Examining The Scripture CXIX: Ezekiel Prophesies To A Tough Crowd

Ezekiel 37:1-14 is the vision of “The Valley of Dry Bones”. Ezekiel is in the Spirit and is taken to a valley that was full of bones. The Lord led him around among them, and there were very many on the surface of the valley, and they were very dry. Then the Lord asks Ezekiel, "Son of man, can these bones live?" Ezekiel’s reply is respectful and accurate, "O Lord GOD, you know." God then commands Ezekiel to prophesy over the bones:

(a) God would cause breath to enter the bones, and they would live again.

(b) God would reconstitute them sinew and flesh and cover them again with skin

There was a then a sound, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. There were then sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. Then God again said to Ezekiel "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 Ezekiel did as he was commanded and breath came into them (a la Adam in Genesis 2) and they lived and stood on their feet in an exceedingly great army.

We reach verse 11 and a explanation of this exceedingly strange vision. We find that these bones are the whole house of Israel. At the moment during the time of Ezekiel, Israel is essentially dead. No land, no city, no nothing. A valley of dry bones with no life…as with anything God is involved with, an appearance or insinuation of impossibility is not deterrent for an omnipotent God nor should it be a deterrent for one of His faithful. Although hope is currently lost and Israel is indeed cutoff , the Lord has Ezekiel prophesy that the Lord would “open Israel’s graves and raise them from their graves. He would put the Spirit, His Spirit within them and they would live and He would place them back in their own land so that they would know that He is the LORD. Because He had spoken it, He would do it.

We must remember that there was probably a sense of despair with the Israelites. They probably felt as “dead men” with no future. The image of many “dry” bones in the desert indicated that these bones (Israel) had been there for a long time drying in the desert sun. Ezekiel’s vision was of a people that would spend a long time in the desert before being reborn. God essentially told Ezekiel to preach to a pile of dry dead bones…and as the Word is preached we he rattling and clanking like the sound of bowling pins and dried sticks banging together. God’s Word brought them back to life like a decaying in reverse. First sinew, then flesh, then skin and finally the breath of life from God called from the four winds.

In Addendum: I see no direct parallels to the New Testament resurrection of Jesus in this passage. I believe to interpret this passage as such is to read too much into the exegetical unit. I believe this is solely an imagery of hope to an exiled people that have been promised that they will be restored. There is a reference here that relates to Jesus but it is not directly related to the Resurrection, only indirectly. When God told Ezekiel to prophesy to the wind the word for wind would’ve been [Strongs H7307: ruwach or rauch in Hebrew, meaning breath/ exhalation (from God) or spirit/Spirit. This is used by Jesus when speaking with Nicodemus about the blowing of the wind and the new birth through the Spirit in John 3:5-8.

Craigie, Peter C.. "The Valley of Dry Bones." Ezekiel (Daily Study Bible (Westminster Hardcover)). Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1983. 259-260. Print.