[As] I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, verily with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out, will I reign over you.
Israel had decided to stop being God's people and to blend in with the nations around them. This verse is God's sworn answer. It raises two questions: why does He describe His own kingship in the language of wrath, and when does it happen?
Israel was scattered among the nations, and would gladly have stayed there. One writer shows what God does instead:
Israel, always ready to abandon Jehovah, would have used that scattering to become like the nations around them. But God comes in at the end in His own ways. He keeps the people separate despite themselves. He will gather them out from among the nations and bring them into the wilderness, as when He led them out of Egypt. There He will cut off the rebels, sparing a remnant, and they alone shall enter the land.
So the verse that sounds like abandonment is a refusal to abandon. God holds His claim over a people who no longer want it.
Both phrases go back to the exodus, when God brought Israel out of Egypt. One writer presses what they mean here:
He will gather them out from the peoples and the countries where they are still scattered. This will not be by quiet, moral, or gospel means, but with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, and with outpoured fury. Then He will bring them into the wilderness of the peoples, and hold judgment over them face to face, as He once dealt with their fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt... It is sovereign grace, but reigning through righteousness.
The last line is the key. Wrath is not the opposite of grace here. It is the road grace takes when it refuses to overlook rebellion.
God speaks this oath to the whole nation, not only to Judah. One writer draws out who that includes:
This is the general judgment of the nation, and in fact of the ten tribes as distinct from Judah. They, as a body, were not guilty of the rejection of the blessed Lord. They had been long scattered for their rebellion against Jehovah. They will be brought back. But they will pass as a flock under the rod of the covenant. The rebels will be purged out, and only the spared remnant will enter the land.
Commentators differ on the timing. One writer ties the verse first to the judgments falling on Israel in Ezekiel's own day:
The judgments about to be poured out on Israel at that time, and perhaps those that will fall upon the nation under antichrist, are found in verse 33.
The oath does not stop at wrath. It ends with a people who know who has been dealing with them, and why:
They will then be accepted and know Jehovah, and the promises to the fathers will be accomplished — not only in us who now believe and go to heaven at Christ's coming, but in the children of Israel on the earth. They will indeed repent then, and only because of the mercy of God, who acts freely above the evil of His creatures for His own sake. If He did not, to be a sinner would be to be ruined with no remedy and no hope.
That last line reaches every reader. A God who only gave people what they deserved would leave no one any hope.
- Refusal. Israel wanted to melt into the nations. God's oath is the answer: He keeps them separate despite themselves.
- Force. "Mighty hand" and "outstretched arm" are exodus words. The regathering comes by power, not by quiet or gospel means.
- Righteousness. The fury is not the opposite of grace. It is sovereign grace reigning through righteousness, sifting rebels from the remnant.
- Reach. The oath covers the whole scattered nation. One writer reads it of the ten tribes, brought back and purged before they enter the land.
- Result. God's kingship ends in a people who know Him and repent. He acts for His own sake — and that is the only hope any sinner has.
And I will bring you out from the peoples, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out;
Ezekiel 20 retraces Israel's story: God's grace in bringing them out of Egypt, and their rebellion against Him. Verse 34 turns to the future. God will gather them again, in the language of the exodus, but with wrath poured out.
One writer traces the chapter in a few lines, from Israel's past to their future.
Ezekiel 20 begins a new prophecy which ends in Ezekiel 23. God reminds Israel that He brought them out of the land of Egypt and into a land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands. They had rebelled on their road to that land in the wilderness. Still, He says, His eye spared them instead of destroying them, and He did not make an end of them in the wilderness. Despite all His grace they had polluted themselves, and God determined to scatter them among the nations. But God would fulfil all His purposes, and would yet re-gather them.
Commentators read this gathering as still ahead. One of them contrasts it with the way people expect to regain the land.
Here we are carried on to what is still future. They are now scattered in the countries and among many peoples. Yet with reviving hope they are turning once more to the land which God is keeping empty for them. They expect to take quiet possession of it, to get it as a mere matter of trade and by successful politics. But that is not what God has in mind for them. They have yet to face the record of their history, and unrepented of, that record can only be faced in judgment.
One writer spells out how God will do this gathering, and how He will not.
He will gather them out from the peoples and the countries where they are still scattered. This will not be by quiet, moral, or gospel means, but with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with outpoured fury. Then He will bring them into the wilderness of the peoples, and plead with them, or hold judgment over them, face to face. So He dealt with their fathers long ago in the wilderness of the land of Egypt.
Commentators differ on who the poured-out wrath falls on. Kelly holds it over Israel, face to face. Another writer splits the verse in two.
The Lord foretells Israel's recovery here, looking down the centuries. God's arm is outstretched for the recovery of Israel, His fury poured out against the enemies of His people.
Verse 34 is only the first step. What follows sorts out who reaches the land, and it holds two truths together.
It is sovereign grace, but reigning through righteousness. So He cuts the rebels off from the Israel of God, and those who transgress against Jehovah are no longer to be with His people. He will cause them to go out of the country where they are staying, but not one will enter the land of Israel.
Another writer names why the scattering lasted so long, and what meets them on the way back.
They had been long scattered for their rebellion against Jehovah. They will be brought back, but passed as a flock under the rod of the covenant, the rebels purged out, and only the spared remnant enter the land.
The wilderness stage ends in a bond. One writer names which covenant that is.
When Israel are called back from among the nations, God will bring them into the wilderness before they enter the land. There they pass "under the rod," and He brings them again into covenant relationship with Himself. But it will be a new covenant, the one the Lord speaks of in Jeremiah 31:31-34, founded on the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 26:28).
The language of this verse reappears in the New Testament, put to a different use.
Here again the Holy Spirit led the apostle to borrow words from various parts of the Old Testament, especially Isaiah 52:11, Ezekiel 20:34, 2 Samuel 7:8, 14, Isaiah 43:6… It is here to encourage each believer to obey His word, as the earlier words were for enjoying His presence together… "I will receive you, and will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters." This is our new relationship in positive blessing, and it supposes that God has given us the divine nature.
- Gathered. God Himself brings the scattered people out. The promise waits on His hand, not on politics or a land deal.
- By power. God gathers with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, not by quiet or gospel means. Commentators differ on whether the wrath falls on Israel or on their enemies.
