And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
After the valley of dry bones, God gives Ezekiel a second sign about the same people: two sticks, one for Judah and one for Joseph, joined in one hand. The question is whether the old split between Judah and the northern tribes is permanent, and whose hand can close it.
Both halves of the chapter deal with the same nation.
The revival of Israel as a people is not all that the prophet learns and passes on here. The first half of the chapter gave us their national revival. It came by the working of the Spirit, not by man's will or the world's politics. That suits a people chosen, and now to be blessed by the LORD at last. There was still a further, distinct blessing for them. It was the removal of an old reproach, one that had dishonoured Israel from the days of Rehoboam for as long as it lasted in the land.
One writer traces the break-up of the kingdom to Solomon's idolatry, and to God's sentence on it.
In that hour of Solomon's idolatry the doom of his kingdom was decreed. For David's sake, God held back judgment during Solomon's lifetime. But in the days of Rehoboam, his proud and foolish son, Jeroboam the son of Nebat rebelled. He snatched ten of the twelve tribes out of Rehoboam's rule. Rehoboam was about to go to war to win back his lost territory. Shemaiah, the man of God, stopped him with the prophetic word that this division was from God. Division was the judgment for idolatry. But was this division to last for ever? No!
Another writer applies the joining of the sticks to Israel's future, and to where every division comes from.
The LORD will do the same for Israel by and by. He will heal their divisions — divisions always being the fruit of sin and failure, whether in Israel, in the world, or in the Church of God.
Ezekiel holds the sticks, but the hand that matters in the end is God's.
How beautiful that in God's day, when the Lord takes up the staff of Israel and of Judah, it will be reunited in His hand. It will be one, as it has never been since the division. Every effort in the past has failed. King Rehoboam might fight to bring the rebel tribes back, but it was completely impossible. Other kings tried and failed too. Hezekiah might send out a gracious invitation for Israel to come back to the God of their fathers. A few people might be restored, but it was only temporary and partial. Yet when the mighty Son of God takes hold of His people, that broken staff will be reunited and become one.
The sign ends with one king over the joined people. One writer names who that king must be, and where He will reign.
No sober believer can doubt that Christ alone can be meant — and Christ not as Head of the church in heaven, but as king of Israel when He reigns over the earth. Since the prophecy was spoken, nothing close to its fulfilment has appeared. Never since have they all had one shepherd. Israel has not walked in His judgments, or kept His statutes and done them.
Some say this was all fulfilled long ago, when exiles came back and the ten tribes merged into the Jewish people. One writer answers that the promise is far larger than that, and far more secure.
But this will not do for the prophecy here, and it certainly will not do for God. This prophecy will be fulfilled in their own land, under the King whom God will raise up for them. It will be fulfilled when God is once more openly their God, with His sanctuary among them for ever. ... That the time of all this is future should need no argument. Nor should this: God has attached no condition to the promise, and He declares that He will fulfil it Himself. So no unfaithfulness in the people He speaks of can ever cancel it.
One writer shows what happens when this prophecy is left untaught.
There is no weapon Satan is more skilled at using than a neglected truth of Scripture. Some may remember the damage the Mormons did by applying "the stick of Joseph" to Joseph Smith, the head of the Mormons in America. Thousands of uneducated but not irreligious people fell for the delusion. This could never have happened if they had been taught the truth of the Lord's coming. They also needed to be shown the right application of the return of the ten tribes as well as the two to the land of Israel, under the hand and headship of the Lord Jesus.
- Division came by sin. The two sticks exist because the kingdom split, and that split came from idolatry and God's judgment on it.
- Union comes by God. Rehoboam's army and Hezekiah's invitation could not mend the break. The sticks become one in His hand.
- One nation, one king. One people, in their own land, under the promised David — who is Christ reigning on earth.
- The promise carries no conditions. God attached none, so the people's failure cannot cancel it. The return from Babylon did not use it up.
- A neglected passage invites counterfeits. "The stick of Joseph" was twisted to serve a cult. Teaching this passage is the protection.
And thou, son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel, his companions. And take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions.
After the vision of dry bones, God gives Ezekiel a second sign. He writes on two pieces of wood and then holds them together as one. Who are "Judah" and "Joseph," and when does the joining happen?
The names written on the sticks were the standard labels for the two halves of a divided nation.
The kingdom of Israel broke up in the days of Rehoboam (1 Kings 12). Two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, held to the house of David, and the Old Testament calls them Judah. The historical books constantly call the ten tribes who revolted under Jeroboam "the house of Israel." The prophets call them Ephraim.
By Ezekiel's day that split was old, bitter, and looked permanent.
Solomon's serious defection from the Lord caused the tearing apart of the nation after his death. God allowed Jeroboam to lead ten tribes away from their allegiance to the house of David (1 Kings 11 — 12). They have never been united since that day. They were often in open conflict with each other. Then came the yet greater separation, when the kings of Assyria deported the ten tribes.
The people ask Ezekiel what the sign means, and God gives the answer in the same chapter.
There is indeed no excuse for misunderstanding a symbol so plain as that in verses 16, 17. But, as if to settle the application, an explanation follows, as before: "And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms."
Two readings are common. Some say it came true when a group of Jews came back from exile in Babylon. Others say it describes the church. The terms of the sign rule out both.
It is as vain to twist such language to fit the remnant of Jews that returned from Babylon as to fit the church at Pentecost. It is a union of the two long-divided houses of Israel, and nothing else. Not even a shadow of its accomplishment has appeared yet. No words could be plainer. A remnant of Jews did return from Babylon. But they were defiled — not only with transgressions, but with something worse than their old idolatry: the rejection and crucifying of their Messiah. Was that a fulfilment of Ezekiel's glowing words?
