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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
E Z E K I E L.
CHAP. XXXVI.
We have done with Mount Seir, and left it desolate, and likely to
continue so, and must now turn ourselves, with the prophet, to the
mountains of Israel, which we find desolate too, but hope before we
have done with the chapter to leave in better plight. Here are two
distinct prophecies in this chapter:–
I. Here is one that seems chiefly to relate to the temporal estate of
the Jews, wherein their present deplorable condition is described and
the triumphs of their neighbours in it; but it is promised that their
grievances shall be all redressed and that in due time they shall be
settled again in their own land, in the midst of peace and plenty,
II. Here is another that seems chiefly to concern their spiritual
estate, wherein they are reminded of their former sins and God’s
judgments upon them, to humble them for their sins and under God’s
mighty hand,
But it is promised,
1. That God would glorify himself in showing mercy to them,
2. That he would sanctify them, by giving them his grace and fitting
them for his service; and this for his own name’s sake and in answer to
their prayers,
| God’s Compassion for Israel. | B. C. 587. |
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1 Also, thou son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel,
and say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD:
2 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because the enemy hath said against
you, Aha, even the ancient high places are ours in possession:
3 Therefore prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because
they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every
side, that ye might be a possession unto the residue of the
heathen, and ye are taken up in the lips of talkers, and are an
infamy of the people:
4 Therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord
GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills,
to the rivers, and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes, and to
the cities that are forsaken, which became a prey and derision to
the residue of the heathen that are round about;
5 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Surely in the fire of my
jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen, and
against all Idumea, which have appointed my land into their
possession with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful
minds, to cast it out for a prey.
6 Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say
unto the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the
valleys, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I have spoken in my
jealousy and in my fury, because ye have borne the shame of the
heathen:
7 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I have lifted up mine
hand, Surely the heathen that are about you, they shall bear
their shame.
8 But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your
branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they
are at hand to come.
9 For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye
shall be tilled and sown:
10 And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel,
even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the
wastes shall be builded:
11 And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall
increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old
estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings:
and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
12 Yea, I will cause men to walk upon you, even my people
Israel; and they shall possess thee, and thou shalt be their
inheritance, and thou shalt no more henceforth bereave them of
men.
13 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because they say unto you, Thou
land devourest up men, and hast bereaved thy nations;
14 Therefore thou shalt devour men no more, neither bereave thy
nations any more, saith the Lord GOD.
15 Neither will I cause men to hear in thee the shame of the
heathen any more, neither shalt thou bear the reproach of the
people any more, neither shalt thou cause thy nations to fall any
more, saith the Lord GOD.
The prophet had been ordered to set his face towards the mountains
of Israel and prophesy against them,
ch. vi. 2.
Then God was coming forth to contend with his people; but now that God
is returning in mercy to them he must speak good words and comfortable
words to these mountains,
You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord; and what he
says to them he says to the hills, to the rivers, to the valleys, to
the desolate wastes in the country, and to the cities that are
forsaken,
v. 4 and again v. 6.
The people were gone, some one way and some another; nothing remained
there to be spoken to but the places, the mountains and valleys; these
the Chaldeans could not carry away with them. The earth abides for
ever. Now, to show the mercy God had in reserve for the people, he
is to speak of him as having a dormant kindness for the place, which,
if the Lord had been pleased for ever to abandon, he would not have
called upon to hear the word of the Lord, nor would he as at
this time have shown it such things as these. Here is,
I. The compassionate notice God takes of the present deplorable
condition of the land of Israel. It has become both a prey and a
derision to the heathen that are round about,
v. 4.
1. It has become a prey to them; and they are all enriched with the
plunder of it. When the Chaldeans had conquered them all their
neighbours flew to the spoil as to a shipwreck, every one thinking all
his own that he could lay his hands on
(v. 3):
They have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side,
that you might be a possession to the heathen, to the
residue of them, even such as had themselves narrowly escaped
the like desolation. No one thought it any crime to strip an Israelite.
