39:23-29 When the Lord shall have mercy on the whole house of Israel, by converting them to Christianity, and when they shall have borne the shame of being cast off for their sins, then the nations shall learn to know, worship, and serve him. Then Israel also shall know the Lord, as revealed in and by Christ. Past events do not answer to these predictions. The pouring out of the Spirit is a pledge that God's favour will continue. He will hide his face no more from those on whom he has poured out his Spirit. When we pray that God would never cast us from his presence, we must as earnestly pray that, in order thereto, he would never take his Holy Spirit from us.Then shall they know that I am the Lord their God,.... See Gill on Ezekiel 39:22;

which caused them to be led into captivity among the Heathen; for their sins and transgressions: and so the Targum adds,

"because they sinned before me:''

but I have gathered them into their own land; being now penitent for their sins, and believing in the Messiah: and so the Targum,

"and now, because they are converted, I have gathered them, &c.''

and have left none of them any more there; among the Heathen, or in the land of their enemies; everyone shall be returned to the land of Canaan, be they where they will, as when they came out of Egypt: and this is typical of the salvation of God's elect, or mystical Israel; not one of them shall be lost or perish, but all shall be brought to repentance: this again shows, that this prophecy did not respect the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity; since then many were left behind.