Ezekiel 20:40 - Exposition

From the earlier stage of the restoration the prophet passes on to its completion. The people have come to the mountain of the height of Israel ( Micah 4:1 , Micah 4:2 ; Isaiah 2:2 , Isaiah 2:3 ). Ezekiel sees an Israel that shall at last be worthy of its name, the worship of false gods rooted out forever. The all of them points to the breaking down of the old division between Israel and Judah ( Isaiah 11:13 ). Jehovah would accept the "heave offering" (same word as in Exodus 24:1-18 :27; Le Exodus 7:14 , et al .) and other oblations. The fact that Israel itself is said to be the "sweet savour" (Revised Version) which Jehovah accepts suggests a like spiritual interpretation of the other offerings, though the literal meaning was probably dominant in the prophet's own thoughts. The nearest approach to a parallelism in a later age is that presented by Romans 9-11.; but it is noticeable how there St. Paul avoids any words that imply the perpetuation of the temple and its ritual, and confines himself to the spiritual restoration of his brethren according to the flesh. It was given to him to see, what the prophets did not see, that that perpetuation would frustrate the purpose of the restoration; that the temple and its ritual took their places among the things that "were decaying and waxing old," and were ready to vanish away ( Hebrews 8:13 ).