Turba Romæ sequitur fortunam ut semper–The mob of Rome still
praise the elevated and despise the fallen. It is the common dry,
when a man is down, Down with him.
2. It has become a derision to them. They took all they had and laughed
at them when they had done. The enemy said, “Aha! even the ancient
high places are ours in possession,
v. 2.
Neither the antiquity, nor the dignity, neither the sanctity nor the
fortifications, of the land of Israel, are its security, but we have
become masters of it all.” The more honours that land had been adorned
with, and the greater figure it had made among the nations, the more
pride and pleasure did they take in making a spoil of it, which is an
instance of a base and sordid spirit; for the more glorious and
prosperity was the more piteous is the adversity. God takes notice of
it here as an aggravation of the present calamity of Israel: You are
taken up in the lips of talkers and are an infamy of the people,
v. 3.
All the talk of the country about was concerning the overthrow of the
Jewish nation; and every one that spoke of it had some peevish
ill-natured reflection or other upon them. They were the scorning of
those that were at ease and the contempt of the proud,
Ps. cxxiii. 4.
There are some that are noted for talkers, that have something to say
of every body, but cannot find in their hearts to speak well of any
body; God’s people, among such people, were sure to be a reproach when
the crown had fallen from their head. Thus it was the lot of
Christianity, in its suffering days, to be every where spoken
against.
II. The expressions of God’s just displeasure against those who
triumphed in the desolations of the land of Israel, as many of its
neighbours did, even the residue of the brethren, and Idumea
particularly. Let us see,
1. How they dealt with the Israel of God. They carved out large
possessions to themselves out of their land, out of God’s land; for so
indeed it was: “They have appointed my land into their
possession
(v. 5),
and so not only invaded their neighbour’s property, but intrenched upon
God’s prerogative.” It was the holy land which they laid their
sacrilegious hands upon. They did not own any dependence upon God, as
the God of that land, nor acknowledge any remaining interest that
Israel had in it, but cast it out for a prey, as if they had won
it in a lawful war. And this they did without any dread of God and his
judgments and without any compassion for Israel and their calamities,
but with the joy of all their hearts, because they got by it,
and with despiteful minds to Israel that lost by it. Increasing
wealth, by right or wrong, is all the joy of a worldly heart; and the
calamities of God’s people are all the joy of a despiteful mind. And
those that had not an opportunity of making a prey of God’s people made
a reproach of them; so that they were the shame of the heathen,
v. 6.
Every body ridiculed them and made a jest of them; and the truth is
they had by their own sin made themselves vile; so that God was
righteous herein, but men were unrighteous and very barbarous.
2. How God would deal with those who were thus in word and deed abusive
to his people. He has spoken against the heathen; he has passed
sentence upon them; he has determined to reckon with them for it, and
this in the fire of his jealousy, both for his own honour and
for the honour of his people,
v. 5.
Having a love for both as strong as death, he has a
jealousy for both as cruel as the grave. They spoke in
their malice against God’s people, and he will speak in his jealousy
against them; and it is easy to say which will speak most powerfully.
God will speak in his jealousy and in his fury,
v. 6.
Fury is not in God; but he will exert his power against them and handle
them as severely as men do when they are in a fury. He will so speak
to them in his wrath as to vex them in his sore displeasure. What
he says he will stand to, for it is backed with an oath. He has
lifted up his hand and sworn by himself, has sworn and will not
repent. And what is it that is said with so much heat, and yet with so
much deliberation? It is this
(v. 7),
Surely the heathen that are about you, they shall bear their
shame. Note, The righteous God, to whom vengeance belongs, will
render shame for shame. Those that put contempt and reproach upon God’s
people will, sooner or later, have it burned upon themselves,
perhaps in this world (either their follies or their calamities, their
miscarriages or their mischances, shall be their reproach), at furthest
in that day when all the impenitent shall rise to shame and
everlasting contempt.
