They defiled it. — In Ezekiel 36:17-20 the sin of Israel in the past is set forth as the reason of their present condition. “The land” is always regarded in Scripture as peculiarly consecrated to God, and defiled by the sin of the people. (Comp. Leviticus 18:28; Numbers 35:34.) The comparison is with a woman who has been set apart for uncleanness (Leviticus 15:19), who until her purification was not allowed to come into the sanctuary.
Related Commentaries of Ezekiel 36:17
Ezekiel 36:17
17 Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings: their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman.