Ezekiel - Lesson 40

Lesson number 40, Yahweh's original and ultimate vision for Israel as his covenant people, Ezekiel 37, 15-28. We close our study on Ezekiel 37, 1-14 by celebrating the resurrection of the nation of Israel in the Valley of Very Dry Bones as the bones came together in the form of human skeletons. Then internal organs formed and muscle and skin covered them all, creating human bodies, and when the breath of Yahweh entered their lungs, they came to life, a vast host. It seems like a scene from a Steven Spielberg movie, but with a not-so-subtle shift in the vision, in response to Ezekiel's audience's incredulity, if not outright skepticism, we heard Yahweh announce, these bones represent the entire household of Israel, that is, the family of Israel. And we listened in awe as Yahweh declared, you will know that I am Yahweh when I have opened up your graves and raised you up from your graves, O my people, then I will infuse you with my spirit breath, or breath, and you will come to life and I will set you down on your own land and you will know that I am Yahweh, I have spoken and I will act, the declaration of Yahweh. It appears that Ezekiel's audience still did not believe the prophet's words. Not only was this impossible, after what had happened, they could not trust Yahweh. He had not kept the promises he made in the past. Why should they believe this new promise? Their bones are still dried up, their hope has vanished, they were doomed, it is over, 3711b.They seem to have stumbled over at least four aspects of promises in verses 11 to 14. First, Yahweh had said the bones represent the entire household of Israel, verse 11. The exiles represented the last remnant of the tribe of Judah, but the northern ten tribes who represented the majority of Israel's household, family, had been scattered abroad in the vast Assyrian empire for 150 years by now. Second, this would require all the dead, not only those who had been slaughtered in battle and left out in the field for the buzzards, but also for those who had been properly buried and were resting in Sheol. We might imagine people being resurrected, but really, none of us has ever seen this happen. Third, even if we come back to life, our remains are scattered all over the Middle East. It’s inconceivable that they can all be brought together as a group and then escorted back to the land that we once occupied. Furthermore, not only would that land be occupied by armies of a series of the strongest empires on earth, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, but the land itself will have been horribly defiled by the pagans' idolatrous practices and by the corpses of unburied Israelites slaughtered and bodies of aliens buried there. And fourth, and why would we even want to return to Yahweh and know him? What guarantee is there that he will not betray us again? It seems that the present oracle, presented in the form of a sign act, was intentionally cast as a second panel for an overall message that carries on through the whole chapter. Several considerations seem to support this interpretation. First, the sign act involving two pieces of wood representing the southern and northern kingdoms answers directly to the first objection raised above, to adapt the words of the angels on the first Christmas night. Look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the tribes in the house of Israel, Luke 2 10.Second, Ezekiel's reference to the whole house of Israel in verse 16 deliberately picks up the same expression we saw in verse 11, except that now it refers unambiguously to the northern tribes of Israel, that is, those that have been historically under the leadership of Joseph Ephraim, that is, Joshua was an Ephraimite and Jeroboam the first king of the north. This is a name that stuck even after the capital was moved to Samaria, which was in Manassite territory. Compare Isaiah 7 9 and Obadiah 19. Third, Yahweh reiterated his promises in verse 12b, I will bring you to the land of Israel, and 14b, I will place you in your own land, then you will know that I am Yahweh. Look, 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. This is what we have in verse 21. Fourth, this looks like another example of Ezekiel's deliberately halving, h-a-l-v-i-n-g, dividing prophecies in half by presenting them as two comparable panels. Here, 14 verses each, the first is 212 words, and the second is 236. This is approximately equal, with the second presenting a response to the first. These two oracles fit together like forest gumps, peas and carrots. Having noticed the links with the preceding, we may take a quick look at the structure and logic of this text. As we come to expect with extended metaphors and synax, this passage divides into two principal parts, a shorter account of the prophet's sign action, verses 14 to 20, 90 words, and a 50% longer interpretation of the synax, verses 21 to 28, 140 words, which divides into two panels, like the two tablets of ancient writing boards of almost identical length, verses 21 to 24, a, 72 words, and verses 24b to 28, 68 words. However, if we pay attention to what is happening, we notice a deliberate and logical progression in thought through which the prophet invites his audience to follow and us to look beyond the prophet's street theater performance to