One writer points to a movement built on a private reading of this very phrase.
There is no weapon Satan is more skilful in using than a neglected scripture truth. Some may remember the damage the Mormons did by applying "the stick of Joseph" (Ezek. 37:16-19) to Joseph Smith, the head of the Mormons in America. Thousands of uneducated but not irreligious people fell under the delusion. It could never have happened if they had been taught the truth of the Lord's coming. They needed the right application of the return of both the ten tribes and the two to the land of Israel, under the hand and headship of the Lord Jesus.
In the sign, the two sticks become one in the prophet's hand. Every past effort at unity failed.
How beautiful it is that in God's day, when the Lord takes up the staff of Israel and of Judah, it will become reunited in His hand. It shall be one, as it had never been since the division. All efforts in the past have been useless. King Rehoboam might fight to bring back the revolted tribes, but it was impossible. Other kings fared no better. Hezekiah might send out a gracious invitation for Israel to come back to the God of their fathers. A few people might come back, but it is only temporary and partial. But when the mighty Son of God takes hold of His people, that broken staff will become one again. It will be a rod, a sceptre, and by it He will reign over the whole earth.
One writer explains who the joined sticks are, and when the union happens.
The two sticks are then united, and all of them are recognised as children of Israel — which is the subject of Ezekiel, not Judah as such. This final union takes place after the deliverance by judgment, when they come under one head. The ten tribes are purged from transgressors before coming into the land (Ezek. 20:33-38). The Jews are purged from transgressors in the land (Zech. 13:8-9, and many passages). Hosea 1, 2 confirms the thought that the final union under one head is at the close of all this process of purging, as it naturally must be if Christ is to take them.
- Two sticks. "Judah" means the two tribes loyal to David's house. "Joseph," or "Ephraim," means the ten tribes that revolted under Jeroboam.
- One split. Solomon's failure broke the nation in two. Conflict followed, Assyria carried the ten tribes away, and nothing since has undone it.
- One meaning. God gives His own explanation of the sign: one nation, one king, never two kingdoms again. That rules out the return from Babylon and the church.
- One hand. Rehoboam's force and Hezekiah's invitation both failed. The staff becomes whole only when the Son of God takes hold of it, and then it is the sceptre of His rule.
- One head, at the end. The union comes after deliverance by judgment, once both parts are purged. It is the last step, not the first.
And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thy hand.
God tells Ezekiel to take two pieces of wood, label one for Judah and one for Joseph, and hold them as one. Can a people divided for centuries ever be one again — and whose hand makes that happen?
The sign has three parts: two sticks, two labels, and one hand.
Ezekiel learned about their future unification in a very simple way. He was told to take two sticks. On one he was to write, "For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions." On the other, "For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions." Then he was to join them to each other, making them one stick in his hand. This is what the Lord will do for Israel by and by. Their divisions will be healed — divisions are always the fruit of sin and failure, whether in Israel, the world, or the Church of God.
The split in the nation was old, and God's answer to it is a blessing of its own.
They were to be given another, distinct blessing: an old reproach would disappear. It had dishonoured Israel from the days of Rehoboam, for as long as it lasted in the land. In the latter day God will set His hand to their restoration. He will re-unite them as they were of old under David and Solomon. Their unity will never be broken again, or even threatened. This is reserved for the true Beloved when He reigns as the Prince of peace.
The sticks become one in a hand. That is the point, because every earlier effort to rejoin the halves failed.
How beautiful it is that in God's day, when the Lord takes up the staff of Israel and of Judah, it will be one again in His hand. It will be one, as it had never been since the division. All efforts in the past have been useless. King Rehoboam might fight to bring back the tribes that had revolted, but it was completely impossible. Other kings did no better. Hezekiah might send out a gracious invitation for Israel to come back to the God of their fathers. A few people might be restored, but it is only a temporary, partial thing. But the mighty Son of God will take hold of His people. Then that broken staff will be made one again — a rod, a sceptre, by which He will reign over the whole earth.
Some have argued that the joining already happened when the exiles came home from Babylon and the tribes merged into one Jewish people.
But this will not do for the prophecy here, and it certainly will not do for God. This prophecy will clearly find its fulfilment in their own land, under the King whom God will raise up for them. God will then be openly their God once more, with His sanctuary set among them forever… The time of all this is future, and that should need no argument. Neither should this: God has attached no condition to the promise here, and He says He will fulfil it Himself. So the unfaithfulness of the people He speaks of can never set it aside.
The first misuse is for Gentiles to claim the promise for themselves.
It is a union of the two long-divided houses of Israel, and nothing else. Not even a shadow of it has happened yet. Words could not be more explicit. Only one sense is possible: the future ingathering and union of all Israel as a single nation under one king. Never again will they be divided, never again defiled… The Jew cannot say that this has yet happened, so it is absurd for any Gentile to say it of them or for them. Still more absurd is it for the Gentile to claim it for himself.
The second takes "the stick of Joseph" as a man's name, and a whole movement grew from it.
There is no weapon Satan is more skilled in using than a neglected scripture truth. Some may remember the damage the Mormons did by applying "the stick of Joseph" to Joseph Smith, their leader in America. That is where the New Jerusalem, the city of the saints, was supposed to be found. Thousands of people who could not read, yet were not without religion, fell under the delusion. This could never have happened if they had been taught the truth of the Lord's coming. They also needed the right application of it: the ten tribes as well as the two will return to the land of Israel under the hand and headship of the Lord Jesus.
