Ezekiel 36:37

Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(37) I will yet for this be enquired of.—Comp. Ezekiel 14:3-4; Ezekiel 20:3. Formerly God refused to be inquired of by a people whose hearts were far from Him; now that He has given them a new heart He is ready to hear them.

Benson Commentary

Ezekiel 36:37-38. I will yet be inquired of by the house of Israel — The house of Israel must, 1st, Pray for these blessings; for by prayer God is sought unto and inquired after. What is the matter of God’s promises, must be the matter of our prayers. By asking for the mercy promised, we give glory to the donor, express our value of the gift, our own dependance upon God, and put honour upon prayer, upon which he has put honour. 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. 2d, They must consult the oracles of God, for thus also God is sought unto and inquired after: the mercy must not be 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 fixed upon it, which must be both the guide and the ground of our expectations. In both these ways we find Daniel inquiring of God, in the name of the house of Israel: then when God was about to do these great things for them, he consulted the oracles of God, for he understood by books, namely, 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, Daniel 9:2-3. As the holy flock, &c. — Flocks designed for holy uses, as sacrifices, and therefore further described by the place where they were presented, namely, Jerusalem; in her solemn feasts — The three great annual feasts. These flocks were for quality the best of all, and for numbers very great on these solemn occasions: see 2 Chronicles 35:7; and 1 Kings 8:63. Thus shall men multiply, and fill the cities of replanted Judah. And the increase of the numbers of a people is then honourable, when they are all dedicated to God as a holy flock, to be presented to him as living sacrifices. Crowds are a lovely sight in God’s temple.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

36:25-38 Water is an emblem of the cleansing our polluted souls from sin. But no water can do more than take away the filth of the flesh. Water seems in general the sacramental sign of the sanctifying influences of the Holy Ghost; yet this is always connected with the atoning blood of Christ. When the latter is applied by faith to the conscience, to cleanse it from evil works, the former is always applied to the powers of the soul, to purify it from the pollution of sin. All that have an interest in the new covenant, have a new heart and a new spirit, in order to their walking in newness of life. God would give a heart of flesh, a soft and tender heart, complying with his holy will. Renewing grace works as great a change in the soul, as the turning a dead stone into living flesh. God will put his Spirit within, as a Teacher, Guide, and Sanctifier. The promise of God's grace to fit us for our duty, should quicken our constant care and endeavour to do our duty. These are promises to be pleaded by, and will be fulfilled to, all true believers in every age.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Their sin had prevented God's hearing them. Now their purification opens God's ears to their words.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

37. I will yet for this be inquired of—so as to grant it. On former occasions He had refused to be inquired of by Israel because the inquirers were not in a fit condition of mind to receive a blessing (Eze 14:3; 20:3). But hereafter, as in the restoration from Babylon (Ne 8:1-9:38; Da 9:3-20, 21, 23), God will prepare His people's hearts (Eze 36:26) to pray aright for the blessings which He is about to give (Ps 102:13-17, 20; Zec 12:10-14; 13:1).

like a flock—resuming the image (Eze 34:23, 31).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Though I have repeated so often my promise to return them, to rebuild, to multiply them, yet they shall know it is their duty to entreat it, to wait on me, and then I will give a merciful answer and do it. Thus Daniel prayed, when he knew the return was sure and near. Or else it may be thus; Above all this, or yet more than all this, I will be found of them when they do seek me: thus it is a promise made to their prayer, in the other it is a requiring them to pray, so they shall increase as a flock.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel,.... Besought and prayed unto for the accomplishment of the above promises, as well as what follows: for though God has promised and will perform, yet he expects that his people will apply to him for it; it is our duty to put the Lord in mind of his promises, to plead them with him, and pray unto him for the fulfilment of them. The Syriac version is, "even for this I seek Israel"; and so the Arabic version; as if the sense was, that the Lord will seek the people of Israel wherever they are, and find them out, and call them by his grace, and gather them out of all countries, and bring them into their own land: "to do it for them"; everything before promised, and what next follows:

I will increase them with men like a flock; as a flock of sheep is increased, which is a very increasing creature: or, "as a flock of men" (p); it signifies that the people of the Jews will be very numerous at their conversion; see Hosea 1:10.

(p) "sicut gregem hominum", V. L. Syr.; "sicut pecus hominus", Montanus; "pecudes hominum", Pagninus.

Geneva Study Bible

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.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

37. yet … be inquired of] Almost: I will let myself be inquired of, which embraces not merely the enquiry or request on the part of the people, but the response to it on the part of the Lord. Cf. Ezekiel 14:3, Ezekiel 20:3; Ezekiel 20:31. As usual “this” refers to what follows—the multiplication of the people.

37, 38. A single point in the Lord’s restoration of Israel is made prominent, the multiplication of the people. The terrible threats of the diminution of their numbers (Ezekiel 36:12), and of the destruction both of those remaining in the land and those going into exile, were no doubt to a great extent fulfilled (Lamentations 5). The scanty population of Jerusalem is referred to by Nehemiah nearly a century after the first exiles returned (Ezekiel 7:4). The old promise that they should be as the sand of the sea is here repeated, cf. Ezekiel 36:10-11; Ezekiel 36:33; Jeremiah 31:27; Hosea 1:10; Zechariah 2:4.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 37. - I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel. On two previous occasions (Ezekiel 14:3; Ezekiel 20:3), Jehovah had declined to be inquired of by the hypocritical and idol-loving elders of Israel, who pretended to consult him through his prophet; now he makes it known that in the future era no barrier of moral and spiritual unfitness on their part will prevent their free approach to his throne, but rather that they will come to him with fervent supplications for the very blessings he has pro-raised. In answer to their prayers, he engages, going back to the language of Ezekiel 34:22, to increase them with men like a flock - incorrectly rendered by Kliefoth to "multiply them so that they shall become the flock of mankind." Thus he meets the despondency of those among the exiles who, fixing their attention on the small number of them who should form the new Israel - those who should return with those, perhaps, who still remained in the land-could not see how Israel's future prosperity was to be secured. Ezekiel 36:37

