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.