What does Ezekiel 34th chapter 23-31 verses mean?

Answer 1

God is prophesying through Ezekiel of Israel's continued rejection of Him when dispersed, in the same way they had rejected God in their homeland. There would be a restoration of the nation to God after they had returned to their land. Some believe this prophecy is yet to be fulfilled.

Answer 2

Ezekiel was among the Jews of the "House of Judah" who went into Babylonian captivity... with Daniel, Hananiah [Shadrach], Mishael [Meshach], Azariah [Abednego], and a few million other Jews.

Daniel had his commission. He prophesied of global end time events, and even became an indispensable ally of the Babylonian king. He became, virtually, second in command only to the king in civil authority matters and was an adviser and overseer of many of the affairs of the greatest Gentile kingdom in history.

Ezekiel was commissioned to "write" prophecies and warnings to the "Lost Ten Tribes of the House of Israel" -- Israelites who had disappeared from visible world history some 130 years before the Jews were taken to Babylon.

God told Ezekiel: "...go speak unto the House of Israel." (Ezek.3:1)

The ten rebellious tribes had lost their identities before Assyria had carried them away 130 years earlier... and were scattered among the Gentile nations in and around Asia.

By the time Jesus was born... the passing generations of these scattered descendants of Abraham had begun to develop into their own "nations," and "languages" which resulted in many of today's modern nations.

It was to these "lost tribes" to whom Jesus sent His disciples, and among whom they all disappeared from world history.

"...Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into the cities of the Samaritans enter ye not: but go rather to THE LOST SHEEP OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL. And as ye go, preach, saying, The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." (Matt.10:5-6)

Ezekiel was "sent" to these lost tribes... not to the Jews, of whom he was a captive at the time: "...get thee unto the House of Israel, and speak with My Words unto them..." (Ezek.3:4).

And it is to them that Ezekiel 36 speaks.

In prophecy, a "mountain" symbolizes a "government"... like the "great mountain" that "filled the whole world" in Daniel 2:35, which is a prophecy of the gospel of the coming "Kingdom of God."

Ezekiel was inspired to write and commanded by God: "...prophesy unto the MOUNTAINS of Israel..." (Ezek.36:1). The scattered governments of the latter day nations of the reestablished House of Israel.

But when Ezekiel lived... there was no discernable or reestablished House of Israel where he could go. No "established governments" to which to take his message.

Ezekiel is one of the "major prophets" of God... of The Bible. And Ezekiel is being used by God to "speak" to the lost tribes "nations" of the House of Israel in the last days. Ezekiel was never set free from his captivity to roam through Asia and the European continent and the ancient British Isles where the descendants of these scattered tribes have been reestablished today, to take his inspired message to the scattered tribes of his time.

The "lost tribes" of the House of Israel don't know who they are and think they are "Gentiles." They profaned the name of God, anciently, and were scattered among the heathen nations whose gods they worshiped... and live that same life of religious confusion and ignorance to this day.

But the Bible speaks of the "end time" when God will gather [in a second global latter day exodus - Jer.16:14-16 & Jer.31:7-12] the two scattered houses [a'remnant'] of Israel and Judah [collectively, the 'children' of Israel]... when Jesus Christ returns to earth with the Kingdom of God. They shall be the prophesied "144,000" of Revelation 7.

"...there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel." (Rev.7:4)

Ezekiel 36:21-32 speaks prophetically of the "salvation" of the "lost tribes of the House of Israel" when Jesus returns.

"For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. THEN will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.

"A new heart also will I give you, and a NEW SPIRIT [God's 'gift' to the repentant - Acts 2:38] will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

"And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them." (Ezek.36:24- 27)

Ezekiel is "delivering" his commissioned message to the "House of Israel" now in these last days, which God caused to be preserved for the generations of men in the last days -- testifying to them and warning them to prepare, for Judgment Day is coming... when all men's works shall be judged. All men, including these rebellious "blood-descendants of faithful Abraham" will stand before their Creator, Jesus Christ and give account of themselves to Him in order to be saved.

"...go [, disciples,] ... to the lost sheep of the House of Israel." (Matt.10:6)

"...say [, Ezekiel,] unto the House of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; I do not this for your sakes, O House of Israel, but for MY HOLY NAME'S SAKE, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went. And I will sanctify My Great Name, which is profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen [all the nations of the earth] SHALL KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes." (Ezek.36:22-23)

"Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways [repent, and believe], O House of Israel." (Ezek.36:31-32)

Answer 3

Ezekiel was writing a polemic to the Jews during the Babylonian Exile, protesting against the polytheism that had been practised by the people before they were taken from their homes and scattered abroad. Ezekiel 36:17-18 is a strongly worded polemic that compared their former religious practices to prostitution; in verse 19 he tells them that their conquest and exile was God's punishment for not following the religion of Ezekiel, and verse 20 berates the Israelites for continuing to worship their gods even after they were scattered in heathen lands. But, Ezekiel says, God was forgiving and would return the people to their homeland. In return, the people would loathe their former 'abominations'.

Sharon Moughtin-Mumby (Sexual and Marital Metaphors in Hosea, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel) says that many are adamant that Ezekiel chapters 16 and 23 should be exposed as pornography. She finds the undercurrent of warranted sexual violence and the depiction of the female as a necessary polluting force to be most chilling, and suggests Ezekiel 16's assumption that sexual violence can be a means towards healing a broken relationship to be particularly disturbing.

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Answer 4

meaning God is always with us even when we thinks he's not