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Israel's Regathering and Refining

In the twelfth year of the exile a fugitive reached Ezekiel in Babylon with four words of news: "The city has been struck down" (Ezekiel 33:21, ESV). Jerusalem had fallen. The exiles said what anyone would say: "Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off" (Ezekiel 37:11, ESV). God answered them: "I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel" (37:12, ESV).

In one sentence: For His name's sake God gathers Israel to her land, then refines a remnant through the time of distress for Jacob until they mourn for Jesus, the one they pierced, and are cleansed.

Key Takeaways

(This section follows the Key Takeaways format — see that page for what each part is for.)

Types & Prophecy

  • Gathering, then cleansing. Ezekiel 36:24-27 is a direct prediction with an order in it: God brings Israel into her own land (v. 24), then sprinkles clean water, gives a new heart and puts His Spirit within (vv. 25-27).
  • The struck shepherd. "Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered" (Zechariah 13:7, ESV). Jesus quoted it of Himself on the night He was arrested (Matthew 26:31).
  • The pierced one. Zechariah 12:10 foresees Jerusalem looking "on me, on him whom they have pierced." John reads the cross as its fulfilment (John 19:37), and Revelation places the nations' mourning at His return (Revelation 1:7).

Lessons about Jesus

  • Jesus is the shepherd God struck. Zechariah calls Him "the man who stands next to me" (Zechariah 13:7, ESV), and the refining of the remnant follows His striking.
  • Jesus is the one Israel will look on. The mourning of Zechariah 12:10 is grief for Him, "as one mourns for an only child" (ESV).
  • Jesus is most likely the Deliverer from Zion who banishes ungodliness from Jacob (Romans 11:26). The ESV Study Bible says the phrase "probably refers to Christ" (note on 11:26).

Memory verses

✝️ Ezekiel 36:26 (ESV)

26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

✝️ Zechariah 13:9 (ESV)

9 And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, 'They are my people'; and they will say, 'The LORD is my God.'

Be Transformed

  • Think. God saves for the sake of His own name: "It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act" (Ezekiel 36:22, ESV). Your salvation rests on the same grace, and it holds for the same reason.
  • Attitude. Hold the promises firmly and the dates loosely. Jesus left the promise to Israel standing and kept the calendar with the Father (Acts 1:6-7).
  • Do. Name one Jewish friend, neighbour or colleague, and pray this week that God will pour out on them "a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy" (Zechariah 12:10, ESV).

Prayer

Father, You keep Your word when Your people cannot keep theirs. Thank You that You acted for the sake of Your holy name, and that You gave Your Son Jesus, the shepherd who was struck and the one who was pierced. Pour out Your Spirit of grace on Israel, as You promised, and bring her to look on Him and mourn and be cleansed. Refine me too, as silver is refined, until I call on Your name and hear You say that I am Yours.

In Jesus' name. Amen.

Study outline

Where these promises were spoken

Ezekiel, after the fall

Ezekiel was a priest living among the Judean exiles in Babylon. His oracles are dated from the summer of 593 BC to April 571 BC, and the book turns on the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC: chapters 1-25 come before the fall, chapters 33-48 after it (ESV Study Bible, introduction to Ezekiel). The news reaches him in 33:21, and the promises of restoration follow.

So Ezekiel 36 was spoken to people with no city, no temple and no reason in themselves to expect either back. God says so plainly: "It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came" (Ezekiel 36:22, ESV). He repeats it at the far end of the passage (36:32). The purpose is stated between them: "the nations will know that I am the LORD ... when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes" (36:23, ESV).

This shows that God restores Israel by grace. He acts for His own name, and so the restoration rests on His character.

Zechariah, after the first return

Zechariah was also a priest. He came back from Babylon with Zerubbabel in about 538 BC, and his dated ministry opens "in the second year of Darius" (Zechariah 1:1, ESV), 520 BC (ESV Study Bible, introduction to Zechariah). Chapters 9-14 may come from later in his life, perhaps the fifth century BC.

Zechariah prophesies after a return has already happened, and he still promises a gathering: "I will bring them home from the land of Egypt, and gather them from Assyria" (10:10, ESV; see 10:8). He names "the house of Joseph" and Ephraim (10:6-7, ESV), the northern tribes, whom the return from Babylon did not bring home; Ezra's later journey was also from Babylonia (Ezra 7:6). The return from Babylon did not exhaust the promise, and the ESV Study Bible says the same of Ezekiel 36 (note on 36:22-32).

