God brings a fascinating vision to Ezekiel in
demonstration of the new life which
VISION
OF DRY BONES. Ezk.
37:1-14
The hand of the lord was upon 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. 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. He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"
I said,
"O Sovereign LORD, you alone know."
Then
he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear
the word of the lord! This is
what the Sovereign lord says to
these bones: I will make breath* enter you, and you will come to life. 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.' "
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. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
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 from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.'" So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.
Then he
said to me: "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of
Another sign is to
be shown to the people. Two sticks, one representing the northern tribes and the
other depicting the tribe of
SIGN OF
TWO STICKS. Ezk.
37:15-23
The
word of the lord came to me:
"Son of man, take a stick of wood and write on it, 'Belonging to
"When
your countrymen ask you, 'Won't you tell us what you mean by this?' 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, making them a single stick of wood, and they will become one in my
hand.'Hold before their eyes the sticks you have written on and say to them,
'This is what the Sovereign lord says:
I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. 1 will
gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. I will
make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of
THE NEW
KINGDOM. Ezk.
37:24-28
" '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. They will live in the land I gave to my servant
Jacob, the land where your fathers lived. They and their children and their
children's children will live there forever, and David my servant will be
their prince forever. I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an
everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and 1
will put my sanctuary among them forever. My dwelling place will be with them;
I will be their God, and they will be my people. Then the nations will know
that 1 the lord make
The climax of
Ezekiel's restoration prophecies takes his hearers not only to the new kingdom
of the Good Shepherd but apparently to the time when the forces of evil will be
destroyed forever. The language is apocalyptic (that is, symbolically
predictive of future events) and challenging to interpret. The forces of evil
are represented by Gog, ruler of a land called Magog, and by Meshech and Tubal.
These names correspond to the sons of the patriarch Japheth, who have generally
been associated with the warlike Goths, Cretans, and Scythians. God's vision to
Ezekiel is that of a great battle on a wide panorama of the universe in which
death and destruction are cataclysmic— far beyond anything which either Israel
or Judah has experienced. But the reasons for the destruction are the same:
rebellion and wickedness. The other difference is that the punishment will be
of an eternal nature. At that time there will be no restoration of the
wicked—only everlasting peace and joy for the righteous.
JUDGMENT
AGAINST EVIL. Ezk.
38:1-6
The
word of the lord came to me:
"Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief
prince ofd Meshech and Tubal; prophesy against him and say: 'This is
what the Sovereign lord says: I
am against you, O Gog, chief prince ofe Meshech and Tubal. I will
turn you around, put hooks in your jaws and bring you out with your whole
army—your horses, your horsemen fully armed, and a great horde with large and
small shields, all of them brandishing their swords. Persia, Cush and Put will
be with them, all with shields and helmets, also Corner with all its troops,
and Beth Togarmah from the far north with all its troops—the many nations with
you.
HORDES
OF EVIL. Ezk.
38:7-9
" 'Get ready; be prepared, you and all the hordes gathered about you, and take command of them. After many days you will be called to arms. In future years you will invade a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate. They had been brought out from the nations, and now all of them live in safety. You and all your troops and the many nations with you will go up, advancing like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land.
EVIL
COVETS THE RIGHTEOUS. Ezk. 38:10-13
"
'This is what the Sovereign lord says:
On that day thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil
scheme. You will say, "I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will
attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people—all of them living without walls and
without gates and bars. I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the
resettled ruins and the people gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and
goods, living at the center of the land." Sheba and Dedan and the
merchants of Tarshish and all her villages? will say to you, "Have you
come to plunder? Have you gathered your hordes to loot, to carry off silver and
gold, to take away livestock and goods and to seize much plunder?"'
BATTLE
TO BE SIGN.
Ezk.38:14-16
"Therefore,
son of man, prophesy and say to Gog: 'This is what the Sovereign lord says: In that day, when my people
Israel are living in safety, will you not take notice of it? You will come from
your place in the far north, you and many nations with you, all of them riding
on horses, a great horde, a mighty army. You will advance against my people
Israel like a cloud that covers the land. In days to come, O Gog, I will bring
you against my land, so that the nations may know me when I show myself holy
through you before their eyes.
DESTRUCTION
OF EVIL.
