A PROPHECY ON THE MOUNTAINS OF ISRAEL In the last chapter, the prophet Ezekiel prophesied against Seir, as a representative of the devil that opposes God in His people. Here, he talks about God’s care for His people, and His zeal for them against the devil who intends to destroy them. This divine zeal is based on an integral reform, and a renewal of human nature; so God would be sanctified in their life. 1- God’s zeal for His mountain 1-15. 2- Reform after chastening them 16-21. 3- An integral reform 22-38. 1- GOD’S ZEAL FOR HIS MOUNTAIN In this chapter God reveals a new cause for his intercession to reform His people; that is His zeal for His holy name that was insulted by the nations, who assumed that God is weak, because of the chastisements that have befallen His people. They rejoiced for the desolation of His people, said wrong things about His holy name, and infiltrated into the land of inheritance to be theirs instead of the people of God; God says: “Because the enemy has said of you, ‘Aha! The ancient heights have become our possession’” (Ez 36:2). They rejoiced for their affliction and benefited from it. That is why God arose to save His people “in His burning jealousy” (Ez 36:5); Beholding the mountains, hills, rivers, valleys, the desolate wastes, and the cities that have been forsaken, which became plunder and mockery to the rest of the nations all around; and says: “Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy and My fury, because you have borne the shame of the nations... Therefore thus says the Lord, ‘I have lifted My hand in an oath that surely the nations that are around you shall bear their own shame” (Ez 36:6, 7). What are those mountains, but the prophets; the hills, but the priests; the rivers, but the preachers; and the valleys, but the weak souls. As to the desolate wastes and the cities that have been forsaken, these are the people who perished because of the wickedness and negligence of their shepherds. He addresses the shepherds and the flock; the priests and the people; the elite and the despised; those steady as the mountains, and those collapsed as the desolate cities... He addresses them all, proclaiming that He will intercede to reform them; not for their own sake, but for the sake of the fury of His zeal, and because of the reproaches of the nations against Him and them! He lifted His hand (Ez 36:7) to speak against the nations; as though proclaiming an oath; as it was the custom of the Jews in those days, when making an oath, to lift their hands. He confirms with an oath that he will intercede to reform them by His flaring zeal. In that, He is not oppressing the nations; but paying them back for what they did; “to bear their own shame” (Ez 36:7). What they did to others, would come back on them; they would drink the same cup that they set for others. The Lord then beholds the holy mountains, as though looking at His Church, to proclaim that He will offer them a new possibility of fruition; so that when His people return, they will find the mountains cultivated and fruitful; the cities inhabited, the ruins rebuilt (Ez 36:10); and the mountains full of men and beasts (Ez 36:12). Amazing is God in His love for man; offering him the possibility of return, not to what he used to be before the fall and captivity; but to a better situation; saying: “I will 5 make you inhabited as in former times, and do better for you than at your beginnings. Then you shall know that I am the Lord” (Ez 36:11). That was what the Lord Christ did with us: He presented to us the holy mountains (the Church), cultivated and set for inhabiting, not as the old lost Paradise, but far better and greater; to enter into the holy mountains, not to find the tree of life, but to find Christ Himself the Life-giver. Instead of the rivers, we shall find the fountains of the Holy Spirit flooding with divine graces. And instead of the desolation and destruction that have befallen us, our heart would be filled with the eternal kingdom of God. In the era of grace, man did not only return to his original state before his fall, but became a son of God the Father, a member in the body of the Lord Christ, and a holy temple for the Holy Spirit. What glory is greater than this?! Our state now - in Christ Jesus - became better than our beginnings! What does God do to His holy mountain? “I will multiply men upon you... I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bear young. I will make you inhabited... Yes, I will cause men to walk on you, My people Israel; they shall take possession of you, and you shall be their inheritance; no more shall you bereave them of their children” (Ez 36:10-12). He will multiply the people in His Church - His holy mountain - He will bring them over from east and west, from every nation and of every tongue. He will multiply men and beasts and will