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Back in February, I had promised to work on the latter half of Ezekiel 34 https://t.co/5bZqP7tmVB As it relates to modern Israel post-1948 but I never did. Since I am looking at God's purpose will now in specifics of the nations, with Israel being the first to look at, it would be good to do so. Verse 24. David mentioned here is a type of Jesus. Ezekiel is a post-captivity prophet, as he starts Ezekiel 1 talking about between at Kebar river, in Babylon. Ezekiel's timeline is between Jeremiah and Daniel and we know Jeremiah starts to prophesy long before Nebuchadnezzar starts to harass the Judah kings in 605 BC BC and lays the first major siege in 597 BC. Daniel was taken in the first wave of deportation with Jehoakim in 605 BC, while Ezekiel is taken in the second wave of deportation with Jeconiah in 597 BC. Since Ezekiel places his first encounter with God "𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒐𝒅" in the 5th year of Jeconiah/Jehoachin's exile- in his own 30th year--Ezekiel 1:1-3, then that is in 593 BC. So, by the time Ezekiel became a prophet, David had died for at least 420 years. He can't possibly be talking about David in Ezekiel 34:24, it must be the son of David [Matthew 22:45; 2 Timothy 2:8]. This means the application of Ezekiel 34:24 is a post-Messiah period. It cannot be in the years of the Maccabees, for example [167 BC-to-160 BC], as the Son of David had not appeared yet. It was not completely fulfilled during the times of Jesus' first coming, as we shall see, because Israel was not a sovereign nation at that time, and they lived in fear of the Romans [John 11:48], which contradicts Ezekiel 34: 27-28. So, the latter half of Ezekiel 34 is meant to be interpreted as Israel's situation after 1948, when they are more or less secure, more or less in charge of their own destiny, not a vassal state of the Romans or Babylonians. Verse 25 God will make a covenant with Israel. I do not believe this necessarily implies a formal encounter with God similar to Moses giving the law at Sinai in Exodus 20. The New Covenant prophesied in Jeremiah 31:31 is still in force [See Hebrews 8 :8-12]. For the purpose of better mental retention, we should separate the spiritual and the physical blessings of Israel. Does verse 25 of Ezekiel 34 deal with physical or spiritual blessings ? It deals with physical. 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅, 𝒖𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒅𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒐𝒅𝒔. Is this promise predicated on a spiritual return of Israel ? It does not seem so. As we have already established in #FriendshipWithGod, any covenant at all, whether with the patriarchs or with Christians today, starts God's side, and then man joins in later. Verse 26 God will make the Jews a blessing God will make the land of Israel a blessing One of my most favorite hymns, "𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑩𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔" written by Daniel Webster Whittle in 1883 is based on this verse. Interestingly, we sing this verse in reference to spiritual , not physical rain, similar to how James 5:7 uses it while referencing Deuteronomy 11:14, Joel 2:23, and Zechariah 10: 1 KJV. The Mediterranean season early rain starts in November and closes its season towards April. So, that would be the latter rain. It was seen as symbolic of God's outpourings, with the day of Pentecost considered the early rain while those of the latter days of the last days considered to be latter rain [Acts 2:17]. So, in this verse 26, God is promising both physical and spiritual blessings upon Israel would begin. There is certainly a portion of the Jews who believe in Jesus as the Messiah today and they could start to pray for and anticipate a spiritual revival, which is different from national salvation that shall occur at Christ's second coming. For example, a spiritual revival is anticipated after Israel is rescued from the Russia-Turkey-Iran war [Ezekiel 39:17-28]. It does not have to wait that time because God fills the hungry and satisfies the thirsty at the point of their demand [Isaiah 44:3; John 7:37-39]. Verse 27 The fruit from trees shall increase. Israel today harvests 1.5 to 1.6 million tonnes of fresh fruit annually, double from <750,000 tonnes in the 1960s. It talks about God strengthening Israel militarily in those years and making them able to defend themselves against enemy Arab and Turkish nations. Verse 28 "They shall no more be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beasts of the land devour them" What I find interesting here is that sometimes the "know-how" of tech like Iron Dome and the physical safety of people to be free from roaming crazy dogs biting people is ascribed to God. Man is in dominion, as per Genesis 1:26-28, and yet God is credited with the protection in Ezekiel 34:28. God says: "I will" And we go like: "Israel has developed XYZ" We need to give glory to the one who said "I will" Verse 29 "And I will provide for them ba renowned place for planting so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, and no longer suffer the reproach of the nations. " Sometimes, it seems like the Calvinists who are obsessed with the suffering teachings for its own sake -- I teach it only in the exclusive sense of John 12:24-27 as part of the cross-resurrection framework-- they teach suffering without any light at the end of the tunnel--without any resurrection whatsoever-- they would see any calamitous events anywhere, at individual or national level to affirm their theology of what the world should be -- a dark and gloomy place-- and God says "they will no longer suffer the reproach of the nations." God has put His name on His people and He who reproaches His people, reproaches His own magnificent name [Genesis 12: 2-3; Genesis 32:28; Isaiah 54:17; Matthew 10:40; Matthew 18:10; Luke 10:16; Matthew 25:40]. Zephaniah 3: 19-20 mentions God-appointed fame. So, fame can be man-made and man-given and it could also be God-made and God-given. Modern Israel's fame is God-made and God-given. Verse 30 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑰𝒔𝒓𝒂𝒆𝒍, 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆, 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝑮𝒐𝒅. God uses the physical blessings to draw Israel in for the spiritual blessings. As we said, revival is both scheduled and demanded. There are latter rain showers and there's an outpouring on those who are thirsty. God gives us all the physical blessings not so we can become "comfy" but so that we can get to know His goodness. Again, this is where I differ with Calvinists. They will acclaim when they see a Scripture saying, "𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒐𝒅" - Romans 11:22, but they will latch on the severity part, not the goodness part. But it is not just the harsh conditions that lead to repentance, even kindness can lead to repentance [Romans 2:4; Luke 5:6-9].