The Prophet Ezekiel Part 17

IV. The One Shepherd and the Covenant of Peace.

Therefore thus saith the Lord G.o.d unto them; Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle. Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad; therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle. And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the Lord will be their G.o.d, and my servant David a prince among them; I the Lord have spoken it.

And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the banks of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them. And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid. And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more.

Thus shall they know that I the Lord their G.o.d am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord G.o.d. And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your G.o.d, saith the Lord G.o.d (verses 20-31).

We reach the climax in the final section of this chapter. He through whom all this will be accomplished is now mentioned by the prophet.

"And I will set up one Shepherd over them, and He shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.

And I the Lord will be their G.o.d, and my servant David a prince among them; I the Lord have spoken it." Some have applied this to Zerubbabel, the head of Judah at the return from the Babylonish captivity; this is done by those who deny a future restoration of Israel. Others take these words in a strictly literal sense and teach that David the King will become the head of the nation once more and raised from the dead will be the one shepherd over His people. It is not David, but He who is according to the flesh the Son of David and David's Lord as well. The one Shepherd can only be the Messiah. Numerous pa.s.sages show that David's name is used in a typical sense. Jeremiah announced, "They shall serve the Lord their G.o.d, and David their King, whom I will raise up unto them" (Jere. x.x.x:10). Here David stands typically for Christ, the Messiah of Israel, for He is raised up unto them when Jacob's trouble is ended (verses 1-7). Of Him Jeremiah speaks more fully in chapter xxiii:5-6: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is the name whereby He shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness." The two, Judah and Israel, will be reunited by the one Shepherd. The Messiah of Israel is also mentioned by Hosea as David. "Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their G.o.d, and David their King and shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days" (Hosea iii:5). Isaiah speaks of the sure mercies of David and adds, "Behold I have given Him for a witness to the people, a leader (prince) and commander to the people." It is therefore not David, raised from the dead, but the Prince of Peace, who was here once to seek the lost sheep of the house of Israel and who comes again to save the remnant of His people Israel and to receive the Throne of David (Isaiah ix:6-7).

When the Lord is doing all what is promised here and the remnant has accepted the long rejected Messiah-King, a covenant of peace and blessing will follow. "And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land, and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods." Peace will come to the land and to the whole earth with His Coming. The evil beasts, the Gentile world powers (Dan. vii) will no longer devastate the land. All will be peace and safety so that they can sleep peacefully in the woods.

"There shall be showers of blessing" (verse 26). How often a hymn is sung based upon this promise:

"There shall be showers of blessing, This is the promise of love."

But how few who sing it know that the promise belongs first of all to Israel. When the Lord comes the showers of blessing will be poured forth upon His people and upon all nations. It will be "the times of refreshing" (Acts iii:20). Verses 27 and 28 give a brief description of the millennial Kingdom. Groaning creation will then be delivered and the wild beasts will have their nature changed (compare verse 28 with Isaiah xi:6-9 and Rom. viii:19-22). There is no need to speculate on the meaning of "the plant of renown" which will be raised up. It is none other than He, who, as to His humiliation, is described as "a tender plant" and "as a root out of a dry ground" (Isaiah liii:2). But now He appears in all His glory and becomes the plant of renown. Their shame and suffering will then be over. He will be their G.o.d and they will be His people.

THE JUDGMENT OF MOUNT SEIR AND WHAT FOLLOWS.

Chapter x.x.xv.

This is another judgment message, which is closely related to the coming restoration of Israel. When the Lord is merciful to His people and bestows upon them the promised blessings He will also deal with their enemies in judgment. Edom was the most bitter enemy of Israel, their blood-relation. The judgment threatened here was executed upon Edom; but it has a prophetic meaning of the judgment which is in store for the enemies of G.o.d's people when the times of the Gentiles end and G.o.d arises in behalf of His suffering and persecuted people.

I. The Judgment of Mount Seir.

Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face against mount Seir, and prophesy against it, And say unto it, Thus saith the Lord G.o.d; Behold, O mount Seir, I am against thee, and I will stretch out mine hand against thee, and I will make thee most desolate. I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity had an end: Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord G.o.d, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: since thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee.

Thus will I make mount Seir most desolate, and cut off from it him that pa.s.seth out and him that returneth. And I will fill his mountains with his slain men; in thy hills, and in thy valleys, and in all thy rivers, shall they fall that are slain with the sword. I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not return: and ye shall know that I am the Lord. Because thou hast said, These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it; whereas the Lord was there: Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord G.o.d, I will even do according to thine anger, and according to thine envy which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them; and I will make myself known among them, when I have judged thee. And thou shalt know that I am the Lord, and that I have heard all thy blasphemies which thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid desolate, they are given us to consume. Thus with your mouth ye have boasted against me, and have multiplied your words against me: I have heard them (verses 1-13).

