For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown:
God is declaring himself on Israel's side and turning toward his people in favor, so that their desolate land will again be worked and planted and made fruitful like tilled and sown ground. It stands in the prophecy to the mountains and land and people of Israel that opens the great restoration running from Ezekiel 36 to the close of the book, concerning the land, the city and the sanctuary. It was a conditional offer of what God himself would do to gather scattered Israel and bring them back to dwell safely, build and plant, if they yielded to him with all their hearts and turned from wickedness, but they returned half-heartedly without true repentance, so it was never fulfilled in its fullest detail. Because of that failure there was only a small and feeble fulfillment when less than fifty thousand returned and built only a lesser temple, while had they obeyed their enemies would have been cut off, Israel and Judah joined under David's seed with new hearts and forgiveness, the waste cities rebuilt, the glorious temple filled with God's glory, and Israel made a light to the world. It is not reserved for Jacob's natural descendants alone but may refer to the past or to Israel as the people of faith under the new covenant, and what was not then fulfilled will still be fulfilled in glorious measure in the time of Revelation 20-21, when Israel saved by the Lord is planted in the mountains of Israel in the new world to fill it with immortal fruit.
Words and Historical Context
For, behold, I am for you means God declares himself on Israel's side and ready to turn toward his people in favor and restore them. To turn unto you is to turn toward the land itself to make it cultivable and productive, so that ground long desolate would again be cultivated and planted like tilled and sown soil. That tilling and sowing is the outward sign of the promised restoration, the land made fruitful again for its returned inhabitants.
It stands in the prophecy of Ezekiel 36 concerning the mountains, the land, and the people of Israel. It belongs to the larger restoration prophecy running from Ezekiel 36 onward to the close of the book, joined with Ezekiel 38 and 39 and certainly including Ezekiel 40-48. In that setting it is a word of consolation and promise, a direct and explicit pledge of the great blessings God himself would bestow in the salvation of Israel his people and in the glory with which he would invest the land, the city, and the sanctuary.
It was given during Judah's captivity in 587 B.C., one year after Jerusalem was destroyed. It speaks as part of restoration following the people's distress, with God turning toward the land so it could be cultivated and planted. Jerusalem was fully restored under Artaxerxes' decree in 457 B.C.
The promise is that God himself will gather and restore scattered Israel, rather than Israel rebuilding itself by its own power. He will call the wandering ones back from the nations into their own land, the land given to Jacob, where they will dwell safely, build houses, and plant vineyards. There the land will be cultivated and planted and divided on a different plan, and there God will be known among the nations.
Conditional Offer to Israel
The promise of divine favor and of land again tilled and sown was conditional upon what God would do for His people if they returned to Him, depending on ancient Israel's faith and obedience, on yielding to God with all their hearts and giving themselves wholly to Him, on turning from wickedness and being ashamed of iniquities and truly repenting. It stood under the principle stated in Jeremiah 18:7-10, that if the nation to be benefited does evil and does not obey God's voice, God will withhold the good He said He would do for them. The blessings belonged to God's offer to Israel in its own time at the Babylonian restoration, when He was ready to turn toward the scattered people, favor and restore them, gather those willing to return to their land, renew the land to be cultivated and planted, and rebuild the temple.
The promise was not reserved for a future fulfillment among Jacob's natural descendants alone, but may refer to past events or to Israel understood as the people of faith belonging to the new covenant. It has three possible applications: fulfillment in Israel's past history, fulfillment for Israel in the spiritual sense as the people of faith, or future fulfillment for the natural descendants of Jacob, and the claim that only the last application is admissible is rejected. Those who hold the spiritual application as proper teach that these promises should not be assigned to literal Israel while the related promise of David's rule is assigned to Christ and the new covenant.
Israel did not meet the conditions, returning half-heartedly and mingling with other nations and doing their deeds, without truly repenting or forsaking sins and returning wholeheartedly and complying fully. Because they were not ashamed of their iniquities and failed to meet God's requirements, the prophecy was not fulfilled in its fullest detail or exactly as written, and its promised restoration was not then fully carried out but was fulfilled only in small part.
Because of that failure there was only a partial, small, and feeble fulfillment, with only about forty thousand, less than fifty thousand, gathered back from captivity. Only a lesser shadow of the promised temple was built, not equal in glory to Solomon's, with persecution by northern foes preeminently under Antiochus IV instead of their destruction, and subjection to the Romans until the nation was destroyed.
