Bible Commentaries

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Ezekiel 37

Clinging to a Counterfeit Cross
Introduction

1  By the resurrection of dry bones,
11  the dead hope of Israel is revived.
15  By the uniting of two sticks,
18  is shewn the incorporation of Israel into Judah.
21  The promises of Christ's kingdom.
Verse 1

The 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,
hand
In this vision, the dry bones aptly represent the ruined and desperate state of both Israel and Judah; and the revivification of these bones signifies their restoration to their own land after their captivity, and also their recovery from their present long dispersion. Although this is the primary and genuine scope of the vision, yet the doctrine of a general resurrection of the dead may justly be inferred from it; for "a simile of the resurrection," says Jerome, after Tertullian and others, "would never have been used to signify the restoration of the people of Israel, unless such a future resurrection had been believed and known; because no one attempts to confirm uncertain things by things which have no existence."
1:3, 3:14,22, 33:22, 40:1, Revelation 1:10
carried
8:3, 11:24, 1 Kings 18:12, 2 Kings 2:16, Luke 4:1, Acts 8:39
Verse 2

And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.
valley
or, champaign.
Deuteronomy 11:30
they were
11, Psalms 141:7
Verse 3

And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.
can
John 6:5,6
O Lord God
Deuteronomy 32:29, 1 Samuel 2:6, John 5:21, 11:25,26, Acts 26:8, Romans 4:17, 2 Corinthians 1:9,10, Hebrews 11:19
Verse 4

Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
Prophesy
11,15,16, Numbers 20:8, 1 Kings 13:2, Matthew 21:21, John 2:5
O ye
36:1, Isaiah 26:19, 42:18, Jeremiah 22:29, Micah 6:2, John 5:25,28,29
Verse 5

Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:
I will
9,10,14, Genesis 2:7, Psalms 104:29,30, John 20:22, Romans 8:2, Ephesians 2:5
Verse 6

And 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.
I will
ye shall
14, 6:7,13, 7:4,9, 11:10,12, 20:38, 28:22-26, 32:15, 34:27, 35:9,12,15, 38:23, 39:6,22,28, Deuteronomy 29:6, 1 Kings 20:28, Isaiah 49:23, Joel 2:27, 3:17
Verse 7

So 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.
I prophesied as
Jeremiah 13:5-7, 26:8, Acts 4:19, 5:20-29
there
1 Kings 19:11-13, Acts 2:2,37, 16:26-29
Verse 9

Then 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.
wind
or, breath. Come.
5,14, Song of Solomon 4:16, John 3:8
Verse 10

So 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.
the breath
Psalms 104:30, Revelation 11:11, 20:4,5
Verse 11

Then 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.
whole house
16,19, 36:10, 39:25, Jeremiah 31:1, 33:24-26, Hosea 1:11, Romans 11:26, 2 Corinthians 5:14, Ephesians 2:1
Our bones
1-8, Numbers 17:12,13, Psalms 77:7-9, 141:7, Isaiah 40:27, 49:14, Jeremiah 2:25
Verse 12

Therefore 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.
Therefore
Job 35:14,15
I will open
This is a pointed allusion to the resurrection; under which figure Isaiah (ch. 26:9) also describes the restoration of the house of Israel, when he says, "thy dead men shall live;" at which time their bones are said to flourish, (ch. 66:14,) or to be restored to their former strength and vigour; and, in like manner, St. Paul, (Ro 11:15,) expresses their conversion by "life from the dead." In the land of their captivity, they seemed as absolutely deprived of their country as persons committed to the grave are cut off from the land of the living; but when Cyrus issued his proclamation, Jehovah, as it were, opened their graves, and when he stirred up their spirits to embrace the proffered liberty, he put his Spirit within them, that they might live; and their re-establishment in their own land evinced the truth of God in the prediction, and his power in its accomplishment.
21, Isaiah 26:19, 66:14, Hosea 6:2, 13:14, 1 Thessalonians 4:16, Revelation 20:13
and bring
25, 28:25, 36:24, Ezra 1:1-2, Amos 9:14,15
Verse 13

And 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,
6, 16:62, Psalms 126:2,3
Verse 14

And 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.
shall put
9, 11:19, 36:27, 39:29, Isaiah 32:15, Joel 2:28,29, Zechariah 12:10, Acts 2:16,17, Romans 8:2,11, 1 Corinthians 15:45, Titus 3:5,6
I the Lord
17:24, 22:14, 36:36
Verse 16

