Ezekiel 39:28-24 - Exposition

And the heathen shall know . The special lesson for them should be not so much teaching concerning God's supremacy over them, or concerning their relation to Israel, as concerning the principles of God's dealings with Israel. They should learn that if Israel had for a season been abandoned to the sword and driven into exile, it was not because of Jehovah's inability to protect them, but because of their wickedness which had caused him to hide his face from them—an expression which in Ezekiel occurs only here and in verse 29, though it is found in the Pentateuch ( Deuteronomy 31:17 , Deuteronomy 31:18 ) and in the older prophets ( Isaiah 8:17 ; Isaiah 54:8 ; Isaiah 57:17 ; Isaiah 64:7 ; Jeremiah 33:5 ).