Yahweh's original and ultimate design for his people. In the process, the text leads us ever upwards through four levels of significance. He begins with a very physical act. Ezekiel unites two sticks in a physical union, verses 15 to 17. At the next level, Yahweh unites two sticks in a physical union. Yahweh is now involved. Third, Yahweh unites two kingdoms in a political and spiritual union. Also, now it's not just sticks anymore. And then finally, Yahweh unites the unified nation with himself in a covenant relationship, verses 24b to 28.The object lesson at the beginning serves as a rhetorical device to capture the people's attention and to promote comprehension of the central message. The sign act zeroes in on one aspect of the theme, the participation of all twelve original tribes in the fulfillment of Yahweh's ancient but eternal promises to Israel, specified in verses 24b to 28. The divine interpretation involves a greater-to-lesser method of argumentation. Whereas the previous prophecy had addressed the utter despondency of the Judeans in Babylon and their failed hopes of ever returning home as a viable nation, this prophecy addressed an even greater difficulty. If the restoration of Judah represented a major problem in the exile's minds, Ezekiel's immediate audience, how much more would they have stumbled over the idea of the restoration of the Northern Kingdom? This is the very issue the nonverbal action addressed. Yahweh hereby affirmed that by a special divine act, 400 years of divided history would be reversed. If he was able to perform such an incredible feat, there's no reason to hope that the other elements involved in their own and the Judeans' restoration, their survival, regathering and return to the land, the restoration of the Davidic monarchy, the renewal of the covenant, and Yahweh's reestablishment of his residence in the midst, there's no reason why they could not be fulfilled either. And they would, in fact, be fulfilled. In my exposition, I will try to make sense of the progression in this fascinating text by following the stages reflected in the earlier paragraph. So let's look at Ezekiel's sign-act performance, verses 15 to 17. We may quickly summarize the actions. Yahweh commanded him to take two pieces of wood, eights, verse 16a.He was to inscribe these two pieces of wood with two short titular text titles, the first pertaining to Judah and to the descendants of Israel, his associates, and the second pertaining to Joseph, the wood of Ephraim and to the entire family of Israel, his associates. Ezekiel seems to have inserted explanatory wood of Ephraim either in his oral presentation or in his recording of the event. Third, the prophet was to bring the pieces of wood together and in so doing create a single wooden object. And fourth, he was to let the pieces rest in his hand and hold them high for his audience to see. But what did these two pieces of wood look like? Based on the word eights, Ezekiel's audience could have imagined several possibilities. First, two trees. This is the ordinary everyday word for trees. This is possible because eights is the common Hebrew word, but they would have required small saplings for him to hold them in his hand. This view has few proponents today. Second, these could be shepherds' staves, each one a staff. This could suit the context given the reference to a single shepherd for all Israel in verse 24. Three, they could be rulers' scepters, not just a shepherd's staff. This meaning suits the present royal context and is adopted by the Septuagint, Ravdos, scepter, which normally translates elsewhere, shevet, or matah, but both of which may mean either staff or tribe. Fourth, these could be flat pieces of wood, writing tablets, wooden writing tablets. The Aramaic Targum reads tablet here, which was what I proposed in my commentary in 1998.I am happy to report that it has found its way into the notes of the NRSV Cultural Study Bible, recognizing my point that the context involves Ezekiel's writing a message on each of these two pieces of wood. The use of writing boards was widespread in the ancient Near East. Here it would have involved two flat boards, which would be smeared on one side with beeswax, and into which a scribe would etch a message. In this case, it is unclear whether the prophet inscribed only the title that we read at the beginning, belonging to Joseph and belonging to Judah. It's unclear whether it was only the title cited in verse 16. But if they were two boards, they could have contained the two panels of interpretation in verses 21 to 24a and 24b to 28 respectively. But we are not sure. So this is an idea that makes sense to me. But that's the sign act. In verses 18 to 20, we have Ezekiel's sign act performance. I should say that's not the sign act. Those are the instructions God gave to Ezekiel. We have the performance in verses 18 to 20. Now when your country ask you, will you not explain to us what these things mean to you? Then you shall respond, thus has the Lord Yahweh declared, look, I am taking the wood of Joseph that is in Ephraim's hand, along with the tribes of Israel, which are associated with him, the northern ten tribes, and placing them upon it, that is, on the wood of Judah, and I will make them into a single piece of wood, and they will form a single