- Through the wilderness. The road runs through the wilderness, where God judges them face to face, as He did their fathers after Egypt.
- Under the rod. God sifts the rebels out on the way. Sovereign grace reigns, but it reigns through righteousness, and only the spared remnant enters the land.
- Into covenant. Those who remain enter a new covenant, founded on the blood of Christ. God speaks the same "I will receive you" to believers now.
and I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there will I enter into judgment with you face to face.
God gathers His scattered people, but He does not put them straight into their land. First He brings them into a wilderness and meets them there face to face. Commentators ask two things of this meeting: who exactly God is speaking to, and what He is doing.
At this point the focus moves off Jerusalem and onto the whole nation.
But it is in verse 35 that we see one of the great and distinctive announcements in this new word of Jehovah... Here it is the people as a whole, Israel rather than the Jews; and their special future is of the deepest interest. It is with them — not with the remnant in the land and city — that God will rehearse the history of the chosen nation. First He will gather them out from the peoples and the countries where they are still scattered. He will not do this by quiet, moral, or gospel means, but with a mighty hand, an outstretched arm, and fury poured out. Then He will bring them into the wilderness of the peoples, and plead with them, or hold judgment over them, face to face — as of old, when He dealt with their fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt.
Darby marks off two groups with different histories behind them.
This is the general judgment of the nation, and in fact of the ten tribes as distinct from Judah. They, as a body, were not guilty of rejecting the blessed Lord. They had long been scattered for their rebellion against Jehovah. God will bring them back, but He will pass them as a flock under the rod of the covenant. He will purge out the rebels, and only the spared remnant will enter the land. They will not go through the special tribulation of the final half week, nor come under Antichrist. They are dealt with in the national government of God.
Is this still future? One writer says yes — and that it cuts across how Israel now hopes to come home.
Here the prophecy carries us on to what is still future. They are now scattered in the countries and among many peoples. Yet with reviving hope they are turning once more to the land, which God is indeed keeping vacant for them. They expect to find quiet possession, to get it as a mere matter of trade and successful politics. But that is not what God has in mind for them; they have yet to face the record of their history, and if they do not repent of it, they can only face it in judgment.
One writer finds the pattern in Jacob, whom God met on his way home.
So God will gather them out, but only into a condition like Jacob's when He brought Jacob their father out of Padan-aram. Jacob had to meet the consequences of the sin that had driven him there. And for that sin, if God is to step in for him, He must wrestle with him Himself. So the nation too must know Peniel before they can know Bethel.
The wilderness is not only a place of sifting. One writer points to Christ, who walked that same road first.
When He came to earth He identified Himself in grace with Israel's history: the stay in Egypt, and the testing in the wilderness. Israel had been the object of God's preserving care there, and He walked that same ground. His faithfulness shone in contrast to Israel's failure. This was so that He might, in a very real way, be able to sympathise with His people, and to support and help their hearts in days to come. In those days God will again bring them out of the lands of their oppression and cause them to pass through the wilderness (see Ezekiel 20:34-35; Isaiah 11:16; Hosea 2:14), before settling them in the land He had promised them.
So who finally arrives in the land?
The wicked will be purged out from among them before they reach the land of Israel. It would appear from this that all of the ten tribes who actually enter the land will be godly people, brought back by the Lord's own power.
Kelly puts the principle in one line:
It is sovereign grace, but reigning through righteousness.
- Gathered. God brings His scattered people out by a mighty hand — the exile ends by His power, not by their planning.
- Detained. The wilderness of the peoples lies between the gathering and the land. They must face their record before they enjoy the promise.
- Confronted. "Face to face" is Peniel for a whole nation — God wrestling with them Himself, as He once did with Jacob on his way home.
- Accompanied. The Lord walked Egypt and the wilderness first, in grace, so He can support His people when they pass that way again.
- Sifted. The rod separates rebels from the remnant. Grace reigns through righteousness, and only the godly enter the land.
Like as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I enter into judgment with you, saith the Lord Jehovah.
In this chapter God promises to gather the scattered nation out of the countries and bring them into a desert. There He will deal with them as He once dealt with the generation that left Egypt. (Older translations say "plead" here, which is why some writers quote it that way.)
Nothing in Israel's past answers to this description, and one commentator ties that fact to the nation's own expectations about returning to the land.
"And I will bring you into the wilderness, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face." This clearly carries us on to something still future. They are scattered now in the countries and among many peoples, yet with reviving hope they are turning back once more to the land that God is indeed keeping empty for them. They expect to take quiet possession of it, to get it by mere trade and by successful politics. But that is not what God has in mind for them. They still have to face the record of their history, and if they have not repented of it, they can only face it in judgment.
The chapter speaks to "the house of Israel." One writer separates that group from Judah, and gives each a different place of judgment.
First, it is most plain that this chapter looks on to the final and glorious restoration of Israel... Second, it is the house of Israel as distinguished from Judah. There is this notable difference in the Lord's ways with them. Judah committed their great wickedness, whether idolatry or the rejecting of Christ, in the land, so it is there that their judgment will take place... Israel, on the other hand, had failed earlier and had a different judgment, and this spared them from this terrible sin. So they must, as it were, live their history over again. The Lord will plead with them in the wilderness once more, and there cut off the rebels before they reach the land again, never to be removed, but planted there for ever... Lastly, I think there is this distinction in the wildernesses of verses 35 and 36: the future scene of dealing with the rebellious may be more varied than the past — not merely "the wilderness of the land of Egypt," but "of the peoples," whichever road they come by.
The same writer calls this meeting a rehearsal of the nation's whole story, and names the power that brings them to it.
God will rehearse the history of the chosen nation with them — not with the remnant in the land and city. First He gathers them out from the peoples and the countries where they are still scattered. He does this not by quiet, moral, or gospel means, but with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with outpoured fury. Then He will bring them into the wilderness of the peoples, and plead or hold judgment over them face to face, just as He once dealt with their fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt. And there He makes them pass in review, as a shepherd passes his sheep under the rod, and so brings them into the bond of the covenant. It is sovereign grace, but reigning through righteousness.
One writer reaches back further than Egypt, to Jacob himself.
So God will gather them out, but only into a state like the one He brought their father Jacob into when He led him out of Padan-aram. Jacob had to face the results of the sin that had driven him there, and if God is to step in for him, He must wrestle with him Himself. So the nation too must know Peniel before they can know Bethel.
