Ezekiel 37 commentary

EZEKIEL 37 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
The Valley of Dry Bones
1 The hand of the Lord was on 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.
BARNES, "The valley - The same word as “the plain” Eze_3:22; Eze_8:4. The “dry
bones” represented the Israelites dispersed abroad, destitute of life national and
spiritual.
CLARKE, "The hand of the Lord was upon me - The prophetic influence was
communicated.
And carried me out in the spirit - Or, And the Lord brought me out in the spirit;
that is, a spiritual vision, in which all these things were doubtless transacted.
The valley which was full of bones - This vision of the dry bones was designed,
first, as an emblem of the then wretched state of the Jews; secondly, of the general
resurrection of the body.
GILL, "The hand of the Lord was upon me,.... The Spirit of the Lord, a powerful
impulse of his upon the prophet; the Targum interprets it a spirit of prophecy; See Gill
on Eze_1:3,
and carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord: out of the place where he was to
another; not really, but visionally, as things appeared to him, and as they were
represented to his mind by the Spirit of God:
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and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones: of men, as
the Targum adds: this valley, Kimchi thinks, was the same by the river Chebar, where
the prophet had his visions at first. R. Jochanan says it was the valley of Dura, and these
the bones of them that were slain by Nebuchadnezzar there, Dan_3:1. Rab says these
were the children of Ephraim, slain by the men of Gath, 1Ch_7:20. Some of the Jewish
Rabbins think there was a real resurrection at this time. R. Eliezer says, the dead Ezekiel
quickened stood upon their feet, sung a song, and died. R. Eliezer, the son of R. Jose the
Galilean, says, they went up into the land of Israel, married wives, and begat sons and
daughters. R. Judah ben Bethira stood upon his feet, and said, I am of their children's
children, and these are the "tephillim" my father's father left me (r); but these are all
fabulous and romantic: others of them understand the whole in a parabolical way: these
bones, and the quickening of them, were an emblem of the restoration of the Jews from
their captivity, who were in a helpless and hopeless condition, as appears from Eze_
37:11, and of the conversion of that people in the latter day, which will be as life from the
dead; and of the revival of the interest and church of Christ, when the slain witnesses
shall rise, and ascend to heaven; and of the resurrection of the dead at the last day; and
may be applied unto and be used to illustrate the quickening of dead sinners, by the
efficacious grace of the Spirit of God.
HENRY 1-3, "Here is, I. The vision of a resurrection from death to life, and it is a
glorious resurrection. This is a thing so utterly unknown to nature, and so contrary to its
principles (a privatione ad habitum non datur regressus - from privation to possession
there is no return), that we could have no thought of it but by the word of the Lord; and
that it is certain by that word that there shall be a general resurrection of the dead some
have urged from this vision, “For” (say they) “otherwise it would not properly be made a
sign for the confirming of their faith in the promise of their deliverance out of Babylon,
as the coming of the Messiah is mentioned for the confirming of their faith touching a
former deliverance,” Isa_7:14. But,
1. Whether it be a confirmation or no, it is without doubt a most lively representation
of a threefold resurrection, besides that which it is primarily intended to be the sign of.
(1.) The resurrection of souls from the death of sin to the life or righteousness, to a holy,
heavenly, spiritual, and divine life, by the power of divine grace going along with the
word of Christ, Joh_5:24, Joh_5:25. (2.) The resurrection of the gospel church, or any
part of it, from an afflicted persecuted state, especially under the yoke of the New
Testament Babylon, to liberty and peace. (3.) The resurrection of the body at the great
day, especially the bodies of believers that shall rise to life eternal.
2. Let us observe the particulars of this vision.
(1.) The deplorable condition of these dead bones. The prophet was made, [1.] to take
an exact view of them. By a prophetic impulse and a divine power he was, in vision,
carried out and set in the midst of a valley, probably that plain spoken of Eze_3:22,
where God then talked with him; and it was full of bones, of dead men's bones, not piled
up on a heap, as in a charnel-house, but scattered upon the face of the ground, as if some
bloody battle had been fought here, and the slain left unburied till all the flesh was
devoured or putrefied, and nothing left but the bones, and those disjointed from one
another and dispersed. He passed by them round about, and he observed not only that
they were very many (for there are multitudes gone to the congregation of the dead), but
that, lo, they were very dry, having been long exposed to the sun and wind. The bones
that have been moistened with marrow (Job_21:24), when they have been any while
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dead, lose all their moisture, and are dry as dust. The body is now fenced with bones
(Job_10:11), but then they will themselves be defenceless. The Jews in Babylon were like
those dead and dry bones, unlikely ever to come together, to be so much as a skeleton,
less likely to be formed into a body, and least of all to be a living body. However, they lay
unburied in the open valley, which encouraged the hopes of their resurrection, as of the
two witnesses, Rev_11:8, Rev_11:9. The bones of Gog and Magog shall be buried (Eze_
39:12, Eze_39:15), for their destruction is final; but the bones of Israel are in the open
valley, under the eye of Heaven, for there is hope in their end. [2.] He was made to own
their case deplorable, and not to be helped by any power less than that of God himself
(Eze_37:3): “Son of man, can these bones live? Is it a thing likely? Cast thou devise how
it should be done? Can thy philosophy reach to put life into dry bones, or thy politics to
restore a captive nation?” “No,” says the prophet, “I know not how it should be done, but
thou knowest.” He does not say, “They cannot live,” lest he should seem to limit the Holy
One of Israel; but, “Lord, thou knowest whether they can and whether they shall; if thou
dost not put life into them, it is certain that they cannot life.” Note, God is perfectly
acquainted with his own power and his own purposes, and will have us to refer all to
them, and to see and own that his wondrous works are such as could not be effected by
any counsel or power but his own.
JAMISON, "Eze_37:1-28. The vision of dry bones revivified, symbolizing Israel’s
death and resurrection.
Three stages in Israel’s revival present themselves to the prophet’s eye.
(1) The new awakening of the people, the resurrection of the dead (Eze_37:1-14).
(2) The reunion of the formerly hostile members of the community, whose
contentions had affected the whole (Eze_37:15-28).
(3) The community thus restored is strong enough to withstand the assault of Gog,
etc. (Ezekiel 38:1-39:29) [Ewald].
carried ... in the spirit — The matters transacted, therefore, were not literal, but in
vision.
the valley — probably that by the Chebar (Eze_3:22). The valley represents
Mesopotamia, the scene of Israel’s sojourn in her state of national deadness.
K&D 1-3, "Eze_37:1. There came upon me the hand of Jehovah, and Jehovah led me
out in the spirit, and set me down in the midst of the valley; this was full of bones. Eze_
37:2. And He led me past them round about; and, behold, there were very many on the
surface of the valley, and, behold, they were very dry. Eze_37:3. And He said to me,
Son of man, will these bones come to life? and I said, Lord, Jehovah, thou knowest.
Eze_37:4. Then He said to me, Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, Ye dry
bones, hear ye the word of Jehovah. Eze_37:5. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah to these
bones, Behold, I bring breath into you, that ye may come to life. Eze_37:6. I will create
sinews upon you, and cause flesh to grow upon you, and cover you with skin, and bring
breath into you, so that ye shall live and know that I am Jehovah. Eze_37:7. And I
prophesied as I was commanded; and there was a noise as I prophesied, and behold a
rumbling, and the bones came together, bone to bone. Eze_37:8. And I saw, and behold
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sinews came over them, and flesh grew, and skin drew over it above; but there was no
breath in them. Eze_37:9. Then He said to me, Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of
man, and say to the breath, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Come from the four winds,
thou breath, and blow upon these slain, that they may come to life. Eze_37:10. And I
prophesied as I was commanded; then the breath came into them, and they came to
life, and stood upon their feet, a very, very great army. Eze_37:11. And He said to me,
Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, our bones are
dried, and our hope has perished; we are destroyed! Eze_37:12. Therefore prophesy,
and say to them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will open you graves, and
cause you to come out of your graves, my people, and bring you into the land of Israel.
Eze_37:13. And ye shall know that I am Jehovah, when I open your graves, and cause
you to come out of your graves, my people. Eze_37:14. And I will put my Spirit into
you, and will place you in your land, and ye shall know that I, Jehovah, have spoken
and do it, is the saying of Jehovah. - This revelation divides itself into two sections. Eze_
37:1-10 contain the vision, and Eze_37:11-14 give the interpretation. There are no
particular difficulties in the description of the vision, so far as the meaning of the words
is concerned. By a supernatural intervention on the part of God, Ezekiel is taken from his
own home in a state of spiritual ecstasy into a valley which was full of dead men's bones.
For the expression '‫ה‬ ָ‫ת‬ְ‫י‬ ָ‫ה‬ ‫י‬ַ‫ל‬ָ‫ע‬ ‫ַד‬‫י‬ ‫,יי‬ see the comm. on Eze_1:3. In the second clause of
Eze_37:1 ‫ָה‬ ‫ה‬ְ‫י‬ is the subject, and is not to be taken as a genitive in connection with
ַ‫רוּח‬ ְ‫,בּ‬ as it has been by the Vulgate and Hitzig in opposition to the accents. ַ‫רוּח‬ ְ‫בּ‬ stands
for ַ‫רוּח‬ ְ‫בּ‬ ‫ים‬ ִ‫ה‬ ֱ‫א‬ (Eze_11:24), and ‫ים‬ ִ‫ה‬ ֱ‫א‬ is omitted simply because ‫ָה‬ ‫ה‬ְ‫י‬ follows
immediately afterwards. ַ‫יח‬ִ‫נ‬ ֵ‫,ה‬ to set down, here and Eze_40:2; whereas in other cases
the form ַ‫יח‬ִ‫נּ‬ ִ‫ה‬ is usually employed in this sense. The article prefixed to ‫ה‬ָ‫ע‬ ְ‫ק‬ ִ‫בּ‬ ַ‫ה‬ appears
to point back to Eze_3:22, to the valley where Ezekiel received the first revelation
concerning the fate of Jerusalem and its inhabitants. That ‫ים‬ ִ‫מ‬ ָ‫ֲצ‬‫ע‬ are dead men's bones
is evident from what follows. ‫י‬ִ‫נ‬ ַ‫יר‬ ִ‫ֱב‬‫ע‬ ֶ‫ה‬ ‫ם‬ ֶ‫יה‬ֵ‫ֲל‬‫ע‬, not “He led me over them round about,”
but past them, in order that Ezekiel might have a clear view of them, and see whether it
were possible for them to come to life again. They were lying upon the surface of the
valley, i.e., not under, but upon the ground, and not piled up in a heap, but scattered
over the valley, and they were very dry. The question asked by God, whether these bones
could live, or come to life again, prepares the way for the miracle; and Ezekiel's answer,
“Lord, Thou knowest” (cf. Rev_7:14), implies that, according to human judgment, it was
inconceivable that they could come to life any more, and nothing but the omnipotence of
God could effect this.
