Rev. Rob Jones
May 19, 2024

Ezekiel 37:1-14 NRSVue
The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. 3 He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6 I will lay sinews on you and will cause flesh to come upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”
7 So I prophesied as I had been commanded, and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them, but there was no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” 10 I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.
11 Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves and bring you up from your graves, O my people, and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 And you shall know that I am the Lord when I open your graves and bring you up from your graves, O my people. 14 I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord.”

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
Open our hearts and minds by the power of your Spirit, Holy God, so that
we might hear and receive the message you intend for us today. Amen.

The book of Ezekiel begins with the throne of Yahweh being moved from the temple in Jerusalem to Babylon. This imagery is a visual reflection of the concerns of the exiled people dealing with the loss of their land, temple, and nation. Ezekiel firmly believes that the people are to blame for the destruction that God brought upon them. Throughout the book, Ezekiel repeatedly justifies God's decision to punish Israel for continuously making bad choices. This is evident in chapter 18. Therefore, the shift to hope, in the form of restoration, in the forewarnings of Ezekiel 34 and 36 comes as a surprise in the context of the book.

It's important to note that restoration is possible only because of God, regardless of any good or bad actions the people may have committed. Also, I believe, based on the tone of the text, that God's decision to restore people is not rooted in love or emotion but in God's desire to demonstrate power. Christians hold Ezekiel 37:1-14 dear because it seems to support the Christian doctrine of resurrection, at least poetically. But is that really what it depicts?

This text does not depict a personal rebirth as much as a restoration of the people of Israel to the land of Israel. When God leads Ezekiel with God's own hand, or the Hebrew “Yad,” which can also mean power, to the valley of the Dry Bones, the fate of the people appears to have been sealed in the vision. Ezekiel sees the bones of his people lying desiccated and exposed in the valley, and this is the equivalent of a tour of hell.

The tragedy here is not merely that these formerly living, breathing humans will never again have life, but that their bones are lying in a heap in some unnamed Babylonian valley, uncared for and haphazardly dispersed outside of a family tomb. In the Old Testament, A fulfilled life concludes with one's descendants gathering one's bones into a collective repository, a family tomb, so they may “sleep with the Fathers” to be revered and remembered as the ancestors of the living. This vision would have seemed an outrage to the ancient audience reading Ezekiel's vision.

This outrage would highlight the deep connection between people and their homeland and emphasize something that many Christians in the West have been conditioned to overlook - the importance of place. (Although we understand it at a fundamental level, “my house, my land”). For ancient people whose identities were shaped by a specific landscape, place was integral to who they were. The idea that an Israelite's afterlife could exist outside of their land would be like picturing a vision of heaven without a loved one present. For many, this would not be a hopeful view of the afterlife.

Look at the description of the valley in verse 2; the Hebrew shows a disconnected attempt to capture the stammering, horrifying incompleteness of this vision. In this one verse, there are three repeated words: "around” (sabib, sabib), "look” (hinneh, hinneh), and "very” (meꜥod, meꜥod). In response to God's question about whether the dead are truly dead, Ezekiel stammers, "My Lord, you know." The additional second-person pronoun "you" here could be used to emphasize God’s power over Ezekiel, but it could also express that Ezekiel is both dumbfounded and defeated. Something along the lines of “God only knows!”

The message in verse 5 reveals that God will bring breath (ruakh) into the bones, and the bones will live. This is reminiscent of the creation story in Genesis 1, where the spirit hovers over the waters, bringing form and shape to the formless primordial world. The breath of God will transform the formless bones and bring order, forming a living people. It also recalls Genesis 2, where Yahweh breathes the breath, ruakh, into the creature Adam, shaping it from the dirt in order to animate it (giving Adam a soul). There is a lot of emotional symbolism, as Ezekiel reminds the reader of God’s awesome power over creation and destruction.