Moreover, 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:
take thee
Numbers 17:2,3
For Judah
2 Chronicles 10:17, 11:11-17, 15:9, 30:11-18
For Joseph
1 Kings 12:16-20, 2 Chronicles 10:19
Verse 17

And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
22-24, Isaiah 11:13, Jeremiah 50:4, Hosea 1:11, Zephaniah 3:9
Verse 18

And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?
Wilt
12:9, 17:12, 20:49, 24:19
Verse 19

Say 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.
Behold
16,17, 1 Chronicles 9:1-3, Zechariah 10:6, Ephesians 2:13,14, Colossians 3:11
Verse 20

And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.
in thine
12:3, Numbers 17:6-9, Hosea 12:10
Verse 21

And 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:
34:13, 36:24, 39:25, Deuteronomy 30:3,4, Isaiah 11:11-16, 27:12,13, 43:6, 49:12, Jeremiah 16:15, 23:3,8, 29:14, 30:3,10,18, 31:8-10, 32:37, 33:7,11, 50:19, Amos 9:14,15, Obadiah 1:17-21, Micah 7:11,12
Verse 22

And 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:
I will make
Isaiah 11:12,13, Jeremiah 3:18, 32:39, 50:4, Hosea 1:11, Ephesians 2:19-22
and one
It is evident that the grand union of Israel and Judah here predicted, and their government under one king, and that king to be David, must still be future; for, politically speaking, they never had a king from that day to this, far less a king or prince of that name. (See on ch. 34:23.)
24, 34:23,24, Genesis 49:10, Psalms 2:6,12, 72:1,8, Isaiah 9:6,7, Jeremiah 23:5,6, Jeremiah 33:14-17,26, Hosea 3:4,5, Luke 1:32,33, John 10:16, Revelation 11:15
Verse 23

Neither 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.
shall they defile
20:43, 36:25,29,31, 43:7,8, Isaiah 2:18, Hosea 14:8, Zechariah 13:1,2, 14:21
but
36:24,29, Leviticus 20:7,8, Micah 7:14
will cleanse
Ephesians 5:26,27, Hebrews 9:13,14, 1 John 1:7,9
they be
27, 36:28, 39:22, Genesis 17:7,8, Psalms 68:20,35, Jeremiah 31:1,33, 32:38,39, Hosea 1:10, Zechariah 13:9, Revelation 21:3,4,7
Verse 24

And 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.
David
25, Isaiah 55:3,4, Jeremiah 23:5, 30:9, Hosea 3:5, Luke 1:32
one
22, 34:23,24, Psalms 78:71,72, 80:1, Ecclesiastes 12:11, Isaiah 40:11, Micah 5:2,4, Zechariah 13:7, John 10:11,14-16, Ephesians 4:4-6, Hebrews 13:20, 1 Peter 5:4
they shall
36:27, Deuteronomy 30:6, Jeremiah 31:33, 32:39, 1 Corinthians 11:2, Ephesians 2:10, Philippians 2:12,13, Titus 2:11-13, 3:3-8, 1 John 2:6
Verse 25

And 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.
they shall dwell in
21, 28:25, 36:28, 37:26, Jeremiah 30:3, 31:24, 32:41
even they
Isaiah 60:21, 66:22, Joel 3:20, Amos 9:15, Zephaniah 3:14,15, Zechariah 14:11
and my
24, Isaiah 9:6,7, Daniel 2:44,45, Zechariah 6:12,13, Luke 1:32,33, John 12:34, Hebrews 7:2,21
Verse 26

Moreover 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.
I will make
34:25, Genesis 17:7, 2 Samuel 23:5, Psalms 89:3,4, Isaiah 55:3, 59:20,21, Jeremiah 32:40, Hosea 2:18-23, John 14:27, Hebrews 13:20,21
multiply
36:10,37, Isaiah 27:6, 49:21, Jeremiah 30:19, 31:27, Zechariah 8:4,5, Hebrews 6:14
set
11:16, 43:7, 45:1-6, Leviticus 26:11,12, 1 Kings 8:20,21, Psalms 68:18, Zechariah 2:5, 2 Corinthians 6:16
Verse 27

My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
tabernacle
John 1:14, Colossians 2:9,10, Revelation 21:3,22
I will
23, 11:20, 14:11, 36:28, Leviticus 26:12, Hosea 2:23
Verse 28

And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.
the heathen
36:23,36, 38:23, 39:7,23, Psalms 79:10, 102:15, 126:2, Romans 11:15
sanctify
20:12, Exodus 31:13, Leviticus 20:8, 21:8, John 17:17-19, 1 Corinthians 1:30, Ephesians 5:26, 1 Thessalonians 5:23

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