THE REGATHERING OF THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL FOR JUDGMENT

THE REGATHERING OF THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL FOR JUDGMENT

 

 "As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you: And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face."  Ezek. 20:33-35

• The Places from Which Israel will be Regathered  vs. 34

"And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out."
The context clearly shows that the judgment will precede the actual entrance of Israel back into the land. Out from the people, that is, Gentiles. Out from the countries where they were scattered.

The blessing and the Curse (Deut. 28-29)
Chapters 28 - 29 are an integral part of the Palestinian Covenant that is announced in Deut. 30:1 - 9.

The regathering from all nations. Deut. 30:1, 3, 4
"And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee,"
"That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee."
"If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee."

• The Program by Which Israel shall be Regathered. vs 33-34

"As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you: And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out."

With a mighty hand. This refers to the miraculous events by which they will be brought back to the land. Cf. Deut. 4:34-35 with Exod. 13:3.
"Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? Unto thee it was showed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him."
"And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten."

With a stretched out arm. This refers to the immediate inter­vention of the Lord in the behalf of His people. Exod. 6:6
"Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments."

With fury. That is with infliction of wrath upon the people of Israel and also upon the Gentiles. Exod. 6:6
"Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments."

• The Point to Which they will be Regathered  vs. 35

"And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face."
The place is specified as "the wilderness of the peoples" (Ezek. 20:35). Certain of the commentators argue that this wilderness is a "spiritual" description of the Jews' present condition where they are now among the nations. But this introduces a flat contradiction into the prophecy. How can God gather Israel "out of the countries" and bring them into the "wilderness," if the latter is merely another name for the former? The comparison drawn between this event and that which took place during the historical march from Egypt to Palestine, fixes beyond question the geographical location. It is the well-known wilderness of the Sinaitic peninsula, which to this day is occupied by various "peoples" (Ezek. 20:35, ASV).

"And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people." cf. Hosea 2:14-15 While there is no room for dogmatism here. It does seem as though this refers to the wilderness where the Israelites sojourned for forty years. This lies to the south of the land of Israel, the Sinaitic Peninsula.