III. The promises of God’s favour to his Israel and assurances given of
great mercy God had in store for them. God takes occasion from the
outrage and insolence of their enemies to show himself so much the more
concerned for them and ready to do them good, as David hoped that God
would recompense him good for Shimei’s cursing him. Let them curse,
but bless thou. In this way, as well as others, the enemies of
God’s people do them real service, even by the injuries they do them,
against their will and beyond their intention. We shall have no reason
to complain if, the more unkind men are, the more kind God is–if, the
more kindly he speaks to us by his word and Spirit, the more kindly he
acts for us in his providence. The prophet must say so to the
mountains of Israel, which were now desolate and
despised, that God is for them and will burn to them,
v. 9.
As the curse of God reaches the ground for man’s sake, so does the
blessing. Now that which is promised is,
1. That their rightful owners should return to the possession of them:
My people Israel are at hand to come,
v. 8.
Though they are at a great distance from their own country, though they
are dispersed in many countries, and though they are detained by the
power of their enemies, yet they shall come again to their own
border,
Jer. xxxi. 17.
The time is at hand for their return. Though there were above forty
years of the seventy (perhaps fifty) yet remaining, it is spoken of as
near, because it is sure, and there were some among them that should
live to see it. A thousand years are with God but as one
day. The mountains of Israel are now desolate; but God will
cause men to walk upon them again, even his people
Israel, not as travellers passing over them, but as
inhabitants–not tenants, but freeholders: They shall possess
thee, not for term of life, but for themselves and their heirs;
thou shalt be their inheritance. It was a type of the heavenly
Canaan, to which all God’s children are heirs, every Israelite indeed,
and into which they shall shortly be all brought together, out of the
countries where they are now scattered.
2. That they should afford a plentiful comfortable maintenance for
their owners at their return. When the land had enjoyed her
sabbaths for so many years, it should be so much the more fruitful
afterwards, as we should be after rest, especially a sabbath rest:
You shall be tilled and sown
(v. 9)
and shall yield your fruit to my people Israel,
v. 8.
Note, It is a blessing to the earth to be made serviceable to men,
especially to good men, that will serve God with cheerfulness in the
use of those good things which the earth serves up to them.
3. That the people of Israel should have not only a comfortable
sustenance, but a comfortable settlement, in their own land: The
cities shall be inhabited; the wastes shall be builded,
v. 10.
And I will settle you after your old estates,
v. 11.
Their own sin had unsettled them, but now God’s favour shall resettle
them. When the prodigal son has become a penitent he is settled again
in his father’s house, according to his former estate. Bring hither
the first robe, and put it on him. Nay, I will do better unto
you now than at your beginnings. There is more joy for the
sheep that is brought back than there would have been if it had never
gone astray. And God sometimes multiplies his people’s comforts in
proportion to the time that he has afflicted them. Thus God
blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning, and doubled to
him all he had.
4. That the people, after their return, should be fruitful, and
multiply, and replenish the land, so that it should not only be
inhabited again, but as thickly inhabited, and as well peopled, as
ever. God will bring back to it all the house of Israel, even all of
it (observe what an emphasis is laid upon that,
v. 10),
all whose spirits God stirred up to return; and those only were
reckoned of the house of Israel, the rest had cut themselves off
from it; or, though but few, in comparison, returned at first, yet
afterwards, at divers times, they all returned; and then (says
God) I will multiply these men
(v. 10),
multiply man and beast; and they shall increase,
v. 11.
Note, God’s kingdom in the world is a growing kingdom; and his church,
though for a time it may be diminished, shall recover itself and be
again replenished.
5. That the reproach long since cast up on the land of Israel by the
evil spies, and of late revived, that it was a land that ate up the
inhabitants of it by famine, sickness, and the sword, should be
quite rolled away, and there should never be any more occasion for it.
Canaan had got into a bad name. It had of old spued out the
inhabitants
the natives, the aborigines, which was turned to its reproach by those
that should have put another construction upon it,
It had of late devoured the Israelites, and spued them out too; so that
it was commonly said of it, It is a land which, instead of supporting
its nations or tribes that inhabit it, bereaves them,
overthrows them, and causes them to fall; it is a
tenement which breaks all the tenants that come upon it. This character
it had got among the neighbours; but God now promises that it shall be
so no more: Thou shalt no more bereave them of men
(v. 12),
shalt devour men no more,
v. 14.
