Day 250. Ezekiel 34-36

The prophets of the Old Testament are united in their fierce condemnation of the Israelite leadership for its callous exploitation of the poor. In this oracle Ezekiel uses allegorical language to denounce the "false shepherds"—the royal establishment and the priesthood--for "feeding themselves" rather than feeding their sheep (34:2). They have not nurtured the flock, but "with force and harshness they have ruled" and oppressed them (34:4). It is the fault of the shepherds that the people are scattered and become prey to wild animals—those foreign armies who have "devoured" them. It is because of their neglect that the LORD is "against the shepherds" (34:10), and has determined to "rescue [his] sheep from their mouths."
In the coming new dispensation, the LORD will take upon himself the duties of the shepherd—he will rule the nation as a theocracy. He will search out his sheep and "rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness" (34:12). He will "bring them into their own land" and "feed them with good pasture . . . on the mountains of Israel" (32:14). He will be the Good Shepherd to his flock, and "make them lie down" in safety. "He will seek the lost . . . , bring back the strayed . . . , bind up the injured, and . . . strengthen the weak." In short he will nurture and care for his sheep as the house of David should have done. He will establish righteousness as the norm, and he will "feed [his flock] with justice" (34:15-16).
The LORD's special concern is for the weak and the hurt, and he condemns "the fat and the strong." who in the past have used their size and strength to push "with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with [their] horns until [they] scattered them far and wide" (34:21). This will not happen anymore. Under the LORD's rule the weak will be protected from the greed of the strong. The LORD will set over them his viceroy, "my servant David" with authority to "feed them and be their shepherd" (34:23), but answerable directly to God. The re-established house of David will reign under stricter oversight, and the ruler of Israel is called "a prince among them" (34:24)—not a king. The LORD will be their king.
And as king, God will extend his peaceable rule to the natural world. Wild animals and all other dangers will be banished. The rains will come regularly, and the children of Israel will be provided with "a splendid vegetation so they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land" (34:29). And based upon these promises, the LORD renews his claim upon this people—"You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture and I am your God, says the LORD GOD" (34:31).
The "ancient enmity" (35:5) between Israel and the land of Edom goes back to the earliest memories of both peoples. The Book of Genesis tells how the twins Jacob and Esau struggled even in their mother's womb (25:27-34). Esau's descendents are the Edomites, who are symbolized in our reading as Mount Seir, the highest eminence in the country. They nourished an active hatred of Israel, their distant cousins, and apparently played a treacherous role in the fall of Jerusalem (35:5). Therefore the LORD is "against" them, and he is determined to oppose them until their land is "a perpetual desolation" (35:9). Apparently Edom had entertained opportunistic ambitions of annexing "these two nations and these two countries" (35:10)—Israel and Judah--while they lay desolate and empty after the ravages of war and invasion. But the Land belongs to the LORD, and it is the birthright of his people. Edom will be dealt with "according to the anger
and envy that [they] showed because of [their] hatred against" Israel (35:11). Their hatred will be turned upon themselves. "Thus says the LORD GOD: As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I deal with you; you shall be desolate, Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it" (34:15).
Now the LORD turns to the "mountains of Israel" (35:1) and tells them of Edom's plan to make "the ancient heights" their "possession" (36:2). The mountains stand for the land itself, and they belong to the LORD, who speaks "in [his] hot jealousy against the rest of the nations," who have expressed "whole-hearted joy" at Judah's downfall and have seized the opportunity to take possession "of its pasture" and "to plunder it" (35:5). The LORD tells the mountains—"I swear that the nations all around you shall themselves suffer insults" (35:7). But the mountains are instructed to "yield fruit" because the people of Israel "shall soon come home" to them (36:8). The mountains shall "be inhabited as in former times" (35:11) and filled with new life, and they—and by extension the land itself—shall no longer "devour [its] people" or "bereave [them of their] children" (35:13). The land shall work with
them and not against them.
Israel when it inhabited the land defiled it with its sins. In the sight of God, their behavior "was like the uncleanness of a women in her menstrual period" (35:18). According to the law of Moses menstrual blood not only made a woman impure during her period, but it also rendered anyone who touched her unclean. This magical idea about menstruation was related to the widely-held belief in the sacredness of blood as the source of life. By its sinfulness the people Israel had become the LORD's unclean wife. This condition continued even when they were exiles "among the nations"—they continued to disgrace him. But in spite of their impure behavior God announces his intention to restore Israel for the sake "of his holy name"—not because of their merits, because he has promised to be faithful to his people, and he always keeps his promises. He must do so—it is his nature.
It isn't for his people's sake that now God "is about to act," it is for the sake of his "great name"—so that his honor, which has been profaned before the nations, might be restored. So he will "sprinkle clean water upon" Israel, and they shall be made "clean from all [their] uncleannesses" (36:25). But the change he will effect will be in no way superficial--God will work a complete spiritual and moral transformation in his people—he will "put [his] spirit within [them], and make [them] follow [his] statutes and be careful to observe [his] ordinances" (36:27). The people will remember their past and "be ashamed and dismayed for [their] ways" (36:32). Then in response to their change of heart, the land will also undergo a complete alteration—what was desolate shall "become like the garden of Eden" (36:35). And in the once empty and ruined towns the people shall be "like the flock for sacrifices, like the flock at
Jerusalem during her appointed festivals" (36:38), a flock both abundant and unblemished.