Ezekiel 39:26

Ezekiel 38 and Ezekiel 39 tell of a great alliance of nations under Gog that comes against God’s people and is destroyed by God’s own hand. The verses just before this passage give the meaning of that victory. God shows his glory among the nations, and they learn that Israel went into exile because of Israel’s own unfaithfulness (Ezekiel 39:21–24). The word “Therefore” in verse 25 turns from that display of judgment to God’s purpose of restoring his people, and the book goes straight on to the visions of a renewed temple, land and people in Ezekiel 40–48.

Ezekiel spoke to the Jewish exiles in Babylon, roughly between 593 and 571 BC. They had been carried away from their land, the temple was lost and the kingdom was broken. Among the nations a people’s defeat was taken as their god’s defeat, so the exile looked like a disgrace for the LORD as well as for Israel, and the exiles themselves wondered whether he had abandoned them or was weak. Ezekiel had shown them why it came, in the abominations he saw inside the temple itself (Ezekiel 8). He had also given them the promises this passage gathers up, the restoration of Ezekiel 36 and the dry bones brought to life in Ezekiel 37.

“Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD” marks what follows as God’s own word, carrying his full authority and certain to happen. “Lord GOD” joins ʼĂdônây, a title meaning Lord, to Yᵉhôvih, God’s personal covenant name, which the KJV prints in capitals.

“Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob” uses a Hebrew idiom, shûwb shᵉbûwth. The verb shûwb means to turn back or return, and shᵉbûwth, from the root for taking captive, means exile or captives. Together they speak of turning a captivity back, which means a full reversal of the people’s fortunes. It includes the actual return home from exile, and it takes in all they had lost through sin and judgment as well: their dignity, their prosperity and their standing with God in his covenant. God had promised this in the law, that he would bring his people back from the nations where he had scattered them (Deuteronomy 30:3–5). Through Ezekiel he had promised to gather them into their own land and give them a new heart (Ezekiel 36:24–28).

“Jacob”, Yaʻăqôb, stands here for the whole nation of Israel, Yisrâʼêl, all twelve tribes. The next words say the same thing: God will “have mercy upon the whole house of Israel”, the bayith or household made up of all Jacob’s descendants, the northern kingdom and the southern alike.

The word for mercy, râcham, is tender compassion. Strong’s gives its root sense as “to fondle”, and so to love and to pity, and it is the kind of love a parent has for a child. This mercy is the spring of the whole restoration. Israel had earned their exile, and God brings them home because compassion belongs to his own character and he keeps his covenant. Isaiah heard God say that he blots out his people’s transgressions for his own sake (Isaiah 43:25).

The verse ends with God’s deepest reason: “and will be jealous for my holy name”. The verb qânâʼ means to be zealous or jealous, and in people it can also mean envy. Said of God, it is his burning zeal for his own honour and for the covenant he has made. His “holy name”, qôdesh shêm, stands for all that he is, his character, his power and his promises.

The exile had brought that name into contempt. Wherever the scattered people went, the nations questioned the LORD’s power and faithfulness, and God says that his holy name was profaned among them (Ezekiel 36:20–23). In that same chapter he promises to sanctify his great name by what he does for Israel, and this passage shows him doing it.

Verse 26 looks first at what Israel must go through: “After that they have borne their shame”. Shame, kᵉlimmâh, means disgrace or dishonour. For Israel the exile was public disgrace, a sign before the nations that they had broken their covenant with the LORD, and in Israel the loss of honour before others was a heavy blow. To bear it, nâsâʼ, is to carry it like a load, enduring the full weight of what their sin had brought.

The shame comes from “all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me”. The noun maʻal and the verb mâʻal behind “trespasses” and “trespassed” both speak of unfaithful, treacherous acts, a breach of trust and loyalty toward God. Strong’s traces the verb to a sense of covering up, and so of acting covertly. Repeating noun and verb lays weight on how far and how often Israel had been unfaithful. The words “against me” make the matter personal, because their sin was committed against God himself, their covenant Lord. Ezekiel had already said that God scattered them among the nations for the way they defiled the land (Ezekiel 36:17–19).

