Dry Bones
Ezekiel 37:1–14 NKJV
The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
So I answered, “O Lord God, You know.”
Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.” ’ ”
So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them.
Also He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” ’ ” So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.
Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!’ Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it,” says the Lord.’ ”
We now come to the 5th Sunday in Lent as we prepare for Holy Week and Easter Sunday. This is a season of reflection and repentance. It is a time where we as individuals and as local churches and larger groupings of churches take time to consider how faithful we have been to Jesus and to seek to remedy the faults we find. One of the things we consider is our sins and remember that it is our faith in Jesus which provides the basis of our hope. We also reflect that Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead. We reflect that all the evils which currently beset us shall end. We know with certainty that the day our faith shall be sight and we will live with Him forever. So how does this text from Ezekiel help us in our reflection?
Ezekiel the Prophet lived in difficult times for the Jewish nation. He was personally taken captive and removed to Babylon in probably was the first of three deportations which occurred between 606 BC and 586 BC. His first vision occurred in Babylon while the Temple still existed in Jerusalem. So, he sadly experienced the escalating catastrophe to his people from the outside, whereas Jeremiah records the sad end of Jerusalem from within. By the time of the third and last deportation, Jerusalem and Judaea appeared to be dead and without any hope. This does not mean that they were dead. Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel prophesy that there would be a return from exile. This passage from 37 speaks of this restoration.
Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones is well-known. There have been songs and poems about the experience. I can remember as a boy watching a TV show called the Munster’s that Herman took up playing the guitar “My toe bone is connected to my foot bone...” Somehow the recording of the song got to the studio and became a hit. The fame led to a change for the worse in Herman as fame got to his head. I suppose the moral to be learned by this fictional account is that pride and fame can be destructive, We can think of the Bible telling us that pride comes before a fall. But that is another sermon which has nothing to do with the text here.
The Jews who had been exiled to Babylon were despondent. This despondency is reflected in the mournful 137th Psalm in which the Babylonians mocked the Jews to sing one of their songs of Zion. This first led to refusal and then to anger where they prayed that the children of their captors might have their heads bashed upon the rocks of the riverbank. It might be also noted here that when restoration was offered by Cyrus the Persian (modern day Iran) that most of the Jews were quite content to remain in Babylon and only a committed few ever returned in several stages over many years. These Jews started out with great joy as recorded in the 126th Psalm, but even these were discouraged after a while and withed that the joy they had when they first hears that they could return would be restored. This should inform us that our personal zeal that we had when we received Christ might fade away either into the cares of this life or in despair. This is why we come to Lent. We need to renew this joy which motivates us. The returning exiles, generations later in Jerusalem had to be reminded by Ezra in the Book of Nehemiah that the “Joy of the LORD is our strength.”
The interpretation of this passage about the dry bones in Ezekiel is in the context of the restoration of Israel. Here, I say, Israel and not just Judah (Jews) Chapter 38 tells us about the bringing together of the stick of Joseph and the stick of Judah. The kingdom of Israel had been divided into two rival kingdoms after the death of Solomon. The Northern Kingdom, representing the stick of Joseph had been taken into Assyrian captivity more than a hundred years before. A few of them sought refuge in the Kingdom of Judah and a few others sent back with Pagans to the land of the Northern kingdom to tame the land and the wild animals. But the vast majority melted into the nations and lost their identity as Israelites. When they wanted to be just like the other nations, part of their punishment was to lose their special identity and to become Gentiles themselves.
When Judah returned from exiles, there was no reunion of the stick of Joseph and the stick of Judah. The Samaritans offer to help rebuild the Temple and restore Jerusalem was rebuffed. The Samaritans were of mixed blood and religion in the sight of the Jews. The Samaritans and others who were currently inhabiting the land conspired against the Jews in the rebuilding the walls. All the way to the times of Jesus, there was no reunion of Israel. This means that the full restoration of Israel seen by Ezekiel was for the end times.
The prophecy of Ezekiel 38 is not even complete in our day. Many make much of the return of Israel leading up to the establishment of the nation of Israel in 1948. But Ezekiel also tells us that in this restored kingdom that David would rule over them. This, obviously has not happened. Christians believe that Jesus is this greater David who will rule over this kingdom. This means that the Israelites which had become Gentiles would be restored with the descendants of Judah (Jews) and become the restored Israel. This promise is far greater than the modern concept of the modern conception of a greater Israel, of a land between the two great rivers. The promise is universal and not limited to such a small kingdom. Also, we see much violence in this land right now. Many of the inhabitants there deny that Jesus is Lord and the Son of God. I am no expert on eschatology, but a cursory view is that what we see now is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Ezekiel. At best it is a stepping stone. After all, the sovereign LORD rules over all.