But the inhabitants shall live to a good old age, and not have the
number of their months cut off in the midst. Compare this with that
promise,
Note, God will take away the reproach of his people by taking away that
which was the occasion of it. When the nation is made to flourish in
peace, plenty, and power, then they hear no more the shame of the
heathen
(v. 15),
especially when it is reformed; when sin, which is the reproach of any
people, particularly of God’s professing people, is taken away, then
they hear no more the reproach of the people. Note, When God
returns in mercy to a people that return to him in duty, all their
grievances will be soon redressed and their honour retrieved.
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16 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
17 Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own
land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings: their
way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman.
18 Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they
had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had
polluted it:
19 And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were
dispersed through the countries: according to their way and
according to their doings I judged them.
20 And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went,
they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are
the people of the LORD, and are gone forth out of his land.
21 But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel
had profaned among the heathen, whither they went.
22 Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord
GOD; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for
mine holy name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen,
whither ye went.
23 And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among
the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the
heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when
I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.
24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you
out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
When God promised the poor captives a glorious return, in due time, to
their own land, it was a great discouragement to their hopes that they
were unworthy, utterly unworthy, of such a favour; therefore, to remove
that discouragement, God here shows them that he would do it for them
purely for his own name’s sake, that he might be glorified in
them and by them, that he might manifest and magnify his mercy and
goodness, that attribute which of all others is most his glory. And,
the restoration of that people being typical of our redemption by
Christ, this is intended further to show that the ultimate end aimed at
in our salvation, to which all the steps of it were made subservient,
was the glory of God. To this end Christ directed all he did in that
short prayer, Father, glorify thy name; and God declared it was
his end in all he did in the immediate answer given to that prayer, by
a voice from heaven: I have glorified it, and I will glorify it yet
again,
John xii. 28.
Now observe here,
I. How God’s name had suffered both by the sins and by the miseries of
Israel; and this was more to be regretted than all their sorrow, which
they had brought upon themselves; for the honour of God lies nearer the
hearts of good men than any interests of their own.
1. God’s glory had been injured by the sin of Israel when they were in
their own land,
It was a good land, a holy land, a land that had the eye of God upon
it. But they defiled it by their own way, their wicked way; that
is our own way, the way of our own choice; and we ourselves must
bear the blame and shame of it. The sin of a people defiles their land,
renders it abominable to God and uncomfortable to themselves; so that
they cannot have any holy communion with him nor with one another.
What was unclean might not be made use of. By the abuse of the gifts of
God’s bounty to us we forfeit the use of them; and, the mind and
conscience being defiled with guilt, no comfort is allowed us,
nothing is pure to us. Their way in the eye of God was like the
pollution of a woman during the days of her separation, which shut her
out from the sanctuary and made very things she touched ceremonially
unclean,
Sin is that abominable thing which the Lord hates, and which he
cannot endure to look upon. They shed blood and worshipped
idols
(v. 18)
and with those sins defiled the land. For this God poured out
his fury upon them, scattered them among the heathen. Their
own land was sick of them, and they were sent into other lands. Herein
God was righteous, and was justified in what he did; none could say
that he did them any wrong, nay, he did justice to his own honour, for
he judged them according to their way and according to their
doings,
v. 19.
And yet, the matter being not rightly understood, he was not glorified
in it; for the enemies did say, as Moses pleaded the Egyptians would
say if he had destroyed them in the wilderness, that for mischief he
brought them forth. Their neighbours considered them rather as a
holy people than as a sinful people, and therefore took occasion from
the calamities they were in, instead of glorifying God, as they might
justly have done, to reproach him and put contempt upon him; and God’s
name was continually every day blasphemed by their oppressors,
2. When they entered into the land of the heathen God had no
glory by them there; but, on the contrary, his holy name was profaned,
(1.) It was profaned by the sins of Israel; they were no credit to
their profession wherever they went, but, on the contrary, a reproach
to it. The name of God and his holy religion was blasphemed
through them,
Rom. ii. 24.