- Divided. Israel had been split since the days of Rehoboam. No king could undo that reproach, by war or by invitation.
- Joined. The sticks do not grow together; a hand holds them. What human effort could not mend becomes one in that grip.
- His hand. The hand is God's own, and the rejoined staff becomes a sceptre for the reign of His Son.
- Unconditional. The promise is fixed to a land, a King and a sanctuary. God attaches no condition to it, so unfaithfulness cannot cancel it.
- Unfulfilled. The return from Babylon was not this reunion. Read the sign as anything but Judah and Joseph made one, and it leads people astray.
And when the children of my people speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not declare unto us what thou meanest by these?
Ezekiel has just joined two sticks in his hand, each with a name written on it. God tells him the onlookers will ask what it means — and the answer reaches far beyond Ezekiel's own day.
The sign was plain on its own. Even so, God did not leave it to speak alone.
No one has any excuse for misunderstanding a symbol as plain as the one in verses 16 and 17. But, as if to drive the point home, an explanation is attached to it, as before.
This was Ezekiel's regular method. Earlier in the book he packed an exile's baggage and dug through a wall in full view of the people. A commentator explains why:
All this, of course, was not a vision but something he actually did. It was meant to raise questions in the people who saw these puzzling actions and asked what they meant.
Each stick carries a name, and each name stands for a kingdom.
The Lord tells him to take two sticks. On one he is to write the name of Judah and his companions. On the other, the name of Ephraim, son of Joseph, and all the house of Israel — that is, the remnant of the tribes that were divided into two kingdoms after Solomon died. He is then to tell the children of Israel that when redemption comes, the kingdoms will be united, never to be divided again.
Behind the sign lie centuries of quarrelling.
There was a clear new blessing to be given them: the end of an old reproach. That reproach had dishonoured Israel from the days of Rehoboam, for as long as it lasted in the land. When God puts His hand to their restoration in the last days, He will reunite them as they once were under David and Solomon. Their unity will never be broken, or even threatened, again. This is kept for the true Beloved, when He reigns as the Prince of peace.
Another writer ties the end of the old feud to the rest of the chapter:
One thing remains that must not be left out. If all this is to happen, the ancient and unnatural strife between Judah and Ephraim must pass away — and it certainly will.
Some say the promise has already come true. They point either to the Jews who came home from exile in Babylon, or to the church. One writer rules out both.
It is just as pointless to twist such language to fit the remnant of Jews who returned from Babylon as to fit the church at Pentecost. There is not even a resemblance. This is a union of the two long-divided houses of Israel, and nothing else. Not even a shadow of it has happened yet. No words could be plainer.
Because the sign invites a question, a wrong answer can do real damage. One writer gives an example:
Satan uses no weapon more skilfully than a neglected truth of Scripture. Some may remember the damage the Mormons did by applying "the stick of Joseph" (Ezekiel 37:16-19) to Joseph Smith, their leader in America, where they said the New Jerusalem, the city of the saints, was to be found. Thousands of uneducated but religious people fell for the delusion. None of it could have happened if they had been taught the truth of the Lord's coming.
One writer traces every such split back to a single cause:
This is what the Lord will do for Israel in the days to come. He will heal their divisions — and divisions are always the fruit of sin and failure, whether in Israel, in the world, or in the Church of God.
- Question — the sign was made to be asked about. God answers before the people even ask.
- Sticks — the two pieces of wood stand for Judah and Joseph. They are the two kingdoms that broke apart after Solomon died.
- Reproach — joining them ends a dishonour carried since Rehoboam's day. The old strife is unnatural, and it must pass away.
- Future — neither the return from Babylon nor the church fulfils this. Not even a shadow of it has appeared yet.
- Warning — a neglected truth becomes a weapon in the wrong hands, as the misuse of Joseph's stick showed. Every division is the fruit of failure, and God will one day heal Israel's.
say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his companions, and will put them with this, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in my hand.
God now explains the sign He had told Ezekiel to act out: two sticks, one marked for Judah and one for Joseph, joined into what looks like one piece of wood. The verse raises three questions: who these names cover, when the joining happens, and whose hand holds them at the end.
The two names go back to a split in Israel's history. Ten tribes broke away from the line of David, and hostility between the two kingdoms lasted for centuries.
The ten tribes separated from the house of David under Jeroboam, when Rehoboam came to the throne. Ever since then there had been more or less hostility between the two kingdoms, with occasional alliances. The prophets kept speaking of the reunion of the two peoples under the Messiah. When Messiah returns and sets up His kingdom this promise will be fulfilled, and it would have been fulfilled when He first came if His people had received Him.
"Joseph" and "Ephraim" are not other names for Judah. They stand for the northern ten tribes, and the promise is not the Jews' alone.
Joseph represents the ten tribes (see Ezek. 37:16). Otherwise Judah, the Jews, might have claimed everything. But in God's full purposes it is clear that the stick of Joseph must have its place and become one in the Son of Man's hand, and as all Israel.
People call the ten tribes lost. Commentators answer that they are hidden from us, not from Him, and that God's dealings with them differ from His dealings with Judah.
The two tribes had the Messiah presented to them. No doubt they were brought back from captivity for that reason. They took all the terrible consequences of rejecting Him, saying, "His blood be on us and on our children." The ten tribes do not carry that guilt, and God deals with them differently... They are often spoken of as the "lost ten tribes," but God knows where they are, and He will bring them out.
Their hiding place is God's doing, and so is the end of it.
