Ezekiel 36:2

Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because the enemy hath said against you, Aha, even the ancient high places are ours in possession: YE MOUNTAINS OF ISRAEL - in contrast to "mount Seir" of the previous prophecy. They are here personified; Israel's elevation is moral, not merely physical, as Edom's. Her hills are "the everlasting hills" of Jacob's prophecy (). "The enemy" (Edom, the singled-out representative of all God's foes), with a shout of exultation, "Aha!" had claimed, as the nearest kinsmen of Israel (the brother of their father Esau), his vacated inheritance, as much as to say, the so-called, "everlasting" inheritance of Israel and of the "hills," which typified the unmoved perpetuity of it, has come to an end, in spite of the promise of God, and has become "ours" (cf....

1-15 Those who put contempt and reproach on God's people, will have them turned on themselves. God promises favour to his Israel. We have no reason to complain, if the more unkind men are, the more kind God is. They shall come again to their own border. It was a type of the heavenly Canaan, of which all God's children are heirs, and into which they all shall be brought together. And when God returns in mercy to a people who return to him in duty, all their grievances will be set right. The full completion of this prophecy must be in some future event....

Verse Ezekiel 36:2. _BECAUSE THE ENEMY HATH SAID_] The Idumeans thought they would shortly be put in possession of all the strong places of Israel; _the ancient high places shall be ours_....

EXPOSITION EZEKIEL 36:1 The present chapter is entirely devoted to the consolation of Israel, though its parts are derived from two separate "words" of Jehovah. Ezekiel 36:1 belong to the "word" which opened with the first verse of the preceding chapter; Ezekiel 36:16 begins another "word," which only closes at Ezekiel 37:14. The subject of the first part is the comfort offered to Israel in the destruction threatened against the heathen, and in the blessings promised to her land and people. Ezekiel

THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD,.... By the mouth of the prophet, who was bid to prophesy: BECAUSE THE ENEMY HAD SAID AGAINST YOU, AHA: rejoicing at the calamity of God's people, particularly the Edomites or Idumeans, as in the preceding chapter; and who are chiefly meant; and also the Ammonites and Tyrians, Ezekiel 25:3: EVEN THE ANCIENT HIGH PLACES ARE OURS IN POSSESSION; or, "the high places of the world shall be unto us for a possession" f; the land of Israel, according to Kimchi and others, was the highest part of the world, Jerusalem the highest part of that land, and the temple was built on the highest part of the city; and all these the Edomites claimed as their own, the land, city, and temple, and thought themselves sure of the same, as if they had them in actual possession; even the hilly part of the country, which had been so from the creation, and w

Ezekiel 36:1. With this chapter the great prophetic utterances of Ezekiel begin concerning the future restoration and blessing of Israel. From here on to the end of the book, all is still unfulfilled, nor can it be fulfilled until the Lord Jesus Christ comes again and is enthroned as King. The first seven verses (Ezekiel 36:1)announce once more the future judgment of Israel's enemies. Then comes the promised return to the land Ezekiel 36:8. The mountains of Israel, barren so long, shall be inhabited again. Israel's past sins and chastisement are reviewed in Ezekiel 36:16, and then comes that great message of restoration and blessing th

THE RESTORATION AND RENEWAL OF ISRAEL'S LAND. This chapter is brilliant with hope and promise. First comes a fine apostrophe (Ezekiel 36:1), tremulous with emotion (_cf._ Ezekiel 36:4), to the mountain land of Israel (contrast ch. 6). Mocked and desolated as it had been by the enemy, and especially by Edom, Yahweh, whose own honour has been involved in these insults to His land, solemnly vows that the enemy shall be overtaken by the doom which they had brought upon Israel (Ezekiel 36:1). His favour, however, would restore Israel's mountain land, which, in the near future (Ezekiel 36:8) would be more fertile, prosperous, and populous

THE LORD GOD. Hebrew. _Adonai Jehovah_. See note on Ezekiel 2:4. THE ENEMY. Note the Structure above. HATH SAID. The 1611 edition of the Authorized Version reads "had said" THE ANCIENT HIGH PLACES. the everlasting hills, promised to Israel (Genesis 49:26; Deuteronomy 13:13; Deuteronomy 33:15)....

Cf. Ezekiel 25:3; Ezekiel 26:2. _ancient high places_ "High places" is not used here in the usual religious sense of rural sanctuaries, but said of the mountain land of Israel, cf. Deuteronomy 32:13; Micah 3:12. On ancient or "eternal" as an epithet of mountains cf. Genesis 49:26; Deuteronomy 33:15; Psalms 24:7. For "high places" LXX. reads "wastes," cf. perpetual desolati

BECAUSE THE ENEMY HATH SAID— This prophesy is a continuance of that preceding. The Idumeans had made their boast, that they should become masters of the mountainous parts of Judaea, where the ancient fortresses were placed, which commanded all the rest of the country. See Lowth and Calmet....