entity in my hand. Let the pieces of wood on which you write lie in your hand for them to see. Now the enigmatic nature of Ezekiel's prescribed actions caused Yahweh to interpret his own instructions to give advance notice of the people's puzzled response to the prophet's performance. This anticipated reaction makes me as a modern reader feel better if I don't immediately grasp what Yahweh intended the sign act to communicate. Had Ezekiel been dealing with royal scepters, the meaning would have been obvious to the audience, and they would not have needed to ask, will you not explain to us what these things mean to you? But Ezekiel maintained his reputation as a spinner of enigmas, both verbal, 1712 and 215, and pantomimic, 129-2419.Here again, his actions posed a riddle that demanded clarification. The explanation that Yahweh dictated for the prophet to pass on to his audience was cryptic, as if Yahweh himself was impatient and anxious to have the prophet complete the sign act so he could get on with the full-scale interpretation. Although he said no more than necessary, from the opening look, hinei, behold, archaically, to the concluding reference to my hand, the words draw the audience's attention away from the prophet to the divine agent in the events that the actions represent. Once more, as in 4.3-7, Ezekiel had become a metaphor for God. God translated his joining of the two pieces of wood into an action that he would perform, namely, reuniting Joseph and Judah. In verses 21-28 we have the actual interpretation. The division of verses in two panels of almost equal length, one is 72 words and the other is 68 words, this may support our interpretation of the wooden objects as writing boards. It is plausible that once the prophet had received the interpretation from Yahweh, he recorded it on these tablets. We may suppose that the first panel represents the inscription on the Josephite tablet and the second the text on the Judahite board. This accords with the order of the names in verse 19 and corresponds to the placement of the Ephraimite tablet upon the Judahite. A person reading the entire document would read the top one first. More importantly, the content of the first panel stresses the reunification of the nation, a subject that probably had greater significance for the future of the northern kingdom than the south, since Judah had no need to learn of her incorporation into the future envisaged by Ezekiel. The prophet had repeatedly pronounced her restoration without reference to reunification with the northern kingdom of Israel. I do not hereby suggest either panel had relevance for only one kingdom. The boards were probably tied together with leather bands or rings creating a single object, but both tablets contained messages of hope for both kingdoms. The differences were matters of emphases. Yahweh interprets the first tablet in verses 21 to 24a, Now declare to him, Thus has the Lord Yahweh declared, Look, I will take the descendants of Israel from the nations among whom they have gone. I will regather them from all around and bring them back to their own land. I will make them into a single nation within the land on the mountains of Israel. Then a single king will be king for all of them. Never again will they be two nations, and never again will they be divided into two kingdoms. Never again will they defile themselves with their pellets of dung and their disgusting practices or their rebellious actions. I will save them from all their apostasies by which they sinned, and I will cleanse them. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God. And my servant David will be king over them, and there will be a single shepherd for all of them. In Yahweh's interpretation, we recognize four dimensions of Israel's ultimate restoration. First, the restoration of Israel's ethnic integrity. Verse 21a, The prophet opened with, Look, I will take the descendants of Israel, Jacob, from the nations among which they have gone. I will regather them from all around. His reference to the sons of Israel—I translate this more generically as descendants of Israel—in place have his otherwise preferred house of Israel, recalls the descent of all twelve tribes from a single eponymous ancestor, my servant Jacob. And they are called Israelites because Israel was Jacob's second name. This is verse 25. While the significance of the tribes decreased rapidly in the wake of Solomon's administrative reforms, the prophets never forgot the nation's common ancestral roots. Perceiving all the tribes of Israel, verse 19, as Jacob's extended family, the whole household of Israel, verse 11 in the previous oracle involving the Dribones and the Sequel, it had to include Joseph Ephraim, verse 19, which is shorthand for the northern ten tribes. Here Ezekiel reminded his audience, consisting largely of Judean exiles, that the scope of the restoration would extend far beyond this small group in Babylon. Yahweh would regather the descendants of Israel from all around. Now, from a natural perspective, Ezekiel's vision of remnants of the original twelve tribes streaming back to their hereditary homeland seemed impossible. The northern population had been dispersed in Upper Mesopotamia by an entirely different regime of Assyrians more than a century earlier, 2 Kings 17.6 and 