Ezekiel 37 – 42
Chapter 37 brings the story of The Valley of Dry Bones. In a nutshell Ezekiel is placed in a valley of dead soldiers, dead so long their bones are clean and dry. Then God has Ezekiel speak over the bones in verses 37:4 & 5:
4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. 5 Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.
Some imply this really happened, while others believe it’s a vision. I tend to side of the vision part since it seems farfetched to have a valley full of bones all revert back to living men. Not saying God could not do this, but saying it’s unlikely. I feel this was more a vision of how God was going to bring Israel back than an actual event.
Now as for the prophecy, we need to determine if this happened and when. I love it when a prophecy comes together, to steal a line for the A-Team. Well a look through history and this appears to have been given to Israel while in Exile in Babylon. It appear the nation returns from exile and sort of rebuilds with Zerubbabel. Although this is the most logical time the nation never really becomes powerful again.
It’s not until 1948 when the UN gave the Jewish people Israel that this prophecy seems to be getting some teeth. Think about it, until now the “nation” of Israel had no teeth. They were not mighty warriors are Ezekiel said. This actually ties into the next prophecy.
The next vision of the stick parts representing the various Jewish nations. Verse 37:19 has God providing more imagery for the people of Israel:
say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am about to take the stick of Joseph (that is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with him. And I will join with it the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, that they may be one in my hand.
Ezekiel’s “stick” prophecy has the nations of Judah and Israel joined again. Now if one is to apply this to Zerubbabel they could since although he was “governor” of Judah, it appears the nations have joined together. Again one could easily apply this to the 1948 UN resolution and the fact Israel is now a joined power bordered by nations all with the expressed desire to wipe Israel off the map. For over 50 years the nation of Israel has been steadfast solid and been able to defend their ground over insurmountable odds.
The next two chapters deal with prophecy of the nations of Gog and Mangog. These prophecies tie into Revelations quite well and would take some time to parse and decode. But consider these two nations were the ones who routed Israel and God is restoring from this. Revelations is these two nations coming back together to signify the “End Times”. Since Israel is restored afterwards, I again assume this reflects the 1948 UN resolution.
Now the remainder of the reading talks about the temple and the details of its floor plan. I have a difficult time understanding this and again try to find significance to today’s world. But it appears to be the guide Zerubbabel used to rebuild the temple and not some significance to today. Unless Israel plans on rebuilding the temple and then the ties to Revelations will be complete. Interesting!!