At Peniel Jacob wrestled with God and came away limping. At Bethel God confirmed His promises to him.
Judgment is not the last word here. The same writer names both its aim and its work.
It is for mercy, and yet through judgment; for mercy will once more triumph over judgment. But the judgment must itself do a necessary work: "I will purge out from among you the rebels and those who transgress against Me, and I will bring them out of the land where they live as strangers, but they shall not enter the land of Israel; and you shall know that I am Jehovah."
The place of this sifting matters. It happens on the road, not after arrival.
The Lord will restore them by His own hand, and the wicked will be purged out from among them before they reach the land of Israel... It would appear from this that the whole part of the ten tribes that enters the land will be made up of godly people. The Lord's own power will bring them back.
- Record. A history they never repented of cannot be left behind. They "can only face it in judgment," and that is what the desert meeting is for.
- Repeat. Israel must "live their history over again." The desert years after Egypt are the pattern for their final return.
- Face to face. God does not delegate this. As with Jacob, "He must wrestle with him Himself"; Peniel comes before Bethel.
- Sift. God purges the rebels on the road, not in the land. So everyone who enters is godly, brought back by the Lord's own power.
- Mercy. The whole process is "for mercy, and yet through judgment" — sovereign grace reigning through righteousness, and ending in "the bond of the covenant."
And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me; I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, but they shall not enter into the land of Israel and ye shall know that I [am] Jehovah.
God's answer to a people who wanted to be like the nations is not abandonment but a reckoning. He promises to restore Israel, yet He warns that some He gathers will never enter the land — raising the question of who the "rebels" are, and why the sorting happens outside the land.
Commentators place this scene ahead of us, not behind. The gathering is forceful, not gentle. God brings them into the wilderness to deal with their history face to face.
He will gather them out from the peoples and countries where they are still scattered. This will not be by quiet, moral, or evangelistic means. It will be with a mighty hand, an outstretched arm, and outpoured fury. Then He will bring them into the wilderness of the peoples and hold judgment over them face to face. He dealt with their fathers in the same way long ago in the wilderness of the land of Egypt.
One writer explains why the land cannot be won by politics or property. An unsettled account stands in the way.
They are now scattered in the countries and among many peoples. Yet with reviving hope they are turning once more to the land, which God is indeed keeping vacant for them. They expect to find quiet possession, and to get it as a mere matter of trade and successful politics. But that is not what God has in mind for them. They have yet to face the record of their history, and that record, unrepented of, can only be faced in judgment.
The purging of verse 38 follows the rod of verse 37. The image is a shepherd's. One writer gathers other places where this rod appears.
In Ezekiel 20:37 we read, "I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant." In Jeremiah 33:13-14, the LORD speaks of His flock as counted under the rod, saying "I will fulfill the promise I made." In Micah 7:14 we have the words, "Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance." God has comfort in mind for His earthly people as He passes them under the rod. He deals with them in this way because they are His…
The sorting happens inside Israel, not between Israel and the nations. Being an Israelite by birth does not settle the question.
It is sovereign grace, but reigning through righteousness. So God separates the rebels from the Israel of God. Those who transgress against the LORD are no longer to be among His people — for even Israelites are not lumped together with the sinners of the nations.
The exclusion is not the end of the story. One writer reads the severity as serving mercy, and warns that reaching the land is not by itself safety.
It is for mercy, and yet through judgment; for mercy will once more triumph over judgment. But the judgment must itself do a necessary work. This is not, of course, the whole history of the people in that day soon to come. Some will no doubt return to their land and hold a certain possession of it for a while. But it will end in a worse condition than ever, as they give themselves to an idolatry more terrible than anything yet seen among them.
God does not deal with every part of Israel in the same way. One writer contrasts a judgment carried out inside the land with rebels who never arrive there at all.
Instead of two parts being cut off in the land, the rebels — that is, the disobedient and rebellious among them — will not enter Canaan at all. God does with them as He did with Israel after they rebelled when they came out of Egypt.
Another writer shows why the place matters. The remnant of Judah suffer in the land for what they did there.
How strikingly this contrasts with the destiny of the remnant of Judah, who are to suffer for their specific sins in the land! There they refused the Christ of God who came in the Father's name; there they will receive the Antichrist who is to come in his own name.
The outcome explains the method. God keeps the land clean by sorting people before they reach it.
As they pass under the rod, God purges out the rebels. They are not allowed to enter the land of Israel, for all who enter there will serve the LORD. He will accept them and the offerings they present to Him. In that day Israel will be a nation set apart to the LORD their God before the face of all the nations.
- Gathered — God brings His scattered people out by power, not by persuasion. Their first stop is the wilderness, not the land.
- Counted — the rod is a shepherd's rod. He passes them under it because they are His, and the counting brings correction with it.
- Purged — God draws the line inside Israel itself. He separates the rebels from the Israel of God, and birth alone secures nothing.
- Mercy — the judgment does "a necessary work." It clears the way for mercy to triumph rather than replacing it.
- Known — the verse ends where the chapter aims. Everyone who enters the land serves Him, and the nations see who He is.
As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord Jehovah Go ye, serve every one his idols henceforth also, if none of you will hearken unto me; but profane my holy name no more with your gifts and with your idols.
In Ezekiel 20, elders of Israel come to ask God for a word, and He answers by tracing the nation's idolatry all the way back to Egypt. Verse 39 sounds like bitter irony: God dismisses the people to their idols, and forbids one thing only — the use of His holy name.
The chapter is not about Jerusalem's latest failure alone. It reaches back to the nation's beginnings. The punishment fits the crime exactly: the "gifts" of verse 39 are already in view.
Here the Spirit retraces the sin of Israel, and above all its idolatry — the idolatry of the people as a people — from the time of their stay in Egypt. They had already begun with their idolatry back then… They had polluted the sabbaths of Jehovah and gone after the idols of their fathers. So they would be polluted in their own gifts. They would be slaves to the idols they had loved, and the Lord would make them desolate.
Is God granting permission to worship idols? No. He is sending the people away, and the one condition He attaches concerns His name, not their conduct.
