15 The word of the Lord came to me: 16 “Son of man, take a stick and write on it, ‘For Judah, and the people of Israel associated with him’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.’ 17 And join them one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. 18 And when your people say to you, ‘Will you not tell us what you mean by these?’ 19 say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am about to take the stick of Joseph (that is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with him. And I will join with it the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, that they may be one in my hand. 20 When the sticks on which you write are in your hand before their eyes, 21 then say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land. 22 And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. 23 They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
24 “My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. 25 They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children shall dwell there forever, and David my servant shall be their prince forever. 26 I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. 27 My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 28 Then the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.” Ezekiel 37: 15-28 ESV
Ezekiel 37: 15-28
SUMMARY OF EZEKIEL'S
10 PROPHETIC SIGNS: SIGN TEACHING PASSAGE1. Sign of the Brick Jerusalem’s siege and fall Ezekiel 4:1-3 2. Sign of the Prophet’s Posture Discomforts of captivity Ezekiel 4:4-8 3. Sign of Famine Deprivations of captivity Ezekiel 4:9-17 4. Sign of the Knife and Razor Utter destruction of the city Ezekiel 5:1-17 5. Sign of House Moving Removal to another land Ezekiel 12:1-7, 17-20 6. Sign of the Sharpened Sword Judgment imminent Ezekiel 21:1-17 7. Sign of Nebuchadnezzar’s Sword Babylon the captor Ezekiel 21:18-23 8. Sign of the Smelting Furnace Judgment and purging Ezekiel 22:17-31 9. Sign of Ezekiel’s Wife’s Death Blessings forfeited Ezekiel 24:15-27 10. Sign of the Two Sticks Reunion of Israel and Judah Ezekiel 37:15-17 - From Precept Austin
15-23 For Judah and the people associated with him - Judah was the fourth son of Jacob, born to his wife Leah. His name is shared with that of his tribe, which is the tribe of Jesse, the father of David, the line of Messiah. When the kingdom split after Solomon's reign, Judah and Benjamin remained together in the south.
“Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise;
Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
Your father’s children shall bow down before you.
9 Judah is a lion’s whelp;
From the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He bows down, he lies down as a lion;
And as a lion, who shall rouse him?
10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
Nor a lawgiver from between his feet,
Until Shiloh comes;
And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.
11 Binding his donkey to the vine,
And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,
He washed his garments in wine,
And his clothes in the blood of grapes.
12 His eyes are darker than wine,
And his teeth whiter than milk. Genesis 49: 8-12
…10Although He had warned Solomon explicitly not to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the LORD’s command. 11Then the LORD said to Solomon, “Because you have done this and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. 12Nevertheless, for the sake of your father David, I will not do it during your lifetime; I will tear it out of the hand of your son.… 1 Kings 11: 10-12
For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) - Joseph was Jacob's favored son, born to his favorite wife, Rachel, and he was sold into slavery by his brothers, which included Judah. He had two sons, one named Ephraim and the other Manasseh. The northern kingdom was made up of the majority of the tribes, but often represented by Ephraim.
“Joseph is a fruitful vine,
a fruitful vine near a spring,
whose branches climb over a wall.
23 With bitterness archers attacked him;
they shot at him with hostility.
24 But his bow remained steady,
his strong arms stayed limber,
because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob,
because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
25 because of your father’s God, who helps you,
because of the Almighty, who blesses you
with blessings of the skies above,
blessings of the deep springs below,
blessings of the breast and womb.
26 Your father’s blessings are greater
than the blessings of the ancient mountains,
than the bounty of the age-old hills.
Let all these rest on the head of Joseph,
on the brow of the prince among his brothers. Genesis 49: 22-26
…19But Joseph replied, “Do not be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good, in order to accomplish a day like this— to preserve the lives of many people. 21Therefore do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones.” So Joseph reassured his brothers and spoke kindly to them.… Genesis 50: 19-21
Join them one to another into one stick - At this point they had been separated for hundreds of years, and to make this even more of a stretch to the imagination, there was no longer any northern kingdom. It had been plundered and taken captive by Assyria long ago, and now Judah was in captivity in Babylon. The people of God were dispersed all over the place, yet God is talking of reunifying the kingdom under one ruler. Two places that shared a similar religious vocabulary, but the northern kingdom had gone straight into apostasy at the start of Jeroboam's reign, and neither dealt with false teachers, both punished God's true prophets, and clung to the superstitions of the surrounding nations.
…21“Believe Me, woman,” Jesus replied, “a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him.… John 4: 21-23
That they may be one in my hand - In the hand of God, the scepter returns to the house of David, when Shiloh comes, the Messiah.
