“Thus says the Lord Yahweh, In the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited and the waste places will be built. And the land that was desolate will be tilled, whereas it was a desolation in the sight of all who passed by. And they will say, ‘The land that was desolate has become like the Garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are fenced and inhabited.' Then the nations that are left about you will know that I Yahweh have built the ruined places, and planted that which was desolate. I Yahweh have spoken it and I will do it.”
One significance of this passage is that the nations who had observed the fall of Israel would also observe her rise. This again confirms that there is here a near fulfilment of the prophecy. Note that the cleansing is connected with the restoration. There can be no restoration without cleansing. Then the land and its cities would be restored, and the land be fruitful ‘like the Garden of Eden'. It is an idealistic picture.
But mention of the restoration of the Garden of Eden may also be seen as taking us on to the end of time and the heavenly land. It is there that there will be the tree of life (Revelation 22:2) and no more curse (Revelation 22:3). It is there that the true and better Garden of Eden will flourish.
Note.
There are those who argue that this whole passage refers solely to the end times, and to the Jews as ‘Israel'. They seek a literal fulfilment in the last days. They claim that what is described here was never literally fulfilled as described because they look for fulfilment to the letter. But that claim is two-edged. There is the problem for those who would apply it to the ‘end days' that this, a return and a building of cities and restoration of desolation following exile, is promised to take place AFTER Israel's cleansing, while in the present day the return of the Jews to Palestine and the buidling of their cities has already taken place before Israel is cleansed. Thus we could argue equally that the current return to Israel cannot be in mind here. Nor are cities now fenced. Or are they suggesting that Israel will need to exiled yet again awaiting a further restoration?
These are not problems for a combined interpretation, for it reasonable to accept that there was a purifying of the remnant of Israel before they returned to the land. That was indeed why they were so desirous of returning. But they are a problem for a literal one applied to one situation. Furthermore it is inconceivable that God would speak through Ezekiel to these people in exile and have nothing to say about their own future. We may happily take great chunks of the Old Testament and apply it to what we see from our perspective as the end days, ignoring the past, but to these people Ezekiel was declaring a message of hope for their future and we do him an injustice if we transfer most of what he said to ‘the end days' ignoring all that has gone between.
End of note.