Israel is dismissed, as it were, for the present time, to go and serve each one his idols as he pleases. Only, let them do it openly, and not with the profanation of His holy name attached to it. For once again, and finally, God will sanctify His name. He will do it in the grace that belongs to Him. We cannot wonder at that grace when we know how it has dealt with us.
The verse turns on a condition: if they will not listen. Then their worship is worse than useless. The gifts they bring do not cover the idolatry; they drag His name into it.
It was useless for the Israelites, in the state they were in, to think their worship was acceptable to God. For the sin of witchcraft is rebellion, and idolatry is stubbornness. So if they would not listen to Jehovah, it was better to be open in their evil than to keep up a show that He found completely offensive. Gifts from men in such an idolatrous state only profane His name.
Few people set out to swap God for an idol. What this verse forbids is quieter than that.
There may be no deliberate intention to abandon His worship. It may only be what they count a small thing: going along with idolatry now and then while still professing His name. But God utterly rejects any such unholy compromise. And that is quite apart from the danger it carries for those who allow it — complete revolt from Him. It strikes at His majesty, at holiness and truth, and is intolerable in His eyes.
God also has a way of handing people over to the very thing they chose.
If the children of Israel would abandon Jehovah to serve idols, they are themselves given up by Jehovah to serve idolaters. It is so with us. If we sin, our sin measures and defines our discipline. And so grace works repentance when we turn and cry to the Lord in our distress.
The ban on profaning His name points forward as well as back. What finally secures that name is not improvement in the people, but a change in how God deals with them.
Once the people had been fully shown for what they were, God changes His plan of government. He reserves the re-establishment of Israel for sovereign grace, according to His promises. He would fulfil those promises through One of His own providing, who could keep blessing in place by His power and govern the people in peace.
- The name, polluted. Israel's idolatry ran from Egypt onward. God's judgment matched it: polluted in their own gifts, enslaved to the idols they had loved.
- The name, withheld. God dismisses them to their idols with one demand — do it openly, without His holy name attached to it.
- The name, insulted. Offerings brought while the heart still holds idols do not soften the sin. They profane Him. Open evil offends God less than a religious show.
- The name, and us. The danger is rarely an open break. It is going along with idols while still using His name — a compromise God refuses.
- The name, sanctified. Once the people stand fully exposed, God turns to sovereign grace. He hallows His own name by His power, not by their reform.
For in my holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah, there shall all the house of Israel serve me, the whole of it, in the land; there will I accept them, and there will I require your heave-offerings and the first-fruits of your offerings, with all your holy things.
Ezekiel 20 reviews Israel's rebellion — in Egypt, in the wilderness, and in the land. Then God turns from charge to promise, and verse 40 names the place, the people and the worship He will one day accept.
One writer looks at Israel's worship as it then was, and asks whether any age since has matched this promise:
It was useless then for the Israelites, as they were, to think their worship acceptable to God. … So if they would not listen to Jehovah, it was better for them to be open about their evil than to keep up a show that offended Him deeply. Gifts from men in such an idolatrous state only profane His name. But His purpose shall stand… Who can claim, on any consistent reading, that this promise in our prophet has been fulfilled, or has even begun to be? The people and land of Israel will then be holy in the full force of the expression. Only then will Jehovah be vindicated through Israel before the eyes of the nations.
"My holy mountain" and "the mountain height of Israel" name a real place. One writer identifies it with the mountain other prophets describe, and with the very high mountain God set Ezekiel on in a vision:
The location is clearly given. God brought Ezekiel into the land of Israel. These visions have to do with the whole nation. They have to do with the land when all the tribes have it — restored, united, blessed, all enemies struck down, all internal conflict over. The prophet's viewpoint is a very high mountain. This can be no other than Jehovah's "holy mountain, the mountain height of Israel," where Israel will serve Him (Ezek. 20:40-44). It is that mountain of Jehovah to which all the nations shall flow (Isa. 2:2-3), beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, the city of the great King (Ps. 48:1-3).
"All the house of Israel, all of them" leaves no one out. The verses just before explain how God forms that company. He sifts them on the way:
He will gather them out from the peoples and the countries where they are still scattered. He will not do this by quiet, moral, or evangelistic means, but with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out. Then He will bring them into the wilderness of the peoples and hold judgment over them face to face, as of old when He dealt with their fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt. There He made them pass in review, as a shepherd counts the sheep under the rod, and so brings them into the bond of the covenant. It is sovereign grace, but grace reigning through righteousness. So the rebels are separated from the Israel of God.
Acceptance is the heart of the verse. One writer sets Israel's coming acceptance beside the acceptance believers already have:
Israel's day of acceptance is not yet, but it is in prospect, just as Ezekiel prophesied (Ezek. 20:40-41). Our acceptance as Christians rests on the same Passover sacrifice, and is in the same blessed Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, risen from among the dead. "He has made us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace" (Eph. 1:6-7).
God says He will require their contributions and the choicest of their gifts. One writer traces that back to a grant God made in the wilderness, and sets it against a later generation that withheld what was God's:
When the nation is restored, never again to be exiled from the land of their fathers, God will acknowledge this grant made in the wilderness once more. In His holy mountain, the mountain height of Israel, He will require their offerings, and the people will bring them, so that the priest may cause the blessing to rest in their houses (Ezek. 20:40; 44:30)… The returned remnant had robbed God of tithes and offerings… When finally restored to their country, with the law written on their hearts, they will bring all the appointed offerings.
One writer puts the reason for all this in God's own name, and in His grace:
Once again God will sanctify His name, and this time for good. He will do it in the grace that belongs to Him — grace that is no surprise to us, since we know how it has dealt with us… Yes, He must first be sanctified in judgment. But He will only be fully sanctified in blessing, as suits Him.
- Cause — His name. God moves to sanctify His own name, the name Israel's worship had profaned. Judgment clears it first; blessing clears it fully.
- Gathering — under the rod. He brings them out with a mighty hand and judges them face to face. He separates out the rebels. This is sovereign grace, reigning through righteousness.
- Place — the mountain. His holy mountain is the restored centre of worship, lifted up, with the nations flowing to it.
- Gift — acceptance. "There I will accept them" points to Israel's day, still to come. The same acceptance is already ours in the Beloved, resting on the same sacrifice.
- Result — service and offerings. All the house of Israel serves Him in the land. They bring the contributions and gifts God says He will require.