No one knows clearly or certainly where the ten tribes are; nor does it seem to be anyone's business to search this out beforehand. We may leave them in the obscurity God has put them in. We know, if we believe His word, that He has preserved the scattered remnant of the two tribes. Just as surely, He will bring the descendants of the ten out of their hiding place. Not only the Jews are to be restored, but the full nation of Israel: the twelve tribes making one nation in the land, with one King as king over them all... Every letter of the promises will be fulfilled. Scripture cannot be broken.
The verse is a string of first-person promises. Nothing in it is placed on Israel's side as a condition, and that is what makes it certain.
That the time of all this is future should need no argument. Here God attaches no condition to the promise, and He declares that He will fulfil it Himself. So no unfaithfulness in the people He speaks of can ever set it aside.
The promise itself rules out two readings. A small group came back from Babylon and later crucified their Messiah. That was no fulfilment of this, and neither is the church.
It is as pointless to twist this language to fit the remnant of Jews who returned from Babylon as to fit the church at Pentecost. There is not even a resemblance. It is a union of the two long-divided houses of Israel, and nothing else. Not even a shadow of its fulfilment has appeared yet. Words could not be more explicit.
Because this passage was ignored, it was free for anyone to seize. One writer traces real damage to that neglect.
There is no weapon Satan handles more skilfully than a neglected truth of Scripture. Some may remember the damage the Mormons did by applying "the stick of Joseph" (Ezek. 37:16-19) to Joseph Smith, their leader in America. This could never have happened if they had been taught the truth of the Lord's coming, and shown the right application of it: the ten tribes as well as the two will return to the land of Israel under the hand and headship of the Lord Jesus.
- One breach. Judah and Joseph name the two kingdoms that broke apart under Jeroboam. The prophets kept promising their reunion under the Messiah.
- One people. Joseph stands for the ten tribes, named so that Judah could not claim the whole promise.
- One keeper. We call the ten tribes lost, but God knows where they are and will bring them out into one nation under one King.
- One hand. Every verb is God's — He takes, He joins, He makes them one — so no failure of Israel's can cancel it.
- One warning. Neglect this promise and someone else will claim it. It belongs to Israel, restored to their land under Christ — not to the return from Babylon, and not to the church.
And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thy hand before their eyes.
God tells Ezekiel to hold the two marked sticks up in full view of the people. A promise about Judah and Joseph now sits in a man's hand — so who joins them, and when?
This verse points back to the sign of verses 16 and 17. One writer says its meaning is not open to argument:
There is really no excuse for misunderstanding a symbol as plain as the one in verses 16 and 17. But, as if to nail down the application, we are given an explanation attached to it, as before.
The two names on the sticks point back to a split that ran through the nation's history:
Ever since the ten tribes broke away from the house of David under Jeroboam, when Rehoboam came to the throne, there had been more or less hostility between the two kingdoms, with occasional alliances. And the prophets had continually spoken of the reunion of the two peoples under the Messiah. Isaiah had said, "Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah, and Judah shall not harass Ephraim" (Isa. 11:13).
The sticks lie in the prophet's hand, in front of the people. One writer looks past that hand to another one:
How beautiful it is that in God's day, when the Lord takes up the staff of Israel and of Judah, it will be reunited in His hand. It will be one, as it has never been since the division. All efforts in the past have failed. King Rehoboam might fight to bring back the tribes that had revolted, but it was completely impossible. Other kings tried too. Hezekiah might send out a gracious invitation for Israel to come back to the God of their fathers. A few people might be restored, but it is only a temporary, partial thing. But when the mighty Son of God takes hold of His people, that broken staff will be reunited and become one. It will be a rod, a sceptre, and by it He will reign over the whole earth.
One writer calls this a healing, and names what caused the division:
He was told to take two sticks. On one he was to write, "For Judah, and for the people of Israel associated with him." On the other, "For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him." Then he was to join them to each other, making them one stick in his hand (Ezek. 37:15-17). This is what the Lord will do for Israel by and by. Their divisions will be healed, since divisions are always the fruit of sin and failure, whether in Israel, the world, or the church of God.
Has any of this already happened? One writer weighs the two usual answers and rejects both:
It is as pointless to twist such language to fit the remnant of Jews that returned from Babylon as to fit the church at Pentecost. There is not even a resemblance. It is a union of the two long-divided houses of Israel, and nothing else. Not even a shadow of its fulfilment has appeared yet. Words could not be more explicit. That leaves only one sense: the future gathering and union of all Israel as one nation under one king. They will never be divided again, and never defiled again.
Another writer sets aside one more explanation, then names what the prophecy still requires:
Some think the ten tribes, often called "the lost tribes," merged long ago into this one Jewish race. But that will not do for the prophecy here, and it certainly will not do for God. This prophecy will be fulfilled in their own land, and under the King whom God will raise up for them. That is when God will once more be openly their God, with His sanctuary set among them forever. There is a universal gathering. God has attached no condition to the promise here. He says He will fulfil it Himself. So it can never be set aside by any unfaithfulness of the people He is speaking about.
- Written — The names go on the wood: Judah with his companions, Joseph with his. God labels the division before He mends it.
- Shown — The prophet holds the sticks up in full view, and God spells out the meaning. That leaves no excuse for missing it.
- Joined — What Rehoboam's army and Hezekiah's invitation could not do, God does. The stick becomes one in His hand — and a sceptre for ruling.
- Healed — Division is the fruit of sin and failure, in Israel and beyond it. The joining of the sticks is the cure.