The prophets, and the order they give

Gathered first, cleansed after

The regathering promises are specific, and one of them states a sequence.

✝️ Ezekiel 36:24-28 (ESV)

24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

Gathering comes first (v. 24). Cleansing, the new heart and the Spirit come after (vv. 25-27). So a return to the land before national cleansing fits this prophecy's order. The new heart of verse 26 is regeneration, and God names Himself as the one who does it.

Amos promises a final planting from which Israel is "never again" uprooted (Amos 9:15, ESV), and Isaiah a recovery "a second time" (Isaiah 11:11, ESV).

One nation, in the land

Ezekiel says what the regathering is for, and it is national.

✝️ Ezekiel 37:21-22 (ESV)

21 then say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land. 22 And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms.

One nation, in the land, under one king. The two sticks of 37:15-20 become one in God's hand, and the wound healed is the division between Ephraim and Judah, the northern and southern kingdoms. The passage keeps Israel as Israel, a people with a land and a king.

Not My People, reversed

God names Hosea's son Lo-Ammi, "Not My People" (Hosea 1:9), and reverses it in the next breath: "in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' it shall be said to them, 'Children of the living God'" (Hosea 1:10, ESV). Paul quotes that reversal at Romans 9:25-26 and applies it to those God has called "not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles" (Romans 9:24, ESV). He applies Hosea's pattern to Gentiles and leaves Hosea's promise with Israel, as The Wife of the Lamb sets out.

"After this": James at the Jerusalem council

James read the sequence the same way at the Jerusalem council:

✝️ Acts 15:14-16 (ESV)

14 Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. 15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written, 16 "'After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it,

On one reading, Gentiles are gathered first for God's name and after this the fallen tent of David is rebuilt. That reading is contested, among premillennial writers too. "After this" is James's wording for Amos's "In that day" (Amos 9:11, ESV), and Stanley Toussaint says a third view "may be more plausible": James is saying Gentiles will be saved in the kingdom, when Christ returns and restores Israel, after the tribulation of Amos 9:8-10 (Bible Knowledge Commentary, on Acts 15:16-18). On either reading the council that settled Gentile inclusion left David's house standing in the prophets' future.

This shows that God keeps covenant with the nation He chose. He gathers the people He scattered, makes them one, and gives them a new heart by His Spirit. Israel and the Church sets out how Romans 9-11 holds Israel and the church together without merging them.

The tribulation, and what it is for

Distress that brings Israel home

For Israel, God uses the coming distress to bring the nation to her Messiah.

Moses said so before the nation had entered the land: "When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the LORD your God … He will not … forget the covenant with your fathers" (Deuteronomy 4:30-31, ESV). Hosea gives God's side of the same arrangement: "I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me" (Hosea 5:15, ESV). Distress is the instrument; seeking His face is the object.

A time of distress for Jacob

Jeremiah names the period from Israel's side: "it is a time of distress for Jacob; yet he shall be saved out of it" (Jeremiah 30:7, ESV). Jacob goes through it and is saved out of it, and Daniel 12:1 promises the same deliverance. Ezekiel supplies the mechanism, a second Exodus: God brings the nation "into the wilderness of the peoples," judges it there and brings it "into the bond of the covenant" (Ezekiel 20:34-37, ESV). Then: "I will purge out the rebels from among you ... they shall not enter the land of Israel" (Ezekiel 20:38, ESV). The purge comes before the final entry.

The shepherd struck, the remnant refined

Zechariah gives the proportions and the outcome, and he sets them straight after the striking of the shepherd: "Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered" (Zechariah 13:7, ESV).

✝️ Zechariah 13:8-9 (ESV)

8 In the whole land, declares the LORD, two thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one third shall be left alive. 9 And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, 'They are my people'; and they will say, 'The LORD is my God.'

"Refine" is צָרַף (tsaraph, H6884; "tsah-RAF"), which the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament glosses "smelt" (TWOT 1972). A smelter heats ore to draw the metal out of it, and he does it to metal he intends to keep. The covenant formula closes the verse, they are my people, the LORD is my God, spoken over the refined remnant of Israel itself.