…16the prophecy of one who hears the words of God, who has knowledge from the Most High, who sees a vision from the Almighty, who bows down with eyes wide open: 17I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come forth from Jacob, and a scepter will arise from Israel. He will crush the skulls of Moab and strike down all the sons of Sheth. 18Edom will become a possession, as will Seir, his enemy; but Israel will perform with valor.… Numbers 24: 16-18
I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone - The Divine will and prerogative, an irresistible force.
I will take...I will gather - The repetition of "I will" speaks of God's sovereign promise and power to perform. He is omnipotent! What He promises is as good as done! Here the Lord God promises the regathering of the nation of Israel. There has been some "regathering" of Jews to the land of Israel in the 20th century (especially since May, 1948 when the United Nations granted statehood to Israel), but the final regathering of Jews to their land will be at the end of this age when the Messiah, the Deliverer (Ro 11:26) returns and takes "away their sins." (Ro 11:27) - Precept Austin
Bring them to their own land - The most contested piece of real-estate in the world, and now you know why, because Israel did nothing to earn it, and men hate the idea of a sovereign God.
They shall no longer defile themselves anymore with their idols - This is the product of being born again, of believing on the righteousness of Him, Who they pierced, that it was for their transgressions. This is the result of a new heart, replacing the heart of stone. They have been granted repentance unto salvation and this is the fruit of it.
24-28 My servant David shall be king over them - Now there are differences of opinion here on this and I try to present them each time, but one position, a very popular one, is that this is a Messianic reference to Christ, following in line with the Servant songs of Isaiah, the suffering servant, the exalted servant, Shiloh. Certainly Christ came as promised in the Scripture, in the line of David as foretold, was despised and rejected by His own as foretold, and He must return as foretold, to set all things right. The other view is that this is a literal resurrected David, who a divided Israel comes together under his rule, as a prince, a king of Israel, answering to Christ as King over all. Of the commentators I have read, neither view is so aberrant as to make me say one is clearly not right, but both carry some weight of argument. In verse 22, and remember this is God talking, He says, "I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all", that is over that nation, the one in that land on the mountains of Israel, a very specific place. Later in verses 24 and 25, again, God speaking, He uses the name David. Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords, so a view of a resurrected king David would in no way diminish God's rule, He will rule over all the nations, and Christ will be worshiped, so His would be more of a temple than a palace. It makes for some interesting thought. Note also that God does use this terminology of David, My servant David, and He does not say here the Son of David.
Comment: The question is this -- how many individuals do you see in this passage? Are there not two who Israel will "serve" - Jehovah-Jesus and David? And notice how David "gets on the scene" so to speak - God will raise him up! This certainly suggest two kings. Notice also that the Septuagint translates "I will raise up" with the Greek verb anistemi, the word which frequently refers to resurrection in the New Testament (eg, Mt 24:46, 28:6, 1Cor 6:14, Jn 6:39). - Precept Austin
This all needs to be taken in light of Luke 1 as well.
…32He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, 33and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end!” 34“How can this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”… Luke 1: 32-34
A third solution of the problem is more simple and seemingly in keeping with the prophetic references throughout Scripture, namely, that by David is meant the resurrected David who shares with Christ as prince some of the governmental duties of the millennial kingdom. It should be clear from many Scriptures that the reign of Christ is shared with others. As Newell has written:
"David is not the son of David. Christ, as Son of David, will be King; and David, His father after the flesh, will be prince, during the Millennium." - Precept Austin quoting Newell
I will make a covenant of peace with them - This is the New Covenant in Christ, where He alone has satisfied the law, has made a sacrifice once and for all for sin.
A covenant (See berit/berith/beriyth ) - In the Old Testament this describes a compact made by passing between pieces of flesh, the parties passing through the flesh saying in essence "Do so to me, just as has happened to the flesh of this animal if I do not keep this agreement." - P Austin
19And I especially urge you to pray that I may be restored to you soon. 20Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21equip you with every good thing to do His will. And may He accomplish in us what is pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.… Hebrews 13: 19-21
…4because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You prepared for Me. 6In burnt offerings and sin offerings You took no delight.… Hebrews 10: 4-6
My sanctuary, My dwelling place -
My sanctuary (04720)(miqdash) describes holy or sacred place, a sanctuary - that which has been sanctified or set apart as sacred and holy as opposed to the secular, common, or profane. Miqdas usually connotes a sanctuary or the physical place of worship. In the context of Ezekiel's prophecy of the physical and spiritual restoration of Israel, this sanctuary clearly refers to the Millennial Temple
Christ in essence fulfilled of the OT Sanctuary (in both the Wilderness Tabernacle and Solomonic Temple), when He "tabernacled" with man in John 1:14-note. - Precept Austin
My dwelling place shall be with them - The real meaning of Christmas, Immanuel (God with us).
…13Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, O house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God as well? 14Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel. 15By the time He knows enough to reject evil and choose good, He will be eating curds and honey.… Isaiah 7: 13-15
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.