Ezekiel 37:2

And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. LO, THEY WERE VERY DRY - bleached by long exposure to the atmosphere....

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....

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 ...

AND CAUSED ME TO PASS BY THEM ROUND ABOUT,.... ROUND, ROUND s; several times round, that he might take exact notice of them, of their number, situation, and condition: AND, BEHOLD, THERE WERE VERY MANY IN THE OPEN VALLEY; as the Jews were in captivity; and as they will be when they shall be converted; and as the number of Christians will be in the spiritual reign of Christ; and as the dead will be at the time of their resurrection, both of the just and unjust: AND, LO, THEY WERE VERY DRY; through length of time they had lain there, exposed to wind and weather; the flesh being wholly consumed from off of them, and the marrow within quite dried up; so that there was no probability or hope, humanly speaking, of their being quickened: these are a fit emblem of men in a state of nature and unregeneracy, who have no spiritual life, but are dead in trespasses and sins; have no sense of sin o...

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....

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

ROUND ABOUT. on every side. Hebrew. _sabib sabib_. on this side and on that side. Figure of speech _Epizeuxis_ (App-6), for emphasis. BEHOLD... LO. Figure of speech _Asterismos_. (App-6), calling special attention to that which was seen....

The vision of Israel's resurrection from the dead The vision seems suggested by the saying current among the people, "our bones are dried, our hope is lost; we are wholly cut off." This idea and feeling of the people takes form in the vision which the prophet saw in the valley. The language of the people is figurative: they speak of the nationality, which is no more, it is dead and its bones scattered and dry. And this idea regarding the nationality, figuratively expressed by the people, is embodied to the prophet in a vision. Hence the passage is not a literal prophecy of the resurrection of individual persons of the nation, dead or slain; it is a prophecy of the resurrection of the nation, whose condition is figuratively expressed by the people when they represent its bones as long scattered and dry. Perfect consistency is not maintained by the prophet: in Ezekiel 37:1 the dry bones a...

DISCOURSE: 1120 UNIVERSAL RESTORATION OF THE JEWS 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 teas full of bones, and caused vie to pass by them, round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knottiest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live. And I will lay 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_. WHILST the Jews at large, and the generality of Ch