COFFMAN, "Verse 1
THE VALLEY OF DRY BONES;
THE RESTORATION AND REUNION OF JUDAH AND EPHRAIM UNDER
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MESSIAH
Here is a remarkable prophecy of the ingathering of scattered, discouraged, and
disillusioned Israel from the nations to which they had been dispersed, the
repatriation of them in their homeland, and also of the unification of Ephraim and
Joseph under the benign government of the Lord Jesus Christ. "This is a plain
forecast of the conversion of the Jews to Christ."[1]
The first part of the chapter (Ezekiel 37:1-14) employs the vision of the valley of dry
bones to teach the return of captive Israel to Palestine, an event which is
appropriately illustrated here as a whole army which had been slain with their
bones left to bleach in the sun, being suddenly raised to full life and strength! The
return of any ethnic people from the borders of any conqueror who had captured
and deported the whole people would have been viewed throughout the world of
that era as a totally unimaginable and impossible happening. Under the will of God,
however, it occurred; and nothing could have any more appropriately symbolized
such a development than does this vision of the resurrection of a valley of dry bones.
The remainder of the chapter is devoted to a prophecy of the reunion of Judah and
Ephraim under one king, called here "God's servant David," the scriptural name of
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah.
Ezekiel 37:1-6
"The hand of Jehovah was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of
Jehovah, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. And he
caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the
open valley; and, io, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these
bones live? And I answered, O Lord Jehovah, thou knowest. Again he said unto me,
Prophesy over these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of
Jehovah. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah unto these bones: Behold, I will cause breath
to enter into you, and ye shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up
flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live;
5

and ye shall know that I am Jehovah."
THE VISION OF THE VALLEY OF DRY BONES (Ezekiel 37:1-6)
As we understand this, it was an experience that came to Ezekiel in an inspired
vision. It is not necessary to suppose that there was actually a whole valley of
bleaching, unburied bones. It was the picture that came to Ezekiel in this vision. As
we learn from the divine interpretation given a little later, "This prophecy does not
refer to a literal resurrection of dead Israelites, but to a revival of the dead
nation."[2]
"It almost surpassed conception in those days that a restoration of Israel was even
possible."[3] Their state had been destroyed; their king had been captured, blinded
and carried away to Babylon to die; countless thousands of the people had been
slaughtered; the heart of the nation had been carried to captivity in Babylon; their
beloved Jerusalem was destroyed; even the Holy Temple of God had been plundered
and burned. No language could adequately describe how dead and hopeless were
the peoples' dreams and ambitions.
The people themselves expressed this hopelessness, saying, "Our bones are dried;
our hope is lost; we feel ourselves cut off." (Ezekiel 37:11). Skinner believed that
this expression by the people might have suggested the figure of the valley of the dry
bones.[4] Our own opinion is that God needed no help from the people in his choice
of a metaphor.
Scholars are divided over the question of whether or not there are eschatological
overtones here relating to the general resurrection at the end of time. Some believe
that the meaning is limited to the resurrection and reconstituting of Israel as a
unified and visible people.
It appears to this writer that the primary thrust of the passage regards the bringing
6

of new hope and life to the discouraged and defeated Israel.
However, we strongly agree with Plumptre who stated that, "Even if the doctrine of
a general resurrection had not been current in Ezekiel's times, this vision was
enough to have called it into existence and to have lent strong probability to its
truth."[5]
It has seemed very strange to us that several scholars have gone out of their way to
affirm that Ezekiel had no knowledge or conviction with reference to life after
death. Daniel believed in a general resurrection, and he was contemporary with
Ezekiel (Daniel 12:2-4). The ante-Nicene fathers, Tertullian particularly referred
this passage to the final resurrection, as did also Jerome.
It has been affirmed, and we believe it, that no orthodox Hebrew ever lived who did
not believe that God was able to raise the dead. Certainly Abraham believed it, as it
is dogmatically declared in Hebrews 11:19; and it appears to us extremely unlikely
that the prophets of God would not also have believed it. In fact Isaiah eloquently
confirmed faith in the resurrection of the dead in his great prophecy of Isaiah
25:6-8. (See my comments on this in Vol. 1 of the Major Prophets, pp. 230,231.)
Also, Hosea 13:14 speaks of victory over death and the grave, a passage quoted by
the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:55.
It would therefore be an incredible mystery if Ezekiel had been ignorant of the
writings of the other prophets, and of the conviction of his illustrious ancestor
Abraham, and was himself without conviction regarding the resurrection. We
cannot accept such a notion.
"Son of man, can these bones live ..." (Ezekiel 37:3)? "This indicates that Ezekiel
had learned a lesson which few learn. Situations such as this are better left to
Yahweh's providence and knowledge."[6] "This answer by Ezekiel implies that,
according to human judgment, it was inconceivable that the dry bones could come
to life again."[7] It is noteworthy that the apostle John when confronted with a
question regarding his inspired vision in the Apocalypse responded in these same
7

words (Revelation 7:14).
COKE, "Verse 1
Ezekiel 37:1. The hand of the Lord was upon me— It is the general opinion of the
best commentators, that all this passed in vision. The first and great object of this
prophesy seems evidently to be, the restoration of the Jews from the Babylonish
captivity. Bishop Warburton observes, that the messengers of God prophesying for
the people's consolation in disastrous times, frequently promise a restoration to the
former days of felicity; and, to obviate all distrust from unpromising appearances,
they put the case even at the worst, and assure the people in metaphorical
expressions, that though the community were as intirely dissolved as a dead body
reduced to dust, yet God would raise up that community again to life. Though the
generality of commentators, says Mr. Peters, regard this vision and prophesy as no
other than a figurative representation and prediction of a return of the Jews from
the captivity of Babylon, or some other of their captivities and dispersions; yet,
perhaps, we shall find upon a more attentive consideration, that whatever hopes it
might give them of a temporal and national deliverance or prosperity, yet there was
evidently something farther designed; and that to comfort them in their distressed
situation, with the prospect of a future resurrection in a proper sense, was at least as
much intended by the Spirit of God, or rather more so than the other. See on
Ezekiel 37:10.
ELLICOTT, "This chapter consists of two distinct communications. In the first
(Ezekiel 37:1-14) the prophet sees a vision, and is directed in consequence to utter a
prophecy; in the second (Ezekiel 37:15-28) he is told to perform a symbolical act,
and explain its meaning to the people. There is a close connection between the two,
and also between the latter and the two following chapters. In Ezekiel 37:1-10,
Ezekiel, in a vision, sees a plain full of bones and is directed to prophecy to them; in
consequence of which they come together, are clothed with flesh, and become alive.
In Ezekiel 37:11-14, the vision is expressly explained to mean that the children of
Israel, in their scattered and apparently hopeless condition, shall yet be brought
together again and restored to national life. The vision is not at all concerned with
the future resurrection; and yet it may well be thought that the idea of this was
familiar to the mind of the people, as otherwise the prophet would hardly have
8

chosen such a simile.
The course of thought in the later prophecy and its connection with what follows
will be explained in its place.
EXCURSUS F: ON CHAPTER 37.
So much has been said in the interpretation of this chapter of the high spiritual view
which can alone explain these prophecies consistently with themselves, that it may
be unnecessary to add anything further; yet as correct views upon this point are
absolutely essential to the right understanding of the remaining parts of this book,
and as much misapprehension exists in regard to them, it may be well very briefly to
mention some of the reasons why it is impossible to understand the language of
Ezekiel in regard to the future as referring only to the Israelites after the flesh, and
to the land in which they once lived.
Every one who compares the general scope and purpose of the two dispensations
must see that they are essentially one, that the end was foreseen from the beginning,
and that the earlier was distinctly preparatory for the later. The “Gospel was
preached before unto Abraham,” and then “the law was added because of
transgressions, until the promised seed should come” (Galatians 3:8; Galatians
3:19); and this preparatory character of the old dispensation, recognised even by
Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-18, &c.), was more and more insisted upon by the
prophets (e.g., Jeremiah 31:31-34; Haggai 2:6-9, &c.). At the same time, they
describe the future continually by means of already familiar events in their history
(see Isaiah 40-66 throughout, especially Isaiah 62, 63), even going to the extent of
promising again the reign of David (Jeremiah 30:9; Ezekiel 34:23-24; Ezekiel
37:24-25; Hosea 3:5), and the coming in the last days of the prophet Elijah (Malachi
4:5). These prophecies are repeatedly and expressly interpreted of Christ and His
forerunner, while the promised “new covenant” is explained of the Christian
dispensation; and the description of the wonders accompanying its introduction
(Joel 2:28-32, &c.) is applied to the circumstances connected with the first
promulgation of the Gospel (Acts 2:16, &c.). Moreover, it was from the first
expected that the “seed of Abraham” should embrace far more than his descendants
9

after the flesh, and the promise that he should be “the father of many nations” is
shown by St. Paul to mean that all who embraced his faith should be recognised as
his children (Romans 4:16); while the correlated promise, “To thy seed will I give
this land,” is extended in the same connection (Romans 4:13) to a promise “that he
should be the heir of the world.” When these facts are joined (1) with our Lord’s
teaching that the types and shadows of the old economy were fulfilled in Himself;
that the time had come when Jerusalem should no longer be the place where the
Father should be worshipped (John 4:21); and (2) with the apostle’s declaration that
all earthly distinctions between Jew and Greek, or of whatever other kind, are
passed away: that “if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed” (Galatians
3:28-29); and also (3) with the whole argument in the Epistle to the Hebrews that
the Aaronic priesthood culminated and was absorbed in the higher priesthood of
Christ, and that the whole sacrificial and Temple arrangements of old were typical
and temporary, and were superseded by the realities of the Christian dispensation—
there seems no longer room for doubt that the Jewish Church and nationality are
things of the past, and have been merged for ever in the Church of Christ. At the
same time, it is never to be forgotten that the prophets foretold, and history has
fulfilled, that “salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22), and that the law should “go
forth from Sion,” and the “new covenant” be made with God’s chosen people; for it
is abundantly evident that our Lord, after the flesh, was a Jew, and all His
immediate followers were Jews. His Church was cradled among them, and it was
not until some years after it had entered upon its career for the salvation of the
world that its doors were thrown open to the Gentiles.
