Verses 37-38
“And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and those who transgress against me. I will bring them forth out of the land where they sojourn, but they will not enter into the land of Israel. And you will know that I am Yahweh.”
The passing ‘under the rod’ was picturing the way that the shepherd passed his sheep under his rod as he checked and assessed them (Leviticus 27:32; Jeremiah 33:13). Thus Israel would be assessed and called to account. Then the offer of the covenant will once again be made and they will be able to accept or reject it. And those who reject it, ‘the rebels’, will be purged out. They will not enter into God’s inheritance (contrast Hosea 2:14-15). God’s action on behalf of Israel will only mean blessing for those who truly respond.
Leviticus 27:32 depicts the passing under the rod as resulting in one out of ten being declared ‘holy to Yahweh’. There may here therefore be the expectancy that the faithful will be a small minority, a ‘tenth’. Compare Isaiah 6:13.
‘The bond of the covenant.’ The new covenant would be binding. It was not something that could be entered into lightly. Once they accepted it they would be bound by it.
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