CFBC Wed Study | 11-8-23 | Israel, Prophecy and the Middle East | Session 4
Dr. Chuck Herring | Ezekiel 37:15-28
ONE KINGDOM UNDER ONE KING
ONE KINGDOM UNDER ONE KING
Here’s a summary statement I want you to get firmly fixed in your mind and heart…
Ezekiel clearly envisioned the transformed land of Israel in chap. 36 and the national resurrection of Israel in chap. 37.[1]
1. Two Sticks Become One Stick
Ezekiel 37:15–17… The word of the Lord came again to me saying, 16 “And you, son of man, take for yourself one stick and write on it, ‘For Judah and for the sons of Israel, his companions’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions.’ 17 “Then join them for yourself one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand.”
(16) And you, son of man, take for yourself one stick and write on it, ‘For Judah and for the sons of Israel, his companions’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions’— At God’s instruction, Ezekiel took two sticks. On one was writing identifying it with Judah and on the other was writing identifying it with Ephraim (that is, Israel). The sticks represented the kingdom of the northern ten tribes (Israel) and the kingdom of the southern two tribes (Judah).
§ In Ezekiel’s day the northern kingdom had been conquered and destroyed for some 150 years. Yet God still considered them a people, even though they were scattered among the nations.
§ “Incidentally, these same scriptures show the folly of the ten lost tribes.… The prophets all recognized the northern tribes as still in existence and knew of no such error as ‘lost’ tribes.” (Feinberg)
Isaiah 49:5–6… And now says the Lord, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, To bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel might be gathered to Him (For I am honored in the sight of the Lord, And My God is My strength), 6 He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
§ Joseph represents the ten tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel. The tribe of Ephraim was the largest and most influential tribe of the northern kingdom. In fact, several times in the Old Testament the northern kingdom was called Ephraim. Jeroboam, the first king of the northern kingdom, was from the tribe of Ephraim.
(17) Then join them for yourself one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand—God told Ezekiel to join the two sticks together so they would become one.
“Certainly no basis exists in this text for the strange Mormon teaching that the sticks refer to two scrolls. According to the convoluted interpretation of this cult, Ezekiel was prophesying that one day the Book of Mormon (the stick or scroll of Ephraim) would be joined to the Bible (the stick or scroll of Judah) to form the complete revelation of God.” (Smith)
This new section begins with a command to perform a symbolic action (vv 16–17) and continues with a question and answer format that in Ezekiel is used to create a hinge between a symbolic action and its meaning.
2. The Meaning Of The Joined Sticks
Ezekiel 37:18–20… “When the sons of your people speak to you saying, ‘Will you not declare to us what you mean by these?’ 19 say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will put them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.” ’ 20 “The sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes.
(18) Will you not declare to us what you mean by these?— Ezekiel’s audience among the exiles were somewhat mystified by this acted-out prophecy. Perhaps they wondered what God would do with the northern kingdom (Joseph/Ephraim) some 150 years after their apparent extinction.
(19) Make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand—Here’s the meaning. When God would ultimately restore the tribes of Israel, He would restore them all. That which was previously divided in the days of Rehoboam (1 Kings 12-14) would be restored as one. Douglas Stuart observed…
The north and the south of Israel had not been unified politically since the revolt of Jeroboam, after the death of Solomon in 931 b.c., nearly 350 years prior to this prophecy. Since 722 b.c., when the north lost its political identity and was annexed by the Assyrians, and especially since 586 b.c., when Judah had also fallen, the idea of a reunified Israel of the sort that David and Solomon had ruled over in the ninth century would have seemed ludicrous to any observer of international events in Ezekiel’s day.
This prophecy about the two kingdoms again becoming one and never ever again becoming divided would have provided immense assurance that the Lord was not through with His covenant people. He does have a plan for Israel in the last days.
The vision of 37:1-14 and the graphic illustration of the two sticks being joined together points to other prophecies concerning the future of Israel and Judah. Hosea stated that the children of Israel and the children of Judah would be gathered together and would appoint for themselves one head.
Hosea 1:11… And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together, And they will appoint for themselves one leader, And they will go up from the land, For great will be the day of Jezreel.
Zechariah spoke of a time when the Lord would strengthen the house of Judah and the house of Joseph and bring them back.
Zechariah 10:6… “I will strengthen the house of Judah, And I will save the house of Joseph, And I will bring them back, Because I have had compassion on them; And they will be as though I had not rejected them, For I am the Lord their God and I will answer them.”
Here is God’s unequivocal declaration that all the descendants of Jacob were heirs of the covenant.
3. The Promise Of Restoration And Reunification
Ezekiel 37:21–23… “Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; 22 and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be king for all of them; and they will no longer be two nations and no longer be divided into two kingdoms. 23 “They will no longer defile themselves with their idols, or with their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. And they will be My people, and I will be their God.
(21) “Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone…”— This was a promise to bring the Jewish people from among the nations, from a scattering much broader than the Babylonian or the Assyrian captivity.
