Ezekiel 39:27

39:23-29 When the Lord shall have mercy on the whole house of Israel, by converting them to Christianity, and when they shall have borne the shame of being cast off for their sins, then the nations shall learn to know, worship, and serve him. Then Israel also shall know the Lord, as revealed in and by Christ. Past events do not answer to these predictions. The pouring out of the Spirit is a pledge that God's favour will continue. He will hide his face no more from those on whom he has poured out his Spirit. When we pray that God would never cast us from his presence, we must as earnestly pray that, in order thereto, he would never take his Holy Spirit from us.

When I have brought them again from the people,.... That is, then shall they be ashamed, and repent of all their trespasses and sins: and gathered them out of their enemies lands; from the provinces of their enemies, as the Targum; when they are collected together in a body out of each of the nations where they are now dispersed, and brought to their own land: and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations; when they shall publicly repent of their sins, and forsake them, and seek the Lord their God, and the King Messiah, and embrace and profess him, and acknowledge that God has been righteous and holy in all his dispensations towards them.

Ezekiel 39:27-28 . When I have brought them again from the people — According to my promises; and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands — Wherever they were scattered; and am sanctified in them — By their patiently accepting punishment, repenting of sin, loathing their former ways, and themselves on account of them, acknowledging me to be holy, just, and good, and dedicating themselves unreservedly to my service; when I am thus sanctified among them, and in the sight of the nations who shall see that the furnace has purified them; then shall they know — On the fullest experience and clearest evidence; that I am the Lord their God — And that I have never ceased to exercise a paternal care over them; and in all my chastisements of them, as well as my benefits conferred on them, have had their good in view: see notes on Ezekiel 39:22 , and Ezekiel 34:30 . Observe, reader, by the variety of events through which God brings us in the course of his providence, if we look up to him in them all, we shall become better acquainted, both with his divine perfections, and his various designs in all his dispensations toward us.

When I have brought them: see the phrase Ezekiel 28:25 . The persons here are not the two tribes only, but the ten with them, as Ezekiel 39:25 . Out of their enemies’ lands; wherever they were, they were among enemies, out of their own country. Sanctified; by their accepting punishment, repenting for sin, loathing their former ways, and themselves for them, acknowledging God to be holy, his law holy, and his worship holy, and engaging themselves in covenant of perpetual obedience to God, and keeping it; by these things God will be sanctified among the Israelites, and in sight of the nations, when they see the furnace hath purified them.

The Result of this Judgment, and the Concluding Promise Ezekiel 39:21. Then will I display my glory among the nations, and all nations shall see my judgment which I shall execute, and my hand which I shall lay upon them. Ezekiel 39:22. And the house of Israel shall know that I am Jehovah their God from this day and forward. Ezekiel 39:23. And the nations shall know that because of their wickedness the house of Israel went into captivity; because they have been unfaithful toward me, I hid my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their oppressors, so that they all fell by the sword. Ezekiel 39:24. According to their uncleanness, and according to their transgressions, I dealt with them, and hid my face from them. Ezekiel 39:25. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Now will I bring back the captivity of Jacob, and have pity upon all the house of Israel, and be jealous for my holy name. Ezekiel 39:26. Then will they bear their reproach and all their faithlessness which they have committed toward me when they dwell in their land in security, and no one alarms them; Ezekiel 39:27. When I bring them back out of the nations, and gather them out of the lands of their enemies, and sanctify myself upon them before the eyes of the many nations. Ezekiel 39:28. And they will know that I, Jehovah, am their God, when I have driven them out to the nations, and then bring them together again into their land, and leave none of them there any more. Ezekiel 39:29.

And I will not hide my face from them any more, because I have poured out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. - The terrible judgment upon Gog will have this twofold effect as a revelation of the glory of God - first, Israel will know that the Lord is, and will always continue to be, its God (Ezekiel 39:22); secondly, the heathen will know that He gave Israel into their power, and thrust it out of its own land, not from weakness, but to punish it for its faithless apostasy (Ezekiel 39:23 and Ezekiel 39:24; compare Ezekiel 36:17.). עשׂה אתם (Ezekiel 39:24), as in Ezekiel 7:27, etc. But because this was the purpose of the Lord with His judgments, He will now bring back the captives of Israel, and have compassion upon all His people. This turn of the prophecy in Ezekiel 39:25 serves to introduce the promise to Israel with which the prophecy concerning Gog and the whole series of prophecies, contained in Ezekiel 35:1 onwards, are brought to a close (Ezekiel 39:25-29). This promise reverts in 'עתּה אשׁיב וגו to the prophet's own time, to which Ezekiel had already gone back by mentioning the carrying away of Israel in Ezekiel 39:23 and Ezekiel 39:24. The restoration of the captives of Jacob commences with the liberation of Israel from the Babylonian exile, but is not to be restricted to this.