Ultimately, Ezekiel 37 is about God's creative power and His decision to bring breath and life into lifeless places and breathless people. Ezekiel's prophecy in this vision is like an excited prayer, calling on the Spirit to breathe life into the lifeless bodies. In verse 5, it speaks of breath and life, and in verse 6, it mentions sinews, flesh, and skin. Even before Ezekiel finishes speaking, he begins to hear a noise, which is translated as "rattling" (other translations render it as "wrestling"). Still, the sound seems to be more closely associated with the thundering noise of an earthquake as the word is used in other OT stories (1 Kings 19, Isaiah 29, Zachariah 14), or the clamor of an approaching army (as in Isaiah 9, Jeremiah 47, and Nahum 3).

The bones on the battlefield thunder as they come together, bone to bone. Ezekiel blinks and sees that they are covered with skin, sinews, and flesh, but in a creepy manner. They lack the Spirit. As they stand, zombie-like, midway through the transformation process, God tells Ezekiel to prophesy to the ruakh, commanding it to come from the four winds to breathe into the slain ones. The word "ruakh" appears four times and builds to a final word in the verse “weyikhyu” (that they may live). His prayer works. The whole House of Israel, a “very, very great multitude,” (gadol meꜥod meꜥod) stands revealed. They are filled with ruakh and life before Ezekiel; however, they still despair.

In the lament Psalms, the psalmist cries out that their bones are wasting away. This can be understood in two ways: the bones can refer to the individual’s calcified elements, or they can refer to the most profound and most essential part of oneself.
For example,
• Psalm 31 says, “For my life is spent with sorrow and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my misery, and my bones waste away.”
• In Psalm 6, it is described as shaking: “Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are shaking with terror.”
• In Psalm 102, it is described as burning like a furnace: “My days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace.”

Why do these people lament when they have been brought back to life? The final prophecy suggests that God knows precisely why they are still in their graves. They may appear alive, but they are cut off from their land. The language of death, bones, and graves alternates with that of life and land. The House of Israel must be placed back in the land for the resurrection to be complete. God vows to open their graves, bring them up, and return them to the land of Israel because God recognizes that life lived outside of their land is no life at all. Once God has revived the people and returned them to their land, they will know that Ezekiel has channeled God's speech and that the power behind it can be trusted. What God says, God will do. This is consistent with the refrain in the book that Israel and the nations will come to know that Yahweh is the true God.

Finally, Ezekiel 37 can also be seen as an analogy to the longing for heaven with Jesus. Just as the people of Israel long to return to their homeland and be reunited with their God, so too do Christians long to be reunited with Jesus in heaven. This vision of the valley of dry bones is a powerful symbol of the world’s desolation and despair. Just as the bones are lifeless and without hope, so too are we without Christ. But just as God brings life and breath to the dry bones, Jesus brings life and salvation to those who trust in Him.

The people of Israel were deeply connected to their land and saw their identity as tied to their homeland. Many of them were born in Babylon and had never seen the land of Israel. Similarly, Christians long to be reunited with Jesus in heaven, where we will be reunited with our loved ones and enjoy eternal fellowship with God. The phrase "God knows precisely why they are still in their graves" suggests that even amid restoration, there remains a sense of longing and yearning for something more. This is echoed in Psalm 102, where the psalmist laments that, even though they have been brought back to life, they remain cut off from their land and are not truly alive.

Ezekiel’s prayer, although more enthusiastic than how many of us were taught, is not dissimilar to us asking the Spirit to breathe life into us. As he was commanded, Ezekiel prophesied (prayed) for new life, and that is what God wants all of us to do. It may come as confession, conversion, or simple grace at the dinner table. The Holy Spirit is capable of giving us new life, new breath, and new purpose in life as we wait to be returned to our true Home,

In conclusion, Ezekiel 37 is a powerful reminder of our longing for restoration and reunion with God, where we will be given new life and eternal fellowship. As Jesus said, "…I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also." (John 14:2-3)

Bibliography
Brueggemenn, W. (2002). The Land: Places as Gift, Promise, and Challenge in Biblical Faith (Second Edition ed.). Fortress Press.
Meeks, W. A., Bassler, P. J., Lemke, T. W., Mays, P. J., Niditch, P. S., & Schuller, P. E. (Eds.). (1993). The Harper Collins Study Bible, New Revised Standard Version with the Apocryphal and Deuterocanonical Books. New York, New York, USA: Harper Collins Publishers.
Strong, S.T.D., LL.D., J. (n.d.). The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible:. Hendrickson Publishers.