Mount Seir is mentioned for the first time in Genesis x.x.xvi:9, as the dwelling place of the Edomites. Seir means "s.h.a.ggy," an allusion to the rugged character of Idumea. The Edomites and Israelites were descendants of Abraham; Edom from Esau and Israel from Jacob. G.o.d told Israel not to forget their relationship to the descendants of Esau. But the Edomites hated Israel. Beautiful were the words which Moses addressed to Edom, when he sent messengers from Kadesh. "Thus saith thy brother Israel, thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us, how our fathers went down to Egypt and dwelt in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians evil entreated us, and our fathers; and when we cried unto the Lord, He heard our voice, and sent an angel, and brought us forth out of Egypt, and behold we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of thy border; let us pa.s.s, I pray thee through thy land" (Numbers xx:14-17). The Edomites rejected this loving word and forced the Israelites to take another way.

More than once did they attack from their mountains the people Israel and slew them. "He did pursue his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever" (Amos i:11). Most scathing is Edom's arraignment through the prophet Obadiah. "For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off forever. In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast one of them. But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress" (Obad. verses 9-14). Theirs was a perpetual hatred as G.o.d speaks here through Ezekiel. Judgment is therefore announced, a judgment which should make their land desolate and extinguish them as a nation. "I will make thee most desolate." "I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate." "Thus will I make mount Seir most desolate." "I will make thee perpetual desolation, and thy cities shall not return." They were a proud, a boasting people, defying G.o.d and hating His chosen people. "Thus with your mouth ye have boasted against me, and have multiplied your words against me; I have heard them."

And this threatened judgment has fallen upon Edom's land. Their capital was the great rock city Petra, called Selah in the Bible (2 Kings xiv:7).

It was once a powerful city, which carried on an immense trade; it was, according to ancient historians, the terminus of one of the great commercial routes of Asia. And now in that once so prosperous land an indescribable desolation reigns. Its great commerce has utterly pa.s.sed away and the doom announced in this chapter has been almost fully accomplished. Yet all this also stands related to a future day when Israel is being delivered and when the Lord will judge Edom and all the nations which hate His people. "The punishment of their iniquity is accomplished, O, daughter of Zion; He will no more carry thee away into captivity; He will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; He will discover thy sins" (Lam. iv:22). The spirit of hatred, pride, envy and blasphemy mentioned in verses 11-13 is characteristic of the unG.o.dly nations who defy G.o.d when the times of the Gentiles end. Of that final beast which domineers over the earth and persecutes the remnant of Israel, before the Lord comes, it is written, "And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against G.o.d, to blaspheme His name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven" (Rev. xiii:6). But as Ezekiel declares concerning these blasphemies spoken against Israel and Israel's Lord, "I have heard them," and He will act, in judgment against all His enemies.

II. The Time of Rejoicing.

Thus saith the Lord G.o.d; When the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate. As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee: thou shalt be desolate, O mount Seir, and all Idumea, even all of it: and they shall know that I am the Lord (verses 14-15).

The time is coming when the whole earth will rejoice. Moses in his prophetic Song spoke of this: "Rejoice O ye nations, with His people; for He will avenge the blood of His servants, and will render vengeance to His adversaries, and will be merciful unto His land, and to His people" (Deut. x.x.xii:43). When the Lord comes and delivers His earthly people and brings them back to their land all will be completely reversed. Israel now mourning and suffering will rejoice and all their enemies shall mourn forever, on account of G.o.d's righteous judgments.

Then will the world know that He is Jehovah.

THE PROMISES OF GRACE.

Chapter x.x.xvi.

With this chapter the great prophetic utterances of Ezekiel begin which have for a topic the future restoration and blessing of the people Israel. From chapter x.x.xvi to the end of this book all is unfulfilled.

How Jehovah will deal with the enemies of His people in judgment, and then turn in grace and mercy to His own nation to bless them with spiritual and national blessings is the message of this chapter. In chapter x.x.xvii we find the vision of the dry bones, typical of the national and spiritual resurrection of Israel. The house of Judah and the house of Israel will be united into one, to dwell in the land of their fathers. The great blessings will then be theirs under the covenant of peace, while the tabernacle of G.o.d is in the midst of them and the true King reigns over them. Chapters x.x.xviii and x.x.xix show the final enemies of Israel, Gog and Magog, and their complete overthrow.

Chapters xl-xlviii are millennial, giving a description of the future temple to be built in Jerusalem, its worship and glory.