If, however, it were still urged that, all this being admitted, many prophecies, and
notably those of Ezekiel, still seem, over and above these things, to look forward to a
future restoration of the Jews to their own land, in a condition of great prosperity
and power, it must be replied that the above considerations of the absolute removal
in Christ of all distinctions among those who believe in Him are inconsistent with
the future revival of these distinction in His Church; and that even such an explicit
prophecy of the restoration of the fallen “tabernacle of David” as is contained in
Amos 9:11-12 is expressly applied by the apostles (Acts 15:16) to the union of
Gentiles and Jews in the Christian Church.
Besides all this, in predicting the future under the figures of what has gone before,
the prophets frequently foretell what would be contradictory if it were to be
understood literally. Thus Zechariah (Zechariah 14:16-19) declares that all nations
10

shall come up to Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Tabernacles: an evident physical
impossibility. So also there is continual mention of the restoration of animal
sacrifices with acceptance to God, which is inconceivable in the light in which those
sacrifices are viewed in the New Testament. The offering of the “one sacrifice for
sins for ever” (Hebrews 10:12) by Him who was the Antitype of all sacrifice
necessarily brought to an end the whole typical system.
Finally, it is to be considered that the very representations of the old prophets are
sometimes repeated in the New Testament as a means of describing a state of things
which no one would dream of interpreting literally. This is particularly noticeable in
the present passage. Ezekiel has been describing a spiritual resurrection of the
people (comp. John 5:21), and then goes on to foretell an assault by their enemies
which shall be frustrated by the power of God (Ezekiel 38, 39). The same thing is
foretold in Revelation 20: the power of evil is restrained for a time, and there is a
resurrection of the believers in Christ, with a period of blessing and prosperity; then
the enemies of God (under the very same names of Gog and Magog) are gathered to
battle, and destroyed by the power of God; and finally, the Church of the future, the
heavenly Jerusalem, is revealed in its power and glory, in much the same way as in
this passage of Ezekiel.
It can scarcely be necessary to add that the figurative interpretation of these
prophecies does not affect the important question in regard to the purpose of Divine
Providence in the continued preservation of the Jews as a distinct people, and the
intimations in regard to their future, given in the Epistle to the Romans and
elsewhere. Whatever may be the future designed for Israel, the question here is
simply, What was the instruction intended to be conveyed in this chapter? And the
reasons above given seem sufficiently to indicate the interpretation adopted.
Verse 1
(1) In the midst of the valley.—The word is the same as in Ezekiel 3:22; Ezekiel 8:4,
and having the definite article prefixed, is very probably the same plain, now seen in
spirit, in which Ezekiel had seen his former visions.
11

Which was full of bones.—It is better, with the Hebrew, to put a stop after “plain”
(valley), and then read, this was full of bones. The bones, as the subsequent verses
show, were not heaped together, but thickly strewn upon the face of the plain. After
the prophet’s mind had so long dwelt upon the desolating campaigns of
Nebuchadnezzar, these ghastly reminders of the loss of human life might naturally
enter into his thoughts.
TRAPP, "Ezekiel 37:1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in
the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which [was] full
of bones,
Ver. 1. The hand of the Lord,] i.e., The force and impulse of the Holy Spirit, fitly
called "the hand of the Lord"; (a) because holy men of old spake and acted as they
were moved or carried out by the Holy Ghost. [2 Peter 2:22]
In the spirit,] i.e., In a spiritual rapture.
And set me down.] Not really, but visionally.
In the midst of the valley.] That same valley, some think, where [Ezekiel 1:3] he saw
that glorious vision. Prophecies were often received, and prayers are best made, in
one and the same place.
Which was full of bones.] So it appeared to him in his ecstasy.
POOLE, "By the resurrection of dry bones the revival of the lost hope of Israel is
prefigured, Ezekiel 37:1-14. By the uniting of two sticks is showed the incorporation
of Israel with Judah, Ezekiel 37:15-19. Their blessings in union under Christ their
12

king, Ezekiel 37:20-28.
The hand; either the prophetic Spirit, as Ezekiel 1:3 8:1, moving him to prophesy by
this emblem; or else the Spirit of God carrying him visionally, not corporeally, as in
Eze 8, into such a prospect or landscape.
In the spirit; either in the power of the Spirit of God, or it may refer to the prophet’s
own spirit, he was in his spirit, or mind and apprehension.
Set me down; so it seemed to me in the vision, that I was set gently down.
In the valley; it is vain to inquire what valley this should be, which was visional, not
corporeal or real.
Full of bones: it is as vain to inquire whose bones these were, they are visional, and
hieroglyphics of Israel’s present condition.
MACLAREN, "THE DRY BONES AND THE SPIRIT OF LIFE
Ezekiel 37:1 - Ezekiel 37:14.
This great vision apparently took its form from a despairing saying, which had
become a proverb among the exiles, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost:
we are clean cut off’ [Ezekiel 37:11]. Ezekiel lays hold of the metaphor, which had
been taken to express the hopeless destruction of Israel’s national existence, and
even from it wrings a message of hope. Faith has the prerogative of seeing
possibilities of life in what looks to sense hopeless death. We may look at the vision
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from three points of view, considering its bearing on Israel, on the world, and on the
resurrection of the body.
I. The saying, already referred to, puts the hopelessness of the mass of the exiles in a
forcible fashion. The only sense in which living men could say that their bones were
dried up, and they cut off, is a figurative one, and obviously it is the national
existence which they regarded as irretrievably ended. The saying gives us a glimpse
into the despair which had settled down on the exiles, and against which Ezekiel had
to contend, as he had also to contend against its apparently opposite and yet kindred
feeling of presumptuous, misplaced hope. We observe that he begins by accepting
fully the facts which bred despair, and even accentuating them. The true prophet
never makes light of the miseries of which he knows the cure, and does not try to
comfort by minimising the gravity of the evil. The bones are very many, and they
are very dry. As far as outward resources are concerned, despair was rational, and
hope as absurd as it would have been to expect that men, dead so long that their
bones had been bleached by years of exposure to the weather, should live again.
But while Ezekiel saw the facts of Israel’s powerlessness as plainly as the most
despondent, he did not therefore despair. The question which rose in his mind was
God’s question, and the very raising it let a gleam of hope in. So he answered with
that noble utterance of faith and submission, ‘O Lord God, Thou knowest.’ ‘With
God all things are possible.’ Presumption would have said ‘Yes’; Unbelief would
have said ‘No’; Faith says, ‘Thou knowest.’
The grand description of the process of resurrection follows the analogy of the order
in the creation of man, giving, first, the shaping of the body, and afterwards the
breathing into it of the breath which is life. Both stages are wholly God’s work. The
prophet’s part was to prophesy to the bones first; and his word, in a sense, brought
about the effect which it foretold, since his ministry was the most potent means of
rekindling dying hopes, and bringing the disjecta membra of the nation together
again. The vivid and gigantic imagination of the prophet gives a picture of the
rushing together of the bones, which has no superior in any literature. He hears a
noise, and sees a ‘shaking’ {by which is meant the motion of the bones to each other,
rather than an ‘earthquake,’ as the Revised Version has it, which inserts a quite
irrelevant detail}, and the result of all is that the skeletons are complete. Then
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follows the gradual clothing with flesh. There they lie, a host of corpses.
The second stage is the quickening of these bodies with life, and here again Ezekiel,
as God’s messenger, has power to bring about what he announces; for, at his
command, the breath, or wind, or spirit, comes, and the stiff corpses spring to their
feet, a mighty army. The explanation in the last verses of the text somewhat departs
from the tenor of the vision by speaking of Israel as buried, but keeps to its
substance, and point the despairing exiles to God as the source of national
resurrection. But we must not force deeper meaning on Ezekiel’s words than they
properly bear. The spirit promised in them is simply the source of life,-literally, of
physical life; metaphorically, of national life. However that national restoration was
connected with holiness, that does not enter into the prophet’s vision. Israel’s
restoration to its land is all that Ezekiel meant by it. True, that restoration was to
lead to clearer recognition by Israel of the name of Jehovah, and of all that it
implied in him and demanded from them. But the proper scope of the vision is to
assure despairing Israelites that God would quicken the apparently slain national
life, and replace them in the land.
II. We may extend the application of the vision to the condition of humanity and the
divine intervention which communicates life to a dead world, but must remember
that no such meaning was in Ezekiel’s thoughts. The valley full of dry bones is but
too correct a description of the aspect which a world ‘dead in trespasses and sins’
bears, when seen from the mountain-top by pure and heavenly eyes. The activities of
godless lives mask the real spiritual death, which is the condition of every soul that
is separate from God. Galvanised corpses may have muscular movements, but they
are dead, notwithstanding their twitching. They that live without God are dead
while they live.
Again, we may learn from the vision the preparation needful for the prophet, who is
to be the instrument of imparting divine life to a dead world. The sorrowful sense of
the widespread deadness must enter into a man’s spirit, and be ever present to him,
in order to fit him for his work. A dead world is not to be quickened on easy terms.