When those that pretended to be in relation to God, in covenant and
communion with him, were found corrupt in their morals, slaves to their
appetites and passions, dishonest in their dealings, and false to their
words and the trust reposed in them, the enemies of the Lord had
thereby great occasion given them to blaspheme, especially when they
quarrelled with their God for correcting them, than which nothing could
be more scandalous.
(2.) It was profaned by the sufferings of Israel; for from them the
enemies of God took occasion to reproach God, as unable to protect his
own worshippers and to make good his own grants. They said, in scorn,
“These are the people of the land, these wicked people (you see
he could not keep them in their obedience to his precepts), these
miserable people–you see he could not keep them in the
enjoyment of his favours. These are the people that came out of
Jehovah’s land, they are the very scum of the nations. Are these
those that had statues so righteous whose lives are so unrighteous? Is
this the nation that is so much celebrated for a wise and
understanding people, and that is said to have God so nigh unto
them? Do these belong to that brave, that holy nation, who appear
here so vile, so abject?” Thus God sold his people and did not
increase his wealth by their price,
Ps. xliv. 12.
The reproach they were under reflected upon him.
II. Let us now see how God would retrieve his honour, secure it, and
advance it, by working a great reformation upon them and then working a
great salvation for them. He would have scattered them among the
heathen, were it not that he feared the wrath of the enemy,
Deut. xxxii. 26, 27.
But, though they were unworthy of his compassion, yet he had pity
for his own holy name, and a thousand pities it was that that
should be trampled upon and abused. He looked with compassion on his
own honour, which lay bleeding among the heathen, on that jewel which
was trodden into the dirt, which the house of Israel, even in
the land of their captivity, had profaned,
v. 21.
In pity to that God brought them out from the heathen, because their
sins were more scandalous there than they had been in their own land.
“Therefore I will gather you out of all countries and bring you into
your own land,
v. 24.
Not for your sake, because you are worthy of such a favour, for
you are most unworthy, but for my holy name’s sake
(v. 22),
that I may sanctify my great name,”
Observe, by the way, God’s holy name is his great name. His holiness is
his greatness; so he reckons it himself. Nor does any thing make a man
truly great but being truly good, and partaking of God’s holiness. God
will magnify his name as a holy name, for he will sanctify it: I
will sanctify my name which you have profaned. When God performs
that which he has sworn by his holiness, then he sanctifies his name.
The effect of this shall be very happy: The heathen shall know that
I am the Lord when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes
and yours. When God proves his own holy name, and his saints praise it,
then he is sanctified in them, and this contributes to the propagating
of the knowledge of him. Observe,
1. God’s reasons of mercy are all fetched from within himself; he will
bring his people out of Babylon, not for their sakes, but for his
own name’s sake, because he will be glorified.
2. God’s goodness takes occasion from man’s badness to appear so much
the more illustrious; therefore he will sanctify his name by the
pardon of sin, because it has been profaned by the commission of
sin.
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25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be
clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I
cleanse you.
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I
put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your
flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk
in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers;
and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
29 I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will
call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon
you.
30 And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase
of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine
among the heathen.
31 Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings
that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own
sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.
32 Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord GOD, be it
known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O
house of Israel.
33 Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day that I shall have
cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to
dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded.
34 And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay
desolate in the sight of all that passed by.
35 And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become
like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined
cities are become fenced, and are inhabited.
36 Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know
that I the LORD build the ruined places, and plant that that
was desolate: I the LORD have spoken it, and I will do it.
37 Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will yet for this be enquired
of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase
them with men like a flock.
38 As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn
feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men:
and they shall know that I am the LORD.