18.11. Furthermore, the reconciliation between the north and south will have seemed as impossible on their own initiative as the people transplanting their own hearts. How can this be? Or the dead bones bringing themselves to life, 37.1 to 14. Every phase of the restoration required direct and miraculous divine intervention. Second, we have the restoration not only of Israel's ethnic integrity but their territorial integrity, verse 21b. I will bring them back to their own land. In the next panel, Ezekiel would reinforce this notion. They will occupy the land I gave to my servant Jacob, and in which your ancestors lived. They, their children, and their grandchildren, will occupy it forever, verse 25.However, here Yahweh simply declared his determination to reverse the mass deportations of the Assyrians and the Babylonians and to return Israelite exiles from everywhere to their ancestral homeland, the land of Canaan, which he had promised to Abraham and his descendants as their hereditary possession forever and which he had given to them under the leadership of Joshua. Third, he announces the restoration of Israel's political integrity, verses 22 and 24a. In Ezekiel 20, 33, Yahweh had sworn, By my life, surely, with a mighty hand, and an outstretched arm, and with my wrath poured out, I will be king over you. Based on that text, some interpret the single king over them all in verse 22 to refer to Yahweh, and the statement in verse 24 to be a later editorial insertion transforming this text into a messianic promise. However, the tone here is quite different, and the point of Yahweh as single king, melech echad, in the earlier context makes little sense, especially given the immediate disavowal of the end of the notion of two nations that we have here, and two kingdoms. Because the descendants of David sat on the throne of Yahweh as vice regents for him, 1 Chronicles 29, 23, this would obviously mean the reassertion of Yahweh's kingship overall, but this is scarcely the focus here. According to First Testament perspective, politically, a nation, goi, was by definition a kingdom. It was a group of people governed by a king, hence a mamlachah, a kingdom, which meant that when David would be back, the singular kingdom would be back. Fourth, we have the restoration of Israel's spiritual integrity, 23 to 24a.Here we have more time devoted to this. Verse 23 addresses the fourth fundamental dimension of ancient Near Eastern perceptions of national identity, a healthy relationship between Israel and her patron deity. The departure of Yahweh's glory from the temple and the subsequent fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar reflected the rupture in the relationship in 586 BC .But Ezekiel's vision of a restored Israel also had to include writing this wrong. After all, true Israel was first and foremost a spiritual entity united in covenant with their God. Arguing from effect to cause, the prophet began by announcing the symptoms of the new spiritual reality. The nation will be rid of the defilement, tumah, resulting from the people's idolatry. Again, here's that word, gilulim, dung pellets, piles of manure. Compare chapter 6, verse 4. And they would be rid of other disgusting practices, shekutzi, and her acts of rebellion, peshaim. This is, as we said earlier, rebellion is revolt against an overlord, and that's what they'd been doing all these centuries, revolting against Yahweh, their covenant lord, Adonai. The process of purification envisioned involved two actions, with Yahweh functioning as the agent in both. First, Yahweh would save the Israelites from their apostasies. The verb hoshia, to save, usually envisions deliverance from external enemies, as we saw in 3422. But like 3629, the present usage envisions the people's sin as the enslaving power. God will save them from their apostasies, their evils. Second, Yahweh would purify them. The verb teher, to cleanse, recalls 3625-28, which, in offering a full description of the cleansing process, had associated the experience with a heart transplant and an infusion of Yahweh's spirit. Yahweh confirmed this link by referring to covenant renewal expressed here and in 3625-28 by citing the covenant formula. The declaration, they will be my people and I will be their God, signals the full restoration of Israel's relationship with Yahweh. The present association of covenant renewal with the termination of idolatry, disgusting conduct, and rebellion recalls 1411 and intentionally announces the reversal of 511. Provoked by their defiling and abominable acts, Yahweh had abandoned his people. When he will have purified them, he would return and normalize the covenant relationship with them. In verse 24a, Yahweh expanded and concretized the covenant formula and the spiritual renewal by announcing his appointment of David as king in Israel. Ah, by identifying him by the title Melech, finally. And by name, Yahweh both affirmed the eternality of his original promise to David, 2 Samuel 7, 16, and he discredited all past rulers who had claimed the title king of Israel, particularly the Josephite Ephraimite rulers of the northern kingdom, but also the southern kings. As in 3423-24, the designation My Servant Avdi, this highlighted the king's special relationship with Yahweh, whereas all the northern kings and many of