We must see mankind in some measure as God sees them if we are to do God’s work
among them. So-called Christian teachers, who do not believe that the race is dead
in sin, or who, believing it, do not feel the tragedy of the fact, and the power lodged
in their hands to bring the true life, may prophesy to the dry bones for ever, and
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there will be no shaking among them.
The great work of the gospel is to communicate divine life. The details of the process
in the vision are not applicable in this respect. As we have pointed out, they are
shaped after the pattern of the creation of Adam, but the essential point is that what
the world needs is the impartation from God of His Spirit. We know more than
Ezekiel did as to the way by which that Spirit is given to men, and as to the kind of
life which it imparts, and as to the connection between that life and holiness. It is a
diviner voice than Ezekiel’s which speaks to us in the name of God, and says to us
with deeper meaning than the prophet of the Exile dreamed of, ‘I will put my Spirit
in you, and ye shall live.’
But we may note that it is possible to have the outward form of a living body, and
yet to have no life. Churches and individuals may be perfectly organised and
perfectly dead. Creeds may be articulated most correctly, every bone in its place,
and yet have no vitality in them. Forms of worship may be punctiliously proper, and
have no breath of life in them. Religion must have a body, but often the body is not
so much the organ as the sepulchre of the spirit. We have to take heed that the
externals do not kill the inward life.
Again, we note that this great act of life-giving is God’s revelation of His name,-that
is, of His character so far as men can know it. ‘Ye shall know that I am the Lord’
[Ezekiel 37:13 - Ezekiel 37:14]. God makes Himself known in His divinest glory
when He quickens dead souls. The world may learn what He is therefrom, but they
who have experienced the change, and have, as it were, been raised from the grave
to new life, have personal experience of His power and faithfulness so sure and
sweet that henceforward they cannot doubt Him nor forget His grace.
III. As to the bearing of the vision on the doctrine of the resurrection little need be
said. It does not necessarily presuppose the people’s acquaintance with that
doctrine, for it would be quite conceivable that the vision had revealed to the
prophet the thought of a resurrection, which had not been in his beliefs before. The
vision is so entirely figurative, that it cannot be employed as evidence that the idea
of the resurrection of the dead was part of the Jewish beliefs at this date. It does,
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however, seem most natural to suppose that the exiles were familiar with the idea,
though the vision cannot be taken as a revelation of a literal resurrection of dead
men. For clear expectations of such a resurrection we must turn to such scriptures
as Daniel 12:2, Daniel 12:13.
SIMEON, "UNIVERSAL RESTORATION OF THE JEWS
Ezekiel 37:1-6. The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the Spirit
of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which teas full of bones, and
caused vie to pass by them, round about: and, behold, there were very many in the
open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these
bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knottiest. Again he said unto me,
Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the
Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to
enter into you, and ye shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up
flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live;
and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
WHILST the Jews at large, and the generality of Christians also, believe that the
dispersed of Israel will one day be restored to their own land, there is an assured
expectation, both amongst the one and the other, that the Messiah will in due time
reign over the face of the whole earth. But, whilst this blessed event is expected by
all, there lurks in the minds of the generality a persuasion, that in the present state
of the Jews their conversion to Christ is impracticable; and that, whenever it shall
be effected, it will be by some miraculous interposition, like that which took place at
their deliverance from Egypt: and hence all attempts to convert them to Christianity
are thought nugatory at least, if not presumptuous. In opposition to these
discouraging apprehensions, which would paralyze all exertions in their behalf, I
have selected this portion of Holy Writ, which meets the objections in the fullest
possible manner, and shews, beyond all doubt, that we are bound to use the means
which God has appointed for their conversion, and that in the diligent use of those
means we may reasonably hope for God’s blessing on our labours.
In the preceding chapter are plain and express promises relative to the restoration
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and conversion of the Jews. In the chapter before us, the same subject is continued
in an emblematic form. The Jews in Babylon despaired of ever being restored to
their native land. To counteract these desponding fears, there was given to the
Prophet Ezekiel a vision, in which the extreme improbability of such an event is
acknowledged, whilst the certainty of it is expressly declared. And, lest the import of
the vision should be mistaken, it is explained by God himself, and the event
predicted in it is foretold in plain and direct terms: “Son of man, these bones are the
whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost;
we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the
Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up
out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I
am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up
out of your graves, and shall put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place
you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and
performed it, saith the Lord [Note: ver. 11–14.].”
We cannot but admire the goodness and condescension of God, in so
accommodating himself to the weaknesses and wants of men. His people were slow
of heart to understand his word; and therefore he “gave them line upon line, and
precept upon precept,” and exhibited truth to them under every form, if so be they
might be able to receive it at last, and to obtain the blessings which he held forth to
them in his Gospel.
The restoration promised in the chapter before us does not merely relate to the
deliverance of the Jews from Babylon. To that indeed is its primary reference; but it
manifestly has respect to a recovery from their present state of dispersion, and to a
spiritual deliverance from their bondage to sin and Satan: for, not only are the
expressions too strong to be confined to a mere temporal deliverance, but the
emblem mentioned in the subsequent part of this chapter, of uniting two sticks in
the prophet’s hand, shews that the whole is to be accomplished, when all the tribes
of Israel, as well those which were carried captive to Assyria as those of Judah and
Benjamin, shall be reunited under one head, the Lord Jesus Christ.
That this period is yet future, you cannot doubt, when you hear the words of God to
the prophet: “Son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for
the children of Israel his companions. Then take another stick, and write upon it,
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For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
and join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine
hand. And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou
not shew us what thou meanest by these? say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God,
Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen whither they be
gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land. And I
will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel, and one King
shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they
be divided into two kingdoms any more at all ……And David my servant shall be
king over them; and they shall have one Shepherd [Note: ver. 16–25.].” These things
have never yet been fulfilled; but they shall be fulfilled in their season. What though
the Jews be like dry bones scattered over the face of the whole earth? Shall any
word that God has spoken respecting them fall to the ground? No: the scattered
bones shall be reunited, each to its kindred bone, and they shall rise up an exceeding
great array, as the Lord has said.
In explanation of this vision, I will endeavour to set before you,
I. The present state of the Jews;
II. Our duty towards them; and
III. Our encouragement to perform it.
Let us consider, First, The present state of the Jews—
Certainly nothing can be well conceived more unpromising than this. The obstacles
to their conversion do indeed appear almost insurmountable. One most formidable
barrier in their way is, the extraordinary blindness and hardness of their hearts.
From the very beginning they were, as Moses himself tells them, a stiff-necked
people: and their whole history is one continued confirmation of the truth of Ins
assertion; insomuch that any one who is conversant with the sacred records, but
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unacquainted with the plague of his own heart, would be ready to imagine, that
their very blood had received a deeper taint than that of others. Certainly we should
have scarcely supposed it possible that human nature should be so corrupt, as they
have shewn it to be. We should never have conceived that persons who had
witnessed all the wonders which were wrought in their behalf in Egypt, and at the
Red Sea, and in the wilderness, should be so murmuring, so rebellious, so atheistical
as they were during their forty years’ continuance in the wilderness; and indeed,
with the exception of some occasional and partial reformations, even till their final
dispersion by the Romans. It really appears incredible, that, with the Holy
Scriptures in their hands, and with the life and miracles of our blessed Lord
exhibited before their eyes, they could evince such malignant dispositions towards
him, and with such deliberate cruelty imbrue their hands in his blood. Yet such is
their state at this hour, that I can have no doubt but that they would reject him
again with all the same virulence as before, if he were again to descend from heaven,
and to place himself within the reach of their power. His meek and holy conduct
would not be sufficient to disarm their malice; nor could all his benevolent miracles
conciliate their regard: they would still, as before, cry, “Away with him! crucify
him! crucify him!” The same veil is upon their hearts at this day as there was then:
and, as far as they can, they actually repeat all the iniquities of their fathers,
sanctioning and approving all which they did towards him, and in their hearts
transacting it afresh. Such being almost universally the predominant features of
their minds, we must acknowledge, that their restoration to life is as improbable as
any event that can be contemplated. But whilst I say this, let it not be thought that I
mean to cast any uncharitable reflections upon them, or needlessly to asperse their
character: for I well know that by nature they are no worse than others. They
labour under peculiar disadvantages. From their earliest infancy they are filled with
prejudice against the religion of Jesus: they hear him designated by the most
opprobrious titles; and are taught to regard him as a vile impostor. This constitutes
the chief difference between them, and multitudes who bear the Christian name:
ungodly Christians are as averse to real piety as they; but having been taught to
reverence the name of Christ, they can hear of it without disgust; whilst the Jews,
who have been educated in the most envenomed hatred of it, spurn at it with
indignation and abhorrence; and consequently, are proportionably hardened
against all his overtures of love and mercy.
Another obstacle in their way is the contempt in which they are held. It had been
foretold by Moses concerning them, that they should “become an astonishment and
a proverb, and a bye-word among all nations [Note: Deuteronomy 28:37.];” and
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such they have been ever since their dispersion by the Romans. There is not a
quarter of the globe where this prediction is not verified. Mahometans and
Heathens of every description pour contempt upon them, and load them with all
manner of indignities. Nor have Christians been at all more kindly disposed towards
them: on the contrary, we have been foremost in executing upon them the Divine
vengeance, just as if our religion, instead of prescribing acts of mercy and love, had
dictated nothing but cruelty and oppression. To this hour, the very name of a Jew is
amongst us a term of reproach, a symbol of every thing that is odious and
contemptible. And what is the natural effect of this? Can we wonder that it should
excite resentment in their breasts? Has it not a necessary tendency to embitter them
against us, and to make them detest the principles we profess? What can they think
of Christianity, when they see such conduct universally practised by its professors?
We complain of their blindness and obduracy; but can we wonder at their state,
when we ourselves have done, and are yet continually doing, so much to produce it?