The people of God might be discouraged in their hopes of a restoration
by the sense not only of their unworthiness of such a favour (which was
answered, in the
with this, that God, in doing it, would have an eye to his own glory,
not to their worthiness), but of their unfitness for such a favour,
being still corrupt and sinful; and that is answered in these verses,
with a promise that God would by his grace prepare and qualify them for
the mercy and then bestow it on them. And this was in part fulfilled in
that wonderful effect which the captivity in Babylon had upon the Jews
there, that it effectually cured them of their inclination to idolatry.
But it is further intended as a draught of the covenant of grace, and a
specimen of those spiritual blessings with which we are blessed in
heavenly things by that covenant. As
after a promise of their return the prophecy insensibly slid into a
promise of the coming of Christ, the great Shepherd, so here it
insensibly slides into a promise of the Spirit, and his gracious
influences and operations, which we have as much need of for our
sanctification as we have of Christ’s merit for our justification.
I. God here promises that he will work a good work in them, to qualify
them for the good work he intended to bring about for them,
We had promises to the same purport,
1. That God would cleanse them from the pollutions of sin
(v. 25):
I will sprinkle clean water upon you, which signifies both the
book of Christ sprinkled upon the conscience to purify that and to take
away the sense of guilt (as those that were sprinkled with the water of
purification were thereby discharged from their ceremonial uncleanness)
and the grace of the Spirit sprinkled on the whole soul to purify it
from all corrupt inclinations and dispositions, as Naaman was cleansed
from his leprosy by dipping in Jordan. Christ was himself clean, else
his blood could not have been cleansing to us; and it is a Holy Spirit
that makes us holy: From all your filthiness and from all your idols
will I cleanse you. And
(v. 29)
I will save you from all your uncleannesses. Sin is defiling,
idolatry particularly is so; it renders sinners odious to God and
burdensome to themselves. When guilt is pardoned, and the corrupt
nature sanctified, then we are cleansed from our filthiness, and there
is no other way of being saved from it. This God promises his people
here, in order to his being sanctified in them,
We cannot sanctify God’s name unless he sanctify our hearts, nor live
to his glory, but by his grace.
2. That God would give them a new heart, a disposition of mind
excellent in itself and vastly different from what it was before. God
will work an inward change in order to a universal change. Note, All
that have an interest in the new covenant, and a title to the new
Jerusalem, have a new heart and a new spirit, and these are necessary
in order to their walking in newness of life. This is that
divine nature which believers are by the promises made partakers
of.
3. That, instead of a heart of stone, insensible and inflexible,
unapt to receive any divine impressions and to return any devout
affections, God would give a heart of flesh, a soft and tender
heart, that has spiritual senses exercised, conscious to itself of
spiritual pains and pleasures, and complying in every thing with the
will of God. Note, Renewing grace works as great a change in the soul
as the turning of a dead stone into living flesh.
4. That since, besides our inclination to sin, we complain of an
inability to do our duty, God will cause them to walk in his
statutes, will not only show them the way of his statutes before
them, but incline them to walk in it, and thoroughly furnish them with
wisdom and will, and active powers, for every good work. In order to
this he will put his Spirit within them, as a teacher, guide,
and sanctifier. Note, God does not force men to walk in his statutes by
external violence, but causes them to walk in his statutes by an
internal principle. And observe what use we ought to make of this
gracious power and principle promised us, and put within us: You
shall keep my judgments. If God will do his part according to the
promise, we must do ours according to the precept. Note, The promise of
God’s grace to enable us for our duty should engage and quicken our
constant care and endeavour to do our duty. God’s promises must drive
us to his precepts as our rule, and then his precepts must send us back
to his promises for strength, for without his grace we can do
nothing.