As a sweet savour will I accept you, when I bring you out from the peoples, and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered; and I will be hallowed in you in the sight of the nations.
Ezekiel 20 spends forty verses tracing a nation's idolatry from Egypt onward, and then God calls that same people a pleasing aroma. How can that be, and when does it happen? (Older translations say "I will be sanctified in you" where the ESV speaks of God manifesting His holiness. The writers below use the older wording.)
The "you" of this verse is wider than the Jews of Jerusalem. One writer sets out who is included:
This is the general judgment of the nation, and in fact of the ten tribes as distinct from Judah. They, as a body, were not guilty of the rejection of the blessed Lord. They had been long scattered for their rebellion against Jehovah. They will be brought back. But God passes them under the rod of the covenant like a flock, the rebels are purged out, and only the spared remnant enter the land... Judah will of course be in verse 40, but the point is to show that this is not only Judah — the Jews, as we call them. Israel in the land, the whole people will enjoy the blessings once promised.
The verse ties acceptance to one act: God brings them out and gathers them in. That gathering is not gentle persuasion.
First He gathers them out from the peoples and the countries where they are still scattered. He does this not by quiet, moral, or gospel means, but with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with outpoured fury. Then He will bring them into the wilderness of the peoples, and plead with them, or hold judgment over them, face to face... It is sovereign grace, but grace reigning through righteousness. So the rebels are separated from the Israel of God.
The phrase belongs to the altar. In the burnt offering, the worshipper's standing rested on the animal, not on himself.
When a man brought a burnt offering, he laid his hands on it. That act meant that all the value and acceptability of the offering passed over to his account. He stood in the sweet aroma of the offering.
Another writer draws the same picture from the offering that never stopped:
The offering before us never stopped. So through it God laid a foundation on which Israel could stand and be accepted in all its fragrance and aroma.
The verse ends by turning outward to the nations. One writer notes that judgment alone could never complete what God will show there.
Yes, He is sanctified in judgment first, as He must be. Yet He will be fully sanctified only in blessing, as is fitting for Him.
This acceptance rests on God's own mercy and purpose.
They will then be accepted and will know Jehovah, and the promises made to the fathers will be fulfilled. That happens not only in us who believe now and go to heaven when Christ comes, but in the children of Israel on the earth. They will then truly repent, and their repentance is real only because of His mercy. He acts freely above the evil of His creatures, for His own sake. If He did not, then to be a sinner would mean ruin with no remedy or hope.
Another writer sums up where the whole account lands:
This, then, is how the story ends. There is no triumph of man in it, but there is the triumph of God's own sovereign grace.
For Israel this is still a promise. One writer links it to believers now:
Israel's day of acceptance has not come yet, but it lies ahead, just as Ezekiel prophesied... Our acceptance as Christians rests on the same Passover sacrifice. It is in the same blessed Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, risen from among the dead. "He has made us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace" (Eph. 1:6-7).
Older translations read "accepted in the Beloved" in Ephesians 1:6; the ESV says He "has blessed us in the Beloved."
- Gathered. God Himself does the gathering — with a mighty hand, through judgment, with the rebels separated out. Acceptance follows.
- Accepted. The phrase comes from the burnt offering. The worshipper stands in the fragrance of the sacrifice, not in his own record.
- Sanctified. God displays His holiness in this people before the watching nations. He completes that display in blessing, not only in judgment.
- Sovereign. The chapter ends with no triumph of man in it; mercy acts above the creature's evil, for God's own sake.
- Shared. Israel's day of acceptance is still ahead; the same acceptance is already ours in the Beloved.
And ye shall know that I [am] Jehovah, when I have brought you into the land of Israel, into the country which I lifted up my hand to give to your fathers.
Ezekiel 20 has just retraced a long record of rebellion — in Egypt, in the wilderness, and in the land itself. Then it turns to a promise: God will bring His people home to the land He swore to their fathers, and there they will know who He is.
One commentator maps the chapter. This verse falls in the part that still waits:
Verses 1-9 describe the nation's sins in Egypt. Verses 10-17 give the history of the first generation which came out of Egypt... Verses 18-26 record the second generation. Then comes a description of their unfaithfulness and sins in the land (verses 27-32). Next comes the announcement of judgment and the promise of a future restoration. Verses 40-44 are still to be fulfilled.
The promise reaches wider than Judah, and the gathering sifts as well as rescues:
This is the general judgment of the nation — in fact of the ten tribes, as distinct from Judah. As a body they were not guilty of rejecting the blessed Lord. They had been scattered a long time for their rebellion against Jehovah. God will bring them back, but they pass as a flock under the rod of the covenant: He purges out the rebels, and only the spared remnant enters the land... Judah will of course be in verse 40, but the point is to show that this is not only Judah — the Jews, as we say. Israel in the land, the whole people, will enjoy the blessings once promised.
God swore this land to the fathers. Older translations read that He "lifted up my hand" — the gesture of an oath. One writer shows what the return will bring:
Brought back to the land, Israel will indeed know the Lord their God, and realise that He has fulfilled to them the promises made to the fathers concerning possession of "the glory of all lands." They will remember all their evil ways and loathe themselves because of them. Then comes the great mourning Zechariah speaks of (Zechariah 12:10-14). Those kept safe in the land through the judgments, and those brought back from among the nations, will realise that they owe all their blessing to the One who was crucified, but who has returned to bless them on the ground of the new covenant in His blood.
One writer separates this earthly hope from the hope of believers now:
God will then accept them, and they will know Jehovah. He will fulfil the promises made to the fathers — not only in us who now believe and go to heaven at Christ's coming, but in the children of Israel on the earth. They will then truly repent. And their repentance is so real only because of the mercy of the One who acts freely above the evil of His creatures, for His own sake. If He did not, then to be a sinner would mean ruin with no remedy and no hope.
The phrase runs through the whole book, and it carries weight borrowed from Leviticus. Older translations print the name as "Jehovah" where the ESV has "the LORD":
"That you may know that I am Jehovah" rings through almost every part of the book. This is a striking link with Leviticus — Ezekiel stands among the prophets where Leviticus stands in the first five books of the Bible. In Leviticus the commands that press home the holiness of their Deliverer carry the words "I am Jehovah" again and again. Here His dealings with them show what He is: the Unchangeable, true to His own nature at all times, with no possibility of turning from it.
