Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, O my people, and bring you into the land of Israel.
God explains His own vision here. He names the dry bones of verse 11 as the whole house of Israel, and He opens the graves Himself. So what are these graves, and where does He take the people He raises?
Commentators read the graves in line with the bones. The bones are people who are still alive but finished as a nation. So the graves must be the lands they are scattered in.
Here is figurative language; plainly so. The Lord Himself explains that the dry bones are living people, the whole house of Israel, who say, Our bones are dried, and so on. The graves these dried bones rise out of are clearly the places or countries the Israelites are gathered from. If the dry bones stand for living Israelites — dead as a nation, but alive as people — then their graves must stand for the countries where they have been buried as a nation.
Read this as the raising of dead bodies, and it ends in the wrong place. Those who rise from the dead are not promised the land of Israel.
The figure of resurrection is used here to show the gathering of the nation, long apparently lost among the nations of the world, into their land. It applies only to this. It does not describe the actual resurrection of the saints who have died in the Lord. God would not bring them "in the land," but to heaven.
Calling something a figure does not empty it. Ezekiel uses symbol, figure and plain speech in one chapter. Each one reports something that will really happen.
Again, "Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost. … I will open your graves," are figurative expressions. But they still point to real facts. Finally, verses 21-28 of the same chapter give many plain literal statements. Some of them explain the symbols and figures that went before. Prophecy is future history; and God may, and does, communicate it in the forms which seem good to Him.
God speaks these words to people who had just written themselves off. He still calls them "my people" while they lie in the graves, and His answer does two things at once.
Whatever use or application we may make of the vision, its direct and express meaning is God's revival of His ancient people Israel. At that time they were completely destroyed, dead and buried. Yet they would leave their graves, as the word of the Lord says: "These bones are the whole house of Israel." And God would comfort His people as well as rebuke the unbelief which said, "Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off." His own faithful grace will undertake to do what man simply cannot do.
Ezekiel 37 follows Ezekiel 36, and the order matters. God gives them life first. Only then does He settle them in the land.
This sets out the death towards God in which Israel lies as a nation. It also prophesies about God's work of quickening, which must touch them before they enter into millennial blessing. They will be brought up by Him out of the graves among the nations where they lie. There will be a national resurrection. The Lord says, "you shall live, and I will place you in your own land: then you shall know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it" (verse 14).
The scale of the vision rules out the small return from Babylon. Ezekiel saw a huge army, drawn from more than Judah alone.
You cannot reasonably apply a statement like this to the return of fewer than 43,000 from Babylon. Armies in those days were far larger than armies today. The returning remnant was a very small army compared with that of Judah alone under their kings. And we shall find later on that Ephraim as well as Judah are expressly in view.
Preachers have long used this chapter to describe a person without God. One writer allows that use, but guards the meaning.
Dry — that is exactly what the sinner is. You have not got a bit of life or sap in you. Dry bones may very well describe your spiritual state if you are an unconverted sinner, no matter what your profession may be. … I have no objection at all to drawing the gospel out of this passage. I know a preacher who gave lovely sermons from this chapter and saw many conversions through it too. But you see, applying a Scripture and interpreting it are two completely different things.
- Graves. The graves are the nations where Israel has lain buried as a people — alive as individuals, finished as a nation.
- Grace. God makes this promise to the very people who said their hope was lost. He comforts them and rebukes their unbelief at once.
- Power. He opens the graves Himself and raises the nation, doing what man simply cannot do.
- Land. The journey ends in the land of Israel. That is why commentators say this is not the resurrection of dead bodies; that hope leads to heaven.
- Certainty. Figures still report real facts. The return from Babylon was far too small to fulfil this promise, so it still stands, waiting and sure.
And ye shall know that I [am] Jehovah, when I have opened your graves, and have caused you to come up out of your graves, O my people.
This verse gives the purpose behind the vision of the dry bones. God opens graves so that a people will know who He is. Two questions decide how we read it: what are these graves, and who are "my people"?
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Commentators read these graves as the buried condition of Israel among the nations. One writer sets the chapter's own explanation against the common use of it as a picture of dead souls:
People often quote it as being about souls. Morally, no doubt, God does the same thing for everyone He gives life to. But the only subject of the chapter is the nation of Israel, and not souls at all. "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, Our bones are dried up." Dead souls do not say this... When the Israelites return, God treats them as if they had been buried among the nations. "And you shall know that I am the LORD." If this were a literal resurrection, it would be sad to stay there in the land. The hope of those who really rise from the dead is far higher.
The wording here does sound like resurrection. One writer answers a man who took another prophecy as literal but this one as a picture:
We might ask him to read verse 13 of Ezekiel 37, and then put the same question to him. The fact is that both passages use the language of resurrection. Only the context, and the whole drift of prophetic testimony in the Old Testament, will show us what the words mean.
The promise is addressed to those who had already concluded that nothing could be done for them. The verse answers despair, and it answers it with a place as well as with life:
God would comfort His people. He would also rebuke the unbelief that said, "Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off." His own faithful grace will do what is plainly beyond the power of man. He says He will not only dig them out of the graves where they now lie buried as a nation. He will also bring them into the land of Israel. That outcome suits neither people raised from the dead nor souls converted to God now by the gospel — for what have we to do with the land of Israel?