make them fruitful. He will not only bring them from all over the world to His mountain, but He will bless every single one of them; will bless every one’s soul (man), and his body (symbolized by the beast), will multiply them and make them fruitful; as the soul, as well as the body will bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit. There will be no more animosity between man and animal; between the soul and the body; but they will dwell together as though in Paradise; working in harmony under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. He says that people will walk on the mountains; as they enter as the people of God into the Church; will become in a persistent and continuous motion until they inherit the holy mountain; and death will no more approach them! They will enter into the eternal Church - the divine inheritance - where there are neither death nor suffering or affliction. 2- REFORM AFTER CHASTENING THEM The prophet was inquiring: If You are going to turn the people to a better condition than what they used to be; if the desolate cities will be inhabited, and the ruins will be rebuilt; why have you allowed all that desolation and destruction? The divine response came to proclaim that what God did, was to chasten the people because of their wickedness; so that if they did fall under chastisement, and the nations reproached them, God, by His divine jealousy would turn them to a condition better than they used to be. Although their ways and deeds were so defiled like the uncleanness of a woman in her customary impurity, they committed abominations, bloodshed and became the cause of blasphemy on His holy name. However, having chastened them, He again started to have compassion on them for the sake of His holy name. 3- AN INTEGRAL REFORM Having talked about His zeal for reform, He started to talk about the goals and ways of this reform; commanding the prophet to say to the house of Israel, “‘Thus says the Lord: ‘I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel... but for My holy name’s 6 sake... and the nations shall know that I am the Lord,’ says the Lord God, ‘when I am hallowed in you before their eye’s” (Ez 36:22, 23). What does the Lord mean by that? Does He work for our salvation and reform, only for His holy name’s sake, and not for our sake? Does that involve selfishness? Does He care for His holy name, and not for us? Impossible! But saying “Not for your sake,” does not mean that He does not care for us, but He is not doing it for our worthiness, nor through our possibilities. But He works in us for the sake of His holy name, and by His possibilities as the Holy One. He so loves us to make us the subject of “glorifying His holy name.” He transfigures by His holiness in us; the way a father rejoices for the success of his children, as though it is his own success; and counts them as worthy of his fatherhood. God is lifting us up from the spirit of servitude, to the spirit of sonhood, that is capable of proclaiming clearly the glory of God the Father; or setting us as a holy body, that reveals through its wise behavior, the wisdom of its head. His care for proclaiming the sanctity of His name in us , reveals in itself, His love for us. The ways of that integral reform are: a- “I will take you from among the nations. Gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land” (Ez 36:24). It is a call to establish one holy people, gathered from all lands; namely, from all countries, tongues, and peoples; to bring them into their own land; namely, to the Church that is theirs. This is the call of the Lord Christ to all humanity, to gather together in Him, to become His holy body; to rest in Him as though in its own land or home. b- If God, for the sake of bloodshed, and the abominations of idolatry, appeared as though weak before the nations; delivering His people to Babylon. In order to have His name glorified; and His power revealed, the need is not just to bring them back to their land, but rather to forgive their sins by His precious blood, shed for their sake; that they enjoy through the holy water of Baptism. “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols” (Ez 36:25). Through the forgiveness of their sins, they will have the right to return to their cities, and to rebuild their ruins. So says the Lord God: “On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will also enable you to dwell in the cities, and the ruins shall be rebuilt. The desolate land shall be tilted instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass by” (Ez 36:33, 34). That is the work of the holy water; Barnabas says: [Indeed we descend into the water, while full of iniquities and defilements; then ascend from it, bearing fruition in our hearts; bearing in our spirits the fear of God, and the hope in Jesus Christ1.] And St. Clement of Alexandria says: [Baptism cleanses us from every blemish; makes us a holy temple of God; and brings us back to the fellowship of the divine nature, by the Holy Spirit2.] c- Purification in the holy water, does not stop at cleansing us from our old sins, and uprooting every blemish in us; but extends to replacing our corrupt nature, with a new one that suits the new life in the new land: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh” (Ez 36:26). That new heart and new spirit, would be realized through being 1 Epis. of Barnabas, 11. 