- Unfulfilled — Neither the return from Babylon nor Pentecost answers to this. It waits for the land, the one King, and the sanctuary set among them forever. God attached no condition to that promise.
And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, whither they are gone, and will gather them from every side, and bring them into their own land
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
and I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.
Ezekiel holds two sticks, one named for Judah and one for Joseph. God joins them into a single stick in his hand, and this verse explains the sign: one people, one land, one king. Has that already happened in some spiritual form, or is it still ahead?
Two fulfilments are often proposed: the small group of Jews who returned from exile in Babylon, or the church. One writer rules out both.
It is pointless to twist such language to fit the remnant of Jews that returned from Babylon, or the church at Pentecost. There is not even a resemblance. It is a union of the two long-divided houses of Israel, and nothing else. Not even a shadow of its accomplishment has appeared yet. Words could not be more explicit. The language excludes every sense except the future gathering and union of all Israel as a single nation under one king. They will never be divided again, never defiled again.
The two sticks stand for a real historical tear. The kingdom split in two, and the halves stayed rivals.
The ten tribes separated from the house of David under Jeroboam, when Rehoboam came to the throne. Ever since, there had been more or less hostility between the two kingdoms, with some occasional alliances. The prophets had kept speaking of the reunion of the two peoples under the Messiah.
The same writer marks when the healing comes.
When Messiah returns and establishes His kingdom, this promise will be fulfilled. It would have been fulfilled when He first came, if His people had received Him.
Israel's own kings tried to mend the split and failed. The sign shows why it will work now: the two sticks become one in the hand that holds them.
How beautiful it is that in God's day, when the Lord takes up the staff of Israel and of Judah, it will be reunited in His hand. It will be one, as it has never been since the division. All efforts in the past have been futile. King Rehoboam might fight to bring back the tribes that had revolted, but it was utterly impossible. The efforts of other kings ended the same way. Hezekiah might send out a gracious invitation for Israel to come back to the God of their fathers. A few people might be restored, but it is only a temporary, partial thing. But when the mighty Son of God takes hold of His people, that broken staff will be reunited and become one — a rod, a sceptre, by which He will reign over the whole earth.
The verse does not name the king, but the passage goes on to call him "my servant David." Writers take that as pointing past David himself.
The Jew is not "cast off" in the sense in which Scripture uses the word — as final rejection. That is because there is the most abundant testimony that the day is coming when the Lord will re-gather His ancient people, the house of Israel and the house of Judah. He will plant them in the land which He gave to them and to their fathers. For God has plainly said, "One king shall be king over them all," and "My servant David shall be king over them" (Ezek. 37:22, 24) — a beautiful allusion to Christ!
The reign meant is an earthly one. Christ is King here "not as Head of the church in heaven, but as king of Israel when He reigns over the earth." Since the prophecy was spoken there has never been "an approach to its accomplishment" (William Kelly).
Nothing here is offered on terms. Every clause is something God says He will do.
This prophecy will find its accomplishment in their own land, and under the King whom God will raise up for them. God will once more be openly their God, with His sanctuary set among them forever. That the time of all this is future should need no argument. Nor should it need one that the promise can never be set aside by any unfaithfulness of the people He speaks of. God has attached no condition to it here, and He states that He will Himself fulfil it.
The reunion brings joy, not just order. One writer pictures that day. Judah and Israel, "so long divided and scattered, will at last meet in the land." There they will "realise how good and pleasant it is for those who are brothers, not only to meet, but to dwell together in unity" (Hamilton Smith).
- One hand. The two sticks become one in the hand that holds them — the healing is God's act, not a treaty between the tribes.
- One nation. The split under Jeroboam and Rehoboam is undone. The two kingdoms end, and Israel is one people again.
- One land. God names one place: the mountains of Israel. It is the land He gave their fathers — not heaven, and not the church.
- One king. Writers see "my servant David" as Christ reigning over the earth. Under Him the union can never break again.
- One promise. God attaches no conditions, so no failure of the people can cancel it. Commentators agree it still waits ahead.
And they shall not defile themselves any more with their idols, or with their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; and I will save them out of all their dwelling-places wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
Ezekiel has just joined two sticks into one, a sign to a people split in two and stained by idolatry. God now promises to heal both wounds and to own them as His people again — but when, and for whom?
The verse promises that Israel will never again defile itself with idols. Earlier in the same book, God tells how deep that cleansing goes:
He will sprinkle "clean water" upon them and they shall be clean. All their filthiness and their love of idols will be gone, because He will have put "a new heart" and "a new spirit" within them. The water will cleanse them so deeply and so completely that their whole nature will be different. Once He has done this mighty work, they will look back with disgust at what they once were.
This union undoes one very old failure. The kingdom split in two under Rehoboam, Solomon's son, and stayed split:
God had a further, fresh blessing for them: an old reproach would disappear. That reproach had dishonoured Israel from the days of Rehoboam, for as long as it lasted in the land. When God sets His hand to their restoration in the last days, He will re-unite them as they were long ago under David and Solomon. Their unity will never be broken, or even threatened, again. God keeps this for the true Beloved when He reigns as the Prince of peace.
The ESV says God will save them "from all the backslidings in which they have sinned." Older translations read "out of all their dwelling places," and that wording raises a practical problem: the ten tribes vanished from history. One writer answers that we do not have to know where they are:
If God has said it will be so, we have a right to expect it. He will bring the ten tribes out of their hiding places. He will save them out of all their dwelling places where they have sinned, and will cleanse them... God may have the ten tribes in some little-explored region of the earth. Or they may emerge, when no one expects it, out of a nation they have long been confused with. But we are not bound to show where they are.
