CHAPTER XXXVII _This chapter treats of the same subject with the preceding, in_ _a beautiful and significant vision. Under the emblem of the_ _open valley being thickly strewed with very dry bones is_ _represented the hopeless state of the Jews when dispersed_ _throughout the provinces of the C... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 37:3. _CAN THESE BONES LIVE?_] Is it possible that the persons whose bones these are can return to life?... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 37:4. _PROPHESY UPON THESE BONES_]; Declare to your miserable countrymen the gracious designs of the Lord; show them that their state, however deplorable, is not hopeless.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 37:5. _BEHOLD, I WILL CAUSE BREATH_] רוח _ruach_ signifies both _soul, breath_, and _wind_; and sometimes the _Spirit of God_. _Soul_ is its proper meaning in this vision, where it refers to the bones: "I will cause the SOUL to enter into you.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 37:6. _I WILL LAY SINEWS UPON YOU_] Observe the progress: 1. Here are the _bones_. 2. The _ligaments_, called here _sinews_, are to be added in order to _unite_ the bones, that the _skeleton_ might be complete. 3. The _flesh_ (the whole _muscular system_, the _subjacent_ and _superj... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 37:9. _PROPHESY UNTO THE WIND_] רוח _ruach_. Address thyself to the _soul_, and command it to enter into these well-organized bodies, that they may live. _COME FROM THE FOUR WINDS_] SOULS, _come from all parts_ where ye are scattered; and reanimate these bodies from; which ye have bee... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 37:11. _THESE BONES ARE THE WHOLE HOUSE OF ISRAEL_] That is, their state is represented by _these bones_; and their restoration to their own land is represented by the _revivification_ of these bones.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 37:12. _I WILL OPEN YOUR GRAVES_] Here is a pointed allusion to the _general resurrection_; a doctrine properly credited and understood by the Jews, and to which our Lord refers, John 5:25; John 5:28: "The hour is coming when they that are in their graves shall hear his voice, and come... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 37:13. _WHEN I HAVE OPENED YOUR GRAVES_] When I shall have done for you what was _beyond_ your _hope_, and deemed _impossible_, then shall ye know that I am _Jehovah_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 37:14. _AND SHALL PUT MY SPIRIT_] רוחי _ruchi_. Here רוח _ruach_ is taken for the _Holy Ghost_. They were _living souls,_ _animal_ and _intellectual beings_, when they had received their souls, as mentioned above: but they could only become _spiritual,_ _holy_, and _obedient_ creatures... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 37:16. _SON OF MAN, TAKE THEE ONE STICK_] The _two sticks_ mentioned in this symbolical transaction represented, as the text declares, the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah, which vere formed in the days of Rehoboam, and continued distinct till the time of the captivity. The kingdom of... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 37:19. _THE STICK OF JOSEPH, WHICH_ IS _IN THE HAND OF EPHRAIM_] Jeroboam, the first king of the ten tribes, was an _Ephraimite_. _Joseph_ represents the ten tribes in general; they were in the hand of _Ephraim_, that is, _under the government of Jeroboam_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 37:22. _I WILL MAKE THEM ONE NATION_] There was no distinction after the return from Babylon. _AND ONE KING SHALL BE KING TO THEM ALL_] Politically speaking they never had a _king_ from that day to this; and the grand junction and government spoken of here must refer to another time -... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 37:24. _AND DAVID MY SERVANT_ SHALL BE _KING_] That this refers to _Jesus Christ_, see proved, Ezekiel 34:23.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 37:25. _THE LAND THAT I HAVE GIVEN UNTO JACOB MY SERVANT_] Jacob means here the _twelve tribes_; and the _land given to them_ was the whole land of _Palestine_; consequently, the promise states that, when they return, they are to possess the whole of the _Promised Land_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 37:26. _COVENANT OF PEACE_] See this explained Ezekiel 34:25.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 37:27. _MY TABERNACLE_] Jesus Christ, the true tabernacle, in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.... [ Continue Reading ]