Ezekiel 37 Commentary (a running post)

So?

Ezekiel looked down and preached upon the bones in the valley and they became human bodies. It's almost hard to remember that this is a vision right? It seems real, like we are right there with the prophet.

First? What he had to say to the dry bones was that God would bring them to life, and he would do so in his way, a way that is never wrong or never fails. This is what the Lord God Almighty says to these bones. You shall live! Ezekiel 37:5, "This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life", and again, Ezekiel 37:6, "I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord." They will live, he will make them alive. He will clothe them with skin and flesh just as he did at first, Job 10:10-12, "Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese, clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews? You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit. He that made us, can in like manner make us new again.

Second? That which was done for them was they were molded into a new shape. It's all about foreshadowing whats coming. 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" How do you think Ezekiel preached to these bones? Do you think he may have been subdued? Somber? Soft? Muted? Or do you think he preached with great liveliness and vigor? I'd go with the later :-). Particularly when he saw what he said begin to take effect. Can you imagine? Seeing the first bone rattle around moving? Then another, and another, and another? I imagine the more the bones starting moving into place the louder and more animated Ezekiel became. There was noise right? There had to be. A word of command perhaps from heaven itself, seconding what the prophet was saying or the noise may have signified the motion of angels that were to be employed as the ministers of the Divine Providence in the deliverance of Gods people. We can read of the noise of their wings, Ezekiel 1:24: "And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings." And the sound of their going, 2 Samuel 5:24, "As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the poplar trees, move quickly, because that will mean the Lord has gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army.” And so what happens here? A shaking, a commotion among the dry bones. Noise. Even dead and dry bones begin to move when they are called to hear the word of the Lord. Hear that preachers and ministers? :-) This was fulfilled when Cyrus proclaimed liberty, those spirits God had stirred up began to think of making use of that liberty and getting ready to be gone. Get it together Lucy, were going home sweetheart! 2 Chronicles 36:23, "This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: "The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you – may the LORD their God be with them, and let them go up." (Side note, Cyrus, the king of Persia is the only non-Jew God put his righteousness on in the Old Testament. Isaiah 45:13, "I will raise up Cyrus in my righteousness: I will make all his ways straight. He will rebuild my city and set my exiles free, but not for a price or reward, says the Lord Almighty.”). Back to the point being made. There was a noise. There was a noise when David heard the sound of the goings on in the tops of the mulberry trees. Paul heard a voice saying "Why are you persecuting me?" What was it? It was a noise, a metaphoric shaking of the dry bones, he trembled and was astonished. But this isn't all of it. The bones came together under divine direction. Even though there are 206 bones in the human body, of all the bones of all the slain in this valley, not one was missing, not one missed its place, not one went on a path it wasn't supposed to, almost by intuition, each bone knew and found it's fellow. Isaiah 34:16, "Look in the scroll of the Lord and read: None of these will be missing, not one will lack her mate. For it is his mouth that has given the order, and his Spirit will gather them together." The dispersed bones (Remember the bones represent the Jewish people or nation in this vision, or the people of God in a larger context) came together and they were knit together, the divine power supplying that to these dry bones which in a living body every joint supplies. Tell me this isn't how it will be in the resurrection. The scattered atoms will be arranged and marshaled in their proper place and order and every proper connection made and by the same wisdom and power by which our bones were first formed in the womb, a physical body will become a spiritual one. Amen? 1 Corinthians 15:44, "They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies." This is how it was in the return of the Jews, those that were scatted in several parts of the providence of Babylon, they came to their respective families, and all were in agreement to the general rendezvous, in order to facilitate their return home. Sinews and flesh came upon these bones, Ezekiel 37:8 "I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them but there was no breath in them.". This is fulfilled when the captives got their effects about them and the men of their place helped them with silver, and gold and whatever they needed for their journey. Ezra 1:4, "And in any locality where survivors may now be living, the people are to provide them with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem." But still there was no breath in them; they wanted spirit and courage for such a difficult and hazardous task as this, returning to their own land, their home.


So what happens?
Ezekiel then looked up and prophesied to the wind, or breath, or spirit, and said, Come, O breath! and breathe upon these slain. Because now we just have a bunch of dead bodies right? But Gods work is perfect. He is not the God of the dead but of the living. Mark 12:27. "He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living..." Therefore breathe upon these that they may live. In answer to this request? The breath immediately came into them. Ezekiel 37:10 "So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army." The spirit of life is from God and God alone. He breathed life into man at his creation, Genesis 2:7, "Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being." And he will again in our resurrection. Revelation 1:8, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." I imagine the dispirited, despondent, depressed, dispersed people of Israel were suddenly wonderfully animated, with resolution, resolve and determination to break through all their discouragements and obstacles that lay in their way of , and on their return home and applied themselves to it with all imaginable vigor. So they stood on their feet, not just put back together and given life, but now they are an exceedingly great army. Ezekiel 37:10 "...they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army." They're an army because they aren't just going home. They're going to rebuild GOD's temple as well. They are not only living people now, but effective ones, fit for service in Gods spiritual wars, and formidable to all that gave or will give them any opposition, brought back to life from being what? From being dispirited, despondent, depressed, dispersed. Sound familiar to anybody yet?

It's an accident I'm sitting here writing this right now, at this particular moment in my life right? Okay, sure, I keep saying, the people that believe that? They got more faith than I do, cause there just isn't any way any of this is an accident :-).

Love you Lucy.