Ezekiel 36:22

Ezekiel 36:22. I do not this for your sakes— It cannot be denied, that it became the goodness of the God, to preserve the doctrine of the unity amidst an idolatrous world. But this could not have been effected according to God's plan of governing the moral world, but by a separation of one part from the rest; nor could such a separation be made any otherwise, than by bringing that part under God's peculiar protection. The consequences of which were, great temporal blessings. Now, as some one people must needs be selected for this purpose, it seems most agreeable to our ideas of divine wisdom, which commonly effects many ends by the same means, to make the blessings attendant on such a selection the reward of some high-exalted virtue in the progenitors of the chosen people. The separation was made for the sake of mankind in general; though one people became the honoured instruments, in reward of their fathers' virtues. And this is the language of the Scriptures, especially in this passage, where God promises to restore the Israelites after a short dispersion. "Thus saith the Lord, I do not this for your sakes, but for mine holy name's sake."