And thou, son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel, his companions. And take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions.
After the vision of dry bones, God gives Ezekiel a second sign. He writes on two pieces of wood and then holds them together as one. Who are "Judah" and "Joseph," and when does the joining happen?
The names written on the sticks were the standard labels for the two halves of a divided nation.
The kingdom of Israel broke up in the days of Rehoboam (1 Kings 12). Two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, held to the house of David, and the Old Testament calls them Judah. The historical books constantly call the ten tribes who revolted under Jeroboam "the house of Israel." The prophets call them Ephraim.
By Ezekiel's day that split was old, bitter, and looked permanent.
Solomon's serious defection from the Lord caused the tearing apart of the nation after his death. God allowed Jeroboam to lead ten tribes away from their allegiance to the house of David (1 Kings 11 — 12). They have never been united since that day. They were often in open conflict with each other. Then came the yet greater separation, when the kings of Assyria deported the ten tribes.
The people ask Ezekiel what the sign means, and God gives the answer in the same chapter.
There is indeed no excuse for misunderstanding a symbol so plain as that in verses 16, 17. But, as if to settle the application, an explanation follows, as before: "And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms."
Two readings are common. Some say it came true when a group of Jews came back from exile in Babylon. Others say it describes the church. The terms of the sign rule out both.
It is as vain to twist such language to fit the remnant of Jews that returned from Babylon as to fit the church at Pentecost. It is a union of the two long-divided houses of Israel, and nothing else. Not even a shadow of its accomplishment has appeared yet. No words could be plainer. A remnant of Jews did return from Babylon. But they were defiled — not only with transgressions, but with something worse than their old idolatry: the rejection and crucifying of their Messiah. Was that a fulfilment of Ezekiel's glowing words?
One writer points to a movement built on a private reading of this very phrase.
There is no weapon Satan is more skilful in using than a neglected scripture truth. Some may remember the damage the Mormons did by applying "the stick of Joseph" (Ezek. 37:16-19) to Joseph Smith, the head of the Mormons in America. Thousands of uneducated but not irreligious people fell under the delusion. It could never have happened if they had been taught the truth of the Lord's coming. They needed the right application of the return of both the ten tribes and the two to the land of Israel, under the hand and headship of the Lord Jesus.
In the sign, the two sticks become one in the prophet's hand. Every past effort at unity failed.
How beautiful it is that in God's day, when the Lord takes up the staff of Israel and of Judah, it will become reunited in His hand. It shall be one, as it had never been since the division. All efforts in the past have been useless. King Rehoboam might fight to bring back the revolted tribes, but it was impossible. Other kings fared no better. Hezekiah might send out a gracious invitation for Israel to come back to the God of their fathers. A few people might come back, but it is only temporary and partial. But when the mighty Son of God takes hold of His people, that broken staff will become one again. It will be a rod, a sceptre, and by it He will reign over the whole earth.
One writer explains who the joined sticks are, and when the union happens.
The two sticks are then united, and all of them are recognised as children of Israel — which is the subject of Ezekiel, not Judah as such. This final union takes place after the deliverance by judgment, when they come under one head. The ten tribes are purged from transgressors before coming into the land (Ezek. 20:33-38). The Jews are purged from transgressors in the land (Zech. 13:8-9, and many passages). Hosea 1, 2 confirms the thought that the final union under one head is at the close of all this process of purging, as it naturally must be if Christ is to take them.
- Two sticks. "Judah" means the two tribes loyal to David's house. "Joseph," or "Ephraim," means the ten tribes that revolted under Jeroboam.
- One split. Solomon's failure broke the nation in two. Conflict followed, Assyria carried the ten tribes away, and nothing since has undone it.
- One meaning. God gives His own explanation of the sign: one nation, one king, never two kingdoms again. That rules out the return from Babylon and the church.
- One hand. Rehoboam's force and Hezekiah's invitation both failed. The staff becomes whole only when the Son of God takes hold of it, and then it is the sceptre of His rule.
- One head, at the end. The union comes after deliverance by judgment, once both parts are purged. It is the last step, not the first.
And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thy hand.
God tells Ezekiel to take two pieces of wood, label one for Judah and one for Joseph, and hold them as one. Can a people divided for centuries ever be one again — and whose hand makes that happen?
The sign has three parts: two sticks, two labels, and one hand.
Ezekiel learned about their future unification in a very simple way. He was told to take two sticks. On one he was to write, "For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions." On the other, "For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions." Then he was to join them to each other, making them one stick in his hand. This is what the Lord will do for Israel by and by. Their divisions will be healed — divisions are always the fruit of sin and failure, whether in Israel, the world, or the Church of God.
The split in the nation was old, and God's answer to it is a blessing of its own.
They were to be given another, distinct blessing: an old reproach would disappear. It had dishonoured Israel from the days of Rehoboam, for as long as it lasted in the land. In the latter day God will set His hand to their restoration. He will re-unite them as they were of old under David and Solomon. Their unity will never be broken again, or even threatened. This is reserved for the true Beloved when He reigns as the Prince of peace.
