Two Sticks Made One
15 Yahweh’s word came again to me, saying, 16 “You, son of man, take one stick and write on it, ‘For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions.’ Then take another stick, and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions.’ 17 Then join them for yourself to one another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. 18 “When the children of your people speak to you, saying, ‘Won’t you show us what you mean by these?’ 19 tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his companions; and I will put them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in my hand. 20 The sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes.”’ 21 Say to them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land. 22 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. One king will be king to them all. They will no longer be two nations. They won’t be divided into two kingdoms any more at all. 23 They won’t defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will save them out of all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. So they will be my people, and I will be their God. 24 “‘“My servant David will be king over them. They all will have one shepherd. They will also walk in my ordinances and observe my statutes, and do them. 25 They will dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob my servant, in which your fathers lived. They will dwell therein, they, and their children, and their children’s children, forever. David my servant will be their prince forever. 26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them. It will be an everlasting covenant with them. I will place them, multiply them, and will set my sanctuary among them forever more. 27 My tent also will be with them. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 28 The nations will know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is among them forever more.”’”
A split that had lasted three and a half centuries is healed by holding two pieces of wood until they read as one.
The sign is the simplest in the book. Take a stick and write on it For Judah. Take another and write on it For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim. Then hold them together, so that they may become one in your hand. No fire, no digging, no rationing. A man stands in front of people with two pieces of wood and closes his fist.
The division being addressed was old and looked permanent. The kingdom had split after Solomon. The northern tribes had been deported by Assyria a century and a half before Ezekiel, and their descendants were scattered and mostly untraceable. Judah's exiles had every reason to regard the north as gone. The two sticks are made one in my hand — the hand is named twice, and the joining is not achieved by negotiation between the two parties.
What is promised on the back of the sign runs beyond reunification. One nation, on the mountains of Israel, with one king over them all, They will no longer be two nations. The shepherd of chapter 34 returns by name, my servant David, now called both king and prince. And a clause is added that the political history never managed: They won't defile themselves any more with their idols... but I will save them out of all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them.
The last verses move from the nation to the sanctuary, and they are the bridge to the final vision. A covenant of peace, called an everlasting covenant. A sanctuary set among them forever more, and the word repeated three times in three verses. And then a sentence that reaches back past the temple to the tent in the wilderness: My tent also will be with them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
That pairing is the oldest promise in the covenant, and it is what the whole book has been tracking. The glory left the house in chapter 10 because the house had been defiled. Here a sanctuary is promised that will stand in the middle of a cleansed people permanently. The effect on the watching nations is stated as the purpose: The nations will know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is among them forever more.
settled What this mark means