I. The Judgment of Israel's Enemies.

Also, thou Son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel, and say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord: Thus saith the Lord G.o.d; Because the enemy hath said against you, Aha, even the ancient high places are ours in possession: Therefore prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord G.o.d; Because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto the residue of the heathen, and ye are taken up in the lips of talkers, and are an infamy of the people: Therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord G.o.d; Thus saith the Lord G.o.d; to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes, and to the cities that are forsaken, which became a prey and derision to the residue of the heathen that are round about; Therefore thus saith the Lord G.o.d; Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen, and against all Idumea, which have appointed my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey. Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say unto the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, Thus saith the Lord G.o.d; Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because ye have borne the shame of the heathen: Therefore thus saith the Lord G.o.d; I have lifted up mine hand, Surely the heathen that are about you, they shall bear their shame (verses 1-7.)

The enemy had spoken blasphemies against the mountains of Israel; the Lord had heard the arrogant language of Edom (x.x.xv:12-13), and now the prophet is commanded to address the personified mountains of Israel in words of consolation and a.s.surance. Previously he had as G.o.d's prophet uttered denunciations against the mountains and high places of Israel (vi:1-7), but now after the time of Israel's chastis.e.m.e.nt is pa.s.sed and the dawn of their restoration breaks, the Lord turns against the enemies of His people. The enemy had said against them with a shout of exultation: "Aha! even the ancient high places are ours in possession."

Edom and other nations knew that the Lord had promised to Israel the land for their possession. They claimed with a proud taunt Israel's mountains and high places as their possession, and thereby ignored G.o.d and His covenant with His people. And so it is that the nations have forgotten what G.o.d has promised to Israel. Their land and city has been trodden down by the Gentiles. Gentiles have stretched out their hands to possess the mountains of Israel and occupied the land which by covenant belongs to the seed of Abraham. When the times of the Gentiles come to a close nations will once more attempt to take possession of Israel's land and make an invasion. Then the Lord will arise against these nations. Of this Ezekiel speaks, "Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of nations, and against all Edom, which have appointed my land unto themselves for a possession with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey; therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say unto the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys, Thus saith the Lord G.o.d; Behold I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because ye have borne the shame of the nations. Therefore thus saith the Lord G.o.d: I have lifted up mine hand, saying, Surely the nations that are round about you, they shall bear their shame."

Jehovah speaks of Israel's land as "my land," and in holy indignation and jealous for His people and their land, He arises now to put judgment and shame upon the nations which reproached Him. He lifts His hand in token of an oath, that He will do this now. His time has come to be merciful to His people and His land, and that will mean judgment for their enemies (See Zech. i:13-19). And that time is not far distant now when G.o.d will turn to His ancient people in mercy and put judgment upon the nations which have forgotten G.o.d and ignored His infallible word and revealed purposes.

II. The Promised Return to the Land.

But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come. For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown: And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be builded: And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I am the Lord. Yea, I will cause men to walk upon you, even my people Israel; and they shall possess thee and thou shalt be their inheritance, and thou shalt no more henceforth bereave them of men. Thus saith the Lord G.o.d; Because they say unto you, Thou land devourest up men, and hast bereaved thy nations; Therefore thou shalt devour men no more, neither bereave thy nations any more, saith the Lord G.o.d. Neither will I cause men to hear in thee the shame of the heathen any more, neither shalt thou bear the reproach of the people any more, neither shalt thou cause thy nations to fall any more, saith the Lord G.o.d (verses 8-15).

The address is still to the mountains of Israel. These are beautiful words which Jehovah, to comfort His people, puts into the lips of the prophet. The mountains, so long barren, would shoot forth their branches and prepare fruit for His people. Then their imminent return is announced: "For they are at hand to come." The near fulfillment was the return of the remnant from the Babylonian captivity. But that does not exhaust this prophecy; there is a greater homecoming in store for Israel, when they will be gathered out of all countries to possess the land and multiply there as they never did in all their past history.

"And I will multiply men upon you (the mountains), all the house of Israel, even all of it." No one could claim that this promise found its fulfillment when a small portion of the house of Judah returned from Babylon. Here it speaks of all the house of Israel. And the waste places shall also be builded again as promised by former prophets, for instance in Isaiah lviii:12, lxi:4; Amos ix:11, 12, 14. Still greater is the promise, "I will cause you to be inhabited after the former estate, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings, and ye shall know that I am the Lord." Such was not the case when they returned from Babylon.

And what blessing will come to them, when at last G.o.d does all these things! "Yea, I will cause men to walk upon you (the mountains), even my people Israel; and they shall possess thee, and thou shalt be their inheritance and thou shalt no more henceforth bereave them of men." All would be changed. Jeremiah had announced, "I will bereave them of children, I will destroy my people since they return not from their ways" (Jere. xv:7). When the Lord keeps His promise and brings them back, their sorrows will be at an end. What are the sorrows and sufferings of the Babylonian captivity in comparison with the sufferings which befell them in the year 70 and throughout this dispensation! And the last page of Israel's sorrow is yet to be written. All is preparing now for the great tribulation, and then there will be the intervention from above, and the coming Lord will wipe away all their tears. Four times the prophet uses the words "any more" (verses 14-15), "Neither shalt thou bear the reproach of the peoples any more, neither shalt thou cause thy nation to stumble any more, saith the Lord G.o.d." Inasmuch as there is reproach now upon that nation and they are a reproach, and that they have stumbled, we know that these words still await their fulfillment.

