Israel, an Object of Mercy Ezekiel 28:20-26
You know fortune has smiled upon you. You were born in the safest country on the planet. Geopolitically, we are separate from other countries; we are physically removed. We are a separate continent and yet being so big, we are governed by the one government. While we may not agree with everything they say, we can vote them out every few years. We have a diverse range of beauty – snow, desert, beautiful rainforests, best aquatic environment to visit (the natural beauty of the Great Barrier Reef) swelling with natural resources. So much of even that is underdeveloped. We have the best farming and grazing land in the world, stable land free from earthquakes, tornados; diversity of food and relative safety. What a time and place to live in!
Question – Do you deserve it? You could have been born in poverty – like millions, even billions, of others. You could have been born in a different generation, not having the safety, medical advancements and freedom that we have today, especially in this country. More than that, you know what you have said in the past, what you have watched, what you have been involved in, even what you have thought, and God has kept you alive. God has been so merciful to you.
That is the situation we are dealing with here in Ezekiel. In just the last 2 verses we read, “Thus says the Lord GOD: When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and manifest my holiness in them in the sight of the nations, then they shall dwell in their own land that I gave to my servant Jacob. And they shall dwell securely in it, and they shall build houses and plant vineyards. They shall dwell securely, when I execute judgments upon all their neighbours who have treated them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the LORD their God." (Ezekiel 28:25,26)
You already know Ezekiel had been told that Israel, and especially Jerusalem, would be destroyed. In fact, Jerusalem was surrounded by the Babylonians at the time of writing this chapter. Jerusalem was about to be judged. That’s what it deserved.
But we have just read that Israel as a nation will be blessed, that they will return from the from the nations where they were scattered, that Israel would be at peace – build houses, grow vineyards. Not only that, but that Israel will execute judgements on the nations, especially their neighbours who have treated them with contempt.
So, has this happened as yet? Did it happen in history? What did happen? We know that Judah and its capital Jerusalem were indeed taken to Babylon completely in 586BC. They stayed 70 years. Cyrus the Great – the Persian King released the Jews back to Judah in 536BC; they rebuilt the temple in 516BC. They were still a vassal state of Persia; they were attacked by the surrounding nations. Israel would later be attacked by Alexander the Great. This was prophesied by Daniel who was also in Babylon with Ezekiel. Alexander put them under Greek rule – 331BC after Persia was defeated. The Romans, of course, came after the Greeks and Jerusalem was subject to them.
Jesus prophesied that Jerusalem would be surrounded and that the temple would be destroyed. People disbelieved Jesus because of the prophecy of Ezekiel and other Old Testament prophets about Jerusalem being secure and strong, but the Roman Emperor Titus destroyed Jerusalem and the temple and carried the Jews off captive in AD70.
So, when will Ezekiel’s prophecy come true? Well, another reason we are blessed in this generation is that we are seeing it fulfilled in our generation. After the horrors of the Second World War (which were a satanic attack against these events, by attempting to wipe out the Jewish people and a literal fulfillment of Ezekiel 37 and the valley of dry bones living), Israel became a nation.
Isaiah, in prophesying this event, asked the question: “Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? For as soon as Zion was in labour she brought forth her children. Shall I bring to the point of birth and not cause to bring forth?" says the LORD; "shall I, who cause to bring forth, shut the womb?" says your God. "Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her." That day was May 14, 1948 and Israel was declared a nation after the British moved out.
After 2553 years, in 1948 Israel finally became an independent state again. In the 74 years since then, Israel has continued to grow and expand in its wealth. Jews from all around the world have returned to Israel. If they identify as being Jewish and have the welfare of the nation at heart, they are helped with land, loans, housing and schooling. The West Bank is no more; only in the last 8 years has it been returned to its Biblical names of Samaria and Judea. This is Israel receiving what it doesn’t deserve; they are receiving mercy.
This is a fulfillment of what Ezekiel prophesied in these 2 verses in Ezekiel 28. They have literally fulfilled Ezekiel’s words, “for the house of Israel there shall be no more a brier to prick or a thorn to hurt them among all their neighbours who have treated them with contempt,” with all the nations that surround them – either by force or by peaceful means.