Ezekiel 37King James Version
The valley of dry bones. Ezekiel is set down in the midst of a valley full of bones, very dry. God asks, 'Son of man, can these bones live?' Ezekiel answers, 'O Lord God, thou knowest.' He prophesies. The bones come together, tendons and flesh form, skin covers them. Then he prophesies to the wind and breath enters them. They stand up, an exceeding great army. The image that entered every spiritual's resurrection hope.
The Spirit carries Ezekiel to a valley full of dry human bones and asks: can these live? God tells him to prophesy to the bones; they come together, flesh and skin cover them, then breath enters and a vast army stands up. The bones are the house of Israel, hope gone. Then a second sign: two sticks representing Judah and Israel joined into one. God will bring them from the grave to their own land, David over them, one flock, one covenant of peace.
The valley of dry bones is the most extreme scenario for restoration: not just revival but resurrection, not just healing but recreation from death, and God commands it.
3: "And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest." The only honest answer to an impossible question: not 'no' and not a false 'yes,' but placing the answer entirely in God's hands.
Around 585 to 583 BC. The exiles said 'our hope is lost, we are cut off.' This was not metaphor: the royal line was gone, the temple was rubble, the land was occupied. Ezekiel's vision does not minimize the deadness. It maximizes it: very many, very dry. And then it prophesies anyway.
Ezekiel, who prophesies twice to the bones and then the breath; the dry bones as the whole house of Israel; the Spirit that carries him to the valley; God who commands and interprets; the Davidic figure who will shepherd the reunited nation.
The valley of dry bones is the most famous passage in Ezekiel and among the most iconic in all of scripture. It was sung and depicted in African American spirituals, became a touchstone for resurrection theology in Second Temple Judaism, and was interpreted by Paul in the context of bodily resurrection. The reunion of Judah and Israel on a single stick (Ezekiel 37:19) was a constant hope in Jewish history.
For when everything looks finished, the hope is gone, and the bones are very dry. The chapter does not begin with hope. It begins in the valley and asks the question from there: can these bones live? The answer comes by command, not by optimism.
1The 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,
2And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.
3And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.
4Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
5Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:
6And 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.
7So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.
8And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.
9Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
10So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.
11Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.
12Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
13And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
14And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.
15The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
16Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
17And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
18And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?
19Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
20And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.
21And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
22And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:
23Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.
24And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.
25And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.
26Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.
27My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
28And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.