And what effect has it on ourselves, but to weaken any kind dispositions which may
be cherished in the hearts of a few towards them, and to make us despair of ever
effecting any thing in their behalf? This effect, I say, it does produce: for, whilst we
make extensive efforts for the conversion and salvation of the Heathen, we pass by
the Jew with utter disdain, and deride as visionary all endeavours for his welfare. If
we saw but a beast fallen into a pit, our bowels of compassion would move towards
him, and we should make some efforts for his deliverance: but we behold millions of
Jews perishing in their sins, and we never sigh over their lamentable condition, nor
use any means for the salvation of their souls. They are not allowed even the
contingent benefits of social intercourse with us: the wall of partition which God has
broken down in his Gospel, is built up by us; as if by general consent they were
proscribed, and debarred all access to the light that we enjoy. Their fathers, in the
apostolic age, laboured and died for us, when we were sunk in the depths of sin and
misery: but we will not stretch out a hand for them, or point them to the rock, on
which they may be saved from the overwhelming surge. Thus they are left to famish,
whilst the heavenly manna lies around our tents; and they are immured in darkness,
whilst we are enjoying all the blessings of the noon-day sun. Say, then, whether this
be not a formidable barrier in their way, so as to render their access to the true
Messiah beyond measure difficult?
But a yet further obstacle to their conversion arises from the efforts which they
themselves use to prevent the introduction of Christianity among them. The Rulers
of their Church exercise authority over them with a strong hand: and the first
appearance among them of an inclination to embrace the Gospel of Christ is
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checked with great severity. Every species of threatening is used to intimidate those
who have begun to ask the way to Zion, and to deter them from prosecuting their
inquiries: and, if a person yield to his convictions, and embrace the Gospel, he is
instantly loaded with all the odium that can be heaped upon him: every kind of
employment is withheld from him; and he would be left to perish with hunger, if he
were not aided by those whose principles he has embraced. An apprehension of
those evils deters vast multitudes from free inquiry; and constrains not a few to
stifle their convictions, because they cannot prevail on themselves to sacrifice their
all for Christ.
Such being the present state of the Jews, it may well be asked, “Can these bones
live?” Can it be hoped that the feeble efforts which we are using should succeed? If,
when in Babylon, they despaired, saying, “Our bones are dried; our hope is lost; we
are cut off for our parts:” may they not with far greater propriety adopt the same
language now? and may not we regard all attempts for their conversion as
altogether hopeless, even as hopeless as the resuscitation of dry bones, that have
been for ages crumbled into dust?
Yet hopeless as their state appears, we should not be discouraged from performing,
II. Our duty towards them—
The command which God gave to the prophet in my text was not personal to him,
but general to all who are partakers of superior light and liberty. The whole was not
a real transaction, but a vision, intended for the instruction of the Church of God in
all ages, and especially for those who should be alive at the period destined for the
accomplishment of the prophecy. We may consider therefore the directions here
given as applicable to ourselves, and as comprising our duty towards the house of
Israel. It consists in these two things, The communicating of instruction to them, and
The praying unto God for them.
We should, as far as lies in our power, communicate instruction to them. The word
“prophecy” does not necessarily import an utterance of predictions; it is often used
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for the conveying of instruction in the name of God: and this is what we are bound
to do to the Jewish people, each of us according to the abilities we possess, and the
opportunities that are afforded us. We are not all called to exercise the ministerial
office; but we are to impart in conversation the knowledge we have received. No
Christian whatever is to put his light under a bushel or a bed, but on a candlestick,
that it may give light to those who are within the sphere of its influence. If we have
but one talent, we are to use it for the honour of our God, and the benefit of our
fellow-creatures.
But here it is to be regretted, that the generality of Christians are themselves
destitute of the information which they are called upon to communicate. Nor is this
true of the laity only: even those who bear the ministerial office are by no means so
well instructed in the points at issue between the Jews and us, as to be competent to
the task of entering into controversy with the more learned Jews. Even those
ministers who have somewhat of a deeper insight into the mysteries of the Gospel,
are for the most part but ill furnished with that species of knowledge which qualifies
them for instructing the Jews. They are not aware of the principal objections of the
Jews to Christianity, nor of the answers which ought to be given to them. Even the
peculiar excellencies of the Christian system, as contradistinguished from Judaism,
are not so familiar to them as they ought to be. With Heathens they can argue, and
with different sects of Christians they can maintain their stand: but so utterly have
they disregarded and despised the Jew, that they have thought it not worth their
while to furnish themselves with knowledge suited to his case. This is greatly to the
shame of Christians in general, and of Christian Ministers in particular. Nor does it
offer any just excuse for our continuing to neglect the Jews, since we ought instantly
to make ourselves acquainted with all that is necessary for the conviction of our
Jewish Brother; and in the mean time should procure for him, from others, the
instruction which we ourselves are unable to impart. This is what we should do, if
we saw a brother perishing of wounds that had been inflicted on him: we should not
account our want of medical skill as any reason for neglecting his case; but we
should endeavour to procure for him from others the aid he stood in need of. And
this is what we should do for his soul, procuring for him such books as are suited to
his capacity, and bringing him into contact with such persons as are better qualified
than ourselves to enlighten and instruct his soul.
To withhold these efforts under an idea that God will convert them without the
instrumentality of man, is to belie our consciences, and to deceive our own souls.
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Such an excuse is nothing but a veil to cover our own supineness. Where has God
told us that he will convert them without means? He did not do so even on the day of
Pentecost. He has commanded that “his Gospel should be preached in all the world,
to every creature.” Where has he made them an exception? This I say, then, that our
duty towards them is, to use all possible means for the illumination of their minds,
and for the conversion of their souls to the faith of Christ.
But it is our duty at the same time to pray for them. The prophet was not only to
prophesy to the dry bones, but to “say, Thus saith the Lord God, Come from the
four winds, O breath! (O thou eternal Spirit!) and breathe upon these slain, that
they may live [Note: ver. 9.].” Whoever may attempt to convey instruction, it will be
attended with little benefit, if God do not accompany the word with power from on
high. “Paul may plant, and Apollos may water; but it is God alone that can give the
increase.” If we set about any thing in our own strength, and expect any thing from
the means, without looking directly to God in and through the means, we shall be
rebuked, and left without success; just as Elisha was, when he expected his staff to
raise to life the widow’s child [Note: 2 Kings 4:29-31.]. Like the prophet in our text,
we are to pray for the influences of the Holy Spirit to give efficacy to the word. To
this effect we are taught by God himself; “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O
Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: Ye that make mention
of the Lord, keep not silence, and give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make
Jerusalem a praise in the earth [Note: Isaiah 62:6-7.].” If we conscientiously
combine our personal exertions with fervent prayer, there is not any thing which we
may not hope for. Wonderful is the efficacy of fervent and believing prayer: and, if
we employ it diligently in behalf of the Jews, desperate as their condition to all
appearance is, it shall prevail, to the bringing forth of their souls from the prison in
which they are immured, and for the introducing of them into the light and liberty
of God’s dear children.
True it is, we may without any saving influences of the Spirit effect a previous work,
like that of bringing together the kindred bones, and causing the flesh and skin to
come upon them: but God alone can breathe life into them. We may bring them
possibly to “a form of godliness; but God alone can give the power:” and it is only
when our “word comes to men in demonstration of the Spirit,” that it ever proves
“the power of God to the salvation” of their souls.
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Such is our duty towards them: and that we may not draw back from it through
despondency, let us consider,
III. Our encouragement to perform it—
We have the express promise of God to render it effectual. What can we want more?
The promise is repeated again and again; “Ye shall live;” “Ye shall live;” “I will
bring you up out of your graves, and ye shall live [Note: ver 5, 6, 12, 14.].” And is
not God able to do it? Look at the heavens and the earth: Hath he created all these
out of nothing? hath he spoken them into existence by the word of his mouth, and is
he not able to effect the conversion of the Jews? Has he declared that he will raise
the dead at the last day, and bring into judgment every child of man; and cannot he,
who shall accomplish that in its season, effect this also at the appointed time? True,
the bones are, as he has said, “dry, very dry” but they are not beyond the reach of
his power. What if the resuscitation of them be “marvellous in our eyes, must it
therefore be marvellous in God’s eyes?” (Zechariah 8:6.) His word in the mouth of
Jews has been effectual for the conversion of the Gentiles; and that same word in
the mouth of Gentiles shall be effectual for the conversion of the Jews: for “his hand
is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither is his ear heavy, that it cannot hear.”
“Hath he said, and shall he not do it? hath he spoken, and shall he not make it
good? Tell me, Did he not bring out his people from Egypt at the appointed time?
Yes, “at the self-same hour did he bring them forth, with a mighty hand, and a
stretched-out arm.” In like manner he delivered them also in due season from
Babylon, according to his word: and these are sure pledges, that he will in due
season fulfil all his promises towards them, and not suffer one jot or tittle of his
word to fail.
In dependence on his promise, then, we should address ourselves to the work
assigned us. We should go forth feeling the utter hopelessness of our task, and say,
“O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!” The greater the difficulty appears, the
more should we hold fast our confidence in God, with whom nothing is impossible.
We should go, as it were, into the midst of that vast theatre, and lift up our voice
with-out either distrust or fear. If the means already used have proved ineffectual,
we should, like Elisha, exert ourselves with the more earnestness, and labour more
fervently in prayer with God for his blessing on our endeavours. In order to raise
the son of the Shunamite, he cried mightily to the Lord, and went in and stretched
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himself upon the child, applying his mouth, his eyes, his hands, to the mouth, the
eyes, the hands of the child [Note: 2 Kings 4:33-35.]: and thus should we go in to our
Jewish Brethren: we should address ourselves to the work in the length and breadth
of all our powers, accommodating ourselves to the measure and capacity of every
individual amongst them, and labouring in every possible way to inspire them with
love to Christ: and, if we see as yet but little effect, (as was at first the case with that
holy prophet,) let us “not despise the day of small things,” but let us look upon the
smallest success as an earnest of greater things, as the first-fruits before the harvest,
and as the drop before the shower. Two things in particular I wish you to notice in
the text: the one is that God wrought nothing till the prophet used the appointed
means; and the other is, that he wrought effectually as soon as the means were used.
