Ezekiel 37 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Ezekiel 37

The Valley of Dry Bones

37:1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley;¹ it was full of bones. 2 And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. 3 And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord GOD, you know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. 5 Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath² to enter you, and you shall live. 6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the LORD.”

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling,³ and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. 14 And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD.”

I Will Be Their God; They Shall Be My People

15 The word of the LORD came to me: 16 “Son of man, take a stick⁴ and write on it, ‘For Judah, and the people of Israel associated with him’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.’ 17 And join them one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. 18 And when your people say to you, ‘Will you not tell us what you mean by these?’ 19 say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am about to take the stick of Joseph (that is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with him. And I will join with it the stick of Judah,⁵ and make them one stick, that they may be one in my hand. 20 When the sticks on which you write are in your hand before their eyes, 21 then say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land. 22 And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. 23 They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings⁶ in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

24 “My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. 25 They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there forever, and David my servant shall be their prince forever. 26 I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land⁷ and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. 27 My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 28 Then the nations will know that I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.”

Footnotes

[1] 37:1 Or plain; also verse 2
[2] 37:5 Or spirit; also verses 6, 9, 10
[3] 37:7 Or an earthquake (compare 3:12, 13)
[4] 37:16 Or one piece of wood; also verses 17, 19, 20
[5] 37:19 Hebrew And I will place them on it, the stick of Judah
[6] 37:23 Many Hebrew manuscripts; other Hebrew manuscripts dwellings
[7] 37:26 Hebrew lacks in their land

Commentary

Continuing the themes of chapters 34 and 36; our God will bring the dead to life; Gen 2.7; John 10.10; 1 Cor 15.45. Ezekiel describes God's future plans for Israel.

v1-2: The vision from God, which Ezekiel saw, and walked through; the prophet truly experiences the word he delivers to the people. It was clear to the prophet that God had revealed these things to him. The vision and the promises given are dramatic and remarkable..

v3-4: The question and the command, "Can these bones live?" They could not earn life, nor make themselves alive, nor choose to become alive; they needed to hear the word of the Lord. The wording emphasizes the reality; the bones are ‘very’ dry.

The Christian likewise speaks the word of God to dead people.

v5-6: God gives breath and life, declaring His character and glory, as in 36.11.

Previously God made Himself known through judgment; here He makes Himself known through the giving of life.

v7-10: Different stages of restoration; yet all achieved by the word of God. The result; an exceedingly great army. The word of God comes with the Spirit (breath) of God, to bring the slain to life. The prophet is involved, speaking at the command of God. Such grace, that Almighty God chooses to use fallible people in His work.

It is notable, too, that the prophet speaks twice, v7, 10. Compare Mark 8. 23-25. Such is the mystery of God. Even the creation of man (Gen 2.7) is a two-stage event.

v11: The explanation; the dead bones are the house of Israel, utterly hopeless; Jer 18.12. It is into this hopeless situation that God speaks life. The impossible is no barrier to the power of God.

v12-13: Graves opened; prefigured in Matt 27.52-53; thus these words were partly fulfilled when Christ died. Ultimately the final fulfilment will also be in Christ.

v14: God will do this, 36.24-28. Ezekiel moves on, to bring further detailed prophecies:

v15-17: The two kingdoms of Judah and Israel reunited. The word translated ‘wood,’ may be ‘writing tablet;’ either way the image is striking. Note that some Israelites were already associated with Judah, for they had moved south during the reigns of Rehoboam and Hezekiah in particular. If death can be reversed, then so can division; nothing is too difficult for the Lord.

Our understanding of the restoration of Israel (as a whole) must take into account this promise.

v18-19: Ezekiel had the task of explaining to the captives in exile, mainly from Judah, perhaps still holding antagonism towards Israel, that God would one day rejoin Judah and Israel. There have been some partial fulfilments of thee words, but the complete re-unification of the nation is yet to come.

v20-22: Explanation and interpretation. God will bring back the children of Israel from wherever they have gone. There will be one nation, with one king; Zech 14.9.

This is a mighty task, and only God could perform it; human schemes to restore the land of Israel to the nation will never work.

v23: The past of idolatry will be truly gone and buried.

v24: See 34.23-24; David the shepherd, the prince, the king. This reflects the huge significance of David in the history of the nation. But such a restoration can only be achieved through the nation submitting to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

v25-28: Everlasting covenant; the restoration will be forever. Rev 21.3; God's tabernacle will be with them. And this glorious work will be a testimony to the nations.