When they said to them. — We are not here to understand that the Israelites profaned God’s name among the heathen in the way spoken of in Romans 2:24, though this also may have been done; but they profaned it by the very fact of their captivity, the consequence of their former sins. The heathen regarded Jehovah as merely the national God of the Israelites, and seeing them dispersed, in distress, and in captivity, concluded that He was unable to protect them. Hence, for the vindication of His name (Ezekiel 36:21-24) God would restore His people to their land.
Related Commentaries of Ezekiel 36:20
Ezekiel 36:20
20 And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the LORD, and are gone forth out of his land.