This is twice noticed by the prophet in the verses following my text: “So I
prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, the bones came together:”
and again, “So I prophesied as he commanded me; and the breath carne into them,
and they lived [Note: ver. 7, 10.].” Let this, I pray you, sink down into your ears:
only let this be understood and felt, and acted upon; and I shall have gained a point
of the utmost importance to the Jewish cause: for, however inadequate to the end
our efforts be, God requires us to put them forth; and when they are put forth in
humility and faith, he will bless them to the desired end. To expect the blessing
without using the means, or to despair of success in the use of them, is equally
wrong. What he has commanded, we must do: and what he has promised, we must
expect. Be the difficulties ever so great, we must not stagger at the promises through
unbelief, but be strong in faith, giving glory to God. Our blessed Lord, when Mary
imagined that her brother was gone beyond a possibility of recovery, said to her,
“Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of
God?” so to you I say, Be not discouraged by thinking how long our brother has
been dead, or how corrupt he is; but expect assuredly, that at the sound of Jesus’
voice he shall rise out of his grave and come forth to life.
Permit me now to address myself to you in a more particular manner: and,
1. To those whose exertions are paralyzed by despondency.
I object not to a full consideration of all the difficulties that obstruct the conversion
of the Jews. I wish them to be viewed in their utmost extent: but then they should be
viewed, not as grounds for relaxing our efforts, but as motives to the most strenuous
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exertion. With the generality, these desponding fears are only excuses for their own
supineness: they have no compassion for their perishing fellow-creatures, no zeal for
the honour of their God, and therefore they cry, “A lion is in the way.” But this is a
very unworthy recompence for all the exertions which the Jews of former ages made
for us. What if they had said respecting the Gentiles, “They are bowing down to
stocks and stones, and it is in vain to attempt their conversion?” we should have
continued in our ignorance and guilt to the present hour. It was by their
unremitting labours that the Gospel was spread; and to them we owe all the light
and peace that we at this moment enjoy. Let us then imitate them: let us employ our
talents and our influence in their service: let us combine together for the purpose of
promoting their welfare more extensively than we could do by individual exertion:
and whilst we go forward in dependence on the promises of our God, let us
remember, that “what he has promised, he is able also to perform.”
As for the idea that the Lord’s time is not come, who is authorized to declare that?
The great events that are going forward in the world give us reason to think that the
time is come, or at least is very near at hand. The prophecies themselves, in the
judgment of many wise and sober interpreters, appear to point to the present times,
as the season for their approaching accomplishment. And certainly the attention
now paid to the subject by the Christian world, and the success that has hitherto
attended their efforts, are encouraging circumstances to confirm our hopes, and
stimulate our exertions. We may add too, that the zeal that has been manifested of
late for the universal diffusion of the Holy Scriptures, and for the conversion of the
heathen, is a call from God to the Christian world, to consider the wants of his
ancient people: and the general expectation of the Jews at this time, that their
Messiah will soon appear, is a still further call to us to point out the Saviour to them.
Nor can I pass by without notice two most astonishing events; one of which has
lately occurred in a foreign country, and the other is at this moment arising in our
own. In Russia, God has raised up a friend for his people, another Cyrus, in the
head of that vast empire; who has assigned one, if not more places in his dominions,
where the Jews who shall embrace Christianity may find a safe asylum, and enjoy
all necessary means of providing for themselves, agreeably to their former habits. In
our own land, an unprecedented concern begins to manifest itself in behalf of all the
nations of the earth who are lying in darkness and the shadow of death. The duty of
sending forth missionaries to instruct them, is now publicly acknowledged by all our
governors in Church and State; and in a short time will the whole community, from
the highest to the lowest, be invited to unite in this blessed work [Note: In the Prince
Regent’s Letter, read in all the Churches through the kingdom, in 1815.]. And in
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this ebullition of religious zeal, can we suppose that the Jew shall be forgotten? Shall
those to whom we ourselves are indebted for all the light that we enjoy, be
overlooked? Will it not be remembered, that our blessed Lord and Saviour was a
Jew; and that it is a Jew who is at this moment interceding for us at the right hand
of God? Shall not our obligations to him and his Apostles be requited by a due
attention to those who were the first in his estimation, and are yet “beloved by him
for their fathers’sakes?” We must on no account overlook them: we must consider
them as comprehended in the general commission: and let us hope that there will be
a simultaneous effort through the land, to carry into effect the pious and benevolent
designs of our governors.
An erroneous idea has obtained, that because it is said by St. Paul, “that blindness
in part is happened unto Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in [Note:
Romans 11:25.],” the great harvest of the Gentiles must be reaped before the sickle
is put to the Jewish field. But this is directly contrary to what the same Apostle says
in the very same chapter, where he represents “the fulness of the Jews as being the
riches of the Gentiles [Note: Romans 11:12.].” It is the commencement, and not the
completion, of the in-gathering of the Gentiles, that marks the season for the
conversion of the Jews: and therefore the stir which there is at this moment amongst
the Gentile world, is, amongst other signs of the times, a proof, that the time for the
conversion of the Jews is near at hand. Away then with all desponding fears; and to
every obstruction that presents itself in your way, say, “Who art thou, O great
mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain [Note: Zechariah 4:6-7.].”
Let me next address myself,
2. To those who desire to be accomplishing this great work.
You will reasonably ask, What shall we do in order to advance this blessed cause?
To this I answer, Be much in prayer to God for them. Were the Christian world
more earnest in prayer to God for the restoration and salvation of his people, I feel
no doubt but that God would arise and have mercy upon Zion, and that a great
work would speedily be wrought among them. When the angel interceded for
Jerusalem, saying, “O Lord God, how long wilt thou not have mercy on
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Jerusalem?” Jehovah, we are told, answered him with good and comfortable words
[Note: Zechariah 1:12-13.]. And, if a spirit of intercession for them prevailed
amongst us, God would answer, not by good and comfortable words only, but by
great and powerful acts, even by the displays of his pardoning grace, and the
manifestations of his long-suspended love. United prayer brought Peter out of his
prison: and united prayer would bring the Jews also out of their graves; and they
should arise before us “an exceeding great army.”
Still however, as human means also are to be used, I would say, Form yourselves
into societies and associations for the advancement of this work. Much may be done
by united and systematic exertion, which cannot possibly be done without it: funds
will be raised; and many will be stirred up to join with you, who would neither have
inclination nor ability to do much in a way of solitary effort: and, if God has given
to any one a talent of wealth or influence, let him improve it to the uttermost. It is
scarcely to be conceived how much a single individual may effect, provided he set
himself diligently to the work. God has said he will “bring his people one of a city
and two of a family,” yea, that “he will bring them to Zion one by one.” And if only
one be brought from darkness unto light, and from death to life, it is worth all our
efforts: for one single soul is of greater value than the whole world. Let us up then,
and be doing; for the Lord is with us: and if we see not immediately all the effect we
could wish, we have the satisfaction of knowing that God approves of the desire, and
that, like David, we are gathering stones which our successors shall erect into a
temple of the Lord.
But let it not content us to proselyte the Jews to mere nominal Christianity. It is to
no purpose to bring their bones together, and cover them with flesh, unless their
souls be made alive to God, and they become living members of Christ’s mystical
body. In the close of the chapter from whence our text is taken, God informs us
what is to characterize the conversion of the Jews to Christ: “David, my servant,
(that is, the Lord Jesus Christ,) shall be King over them; and they shall all have one
Shepherd: my servant David shall be their Prince for ever. Moreover, I will make a
covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and my
tabernacle also shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my
people. [Note: ver. 24–27.]” Yes, this is vital Christianity; this is the only true
religion that can benefit us; and therefore it is that to which we must endeavour to
convert them. I ask of you, my Brethren, What is it that comforts you, but a view of
the everlasting covenant, “ordered in all things and sure?” What is it that enables
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you to live above the things of time and sense, and to look forward with joy to the
eternal world; what is it, I say, but a hope, that you stand in this near relation to a
reconciled God, and a persuasion, that that Saviour, whose you are and whom you
serve, will bruise Satan under your feet, and make you more than conquerors over
all your enemies? Bear this in mind then, I pray you, in all your conversations with
Jews, and in all your efforts for their good. Aim at nothing short of this. To convince
them by argument is nothing, unless you bring them to a life of faith upon the Son of
God, and to a life of entire devotedness to his service. This you must first experience
in your own souls, else you can never hope to effect it in theirs. Let them see in you
how truly blessed a life of faith is; and what a sanctifying efficacy it has on your
hearts and lives. Let them see, that it is not a merely speculative opinion about the
Lord Jesus Christ, to which you would convert them, but to the enjoyment of his
love, to a participation of his image, and to a possession of his glory. In a word, be
yourselves among them as living epistles of Christ, that in you they may read the
excellency of his salvation: then may you hope to prevail with them; and that they
will gladly unite themselves to you, when they shall see that God is with you of a
truth.
PETT, "Introduction
Chapter 37 The Valley of Dry Bones and The Uniting of Israel/Judah Under The
Coming David.
The first part of the chapter (1-14) is a vivid description of the restoration of God’s
people by the activity of His Spirit, as previously described in Ezekiel 36:26-27. The
second part (15-28) is a promise of the restoration of God’s people under their
Davidic king.
Verse 1-2
‘The hand of Yahweh was on me, and he carried me out in the Spirit of Yahweh and
set me down in the midst of a valley (or ‘plain’), and it was full of bones. And he
made me pass by around them and behold there were a great many in the open
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valley, and behold they were very dry.’
Once again Ezekiel experienced a remarkable vision, resulting from ‘the hand of
Yahweh’ being on him, connected with the Spirit (compare Ezekiel 3:22-23; Ezekiel
8:1; Ezekiel 8:3). He was borne to a battlefield. We can possibly presume that it was
one where many Israelites had died, although it may have been simply a visionary
battlefield. The valley or plain was full of the remains of skeletons. And the bones
were very dry. They represented a totally dead and desolate Israel, without a shred
of life in it. It was a valley of hopelessness.
