Ezekiel 37:1

The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, Three stages in Israel's revival present themselves to the prophet's eye: (1) The new awakening of the people, the resurrection of the dead (Ezekiel 37:1). (2) The re-union of the formerly hostile members of the community, whose contentions had affected the whole (Ezekiel 37:15). (3) The community thus restored is strong enough to withstand the assault of Gog, etc. (Ezekiel 38:1; Ezekiel 39:1.) (Ewald.)...

1-14 No created power could restore human bones to life. God alone could cause them to live. Skin and flesh covered them, and the wind was then told to blow upon these bodies; and they were restored to life. The wind was an emblem of the Spirit of God, and represented his quickening powers. The vision was to encourage the desponding Jews; to predict both their restoration after the captivity, and also their recovery from their present and long-continued dispersion. It was also a clear intimation of the resurrection of the dead; and it represents the power and grace of God, in the conversion of the most hopeless sinners to himself. Let us look to Him who will at last open our graves, and bring us forth to judgment, that He may now deliver us from sin, and put his Spirit within us, and keep us by his power, through faith, unto salvation....

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 Chaldean empire. But God,_ _contrary to every human probability, restores these bones to_ _life, thereby prefiguring the restoration of that people from_ _the Babylonish captivity, and their resettlement in the land of_ _their forefathers_, 1-14....

THE VALLEY - The same word as “the plain” Ezekiel 3:22; Ezekiel 8:4. The “dry bones” represented the Israelites dispersed abroad, destitute of life national and spiritual....

EXPOSITION This chapter embraces, in its earlier section (Ezekiel 37:1), the concluding portion of the "word of God" begun at Ezekiel 36:16; in its later section (Ezekiel 36:15), an additional "word," to which the former naturally leads. The earlier, under the figure of a resurrection of dry bones, beheld by the prophet in vision, describes the political and religious reawakening of Israel; in the later is depicted, by means of a symbolic action, the reunion of its two branches. The first divides itself into two parts—the vision (Ezekiel 36:1) and its interpretation ...

THE HAND OF THE LORD WAS UPON ME,.... The Spirit of the Lord, a powerful impulse of his upon the prophet; the Targum interprets it a spirit of prophecy; Ezekiel 1:3: AND CARRIED ME OUT IN THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD: out of the place where he was to another; not really, but visionally, as things appeared to him, and as they were represented to his mind by the Spirit of God: AND SET ME DOWN IN THE MIDST OF THE VALLEY WHICH WAS FULL OF BONES: of men, as the Targum adds: this valley, Kimchi thinks, was the same by the river Chebar, where the prophet had his visions at first. R. Jochanan says it was the valley of Dura, and these the bones of them that were slain by Nebuchadnezzar there, Daniel 3:1. Rab says these were the children of Ephraim, slain by the men of Gath,...

Ezekiel 37:1. _The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD,_ God's servants learn nothing until they have an experience similar to that of Ezekiel. They must be led by the Spirit of the Lord, and they must have their eyes and mouths opened by him, and then they can both see the vision, and tell the vision to others. Ezekiel 37:1. _And set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,_ Like a huge grave, or charnel-house, or battle-field where the slain had not been buried. No servant of God would go without being sent to such a place, yet it was needful that Ezekiel should be there in order that he might understand and speak the message of God....

BONES Having announced (Ezekiel 36:24) the restoration of the nation, Jehovah now gives in vision and symbol the method of its accomplishment. (Ezekiel 37:11) gives the clue. The "bones" are the whole house of Israel who shall then be living. The "graves" are the nations where they dwell. The order of procedure is: (1) the bringing of the people out (Ezekiel 37:12); (Ezekiel 37:19). (2) the bringing of them in (Ezekiel 37:12); (3) their conversion ...

CHAPTER S 37-48 The Future Blessings of Israel, the Nation Regathered, Their Enemies Overthrown, the Millennial Temple, and the Division of the Land _ 1. The vision of the dry bones and Judah and Israel reunited (Ezekiel 37:1) _ 2. Gog and Magog and their destruction (Ezekiel 38:1; Ezekiel 39:1) 3. The millennial temple, its worship, and the division of the land (Ezekiel 40:1; Ezekiel 41:1; Ezekiel 42:1;...

THE RESURRECTION OF THE PEOPLE. Those fair ideals, however, cannot abolish the melancholy reality. The truth is that the exiled people are as good as dead and in their graves (Ezekiel 37:11 f.). Over their despondent words the imagination of Ezekiel broods till once, in an ecstatic mood (Ezekiel 37:1), he seemed to see a valley filled with bones, multitudinous, dry, and loosely scattered for they have not even the coherence of skeletons so that there seemed no promise or possibility of life. He hears a Divine voice it is the voice of his own heart asking, Can these bones live? and gradually it is borne in upon him that the resuscitation of the national life is not beyond the power of God. If the breath of the Divine life be breathed through it, then the people may yet rise to their feet. It is of deep sign