And he said unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
God tells the prophet to speak a second time — now to the breath, not to the bones. The bodies in front of him are complete, but lifeless. Two questions follow: what is this "breath," and who are the slain it revives?
The chapter divides the miracle into two stages, and the first prophecy stops short of life.
So the prophet prophesies and sees the miracle worked — the wonderful miracle of resurrection. He sees the bones come together, the flesh cover them, and the form given. Yet there is still no breath from on high. Then he is told to prophesy to the winds. The wind is a picture of the Spirit, as we know from the Lord's words. From the four winds the breath comes into these slain, and now they live. A moment ago they were only lifeless, scattered wrecks of departed life. Now, at once, they are an exceedingly great army, the hosts of the Lord.
The same Hebrew word behind "breath" ties this verse to two others.
The "wind," or "breath," of verse 9 seems to be the same as "My Spirit" in verse 14. In fact, translators render the same Hebrew word as wind, breath or spirit, depending on the context. It is interesting to compare these verses with John 3:8. There the blowing of the wind is connected with the Spirit's action in new birth. Here it is connected with His action in quickening.
Reform, teaching and training are no substitute for that breath:
God then must act. But how must He act? Will reformation, education or instruction meet our case? Not at all: there can be nothing until He quickens, for quickening simply means the giving of life.
The breath comes in from every quarter, and the number four carries its own meaning.
Four is the number symbolizing what is universal or worldwide. We speak of "the four winds" (Ezek. 37:9); of "the four corners of the earth" (Isa. 11:12).
Some read this vision as fulfilled when a remnant came home from exile in Babylon. The size of the risen host argues otherwise.
It is impossible to fit a statement like this to the return of fewer than 43,000 from Babylon. The mismatch is even greater because 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.
The vision comes with its own explanation. It fixes the meaning to one people and one land.
Whatever use or application we may turn the vision to, its direct and express meaning is God's revival of His ancient people Israel. They are then utterly destroyed, dead and buried, but they will yet leave their graves according to the word of the LORD. "These bones are the whole house of Israel." 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 undertake to do what is plainly beyond the power of man. He will not only bring them out of the graves where they lie buried as a nation. He will bring them into the land of Israel — which fits neither those raised from the dead nor souls converted by the gospel today.
Preachers have long used this chapter to describe a sinner's condition. One writer welcomes that use, then marks the line it must not cross.
Dry — that is just what the sinner is. You have no life or sap in you. Dry bones may well describe your spiritual state if you are an unconverted sinner, whatever you may claim to be. I have no objection at all to drawing the gospel out of this. I know that many conversions have come through it too. But the application of a scripture and its interpretation are two different things.
One writer places his own day inside the vision — at the stage of sinew and skin, before the wind.
So we can see Ezekiel's vision being fulfilled before our very eyes. The dry bones of Israel are stirring. The graves — that is, the countries in which they are scattered — are opening. Sinew and flesh are coming upon the nation. The Jew is going back to his land in unbelief. He is full of ambitious plans for a future that will outshine their past in glory. But as yet no breath of the Lord has come upon them as a nation.
- Breath, not bones. Bone joined to bone, sinew, flesh and skin all arrive by the first prophecy — and still there is no life. Everything turns on the second call.
- Breath is the Spirit. One Hebrew word covers wind, breath and spirit. The wind of verse 9 answers to the "My Spirit" of verse 14. In John 3:8 the Lord uses wind for the Spirit's work too.
- Breath comes from everywhere. "The four winds" is the language of what is worldwide. The life comes in from every quarter, just as the people were scattered to every quarter.
- Breath makes an army. Lifeless wrecks stand up as a huge host. The small return from Babylon cannot account for it.
- Breath still to come. God names the bones as the whole house of Israel and will bring them into their land. Sinew and flesh are on the nation, but His breath has not yet come. Applying the dryness to an unconverted soul is application, not interpretation.
And I prophesied as he had commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.
The vision reaches its climax here: the reassembled bodies breathe, rise, and form a vast army. The verse raises three questions at once — whose bones are these, what is the breath, and when does this happen?
The prophet's work comes in two commands, and the second is not a repeat of the first.
So the prophet prophesies and sees the miracle happen — the wonderful miracle of resurrection. He sees the bones come together and the flesh cover them, and the form given, while still there is no breath from on high. But then God tells him to prophesy to the winds, which in the Lord's words stand for the Spirit. From the four winds the breath comes into these slain, and now they live. Only a moment before, they were lifeless, scattered wrecks of a life that had gone. Now, all at once, they are an exceedingly great army, the hosts of the Lord.
The bones do not organise themselves, and the nation will not revive by its own planning.
The new life of the nation is truly a resurrection... They will not become all that the prophets have declared by their own efforts or achievements — though that is what they are thinking and planning now. Nothing but the quickening breath of God can do it for them. For this, God has yet to bring them down into the dust, even after all they have suffered for these centuries. They must learn their needed lesson of abasement, and learn the grace to which, as they will finally own, they owe everything.
Some read the vision as fulfilled when the exiles came home from Babylon. The size of this army argues against that.
You cannot fairly apply a statement like this to the return of fewer than 43,000 from Babylon. Armies in those days were far larger than armies are today. The returning remnant was a very small army compared with that of Judah alone under their kings. Later we shall find that Ephraim as well as Judah is expressly included. The words that follow, "the whole house of Israel," imply it. So the past return from captivity is out of the question.
We are not left to work out the symbol for ourselves; the chapter names the bones itself.