Verses 1-14
The Vision of The Valley Of Dry Bones (Ezekiel 37:1-14).
This vision is not directly an illustration or promise of physical resurrection. Ezekiel
nowhere gives any indication of expecting a resurrection of the dead. It is a pictorial
representation of the coming spiritual revival of Israel, given to spur on the
doubting, fearful and disillusioned people to whom Ezekiel was ministering..
EBC, "LIFE FROM THE DEAD
Ezekiel 37:1-28
The most formidable obstacle to faith on the part of the exiles in the possibility of a
national redemption was the complete disintegration of the ancient people of Israel.
Hard as it was to realise that Jehovah still lived and reigned in spite of the cessation
of His worship, and hard to hope for a recovery of the land of Canaan from the
dominion of the heathen, these things were still conceivable. What almost surpassed
conception was the restoration of national life to the feeble and demoralised
remnant who had survived the fall of the state. It was no mere figure of speech that
these exiles employed when they thought of their nation as dead. Cast off by its God,
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driven from its land, dismembered and deprived of its political organisation, Israel
as a people had ceased to exist. Not only were the outward symbols of national unity
destroyed, but the national spirit was extinct. Just as the destruction of the bodily
organism implies the death of each separate member and organ and cell, so the
individual Israelites felt themselves to be as dead men, dragging out an aimless
existence without hope in the world. While Israel was alive they had lived in her and
for her; all the best part of their life, religion, duty, liberty, and loyalty had been
bound up with the consciousness of belonging to a nation with a proud history
behind them and a brilliant future for their posterity. Now that Israel had perished
all spiritual and ideal significance had gone out of their lives; there remained but a
selfish and sordid struggle for existence, and this they felt was not life, but death in
life. And thus a promise of deliverance which appealed to them as members of a
nation seemed to them a mockery, because they felt in themselves that the bond of
national life was irrevocably broken.
The hardest part of Ezekiel’s task at this time was therefore to revive the national
sentiment, so as to meet the obvious objection that even if Jehovah were able to
drive the heathen from His land there was still no people of Israel to whom He could
give it. If only the exiles could be brought to believe that Israel had a future, that
although now dead it could be raised from the dead, the spiritual meaning of their
life would be given back to them in the form of hope, and faith in God would be
possible. Accordingly the prophet’s thoughts are now directed to the idea of the
nation as the third factor of the Messianic hope. He has spoken of the kingdom and
the land, and each of these ideas has led him on to the contemplation of the final
condition of the world, in which Jehovah’s purpose is fully manifested. So in this
chapter he finds in the idea of the nation a new point of departure, from which he
proceeds to delineate once more the Messianic salvation in its completeness.
The vision of the valley of dry bones described in the first part of the chapter
contains the answer to the desponding thoughts of the exiles, and seems indeed to be
directly suggested by the figure in which the popular feeling was currently
expressed: "Our bones are dried; our hope is lost: we feel ourselves cut off" (Ezekiel
37:11). The fact that the answer came to the prophet in a state of trance may
perhaps indicate that his mind had brooded over these words of the people for some
time before the moment of inspiration. Recognising how faithfully they represented
the actual situation, he was yet unable to suggest an adequate solution of the
difficulty by means of the prophetic conceptions hitherto revealed to him. Such a
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vision as this seems to presuppose a period of intense mental activity on the part of
Ezekiel, during which the despairing utterance of his compatriots sounded in his
ears; and the image of the dried bones of the house of Israel so fixed itself in his
mind that he could not escape its gloomy associations except by a direct
communication from above. When at last the hand of the Lord came upon him, the
revelation clothed itself in a form corresponding to his previous meditations; the
emblem of death and despair is transformed into a symbol of assured hope through
the astounding vision which unfolds itself before his inner eye.
In the ecstasy he feels himself led out in spirit to the plain which had been the scene
of former appearances of God to His prophet. But on this occasion he sees it covered
with bones-"very many on the surface of the valley, and very dry." He is made to
pass round about them, in order that the full impression of this spectacle of
desolation might sink into his mind. His attention is engrossed by two facts-their
exceeding great number, and their parched appearance, as if they had lain there
long. In other circumstances the question might have suggested itself, How came
these bones there? What countless host has perished here, leaving its unburied
bones to bleach and wither on the open plain? But the prophet has no need to think
of this. They are the bones which had been familiar to his waking thoughts, the dry
bones of the house of Israel. The question he hears addressed to him is not, Whence
are these bones? but, Can these bones live? It is the problem which had exercised his
faith in thinking of a national restoration which thus comes back to him in vision, to
receive its final solution from Him who alone can give it.
The prophet’s hesitating answer probably reveals the struggle between faith and
sight, between hope and fear, which was latent in his mind. He dare not say no, for
that would be to limit the power of Him whom he knows to be omnipotent, and also
to shut out the last gleam of hope from his own mind. Yet in presence of that
appalling scene of hopeless decay and death he cannot of his own initiative assert the
possibility of resurrection. In the abstract all things are possible with God; but
whether this particular thing, so inconceivable to men, is within the active purpose
of God, is a question which none can answer save God Himself. Ezekiel does what
man must always do in such a case-he throws himself back on God, and reverently
awaits the disclosure of His will, saying, "O Jehovah God, Thou Knowest."
It is instructive to notice that the divine answer comes through the consciousness of
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a duty. Ezekiel is commanded first of all to prophesy over these dry bones; and in
the words given him to utter the solution of his own inward perplexity is wrapped
up. "Say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of Jehovah Behold, I will cause
breath to enter into you, and ye shall live" (Ezekiel 37:4-5). In this way he is not
only taught that the agency by which Jehovah will effect His purpose is the
prophetic word, but he is also reminded that the truth now revealed to him is to be
the guide of his practical ministry, and that only in the steadfast discharge of his
prophetic duty can he hold fast the hope of Israel’s resurrection. The problem that
has exercised him is not one that can be settled in retirement and inaction. What he
receives is not a mere answer, but a message, and the delivery of the message is the
only way in which he can realise the truth of it: his activity as a prophet being
indeed a necessary element in the fulfilment of his words. Let him preach the word
of God to these dry bones, and he will know that they can live; but if he fails to do
this, he will sink back into the unbelief to which all things are impossible. Faith
comes in the act of prophesying.
Ezekiel did as he was commanded; he prophesied over the dry bones, and
immediately he was sensible of the effect of his words. He heard a rustling, and
looking he saw that the bones were coming together, bone to his bone. He does not
need to tell us how his heart rejoiced at this first sign of life returning to these dead
bones, and as he watched the whole process by which they were built up into the
semblance of men. It is described in minute detail, so that no feature of the
impression produced by the stupendous miracle may be lost. It is divided into two
stages, the restoration of the bodily frame and the imparting of the principle of life.
This division cannot have any special significance when applied to the actual nation,
such as that the outward order of the state must be first established, and then the
national consciousness renewed. It belongs to the imagery of the vision and follows
the order observed in the original creation of man as described in the second
chapter of Genesis. God first formed man of the dust of the ground, and afterwards
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, so that he became a living soul. So here
we have first a description of the process by which the bodies were built up, the
skeletons being formed from the scattered bones, and then clothed successively with
sinews and flesh and skin. The reanimation of these still lifeless bodies is a separate
act of creative energy, in which, however, the agency is still the word of God in the
mouth of the prophet. He is bidden call for the breath to "come from the four winds
of heaven, and breathe upon these slain that they may live." In Hebrew the words
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for wind, breath, and spirit are identical; and thus the wind becomes a symbol of the
universal divine Spirit which is the source of all life, while the breath is a symbol of
that Spirit as, so to speak, specialised in the individual man, or in other words of his
personal life. In the case of the first man Jehovah breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life, and the idea here is precisely the same. The wind from the four
quarters of heaven which becomes the breath of this vast assemblage of men is
conceived as the breath of God, and symbolises the life-giving Spirit which makes
each of them a living person. The resurrection is complete. The men live, and stand
up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.
This is the simplest, as well as the most suggestive, of Ezekiel’s visions, and carries
its interpretation on the face of it. The single idea which it expresses is the
restoration of the Hebrew nationality through the quickening influence of the Spirit
of Jehovah on the surviving members of the old house of Israel. It is not a prophecy
of the resurrection of individual Israelites who have perished. The bones are "the
whole house of Israel" now in exile; they are alive as individuals, but as members of
a nation they are dead and hopeless of revival. This is made clear by the explanation
of the vision given in Ezekiel 37:11-14. It is addressed to those who think of
themselves as cut off from the higher interests and activities of the national life. By a
slight change of figure they are conceived as dead and buried; and the resurrection
is represented as an opening of their graves. But the grave is no more to be
understood literally than the dry bones of the vision itself; both are symbols of the
gloomy and despairing view which the exiles take of their own condition. The
substance of the prophet’s message is that the God who raises the dead and calls the
things that are not as though they were is able to bring together the scattered
members of the house of Israel and form them into a new people through the
operation of His life-giving Spirit.
It has often been supposed that, although the passage may not directly teach the
resurrection of the body, it nevertheless implies a certain familiarity with that
doctrine on the part of Ezekiel, if not of his hearers likewise. If the raising of dead
men to life could be used as an analogy of a national restoration, the former
conception must have been at least more obvious than the latter, otherwise the
prophet would be explaining obscurum per obscurius. This argument, however, has
only a superficial plausibility. It confounds two things which are distinct-the mere
conception of resurrection, which is all that was necessary to make the vision
intelligible, and settled faith in it as an element of the Messianic expectation. That
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God by a miracle could restore the dead to life no devout Israelite ever doubted. (Cf.
1 Kings 17:1-24; 2 Kings 4:13 ff; 2 Kings 13:21.) But it is to be noted that the
recorded instances of such miracles are all of those recently dead; and there is no
evidence of a general belief in the possibility of resurrection for those whose bones
were scattered and dry. It is this very impossibility, indeed, that gives point to the
metaphor under which the people here express their sense of hopelessness.
