| THE DRY BONES LIVE |
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| Here, Ezekiel continues to prophesy the outpouring of the holy spirit on the Spiritual Israel, in the end times. The second half of this Chapter prophecies the unity of “Israel,” but it must also carry the meaning expressed in Ezekiel Chapter 34, the fulfillment of Jesus’ prayer, that all believers would have one “King” over them. |
| 1 The hand of Yihvah was on me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of Yihvah, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. 2 He caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, behold, they were very dry. |
| Ezek 37:2 very dry – God’s people are very dry. |
| 3 He said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? I answered, Adonai Yihvah, you know. 4 Again he said to me, Prophesy over these bones, and tell them, you dry bones, hear the word of Yihvah. |
| Ezek 37:3 can these bones live? – it seems incredulous to all that they can be revived. |
| 5 Thus says Adonai Yihvah to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. 6 I will lay sinews on you, and will bring up flesh on you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am Yihvah. |
| Ezek 37:5 I will cause breath to enter you – the spirit of God will revive spiritual Israel. |
| 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and, behold, an earthquake; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 I saw, and, behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh came up, and skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them. |
| Ezek 37:8 but there was no breath in them – they are completely devoid of the spirit of God. |
| 9 Then said he to me, Prophesy to the wind, prophesy, son of man, and tell the wind, Thus says Adonai Yihvah: Come from the four winds, breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live. 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up on their feet, an exceeding great army. |
| Ezek 37:9 the four winds of heaven – wind and Spirit are the same Hebrew word, RUAH. Whenever, we see this expression it refers to an event of great spiritual importance. The Antichrist came out of the Four Winds, in Daniel Chapters 7 and 8; the end days Sanctified Church came out of the four winds in Zech 6:5, this describes the same event. Ezek 37:10 an exceedingly great army – which we can see in Rev 14:1-5, the 144,000, the Sanctified Church, the spiritual Israel. |
| 11 Then he said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are clean cut off. 12 Therefore prophesy, and tell them, Thus says the Adonai Yihvah: Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, my people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 You shall know that I am Yihvah, when I have opened your graves, and caused you to come up out of your graves, my people.14 I will put my Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land: and you shall know that I, Yihvah, have spoken it and performed it, says Yihvah. |
| Ezek 37:13 I will open your graves – the meaning of this vision is repeated and summarized. |
| 15 The word of Yihvah came again to me, saying, 16 You, son of man, take one stick, and write on it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write on it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and [for] all the house of Israel his companions: 17 and join them for you one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. 18 When the children of your people shall speak to you, saying, Will you not show us what you mean by these? 19 tell them, Thus says the Adonai Yihvah: Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his companions; and I will put them with it, [even] with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in my hand. 20 The sticks whereon you write shall be in your hand before their eyes. 21 Say to them, Thus says the Adonai Yihvah: Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, where they are gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: 22 and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all; and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all; 23 neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will save them out of all their dwelling-places, in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God. |
| Ezek 37:22 one nation – Israel will be reunited in the last days; in the first Century, the Jewish historian Josephus wrote, “the ten tribes are beyond the Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude and not to be estimated in numbers” (Josephus, Flavius. Antiquites. p. 11:133). The reuniting of the tribes of Israel is a significant prophecy. However, we must also read the spiritual message, that the saints will be united under one King. Hosea and Zechariah refer to the New Covenant saints as Jezreel “scattered” – see Zech 1:21, and Hos 2:22, only to be reunited by the true Gospel, and the outpouring of the holy spirit in the end times. |
| 24 My servant David shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my ordinances, and observe my statutes, and do them. |
| Ezek 37:24 David My Servant shall be king – meaning Christ, as it does in Hos 3:5, and other passages. |
| 25 They shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob my servant, in which your fathers lived; and they shall dwell therein, they, and their children, and their children’s children, forever: and David my servant shall be their prince for ever. |
| Ezek 37:25 David shall be their captain forever – the Hebrew word here is “nasiy” meaning leader, or ruler, or prince. This same word “prince” is used to describe the place for Christ in the temple, beginning in Ezek 44:3. |
