When deep repentance thus takes place, a fountain is opened to cleanse from sin and uncleanness. We all know Cowper’s hymn, based on this verse, notwithstanding we believe the reference here is not to the blood of Christ, shed long ago, which cleanses from sin judicially—that is, as before the throne of God in judgment—but to that “clean water” that God will “sprinkle” upon them, as predicted in Ezekiel 36:2525Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. (Ezekiel 36:25). It was to this verse that our Lord referred, as we believe, when He spoke to Nicodemus of that new birth, which is needful if any are to enter the kingdom of God. It was overlooked by the Jews, so Nicodemus was astonished, at the words of the Lord. As a teacher in Israel, he should have known it, as John 3:1010Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? (John 3:10) indicates; for both “water” and “the Spirit,” of which man needs to be “born,” are mentioned in Ezekiel 36.
At last then there will be a born-again Israel, and as a result of that they will possess a new nature: the unclean spirit will be gone, and the idols and other evil things that once ensnared them will be put away. No more will false prophets appear to deceive. If any should attempt it, their very parents would condemn them to death. Their unreality will be made perfectly manifest, as verse 4 indicates.
Verse 5 begins, “But he shall say. . .” Who is this “he”? Verses 5 and 6 present a difficult problem. Some take them as referring to one of the false prophets, just alluded to: others as reverting to the true Shepherd, referred to in the previous chapter, and again very clearly in verse 7; and with this we are inclined to agree. The true Shepherd took the place of the “Hebrew Servant,” as indicated in the opening verses of Exodus 21, and was pierced among those to whom He came in the spirit of friendship. He took the humble place, and one of suffering, even among men. And there was far deeper suffering beyond this.
Verse 7 predicts that far greater matter. Israel nationally were God’s sheep, and their sins and apostasy had a twofold effect. It stirred up God’s governmental retribution in this world, of which the prophet had much to say; and it also raised the far more serious matter of God’s eternal judgment in the life to come. The true Shepherd was to meet that in such fashion that Jehovah’s sword was to awake against Him. The sword that had been awakened by the persistent sins of the faithless sheep, was to smite not them but the holy Shepherd.
“The Man that is My Fellow”: These words may have been an enigma to the prophet who wrote them, for 1 Peter 1:10-1110Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: 11Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. (1 Peter 1:10‑11) tells us that often the Old Testament prophets had to discover they were saying things, the full meaning of which would only appear in an age to come: the privileged age in which we live. These words are no enigma to us, who can read Romans 1:33Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; (Romans 1:3), and learn that He who became “seed of David according to the flesh” was none other than “His Son Jesus Christ.” When the Son of God assumed Manhood in holiness and perfection, there was indeed a Man that could be called Jehovah’s Fellow. He could take the place of sinful men and allow the judgment sword to awake against Himself.
But the immediate effect of the smiting of the Shepherd would be the scattering of the sheep, on the one hand, but also the turning of God’s hand upon the little ones. The children of Israel had been scattered “because there is no shepherd,” as Ezekiel 34:55And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. (Ezekiel 34:5) says, but since the smiting of the true Shepherd, a far more serious and prolonged scattering has taken place, and yet the “little ones” have not been forgotten, but rather remembered for blessing.
If we turn to Isaiah 1:2525And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin: (Isaiah 1:25), we find the same expression, “I will turn My hand,” and the context there indicates that the turning of His hand means blessing, when for His adversaries there is judgment. If we read the closing chapters of the Gospels and the opening chapters of the Acts, we see God turning His hand in blessing upon the “little ones,” when the great ones among the Jews were pursuing their way in blindness to the hour of their great scattering. The great verse we have been considering has indeed been wondrously fulfilled.
And the two verses that conclude the chapter will be fulfilled with equal exactness in their season; for they refer, we judge, to what God will bring to pass at the end of this age, when He will deal with a people to be found in the land at that time. In Ezekiel 20:34-3834And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out. 35And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face. 36Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God. 37And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant: 38And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the Lord. (Ezekiel 20:34‑38), we learn how God will deal with the people scattered throughout the nations, purging them before He brings them into the land for blessing. Here we learn what He will do to such as may be left “in all the land,” in the last days. Judgment will fall on two-thirds of them, and only a third will come through into blessing. And those blessed will have to pass through the fire of tribulation, which will refine them in a spiritual sense, and bring them at last into vital connection with God. They will truly own Him, and He will own them in blessing.
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