Wednesday
Wednesday
God’s Holy Name
It is not for your sake … that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone.
Ezekiel 36:22
There is one particular and distinctive phrase that is repeated by Ezekiel some ninety times like a refrain. It is usually called the “recognition formula” spoken by Yahweh: “Then you [or they] will know that I am the LORD.” It expresses God’s ultimate and overriding desire that he will be recognized—indeed, acknowledged—for who and what he is. Moreover, there are three main situations in which Yahweh desires this, namely when he judges his people, when he saves his people, and when he reaches out beyond Israel to the nations.
Perhaps the most striking example of the first is chapter 6, in which Ezekiel is told to prophesy against the mountains of Israel. Yahweh is about to demolish their high places, to scatter the survivors into exile, to bring his three judgments (sword, famine, and pestilence) upon the idolaters, and to make their whole land desolate. And after each of these four solemn warnings, the same refrain occurs: “They [you (v. 7)] will know that I am the LORD” (vv. 7, 10, 13, 14).
Secondly, the identical formula is used when Yahweh saves his people. Take the vision of dry bones. God promises Israel that he will put his Spirit within them and bring them back to their land, and adds, “Then you … will know that I am the LORD” (37:13). But Ezekiel’s horizons are wider than Israel and embrace the world. So in chapters 25 to 32 Ezekiel addresses Israel’s seven surrounding peoples, and the recognition formula is scattered some twenty times throughout these chapters, sometimes in judgment but also in foreseeing some kind of incorporation into the covenant people of God. Ezekiel has not forgotten God’s promise to Abraham that through his posterity all the nations will be blessed.
Behind the recognition formula is Yahweh’s concern for his holy name, which Israel had profaned in the sight of the nations (36:21). Yahweh acts for the sake of his name, so that it may receive the honor due to it. And we should share his concern. There is no greater motivation for mission.
For further reading: Ezekiel 36:22–32