When the refining happens is contested. Jesus applied 13:7 to His own arrest (Matthew 26:31), so some readers place the scattering and refining of 13:8-9 in the first century, in the years leading to AD 70. Others, this study among them, read 13:8-9 with Jeremiah 30:7 and Daniel 12:1 as the time of distress for Jacob still ahead, in Daniel's seventieth week. Two things favour the second reading: the covenant formula spoken over a whole refined remnant, and chapter 14's setting in "the day of the Lord" (ESV Study Bible, note on 12:1-14:21). F. Duane Lindsey holds both, near and far: the passage "probably will see its final and complete fulfillment in Israel's dispersion in the Tribulation" (Bible Knowledge Commentary, on Zechariah 13:8-9). All the readings agree on what the refining is for.

The one they pierced

Zechariah 12:10 supplies what finally turns Israel to the LORD:

✝️ Zechariah 12:10 (ESV)

10 "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.

"Pierced" is דָּקַר (daqar, H1856; "dah-KAR"), a thrust with sword or spear (Numbers 25:8; 1 Samuel 31:4; Zechariah 13:3).

Who the pierced one is

The speaker is the LORD, and the Hebrew reads "they will look to me" (אֵלַי, elay), then "they will mourn over him." The identity of the pierced one is "difficult to discern"; if "on me" is defined by "whom they have pierced," the reference is to God Himself, perhaps as the shepherd struck in 13:7 (ESV Study Bible, note on 12:10-14). John settles it for the reader of the New Testament. He records the spear going into Jesus' side and an eyewitness to it (John 19:34-35), and writes, "They will look on him whom they have pierced" (John 19:37, ESV). Revelation places the looking at Jesus' return: "every eye will see him, even those who pierced him" (Revelation 1:7, ESV).

The mourning leads to cleansing: "On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness" (Zechariah 13:1, ESV). That is Ezekiel's order again. Gathered to Jerusalem, then cleansed.

This shows that God refines the people He keeps, and turns them by His Spirit to His Son Jesus. The tribulation is how He finishes His dealings with Israel.

About 1948

The modern State of Israel sits in this framework as a candidate stage. What follows separates what Scripture promises from the judgement of fitting a modern event to it.

What the prophets require

Ezekiel's order puts a regathering to the land before national cleansing (Ezekiel 36:24-27), and Zechariah and Isaiah promise a gathering beyond the return from Babylon (Zechariah 10:8-10; Isaiah 11:11). On the dispensational reading those promises reach their full form after the seventieth week: the Bible Knowledge Commentary's "Outline of End-Time Events," printed with its Ezekiel commentary, places Ezekiel 36:24, 37:1-14, Isaiah 11:11 and Amos 9:14-15, the "Final regathering of Israel," among the events after the seven-year period. The text that puts Israel in the land while that week runs is Ezekiel 38:8: "in the latter years" a land "whose people were gathered from many peoples upon the mountains of Israel … and now dwell securely" (ESV), which the same outline places in the first half of the seven years. Jesus' warning on the Mount of Olives, read of its far fulfilment, requires the same: people in Judea, a holy place, a Sabbath to flee on (Matthew 24:15-20). So Scripture expects a people back in the land while the seven years run, and the final planting (Amos 9:15) after them.

What no text supplies

A year. Scripture gives no date for this and no marker by which to identify a particular political event as its fulfilment. Jesus was asked a version of exactly this question: "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" He answered the timing and left the premise standing: "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority" (Acts 1:6-7, ESV). He corrected when, and let whether stand.

How the views divide

Many dispensational interpreters see 1948 as the opening of the regathering in unbelief that Ezekiel 36 and 37 describe, with cleansing still to come. Rome emptied Jerusalem of its Jews and rebuilt it as the colony Aelia Capitolina in AD 135 (NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Luke 21:24); a Jewish nation living in that land again fits that shape. The Fig Tree and This Generation and Immediately After reach the same place from the Gospels.

Other interpreters hold that the regathering promises were fulfilled in the return under Cyrus, or that they are fulfilled in the church. The first view has to account for Zechariah promising a gathering after that return had happened. The second reads Israel as the church, which the author of this site does not hold; Israel and the Church gives the reasons from Romans 9-11.