The turn comes from God's side, after the people showed fully what they were:
After the people had shown fully what they were, God changes His plan of government. He keeps the restoring of Israel for sovereign grace, according to His promises. He would fulfil those promises through the One He Himself provides, who could maintain blessing by His power and govern the people in peace.
That is why the ending of the story belongs to God and not to the nation:
This, then, is how the story ends. There is no triumph of man in it, but there is the triumph of God's own sovereign grace. The view of their history given here is morally complete.
- Oath — God swore this land to the fathers. Older translations picture Him lifting up His hand on the promise, and the land itself is called the glory of all lands.
- Gathering — God brings the scattered back, but passes them under the rod of the covenant. He purges out the rebels, and only the spared remnant enters.
- Homecoming — Verses 40-44 still wait for fulfilment, on earth, among the children of Israel. Back in the land they will loathe their past ways and mourn, owing every blessing to the One who was crucified.
- Knowledge — "You shall know that I am the LORD" echoes Leviticus. His dealings prove Him the Unchangeable, who never turns from His own nature.
- Grace — The turn comes after the full exposure of what the people were. There is no triumph of man in this story, only the triumph of God's sovereign grace.
And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils which ye have committed.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And ye shall know that I [am] Jehovah, when I have wrought with you for my name's sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O house of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah.
Ezekiel 20 reviews Israel's whole history, from their idolatry in Egypt through the wilderness and into the land. It ends not in collapse but in restoration, and this verse gives the reason: God deals with them by His own name, not by their record.
Everything Israel receives traces back to the honour of God's own name, not to anything they earned.
Israel will then be restored to the land because of God's sovereign goodness. Had He dealt with them according to their sins, they must have perished. Over and over again, in their long history, they have deserved the unsparing judgment of God. But their blessing rested on His promises to Abraham and on His own counsels of love, and it was bound up with the honour of His Name. So time and again, when He might have consumed them, He spared them, to defend the honour of His great and holy Name.
One writer follows this mercy out: who shares in it, and what would be true if God did not act this way.
They will then be accepted and know Jehovah, and God will keep the promises made to the fathers. That is true not only of us who now believe and go to heaven at Christ's coming, but of the children of Israel on the earth. They will repent in earnest then, and their repentance is real only because of the mercy of the One who acts freely above the evil of His creatures, for His own sake. If He did not, then to be a sinner would mean ruin without remedy or hope.
The address is not to Judah alone.
This is the general judgment of the nation, and in fact of the ten tribes as distinct from Judah. They, as a body, were not guilty of the rejection of the blessed Lord. They had been long scattered for their rebellion against Jehovah. They will be brought back, but passed as a flock under the rod of the covenant, the rebels purged out, and only the spared remnant will enter the land.
This restoration also waits for a fixed moment.
It is not until after the return of Christ that He will bring to light and restore this long-lost portion of His people.
Since the verse is a promise, has history already delivered it? One writer answers no.
This, then, is how the story ends. There is no triumph of man in it, but there is the triumph of God's own sovereign grace. There have been individual exceptions, and surface revivals that did not last. Even so, God has not yet shown by events what He means by working for His name's sake. Then His name, so long profaned, will be truly honoured.
What Israel learns at the end, believers receive at the start. The same phrase, "for His name's sake," returns in the New Testament as the reason God forgives our sins.
What about His dealings with those He has called out from among the nations to be a people for His Name? In sovereign goodness He has blessed us. It was not because of anything in ourselves, or anything we have done. We were only sinners, alienated from God, and enemies by wicked works. We know that He has forgiven our sins, and as it is written in 1 John 2:12, it is "for His name's sake."
For Israel this grace comes last. For us it stands at the beginning.
Sovereign grace blesses Israel at last and after everything, once responsible human nature has been fully tested. In God's ways, that same grace is the starting point of our path and what belongs to us — though where it is real, we come to it through a definite conviction of our sins and sinfulness.
- Cause. God acts for the honour of His own Name. Judging Israel by their record would have destroyed them long ago.
- Gift. Because He acts from Himself and not from what we deserve, a sinner is never beyond remedy.
- Reach. The promise covers the whole house of Israel. God gathers them and sifts them under the rod before any enter the land.
- Result. They will know Him — and the knowledge comes from how He has dealt with them, not from anything they achieved.
- Us. The same phrase covers our forgiveness: "for His name's sake" — for Israel it is the end of the story, for us the beginning.
And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
A fresh message reaches Ezekiel, and what he must deliver is a picture: a forest on fire. His hearers brush it off as riddle-talk, which leaves two questions — what does the burning woodland stand for, and why does God speak in pictures at all?
The phrase "south field" — ESV: "the forest land in the Negeb", the southern region — carries a picture: farmland gone back to wild woods. One writer sees Judah's own story in that change:
The idea here is that the cultivated "field" has, so to speak, grown wild — grown into a forest, as we know happened with Judah. When that happens, the richness of the soil and the care once given to it only make the wild growth thicker. It is the common story of privileges and blessings of every kind turned to bad use.
Commentators differ on what land is meant. The writer above names Judah. Darby, asked about it, was not sure:
Question: Is "the forest of the south field," in Ezekiel 20:46, Jerusalem? — I do not know; I am more inclined to think it was Egypt. In the next chapter, we find Israel and Jerusalem.
These verses sit oddly at the end of chapter 20, and one writer explains why:
What appears in our usual Bibles as the end of chapter 20 (verses 45-49) belongs instead with chapter 21 in the Hebrew and in some ancient versions. It pictures the conquest of Judea as a forest on fire. God directs the prophet to set his face and prophesy about the south, and says it in three forms with great emphasis.
God gives the command three times over, and then comes the fire. A blaze in dry woodland does not pick between one tree and another:
God's wrath is like a devouring fire, which seizes everything in front of it... The outward disaster reaches all alike, and the green tree suffers along with the dry. But God knows how to turn that very suffering into blessing for His people, as eternity will show.
Nothing escapes, and that is what makes the source of the fire unmistakable:
Judgment was going out against all, whether strong or withered... The completeness of the judgment would prove the hand of Jehovah.