But, beyond controversy, this means the whole house of Israel... In Ezekiel 37 the figure of resurrection certainly shows the fresh start of Israel; for, if we have the vision, we have also the inspired interpretation. We are not therefore at liberty to explain the vision according to our own thoughts.
Bodies do rise in the vision. Yet writers hold that the picture is of a people brought back, not of graves opened at the last day.
Many have thought that this passage refers to the resurrection of the body, because the graves open and the people come out of their graves. But before the graves open, the people are saying, "Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost" — the exact feeling of many to this day. The resurrection is used as a figure of life being given to Israel, and also to Judah. The two nations are to be one, an exceedingly great army, and they will be gathered into their own land... It is still future, and it will surely happen.
One writer links the wind called from the four quarters with the Lord's own picture of the Spirit blowing where it wishes.
Our Lord's words about the wind blowing where it wishes seem also to point to this chapter (Ezekiel 37:9, 14). What stands out here is the raising of the people from their graves, as a nation, their restoration to the land, and their reunion into the twelve tribes... The Spirit directs all this blessed work — national resurrection, forgiveness, restoration and new birth.
Preachers have long used this chapter to describe a person without spiritual life. One writer welcomes that use, but draws a line.
Dry, that is exactly what the sinner is; you are very dry, you have no life or sap in you at all. Dry bones may well describe your spiritual state if you are an unconverted sinner, whatever you claim to believe... I have no objection at all to drawing the gospel out here... But the application of a scripture and its interpretation are two completely different things.
- Dry — the starting point is not weakness but scattered remains, with hope gone from the people themselves.
- Breath — form came first, life second. The wind from the four quarters is the Spirit, and only that breath makes the bodies live.
- Whole — the vision covers the whole house of Israel, Ephraim with Judah. That is why writers say the small return from Babylon cannot be the fulfilment.
- Army — the result is not a rescued few but a vast host standing on its feet, described as the hosts of the Lord.
- Interpretation — the chapter explains itself. A preacher may apply dry bones to a lifeless sinner, but must not swap application for meaning.
And 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!
The vision of the dry bones comes with its own explanation, and this verse is it. God names the bones. Then He lets them speak, and we hear the words of a people who have given up on themselves.
The chapter explains itself, so no one has to guess what the valley pictures.
In Ezekiel 37 the figure of resurrection is certainly meant this way. We have the vision, and we also have the inspired interpretation. So we are not free to explain the vision by our own thoughts. The explanation given by the Holy Spirit is clear and final.
One detail settles the sense of the vision: these bones complain. Corpses do not describe their own condition.
In this vision of the dry bones, physical resurrection pictures the national restoration of Israel... When we read here of graves, do not take them to mean literal graves. The graves stand for the nation buried among the Gentiles. If these dry bones meant the nation's physically dead, how can they speak and say, "Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost"? The New Testament uses the same figure of speech. Of the prodigal son we read, "For this my son was dead, and is alive again" (Luke 15:24). Yet he did not die physically, and he was not made alive physically.
If the bones are living people, the graves must be something other than burial plots.
The graves out of which these dried bones are raised are clearly the places or countries from which the Israelites are gathered. If the dry bones stand for living Israelites — dead as a nation, but alive as people — their graves must stand for the countries where they have been buried, as far as national existence goes. And we are told in plain words that they are brought into their own land, when they are raised as a nation from their graves.
The phrase reaches wider than Judah. It rules out limiting the prophecy to the small group that came back from Babylon.
It is impossible to fit a statement like this to the return of fewer than 43,000 from Babylon. The armies of old were far larger than those usual in modern times, and that returning remnant was a very small army even beside Judah's alone under their kings. We shall also find later that Ephraim as well as Judah is in view. It is implied at once in the words "the whole house of Israel." So the past return from captivity is out of the question.
Being raised together is not the whole promise. An old split must also end.
Even if all Israel came up out of their graves, the twelve tribes might still have formed two separate parties, as in earlier days. So a new condition now comes in. It shows that when Israel's reviving takes place, their once-divided interests will come together.
God's answer to these words does two things at once.
Whatever use we may make of the vision, its direct and express meaning is God's revival of His ancient people Israel. They were then completely destroyed, dead and buried. Yet they are to leave their graves according to the word of the Lord: "These bones are the whole house of Israel." God would comfort His people as well as 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.
The complaint did not stop with Ezekiel's hearers.
This is what they are saying today: we are cast off, we are rejected of the Lord.
The bones cannot organise their own recovery, and neither can the nation they picture.
They will not become all that the prophets have declared by their own efforts or achievements, though that is what they are thinking and planning now. Nothing but the quickening breath of God can do it for them. For this they have yet to be brought down into the dust, even after all they have suffered for these centuries. This is so that they may learn their needed lesson of humbling, and may learn the grace to which, as they will at last own, they owe everything.
Preachers have long used this chapter to picture a person without spiritual life. Commentators allow that use but guard the meaning.
Dry — that is exactly what the sinner is. You are very dry; you have not got a bit of life or sap in you... I have no objection at all to drawing the gospel out of this passage... But the application and the interpretation of a scripture are two totally different things.
- Complaint. The bones speak, so they are not literal corpses; a nation says its hope is gone.
- Correction. God names them "the whole house of Israel." Those words fix the meaning of the vision, and we are not free to reinterpret it.
- Graves. The graves are the countries where the people lie scattered, with no national life.
- Grace. One reply rebukes their unbelief and comforts them. God does what human power cannot, by His breath and not by their planning.
- Land. The end is not a grave but their own land, with the divided tribes joined as one. The promise rests on God's word, not on their hope holding out.
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.