2 In Lucam 22:8. 7 granted the new spiritual birth in the holy water of Baptism. St. Cyprian says: [It is in the water of Baptism, that the old man dies, and the new man is born; according to the apostle Paul’s confirmation, that “He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5)1.] d- By being granted the forgiveness, and having enjoyed the new heart through the Holy Spirit in the water of Baptism, we get prepared to accept the Holy Spirit in us through the sacrament of Chrismation (the Mayron). This is the sign of the New Testament; the gift given to us by the Lord Christ - the gift of His Spirit; saying: “I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them” (Ez 36:27) This is the new possibility to walk in God’s statutes, in keeping His judgments and doing them. It is the possibility of His Holy Spirit, that He granted to us within us. That is why the prophets concentrated on this gift. Of their sayings: “I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live” (Ez 37:14); “I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel” (Ez 39:29). “For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants” (Is 44:3). (The work of the Holy Spirit in us is like that of the water to the thirsty, and of the flood to the dry ground). “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; Your old men shall dream dreams; Your young men shall see visions; And also on My menservants and on My maidservants, I will pour out My Spirit in those days” (Joel 2:28, 29). e- Always remembering our weaknesses; saying: “Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations” (Ez 36:31). If God granted us the forgiveness of our sins in the worthiness of His blood; gave us a new nature; and presented to us His Spirit to dwell in us; Yet amid our rejoicing for His great deeds to us, and our continuous hope in Him; we should always remember our weaknesses; in order to rebuke our souls, and warn ourselves lest we fall; according to the words of the repentant Psalmist: “My sin is ever before me” (Ps 51:3). As though we are the paralyzed who, after being healed and risen from his bed; was committed to carry his own bed, in order to remember his weakness. Yet, in remembering our iniquities, we should act with the spirit of discernment; we should not recall their details, so as not to get offended by their memory; and we should not also remember them with the spirit of despair, and lose our joy in salvation. St. Penophius often spoke of this issue, warning us, lest remembering our iniquities may suffocate our souls through their abominable odors2. f- Persistent growth: Through remembering our own weaknesses, we come to believe in Him, who persistently works in us, to bring us to perfection. Feeling our weakness may destroy our souls; but our faith in Him, who persistently works in us, will cause us to grow; That is why God goes on to say: “I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places, and planted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken it, and I will do it” (Ez 36:36); and “I will increase their men like flock; like a flock offered as holy sacrifices; like the flock of Jerusalem on its feast days; so that the ruined cities be filled with flocks 1 Epist. 74:5. .137- 2 ا رجع المؤلف : تلمذتي لأب اعت ا رفي، 1974 ، ص 127 8 of men” (Ez 36:37, 38). He works in us to fill our inner Jerusalem with increasing fruition; and to set us forth from glory to glory, to bring us into His perfection. 9 AN INSPIRATION FROM THE BOOK OF E ZEKIEL 36 SET ME AS A HOLY MOUNTAIN FOR YOU! Set me, O Lord, as a holy mountain for You! Make me steady like mountains; So that the devil would not be able to move me! Send Your Holy Spirit as rain on me; To transform me into a fruitful Paradise. Carrying in me Your cross; That is the tree of eternal life. You increase men and beasts; You bless my rational soul; You sanctify my body; to bear no more the animal nature! Your Holy Spirit renews my nature, to live eternally! How rich is Your grace! How great is the flood of Your compassion! You forgive my iniquities and rebellion; You uproot my abominations, and grant me the holy life! As for me, I will always remember my weakness; And will admit Your favor on me! O Lord, set me a holy mountain for You!
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