II. God here promises that he will take them into covenant with
himself. The sum of the covenant of grace we have,
You shall be my people, and I will be your God. It is not, “If
you will be my people, I will be your God” (though it is very true that
we cannot expect to have God to be to us a God unless we be to him a
people), but he has chosen us, and loved us, first, not we him;
therefore the condition is of grace, is by promise, as well as the
reward; not of merit, not of works: “You shall be my people; I
will make you so; I will give you the nature and spirit of my people,
and then I will be your God.” And this is the foundation and
top-stone of a believer’s happiness; it is heaven itself,
III. He promises that he will bring about all that good for them which
the exigence of their case calls for. When they are thus prepared for
mercy,
1. Then they shall return to their possessions and be settled again in
them
(v. 28):
You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. God
will, in bringing them back to it, have an eye not to any merit of
theirs, but to the promise made to the fathers; for therefore he gave
it to them at first,
Therefore he is gracious, because he has said that he will be
so. This shall follow upon the blessed reformation God would work among
them
(v. 33):
“In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your
iniquities, and so shall have made you meet for the inheritance,
I will cause you to dwell in the cities, and so put you in
possession of the inheritance.” This is God’s method of mercy indeed,
first to part men from their sins, and then to restore them to their
comforts.
2. Then they shall enjoy a plenty of all good things. When they are
saved from their uncleanness, from their sins which kept good
things from them, then I will call for the corn and will increase
it,
v. 29.
Plenty comes at God’s call, and the plenty he calls for shall be still
growing; and when he speaks the word the fruit both of the tree and of
the field shall multiply. As the inhabitants multiply the productions
shall multiply for their maintenance; for he that sends mouths will
send meat. Famine was one of the judgments which they had laboured
under, and it had been as much as any a reproach to them, that they
should be starved in a land so famed for fruitfulness. But now I
will lay no famine upon you; and none are under that rod without
having it laid on by him. Then they shall receive no more reproach
of famine, shall never be again upbraided with that, nor shall it
ever be said that God is a Master that keeps his servants to short
allowance. Nay, they shall not only be cleared from the reproach of
famine, but they shall have the credit of abundance. The land that had
long lain desolate in the sight of all that passed by, that
looked upon it, some with contempt and some with compassion, shall
again be tilled
(v. 34),
and, having long lain fallow, it will now be the more fruitful.
Observe, God will call for the corn and yet they must till
the ground for it. Note, Even promised mercies must be laboured
for; for the promise is not to supersede, but to quicken and encourage
our industry and endeavour. And such a blessing will God command on the
hand of the diligent that all who pass by shall take notice of
it, with wonder,
They shall say, “See what a blessed change here is, how this land
that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, the
desert turned again into a paradise,” Note, God has honours in reserve
for his people to be crowned with sufficient to counterbalance the
contempt they are now loaded with, and in them he will be honoured.
This wonderful increase both of the people of the land and of its
products is compared
(v. 38)
to the large flocks of cattle that are brought to Jerusalem, to be
sacrificed at one of the solemn feasts. Even the cities that now lie
waste shall be filled with flocks of men, not like the flocks
with which the pastures are covered over
(Ps. lxvi. 13),
but like the holy flock which is brought to the courts of the Lord’s
house. Note, Then the increase of the numbers of a people is
honourable and comfortable indeed when they are all dedicated to God as
a holy flock, to be presented to him for living sacrifices.
Crowds are a lovely sight in God’s temple.
IV. He shows what shall be the happy effects of this blessed
change.
1. It shall have a happy effect upon the people of God themselves, for
it shall bring them to an ingenuous repentance for their sins
(v. 31):
Then shall you remember your own evil ways and shall loathe
yourselves. See here what sin is; it is an abomination, a
loathsome thing, that abominable thing which the Lord hates. See what
is the first step towards repentance; it is remembering our own evil
ways, reflecting seriously upon the sins we have committed and
being particular in recapitulating them. We must remember against
ourselves not only our gross enormities, our own evil ways, but
our defects and infirmities, our doings that were not good, not
so good as they should have been; not only our direct violations of the
law, but our coming short of it. See what is evermore a companion of
true repentance, and that is self-loathing, a holy shame and confusion
of face: “You shall loathe yourselves in your own sight, seeing
how loathsome you have made yourselves in the sight of God.” Self-love
is at the bottom of sin, which we cannot but blush to see the absurdity
of; but our quarrelling with ourselves is in order to our being, upon
good grounds, reconciled to ourselves. And, lastly, see what is
the most powerful inducement to an evangelical repentance, and that is
a sense of the mercy of God; when God settles them in the midst of
plenty, then they shall loathe themselves for their iniquities.