Some say the promise came true when a remnant came home from exile in Babylon. Others say it describes the church. One writer rejects both, on the ground of what the words say:
It is pointless to twist such language to fit the remnant of Jews that returned from Babylon. It is just as pointless to fit it to the church at Pentecost. There is not even a resemblance. It is a union of the two long-divided houses of Israel, and nothing else. Not even a shadow of its accomplishment has appeared yet. Words cannot be more explicit... Never again shall they be divided, never again defiled.
God sets no terms on this promise:
That the time of all this is future should need no argument. Neither should this: God has attached no condition to the promise here, and He affirms that He will Himself fulfil it. So the unfaithfulness of the people He speaks of can never set it aside.
The cleansing is not an end in itself. It clears the way for God to own them again — and their history shows how astonishing that is:
Then the true David, the Lord Jesus Christ, will be their king. Fully cleansed from their sins (Ezek. 37:23), they will walk in the fear of the Lord. They will be under the blessing of the everlasting covenant of peace (Ezek. 37:26). God sets His sanctuary among them forever. The sin of that nation reached its height in the murder of His Son and their Messiah. After all that, what infinite grace for God to say, "My tabernacle also shall be with them: yes, I will be their God, and they shall be my people" (Ezek. 37:27).
- Cleansed — God puts in a new heart and a new spirit. That changes the whole nature, so the idols go and the old ways disgust them.
- United — God heals the split that began under Rehoboam. Under Christ's reign, that unity will never be broken again.
- Gathered — God saves them out of every place where they sinned, including the tribes no one can now find. He knows where they are; we do not have to prove it.
- Unconditional — God attaches no terms to this promise. He will fulfil it Himself, so their unfaithfulness cannot cancel it.
- Owned — cleansing ends in relationship: after all their sin, God still says they are His people and He is their God.
And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd and they shall walk in mine ordinances, and keep my statutes, and do them.
The vision of the two sticks ends with a promise of one ruler. God's servant David will be king — one shepherd over a people split into two kingdoms for centuries. Who is this "David"? When has this ever happened? And how will a nation that never kept God's rules come to walk in them?
Here the name points to someone other than the shepherd boy of Bethlehem. Commentators have taken it in different ways, and one writer weighs them:
Some have applied this to Zerubbabel, the head of Judah when the people came back from captivity in Babylon. Those who deny a future restoration of Israel take that line. Others take these words in a literal sense. They teach that David the king will head the nation once more, and that, raised from the dead, he will be the one shepherd over His people. It is not David, but He who according to the flesh is the Son of David and David's Lord as well. The one Shepherd can only be the Messiah. Many passages show that David's name stands here as a picture of another.
The promise runs through a death. Ezekiel's Shepherd is the One who gave His life for the sheep:
David's shepherd care, faithfulness and service to his father's flock will be seen in perfection when Jesus, the Son of David, looks after His Father's sheep. Compare Micah 5:1-5 with Matthew 2:5-6. The One who will shepherd Israel is the Mighty God become Man. Such a Shepherd cannot fail. But He must be struck down and die, to secure blessing for the sheep of Israel and also for the sheep who will form the church (Zech. 13:7; John 10:11, 15-16). Such a Shepherd could not be held by death. God raised Him from among the dead — Jesus, the Son of God, the Great Shepherd of the sheep (Heb. 13:20).
The word "one" is the point of the whole passage. Two sticks became one in the prophet's hand, and the sign has a single meaning:
It is a union of the two long-divided houses of Israel, and nothing else. Not a shadow of its fulfilment has appeared yet. No words could be plainer. This rules out every meaning except the future gathering and union of all Israel as one nation under one king. Never again will they be divided; never again defiled.
Some read the verse as already fulfilled — by the small group that came back from Babylon, or by Christians today. The plain wording rules both out:
Here again is confirmation, if any were needed! No sober believer can doubt that only Christ can be meant — Christ not as Head of the church in heaven, but as king of Israel when He reigns over the earth. Since the prophecy was spoken, nothing has ever come close to fulfilling it. They have never all had one shepherd. Israel has never walked in His judgments, or kept His statutes and done them.
The second half of the verse promises obedience from a people whose history was disobedience. Earlier chapters of Ezekiel show how (the writer quotes an older Bible version):
God gathers them out of the countries where they had been scattered and brings them into their land. The inward change He works in them is described further in Ezekiel 11:19-20: "I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh: that they may walk in my statutes." And Ezekiel 36:25-27 adds the Spirit put within them as the power to enable them to do so.
The same person is both king and shepherd. That shapes the kind of rule He brings:
This is God's thought of rule, and Christ, the true Shepherd, shows it in full. Even when He takes the rod of iron, as He will do in the time soon to come, it will be to "tend" or shepherd the nations with it. Here is One with whom rule is ministry, and subjection to Him is subjection to eternal love itself... The One who claims obedience shall be the One who has walked in obedience, and that at all cost to Himself.
- One person. "David" here is not the son of Jesse raised again but the Messiah, David's Son and David's Lord. The name works as a picture.
- One death. This Shepherd is first struck down to win blessing for the sheep. Raised again, He keeps the shepherd office that death could not take from Him.
- One flock. Two sticks become one. God gathers the long-divided houses of Israel into one nation under one king, never split again.
- One future. Commentators insist that nothing in history has matched these words yet — not the return from Babylon, not the church. The promise still stands ahead.
- One heart. They will walk in His statutes because God gives a new heart and His Spirit — and because the King who commands obedience first lived it Himself.