The sticks become one in a hand. That is the point, because every earlier effort to rejoin the halves failed.
How beautiful it is that in God's day, when the Lord takes up the staff of Israel and of Judah, it will be one again in His hand. It will be one, as it had never been since the division. All efforts in the past have been useless. King Rehoboam might fight to bring back the tribes that had revolted, but it was completely impossible. Other kings did no better. Hezekiah might send out a gracious invitation for Israel to come back to the God of their fathers. A few people might be restored, but it is only a temporary, partial thing. But the mighty Son of God will take hold of His people. Then that broken staff will be made one again — a rod, a sceptre, by which He will reign over the whole earth.
Some have argued that the joining already happened when the exiles came home from Babylon and the tribes merged into one Jewish people.
But this will not do for the prophecy here, and it certainly will not do for God. This prophecy will clearly find its fulfilment in their own land, under the King whom God will raise up for them. God will then be openly their God once more, with His sanctuary set among them forever… The time of all this is future, and that should need no argument. Neither should this: God has attached no condition to the promise here, and He says He will fulfil it Himself. So the unfaithfulness of the people He speaks of can never set it aside.
The first misuse is for Gentiles to claim the promise for themselves.
It is a union of the two long-divided houses of Israel, and nothing else. Not even a shadow of it has happened yet. Words could not be more explicit. Only one sense is possible: the future ingathering and union of all Israel as a single nation under one king. Never again will they be divided, never again defiled… The Jew cannot say that this has yet happened, so it is absurd for any Gentile to say it of them or for them. Still more absurd is it for the Gentile to claim it for himself.
The second takes "the stick of Joseph" as a man's name, and a whole movement grew from it.
There is no weapon Satan is more skilled in using than a neglected scripture truth. Some may remember the damage the Mormons did by applying "the stick of Joseph" to Joseph Smith, their leader in America. That is where the New Jerusalem, the city of the saints, was supposed to be found. Thousands of people who could not read, yet were not without religion, fell under the delusion. This could never have happened if they had been taught the truth of the Lord's coming. They also needed the right application of it: the ten tribes as well as the two will return to the land of Israel under the hand and headship of the Lord Jesus.
- Divided. Israel had been split since the days of Rehoboam. No king could undo that reproach, by war or by invitation.
- Joined. The sticks do not grow together; a hand holds them. What human effort could not mend becomes one in that grip.
- His hand. The hand is God's own, and the rejoined staff becomes a sceptre for the reign of His Son.
- Unconditional. The promise is fixed to a land, a King and a sanctuary. God attaches no condition to it, so unfaithfulness cannot cancel it.
- Unfulfilled. The return from Babylon was not this reunion. Read the sign as anything but Judah and Joseph made one, and it leads people astray.
And when the children of my people speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not declare unto us what thou meanest by these?
Ezekiel has just joined two sticks in his hand, each with a name written on it. God tells him the onlookers will ask what it means — and the answer reaches far beyond Ezekiel's own day.
The sign was plain on its own. Even so, God did not leave it to speak alone.
No one has any excuse for misunderstanding a symbol as plain as the one in verses 16 and 17. But, as if to drive the point home, an explanation is attached to it, as before.
This was Ezekiel's regular method. Earlier in the book he packed an exile's baggage and dug through a wall in full view of the people. A commentator explains why:
All this, of course, was not a vision but something he actually did. It was meant to raise questions in the people who saw these puzzling actions and asked what they meant.
Each stick carries a name, and each name stands for a kingdom.
The Lord tells him to take two sticks. On one he is to write the name of Judah and his companions. On the other, the name of Ephraim, son of Joseph, and all the house of Israel — that is, the remnant of the tribes that were divided into two kingdoms after Solomon died. He is then to tell the children of Israel that when redemption comes, the kingdoms will be united, never to be divided again.
Behind the sign lie centuries of quarrelling.
There was a clear new blessing to be given them: the end of an old reproach. That reproach had dishonoured Israel from the days of Rehoboam, for as long as it lasted in the land. When God puts His hand to their restoration in the last days, He will reunite them as they once were under David and Solomon. Their unity will never be broken, or even threatened, again. This is kept for the true Beloved, when He reigns as the Prince of peace.
Another writer ties the end of the old feud to the rest of the chapter:
One thing remains that must not be left out. If all this is to happen, the ancient and unnatural strife between Judah and Ephraim must pass away — and it certainly will.
Some say the promise has already come true. They point either to the Jews who came home from exile in Babylon, or to the church. One writer rules out both.
It is just as pointless to twist such language to fit the remnant of Jews who returned from Babylon as to fit the church at Pentecost. There is not even a resemblance. This is a union of the two long-divided houses of Israel, and nothing else. Not even a shadow of it has happened yet. No words could be plainer.