Every verb in the verse belongs to God — He opens, He raises. That grammar is the whole point, and it rules out national recovery achieved by effort or planning:
They will become all that the prophets said they would become. But it will not be by their own efforts or achievements, which is what they are thinking and planning now. Nothing but the life-giving breath of God can do it for them. First God must bring them down into the dust, even after all they have suffered for these centuries. There they will learn the humbling lesson they need. There they will learn the grace they owe everything to, as they will own at last.
Israel does not learn who God is from an announcement in advance. They learn it from what He does to them:
And Israel shall know who has done this, and that He is indeed the LORD. They will know it when He has opened their graves, brought them up out of their graves, and put His Spirit in them so that they may live. The blessing still keeps to the old sphere of promise for them. They are an earthly people, and the earth is their destiny.
Another writer traces what comes next for the nation:
There will be a national resurrection. They will live, says the Lord, and He will place them in their own land. Then they will know that He, the Lord, has spoken it and performed it. Once He gives them life, they will understand, and they will at once seek the Lord.
Preachers have long drawn the gospel out of this chapter. One writer allows that use, but draws a line:
I have no objection at all to drawing the gospel out of this chapter. I know that dear old Dr Guthrie preached lovely sermons from it, and saw many conversions through it too. But you see, the application of a scripture and the interpretation of it are two completely different things.
- Grave. The burial is national. Israel lies scattered among the nations, as good as buried there.
- Hand. Nothing rises by its own strength. Only the breath of God can raise dry bones.
- Grace. The promise comes to people who said their hope was gone. It answers their unbelief; it does not agree with it.
- Knowledge. They learn who the Lord is from what He does. The act comes first; then they know Him, and they seek Him.
- Use. Preachers may press this on sinners. But applying it to one person never replaces what the chapter says it means.
And I will put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I will place you in your own land and ye shall know that I Jehovah have spoken, and have done [it], saith Jehovah.
This verse is God's own explanation of the dry bones vision, and it comes as a chain of promises: His Spirit in them, life, a home in their land, and then knowledge of who did it. Does this describe graves opening at the end of time, or something else?
The chapter does not leave its own meaning open. After the bones stand up, God says who they are. One writer argues that this plain statement settles the question, and so does the place God takes them to.
Whatever use or application we make of the vision, its direct and express meaning is God's revival of His ancient people Israel. They were completely destroyed, dead and buried, but they will leave their graves according to the word of Jehovah: "These bones are the whole house of Israel." … He declares that He will not only dig them out of the graves where they now lie buried as a nation, but will bring them into the land of Israel. That outcome fits neither those raised from the dead nor souls converted to God now by the gospel. What have we to do with the land of Israel?
If the graves were literal, the people in them could not be talking. One writer uses that to rule out a bodily resurrection here.
In this vision of the dry bones, physical resurrection pictures the national restoration of Israel. … When we read here in Ezekiel of graves, we must not take them to mean literal graves. They stand for the nation, buried among the Gentiles. If these dry bones meant the nation's physical dead, how could they speak and say, "Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost"?
The same promise runs through the previous chapter, and it produces more than survival. Life shows itself in a changed walk.
Both chapters also mention the gift of the Holy Spirit — "I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My judgments and do them" (Ezek. 36:27): "And I will put My Spirit within you, and you shall live" (Ezek. 37:14). As a consequence of this there will be spiritual life in Israel, which will express itself in active obedience to God's will. As God directs, so they will do.
The promise ends on the ground, not in heaven. It marks Israel out as an earthly people, and sets God's seal on His own word.
And Israel shall know who it is that has done this, that He is indeed Jehovah, when He has opened their graves and caused them to come up out of their graves and put His Spirit in them so that they may live. The blessing still keeps to the old sphere of promise for them; as an earthly people the earth is their destiny. … Then prophecy will find its full witness and have the eternal seal on it.
The vision moves in stages. Flesh comes on the bones first, and the breath comes last. One writer saw his own day in that order.
The dry bones of Israel are stirring. The graves, that is the countries in which they are scattered … are opening. Sinew and flesh is coming upon the nation. The Jew is going back to his land in unbelief, full of ambitious projects for a future that will outshine their past in glory, but as yet no breath of the Lord has come on them as a nation.
The verse puts life before knowledge. One writer traces what follows once God makes the nation alive.
There will be a national resurrection. … Once they are made alive they will understand, and they will at once seek the Lord.
Preachers have long drawn the gospel out of this chapter. One writer allows that, as long as no one confuses an application with the interpretation.
Dry, that is exactly what the sinner is; you are very dry, you have not got a bit of life or sap in you. Dry bones may very well describe your spiritual state, if you are an unconverted sinner, no matter what your profession may be. … I have no objection at all to drawing the gospel out of here … but then you see the application and the interpretation of a scripture are two totally different things.
- Grave. The graves stand for the nations where Israel lies buried as a people. The vision shows national revival, not bodies leaving real tombs.
- Breath. God's Spirit makes the lifeless frame live, and that life shows itself in obedience.
- Land. God settles them on earth, in their own soil — a portion for an earthly people, not for souls converted now by the gospel.
- Knowledge. They know Him only after He has raised them, put His Spirit in them and brought them home. Life comes first, recognition second.
- Performed. The verse closes with God's own guarantee: He spoke it and He will do it. Preaching it to dry, lifeless sinners is a fair application, but not the meaning.