Ezekiel 36:28

Eze 36:28 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.

Ver. 28. And ye shall dwell in the land,] i.e., In Judea, or rather in the Church, {a} which began in Judea, saith the Jesuit well The Church of Rome, then, is not the mother Church; no, though we take it in its primitive purity.

{a} A Lapide.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eze_36:28

Ye shall dwell in the land . . . and ye shall be My people.

The blessedness of the saints

I. The abundance of the blessings of grace. A newborn infant is the most helpless of all creatures. In its nakedness, weakness, dumbness, how dependent on a mothers love; yet not more so than Gods people are on His care and kindness. Theirs are therefore circumstances in which His promises are exceedingly precious. The condition of believers closely resembles that of a man of boundless affluence, whose wealth lies, not so much in money, as in moneys worth; in bills and bonds, all to be duly honoured, so soon as they become due. With these promises the poorest Christian is really a richer man than other men, with all their possessions; nor would he part with one of them for the worlds wealth. Are you cast down because, while others have shallows, you have depths, dark depths of sorrow and suffering to pass through? Be it so: it is as easy for God to march the host through the wide, deep sea, as across the bed of Jordan. Are your corruptions strong? Be it so: Samson found it as easy to snap a new spun cable as withes fresh gathered on the rivers bank; and believe me it is as easy for God to break thy tyrants strongest as his lightest chain. A chain of iron and a thread of flax are all one to God. The blood of thy Saviour cleanseth from every sin; and nothing being impossible, nay, not even difficult to Omnipotence, be assured that in your battle, and watch, and toil, you shall find this promise true, My grace is sufficient for thee.

II. The happiness which Gods people enter on at death. Gods people are like His ancient Israel. They have enemies who will harass them in life, and follow on their track to the very shores of time; but whoever or whatever these may be--sin, sorrow, poverty, temptations, trials, fears, doubts, Satan himself--oh! a death bed shall be the death of them all. This is what the redeemed escape from, but what they escape to, oh, the joys they enter on when they are with Christ, who can tell? We know that to die is--not shall be at a future time, and after some intermediate state--but to die is gain, gain immediate. One step, and what a step! the soul is in glory. And what and where is heaven? I cannot tell. It looks to the eye of faith, much like a star to the eye of flesh. A shining object, we see it gleaming in the dusky fields of space, but see nothing more, even when our eyes are assisted by the most powerful telescope. By what beings it is inhabited; what forms they have; what tongue they speak; what the character of the landscape in these upper worlds, we do not know, and perhaps never shall, till we have cast loose a body which, like an anchor, moors us to this earth, and with a soul unchained, free perhaps as thought, we are left to roam the universe, and pass, as on the rapid wings of a wish, from world to world of our Fathers kingdom. Never, till then, shall we know either where or what heaven is. The best description of it is to say that it is indescribable.

III. The complete blessedness of the saints at the resurrection in the restoration of all that sin forfeited. There were periods in creation; progressive stages. Step by step the work advanced to its consummation. Like creation, the Gospel has had its periods of progress. It gradually advanced in its development from the date of the first promise given by God; when He, the Judge, and the culprits, man and the devil, stood face to face upon the ruins of Eden. There yet remains an aspect of redemption in which it is not complete. All that death and Satan hold they must relinquish; all that Christ has purchased He shall possess. The soul wants her partner; and although the exile may return no more, nor see his native land, the redeemed shall come back to claim their bodies from the earth; aye, and claim the very earth they lie in. The saints shall inherit the earth. Under laws accommodated to a new economy, this wide world shall become one smiling Eden, where, exempt from physical as from moral evils, none shall shiver amid arctic frosts, nor wither under tropic heat; and these fields of snow and arid sands shall be all flowered with roses. From the convulsions of expiring, or rather the birth-pangs of parturient nature, a newborn world shall come; a home worthy of immortals; a palace befitting its King. The blood that, falling on Calvary, dyed earths soil shall bless it; and this ancient theatre of Satans triumph shall be the seat of Emmanuels kingdom, and the witness of His glory. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eze 36:28-30. And ye shall dwell in the land — Spiritual blessings, promised in the last three verses, are now followed with temporal blessings. Thus does earth often follow heaven, and godliness hath the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come. When the Israelites are thus prepared for mercy, then shall they return to their possessions, and be settled again in them. And there God will acknowledge them for his people, and will protect and bless them as such, bestowing liberally upon them all good things. I will also save you — Will continue to save you; from all your uncleannesses — I will take away the guilt of them, deliver you from the power and pollution of them, and preserve you from the punishments due to them. Salvation from all uncleanness includes justification, entire sanctification, and meetness for glory. And I will call for the corn, &c. — All necessaries are here comprised in one. And lay no famine upon you — This was one of the judgments which they had laboured under; and it had been as much as any other a reproach to them, that they should be starved in a land so famed for fruitfulness. But it is here promised, that now this calamity should afflict them no more, nor should they any more bear the reproach of it, but should have the credit of possessing abundance; the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, being multiplied to them.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ye . . . my people, . . . I . . . your God-- (Eze 11:20; Jer 30:22).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 28. Ye shall be my people] Wholly given up to me in body, soul, and spirit.