If the people had obeyed and heeded the prophet and met the conditions, the glorious restoration would have been fulfilled to them then in far greater measure, far exceeding any prosperity or power they had dreamed of, with the subduing of their enemies described in Ezekiel 38-39 and their victory and restoration made full. Their enemies would have been cut off, the northern Scythian nations of Gog and Magog destroyed before them, sleeping Israel restored as figured by dry bones clothed with flesh and given life as the whole house of Israel, and Israel and Judah joined in one nation with the seed of David ruling. That obedience would have brought forgiveness of sins, new hearts, rebuilding of all waste cities, making them a holy flock as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts so they would know He is Jehovah, the dead resurrected, the glorious temple of Ezekiel 40-48 rebuilt with God's glory resting on the city named Jehovah-shammah, meaning Jehovah is there, making Israel a light to the world.
Prophetic and Eternal Fulfillment
The promises of restoration belong to living Israel at the beginning of the day of the Lord, before the resurrection of the just, while the final security of the land belongs to the end of that day, after the resurrection and the destruction of the unjust. Jerusalem and the surrounding country will bear the brunt of the nations' final attack just before Christ comes. The declaration that God is for Israel and will turn toward Israel so the land is tilled and sown concerns the mountains, the land, and the people of Israel. It stands among the prophecies of restoration as consolation and promise, a direct and explicit pledge of great blessings which God himself will bestow in the salvation of Israel his people and in the glory with which he will invest the land, the city, and the sanctuary.
The closing restoration prophecy was never literally fulfilled and never will be fulfilled literally. Had the people heeded the prophet, their enemies would have been cut off, the dead would have been resurrected, and the glorious temple would have been rebuilt, making Israel a light to the world, but because they refused only a lesser shadow of the promised temple was built. The promises of Ezekiel 36-48 were conditional on Israel yielding to God with all their hearts at the time of the Babylonian restoration, and Israel returned half-heartedly, mingling with other nations and doing their deeds, so the blessings pronounced could not then be fulfilled. If they had obeyed, the glorious restoration and the subduing of their enemies described in Ezekiel 38-39 would have been fulfilled to them then, but their turning from God and disobedience prevented it.
The full restoration God promised will still be fulfilled in glorious measure in the time described in Revelation 20-21. Israel saved by the Lord will be transplanted into the promised land, the mountains of Israel, in the new and beautiful world to come. There Israel is a majestic and widespread olive tree with its natural branches and grafted shoot, with God as dew to Israel, growing as the lily, rooting as Lebanon, spreading branches, beautiful as the olive tree and fragrant as Lebanon, and filling that world with immortal fruit.
God is declaring himself on Israel's side and turning toward his people in favor, so that their desolate land will again be worked and planted and made fruitful like tilled and sown ground. It stands in the prophecy to the mountains and land and people of Israel that opens the great restoration running from Ezekiel 36 to the close of the book, concerning the land, the city and the sanctuary. It was a conditional offer of what God himself would do to gather scattered Israel and bring them back to dwell safely, build and plant, if they yielded to him with all their hearts and turned from wickedness, but they returned half-heartedly without true repentance, so it was never fulfilled in its fullest detail. Because of that failure there was only a small and feeble fulfillment when less than fifty thousand returned and built only a lesser temple, while had they obeyed their enemies would have been cut off, Israel and Judah joined under David's seed with new hearts and forgiveness, the waste cities rebuilt, the glorious temple filled with God's glory, and Israel made a light to the world. It is not reserved for Jacob's natural descendants alone but may refer to the past or to Israel as the people of faith under the new covenant, and what was not then fulfilled will still be fulfilled in glorious measure in the time of Revelation 20-21, when Israel saved by the Lord is planted in the mountains of Israel in the new world to fill it with immortal fruit.
Words and Historical Context
For, behold, I am for you means God declares himself on Israel's side and ready to turn toward his people in favor and restore them. To turn unto you is to turn toward the land itself to make it cultivable and productive, so that ground long desolate would again be cultivated and planted like tilled and sown soil. That tilling and sowing is the outward sign of the promised restoration, the land made fruitful again for its returned inhabitants.
It stands in the prophecy of Ezekiel 36 concerning the mountains, the land, and the people of Israel. It belongs to the larger restoration prophecy running from Ezekiel 36 onward to the close of the book, joined with Ezekiel 38 and 39 and certainly including Ezekiel 40-48. In that setting it is a word of consolation and promise, a direct and explicit pledge of the great blessings God himself would bestow in the salvation of Israel his people and in the glory with which he would invest the land, the city, and the sanctuary.
It was given during Judah's captivity in 587 B.C., one year after Jerusalem was destroyed. It speaks as part of restoration following the people's distress, with God turning toward the land so it could be cultivated and planted. Jerusalem was fully restored under Artaxerxes' decree in 457 B.C.
