Ezekiel 37 Valley of the Dry Bones

One of the most confusing passages to me has been that of Ezekiel 37 and the prophecy of the dry bones. It is not long, so I will just post it here before discussing it.

[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,
[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.
[3] And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.
[4] Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
[5] Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:
[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.
[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.
[8] And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.
[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.
[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.
[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.
[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.
[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,
[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.

Growing up, every pastor that I ever heard refer to this, referred to it in the context of talking about the end times. And rightly so, for it is about the end times. But the way they interpreted it was always in a spiritual sense. In the hindsight of Israel becoming a nation on May 14, 1948, it was interpreted as meaning that God would restore the Jewish people to a nation and put them back in their country, meaning the living people of that event of 1948. But is that the way that God intends it to be interpreted, or as He wants us to interpret prophecy, with no personal interpretation (which then sort of precludes spiritualizing it), should we interpret it in the most face value or literal way possible? I believe the latter is the way we are to interpret it, but for a long time, I couldn’t quite figure out exactly what was going on. It took a question by a friend to cue me into what possibly might be going on here.

The question that my friend asked was essentially the following, “What happens to the Jews who believe in and worship God, (the same way as the righteous Jews did before Christ came), who are looking forward to their Messiah, but do not accept Jesus as their Messiah and Savior?”

This was a question I had never considered. As most Christians believe, it always seemed an easy answer to say that if a person does not accept Jesus as their Savior, then there is no other way to heaven. But this posed a dilemma in this case, for these people do believe in a Messiah that will come to save them. They do worship and believe in the one true God. They simply do not understand that the Messiah which they look forward to has already come. That God is looking out for these people cannot be denied, for there are miraculous stories that come from these righteous, God-fearing Jews that demonstrate that He has not forsaken them. And we know that God will choose to bring a remnant of them through the great tribulation and Day of the Lord to enter into the millennium, all without having accepted Christ as their Savior beforehand.

When I looked at this passage my first reaction was to believe that Israel (and this is speaking of the whole house of Israel, including the ten lost tribes, not just the Jews) was being resurrected, but how could that be? The resurrection when Christ returns is for those who die in Christ and are the Bride of Christ. A closer look showed that this passage is not speaking of resurrection. Resurrection is not a restoration of the mortal body. It is taking the seeds of the corporeal body and creating an entirely new type of glorified body, as Paul explained in 1 Corinthians 15:35-44.

[35] But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
[36] Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:
[37] And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:
[38] But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
[39] All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.
[40] There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
[41] There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.
[42] So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
[43] It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
[44] It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

The body of the resurrection is not formed the same way the natural body is. It is a glorified body. When we look at this passage in Ezekiel we find that these bones are being taken out of the grave and restored from the inside out as normal bodies. First bones are connected, then sinew (tendons and ligaments which joins bones, and muscle to bones, etc) and flesh is put upon them, then skin on top of that. Then the breath of life is given to them. None of this describes the resurrected body and how it comes about. It is an instantaneous change to a completely different type of body. The bodies being described are more similar to the way Adam came into being. First formed, then given the breath of life. They are not occurring as the resurrection bodies will occur – in the twinkling of an eye.

When this is completed, there stands an extremely large army of people. It is interesting that the word “army” is used. The Hebrew word means a “force” or in this instance a force of people. The use of the English word “army” was not used to necessarily imply a military might, but that the sheer number of the risen will be a formidable force of people. When you have that many people gathered who are in one accord, you actually do have an army of people, even if they are not military people.

This army of people declare that they are dry bones (dead for a long time), that all hope is lost to them, (they feel they have missed the boat for the promise of the covenant) and that they are cut off from their parts, which may mean that they believe they are cut off from their people, their salvation, and God’s promises. They say this, because they have died without their Lord and Savior, and in death they most likely have realized that Christ was the Messiah.

In Scripture we are told that when Christ ascended, he took captivity captive, Ephesians 4:8-9 [8] Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
[9] (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?

We are told that Christ did not ascend to heaven when He died, but descended into the lower parts of the earth. Paradise was in the lower parts of the earth. Paradise was a part of Hades, the abode of the dead. It was separated from hell by a great gulf, as shown in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, which I believe was less storytelling and more truth than people realized. To understand more about paradise and hell, which both comprise Hades, I will put in a link to my article on that here on hell and I will explain about paradise.

https://bibleconundrumsandcontroversy.blogspot.com/2012/09/is-there-hell-who-goes-there-where-is-it.html

When Christ died, he told the thief that he would join Christ in Paradise. They descended to Hades, which as mentioned earlier is the abode of the dead. Hades had two compartments separated by a gulf. One was Paradise which was where the righteous went. God had probably made sure that people understood about the afterlife, for we find references to it in the Old Testament of the dead being conscious there. And when Christ told the parable, it was obvious the listeners knew about it. The ancient Greeks and other cultures would have also known, but they had different names for it. The Greeks called it the Elysian fields. They called their version of hell, Tartarus, which is what the Bible also calls a particular section of it, the deepest and worst part. So when Christ arrived in Paradise He would have presented himself to the righteous dead as the Messiah for whom that had been waiting. Hebrews 11:13-16, the faith chapter, tells us that they were looking forward to His coming and that the city has been prepared for them, as well as for the church.