their Judean counterparts, especially Ezekiel's contemporaries, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiakin, and Zedekiah, they had all been driven by self-service. But this new ruler will embody the ideals established in Deuteronomy 17, 14-20, submitting to the overlordship of Yahweh. As shepherd-king, he will function as the agent of Yahweh's reign and the symbol of the nation's unity, exercising watch-care after the set out in chapter 34, verses 23-24. With this note, the first, is it the Josephite tablet? I preliminarily suggest that it could be that, but it's in soft lead pencil. With this note, the first tablet concluded, while offering new hope to the Judean exiles and reversing the judgment announced in earlier oracles against this nation, this segment was especially significant because it extended the restoration to the remnant of the northern kingdom scattered about in the former Assyrian empire, who would also benefit from Yahweh's great work of salvation. They would be reunited with their southern kinsfolk, restored to their land, be spiritually renewed, be reconstituted Yahweh's special covenant people, and be cared for by David, the reappointed agent of Yahweh's reign. For clarification of their incorporation into the reconstituted people of Yahweh, the reader must await the prophet's final vision, in fact, the final chapters of the book where we see Ezekiel's map of Israel, including all 12 tribes. In verses 23b to 28, we have the second, which I preliminarily call the Judahite tablet, Yahweh's interpretation of this second one. Verse 24b, my covenant stipulations they will follow, and my ordinances they will observe, that is, they will put them into practice. They will occupy the land I gave to my servant Jacob, and in which your ancestors lived. They, their children and their grandchildren, will occupy it forever, and David, my servant, will be their prince forever. And I will make them a covenant of peace. It will be an eternal covenant with them. I will give to them the land of Israel, and multiply them. I will place my sanctuary in their midst forever. My residence will be over them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. And when my sanctuary is in their midst forever, then the nations will know that I am Yahweh. I am the one who sanctifies Israel. In this second tablet, the theme shifted dramatically from the external dimensions of reunification of the nation to the internal and spiritual dimensions, especially the restored deity-nation-land relationships. Yahweh highlighted the permanence of the new order with a five-fold repetition of eternal, olam, which denotes fundamentally the remotest time, either in the past or in the distant future, as well as connoting perpetuity, durability, inviolability, irrevocability, and immutability. The repetition of the word here declared the definitive nature of the coming salvation, and in so doing, transformed this oracle into a powerful eschatological statement, envisaging an entirely new existence in which the problematic old realities have been resolved and God's new saving work is final. For Ezekiel, eschatological events were neither ahistorical nor suprahistorical. They were based on Yahweh's past actions in history and represented the final solution to the present historical crisis. But the scope of his eschatological hope extended beyond a new exodus and a renewal of Yahweh's covenant with his people. It also incorporated all the other promises upon which the Israelites had based their security. Yahweh's covenant with David, his establishment of Jerusalem as the place for the name to dwell, his special interest in the land of Canaan as his land, graciously offered as a fiefdom to Israel to administer on his behalf. Accordingly, Ezekiel viewed these events as eschatological, not because he expected them to transpire at the end of history, but because they would be new and they would be final, their climactic effects guaranteed to continue forever. The present description of Israel's glorious hope breaks down on the basis of the subjects of verbs into three parts as follows. First, the evidence of Israel's renaissance, verses 24b to 25. Then, the source of Israel's renaissance, verses 26 to 27. And third, the impact of Israel's renaissance, verse 28. Here, Yahweh elevated the discussion completely to the theological plane. We find no more hints, not even lexical, of the sign act at the beginning. It's completely out of the picture. What were to be the evidences of Israel's renaissance? This is verses 24b to 25.The tablet opened with a prediction of three exciting new realities for Israel. One, the nation will have a new commitment to the will of Yahweh, the divine patron forever. The three expressions, to follow my covenant stipulations, to keep my ordinance, and to put them into practice, capture the essence of the response of faith to the privilege of being Yahweh's people.Compare this with 2019. We've heard all of these phrases before, 1190 to 20, 3626 to 28, and all are borrowed from the language of the original covenant itself, especially Leviticus 26.3 and 24 to 25. Compare that with Deuteronomy 4.1, 4.5 and 4.14. Verse 24b represents a shorthand announcement of the inner transformation to be experienced by the Israelites, resolving forever the issue of