Seeing that many of sincere faith as well as many insincere over history have tried to apply this prophecy as being fulfilled in their time, as well as many in our own time who disagree with each other, we should take caution in interpreting prophecy. We tend to spend too much time trying to solve the mysteries of prophecy and too little time being prophetic in the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We should learn from the Apostles themselves in the beginning of the Book of Acts where they asked whether when the Holy Spirit came upon the church that this kingdom would be restored, that Jesus rebuffed their question. Instead, He told them to concentrate upon being witnesses to Him, first in Jerusalem, then Judaea and Samaria, and then to the uttermost parts of the earth. the Kingdom is greater than Judah. It is greater than Judaea and Samaria. It goes to the uttermost parts of the earth. Believers in Jesus, wherever they might be from are the restored Israel. There can be no Israel apart from the Lord of the covenant. One cannot have identity as an Israelite apart from this identity with Jesus Christ. This is what the Bible teaches. One becomes an Israelite by faith in Jesus Christ. This is the greater Israel, spiritual kingdom of believes who wait in these tumultuous time for His return and setting up of the Eternal Kingdom.
We can learn much from this passage, even if we are fuzzy about how all the details work out. The text tells us that Ezekiel saw a large valley filled with dry bones. we also know that this valley was in Israel, and that the bones of those who were slain in battle, whose bodies were left to decompose. This valley could have been the Valley of Megiddo which runs between Mt. Carmel and Mt. Megiddo (Har-Megiddo in Hebrew and Armageddon on English). This might be true and fit in with the Battle of Armageddon in the Book of Revelation. But Ezekiel does not say this. Nor are we told that Ezekiel was physically there or saw this in a vision. We do know that to leave it was the greatest of insults to leave a dead bodied unburied. these slain were probably the bones of the losers in this battle. They would have been stripped of their armor and possessions and left naked to rot in the sun. This was Israel in Ezekiel’s day. the Northern Kingdom was long dead, and her sister Judah more recently so. The Bible tells us that were were formed from the dust of the ground, and that after we die, we return to the same dust. The bones were very dry, if one touched them, they would crumble into dust. Any evidence that these men ever lived was about to be destroyed. We don’t know who these soldiers were, on whose side they fought, and when. Israel was about to pass out of all memory, indistinguishable from the desert sand, the very desert sand that Abraham was told to number, which number was uncountable.
But what is important is not that we remember them, but that God never forgets. This was the last vestige of hope for Israel. If there was to be a restoration, it was entirely in the LORD’s hands, of which nothing is impossible. Ezekiel was told to speak to the bones and to prophesy to the wind. Ezekiel is asked if these dry bones could be brought back to life. Ezekiel affirmed that God know the answer. But Ezekiel showed that he believed because he obeyed the LORD and prophesied to the wind, At his word to the wind (the same Hebrew word can be translated “breath,” “wind,” or even “Spirit.” These bones and flesh came back together from the almost nothing to having flesh and blood, just like Adam was formed. Then the Spirit was breathed into them like the LORD breathed into the mouth of Adam and they became alive.
One can see that this can be thought of the united nation of Israel and Judah coming back from the dead. and to a degree, this happened when the exiles of Judah came back from Babylon. Perhaps, to a degree, this happened in 1948 as well. But this falls far short of what the prophet Isaiah prophesied that the lamb will lay down with the wolf. The swords have not been beaten into plowshares. Neither can this land be described as one in which people will learn war no more. It can’t be said that all will know the LORD from the least to the greatest. Many of these who identify as Israelites are Atheists. Other’s are Agnostics. Others might have a vague idea of God. Others believe in the God of Israel, but their views are distorted. Only a few believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Ultimately, the promise of this prophesy can only be properly understood as being fulfilled in the person and work of Christ. He is the promised David of Ezekiel 38. After He had suffered and died on the cross for our sins and was buried, He did what humans considered impossible. he rose from the dead in a resurrected body. Others who had been long dead in the tombs around Jerusalem rose also and came into town and were recognized. This truly shows that Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophesy of the dry bones. His body was not left naked on the cross to rot. His cursed body was given the dignity of burial and that in the tomb of a rich man. His body was not corrupted.
This firstfruit of the resurrection is our hope as He has promised to raise us up in a new body which cannot be corrupted. Everyone who believes in Him and His promise shall be resurrected and brought into the New Israel. Everyone else will be raised to find themselves in the lake of fire. This completed Israel which existed in shadow in the Old Testament and manifested in the New shall be the greater, or should I say “greatest Israel. We at Lent must reflect upon this truth and adjust our attitude and walk accordingly.
Another thing we contemplate is our mortality. We know that we will all face death. Some of us will die in this life and be honored like the rich man. Others will be forgotten to this world like Lazarus. There are those like those unfortunate soldiers in this valley which will not be given the dignity of burial, But, whoever we are/were in this life only matters and will certainly matter when we hear or don’t hear the words “enter thou into the joy of the Lord.” So whether we are at a good time in our lives or despondent. we know how it all ends. So let us be busy in the work we are called into, to win the world unto Him until that day.