Because the sign invites a question, a wrong answer can do real damage. One writer gives an example:
Satan uses no weapon more skilfully than a neglected truth of Scripture. Some may remember the damage the Mormons did by applying "the stick of Joseph" (Ezekiel 37:16-19) to Joseph Smith, their leader in America, where they said the New Jerusalem, the city of the saints, was to be found. Thousands of uneducated but religious people fell for the delusion. None of it could have happened if they had been taught the truth of the Lord's coming.
One writer traces every such split back to a single cause:
This is what the Lord will do for Israel in the days to come. He will heal their divisions — and divisions are always the fruit of sin and failure, whether in Israel, in the world, or in the Church of God.
- Question — the sign was made to be asked about. God answers before the people even ask.
- Sticks — the two pieces of wood stand for Judah and Joseph. They are the two kingdoms that broke apart after Solomon died.
- Reproach — joining them ends a dishonour carried since Rehoboam's day. The old strife is unnatural, and it must pass away.
- Future — neither the return from Babylon nor the church fulfils this. Not even a shadow of it has appeared yet.
- Warning — a neglected truth becomes a weapon in the wrong hands, as the misuse of Joseph's stick showed. Every division is the fruit of failure, and God will one day heal Israel's.
say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his companions, and will put them with this, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in my hand.
God now explains the sign He had told Ezekiel to act out: two sticks, one marked for Judah and one for Joseph, joined into what looks like one piece of wood. The verse raises three questions: who these names cover, when the joining happens, and whose hand holds them at the end.
The two names go back to a split in Israel's history. Ten tribes broke away from the line of David, and hostility between the two kingdoms lasted for centuries.
The ten tribes separated from the house of David under Jeroboam, when Rehoboam came to the throne. Ever since then there had been more or less hostility between the two kingdoms, with occasional alliances. The prophets kept speaking of the reunion of the two peoples under the Messiah. When Messiah returns and sets up His kingdom this promise will be fulfilled, and it would have been fulfilled when He first came if His people had received Him.
"Joseph" and "Ephraim" are not other names for Judah. They stand for the northern ten tribes, and the promise is not the Jews' alone.
Joseph represents the ten tribes (see Ezek. 37:16). Otherwise Judah, the Jews, might have claimed everything. But in God's full purposes it is clear that the stick of Joseph must have its place and become one in the Son of Man's hand, and as all Israel.
People call the ten tribes lost. Commentators answer that they are hidden from us, not from Him, and that God's dealings with them differ from His dealings with Judah.
The two tribes had the Messiah presented to them. No doubt they were brought back from captivity for that reason. They took all the terrible consequences of rejecting Him, saying, "His blood be on us and on our children." The ten tribes do not carry that guilt, and God deals with them differently... They are often spoken of as the "lost ten tribes," but God knows where they are, and He will bring them out.
Their hiding place is God's doing, and so is the end of it.
No one knows clearly or certainly where the ten tribes are; nor does it seem to be anyone's business to search this out beforehand. We may leave them in the obscurity God has put them in. We know, if we believe His word, that He has preserved the scattered remnant of the two tribes. Just as surely, He will bring the descendants of the ten out of their hiding place. Not only the Jews are to be restored, but the full nation of Israel: the twelve tribes making one nation in the land, with one King as king over them all... Every letter of the promises will be fulfilled. Scripture cannot be broken.
The verse is a string of first-person promises. Nothing in it is placed on Israel's side as a condition, and that is what makes it certain.
That the time of all this is future should need no argument. Here God attaches no condition to the promise, and He declares that He will fulfil it Himself. So no unfaithfulness in the people He speaks of can ever set it aside.
The promise itself rules out two readings. A small group came back from Babylon and later crucified their Messiah. That was no fulfilment of this, and neither is the church.
It is as pointless to twist this language to fit the remnant of Jews who returned from Babylon as to fit the church at Pentecost. There is not even a resemblance. It is a union of the two long-divided houses of Israel, and nothing else. Not even a shadow of its fulfilment has appeared yet. Words could not be more explicit.
Because this passage was ignored, it was free for anyone to seize. One writer traces real damage to that neglect.
There is no weapon Satan handles more skilfully than a neglected truth of Scripture. Some may remember the damage the Mormons did by applying "the stick of Joseph" (Ezek. 37:16-19) to Joseph Smith, their leader in America. This could never have happened if they had been taught the truth of the Lord's coming, and shown the right application of it: the ten tribes as well as the two will return to the land of Israel under the hand and headship of the Lord Jesus.
- One breach. Judah and Joseph name the two kingdoms that broke apart under Jeroboam. The prophets kept promising their reunion under the Messiah.
- One people. Joseph stands for the ten tribes, named so that Judah could not claim the whole promise.
- One keeper. We call the ten tribes lost, but God knows where they are and will bring them out into one nation under one King.
- One hand. Every verb is God's — He takes, He joins, He makes them one — so no failure of Israel's can cancel it.
- One warning. Neglect this promise and someone else will claim it. It belongs to Israel, restored to their land under Christ — not to the return from Babylon, and not to the church.