The judgement this site makes: 1948 fits the shape the prophets describe, and calling it a stage toward their fulfilment is defensible. Calling it a dated fulfilment claims more than the text gives. A Day Is a Thousand Years shows that every year-6000 date to arrive so far has passed without the end.

This shows that God keeps the times in His own authority and gives you the promise to live by.

All Israel will be saved

Romans 11:26-27

Paul gathers the prophets into two verses:

✝️ Romans 11:26-27 (ESV)

26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, "The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob"; 27 "and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins."

That is Zechariah 12:10 and 13:1 seen from the far side: the Deliverer coming from Zion, Jacob's ungodliness banished, sins taken away under a covenant God calls His own. It is the new covenant Ezekiel 36:26-27 describes, the new heart and the Spirit within.

Three readings of "all Israel"

Who "all Israel" is, is contested. The ESV Study Bible sets out three readings: the church of Jews and Gentiles through history; a remnant of Jews through history; or the Jewish people at the end of history. It judges the first unlikely, because Israel in 11:25 is ethnic Israel and "they" in 11:28 still stands apart from the Gentiles, judges the third most likely, and takes "all Israel" to mean a very large number of Jews, not every individual (note on 11:26). The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible adds that a significant line of Jewish tradition expected the future salvation of all Israel, meaning Israel as a whole (note on 11:26, citing Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:1). This study reads it the same way, with the prophets above supplying how: a refined remnant, turned by the Spirit to the one they pierced.

This shows that God finishes what He starts with Israel. "The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable" (Romans 11:29, ESV). The same faithfulness holds your salvation, so you may rest on it.

Discussion questions

  1. The language. "Refine" in Zechariah 13:9 is צָרַף (tsaraph), a smelter's word. What does it say about why God puts "this third into the fire"?
  2. The text in its context. Zechariah 10:8-10 promises a gathering after the return from Babylon. How far do the prophets' promises reach?
  3. Christ. Zechariah 12:10 reads "when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced." How do John 19:37 and Revelation 1:7 help you read it?
  4. The hard part. Jesus applied Zechariah 13:7 to His own arrest (Matthew 26:31). When does the refining of Zechariah 13:8-9 happen, read beside Jeremiah 30:7 and Daniel 12:1?
  5. The modern state. Ezekiel 36:24-27 gathers before it cleanses. What should that order lead a Christian to expect of a largely unbelieving Jewish state?
  6. Be transformed. Jesus declined to give the date and left the promise standing (Acts 1:6-7). Where are you tempted to demand the date before you trust the promise?
Group study sheet for a 40-minute group: two A4 sheets, or one with the guided path

The point, the passage, the questions and the response, from this study. Print on both sides of two A4 sheets, flipping on the long edge. While this block is open, printing the page prints the sheet; close it to print the study.

Group study · 40 minutes

Israel's Regathering and Refining

Ezekiel 36:22-28; Zechariah 12:10-13:9

The point For His name's sake God gathers Israel to her land, then refines a remnant through the time of distress for Jacob until they mourn for Jesus, the one they pierced, and are cleansed.

0–5min

Ask: what comes to mind when you hear Israel's Regathering and Refining? Hear a few answers before anyone reads.

5–12minRead it aloud BSB

Ezekiel 36:22-28 22Therefore tell the house of Israel that this is what the Lord GOD says: It is not for your sake that I will act, O house of Israel, but for My holy name, which you profaned among the nations to which you went. 23I will show the holiness of My great name, which has been profaned among the nations—the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when I show My holiness in you before their eyes. 24For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all the countries, and I will bring you back into your own land. 25I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. 26I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances. 28Then you will live in the land that I gave your forefathers; you will be My people, and I will be your God.

Zechariah 12:10-13:9 12:10Then I will pour out on the house of David and on the people of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and prayer, and they will look on Me, the One they have pierced. They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son. 11On that day the wailing in Jerusalem will be as great as the wailing of Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. 12The land will mourn, each clan on its own: the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives, 13the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives, 14and all the remaining clans and their wives.’’ 13:1“On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the people of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity. 2And on that day, declares the LORD of Hosts, I will erase the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered. I will also remove the prophets and the spirit of impurity from the land. 3And if anyone still prophesies, his father and mother who bore him will say to him, ‘You shall not remain alive, because you have spoken falsely in the name of the LORD.’ When he prophesies, his father and mother who bore him will pierce him through. 4And on that day every prophet who prophesies will be ashamed of his vision, and he will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive.

