Posted on 08/13/2005 9:26:05 AM PDT by American in Israel
Ezekiel 36 is the last of the parallel prophecies in this series. It is as if God turns from his position standing in the Dead Sea facing East and faces West towards Israel and her mountain ranges. In the Bible they are refered to naturally as "The Mountains of Israel". It is where Abraham stood and God said all you see is your land. It is where he was buried, in Hevron or Hebron in English.
In the present day Media they are refered to as the West Bank, as if a river only 10 foot wide in the river had a bank that climbed a thousand feet into the mountains and reached across the entire Nation. Since we are discussing for the moment political correctness, let me counter that Abraham easily could see the Mount Sier range from the Mountains of Israel, just as you can see them all the way from Jerusalem. According to the Bible, clearly Jordan belongs to Israel. Best to counter political correctness with truth I say.
Blessing on Israel
Ezekiel 36:1 "And you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, 'O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD!
2 Thus says the Lord GOD: "Because the enemy has said of you, 'Aha! The ancient heights have become our possession,'"'
A little history helps here. You must remember the history I wrote about in the previous article on Ezekiel 35. Jordan invaded during the first weeks of Israel, and took land easily all the way into Jerusalem because the Jews were busy fighting off the onslaught of the Syrians and Egyptians invading north and south weeks before.
Ezekiel 36:3 therefore prophesy, and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Because they made you desolate and swallowed you up on every side, so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations, and you are taken up by the lips of talkers and slandered by the people"—
The result was the West Bank, or the Mountains of Israel in politically uncorrected speech, were claimed by the United Nations Assembly as "International Lands in dispute". Or as God puts it, they were taken as a possession by the "rest of the Nations".
Ever since then the media has been harping on the Jews as cruel oppressors even though they allowed the Arabs to vote and gave them full citizenship rights if they would only claim them. However the Arabs who fought against the Jews and tried to destroy the State that was offered by UN resolution were not rebuked for their intransigence, their slaughter of innocents or acts of world wide terrorism. Now that is a clear case of slander that we are all to familiar with as it goes on today on our nightly news. Beyond a shadow of a doubt a literal fulfillment of the prophecy!
Ezekiel 36:4 therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD! Thus says the Lord GOD to the mountains, the hills, the rivers, the valleys, the desolate wastes, and the cities that have been forsaken, which became plunder and mockery to the rest of the nations all around—
5 therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Surely I have spoken in My burning jealousy against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who gave My land to themselves as a possession, with wholehearted joy and spiteful minds, in order to plunder its open country."'
Here we see that God is not fooled, He knows the reason they invaded was to plunder all the lands, not just to possess the mountains like they claim right now in the media. Here also we see that God is not amused with the Nations of the world for their attitude against Israel, and he is particularly irked at Jordan.
Ezekiel 36:6 "Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains, the hills, the rivers, and the valleys, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy and My fury, because you have borne the shame of the nations."
7 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "I have raised My hand in an oath that surely the nations that are around you shall bear their own shame.
8 But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to My people Israel, for they are about to come.
Did you catch that? ABOUT to come?! How can this be, for how can they be about to come if they are already there!
Ezekiel 36:9 For indeed I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown.
10 I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt.
What does he mean here, all the house of Israel, all of it? Biblical students know the premise that when God repeats Himself, it means he really wants to emphasize a point. Here He indeed is doing so, one I will make in a second in other words.
Ezekiel 36:11 I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bear young; I will make you inhabited as in former times, and do better for you than at your beginnings. Then you shall know that I am the LORD.
You know that the Jews cannot raise the beasts of the field in the Mountains of Israel don't you. The term in Arabic for a Jewish cow is Barbeque. The only dairy farm I have heard of in the West Bank has three layers of fence, with the center one a computerized security fence and all the areas between the parallel fences strung with concertina wire just to try an keep the Arabs from stealing the cattle. It looks like a high security prison, much more high tech than what is necessary for a maximum security perimeter in the United States prison.
12 Yes, I will cause men to walk on you, My people Israel; they shall take possession of you, and you shall be their inheritance; no more shall you bereave them of children."
Here it is again! A third clue. The mention of a future tense inheritance of My people Israel. How can this be if the Jews are already there, that they can inherit it in the future? The answer is simple, the Jews are not the people of Israel. What you say? How can that be? Simply because the people of Israel were the ten tribes to the North, the Northern Kingdom. The Jews and the tribe of Dan were the kingdom of the South, the Southern Kingdom. This clearly speaks of the Next chapter Ezekiel 37 Known far and wide as the "Dry Bones prophecy".
But that is yet to come, and I am on a now kick. So we will leave the story of the resurrection of the 10 tribes and their reuniting with Judah and Ben on the Mountains of Israel for some day soon to come.
No wonder God is talking about the profound destruction of Israel's neighbors, Israel is going to need all the land that God promised them and to this day Israel has never yet possessed fully. Was God wrong when he promised the land and just made a mistake? Or is THIS the day of the delivery of that land!
So now since this has not happened yet you can pencil in above this scripture today date and an arrow. Now you can put the arrows of Isaiah 14:28, Zephaniah2:3, Ezekiel 34:9 together along with Ezekiel 35:3 and now Ezekiel 36:8.
Do you realize that for thousands of years men have tried to put these prophecies together and were unable with any authority or clarity. But you, by just looking around you have done so for one reason alone. They may have had study, wisdom and a life of searching out scripture, but you have one thing they lacked, a crucial key.
Hindsight.
Blessings to you all, I hope to write up a couple of Chapters of Revelations someday soon.
Ok, last of the series. And from now on I will add the subject first and the title last.
Blessings, must spend time with my wife, she is feeling neglected with me sitting with my back to her all Shabbat.
:)
THANKS THANKS.
PING for the prophetic list.
Blessings,
Bttt! For later study. Thanks for writing this.
bump 4 later..
Bttt! For later study.
You should start a ping list for this stuff - I had read your threads on Is 14 & Zeph 2, and just did a search for your screen name just to see if you had posted any new threads since I haven't been online much these past few days! :) Next time you post one of these, could you ping me? Thanks for the Ezekiel threads.
You meant Benjamin, not Dan, yes? No matter, the House of Joseph/Ephraim and the House of Judah have been Id'd. They are the two nations which have been formed and gathered out of the nations. Gathered in unbelief, but regathered nonetheless.
What is the saying for that type of scenario, wherein the will of man is overshadowed by the hand of YHVH? It goes something like, "and they shall know that I am the Lord".
The house of Judah has been regathered into the modern nation state of Israel. That doesn't mean all Jews live there, but it serves as a representation of the regathered house.
As for Joseph? He would be the chief of nations of course, the Big Kahuna as it were. Hmmm, funny how that Hawaiian word for priest is so similar to the Hebrew "kohen". Ephraim is the "melo hagoyim" (Gen. 48.19), which means multitude of nations which also means fullness of the Gentiles. YHVH is faithful.
Jer 31:7-10
7 For thus saith the LORD; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O LORD, save thy people, the remnant of Israel.
8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, [and] with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither.
9 They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim [is] my firstborn.
10 Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare [it] in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd [doth] his flock.
~ Declared from the isles afar off... the most isolated archipelago on the planet.
Interesting...
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