Then comes the time of safety: “when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid”. “Dwelt” is yâshab, which first means to sit down, and so to settle and live in a place. “Safely” is beṭach, safety or security, both the fact of being safe and the trust that goes with it, here used as an adverb. Together they picture a settled, untroubled life in the land.

This security was a covenant blessing from the beginning, promised in the law to an obedient Israel (Leviticus 26:5–6). The prophets hold it out again. Micah pictures God’s people dwelling in safety and peace (Micah 4:4), and Jeremiah ties Israel’s safety to the righteous Branch (Jeremiah 23:6). Israel had known this security in the land and forfeited it through disobedience. In this verse it is the security God gives back to them once the shame has been borne.

“When I have brought them again from the people” uses shûwb, the same verb as “bring again” in verse 25, and again God is the one who acts. “From the people” means the peoples, the many nations among whom Israel had been scattered. “And gathered them out of their enemies’ lands” says it a second time, and more sharply, since these lands were hostile. The verb qâbats means to grasp, collect or gather, and it is used of people brought together for a common purpose. Ezekiel had already heard God promise to gather the children of Israel from the nations (Ezekiel 37:21), and a psalm prays for this very thing: “Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise” (Psalm 106:47).

“And am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations” gives the purpose. The verb qâdash means to be holy or set apart, and in the form used here, the Niphal, it means to be shown holy, or to show oneself holy. God is holy eternally, and in bringing his people home he lets the nations see it. His holiness, righteousness and faithfulness are put on display “in them”, through what he does for Israel. Since the nations judged a god by the fortunes of his people, a return against every human expectation tells them that the LORD is the one true God, above all their gods. Here God keeps his word in Ezekiel 36:23, that he would sanctify his great name, which had been profaned among the nations. Isaiah sees God’s salvation reaching the nations too, when he calls God’s servant a light to the Gentiles (Isaiah 49:6).

The words “then shall they know that I am the LORD” run all through Ezekiel, from the judgments of the early chapters (Ezekiel 6:7) to the defeat of Gog (Ezekiel 38:23). The verb yâdaʻ is to know, and here it is knowledge learned by living through what God has done. Israel will recognise him in judgment and in salvation, and that recognition leads to worship, obedience and a renewed relationship with him. “The LORD” is Yᵉhôvâh, God’s personal covenant name, and “their God” is ʼĕlôhîym, so the phrase holds both his power and his bond with his people. Moses told Israel that God’s mighty acts were done so they would know that the LORD is God (Deuteronomy 4:34–35), and Jeremiah heard God promise to give his people a heart to know him (Jeremiah 24:7).

“Which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen” names God as the one who sent them into exile. The word for captivity here is gâlâh, a different Hebrew word from the shᵉbûwth of verse 25, though both become “captivity” in English. Strong’s gives its root sense as to uncover or strip bare, and by implication to go into exile, since captives were usually stripped, so it carries the humiliation of being led away. “The heathen”, gôwy, are the foreign nations. The exile was God’s own just discipline for Israel’s idolatry and rebellion, the long history Ezekiel recounts in Ezekiel 20, and the law had warned that he would scatter them among the nations (Deuteronomy 28:64). Ezekiel shows God’s rule over other nations as well, as in his judgment on Egypt (Ezekiel 29:19). The exiles had wondered whether their suffering meant their God was weak, and this verse answers that their suffering was in his hand from the start.

“But I have gathered them unto their own land” uses kânaç, to collect or assemble, a different word from the qâbats of verse 27, though both are “gathered” in the KJV. “Their own land”, ʼădâmâh, is the ground God gave them as their inheritance in his promises to Abraham. The hand that scattered is the hand that gathers, and the law had promised both (Deuteronomy 30:3–5). Isaiah heard the same promise of gathering (Isaiah 43:5–6), and Jeremiah heard God promise to gather the remnant of his flock (Jeremiah 23:3).

