1 You, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, You mountains of Israel, hear the word of Yahweh.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
The "mountains of Israel" are opposed to "Seir," the mount of Edom Ezekiel 35:3.
Prophesy unto the mountains of Israel - This is a part of the preceding prophecy though it chiefly concerns the Jews. In it they are encouraged to expect a glorious restoration, and that none of the evil wishes of their adversaries should take place against them.
Also, thou son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel,.... The land of Judah, which was very mountainous, at least one part of it, called the hill country, Luke 1:39 and now the country being cleared of men through the captivity, and other desolating judgments, there were none but bare mountains to speak unto: or, "prophesy concerning the mountains of Israel" (d); the inhabitants of them, or those that should be restored to them, concerning their future happiness and comfort: some render it, "against the mountains of Israel" (e); but the later prophecies of them are in their favour, and not against them:
and say, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord; concerning the destruction of their enemies, and concerning the temporal blessings that should be bestowed on them.
(d) "de montibus Israelis", Junius & Tremellius, Polanus. (e) "Contra montes Israelis", Vatablus.
Those who put contempt and reproach on God's people, will have them turned on themselves. God promises favour to his Israel. We have no reason to complain, if the more unkind men are, the more kind God is. They shall come again to their own border. It was a type of the heavenly Canaan, of which all God's children are heirs, and into which they all shall be brought together. And when God returns in mercy to a people who return to him in duty, all their grievances will be set right. The full completion of this prophecy must be in some future event.
ISRAEL AVENGED OF HER FOES, AND RESTORED, FIRST TO INWARD HOLINESS, THEN TO OUTWARD PROSPERITY. (Ezekiel. 36:1-38)
mountains of Israel--in contrast to "Mount Seir" of the previous prophecy. They are here personified; Israel's elevation is moral, not merely physical, as Edom's. Her hills are "the everlasting hills" of Jacob's prophecy (Genesis 49:26). "The enemy" (Edom, the singled-out representative of all God's foes), with a shout of exultation, "Aha!" had claimed, as the nearest kinsman of Israel (the brother of their father Esau), his vacated inheritance; as much as to say, the so-called "everlasting" inheritance of Israel and of the "hills," which typified the unmoved perpetuity of it (Psalm 125:1-2), has come to an end, in spite of the promise of God, and has become "ours" (compare Deuteronomy 32:13; Deuteronomy 33:15).
The mountains - The inhabitants being in captivity, speak to the mountains, that is, the land of Judah, and Israel, which was a country full of mountains.
*More commentary available at chapter level.