Ezekiel 20:32-35

The Lord would not allow them to become like the idolaters all around them who served wood and stone. He would be their king, He swore, and bring judgment on them. But He would re-gather them to their land from the distant countries where He had scattered them (cf. Ezekiel 36:14-38; Ezekiel 37:21-23; Deuteronomy 30:1-10; Isaiah 11:11-16; Isaiah 49:17-23; Isaiah 60; Isaiah 61:4-9; Jeremiah 23:1-8; Amos 9:11-15; Zechariah 10:8-12; et al.). The descriptions of God doing this with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm recall the terms used of His liberation of the Israelites from Egypt (Exodus 6:6; Exodus 32:11; cf. Deuteronomy 4:34; Deuteronomy 5:15; Deuteronomy 7:19; Deuteronomy 11:2; Psalms 136:12). A second exodus is in view. He would bring them into another type of wilderness, a wilderness full of people, and there He would personally judge them. This probably refers to the present worldwide dispersion of the Jews that began in A.D. 70 when the Jews had to leave the Promised Land again. [Note: See Louis A. Barbieri Jr., "The Future for Israel in God’s Plan," in Essays in Honor of J. Dwight Pentecost, pp. 163-79, for a concise survey of this large subject.]