Page 184 - NOTES ON EZEKIEL

178 NOTES ON EZEKIEL.
For I will take you from among the heathen, and
gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into
your own land.” (Ver. 21—24.)
When and how this work of divine grace was to be
wrought, we need not conjecture; nor does it now want
elaborate discussion to determine. There are land­
marks which make the answer quite plain. The return
from Babylon was no fulfilment, but at most an earnest;
for then only a numerically inconsiderable remnant re­
turned. Ezra ix. in no way takes the same ground nor
claims to be what the faithful looked for, any more than
later still Nehemiah ix. They speak in one of u our
bondage,” in the other of being “ servants this day; and
for the land that thou gavest unto our fathers to eat
the fruit thereof and the food thereof, behold, we are
servants in it; and it yieldeth much increase unto the
kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins:
also they have dominion over our bodies, and over our
cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.”
How far this falls short of what is pledged by Ezekiel
Bhould require no argument “ For I will take you out
from among the heathen, and gather you out of all
countries, and will bring you into your own land.” The
mass of Israel remained after the decree of Cyrus up
and down the nations.
But there is a further and clearer proof that it has
not yet been fulfilled, for it is added, “ Then will I
sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean,
from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will
I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you:
and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take
away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give