Also read: Zechariah 12:10-13:9 from 13:5

12–25minLook closer
What does it say?
What did it mean to them?
What does it mean for us?
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Israel's Regathering and Refining

The study in brief
  1. Where these promises were spoken. Ezekiel among the exiles after Jerusalem fell; Zechariah after the first return.
  2. The prophets, and the order they give. Ezekiel 36-37, Hosea and Acts 15: gathered first, cleansed after, one nation.
  3. The tribulation, and what it is for. Moses to Zechariah: distress that brings Israel to her Messiah, the pierced one.
  4. About 1948. What the prophets require, what no text supplies, and how to hold the modern state.
  5. All Israel will be saved. Romans 11:26-27, and who "all Israel" is.
  6. Annex: Paul's quotation in Romans 11:26. Why Paul's "from Zion" matches neither Isaiah 59:20 text, and where it comes from.
Notes
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Israel's Regathering and Refining

12–17minStep 1 · Where these promises were spoken

1The modern state. Ezekiel 36:24-27 gathers before it cleanses. What should that order lead a Christian to expect of a largely unbelieving Jewish state?

Step 2 · The prophets, and the order they give
17–30minStep 3 · The tribulation, and what it is for

2The language. "Refine" in Zechariah 13:9 is צָרַף (tsaraph), a smelter's word. What does it say about why God puts "this third into the fire"?

3Christ. Zechariah 12:10 reads "when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced." How do John 19:37 and Revelation 1:7 help you read it?

4The hard part. Jesus applied Zechariah 13:7 to His own arrest (Matthew 26:31). When does the refining of Zechariah 13:8-9 happen, read beside Jeremiah 30:7 and Daniel 12:1?

30–35minStep 4 · About 1948

5The text in its context. Zechariah 10:8-10 promises a gathering after the return from Babylon. How far do the prophets' promises reach?

Step 5 · All Israel will be saved
Step 6 · Annex: Paul's quotation in Romans 11:26
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Israel's Regathering and Refining

35–40minBe transformed

6Be transformed. Jesus declined to give the date and left the promise standing (Acts 1:6-7). Where are you tempted to demand the date before you trust the promise?

  • Think. God saves for the sake of His own name: "It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act" (Ezekiel 36:22, ESV). Your salvation rests on the same grace, and it holds for the same reason.
  • Attitude. Hold the promises firmly and the dates loosely. Jesus left the promise to Israel standing and kept the calendar with the Father (Acts 1:6-7).
  • Do. Name one Jewish friend, neighbour or colleague, and pray this week that God will pour out on them "a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy" (Zechariah 12:10, ESV).
Memory verse

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

Ezekiel 36:26 (ESV)
Pray together

Father, You keep Your word when Your people cannot keep theirs. Thank You that You acted for the sake of Your holy name, and that You gave Your Son Jesus, the shepherd who was struck and the one who was pierced. Pour out Your Spirit of grace on Israel, as You promised, and bring her to look on Him and mourn and be cleansed. Refine me too, as silver is refined, until I call on Your name and hear You say that I am Yours.

In Jesus' name. Amen.

Notes
The whole study, with every verse a tap awayhttps://the-way.lewy.au/israel-and-church/israels-regathering-and-refining/
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Group study · step by step

Israel's Regathering and Refining

Ezekiel 36:22-28; Zechariah 12:10-13:9

Open Ask: what comes to mind when you hear Israel's Regathering and Refining? Hear a few answers before anyone reads.

Read it aloud Ezekiel 36:22-28; Zechariah 12:10-13:9

Step 1Where these promises were spoken — Ezekiel among the exiles after Jerusalem fell; Zechariah after the first return.

1The modern state. Ezekiel 36:24-27 gathers before it cleanses. What should that order lead a Christian to expect of a largely unbelieving Jewish state?

