Ezekiel 36:21

But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went. I HAD PITY FOR MINE HOLY NAME - i:e., I felt pity for it: God's own name, so dishonoured, was the primary object of His pitying concern, then His people, secondarily, through His concern for it (Fairbairn)....

16-24 The restoration of that people, being typical of our redemption by Christ, shows that the end aimed at in our salvation is the glory of God. The sin of a people defiles their land; renders it abominable to God, and uncomfortable to themselves. God's holy name is his great name; his holiness is his greatness, nor does any thing else make a man truly great....

I HAD PITY FOR MINE HOLY NAME - Render it: I “had” a pitiful regard to “Mine Holy Name.”...

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

BUT I HAD PITY FOR MY HOLY NAME,.... Had pity on the Jews for his name's sake, and not theirs; or he had a tender concern for his own honour and glory: WHICH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL HAD PROFANED AMONG THE HEATHEN, WHITHER THEY WENT; and therefore was resolved to take a method for the glorifying of it, and that in a way of special grace and mercy to his people; Ezekiel 36:20....

Ezekiel 36:16. _Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings: their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman. Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it: And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them. And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the LORD, and are gone forth out of his land._ All through Scripture we are told that God has great regard to the honour of his holy name. «The Lord thy God is a jealous God.» And this is no small blessing to us, f

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 CLEANSING AND RENEWING OF THE PEOPLE. This is a passage of peculiar interest and importance, carrying us as it does far into the mind and theology of Ezekiel. First, we are reminded that Israel's sins of bloodshed (whether child sacrifice or judicial murder) and idolatry had obliged Yahweh to drive them into exile. In this way they had profaned His holy name among the nations, who, according to ancient notions, naturally regarded Him as a worthless God, because apparently weak and unable to protect His people. To vindicate His holiness, therefore, and to reassert His reputation, as it were, in the eyes of a world which misunderstands Him and fails to recognise the moral reasons for His temporary rejection of Israel, He decrees and arranges for her restoration to her own land. But the significant thing in Ezekiel is that He is said to do this not out of love for Israel, but for His ho...

I HAD PITY, &c. See Ezekiel 20:9; Ezekiel 20:14; Ezekiel 20:22....

Not for Israel's sake but for his own name's sake does Jehovah do all this in behalf of his people The passage is remarkable and deserves to be studied almost more than any other part of Ezek. when one is seeking to understand his general conceptions. It exhibits his philosophy of history (cf. ch. 20), and also describes with great beauty the principles of Jehovah's redemption of his people, and how step by step this shall be accomplished. The prophet reviews the history of the people from the beginning, running it out till it is lost in its eternal issues, and shewing how it will read to all the nations of the earth the true lesson of that which Jehovah, the God of Israel, is, and leave ineffaceable impressions on the mind of his own people. First, Ezekiel 36:16. The history with its significance up to Israel's final restoration. The people defiled the land with their idolatries an