Ezk.38:17-39:6
" 'This is what the Sovereign lord says: Are you not the one I spoke
of in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel? At that time they
prophesied for years that I would bring you against them. This is what will
happen in that day: When Gog attacks the land of Israel, my hot anger will be
aroused, declares the Sovereign lord. In
my zeal and fiery wrath I declare that at that time there shall be a great
earthquake in the land of Israel. The fish of the sea, the birds of the air,
the beasts of the field, every creature that moves along the ground, and all
the people on the face of the earth will tremble at my presence. The mountains
will be overturned, the cliffs will crumble and every wall will fall to the
ground. I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the
Sovereign lord. Every man's sword
will be against his brother. I will execute judgment upon him with plague and
bloodshed; I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on
him and on his troops and on the many nations with him. And so I will show my
greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many
nations. Then they will know that I am the lord.'
"Son of man, prophesy against Gog and say: 'This is what the
Sovereign lord says: I am against
you, O Gog, chief prince of'1 Meshech and Tubal. I will turn you
around and drag you along. I will bring you from the far north and send you
against the mountains of Israel. Then I will strike your bow from your left
hand and make your arrows drop from your right hand. On the mountains of Israel
you will fall, you and all your troops and the nations with you. I will give
you as food to all kinds of carrion birds and to the wild animals. You will
fall in the open field, for I have spoken, declares the Sovereign lord. I will send fire on Magog and on
those who live in safety in the coastlands, and they will know that I am the lord.
THE DAY
IS COMING. Ezk.39:7,8
"
'I will make known my holy name among my people Israel. I will no longer let my
holy name be profaned, and the nations will know that I the lord am the Holy One in Israel. It is
coming! It will surely take place, declares the Sovereign lord. This is the day I have spoken of.
FINALITY
OF DESTRUCTION.
Ezk.39:9-16
" 'Then those who live in the towns of
Israel will go out and use the weapons for fuel and burn them up—the small and
large shields, the bows and arrows, the war clubs and spears. For seven years
they will use them for fuel. They will not need to gather wood from the fields
or cut it from the forests, because they will use the weapons for fuel. And
they will plunder those who plundered them and loot those who looted them, declares
the Sovereign lord.
" 'On that day I will give Gog a burial place in Israel, in the valley of those who travel east toward' the Sea. It will block the way of travelers, because Gog and all his hordes will be buried there. So it will be called the Valley of Hamon Gog.
"
'For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse
the land. All the people of the land will bury them, and the day I am glorified will be a memorable
day for them, declares the Sovereign lord.
"
'Men will be regularly employed to cleanse the land. Some will go throughout
(he land and, in addition to them, others will bury those that remain on the
ground. At the end of the seven months they will begin their search. As they go
through the land and one of them sees a human bone, he will set up a marker
beside it until the gravediggers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon Gog.
(Also a town called Hamonah' will be there.) And so they will cleanse the
land.'
"Son
of man, this is what the Sovereign lord says:
Call out to every kind of bird and all the wild animals: 'Assemble and come
together from all around to the sacrifice 1 am preparing for you, the great
sacrifice on the mountains of Israel. There you will eat flesh and drink blood.
You will eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the princes of the
earth as if they were rams and lambs, goats and bulls—all of them fattened
animals from Bashan. At the sacrifice I am preparing for you, you will eat fat
till you are glutted and drink blood till you are drunk. At my table you will
eat your fill of horses and riders, mighty men and soldiers of every kind,'
declares the Sovereign lord.
ISRAEL
EXAMPLE OF JUDGMENT.
Ezk.39:21-24
'
"I will display my glory among the nations, and all the nations will see
the punishment I inflict and the hand I lay upon them. From that day
forward the house of Israel will know that I am the lord their God. And the nations will know that the people of
Israel went into exile for their sin, because they were unfaithful to me. So I
hid my face from them and handed them over to their enemies, and they all fell
by the sword. I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their
offenses, and I hid my face from them.
RESTORATION
OF SPIRIT. Ezk.39:25-29
"Therefore this is what the Sovereign lord says: I will now bring Jacob back from captivity'" and will have compassion on all the people of Israel, and I will be zealous for my holy name. They will forget their shame and all the unfaithfulness they showed toward me when they lived in safety in their land with no one to make them afraid. When I nave brought them back from the nations and have gathered them from the countries of their enemies, I will show myself holy through them in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that 1 am the lord their God, for though I sent them into exile among the nations, 1 will gather them to their own land, not leaving arty behind. I will no longer hide rny face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Sovereign lord."