III. Israel's Past Sins and Chastis.e.m.e.nt.

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 nations, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them. And when they had entered unto the nations, 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 (verses 16-20).

It needs no lengthy comment to explain this paragraph. The whole history of that nation bears witness to it. They were an unclean, a stiffnecked nation; a nation which rejected His word, yea, Himself, and worshipped idols. But their crowning sin came when they delivered the Lord Jesus Christ, their own Messiah-King, into the hands of the Gentiles. His blood was shed upon the land and they cried, "His blood be upon us and upon our children." And as a result they were scattered among the nations, where they also profaned His holy name (Isaiah lii:5; Rom.

ii:24). What then has Israel done to deserve blessing? The rest of the chapter answers this question.

IV. Restoration and Blessing Through Grace.

But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord G.o.d; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the nations, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord G.o.d, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. 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 you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your G.o.d. I will also save you from all your uncleannesses; and I will call for the corn and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the nations. Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord G.o.d, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel. Thus saith the Lord G.o.d: In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded. And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that pa.s.sed by. And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited.

Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the Lord build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate; I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it. Thus saith the Lord G.o.d; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock. As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the Lord (verses 21-38).

The Lord's own name, His holy name, which they profaned among the nations, is what moves Him to act. He tells them that it was not for their sakes, for any merit in them, that He would do the things which His prophet is about to announce. It was His own name as the Lord Who is a covenant keeping G.o.d, the holy name they had so miserably outraged, which He must vindicate. The nations were to know, and will yet know, that He is G.o.d. He will sanctify His great name, and declares, "I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes." But how? When in infinite grace He deals with this nation and manifests Himself as the loving, covenant-keeping, grace-bestowing Jehovah. And that will be when He, Who died for that nation on the cross (John xii:50-53), Whom they rejected, Whose name they have profaned, returns from His glory-place. Then will His name be sanctified in all the earth, when in wondrous grace He lifts His nation from the dunghill of shame and want and brings them back to their own land.

This is so marvelously promised by Ezekiel. The characteristic word in verses 23-38 is the word "I will." It is the word of sovereign grace.

Eighteen times Jehovah saith what He will do. They are the "I wills" of Israel's hope and coming glory.

He will gather them from among the nations and all countries and bring them back to their own land. Only a superficial expositor can speak of a fulfillment when they returned from Babylon. But even if this were so, though it is not, the verses which follow have never been fulfilled in the past. The cleansing of the nation is next promised: "I will sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean."[29] It refers us to the water mixed with the ashes of the red-heifer, which was sprinkled with a hyssop on the unclean, typifying the precious blood of Christ in its cleansing power (Heb. ix:13-14; x:22). Thus when the people of Israel believe on Him and look upon Him Whom they pierced (Zech. xii:10), they will be cleansed. "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness" (Zech. xiii:1). Then follows the promise of the new birth of Israel. "A new heart will I also give you, and a new spirit will I put within you." The stony heart is to be taken away and they will receive a heart of flesh. Our Lord had this pa.s.sage in mind when He talked with Nicodemus about the new birth. Nicodemus, the teacher in Israel, was ignorant of the fact that this new birth for Israel is necessary in order to be in that coming kingdom and to receive its blessings.

Therefore the Lord said to him, "If I have told you earthly things (about Israel and the new birth as the way into the kingdom) and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?"

(the heavenly blessings which follow His sacrificial death).

[29] It is wrong to apply this sentence to water-baptism and claim for it sprinkling as the proper mode of baptism.

Then follow still greater restoration promises and blessings, which Israel never possessed in their past history nor to-day. He will be their G.o.d and they will be His people. There will be an increase in the corn; famine will disappear forever. The desolate land will be tilled so that those who pa.s.s through the land will say: "This land that was desolate is become like the Garden of Eden and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited." When this restoration and blessing through grace is accomplished then will they remember their evil ways and loathe themselves for their iniquities and abominations. This will be their national repentance. It is not repentance first, but the Lord will be first gracious and merciful to them, and as a result they will remember their ways of evil and humble themselves before Him. And the nations round about will know that He who has done all this is Jehovah. All these blessed things will surely be accomplished in the day when the Lord arises and has mercy upon Zion (Ps. cii:13): "I, the Lord have spoken, and I will do it."