Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the LORD; I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it.
This chapter ends with a ruined land rebuilt, and the nations nearby watching. Who gets the credit for the change, and when will it happen?
The Reason God Acts
The chapter has already set the nation's failure in front of them. One writer points to what moved God to act anyway.
The Bible TreasuryThe past failure of the nation is set before them so that they may own it before God. The nations said, "These are the people of the LORD, and yet they had to go out of His land" (v. 20). But then God remembers that His name is involved, and for His holy name's sake He delivers them.
The Evidence the Nations Will See
What convinces the onlookers is a landscape. One commentator notes both the force of that sight and its limit.
Numerical Bible NotesWhat a witness to man this will be! They will say: "This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited!" That leaves no room for doubt or question any longer: Jehovah has done this. There will be no sceptics or atheists in those days. Yet, sadly, even that amazing sight will not remove the enmity of man's heart.
Knowledge That Spreads Worldwide
The verse says the nations "shall know that I am the LORD." One writer shows how far that knowledge will travel.
W. Trotter"For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land" (Ezek. 36:23-24). This is how God will produce that mighty, world-wide impression. The passage needs no comment; it speaks for itself… We could multiply testimonies like these many times over. But surely these put it beyond question. The great moral effect of Israel's restoration on all nations will be this: Jehovah, the one true God, will become known everywhere.
Rebuilding Meant Literally
Some do not take promises like this literally. Two writers resist that. The first argues from the record. The ruin came just as predicted, so we should expect the rebuilding on the same terms.
C. StanleyThe predictions of the desolations came true in a wonderful way. So why not expect the promises of blessing to come true just as literally? Then "they will say, this land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited." "I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it." Just think of the glory of Christ filling the heavens above, and the earth beneath like the garden of Eden.
The second answers a different objection: that soil and harvests are too small a matter for God. He points to a New Testament passage built on the same principle.
William KellyIt is useless to explain away this prediction of restored and increased fertility. It is just as useless to call it incredible, or to deny that it shows divine power in an extraordinary way, as though the matter were beneath God's attention. The New Testament shows us the principle in Romans 8. The groaning creation is yet to be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.
Still Future
If the promise is literal, has it happened? One writer weighs all the parts of the promise together.
J. N. DarbyThen the nations would know that this restoration was Jehovah's doing. We find this last point more than once in Ezekiel. It is an important part of the re-establishment of Israel. Like the other parts — and especially their happening at the same time — it has never yet happened.
Another commentator warns about human effort that tries to produce this restoration ahead of God's time.
W. W. FeredayJewish hard work apart from God seeks to bring this about early. But the overwhelming Northern invasion in the day of the Antichrist will devastate the land again — though for the last time (Joel 2:1-3). Nothing can delay the coming of the long-rejected One much longer.
Summary
- Cause. God moves because His name is involved, not because Israel earned it. The nations had said His people had to leave His land.
- Proof. The rebuilt land is the argument. It leaves no room to doubt that Jehovah has done it. Yet the sight alone will not cure human enmity.
- Reach. The effect is not local. Israel's restoration is how the one true God becomes known everywhere.
- Literal. Judgment on the land came literally. Expect the promised fertility in the same way — by the same power that will free the whole groaning creation.
- Certain. Every part of this promise still waits, and they arrive together. Human effort may copy it early. Only His word secures it: "I have spoken, and I will do it."