(The
objective of these ‘Frameworks' is to provide an easy-to-read
layout of the text in order then to use these individual verses
for verse-by-verse study or meditation. To focus each
passage we have also added notes in italic, a description of what
has happened as well as the usual subheadings)
FRAMEWORKS:
Ezekiel 37: A Vision (Dry Bones) & a Prophecy (Two Sticks)
Part
1: v.1-14: The Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones
v.1-3
A Vision & a Question
v.4-6
Instruction Number One
v.7,8
Obedience Number One
v.9
Instruction Number Two
v.10
Obedience Number Two
v.11
Interpretation
v.12-14
Instruction Number Three
Part
2: v.15-28: Two Sticks - One Nation Under One King
v.15-18
Instruction Number One – an Act to be performed
v.19-28
Instruction Number Two – a Word to be Spoken
[Preliminary
Comments: This chapter comprises two prophetic words
that flow in harmony as one message – God intends to bring new
life to the dead ‘Israel' and whereas there was division in the
past, in the future He will bring all His people together as one,
to be seen by the whole world.]
Part
1: v.1-14: The Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones
v.1-3
A Vision & a Question
v.1 The
hand of the LORD was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit
of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full
of bones.
v.2
He
led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones
on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry.
v.3
He
asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Sovereign
LORD, you alone know.”
[Notes:
The
fact that the Spirit is mentioned suggests this is a vision. Ezekiel
is shown in this vision a valley with lots of dry bones. The Lord
asks him can these bones live and he wisely answers that only
God knows His intentions.]
v.4-6
Instruction Number One
v.4
Then
he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry
bones, hear the word of the LORD!
v.5
This
is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter
you, and you will come to life.
v.6
I
will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover
you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to
life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.'”
[Notes:
The
vision continues as Ezekiel being told to prophesy – speak the
will of God over these bones – life to be restored to them.]
v.7,8
Obedience Number One
v.7
So
I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there
was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone
to bone.
v.8
I
looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered
them, but there was no breath in them.
[Notes:
Ezekiel,
in the vision, does as he is told and the bones come together
but are still lifeless.]
v.9
Instruction Number Two
v.9 Then
he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man,
and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, breath,
from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may
live.'”
[Notes:
So
he is told to prophesy (command God's will) a second time – breath
so that the united bones may truly live.]
v.10
Obedience Number Two
v.10
So
I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they
came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.
[Notes:
This
he does and he sees the skin-clothed skeletons come to life and
they appear as a great army.]
v.11
Interpretation
v.11
Then
he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel.
They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are
cut off.'
[Notes:
The
interpretation is then given: these bones are a picture of the
people of Israel who have given up all hope of life. The fact
that Ezekiel prophesies in the early stages of the Exile suggests
that the people who have gone into exile see no future for their
nation.]
v.12-14
Instruction Number Three
v.12
Therefore
prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says:
My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from
them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel.
v.13
Then
you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your
graves and bring you up from them.
v.14
I
will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle
you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have
spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.'”
[Notes:
The
third instruction follows to prophesy, and in one sense, Ezekiel
bringing this vision to his people is him obeying this part. Tell
Israel there is a hope; God will restore them and bring them back
to the Land. End of Message!]
Part
2: v.15-28: Two Sticks - One Nation Under One King
v.15-18
Instruction Number One – an Act to be performed
v.15
The
word of the LORD came to me:
v.16 “Son
of man, take a stick of wood and write on it, ‘Belonging to Judah
and the Israelites associated with him.' Then take another stick
of wood, and write on it, ‘Belonging to Joseph (that is, to Ephraim)
and all the Israelites associated with him.'
v.17
Join
them together into one stick so that they will become one in your
hand.
v.18 “When
your people ask you, ‘Won't you tell us what you mean by this?'
[Notes:
But
then there is a follow-up message that comes not as a word in
a vision but as a word that is to accompany a prophetic act. Since
the reign of Solomon the nation had been divided between ‘Judah'
(the southern kingdom) and ‘Israel' (the northern kingdom). The
two sticks are to represent the two kingdoms that are now to be
rejoined.]
v.19-28
Instruction Number Two – a Word to be Spoken
v.19
Explain God will make the two into one
v.19
say
to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am going to
take the stick of Joseph—which is in Ephraim's hand—and of the
Israelite tribes associated with him, and join it to Judah's stick.
I will make them into a single stick of wood, and they will become
one in my hand.'
v.20
Keep the sticks before you so they see them
v.20
Hold
before their eyes the sticks you have written on
v.21
The Lord will bring them back to their Land from around the world
v.21
and
say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will take
the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will
gather them from all around and bring them back into their own
land.
v.22
The two nations (after Solomon) will only be one together in the
future
v.22
I
will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel.
There will be one king over all of them and they will never again
be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms.
v.23
They will be free from the idolatry that destroyed them
v.23
They
will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images
or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their
sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them. They will be
my people, and I will be their God.
v.24
My ‘David' will be their one king
v.24
“‘My
servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one
shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees.
v.25
They will be back in the Land I gave them from the beginning
v.25
They
will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where
your ancestors lived. They and their children and their children's
children will live there forever, and David my servant will be
their prince forever.
v.26
There will be peace between them and God
v.26
I
will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting
covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and
I will put my sanctuary among them forever.
v.27
God will dwell with them, their One True God
v.27
My
dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they
will be my people.
v.28
Thus the world will understand I am with them, they are mine
v.28 Then
the nations will know that I the LORD make Israel holy, when my
sanctuary is among them forever.'”
[Notes:
The
explanation demanded in v.18 is very simple and straight forward.
God will unite the two parts of the original kingdom, bringing
back their people from all round the world to form this one again.
They will be a purified people who will no longer worship idols
that had blighted their life up to the Exile. They will together
have one ruler and will dwell in the one ‘Promised Land' and there
will be a new relationship of peace between them and God with
Him dwelling with them again.
Interpreters
have suggested the meaning of this chapter is in respect of
their return from
the Exile, or
a new bigger fulfilment
that includes the worldwide church of Jew & Gentile, a kingdom
inaugurated by and ruled by Jesus Christ, or
an even bigger
fulfilment when Jew and Christian are seen as one at the End
Time, or
it applies to
all three.]
Design
Criteria
1.
Divided by main sub-headings which are also listed at the
top.
2.
Because prophecy is the most difficult of all the different
types of writing in the Bible to absorb, we have added a
belt-and-braces appproach of mini-incorporated-headings,
and main subheadings, as well as our own summaries in the
'Notes'.
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