Moreover, if the prophet had presupposed the doctrine of individual resurrection,
he could hardly have used it as an illustration in the way he does. The mere prospect
of a resuscitation of the multitudes of Israelites who had perished would of itself
have been a sufficient answer to the despondency of the exiles; and it would have
been an anti-climax to use it as an argument for something much less wonderful. We
must also bear in mind that while the resurrection of a nation may be to us little
more than a figure of speech, to the Hebrew mind it was an object of thought more
real and tangible than the idea of personal immortality.
It would appear therefore that in the order of revelation the hope of the resurrection
is first presented in the promise of a resurrection of the dead nation of Israel, and
only in the second instance as the resurrection of individual Israelites who should
have passed away without sharing in the glory of the latter days. Like the early
converts to Christianity, the Old Testament believers sorrowed for those who fell
asleep when the Messiah’s kingdom was supposed to be just at hand, until they
found consolation in the blessed hope of a resurrection with which Paul comforted
the Church at Thessalonica. [1 Thessalonians 4:13 ff} In Ezekiel we find that
doctrine as yet only in its more general form of a national resurrection; but it can
hardly be doubted that the form in which he expressed it prepared the way for the
fuller revelation of a resurrection of the individual. In two later passages of the
prophetic Scriptures we seem to find clear indications of progress in this direction.
One is a difficult verse in the twenty-sixth chapter of Isaiah-part of a prophecy
usually assigned to a period later than Ezekiel-where the writer, after a lamentation
over the disappointments and wasted efforts of the present, suddenly breaks into a
rapture of hope as he thinks of a time when departed Israelites shall be restored to
life to join the ranks of the ransomed people of God: "Let thy dead live again! Let
my dead bodies arise! Awake and rejoice, ye that dwell in the dust, for thy dew is a
dew of light, and the earth shall yield up [her] shades." {Isaiah 26:19] There does
not seem to be any doubt that what is here predicted is the actual resurrection of
individual members of the people of Israel to share in the blessings of the kingdom
of God. The other passage referred to is in the book of Daniel, where we have the
first explicit prediction of a resurrection both of the just and the unjust. In the time
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of trouble, when the people is delivered "many of them that sleep in the dust of the
earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting
contempt." [Daniel 12:2]
These remarks are made merely to show in what sense Ezekiel’s vision may be
regarded as a contribution to the Old Testament doctrine of personal immortality. It
is so not by its direct teaching, nor yet by its presuppositions, but by the
suggestiveness of its imagery; opening out a line of thought which under the
guidance of the Spirit of truth led to a fuller disclosure of the care of God for the
individual life, and His purpose to redeem from the power of the grave those who
had departed this life in His faith and fear.
But this line of inquiry lies somewhat apart from the main teaching of the passage
before us as a message for the Church in all ages. The passage teaches with striking
clearness the continuity of God’s redeeming work in the world, in spite of
hindrances which to human eyes seem insurmountable. The gravest hindrance, both
in appearance and in reality, is the decay of faith and vital religion in the Church
itself. There are times when earnest men are tempted to say that the Church’s hope
is lost and her bones are dried-when laxity of life and lukewarmness in devotion
pervade all her members, and she ceases to influence the world for good. And yet
when we consider that the whole history of God’s cause is one long process of
raising dead souls to spiritual life and building up a kingdom of God out of fallen
humanity, we see that the true hope of the Church can never be lost. It lies in the
life-giving, regenerating power of the divine Spirit, and the promise that the word of
God does not return to Him void but prospers in the thing whereto He sends it. That
is the great lesson of Ezekiel’s vision, and although its immediate application may be
limited to the occasion that called it forth, yet the analogy on which it is founded is
taken up by our Lord Himself and extended to the proclamation of His truth to the
world at large: "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice
of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live." (John 25; Cf. John 20:28-29). We
perhaps too readily empty these strong terms of their meaning. The Spirit of God is
apt to become a mere expression for the religious and moral influences lodged in a
Christian society, and we come to rely on these agencies for the dissemination of
Christian principles and the formation of Christian character. We forget that
behind all this there is something which is compared to the imparting of life where
there was none, something which is the work of the Spirit of which we cannot tell
whence it cometh and whither it goeth. But in times of low spirituality, when the
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love of many waxes cold, and there are few signs of zeal and activity in the service of
Christ, men learn to fall back in faith on the invisible power of God to make His
word effectual for the revival of His cause among men. And this happens constantly
in narrow spheres which may never attract the notice of the world. There are
positions in the Church still where Christ’s servants are called to labour in the faith
of Ezekiel, with appearances all against them, and nothing to inspire them but the
conviction that the word they preach is the power of God and able even to bring life
to the dead.
II.
The second half of the chapter speaks of a special feature of the national restoration,
the reunion of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel under one sceptre. This is
represented first of all by a symbolic action. The prophet is directed to take two
pieces of wood, apparently in the form of sceptres, and to write upon them
inscriptions dedicating them respectively to Judah and Joseph, the heads of the two
confederacies out of which the rival monarchies were formed. The "companions"
(Ezekiel 37:16)-i.e., allies-of Judah are the two tribes of Benjamin and Simeon; those
of Joseph are all the other tribes, who stood under the hegemony of Ephraim. If the
second inscription is rather more complicated than the first, it is because of the fact
that there was no actual tribe of Joseph. It therefore runs thus: "For Joseph, the
staff of Ephraim, and all the house of Israel his confederates." These two staves then
he is to put together so that they become one sceptre in his hand. It is a little difficult
to decide whether this was a sign that was actually performed before the people, or
one that is only imagined. It depends partly on what we take to be meant by the
joining of the two pieces. If Ezekiel merely took two sticks, put them end to end, and
made them look like one, then no doubt he did this in public, for otherwise there
would be no use in mentioning the circumstance at all. But if the meaning is, as
seems more probable, that when the rods are put together they miraculously grow
into one, then we see that such a sign has a value for the prophet’s own mind as a
symbol of the truth revealed to him, and it is no longer necessary to assume that the
action was really performed. The purpose of the sign is not merely to suggest the
idea of political unity, which is too simple to require any such illustration, but
rather to indicate the completeness of the union and the divine force needed to bring
it about. The difficulty of conceiving a perfect fusion of the two parts of the nation
was really very great, the cleavage between Judah and the North being much older
than the monarchy, and having been accentuated by centuries of political separation
38

and rivalry.
To us the most noteworthy fact is the steadfastness with which the prophets of this
period cling to the hope of a restoration of the northern tribes, although nearly a
century and a half had now elapsed since "Ephraim was broken from being a
people." [Isaiah 7:8] Ezekiel, like Jeremiah, is unable to think of an Israel which
does not include the representatives of the ten northern tribes. Whether any
communication was kept up with the colonies of Israelites that had been transported
from Samaria to Assyria we do not know, but they are regarded as still existing, and
still remembered by Jehovah. The resurrection of the nation which Ezekiel has just
predicted is expressly said to apply to the whole house of Israel, and now he goes on
to announce that this "exceeding great army" shall march to its land not under two
banners, but under one.
We have touched already, in speaking of the Messianic idea, on the reasons which
led the prophets to put so much emphasis on this union. They felt as strongly on the
point as a High Churchman does about the sin of schism, and it would not be
difficult for the latter to show that his point of view and his ideals closely resemble
those of the prophets. The rending of the body of Christ which is supposed to be
involved in a breach of external unity is paralleled by the disruption of the Hebrew
state, which violates the unity of the one people of Jehovah. The idea of the Church
as the bride of Christ is the same idea under which Hosea expresses the relations
between Jehovah and Israel, and it necessarily carries with it the unity of the people
of Israel in the one case and of the Church in the other. It must be admitted also
that the evils resulting from the division between Judah and Israel have been
reproduced, with consequences a thousand times more disastrous to religion, in the
strife and uncharitableness, the party spirit and jealousies and animosities, which
different denominations of Christians have invariably exhibited towards each other
when they were close enough for mutual interest. But granting all this, and granting
that what is called schism is essentially the same thing that the prophets desired to
see removed, it does not at once follow that dissent is in itself sinful, and still less
that the sin is necessarily on the side of the Dissenter. The question is whether the
national standpoint of the prophets is altogether applicable to the communion of
saints in Christ, whether the body of Christ is really torn asunder by differences in
organisation and opinion, whether, in short, anything is necessary to avoid the guilt
of schism beyond keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. The Old
Testament dealt with men in the mass, as members of a nation, and its standards
39

can hardly be adequate to the polity of a religion which has to provide for the
freedom of the individual conscience before God. At the worst the Dissenter may
point out that the Old Testament schism was necessary as a protest against tyranny
and despotism, that in this aspect it was sanctioned by the inspired prophets of the
age, that its undoubted evils were partly compensated by a freer expansion of
religious life, and finally that even the prophets did not expect it to be healed before
the millennium.
From the idea of the reunited nation Ezekiel returns easily to the promise of the
Davidic king and the blessings of the Messianic dispensation. The one people implies
one shepherd, and also one land, and one spirit to walk in Jehovah’s judgments and
to observe His statutes to do them. The various elements which enter into the
conception of national salvation are thus gathered up and combined in one picture
of the people’s everlasting felicity. And the whole is crowned by the promise of
Jehovah’s presence with the people, sanctifying and protecting them from His
sanctuary. This final condition of things is permanent and eternal. The sources of
internal dispeace are removed by the washing away of Israel’s iniquities, and the
impossibility of any disturbance from without is illustrated by the onslaught of the
heathen nations described in the following chapters.
PARKER, " Dry Bones
Ezekiel 37
All this is seen, not in literal reality, but in spiritual dream and vision. Again we ask
the question, What is reality? It may be that the things which we call real are not
things at all; they may be but transient and misleading shadows. Let us be careful
how we talk about reality. Vision is the larger life. A man is still a man in his
dreams. He may not be able to put them together well, or to read their enigmas
fluently and precisely; but they are still efforts of the mind, hints of sublime
possibility, indications that we are not walled in with stones, but limited by skies.
Let us, therefore, once more remind ourselves that reality is a term which has not
yet been exhaustively defined.
40

Ezekiel 37 commentary

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Ezekiel 37 commentary