The promise is that God himself will gather and restore scattered Israel, rather than Israel rebuilding itself by its own power. He will call the wandering ones back from the nations into their own land, the land given to Jacob, where they will dwell safely, build houses, and plant vineyards. There the land will be cultivated and planted and divided on a different plan, and there God will be known among the nations.
Conditional Offer to Israel
The promise of divine favor and of land again tilled and sown was conditional upon what God would do for His people if they returned to Him, depending on ancient Israel's faith and obedience, on yielding to God with all their hearts and giving themselves wholly to Him, on turning from wickedness and being ashamed of iniquities and truly repenting. It stood under the principle stated in Jeremiah 18:7-10, that if the nation to be benefited does evil and does not obey God's voice, God will withhold the good He said He would do for them. The blessings belonged to God's offer to Israel in its own time at the Babylonian restoration, when He was ready to turn toward the scattered people, favor and restore them, gather those willing to return to their land, renew the land to be cultivated and planted, and rebuild the temple.
The promise was not reserved for a future fulfillment among Jacob's natural descendants alone, but may refer to past events or to Israel understood as the people of faith belonging to the new covenant. It has three possible applications: fulfillment in Israel's past history, fulfillment for Israel in the spiritual sense as the people of faith, or future fulfillment for the natural descendants of Jacob, and the claim that only the last application is admissible is rejected. Those who hold the spiritual application as proper teach that these promises should not be assigned to literal Israel while the related promise of David's rule is assigned to Christ and the new covenant.
Israel did not meet the conditions, returning half-heartedly and mingling with other nations and doing their deeds, without truly repenting or forsaking sins and returning wholeheartedly and complying fully. Because they were not ashamed of their iniquities and failed to meet God's requirements, the prophecy was not fulfilled in its fullest detail or exactly as written, and its promised restoration was not then fully carried out but was fulfilled only in small part.
Because of that failure there was only a partial, small, and feeble fulfillment, with only about forty thousand, less than fifty thousand, gathered back from captivity. Only a lesser shadow of the promised temple was built, not equal in glory to Solomon's, with persecution by northern foes preeminently under Antiochus IV instead of their destruction, and subjection to the Romans until the nation was destroyed.
If the people had obeyed and heeded the prophet and met the conditions, the glorious restoration would have been fulfilled to them then in far greater measure, far exceeding any prosperity or power they had dreamed of, with the subduing of their enemies described in Ezekiel 38-39 and their victory and restoration made full. Their enemies would have been cut off, the northern Scythian nations of Gog and Magog destroyed before them, sleeping Israel restored as figured by dry bones clothed with flesh and given life as the whole house of Israel, and Israel and Judah joined in one nation with the seed of David ruling. That obedience would have brought forgiveness of sins, new hearts, rebuilding of all waste cities, making them a holy flock as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts so they would know He is Jehovah, the dead resurrected, the glorious temple of Ezekiel 40-48 rebuilt with God's glory resting on the city named Jehovah-shammah, meaning Jehovah is there, making Israel a light to the world.
Prophetic and Eternal Fulfillment
The promises of restoration belong to living Israel at the beginning of the day of the Lord, before the resurrection of the just, while the final security of the land belongs to the end of that day, after the resurrection and the destruction of the unjust. Jerusalem and the surrounding country will bear the brunt of the nations' final attack just before Christ comes. The declaration that God is for Israel and will turn toward Israel so the land is tilled and sown concerns the mountains, the land, and the people of Israel. It stands among the prophecies of restoration as consolation and promise, a direct and explicit pledge of great blessings which God himself will bestow in the salvation of Israel his people and in the glory with which he will invest the land, the city, and the sanctuary.
The closing restoration prophecy was never literally fulfilled and never will be fulfilled literally. Had the people heeded the prophet, their enemies would have been cut off, the dead would have been resurrected, and the glorious temple would have been rebuilt, making Israel a light to the world, but because they refused only a lesser shadow of the promised temple was built. The promises of Ezekiel 36-48 were conditional on Israel yielding to God with all their hearts at the time of the Babylonian restoration, and Israel returned half-heartedly, mingling with other nations and doing their deeds, so the blessings pronounced could not then be fulfilled. If they had obeyed, the glorious restoration and the subduing of their enemies described in Ezekiel 38-39 would have been fulfilled to them then, but their turning from God and disobedience prevented it.
The full restoration God promised will still be fulfilled in glorious measure in the time described in Revelation 20-21. Israel saved by the Lord will be transplanted into the promised land, the mountains of Israel, in the new and beautiful world to come. There Israel is a majestic and widespread olive tree with its natural branches and grafted shoot, with God as dew to Israel, growing as the lily, rooting as Lebanon, spreading branches, beautiful as the olive tree and fragrant as Lebanon, and filling that world with immortal fruit.