And I will be your God.] To fill you with love, joy, peace, meekness, gentleness, longsuffering, fidelity and goodness, to occupy your whole soul, and gratify your every desire.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(28) Ye shall dwell in the land.—The Israelites were not yet able to seek the spiritual, except as con. nected with the temporal blessing; and, indeed, the temporal was, in the ordering of Providence, a necessary means to the spiritual. Therefore the promise of earthly restoration must yet be made, and must in due time be literally fulfilled.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

28. Again, the consequence of walking in Jehovah’s statutes will be that they shall inherit the land for ever, cf. Eze_28:25, Eze_37:25. The promise attached to the fifth commandment—the first commandment with promise—belongs to the commandments given to Israel as a whole. The keeping of them was the condition of remaining in the land. When the people disregarded them they were driven out, and only when their former sins were forgiven could they be restored (Isa_40:2). It may be a question whether there be now any connexion between Israel and the land of Canaan. If there be, the condition of restoration to it is faith and obedience on the part of the people. A restoration of Jews still in unbelief to Canaan, even if it should occur, could have no meaning so far as the redemptive providence of God is concerned, and would not enter into any relation with the Old Testament scriptures. Comp. the order stated Eze_36:33.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And ye shall dwell in the land which I gave to your fathers,.... Not only shall be brought into it, but shall inhabit it, and continue there, and that in great safety and plenty; and which will be the more valued and esteemed, and reckoned a great blessing to enjoy; because this land is the gift of God, and what he gave to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, by promise so long ago, and to their seed; of which promise it appears he is not unmindful:

and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God; which is the sum and substance of the covenant of grace; which will now be renewed, and the blessings of it applied. The Jews will appear to be the people of God by their effectual calling and conversion; and God will show himself to be their God, by his presence with them, his protection of them, and that communion with himself he will admit them to: see Jer 31:1, "the loammi" will be taken off, and they will be again declared to be the covenant people of God, Hos 1:9.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Ye shall be my people - (Compare 2Co 6:16-18; Heb 8:10. The writers of the New Testament appropriated these and similar phrases of the Old Testament to the Church of Christ. Between the restoration of the Jews (the first step) there are many steps toward the end - the spread of Christ’s Church throughout the world, the conversion of the Gentiles, and the acknowledgment of the true God - which justify men in looking forward to a time when the Gospel shall be preached in all the world, and the earth become the kingdom of God in a fuller sense than it has ever yet been. But all these are “steps.” Our prophecies look beyond all this to a new heaven to a new earth, and to a new Jerusalem Rev 21:3.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Spiritual blessings, promised in Eze 36:25-27, are now followed with temporal blessings; so earth doth follow heaven.

Ye shall dwell: God adds this to his taking, gathering, and bringing into the land, Eze 36:24; when they are there, they shall settle and continue proprietors, possessing their own houses and lands.

Which I gave; they were greatly pleased to think Canaan their land was by God given to their fathers; in this land under this character you shall dwell, the land that was your right by promise to Abraham, 1346 years or near it.

My people, as your fathers were, who reverenced, loved, worshipped, obeyed, and believed in me.

Your God, as I was their God, to protect, guide, comfort, and enrich, &c.; see Eze 11:20; to perform my promise to their faith and patience; and so you shall inherit the blessing.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

28-36. The new Israel, which possesses the new heart and the new spirit, shall be permitted to re-establish covenant relations with Jehovah and shall once more return to their old land, which shall yield fruitful harvests forever (Eze_36:29, etc.; compare Eze_28:25; Eze_37:25), and be like the very garden of Eden (Eze_36:35; compare Eze_31:9). These promises were, however, conditional upon a spiritual transformation (Eze_36:33) as were the original promises (Exo_19:5; Lev_26:3-12), and some terms which are here used to express covenant relationship with Israel were later transferred to the Christian Church (2Co_6:16-18) through which, according to the New Testament hope, this prophecy will find its larger future fulfillment (Rom_11:25-27; Rev_21:3).

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 28-31 describe the results which should follow in Israel"s experience when God should have thus gathered, cleansed, and renewed them. They should then have

(1) permanent occupation of the land (ver. 28);

(2) covenant relationship with God as his people (ver. 28);

(3) protection against future lapsing into idolatry and immorality (ver. 29);

(4) abundant supply for every want (vers. 29, 30); and

(5) a deepening sense of self-humiliation on account of and repentance for past sin (ver. 31).

Ye shall dwell in the land. As the Jews who returned from Babylon did not permanently dwell in the land, but were again ejected from it, the promise contained in these words must be viewed as having been conditional on the realization of the moral and spiritual purity above described. If, therefore, it be aroused that inasmuch as this promise must be fulfilled (2Co_1:20; Heb_10:23) the Jews must yet be restored to Palestine, the reply is that their return can only take place when they have been converted to Christianity; so that the whole promise must be regarded as receiving its highest fulfillment in the experiences of the Church of Christ. That this view is correct is vouched for by the fact that the words, Ye shall be my people and I will be your God (comp. Eze_11:20; Jer_7:23 Jer_11:4 Jer_30:22) descriptive of thecovenant relationship in which Jehovah stood towards Israel (Lev_26:12; Deu_26:17, Deu_26:18) have been chosen by New Testament writers to set forth the relationship of God towards the Christian Church, first here on earth, (2Co_6:16-18) and afterwards in the heavenly Jerusalem. (Rev_21:3)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ye shall dwell - Observe: then, and not before, are these promises to be fulfilled to the house of Israel. And I will be your God - This is the foundation of the top-stone of a believer's happiness.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.