Ezekiel 36:1

After pronouncing judgment on Mount Seir, Jehovah now speaks to the mountains of Israel as though they were living persons. He declares the comfort in store for them, whatever the proud spite of Edom may have said against them.

Ezekiel has spoken to these mountains before, in chapter 6, but in very different terms. They were then the home of an idolatry that dared to raise its head in a special way in the high places of the land. So desolation came upon them, and the enemy took it up as a reproach against both them and Jehovah Himself. But these mountains of Israel were green and fruitful, the pasture land of the flock, and they bore witness to the condition of a people whom Jehovah owned as His... How different they are now! In their present barrenness they are a reproach in the sight of all who look at them — a picture, as many suppose, of a people who had hopelessly lost everything. How often Jehovah declares here that He has pledged Himself to their revival, by a word that can never be broken!

First of all we have Jehovah's word to the land itself. This connects directly with the claim the Edomite enemy had made to own it. So the land must be cleared of that reproach. The land is truly Jehovah's land. He has never lost His right to it, and He will never hand it over to His enemies. Israel are to hold it on the surest ground there is — the ground of God's grace. They are to live in the land as guests with Him, and so to know all the resources of His hand.

But here it is the earth that is dealt with, not eternal judgment. The prophet was to speak comfort to the long desolate mountains of Israel. God has not made the earth, or man upon it, to be forever the victims of sin and sorrow, of emptiness and decay. He will surely show Himself a deliverer from all the harm Satan has done. But there must be judgment as well as mercy, and we see both here.

Ezekiel 36 continues the same subject with reference to the blessing of Israel. The nations insulted Israel as a land whose ancient high places were their prey, and — as the spies had said — a land that devoured its inhabitants. God uses this as the occasion to show that He favours His people. Jehovah declares that He will restore peace and prosperity to the land, and take away their reproach... But Jehovah would step in and sanctify His great name in front of the nations. He would do it by bringing His people back from among them, and by cleansing them from all their filthiness.

Now we have the work of restoration and reorganization. It happens first of all in the land becoming Israel's once more... But for them to enjoy it, a deeper work must be done in the nation itself.