One writer asks why the flame travels the way it does, and answers from what followed:
But a flame is devouring the land from south to north. Why this direction, when the enemy's invasion came from north to south? It seems that the hint is what in fact happened: the destruction of Jerusalem would scatter the people mostly northward, as it did, and would follow them there. This was to be the unmistakable evidence of God's own judgment. God would be glorified in it at a time when His people were not glorifying Him but dishonoring Him.
The fire spares neither green tree nor dry, and one writer traces both:
Jesus Himself was the "green tree," according to Psalm 1, and perhaps He was alluding to the parable of Ezekiel 20:45-49. In that scripture God predicts a flame upon every green tree and every dry tree. Judgment fell upon the "green tree" when Christ suffered for our sakes. When the fire breaks out in the dry tree of the Jews who have turned away from God, it will not be quenched.
His hearers write the prophet off as a man who only speaks in riddles. The complaint says more about them than about the message:
The word was plain enough; but man finds difficulties in understanding what he does not like.
Picture-language is not an excuse for missing the point.
Long ago people complained about the prophets, that they "spoke parables" (Ezekiel 20:49). Still, disciples at least should understand them. "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?" the Lord once asked His twelve disciples (Mark 4:13). The Lord does not play games with us. He does not invite us to see what He forbids us to understand.
- Field — God's farmland had run wild into forest. Privilege abused only feeds the wild growth.
- Forest — the picture is Judea conquered, drawn as woodland on fire. In Hebrew these verses open chapter 21 instead of closing chapter 20.
- Fire — God's wrath devours all before it, green tree and dry alike. He turns that same suffering into blessing for His own.
- Flame — it runs south to north because judgment would follow the scattered people there, until all could see whose hand lit it.
- Tree — the fire fell on the green tree when Christ suffered. Those who call the warning a riddle are refusing what they do not like.
Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop [words] against the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field;
Ezekiel has just retraced Israel's whole history of rebellion. Now the word turns to one direction on the map: the south, where Judah and Jerusalem lay. God announces a fire there that will burn green wood and dry wood alike. The prophet's own reaction shows how hard such a message is to hear.
These closing verses open a fresh message that runs into the next chapter. They picture the coming invasion as a forest fire.
What our ordinary Bibles print as the end of chapter 20 (verses 45-49) belongs with chapter 21 in the Hebrew and in some ancient versions. It pictures the conquest of Judea as a forest on fire. The prophet must set his face and prophesy about the south, a direction stated in three forms with great emphasis… Judgment was going out against all, whether they were vigorous or withered.
Another writer marks the same break, and names Nebuchadnezzar — the king of Babylon — as the invader:
From verse 45 a new prophecy begins. It applies the threats of the prophecy before it to the events that will carry them out: the invasion by Nebuchadnezzar, which chapter 21 unfolds.
The ESV calls the region "the Negeb." The verse points the prophet that way three times over. One writer reads the direction as Judah, the prophet's own homeland.
The fire of judgment to sweep over the south field (Judah) is announced in the final paragraph (verses 45-49).
Commentators differ here. Asked whether the forest of the south field means Jerusalem, one writer answered: "I do not know; I would rather think it was Egypt. In the next chapter, we find Israel and Jerusalem" (J. N. Darby).
The phrase puts together two words that do not belong together: cultivated ground and wild woodland.
According to the picture given here, the cultivated "field" has grown wild — it has grown into a forest, as we know happened with Judah… In such a case the very richness of the ground, and the care once spent on it, only make the wild growth thicker. It is the common story of privileges and blessings of every kind turned to the wrong use.
The fire that follows makes no distinction between living trees and dead ones. That raises an obvious question about God's fairness toward those in the land who still feared Him. One writer answers it directly:
This chapter shows the sword in Nebuchadnezzar's hand as God's judgment on the land. The judgment is so complete that it sweeps away the righteous and the wicked together; that is, the whole land was left desolate. This does not mean that God makes no difference between the righteous and the wicked. That would contradict what an earlier chapter said plainly about the seal put on those who sighed and cried to God over the people's abominations. By that seal they are placed openly under the care of the God they honored. Still, the land is swept bare, and righteous and wicked suffer together in this respect. The sword is on both. Only, as we have already seen, what is pure judgment for the one group is only a refining fire for the other. God is in it, closely watching the process that is to bring out a perfect vessel for Himself.
Ezekiel's own response is a sigh: people say he only talks in riddles. One writer answers that complaint:
God was to be glorified in it at a time when His people were not glorifying Him but dishonoring Him. The prophet's speech, however, is in parables, as the people complain. God was dealing with them in their own way. His plainest warnings had been only words to them, and since they were locked inside their own unbelief, there seemed no use in speaking more plainly. The ear that was open would hear. And if someone realized that Jehovah was speaking, the very language of parable would only make him search harder for its meaning.
The difficulty, then, was never in the wording. As Kelly puts it, "The word was plain enough; but man finds difficulties in understanding what he does not like."
- Setting. These verses start a new message that carries into chapter 21, where the fire gives way to the sword.
- Direction. "The south" points to Judah and Jerusalem, the prophet's own land; one writer thought Egypt was meant instead.
- Cause. A tended field had run wild into forest — privilege and care misused only made the overgrowth thicker.
- Reach. The flame takes green tree and dry tree alike. Outward disaster falls on everyone in the land.
- Result. God still tells the two apart. The same fire is pure judgment for one and a refining fire for the other, and He watches over it to bring out a vessel fit for Himself.
and say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of Jehovah. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree the flashing flame shall not be quenched; and all that it meets from the south to the north shall be burned thereby.
God tells Ezekiel to face south and speak against a forest. A fire is coming that will burn green wood and dry wood alike — which raises two hard questions: what land is this forest, and how can one fire treat the healthy tree and the withered one the same?
The ESV calls this "the forest of the Negeb" — the south country. The writers quoted here use the older wording, "the forest of the south field," and hear in the word "field" what the land used to be:
The idea here is that the cultivated "field" has grown wild, grown into a forest, as we know was the case with Judah... When that happens, the richness of the soil, and the care once given to it, only feed the wild growth. It is the common story of privileges and blessing of every kind turned to bad use.
Most take this south country as Judah, and read the passage as the conquest of Judea pictured as a forest on fire. But commentators differ. One writer would not say for sure, and pointed to another land:
I do not know; I would think it more likely to be Egypt. In the next chapter, we find Israel and Jerusalem.
