Ezekiel 37, Dry Bones and David

Ezekiel continues to speak on the transformation of Israel's heart. Mackie covers this chapter in session 21 and session 22 of the Bible Project class. Mackie considers this chapter the second and third of three parallel statements about the coming Holy Spirit. (The first portion was 36:16-38. The second and third parts are below in verses 1-14 and 15-28.)

Ezekiel 37:1-6, A valley of dry bones

The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 

He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" 

I said, "O  Sovereign LORD, you alone know."

Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, `Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!  This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: 

I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.'"  

Ezekiel is brought to a valley full of bones, dry bones that had been exposed to the elements for some time. He is told to command the bones to come to life.

Ezekiel 37:7-9, Bones rattle

So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.   

Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, `This is what the Sovereign LORD says: 

Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.'"   

This is a dramatic vision. Ezekiel commands the bones to come to life and they do, first coming together with a noisy rattling sound and then adding tendons and flesh. Ezekiel is then told to command breath to come into those bones. The breath is to come from the "four winds", the four corners of the earth, probably representing full breath.

The Hebrew word for "Spirit" in verse 1 is ruah. This word plays triple duty in this passage; it is also the word translated "breath" throughout verses 5 to 9 and "wind" in verse 9.

Ezekiel 37:10, Bones stand up

So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet--a vast army.   

The bones come to life and become people, a "vast army."

Ezekiel 37:11-14, The metaphor explained

Then he said to me: "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, `Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.'   

Therefore prophesy and say to them: `This is what the Sovereign LORD says: 

O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.'"   

The vision is explained. The people of Israel have given up. They say that their bones are dried up and that all is lost. But, says YHWH, He will open their graves and bring them out, with His Spirit representing their renewed breath and the nation will be restored.

Ezekiel 37:15-23, Two sticks united

The word of the LORD came to me: 

"Son of man, take a stick of wood and write on it, `Belonging to Judah and the Israelites associated with him.' Then take another stick of wood, and write on it, `Ephraim's stick, belonging to Joseph and all the house of Israel associated with him.' Join them together into one stick so that they will become one in your hand.

"When your countrymen ask you, `Won't you tell us what you mean by this?' say to them, `This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am going to take the stick of Joseph--which is in Ephraim's hand--and of the Israelite tribes associated with him, and join it to Judah's stick, making them a single stick of wood, and they will become one in my hand.' 

Hold before their eyes the sticks you have written on and say to them, `This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land.   

I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two  kingdoms. They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God.   

Ezekiel takes two sticks and on one writes the name of the northern kingdom and on the other the name of the southern kingdom. They are then brought together to represent a future uniting of the two kingdoms into one Israel.

Ezekiel 37:24-28, David returns

"`My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever.

 

I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. Then the nations will know that I the LORD make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.'"  

Not only will the two kingdoms be united, but their new king will be David! The pepole will live naturally in the land in a covenant of peace. The numbers in that prosperous kingdom will increase.

This is an impressive ending to the promise of a new covenant and new nation.