Replies

From: Ezekiel 37:21-28

The Reunification of the Two Kingdoms (Continuation)

[21] Then say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will take the people
of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them
from all sides, and bring them to their own land; [22] and I will make them one
nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over
them all; and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two
kingdoms. [23] They shall not defile themselves any more with their idols and
their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but I will save them
from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and
they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

[24] “My servant David shall be king over them; and they shall all have one shep-
herd. They shall follow my ordinances and be careful to observe my statutes.
They shall dwell in the land where your fathers dwelt that I gave to my servant Ja-
cob; they and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there forever;
and David my servant shall be their prince for ever. [26] I will make a covenant of
peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them, and I will bless
them and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for ever-
more. [27] My dwelling place shall be with them; and I will be their God, and
they shall be my people. [28] Then the nations will know that I the LORD will
sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary is in the midst of them for evermore.”

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Commentary:

37:15-27. Unity will be the most obvious effect of the people’s purification. By
the symbolic action of the two sticks, Ezekiel shows that it is God himself who
will bring about the unification of the tribes that made up the Southern kingdom
(Judah) with those of the North (Joseph-Ephraim); it will be a union so strong
that it will never again be broken (as it was broken after the death of Solomon:
cf. 1 Kings 12:20-33). This unity is also a symbol of the oneness that Jesus
wants the new people of God to have (cf. Jn 17:21) and which is essential for
the success of his plans for mankind’s salvation, “All men are called to be part
of this catholic unity of the people of God which in promoting universal peace
presages it. And there belong to or are related to it in various ways, the Catho-
lic faithful, all who believe in Christ, and indeed the whole of mankind, for all
men are called by the grace of God to salvation” (Vatican II, “Lumen Gentium”,
13).

37:26. A “covenant of peace”. The concluding words of the oracle (vv. 24-28) are
messianic ones, as can be seen from the reference to David, king and shepherd
(v. 24), and from the emphasis put on the fact that the nation will abide in the
land “for ever” (v. 25) with the sanctuary in its midst (vv. 27, 28). Peace (cf. 34:
25) is the greatest of the messianic gifts (cf. Is 9:5); it implies safety from exter-
nal enemies but, above all, peace with God and neighbor. Jesus called peace-
makers blessed, happy (cf. Mt 5:9). “[T]he peace of Christ radiates from God
the Father. For by the cross the incarnate Son, the prince of peace reconciled
all men with God. By thus restoring all men to the unity of one people and one
body, he slew hatred in his own flesh; and, after being lifted on high by his re-
surrection, he poured forth the spirit of love into the hearts of men” (”Gaudium
et Spes”, 78).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.