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From: Ezekiel 36:23-28

Restoration; return from exile

[23] And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned
among the nations, and which you have profaned among them; and the nations
will know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my
holiness before their eyes. [24] For I will take you from the nations, and gather
you from all the countries, and bring you into your own land.

Inner renewal

[25] I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your un-
cleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. [26] A new heart I will give
you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart
of stone and give you a heart of flesh. [27] And I will put my spirit within you, and
cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances. [28]
You shall dwell in the land which I gave to your fathers; and you shall be my peo-
ple, and I will be your God.

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Commentary:

36:16-39:29. In this second last section of the book, the prophet uses a series
of metaphors to paint the scene of a restored Israel. The oracles have an escha-
tological dimension to them, particularly the latter ones (38:1-39:29).

Overall, what we are given here is a song celebrating hope; nothing is impossible
to the Lord: he is able to renew Israel (36:16-38), by giving her a new heart and
a new spirit (v. 25); he can make the people come back to life (37:1-14); and the
unity between this new people and their Lord will he almost like the way things
were in Eden (37:15-28) — so wonderful that it will astonish the nations (37:28).
The final oracles (38:1-39:29) are a dramatic climax that convey an idea of the
vicissitudes of the chosen people up to when their fortunes will be permanently
restored. The empires seem to be those determining the course of events, but
that is not the case: the Lord is always in control and, when the end comes,
his victory will be so amazing that not only Israel but all other nations, too, will
know that he truly is the Lord.

36:16-38. In these oracles, which continue the proclamation of Israel’s restoration
-purification, we can see the core of Ezekiel’s teaching, namely, that the Lord,
who is above all things, is the one who determines the election, punishment and
restoration of his people. People have an obligation to accept the gifts that God
offers; they must acknowledge that the Lord is sovereign and free, and render him
due worship. This teaching can be seen in the announcement about restoration
and a return to the promised land (vv. 16-24) and in the Lord’s promise of inner
renewal (vv. 25-38).

“They defiled it by their ways” (v. 17): the people’s straying, their sins, defiled the
promised land, the most precious of all the gifts God had given them. As Ezekiel
explains it, their exile was a necessary punishment (v. 19), but it is also a condi-
tion for restoring to the land its lost honour.

“The holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations”
(v. 22): when the pagan nations saw the Israelites being deported, they thought
that the God of Israel had been defeated or, at least, that he had failed to protect
his people. In this sense the exile caused the name of the Lord to be profaned
among the nations. The return of the people to the promised land was a neces-
sary part of their deliverance (v. 24), but it was also needed to vindicate the name
of the Lord (v. 22). This “theology” of the Name of God carries over into the New
Testament, where we find it as a petition in the Our Father (cf. Mt 6:9; Lk 11:2,
and from there it becomes part of the whole Christian tradition. The Catechism
of the Council of Trent has this to say about these verses of Ezekiel: “Many peo-
ple judge the truth of religion and of its Author by the deeds and lives of Chris-
tians. Those who truly profess their faith and put it into practice in their lives car-
ry out the most valuable apostolate, provoking in others the desire to glorify the
name of the heavenly Father” (Roman Catechism, 4, 10, 9).

“You shall be clean[sed]” (v. 25): Ezekiel views the renewal of Israel from the per-
spective of divine worship — sprinkling with water and other purification rites being
a sign of inner change. This passage can be read as an announcement of the ef-
fects of Baptism: “Baptism, by the power of God, remits and pardons all sin — the
original sin that we inherited from our first parents, and all our personal sins, no
matter how grave and terrible they may seem to us, no matter how grave and ter-
rible they were. This truth was foretold long ago by the prophet Ezekiel, through
whom the Lord God spoke: I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be
clean from all your uncleannesses (Ezek 36:25)” (ibid., 2, 2, 42).

“A new heart” and “a new spirit” (v. 26): renewal affects a person’s disposition
(heart) and motivation (spirit). The Israelites will have a completely new life-force:
as a result, their conduct will be perfect (v. 27), the Covenant will never again be
broken (v. 28), and the land, also cleansed of defilement, will he abundant in the
fruit it yields (v. 30).

God’s patent initiative in repatriating and renewing Israel is a proof of his disinter-
ested love for his people. Jesus makes this very clear, for example, in his dis-
course on the bread of life: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent
me draws him” (Jn 6:44). “Our salvation flows from God’s initiative of love for us,
because ‘he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins’ (Jn 4:10)’’
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 620).

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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.