And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, they, and their children, and their children's children for ever and David my servant shall be their prince for ever.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And I will make a covenant of peace with them it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for ever.
God is not patching up something broken here. He promises a covenant that never runs out, a people settled and multiplied, and a sanctuary standing among them forever. Three questions follow. How is this covenant different from the one Israel already broke? Why is it called peace? And who are "them"?
Israel already had a covenant, and it could not restore them. One writer sets that first covenant against the one God now promises.
Israel's covenant, made at Sinai, could bring about no restoration. But God promises to make a covenant that will last forever. Through it He will restore the nation and bring them to acknowledge Himself.
The difference is not in the wording. It is in who carries it. One writer points out that this covenant rests on one side only.
There is no condition here at all — nothing that rests on people meeting their responsibility. Israel is asked for nothing: God alone fulfils the terms.
The word "peace" here rests on something done. One writer sets this promise beside the cross.
So God will make the "covenant of peace" with them — "He has made peace by the blood of His cross." So it will be an everlasting covenant with them.
Another writer names what this peace is based on, and the covenant it matches.
God will have established a "covenant of My peace." It rests on this: their Messiah bore "the chastisement of our peace" in His death. This covenant of peace will no doubt be the same as the "new covenant" which Jeremiah prophesied in Jeremiah 31.
The sanctuary set among them is more than a building in the picture. One writer says what its presence proves.
His sanctuary standing in the midst of them is the very sign that He accepts His people Israel. That acceptance will never change. Taken plainly as they read, these words are clear everywhere and fully consistent, as God's words must always be.
Given what the nation had done, that acceptance startles the writers.
Completely cleansed from their sins, they will walk in the fear of the Lord. They will be under the blessing of the everlasting covenant of peace. God sets His sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. What infinite grace, after all the sin of that nation, ending in the murder of His Son and their Messiah.
God had said something very like this before, and it was never fully kept. One writer points out that the earlier promise carried an "if."
While Israel was still in the wilderness, the Lord told them how to behave once they were in the land. He gave them this promise, conditional on their obedience: "And I will make my dwelling among you... And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people." Because of Israel's sins this promise was never entirely fulfilled. So He repeats it through Ezekiel, for God never allows His purpose to be frustrated.
The rest of the chapter shows who "them" are. One writer sums up what God does for the nation.
It is the resurrection of the nation, which was really dead and buried. But God opens their graves, and places them again in their land, restored to life as a nation... They would walk in His statutes and His judgments, and dwell forever in their land. The sanctuary of God would be in their midst for evermore.
Writers add that there is instruction here for readers who are not Israel, provided the two hopes are not confused.
In all these Old Testament passages we may see a deeper spiritual meaning, one that speaks to the heart and conscience of believers today... For Israel, their future settlement and blessing will be on earth, in the Holy Land. But the church, in the glory it will one day display, is seen coming down from God, "out of heaven."
- Cause — Sinai's covenant failed because it depended on Israel. This one asks nothing of them. It rests on God's "I will."
- Basis — It is a covenant of peace because He made peace by the blood of His cross. Their Messiah bore the chastisement.
- Gift — The sanctuary in their midst is the sign that God accepts them, and that acceptance will never change. This is infinite grace toward the nation that killed His Son.
- Fulfilment — God once promised to walk among them if they obeyed. Israel's sin broke that promise. Here He gives it again, with no conditions.
- Result — A nation raised from its grave and settled in its land forever, with God dwelling at the centre. Israel's hope is on earth; the church's is from heaven. Keep the two apart.
And my tabernacle shall be over them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Ezekiel 37 ends with God naming what stands at the centre of His restored people's life: His own home among them. Three questions follow — when this happens, who "them" means, and why God had to make the promise twice.
This verse closes a chapter about a nation raised from the dead. One writer traces the move from dry bones to this final pledge:
God steps in and gathers the scattered of Israel on the earth. Until now they were two divided peoples. Now they are reunited under one Head, as one nation. It is the resurrection of the nation, which was really dead and buried. But God opens their graves and places them again in their land, restored to life as a nation... David (that is, Christ) will be their king. God Himself will completely cleanse them. They will keep His laws and live for ever in their land. God's sanctuary will be in their midst for evermore. His tabernacle, His dwelling place, will be among them — He their God and they His people.
Older wording calls this dwelling place God's "tabernacle." The word is not new here. It reaches back to Israel's first years out of Egypt, and God had promised it once already, on terms Israel failed to keep:
The tabernacle was God's first dwelling place on earth among His people Israel, after their redemption out of Egypt. "Let them make me a sanctuary," He said to Moses, "that I may dwell in their midst" (Exodus 25:8)... While Israel was still in the wilderness, the Lord gave instructions about how His people should behave once they were in the land. With them came this promise, conditional on their obedience: "I will make my dwelling among you... And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people" (Leviticus 26:11-12). Because of Israel's transgressions, this promise was never entirely fulfilled. So God repeats it through Ezekiel, for He never allows His purpose to fail, and applies it to the time of Messiah's kingdom.
Some translations read "over them" instead of "with them." Then the picture is shelter — the covering Israel once turned away from:
Divine love lingers on it: "My tabernacle also shall be over them." Those are the covering wings Israel once refused. One day they will know the blessing of them. The promise goes on: "and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore."
This promise does not go to a people who earned it:
Israel will be fully cleansed from their sins (Ezekiel 37:23), and they will walk in the fear of the Lord. They will be under the blessing of the everlasting covenant of peace (Ezekiel 37:26). That nation's sin ended in the murder of His Son and their Messiah. After all that, for God to say this is infinite grace.