The fire makes no distinction, and that is the point of the image:
Judgment was going out against all, whether healthy or withered... The completeness of the judgment would prove that the hand behind it was Jehovah's.
Does that mean God stops telling the righteous from the wicked? One writer names the sword that fell, then answers that the same blow does two different things:
The passage shows the sword in Nebuchadnezzar's hand as God's judgment upon the land, a judgment so complete that it sweeps away the righteous and the wicked together... It is not meant that there is no difference made between the righteous and the wicked. Still, the land is swept bare; the righteous and the wicked suffer together in this respect. The sword is upon both. Only, as we have already seen, what is pure judgment for the one class is only a refining fire for the other, and God is in it, carefully overseeing the process that will bring out a perfect vessel for Himself.
The fire spreads from south to north, the opposite of the invader's route. One writer sees the direction as pointing past the siege to what came after it:
Why this direction, when the enemy's invasion came from north to south? The hint seems to be what in fact happened: the destruction of Jerusalem would scatter the people northward, as it did, and the fire would follow them there. It was to be the unmistakable evidence of God's own judgment. God was to be glorified in it at a time when His people were not glorifying Him, but dishonoring Him.
Ezekiel's hearers dismissed him as a man who only speaks riddles. One writer says the trouble was not with the message:
The word was plain enough; but people find difficulty in understanding what they do not like.
God had a reason for using pictures with ears already shut to plain words:
God was dealing with them in their own way, for His plainest warnings had been only words to them... The ear that was opened would hear; and if a person realized that Jehovah was speaking, the very language of parable would only invite him the more to search out its meaning.
On the way to His crucifixion, Jesus spoke to the weeping women of Jerusalem. He asked them, "For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?" (Luke 23:31). One writer hears Ezekiel's parable behind that question:
Jesus Himself was the "green tree," according to Psalm 1, and perhaps He was alluding to the parable of Ezekiel 20:45-49. In that scripture God predicts a flame upon every green tree and every dry tree. Judgment fell upon the "green tree" when Christ suffered for our sakes. When the fire breaks out in the dry tree of apostate Jews, it will not be quenched.
- Privilege: the burning forest was once farmland. Rich soil and past care only feed the wild growth. That is the usual story of privilege turned to bad use.
- Fire: the flame is God's own. It burns everything in its path, and it runs north after the scattered people. Both facts prove whose hand kindled it — the LORD's.
- All alike: the disaster falls on green tree and dry tree together. Yet what is pure judgment to one is a refining fire to the other, and God stands over the process to bring out a vessel fit for Himself.
- Excuse: calling the prophet a mere teller of riddles was not a failure to understand. People find difficulty in what they do not like.
- Substitute: the flame touched the green tree first at the cross, when Christ suffered for our sakes. One writer reads the dry tree as apostate Jews, and that fire will not be quenched.
And all flesh shall see that I Jehovah have kindled it it shall not be quenched.
Ezekiel's fire-parable closes with God putting His own name to the burning. The land's ruin was no accident of politics. Everyone would trace it back to Him. Two questions press. Why does the fire take "every green tree" as well as "every dry" one? And what does it mean that no one puts it out?
Most English Bibles place this short prophecy at the end of chapter 20. Elsewhere it opens the next chapter. Its subject is a country going up in flames.
What appears in our usual Bibles as the end of chapter 20 (verses 45-49) belongs with chapter 21 in the Hebrew and in some ancient versions. It is the conquest of Judea under the image of a forest on fire... "Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every green tree in you, and every dry tree." Judgment was going out against all, strong or withered... The completeness of the judgment would prove the hand of Jehovah.
A field is land someone tended. A forest is land that went wild. The change from one to the other tells the story.
The idea here is that the cultivated "field" has grown wild, grown into a forest, as we know was the case with Judah... In such a case, the very richness of the ground, and the care once given to it, only feed the wild growth. It is the common story of privileges and blessing of every kind turned to bad use.
Fire does not sort trees. Yet the same writer will not let that mean God stopped telling His own apart from the rest.
God is bringing a fire upon it, and the fire is of course the symbol of His wrath. Yet His wrath must make a distinction, which the fire does not. This is no contradiction. The outward disaster reaches all alike, and the green tree suffers with the dry. But God knows how to turn the suffering itself into blessing for His people, and eternity will reveal it.
The flame sweeps from south to north, though the invading army came the other way.
But a flame is devouring the land from south to north. Why this direction, when the enemy invaded from north to south? The hint seems to be what actually happened: the destruction of Jerusalem would scatter the people mainly northward, and the judgment would follow them there. It was to be the unmistakable evidence of God's own judgment. God would be glorified in it when His people were not glorifying Him but dishonoring Him.
Seeing this is not the same as coming to know God. Darby traces the same wording elsewhere in Ezekiel.
This knowledge of Jehovah comes through the judgment itself, not through any spiritual knowledge of Him that follows... It will be through judgment that all the nations shall know that Jehovah is God.
A fire no one puts out marks this off from every earlier warning in the chapter. Chapter 20 has just recalled how often God held back for His name's sake. Now the holding back stops.
It was now a final judgment, not a discipline. Discipline would have let the drawn sword go back into its sheath, as they had so often been spared for His name's sake, as we have seen repeated in the chapter. In fact it was a complete change in God's ways. He was taking His throne from the earth, and the times of the Gentiles were beginning.
The fire ends one system of government. It does not end God's purpose.
After the people had fully shown what they were, God changes His plan of government. He reserves for sovereign grace the re-establishment of Israel according to His promises. He would fulfil them through the One who could keep the blessing by His power, and govern the people in peace.
- Field to forest. Cared-for ground gone wild pictures privilege misused. The richer the soil, the wilder the growth once God is left out.
- Forest on fire. Judgment sweeps green tree and dry alike. The disaster reaches everyone in the land.
- Wrath that sorts. The flame makes no distinction, but God's wrath does. He turns the same suffering into blessing for His people, as eternity will reveal.
- Kindled by Him. Everyone is meant to trace the burning to its author. God is glorified in judgment when His people would not glorify Him.
- Unquenchable, then grace. This is a final sentence, not a discipline. The throne leaves the earth, and what follows rests on sovereign grace and on the One who can keep the blessing by His power.