(22) I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel— This looked forward to a restoration much greater than what happened in the days of Ezra, Zerubbabel, and Nehemiah. God would bring the Jewish people as a whole back into the literal land of Israel.
(22) And one king will be king for all of them; and they will no longer be two nations and no longer be divided into two kingdoms.— Gathered together, they would be established in the literal land of Israel under a literal king. Despite the prophet’s words, the divisions between the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom remained. This was certainly evident in the New Testament period when there was so much animosity between “the Jews and the Samaritans.”
God’s will is for His people—the covenant people of Israel and the New Testament church—to dwell together in unity.
Psalm 133:1… Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brothers to dwell together in unity!
1 Corinthians 1:10… Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.
Ephesians 4:1–3… Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
(23) “They will no longer defile themselves with their idols, or with their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. And they will be My people, and I will be their God.”—The promises of purity (no longer defile themselves), of cleansing (will cleanse them), and relationship (they shall be My people, and I will be their God) are often characteristic of the new covenant.
This process of purification envisioned two actions that God Himself will carry out.
§ Yahweh will rescue the Israelites from their apostasies and from sin’s enslaving power.
§ Yahweh will cleanse or “purify” them. The verb recalls 36:25–28 which offers a fuller description of the cleansing process…
Ezekiel 36:25–28… “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. 28 “You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God.”
MacArthur pointed out that God made 3 promises that summarized His future plans for Israel…
1) restoration, v. 21
2) unification, v. 22
3) purification, v. 23
4. The Messiah, King Over Restored And Reunified Israel
Ezekiel 37:24–28… “My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd; and they will walk in My ordinances and keep My statutes and observe them. 25 “They will live on the land that I gave to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they, and their sons and their sons’ sons, forever; and David My servant will be their prince forever. 26 “I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in their midst forever. 27 “My dwelling place also will be with them; and I will be their God, and they will be My people. 28 “And the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever.” ’ ”
(24) “David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them….”— So, who is this King who will rule over restored and unified Israel in the future? A quick survey of the Davidic Covenant in *2 Samuel 7:1-16 reveals that the reference here is to the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. Furthermore, David himself prophesied in *Psalm 110:1-7 concerning the Messiah’s future reign and His perpetual priesthood.
The people’s obedience would make possible continued occupation of the promised land envisioned in 28:25–26 and 36:28. The disobedience that had been the cause of the exile would haunt them no longer.
(25) “They will live on the land that I gave to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they, and their sons and their sons’ sons, forever; and David My servant will be their prince forever.”— The reference to “Jacob My servant” means the twelve tribes; and the land given to them was the whole land that God promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and his descendants. The clear, repetitive nature of these promises of a specific, literal land should remove any doubts about God’s future plans for the nation of Israel in their ancestral land. Furthermore, any attempts to spiritualize these promises should be abandoned once and for all.
(26) “I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in their midst forever.”—The Lord promises a covenant of peace with restored and reunified Israel. When Messiah returns, Jerusalem will truly be the city of peace. This covenant refers to the new covenant mentioned in Jeremiah 31:31-37. MacArthur, in his study Bible, adds that these promises bring together the Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis 12, the Davidic Covenant in 2 Samuel 7 and the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31.
God here seems to describe the new covenant as both a covenant of peace (as in Ezekiel 34:25 and Isaiah 54:10) and an everlasting covenant (as in Ezekiel 16:60, Isaiah 55:3, and Hebrews 13:20). It is the covenant that brings true shalom, and the covenant that never ends.
God promises to place the Jewish people in the land, and He promises to multiply them. His ultimate restoration of Israel would be on a large scale, not a small scale.
(27-28) “My dwelling place also will be with them; and I will be their God, and they will be My people. 28 “And the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever.” ’ ”— The promise of this sanctuary will be described in great detail in Ezekiel 40-48. To Ezekiel and the Babylonian exiles, no restoration could be complete without some kind of temple.
The living God made thirteen promises to Israel in 37:21–28. These promises illustrate His determination to revive, revitalize, restore, and reestablish the nation of Israel…
§ God will personally find Israel and gather the people from among the nations (v. 21a).
§ God will bring them again into their land that will be restored to them (v. 21b).
§ God will make one nation of the two that had been in the land (v. 22a).
§ God will set one king over the nation (v. 22b, 24a).
§ God will insure the unity of the restored kingdom that will never again be divided (v. 22c).
§ God will insure that the people will never again serve idols (v. 23a).
§ God will save them, cleanse them, and establish an intimate personal relationship with them (v. 23b).
§ God will enable them to walk in obedience to his law (v. 24b).
§ God will establish them in their land forever (v. 25).
§ God will establish his new covenant of peace with them (v. 26a; cf. 34:25; Jer 31:31–34).
§ God will multiply them in the land, and they will enjoy prosperity with peace (v. 26b).
§ God will establish his sanctuary among them and personally dwell there forever (vv. 26c, 27).
§ God will make Israel a testimony to the nations of his saving grace (v. 28).
