the detail of Ezekiel 38 and 39, and raise the dead. Had God's people heeded the prophet, their enemies would have been cut off and the dead would have been raised.
This would have been fulfilled to Israel at the time of the Babylonian restoration and after the return from Babylon if they had forsaken sin and returned wholeheartedly to God in faith and obedience. It was part of a restoration God was ready to accomplish after Israel returned from Babylon, in which the land would no longer consume its inhabitants or deprive the nation of its people. It was offered to Israel when divided and scattered, that if they returned to God wholeheartedly he would restore them to their own land and gather those of the scattered tribes who would come.
Israel did not meet the stated conditions, was not ashamed of its sins and iniquities, did not truly repent, and would not obey his voice. They returned only half-heartedly, mingling with other nations and doing their deeds, as Ezra and Nehemiah show, while the people were still divided and scattered. Only about forty thousand returned from captivity. Because Israel failed to meet God's requirements, the promise could not be fulfilled in its fullness and was never literally fulfilled as described and never will be in those original details. Israel's victory was only partial, the restored temple was only a small affair compared with what it would have been, and the prophecy was fulfilled only in small part.
Future Fulfillment for Believers
How the restoration promise of Ezekiel 36 will finally be met was disputed, whether it belonged to Israel's past, to Israel in a spiritual sense under the law of faith, or remained for Jacob's natural descendants. It is not limited to fulfillment in Israel's past history or to the natural descendants of Jacob, and to reserve it for natural descendants is rejected. The literal nation belongs to the first covenant, while Israel by faith belongs to the new covenant. The promise may refer to Israel in the highest sense, the spiritual descendants who belong to God by faith, including all who prevail by faith, Jews and Gentiles alike, and it belongs to Abraham and his faithful seed.
God himself will gather the house of Israel from among the peoples where they are scattered and bring them to dwell safely in their own land, not Israel gathering themselves and rebuilding Jerusalem by their own doing. All that was promised concerning the restoration of his people will yet be fulfilled in glorious measure as recorded in Revelation 20 and 21. God will fulfill his promises to his people in Christ, in the new creation and the New Jerusalem, giving true Israel the earth made new. The promise also points in a general way to what God will do for his people at Christ's second coming, though not in every detail.
Because the original local conditions will not return, the promises concerning true Israel will be fulfilled in a future form with greater glory rather than in a literal restoration with every detail described by Ezekiel. At the end of the day of the Lord, after the resurrection and the destruction and final destruction of the unjust, the land will no longer devour its inhabitants or suffer utter destruction. This describes the time when there will be no more utter destruction. The faithful receive the inheritance of the earth in the resurrection of the just, in the renewed, deathless world, where the land will no longer devour its people or deprive its nations of inhabitants.
Jerusalem and the country immediately contiguous to it will bear the brunt of the final attack of the nations, when the world powers move against the Turkish power in Palestine just before Christ comes.