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The Lord will richly bless, multiply, and glorify His people, when thus renewed and sanctified. - Ezekiel 36:29. And I will save you from all your uncleannesses, and will call the corn, and multiply it, and no more bring famine upon you; Ezekiel 36:30. But I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that ye will no more bear the reproach of famine among the nations. Ezekiel 36:31. But ye will remember your evil ways, and your deeds which were not good, and will loathe yourselves on account of your iniquities and your abominations. Ezekiel 36:32. Not for your sake do I this, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah, be this known to you; be ye ashamed and blush for your ways, O house of Israel! Ezekiel 36:33. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, In the day when I shall cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will make the cities inhabited, and the ruins shall be built, Ezekiel 36:34. And the devastated land shall be tilled instead of being a desert before the eyes of every one who passed by. Ezekiel 36:35. And men will say, This land, which was laid waste, has become like the garden of Eden, and the desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited. Ezekiel 36:36. And the nations, which have been left round about you, shall know that I Jehovah build up that which is destroyed, and plant that which is laid waste. I, Jehovah, have said it, and do it. Ezekiel 36:37. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, I will still let myself be sought by the house of Israel in this, to do it for them; I will multiply them, like a flock, in men; Ezekiel 36:38. Like a flock of holy sacrifices, like the flock of Jerusalem on its feast-days, so shall the desolate cities be full of flocks of men; and they shall know that I am Jehovah. - The words 'הושׁעתּי , I help or save you from all your uncleannesses, cannot be understood as relating to their purification from the former uncleannesses; for they have already been cleansed from these, according to Ezekiel 36:25. The טמאות can only be such defilements as are still possible even after the renewing of the people; and הושׁע, to help, means to guard them against any further recurrence of such defilements (cf. Ezekiel 37:23), and not to deliver them from the consequences of their former pollutions. But if God preserves His people from these, there is no longer any occasion for a fresh suspension of judgments over them, and God can bestow His blessing upon the sanctified nation without reserve. It is in this way that the further promises are appended; and, first of all, in Ezekiel 36:29 and Ezekiel 36:30, a promise that He will bless them with an abundant crop of fruits, both of the orchard and the field. "I call to the corn," i.e., I cause it to come or grow, so that famine will occur no more (for the fact, compare Ezekiel 34:29).

In consequence of this blessing, Israel will blush with shame at the thought of its former sins, and will loathe itself for those abominations (Ezekiel 36:31); compare Ezekiel 20:43, where the same thought has already occurred. To this, after repeating what has been said before in Ezekiel 36:22, namely, that God is not doing all this for the sake of the Israelites themselves, the prophet appends the admonition to be ashamed of their conduct, i.e., to repent, which is so far inserted appropriately in the promise, that the promise itself is meant to entice Israel to repent and return to God. Then, secondly, in two strophes introduced with 'כּה אמר יי, the promise is still further expanded. In Ezekiel 36:33-36, the prophet shows how the devastated land is to be restored and rebuilt, and to become a paradise; and in Ezekiel 36:37 and Ezekiel 36:38, how the people are to be blessed through a large increase in their numbers. Both of these strophes are simply a further elaboration of the promise contained in Ezekiel 36:9-12. הושׁיב, causative of ישׁב, to cause to be inhabited, to populate, as in Isaiah 54:3. לעיני כּל־עובר, as in Ezekiel 5:14. The subject to ואמרוּ in Ezekiel 36:35 is, "those who pass by." For the comparison to the garden of Eden, see Ezekiel 31:9. בּצוּרות is a circumstantial word belonging to ישׁבוּ: they shall be inhabited as fortified cities, that is to say, shall afford to their inhabitants the security of fortresses, from which there is no fear of their being expelled. In Ezekiel 36:36 the expression, "the heathen nations which shall be left round about you," presupposes that at the time of Israel's redemption the judgment will have fallen upon the heathen (compare Ezekiel 30:3 with Ezekiel 29:21), so that only a remnant of them will be still in existence; and this remnant will recognise the work of Jehovah in the restoration of Israel. This recognition, however, does not involve the conversion of the heathen to Jehovah, but is simply preparatory to it. For the fact itself, compare Ezekiel 17:24. הדּרשׁ, to let oneself be asked or entreated, as in Ezekiel 14:3. זאת, with regard to this, is explained by לעשׂות . What God will do follows in 'ארבּה ותו. God will multiply His people to such an extent, that they will resemble the flock of lambs, sheep, and goats brought to Jerusalem to sacrifice upon the feast days. Compare 2 Chronicles 35:7, where Josiah is said to have given to the people thirty thousand lambs and goats for the feast of the passover. כּצּאן אדם does not mean, like a flock of men. אדם cannot be a genitive dependent upon צאן, on account of the article in כּצּאן, but belongs to ארבּה, either as a supplementary apposition to אותם, or as a second object, so that ארבּה would be construed with a double accusative, after the analogy of verbs of plenty, to multiply them in men. Kliefoth's rendering,, "I will multiply them, so that they shall be the flock of men" (of mankind), is grammatically untenable. צאן קדשׁים, a flock of holy beasts, i.e., of sacrificial lambs. The flock of Jerusalem is the flock brought to Jerusalem at the yearly feasts, when the male population of the land came to the sanctuary (Deuteronomy 16:16): So shall the desolate cities be filled again with flocks of men (compare Micah 2:12).