Step 2The prophets, and the order they give — Ezekiel 36-37, Hosea and Acts 15: gathered first, cleansed after, one nation.
Step 3The tribulation, and what it is for — Moses to Zechariah: distress that brings Israel to her Messiah, the pierced one.Key verses: Zechariah 13:8-9; Zechariah 12:10

2The language. "Refine" in Zechariah 13:9 is צָרַף (tsaraph), a smelter's word. What does it say about why God puts "this third into the fire"?

3Christ. Zechariah 12:10 reads "when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced." How do John 19:37 and Revelation 1:7 help you read it?

4The hard part. Jesus applied Zechariah 13:7 to His own arrest (Matthew 26:31). When does the refining of Zechariah 13:8-9 happen, read beside Jeremiah 30:7 and Daniel 12:1?

Step 4About 1948 — What the prophets require, what no text supplies, and how to hold the modern state.

5The text in its context. Zechariah 10:8-10 promises a gathering after the return from Babylon. How far do the prophets' promises reach?

Step 5All Israel will be saved — Romans 11:26-27, and who "all Israel" is.
Step 6Annex: Paul's quotation in Romans 11:26 — Why Paul's "from Zion" matches neither Isaiah 59:20 text, and where it comes from.
Be transformed

6Be transformed. Jesus declined to give the date and left the promise standing (Acts 1:6-7). Where are you tempted to demand the date before you trust the promise?

  • Think. God saves for the sake of His own name: "It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act" (Ezekiel 36:22, ESV). Your salvation rests on the same grace, and it holds for the same reason.
  • Attitude. Hold the promises firmly and the dates loosely. Jesus left the promise to Israel standing and kept the calendar with the Father (Acts 1:6-7).
  • Do. Name one Jewish friend, neighbour or colleague, and pray this week that God will pour out on them "a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy" (Zechariah 12:10, ESV).
Page 1 of 2 · print double-sided, flip on long edgeScripture: BSB, public domain · ESV® © 2001 Crossway, used by permission

Israel's Regathering and Refining

The point For His name's sake God gathers Israel to her land, then refines a remnant through the time of distress for Jacob until they mourn for Jesus, the one they pierced, and are cleansed.

The whole study, with every verse a tap awayhttps://the-way.lewy.au/israel-and-church/israels-regathering-and-refining/
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Annex: Paul's quotation in Romans 11:26

A reader who looks up Paul's quotation will find a discrepancy. Paul writes ἥξει ἐκ Σιὼν ὁ ῥυόμενος, "the Deliverer will come from Zion." Isaiah 59:20 reads "to Zion" in the Hebrew, and ἥξει ἕνεκεν Σιὼν, "for the sake of Zion," in the Septuagint. Neither gives Paul his preposition. Psalm 14:7 does, in the Hebrew and in the Septuagint, where it is numbered 13:7: Τίς δώσει ἐκ Σιὼν τὸ σωτήριον τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, a verse that also names Jacob and Israel. The NIV and NKJV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bibles suggest Paul "might blend" Isaiah 59:20-21 with Psalm 14:7 ("from Zion") and Isaiah 27:9 ("take away their sins"; only in the Greek version), which is what the wording suggests: the rest of his line follows Isaiah's Greek closely.

  • ESV Study Bible (Crossway) — introductions to Ezekiel and Zechariah; notes on Ezekiel 36:22-32, Zechariah 12:1-14:21, 12:10-14 and 13:7-9, and Romans 11:26. ESV verse text throughout. Quoted briefly with attribution.
  • NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible (Zondervan) — notes on Ezekiel 36:24-27 and Zechariah 12:10-14, 13:8-9.
  • NKJV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible and NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible (Zondervan) — notes on Romans 11:26 and Paul's blending of Isaiah 59:20 with Psalm 14:7.
  • Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament — roots 1972 (tsaraph) and 449 (daqar), from this project's TWOT root map.
  • Original-language data from this project's bible-text.db — MACULA Hebrew (WLC) for צָרַף (tsaraph, H6884) and דָּקַר (daqar, H1856); unfoldingWord interlinear for Zechariah 12:10 and 13:9; SBLGNT and Brenton's Septuagint for Romans 11:26, Isaiah 59:20 and Psalm 13:7 LXX.

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