the rebellion that had brought on their judgment and deportation, 5.6 to 7. Apart from obedience, all claims to the land and to the special covenant relationship with Yahweh are vain. So that's the first point. The nation will have a new commitment to Yahweh. The second point, the Israelites will occupy their hereditary homeland forever. Echoing 28.25, verse 25 also echoes Genesis 28.13 to 15 and 35.9 to 15. Why Ezekiel should have associated the promise of land with Jacob rather than Abraham is not clear, especially since the Abrahamic versions highlighted the eternality of this aspect of the patriarchal promises, particularly see that Genesis 13.14 to 17 and 17.1 to 8. It may relate to Ezekiel's general reluctance to name Abraham at all. In this book, the name Abraham comes only on the lips of the apostate Judeans in 33.24. Otherwise, he never talks about Abraham. Or perhaps Jacob was the patriarch who gave the nation its name and was the immediate father of the ancestors of the tribes who received the land as their respective tribal grants. But the land was also defined historically as the same land the nation occupied in the past, reversing the people-land divorce caused by the exile. Yahweh and his prophet emphasized the eternality of the new territorial hope, repeating, they will dwell on the land and identifying the beneficiaries of the promise as they, their sons, and their sons' sons in perpetuity. Yahweh hereby committed himself never again to threaten the nation with exile. Third, Israel will enjoy the rule of David, Yahweh's servant, forever, reverting to his preferred designation for Israel's kings, Nasi, prince. Compare verses 22 and 24a.Ezekiel defined David's role spiritually as servant of Yahweh for them, rather than politically king over them, as we saw in verse 24. The term Nasi alluded to the prince's ties with the people and his function as regent under Yahweh, and prepared the way for chapters 40 to 48, where a person identified as the prince with his title functions primarily as a religious leader, specifically the patron of national religious observances at the temple. Just as Israel's title to the hereditary homeland was based upon Yahweh's gift to his servant Jacob, so the pledge of a new ruler was based upon his promise to another servant, David. The language is obviously dependent on 2 Samuel 7, where David is twice identified by Yahweh as Avdi, my servant, verses 5 and 8, and where David acknowledged this role no fewer than ten times he referred to himself as your servant, your servant, your servant. Yahweh's covenant with the dynasty may have been suspended, but it had not been forgotten, it had not been canceled, it had not been neutralized. He hereby dismissed unequivocally the conditionality of past occupancy of the throne. What happened to Zedekiah in 586 BC will never happen again. The nature of the Renaissance. In verses 26 to 27, he shifts to the source of Israel's Renaissance. In verses 26 to 27, his attention returned to Yahweh, the source of Israel's renewal, who hereby promised to make a renewed covenant with Israel. The declaration modified the standard formula for covenant making with two familiar qualifiers. It will be a barit shalom, a covenant of peace, for which we go back to 34, 25 to 31, where Ezekiel had expounded on the gloriously harmonious relations it affects among all parties in the deity-nation-land association. That’s the barit shalom. But then he talks about the barit olam, the eternal covenant, which he borrows from Leviticus 26, 4. But the question is, does Ezekiel envision a new covenant, or the renewal of the one the earlier covenants also labeled as eternal? Could this be the Abrahamic covenant, or the Israelite at Sinai, the Davidic? Well, Ezekiel provided his own clues to the answer. First, he defined the content of the covenant with the familiar covenant formula, I will be their God, and they will be my people. This formula provides a unifying thread through the Abrahamic covenant, Genesis 17, 17 to 8, the Israelite covenant made at Sinai, Exodus 6, 7, Leviticus 26, 12, and the covenant renewed on the plains of Moab, Deuteronomy 27, 9, 29, 11 to 12, and compare also Jeremiah 7, 23, and 11, 4, and 13, 11. And it continues through the future covenant with Israel, 11, 20, 14, 11, and 36, 28. This, I will be their God, and they will be my people, is the unifying thread of all these covenants. People often distinguish between the Abrahamic covenant and the Israelite covenant, usually called the Sinai covenant or the Mosaic covenant. They distinguish these as one is a grant, unconditional grant of covenant, and the other one is a conditional obligatory covenant. The first is the promise, the second imposes obligations. But this dichotomy doesn't work. All covenants are eternal, and all covenants have a contingency in them. Now, that contingency involves not contingency with God. They are eternal. He will not forget them. He will not negate them. He will not cancel them. But the contingency is with the vassal partner. Their access to the benefits of the covenant depends upon their fidelity. Well, this is common to all of these covenants. Significantly, in three of the four occurrences of the covenant formula in Ezekiel, it is accompanied by Yahweh's promise to restore the nation-land