1By the resurrection of dry bones the revival of the lost hope of Israel is prefigured. 15By the uniting of two sticks is shewed the incorporation of Israel with Judah. 21Their blessings in union under Christ their king.
1THE 1hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the 2spirit of the LORD, and 3set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of 4bones,
1 See Ezek. 1 on verse 3.
2 That is, in a vision or trance. Or, it (the hand of the Lord) carried me out by the spirit of the LORD.
3 Hebr. caused me to rest.
4 Understand dry dead bones of people who were deceased, as follows. By this vision and the following sign of two pieces of wood God wanted to assure the fulfillment of the promises of grace, which are amply made in the previous chapters, both concerning the physical deliverance from Babel, and the spiritual redemption by the Messiah and the gathering of the catholic church out of Jews and Gentiles, all which surpassed the comprehension and power of man; to teach His people that it is as easy for Him (as the almighty God) to perform all these things as to raise and quicken dead men (whereof God here represents a lively pattern for the confirmation of the faith of His church) and to join two pieces of wood together.
2And 5caused me to pass by them 6round about: and, behold, there were very many in the 7open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.
5 Namely, by the Lord; otherwise the prophet may have had a natural fear from it, and been in fear of contracting ceremonial pollution.
6 Hebr. round about round about.
7 Hebr. face of the valley.
3And 8he said unto me, Son of man, 9can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, 10thou knowest.
8 The Lord.
9 As if God said: Is it possible that they would ever become alive again? Dost thou know any natural, conceivable means, counsel or power for it? Doth it seem a thing possible unto thee to be done by the skill and power of man? Compare this question with John 6:5, 6. Otherwise the article of the future universal resurrection of the dead was a point well-known, and without any doubt among the people of God. See Mat. 22:29, etc.; Heb. 11:13, 14, 35.
10 As if the prophet said: I know Thy power well, but what Thou at present intendest here by these bones and what Thou wilt do to them, this is best known to Thee, and is not revealed unto me by Thee; otherwise the prophet had in general the faith of the godly patriarchs; see Gen. 23 on verse 4; Gen. 50 on verse 25; Exod. 13:19; Isa. 26:19, etc.; without this believers would have been of all men most miserable, 1 Cor. 15:19. See further John 11:24.
4Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and 11say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
11 Compare this speech with Ezek. 14:17; 36:1 with the annotations. Likewise Rom. 4:17.
5Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause 12breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:
12 That is, the soul, into everyone’s body. Also verses 8 and 10. See Num. 16 on verse 22.
6And I will 13lay 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.
13 Hebr. give.
7So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a 14noise, and behold a 15shaking, and the bones came together, bone to 16his bone.
14 These were signs and messengers of the present majesty of God, of His powerful working, as in the sequel the wind was.
15 Or, stirring, trembling, moving. Other, earthquake, of which the Hebrew word is frequently used, but it is also used to signify other shakings, as Ezek. 38:19, 20; Nahum 3:2.
16 So that the very same bones, which in their lifetime had been together in each body, came together again in this vision; a lively representation of that which God will work at the resurrection of the dead.
8And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no 17breath in them.
17 As verse 5.
9Then said he unto me, 18Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four 19winds, O breath, and breathe 20upon these slain, that they may live.
18 That is, declare in My Name that I, by My Divine power, will bring the souls again into these dead bodies, etc. Some understand here by the word wind the spirit, and also in the following words of this text. Not that the wind can give or blow life or a soul into those who are dead; but that God is pleased to use the wind as a sign and messenger of His powerful working, because of the likeness that there is in some sort between the working of God and the power or efficacy of the wind, and between the blowing of the wind (whereof in the following words is spoken) and the blowing or breath which the soul produces and causes in the living. Compare John 20:22; Acts 2:2, etc.
19 That is, from the four corners or parts of the world. See Ezek. 5 on verse 10.
20 Or, blow into these slain.
10So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the 21breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an 22exceeding great army.
21 That is, the soul, as verse 5.
22 Hebr. very very.
11¶Then he said unto me, Son of man, 23these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, 24Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are 25cut off for our parts.
23 That is, they are a sign or representation of the house of Israel, or they signify that and their present condition in Babel.
24 There is as little hope of our deliverance from Babel and of our return into our own land as there is that dead, buried and rotten men and their dry and withered bones should live again. These speeches of unbelief and discomfort were the occasion, and show the scope of the former vision.
