Ezekiel 36:7, commentary and pictures

God swore an oath that the heathen nations around Israel who shamed them would themselves bear shame when He restored Israel. The promised restoration was conditional, depending on Israel's faith, obedience, and wholehearted return to God and turning from wickedness. Because Israel did not truly repent and return wholeheartedly, the promises were not fulfilled in their intended historical detail and fullness, but only in small part. The promise is not restricted to the natural descendants of Jacob but applies to spiritual Israel, those who belong to God by faith, while those who held otherwise awaited its fulfillment for the natural descendants of Jacob. All that God promised concerning the punishment of those who destroy His people and the restoration of His people will yet be fulfilled in glorious measure as recorded in Revelation 20 and 21, and its sanctuary offerings cannot mean restoring animal sacrifices since Christ offered Himself once for all.

Wording and Historical Setting

The raised hand is a sworn oath by the Lord that the surrounding heathen peoples who put shame upon Israel will themselves carry shame when Israel is restored.
The declaration stands within a prophecy addressed to the mountains, land and people of Israel that holds out salvation for Israel and glory for the land, the city and the sanctuary.
It belongs to the word concerning Israel, separate from the word against Seir, that is Edom, in chapter 35.

The prophecy was spoken in the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, dated to 587 B.C., one year after the destruction of Jerusalem and one hundred thirty years before the full restoration of Jerusalem under Artaxerxes in 457 B.C.
Its promises to Israel and the land belong to living Israel at the opening of the day of the Lord, before the resurrection of the just.
In the setting of the final attack the chapter shows Jerusalem and the adjoining country receiving the heaviest force of the assault of the nations just before the coming of Christ.

Conditional Restoration Promise

Ezekiel 36:7 belongs to the conditional prophecy running from Ezekiel 36 onward, including Ezekiel 38-39 and certainly Ezekiel 40-48, whose fulfillment depended on conditions. It is governed by the principle stated in Jeremiah 18:7-10, that if God speaks concerning a nation to build and to plant it and it does evil and does not obey His voice He will withhold the good He promised, and if He speaks concerning a nation to destroy it and it turns from evil He will withhold the evil He purposed. It was to have been fulfilled to Israel in the Babylonian restoration if they had yielded to God with all their hearts.

The promised restoration depended on Israel's faith and obedience. It required Israel to yield to God, to truly repent, to forsake sins, to turn from wickedness, and to return to God wholeheartedly in order to receive the good things promised through the prophets. God warned that the surrounding enemies would be brought into subjection and bear shame only in that conditional restoration.

If Israel had yielded and obeyed, God would have punished the threatening surrounding nations and the northern Scythian foes, conquered them before Israel, brought them into subjection, and made them bear their shame as Israel prevailed. That victory would have fulfilled in detail Ezekiel 38 and 39. If God's people had heeded, He would have restored the poor captive scattered and divided nation to its own land. He would have brought back the honest-hearted from the nations and those of the tribes who would come, divided the land on a different plan, raised those sleeping in death, cut off their enemies, and built the new glorious temple with His presence among them and its life-giving water.

Because Israel did not truly repent, forsake sins, turn from wickedness, and return wholeheartedly, the conditions were not met. The promises were therefore not fulfilled in their intended historical detail and fullness, but only in small part, and will not be fulfilled as originally described. Because they came back half-heartedly, mingling with other nations and doing the deeds of other nations without being ashamed of sins, only about forty thousand returned from captivity. The victory of Israel was only partial, Israel was rejected, and their refusal left only a diminished small temple instead of the promised glory.

Recipients and Future Fulfillment

The oath that the surrounding peoples will bear their shame is not limited to the natural descendants of Jacob but may belong to Israel in the spiritual sense, to all who belong to God by faith. It stands with the covenant of its people, and therefore cannot be assigned to natural Israel for its recipients while its fulfillment is assigned to Christ and the new-covenant people. Whether these promises were fulfilled in Israel's past, apply to spiritual Israel by faith, or await fulfillment for the natural descendants of Jacob has been disputed, and applying them to spiritual Israel by faith is admissible.

The oath belongs to a prophecy concerning Israel's mountains, land, and people, holding out salvation for Israel and glory for the land, city, and sanctuary. The sanctuary offerings in that prophecy cannot mean a restoration of animal sacrifices. To restore them would treat Christ's once-for-all offering as ineffective, whereas the former offerings were shadows pointing to Christ.

Though not fulfilled in intended historical detail, the promises point in general to God's future punishment of those who destroy His people. They were what God was prepared to do for Israel after the return from Babylon if they had yielded to Him with all their hearts, including punishing the threatening nations and making them bear shame and subduing their enemies as set forth in chapters 38 and 39. Because they came back half-heartedly, mingling with other nations and doing their deeds, God could not fulfill to them the promises there given. They are governed by the conditions stated in Jeremiah 18:7-10, and all that God promised concerning the restoration of His people will yet be fulfilled in glorious measure as recorded in Revelation 20 and 21.