Hope of restoration

        The exile of the people of Judah into the foreign land of Babylon was seen to be a punishment of the collective disobedience of the people. Jerusalem together with the Temple was totally destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. The exile raised some fundamental questions on the religious lives of the exiled people. Had YHWH abandoned His chosen people? How could the people worship YHWH in a foreign land where the Temple, which was a central part of their worship, was no longer in existence? Would the punishment be extended to their descendants? Would there be any future hope for them?

        Shortly prior to the Babylonian exile, Jeremiah had already advised King Zedekiah to submit to the Babylonians to avoid total destruction of Judah. He told the king, “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are telling you not to serve the king of Babylon, for they are prophesying a lie to you” (Jer 28:14). The teaching of Ezekiel dovetailed that of Jeremiah. He argued that a land could not be saved because of the righteous individuals in it. “Even if Noah, Daniel and Job, these three, were in it, they would save only their own lives by their righteousness, says the Lord God” (Ezek 14:14). Through this, he taught the people that they should no longer try to redeem the land they lost through military means of their kings but should take their own responsibilities to live a righteous life in order to be saved.

        Ezekiel furthered that the people would not be punished for the sins of their ancestors. Reward and punishment would no longer be corporate. Thus the sins and punishments of their earlier kings, notably King Manasseh would not be descended to the people who were exiled to Babylon. On the contrary, everyone would be punished or rewarded for their individual deeds. “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, all of you according to your ways, says the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions; otherwise iniquity will be your ruin” (Ezek 18:30). In this way, the prophet gave new hopes to the exiled people that they should raise their spirits once again to the Lord, “Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit” (Ezek 18:31).

        While Ezekiel urged the people to live a righteous life on the foreign land, he also gave them hope in terms of the re-establishment of a holy nation as they were scattered in a foreign land. The climax of Ezekiel’s theology comes in the section of divine holiness and Israel’s restoration in Ezek 36-16-38. The judgment of the Lord made on His people was a result of their evil deeds, “I poured out my wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for the idols with which they had defiled it. I scattered them among the nations … in accordance with their conduct and their deeds I judged them”. The wicked people had profaned God’s holy name. However, YHWH would renew His unconditional covenant with His people and He would sanctify His great name among the nations, so that “the nations shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God”. He would give the people a new heart, put upon them a new spirit and make them a holy nation. A similar oracle of restoration was also prophesied by Jeremiah: “I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah … I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts … I will be their God, and they shall be my people … I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more” (Jer 31:31-34). The salvation and justification of the people is solely based on God’s grace.

        Ezekiel continued his oracle of restoration with a vision of the dry bones in Ezek 37:1-28. The covenant that YHWH renewed with His people would be realized in two dramatic scenes: a vision of the dry bones restored to full life and a reunion of the twelve tribes of Israel as the one in the days of David. The dry bones represent a dead nation which has been utterly destroyed by Babylon with its bones scattered on the ground. The prophecy is that the almighty God will resurrect the dead body and make it live again on its own land. The second promise is that the two kingdoms, Israel and Judah, would no longer be two and the Lord will unite them into a holy nation in fulfillment of the Davidic Promise, “My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall follow my ordinances and be careful to observe my statues. They shall live in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob … they and their children and their children’s children shall live there forever … Then the nations shall know that I the Lord sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary is among them forevermore” (Ezek. 38: 24-28). Finally, the promises are realized by a vision report of a new and perfect Temple and a perfect city of Jerusalem for the twelve tribes of Israel: "And the name of the city from that time on shall be, The Lord is There” (Ezek 48:35). The glory of the Lord that had departed from Israel has now returned to stay with a holy people in a cultically and morally pure land.