Note, The goodness of God should overcome our badness and lead us to
repentance. The more we see of God’s readiness to receive us into
favour upon our repentance the more reason we shall see to be ashamed
of ourselves that we could ever sin against so much love. That heart is
hard indeed that will not be thus melted.
2. It shall have a happy effect upon their neighbours, for it shall
bring them to a more clear knowledge of God
(v. 36):
“Then the heathen that are left round about you, that spoke
ignorantly of God (for so all those do that speak ill of him)
when they saw the land of Israel desolate, shall begin to know better,
and to speak more intelligently of God, being convinced that he is able
to rebuild the most desolate cities and to replant the most desolate
countries, and that, though the course of his favours to his people may
be obstructed for a time, they shall not be cut off for ever.” They
shall be made to know the truth of divine revelation by the exact
agreement which they shall discern between God’s word which he has
spoken to Israel and his works which he has done for them: I the
Lord have spoken it, and I will do it. With us saying and doing are
two things, but they are not so with God.
V. He proposes these things to them, not as the recompence of
their merits, but as the return of their prayers.
1. Let them not think that they have deserved it: Not for your sakes
do I this, be it known to you
(v. 22, 32);
no, be you ashamed and confounded for your own ways. God is
doing this, all this which he has promised; it is as sure to be
done as if it were done already, and present events have a tendency
towards it. But then,
(1.) They must renounce the merit of their own good works, and be
brought to acknowledge that it is not for their sakes that it is done;
so, when God brought Israel into Canaan the first time, an express
caveat was entered against this thought.
It is not for thy righteousness. It is not for the sake of any
of their good qualities or good deeds, not because God had any need of
them, or expected any benefit by them. No, in showing mercy he acts by
prerogative, not for our deserts, but for his own honour. See how
emphatically this is expressed: Be it known to you, it is not
for your sakes, which intimates that we are apt to entertain a high
conceit of our own merits and are with difficulty persuaded to disclaim
a confidence in them. But, one way or other, God will make all his
favourites to know and own that it is his grace, and not their
goodness, his mercy, and not their merit, that made them so; and that
therefore not unto them, not unto them, but unto him, is all the glory
due.
(2.) They must repent of the sin of their own evil ways. They must own
that the mercies they receive from God are not only not merited, but
that they are a thousand times forfeited; and therefore they must be so
far from boasting of their good works that they must be ashamed and
confounded for their evil ways, and then they are best prepared for
mercy.
2. Yet let them know that they must desire and expect it
(v. 37):
I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel. God
has spoken, and he will do it, and he will be sought unto for it. He
requires that his people should seek unto him, and he will
incline their hearts to do it, when he is coming towards them in ways
of mercy.
(1.) They must pray for it, for by prayer God is sought unto, and
enquired after. What is the matter of God’s promises must be the matter
of our prayers. By asking for the mercy promised we must give glory to
the donor, express a value for the gift, own our dependence, and put
honour upon prayer which God has put honour upon. Christ himself must
ask, and then God will give him the heathen for his inheritance,
must pray the Father, and then he will send the
Comforter; much more must we ask that we may receive.
(2.) They must consult the oracles of God, and thus also God is sought
unto and enquired after. The mercy must be, not an act of providence
only, but a child of promise; and therefore the promise must be looked
at, and prayer made for it with an eye of faith fastened upon the
promise, which must be both the guide and the ground of our
expectations. Both these ways we find God enquired of by Daniel, in the
name of the house of Israel, when he was about to do those great things
for them; he consulted the oracles of God, for he understood by
books, the book of the prophet Jeremiah, both what was to be
expected and when; and then he set his face to seek God by
prayer,
Note, Our communion with God must be kept up by the word and prayer in
all the operations of his providence concerning us and in both he must
be enquired of.
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