Commentators here resist reading Israel out of the verse. One writer holds that the plain reading is the one that makes sense:
God says plainly that His sanctuary is in the midst of them. That is the very sign of His acceptance of His people Israel, and that acceptance will never change. This is quite the opposite of what we have in Christianity. Our difficulty has been to treat Christianity as God's final thought for the earth as well as heaven. Then these passages make no sense to us unless we read them in a way that changes them a great deal. Taken just as they read, they are clear everywhere and fully consistent, as God's words must always be.
The passage still speaks to Christian readers, but the setting differs:
In all these Old Testament passages, and in many others (such as Ezekiel 37:26 and following), we may see a deeper spiritual meaning. It speaks to the heart and conscience of believers today... But we need to remember one difference. Israel's future establishment and blessing will be on earth, in the Holy Land. We see the church in its future displayed glory coming down from God, "out of heaven."
The same words appear again at the end of the Bible:
The word tabernacle in Revelation 21 clearly points back to these scriptures. Israel's encampment was the first outward expression of God's purpose to have His eternal home among His people. His tabernacle in the wilderness, surrounded by the twelve tribes, was both a foreshadowing and a prophecy. And the more perfect dwelling of the thousand-year kingdom becomes in turn a picture of His perfected tabernacle in eternity.
- Dwelling, first — it begins at Exodus 25:8. God asks for a sanctuary so He can live among a people He has redeemed.
- Dwelling, refused — that promise hung on obedience. Israel's transgressions meant it was never fully realised.
- Dwelling, renewed — God says it again through Ezekiel, under an everlasting covenant of peace. He never lets His purpose fail.
- Dwelling, over them — read as shelter, the wings Israel once refused become the covering they enjoy at last, while the nations look on.
- Dwelling, for ever — the wilderness tent, the coming kingdom and Revelation 21 form one line. God lives with His people, and it never ends.
And the nations shall know that I Jehovah do hallow Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for ever.
Ezekiel 37 ends with the promise that closes the whole vision: God's sanctuary set among His restored people for ever, with the nations looking on. Two questions come up again and again — who is "Israel" here, and what does it mean that God Himself makes Israel holy?
The chapter moves from a valley of dry bones to a nation re-made. The sanctuary is where the story lands. One writer traces the steps:
The dry bones of Israel, of the nation as a whole, are gathered together by the power of God... It is the resurrection of the nation, which was really dead and buried. But God opens their graves, and places them again in their land restored to life as a nation... God Himself will cleanse them completely. They will walk in His statutes and His judgments, and live for ever in their land. The sanctuary of God will be in their midst for ever; His tabernacle, His dwelling-place, will be among them, He their God and they His people.
The sanctuary does not rest on Israel's record. The verses just before it speak of an everlasting covenant. One writer links that covenant to David and to the resurrection of Christ:
It is, as Isaiah says, the sure mercies of David — that everlasting covenant the LORD makes with Israel; and the resurrection of Christ explains it. So He was to reign — not only to ascend and become the beginning and Head of a new work on high, but to reign — over Israel in their land.
Another writer compares it with the covenant made at Mount Sinai:
Israel's covenant, made at Sinai, could bring no restoration. But God promises to make a covenant that will last for ever, and by it He will restore the nation and bring it to acknowledge Him.
Much of the debate over this verse is about whether "Israel" means the church. Writers here say no. The chapter describes two long-divided kingdoms becoming one:
It is just as pointless to twist such language to fit the remnant of Jews who returned from Babylon as to fit the church at Pentecost. There is not even a resemblance. It is a union of the two long-divided houses of Israel, and nothing else. Not even a shadow of it has happened yet... Never again will they be divided, never again defiled.
The wording here is not new. God said something very close to it at Sinai, and the repetition is itself the point:
While Israel was still in the wilderness, God gave instructions about how they were to live once they reached the land. With them He gave this promise, on condition that they obeyed: "I will make my dwelling among you... And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people." (Lev. 26:11-12.) Because of Israel's sins, this promise was never fully kept. So it is repeated through Ezekiel — God never lets His purpose fail — and applied to the time of Messiah's kingdom.
(Older translations read "I will set my tabernacle among you.") Dennett adds that God's tent in the wilderness, with the tribes camped around it, pictured the same thing.
The verse makes the nations the audience. What they learn is how God governs the world:
Many verses say, "And they shall know that I am the LORD." The leading thought in those declarations and judgments of God is this: the showing of His government on the earth. It is a government that makes clear the true character of God in His rule, and secures its display in the world, despite the unfaithfulness of His people — and that, in grace as well as in holiness.
The sanctuary is a real place, not just a spiritual idea:
When Zion is restored, Israel will have the sanctuary of God once more. This was what marked them out long ago, and it will be so again in the day to come... The cloud of glory that left so unwillingly when Israel sinned will return again to their joy.
- Resurrection. The chapter begins with a nation as dead as dry bones. God opens the graves. Everything that follows — one king, one land, one sanctuary — flows from that.
- Covenant. The guarantee is an everlasting covenant of peace. The covenant made at Sinai, writers here say, could never restore anyone.
- Dwelling. God's aim all along is to live among His people. He made this promise in the wilderness, and He renews it here, because He never drops His purpose.
- Israel. Writers here read this of a real reunion of the two long-divided houses of Israel in their own land. They reject reading it of the church or of the return from Babylon.
- Witness. The nations are the audience. When the sanctuary stands in Israel's midst, they see God's rule over the earth for what it is — in grace as well as in holiness.