25 As branches which are cut off, and can draw no juice from the root, and therefore must necessarily perish.
12Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; 26Behold, 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.
26 God repeats here briefly the physical and spiritual promises that are made at large in the previous chapters, using to this end figurative phrases, taken from the previous vision, and from their own words.
13And 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,
14And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know 27that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.
27 Other, that I am the LORD. I have spoken it and will do it.
15¶The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
16Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one 28stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel 29his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for 30all the house of Israel his companions:
28 A little rod or a flat piece of wood. Compare Num. 17:2, etc.
29 Understand Benjamin and Levi. See 2 Chron. 11:12, 13.
30 Understand the ten tribes, which had held fast with Ephraim (as the strongest) and are often understood under that name.
1731And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
31 That is, bring them near and to one another, that they may become one.
18¶And when the 32children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us 33what thou meanest by these?
32 See Ezek. 3 on verse 11.
33 That is, what they mean or signify, and what thou intendest by them, what is hereby meant to be understood. See Ezek. 24:19.
19Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the 34stick of Joseph, which is in the 35hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be 36one in mine hand.
34 That is, Joseph’s posterity, or the Ephraimites with their adjoined tribes, which were together signified by this stick.
35 That is, belonged to the ten tribes, whereof Ephraim had formerly been the head.
36 As the division and enmity between Judah and Ephraim (of which Samaria was the capital) was as a representation of the two hostile parts or division of men, namely, Jews and Gentiles; thus was the uniting of them a representation or figure of the uniting of the catholic church, or of all the elect throughout the entire world, both of Jews and Gentiles, by one Spirit and one faith, under one Head, King and Savior, Who is our Lord Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah. Though now some of the ten tribes have joined themselves with Judah, and also went up together out of Babel (1 Chron. 9:3), yet the true spiritual union began in the time of the Lord Christ and of His apostles (se John 4:9, 21, 23, 35, 39, 41; Acts 2:9, 10, 11; 8:5, 14; 9:31), and is further continued among the Jews, and principally among the Gentiles, and shall last to the end of the world, until all the spiritual Israel is called, united and saved into one body and one church in the hand of God (that is, in the Lord Christ, Who is herein the Father’s Servant, into Whose hand He has delivered all things, and to Whom He draws all the elect). See Mat. 28:19; Acts 1:8; Rom. 11:25, 26; Eph. 2:13, etc.
20¶And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand 37before their eyes.
37 As the prophets were often commanded to represent lively and as in fact to set before the eyes of the people what was revealed to them of God. Compare Jer. 27:2, etc.; Ezek. 12:3, 4, etc. with the annotations.
21And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will 38take the children of Israel 39from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own 40land:
38 As Ezek. 36:24.
39 Or, from between.
40 The spiritual Canaan, Jerusalem, Mount Zion, that is, into the church of God, first the militant, and thereafter the triumphant church (see Gal. 4:25, 26; Heb. 12:22), represented by the earthly Canaan, in which God first brought again the Jews out of Babel.
22And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and onea41king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be 42divided into two kingdoms any more at all:
a John 10:16.
41 The Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ.
42 Hebr. as if one said: be halved.
23Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their 43idols, nor with their 44detestable things, nor with 45any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they 46have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.
43 See Lev. 26 on verse 30.
44 See Ezek. 20 on verse 7.
45 Or, all.
46 Namely, in Babel, Egypt, etc. See Jer. 44:8; Ezek. 14:3; 20:30, 39, etc.
24And David myb47servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one 48shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.
b Isa. 40:11; Jer. 30:9; Ezek. 34:23.
47 See Ezek. 34:23.
48 See John 10:16.
25And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.
26Moreover I will make a 49covenantc of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will 50place them, and multiply them, and will set my 51sanctuaryd in the midst of them for evermore.
49 See Ezek. 34:25.
c Psalm 89:3; Ezek. 34:25.
50 Bring them in, place them, and cause them to abide and to remain in My church. Hebr. give.
51 This manner of speech is taken from the state and condition of the Old Testament (as elsewhere often), signifying the gracious indwelling of God among and in His church by His Word, Sprit, favor and blessing. See Lev. 26:12; 1 Cor. 3:16; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:21, 22; Rev. 21:3
d 2 Cor. 6:16.
27My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God,e and they shall be my people.
e Ezek. 11:20; 14:11.
28And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do 52sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.
52 See Ezek. 20:12.