“And have left none of them any more there” makes the gathering complete. Every one of the scattered people comes home, however far away, and none is overlooked.

“Neither will I hide my face any more from them.” The verb çâthar means to hide or conceal, and in some forms simply to be hidden or absent. For God to hide his face is a Bible idiom for withdrawing his favour, his blessing and his word, usually because of his people’s sin. God warned through Moses that he would hide his face from his people because of their sin (Deuteronomy 31:17), and David prays, “Hide not thy face far from me” (Psalm 27:9). The fall of Jerusalem and the exile were that time of the hidden face. God now promises the opposite, his open favour and his presence, bringing comfort, guidance and protection.

“For I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel” gives the reason. The verb shâphak means to pour out, spill or shed, and Strong’s lists blood, a drink offering and molten metal among the things poured. It pictures liquid poured from a vessel, a free and generous gift. rûwach, from a root meaning to blow or breathe, means wind, breath or spirit, and “my spirit” is God’s own Spirit, the Holy Spirit, who gives life and renews. Ezekiel had already heard the promise of a new heart, with God’s spirit put within his people so that they walk in his statutes (Ezekiel 36:26–27). Joel heard God say, “I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh” (Joel 2:28–29), and Zechariah speaks of God pouring upon the house of David the spirit of grace and of supplications (Zechariah 12:10). The gift of the Spirit is what makes the new relationship real. He gives new life and new hearts, and he makes obedience and close fellowship with God possible.

“Saith the Lord GOD” closes the passage with the same title that opened it in verse 25, setting God’s own authority on the whole promise.

The captivity Ezekiel speaks of points beyond itself to the bondage all people share, for “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The mercy of verse 25 reaches us in its fullest form in Jesus, “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). In Nazareth he read that he had been sent “to preach deliverance to the captives” (Luke 4:18–19).

Israel bore their own shame, and Christ bore ours. God made him to be sin for us, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (2 Corinthians 5:21). “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1–2), and he came to “deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:14–15). The safety promised to Israel in their land points to the rest we have in God himself: “Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations” (Psalm 90:1).

Christ’s death and resurrection hallowed God’s name as nothing else has, showing his justice, his love and his power over sin and death. Jesus was declared to be the Son of God with power by his resurrection (Romans 1:4), and God has highly exalted him, so that every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:9–11).

Christ is also the one who gathers. He spoke of other sheep he must bring, so that “there shall be one fold, and one shepherd” (John 10:16), and he said that “of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day” (John 6:39), much as God says here that he has left none of his people behind. Through the church God’s holiness is now shown in the sight of many nations. Believers are “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people”, called to show forth the praises of the one who called them out of darkness into his marvellous light (1 Peter 2:9), and Christ sends his people to teach all nations (Matthew 28:19). John saw where it ends, in a great multitude of all nations, kindreds, people and tongues standing before the throne (Revelation 7:9–10).

The Spirit poured out on the house of Israel is the Spirit of the Son, whom God has sent into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father” (Galatians 4:6). By that Spirit we are changed into the Lord’s image from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18), and the story ends where this passage points, with God dwelling among his people for ever (Revelation 21:3–4).

This passage gives us a restoration that rests entirely on God. He acts out of mercy and out of zeal for his own name, so the promise stands on who he is and on the covenant he keeps. He deals honestly with sin, and his people bear its shame, yet the shame has an end, and beyond it lies a settled life in safety. He scatters and he gathers, and when he gathers, every one of his people comes home. Through it all he makes himself known, to Israel as the LORD their God and to the watching nations as the holy God.

The last verse shows the heart of it. The hidden face of God was the bitterest part of the exile, and his final word here is that his face will stay turned toward his people because his Spirit has been poured out on them. Everyone who belongs to Christ has received that same Spirit, and by him we call God our Father.