Ezekiel 36:15, commentary and pictures

God promises his people that their land will no longer devour them and bring death and ruin, and that they will no longer hear the shame of the heathen nor bear the reproach of the peoples. It belongs to the restoration prophecies of Ezekiel 36-48, in which after warning and correction God himself promises blessing in the salvation of Israel and in the glory he will put upon the land, the mountains, the city and the sanctuary. The offer was conditional upon Israel yielding to God with all the heart in faithfulness and obedience and turning from sin and wickedness, for as with a nation God purposes to build and plant, if it does evil he will withhold the good he purposed to do. Israel came back only half-heartedly and unrepentant, so only about forty thousand returned and the promise was fulfilled only partially and faintly and never in its full detail. The promise belongs not to the natural descendants of Jacob alone but to spiritual Israel by faith under the new covenant, and will yet be fulfilled in glorious measure in the final restoration when God redeems true Israel and gives them the earth made new.

Promise and Setting

Ezekiel 36:15 stands within the restoration prophecies of chapters 36 to 48, which follow the book's earlier warnings and correction with consolation and promise. In that closing portion concerning the mountains, the land and the people of Israel, God directly and explicitly pledges the great blessings which he himself will bestow in saving Israel his people and in glorifying the land, the mountains, the city and the sanctuary. The prophecy was uttered during the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem and is dated to 587 B.C., one year after Jerusalem was destroyed. It looks toward the restoration of God's people fully accomplished under the decree of Artaxerxes in 457 B.C.

The verse pledges that Israel's land will no longer bring its people to ruin, devour them, or bring death and destruction upon them. The people will no longer hear the shame of the heathen, bear the reproach of the peoples, or suffer calamity among the nations. Neither will they cause their nations to fall.

The gathering to which the promise belongs is God's own act of gathering the house of Israel from among the scattered peoples back to the land given to Jacob, not a gathering of Israel by themselves to rebuild Jerusalem. That gathering brings return, rest and safety with none making them afraid, pardon in which iniquity is sought and not found, and confident dwelling while judgments are executed upon those round about who despise them.

Conditional Offer to Israel

The promises are not confined to the natural descendants of Jacob nor held over for a future fulfillment to them alone, but belong to Israel in the spiritual sense, to God's people under the new covenant known by faith. They must therefore be read with that Israel in view, and the ending of shame and reproach understood as blessing for the people of faith.

The offer of restoration was conditional, made for the return from Babylon and depending on yielding to God, coming to Him with all the heart, faithfulness, obedience, turning from sins and wickedness, and being ashamed of iniquities. As with a nation whom God speaks of to build and to plant, if it does evil and does not obey He will withhold the good He said He would do for it. The pledge that shame from the heathen would be heard no more, that reproach would no longer be borne, and that the land would no more cause its nations to fall, was part of that conditional call to return and receive the good things promised through the prophets.

Had the conditions been met, God would have gathered His scattered people to the mountains of Israel, brought the captives back from the nations into their own land, forgiven sins, given new hearts, rebuilt the ruined cities, and made them a holy people. He would have dwelt among them in glory with a greater sanctuary and new glorious temple, made them victorious over enemies with His glory seen among the nations, conquered all northern foes before them in the detail of Ezekiel 38 and 39, and divided the land on a new plan.

Israel did not meet the conditions, but came back half-heartedly, mingling with other nations and doing their deeds, refusing to be ashamed, to turn from sins, and to truly repent. Only about forty thousand, fewer than fifty thousand, returned, and the promises were never fulfilled just as given nor literally fulfilled, but only partially, faintly, or in limited measure and not in fullness or promised detail. The temple they built was only a shadow of the glorious temple shown to Ezekiel.

Future Final Fulfillment

What was promised for the restoration of God's people will yet be fulfilled in glorious measure in the final restoration. The promises concerning true Israel will be fulfilled in the future, not in every detail as described in Ezekiel, but in the fuller terms of later revelations. Their promise of deliverance and inheritance is realized in God's purpose to redeem true Israel and give them the earth made new.

The promises belong to living Israel at the beginning of the day of the Lord, before the resurrection of the just. More specifically they belong to the day's end, after the resurrection and the destruction of the unjust, when the land will devour people no more. Then there will be no more utter destruction, and the land will no longer bring its people to ruin or leave them bearing shame and reproach.

What God was prepared to do for Israel after the return from Babylon was to restore them to their land and end the reproach and calamity they had suffered among the nations. That was not fulfilled because Israel did not become ashamed of its iniquities and truly repent, and it was only faintly realized after the return. Yet those promises faintly point to what God will do for His people at the second coming, though not in every detail. Their greater fulfillment lies in the glory and events connected with Christ's second coming. Jerusalem and the surrounding country are identified as the place that will bear the nations' final attack just before Christ comes.