tie. Third, Yahweh will multiply the nation, which alluded to the promise to Abraham to multiply his descendants as the stars of the sky, the grains of the sand of the seashore, and the dust of the earth, Genesis 15.5, 22.17, 26.4. Fourth, Yahweh would establish his own residence in the midst of the nation. These are all divine actions. This statement is obviously the climax of this prophecy. How do we know that? First, Ezekiel broke into semi-poetic parallelism. He says, I will place my sanctuary in their midst forever, and my dwelling place will be over them. Second, he reinforced the promise's irrevocability with the key word, olam, forever. And third, he repeated the theme in an expanded recognition formula, verse 28. And four, he introduced a subject, Yahweh's presence, that triggered the most detailed and longest discussion of any topic in the whole book. Four, chapters 48 come right after this except for the parenthetical Gog and Magog insertion. Ezekiel's combination of nouns and prepositions is paradoxical. The holy residence will be among them, bethoke the people. The dwelling will be over them, al, it's a different preposition. This latter one may have been influenced by the image of the glory, kavod, the Shekinah glory, of Yahweh that had resided over, shekan al, the tent of appointments, Exodus 40.35, during Israel's migration from Sinai, Horeb, to the promised land. But as we will see in the final vision, without the ark of the covenant as his throne, or any reference to the fiery glory inside the Holy of Holies, Yahweh would reside not inside the sanctuary, but above it, which meant he would be visible, his presence would be visible throughout the land. The light would shine. He dwelt above the temple, so that when people spent the night in the dormitory town seven miles to the south, they could say, Yahweh shema, Yahweh is there. Yes, he is there. Fifth, Ezekiel's previous reference to Yahweh remembering the everlasting covenant, 1660-63, made with his people in their youth, suggests a pre-existent entity in this covenant. Sixth, like Jeremiah's renewed covenant, Jeremiah 31, 31-34, Ezekiel always presented his vision of the restoration in terms of past ideals and realities. The same divine will would characterize both, but in the new order, Yahweh would have internalized the commitment within all Israel by a specific act of circumcision of the collective heart and all individual hearts. Yahweh will transform the natures of the persons in whom his will be implanted, so the covenant in fact would never be broken again. The original exodus from Egypt provided the paradigm for the new exodus from among the nations. The terms of the covenant made with Abraham and established with his descendants at Sinai and renewed on the plains of Moab with the conquest generation, they provided the background not only for Israel's judgment, but also for the hope of her restoration. Built into the original covenant was the promise that Yahweh would not reject his people forever. Indeed, the present complex of promises bears a striking resemblance to Leviticus 26, 1-13, a text that had figured so often in Ezekiel's oracles. Here the prophet also anticipated nothing less than the fulfillment of Deuteronomy 4.30. From the context of dispersion among the nations, the Israelites will learn that Yahweh their God is a compassionate God. He will neither fail them nor destroy them utterly. The basis of the nation's eternal hope was in Yahweh's eternal immutable covenant with the fathers. By placing the sanctuary in their midst and dwelling over the city on the hill, Yahweh would provide concrete proof that he would never abandon his people again as he had in 586. In verse 28 we see the impact of Israel's renaissance. The prophecy that began as a sign act for Ezekiel's small exilic audience concluded with a remarkable announcement of universal significance. And when my sanctuary is in their midst forever, then the nations will know that I am Yahweh, the one who sanctifies Israel. Here Ezekiel reiterated that Yahweh's saving activity on Israel's behalf would not be driven primarily by pity for the people, but by a concern for his reputation. Of the four olam gifts—renewed obedience, title to the land, Davidic rule, divine presence—this last one was climactic. The presence of Yahweh's sanctuary, mikdash, in the midst of the people would be the ultimate demonstration of his commitment to them. I will be your God, and his sanctification of Israel would be the final proof of his election of them as his holy nation consecrated to himself for his glory. You will be my people. This brief statement represents only the tip of the iceberg of Ezekiel's understanding of Yahweh's sanctuary among his people. Indeed, the subject looms so large in his mind and in his ministry it would receive extended treatment in his final vision, chapters 40 to 48. Perhaps recognizing the link between this last verse and chapters 40 to 48, the 2nd to 3rd century AD Papyrus 967 version of the Old Greek translation of Ezekiel places chapters 38 to 39 before 37 and has chapters 40 to 48 following immediately after 37, so that this statement introduces that grand vision to come. Well, in bringing Ezekiel's restoration oracles to a climax, this prophecy collects and ties together numerous threads found in