And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.
God scattered Israel for its sins. But the scattering became a scandal. The nations looked at the exiles and drew their own conclusions about Israel's God. This verse answers that scandal. God will act — not to reward His people, but to clear the honour of His own name, with the whole world watching.
The Name Israel Dragged Down
The chapter first shows how the damage happened. Inside the land and outside it, the people who carried God's name made that name look small.
William KellyThat was Israel's way in the land and out of it. Everywhere they were a shame to Him who chose them as His own: corruption through idols and murderous violence in Canaan, and the profaning of His name among the nations. And what did He do, the One against whom they had sinned? He is Jehovah and He does not change, so they were not consumed. Instead, He had pity for the name they had outraged, and He would sanctify it and be sanctified in them.
Not for Israel's Sake
God first says what His reason is not. That rules out any thought that Israel had earned the change. What kept them alive was the honour of the name they had disgraced.
An Outline of Sound WordsGod will then bring Israel back to the land, out of His own sovereign goodness. Had He dealt with them according to their sins, they must have perished. Again and again through their long history they have deserved God's unsparing judgment. 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 vindicate the honour of His great and holy Name.
How the Name Gets Sanctified
Older translations read "I will sanctify my great name" where the ESV says "vindicate the holiness of my great name"; both mean God will show that name to be holy. He does not do it by wiping out the offenders. The verses that follow spell out His method, and it is a series of gifts.
J. N. DarbyBut Jehovah would step in and sanctify His great name before the nations. He would do it by bringing His people back from among them and cleansing them from all their filthiness. He would take away the hardness of their hearts, give them His Spirit, and cause them to walk in His statutes. He would plant them in the land which He had given to their fathers, own them as His people, and be Himself their God.
God works in them, not just for them.
J. N. DarbyThe Lord could do no more for Israel. Even so, He can do the wonderful work in them of turning their hearts to Himself, and He does it for His own sake.
"Before Their Eyes" — the Nations Watching
The promise looks outward. It reaches past Israel to the nations.
W. TrotterI will take you from the nations (this is how that mighty, world-wide impression comes about) and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land… Testimonies like these put it beyond question. Israel's restoration will have one great moral effect on all nations: Jehovah, the one true God, will become known everywhere.
Still Future
The return from exile under Cyrus did not fulfil this promise. What God promises here is far bigger than what happened then.
William KellyThe return from Babylon was no fulfilment, but at most a foretaste. Only a small remnant came back. Ezra 9 does not take the same ground, and does not claim to be what the faithful were waiting for; neither does Nehemiah 9. The one speaks of "our bondage," the other of being "servants this day"… How far this falls short of what Ezekiel promises should need no argument. The mass of Israel remained scattered up and down the nations after the decree of Cyrus.
The Same Charge, Closer to Home
The same charge comes up again in the New Testament, and it reaches past Israel.
Hamilton SmithIt all comes down to one solemn statement. The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through the religious man. The Apostle is speaking of the Jew, but what he says is just as true of the professing Christian. Unbelievers have blasphemed mainly because of the corrupt and degraded ways of those who claim the Christian name. Men would not have turned Christian just because Christians lived consistently. But if Christians lived up to what they claim, men would have no reason to blaspheme God.
Summary
- Profaned. The very people who carried God's name dragged it down — at home through idolatry and violence, abroad through their ruin.
- Pitied. God did not act because Israel deserved it. He had pity on His own outraged name, and that name kept them alive.
- Purified. He clears His name by cleansing, not by destroying: a new heart, His Spirit, and a people brought home.
- Published. God works in Israel "before their eyes," so that all nations come to know the one true God.
- Pending. The return from Babylon was at most a foretaste. The full sanctifying of the name is still ahead. Meanwhile the same warning lands on anyone who bears God's name today.