earlier pronouncement. Here is a summary of the prophet's views on specific aspects of theology and ecclesiology. First, will this oracle reinforce Ezekiel's exalted view of God? First, by characterizing Yahweh's renewed commitment to his people as an eternal covenant berith olam, and the fivefold repetition of olam, eternal, Ezekiel proclaimed Yahweh's eternal fidelity to his word. Israel’s hope for the future rested in his immutable covenants with the ancestors, the nation of Israel at Sinai, and his servant David in Jerusalem. Although the devastation of 586 BC had cast doubts in everyone's mind about his ability and or willingness to act on his people's behalf, his ancient pronouncement and his new promise guaranteed the permanence and finality of Yahweh's ultimate work of grace. Second, the expression berith shalom, covenant of peace, symbolized the goal of Yahweh's saving activity. This shalom represented much more than merely the absence of war. It denoted a state of harmony and equilibrium where all the participants were working according to the ideal pattern within the deity-land relationship. The renewal of covenant vows, the cleansing of the population, the restoration of the people to their hereditary homeland, and the establishment of his residence among his people were prerequisites and evidence of this peace. Third, the final recognition formula reiterated that Yahweh's restoration of Israel was driven above all by a concern for his reputation. So long as the Israelites remained in exile, the nations would stumble over questions regarding his fidelity and competence as the divine patron of the nation. Where is your God that you're landing up in my land, in the land of Marduk? But his saving actions would demonstrate his grace and mercy toward his people. Though they had rebelled against him, he remained their patron. As in the days of old, Exodus 40, the climactic revelatory moment would occur not in the back corners of the desert, but in the sight of all the nations that they may acknowledge his presence, action, and character. Second, this oracle reinforced Ezekiel's realistic view of God's people. God’s people become that by a divine act of grace. The Israelites had nothing to commend them for divine election when he rescued them from the bondage of Egypt, and they certainly had no merit now. In fact, throughout their history, the nation had demonstrated its bent toward rebellion against the divine Lord, seduction to idolatry, and the disgusting practices of the pagans. But in his grace, God would remove their defilement, deliver them from their apostasy, and cleanse them from their sin. What is more, by his own initiative, he offered to their God, he offered to be their God, and he called them to be his people. Especially significant for the Israelites was Ezekiel's unequivocal declaration that all descendants of Jacob were heirs of the covenant. Against the grain of centuries of history and deep-seated prejudices, Yahweh extended his grace to the whole house of Israel, not only Judah and Levi, but Joseph and his confederates as well. He would rescue them not only from sin, but from their divisive past. By establishing his residence in the midst of the nation, all tribes would enjoy equal access to the divine patron and participate in the benefactions, the blessings that emanated from him. And finally, this oracle reinforced Ezekiel's complex view of the Messiah. In spite of the prophet's avoidance of specifically messianic vocabulary here, the messianic significance of this oracle is obvious. The titles and role designations of this character reflect the features of Ezekiel's Messiah. As David, he is heir to the eternal dynastic promises made by Yahweh to Israel's greatest king through the prophet Samuel in 2 Samuel 7. Second, as my servant Avdi, he enjoys a special relationship with Yahweh. In this fundamentally religious role, he gained his authority and status by divine appointment rather than personal, acumen, or democratic election. Third, as prince, chieftain, nasi, he stands at the head of his people not as a tyrannical ruler, but as one who has been called from the ranks to represent them. Fourth, as king, melek, he is a royal figure, symbolizing the nation's new unity. All other pretenders to the throne have been dismissed, that Israel may be one nation under one king occupying the land of Israel. And fifth, as one shepherd, the Messiah seeks the welfare of the flock, protecting and nurturing them after the pattern of Yahweh himself, chapter 34 and Psalm 23, and in fulfillment of the ancient Mosaic charter for kingship, Deuteronomy 17, 14 to 20.In all these roles, Ezekiel's Messiah symbolized the realities of a new age. But in this vision, he played no part in the restoration of the nation. Did you notice that? He neither gathered the people nor led them back to the homeland, and he didn't defeat the enemies. And unlike other prophets, Ezekiel never spoke of the Messiah as an agent of peace or righteousness. These aspects of the messianic age, he attributed to the direct activity of God. Even so, the Messiah's personal presence symbolized the reign of Yahweh in the glorious new age. He was the signet, the seal, the sign, the symbol of God's commitment to the nation. And as such, he embodied the righteousness of God himself.