[13] These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
[14] For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
[15] And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
[16] But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

The city that has been prepared for them is New Jerusalem, and it is where the resurrected will dwell for all time. (Rev. 21-22) When Christ ascended and led captivity captive, it appears He led those in Paradise to heaven with Him. They now were able to go there, as Christ had to be the first to ascend, but then after He ascended, those who are His can enter into heaven. Not in their resurrected bodies, of course, for the resurrection has yet to occur, but their souls went there, as they had to Paradise beforehand, and just as ours do when we die. As those in Paradise were already dead, and now would have accepted Christ, they qualified for entrance into heaven. The righteous Jews who died after Christ’s death and resurrection, who did not know or accept Him (it took a while for the Gospel to reach out into all the world, indeed it still is reaching into places), but did love and serve God, did not qualify for entrance into heaven due to not knowing Christ as their Savior, but neither do they deserve hell, having faith in God and looking forward to and believing in the Messiah (whom they missed). What is to be done with them? Paradise was emptied when Christ left it, but Paradise was a location and must still exist. Is this where the souls of the righteous Israelites since Christ’s time have gone? Or do they remain in the graves in an unconscious state? I have yet to find any Scripture that would tell me what the condition of these souls are at this time, and where they reside, but I would guess it must be one or the other and my inclination based on Scripture is to deduce that consciousness does not go away at death., therefore they probably are in Paradise. I cannot see God sending to hell those with whom He made a covenant and promise to give them a nation under His dominion, if they were to walk in His precepts and commandments and love Him, and there are Jews (and possibly Israelites who do not even know they are of the chosen people) who do this., while not knowing Christ as their Savior.

What is interesting is that it is said that these are those who have been slain. They have been killed, because they are Jews. Because they represented God and were His chosen people. Because they refused to renounce their faith in God. Usually when a person dies for God, they get to be with God. Naturally this is assuming that all those in this prophecy are not wicked, but righteous people.

The fact that these seem to be raised from the dead, as opposed to resurrected, and are put in the land of Israel, which is for mortal people, not the resurrected who will live in New Jerusalem, seems to indicate that this is God’s way of fulfilling the covenant He made with Israel and those who have honored Him, the Father, over the millennia. For this covenant was made with the nation of Israel and the Father, not Christ. Christ gave us a new covenant. The new covenant is not a national covenant, but a personal one.

Lastly it says that when God does this - raises them from the dead, gives them life again, puts them in the land, and finally puts His spirit in them - they will know that the Lord is the one who has done this. They will recognize Him and worship Him. But more than that, they will recognize and worship Jesus as their Messiah, for when the end comes, when Christ returns, it says that all Israel will be saved. The timing of this, putting them in their land, indicates that this happens when Christ returns. So just as the living of Israel will see Him whom they pierced and mourn, (Rev. 1:7, Zech 12:10-11) these who are raised will also see Him and realize that He was the Messiah that had been prophesied. The key here is the phrase “puts His spirit in them.” He will put His spirit in them or as it says in Zech. 12:10, "He will pour out His spirit of grace and supplication upon the house of David and all Jerusalem." We receive the Holy Spirit when we accept Jesus as our Savior. While in the Old Testament there were a few individuals who were given the Holy Spirit for a time in their lives, it was not the normal thing for everybody. Yet this entire group will receive God’s spirit in them. One only does this when one is alive (not resurrected for the resurrected already accepted Jesus and received His spirit before they died). This is another indication that they are not resurrected but raised from the dead.

While the idea of this may seem strange to us, this would be a way of God keeping the promise of His covenant to the nation of Israel and those who have worshiped Him and died for Him. For in dying without Christ, they are left in a limbo, and the promise they looked for of the covenant of a nation under the Messiah going unfulfilled.

The above passage is then followed by the following:

[15] The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
[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:
[17] And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
[18] And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?
[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.
[20] And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.
[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:
[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:
[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.
[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.
[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.
[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.
[27] My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
[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.

God will take the chosen of the house of Israel, which is not lost, but lost within the heathen lands, and He will bring them out of those lands and along with the house of Judah He will turn them back into one nation under David, as their national prince/king, during the millennium, and they will have one Shepherd and King of Kings, Jesus, who will reign over the world from the temple in Jerusalem. God will make a new covenant of peace with them and fulfill His covenant that He made with the nation of Israel, and He will dwell with them forever. They will be the priests to the world, bringing God’s message to the rest of the nations. This passage shows that all 13 tribes (for there actually are 13, not 12) will be reunited for the millennium. The significance in this is that the 10/11 tribes hidden in the heathen worlds are not hidden from God, but still exist although they probably do not know who they are themselves. (The Levitical tribe was divided between the northern and southern kingdom, so some were of the House of Israel, and some of the House of Judah. They were the 13^th tribe as Joseph got a double portion through Ephraim and Manasseh.) So when one sees in Revelation the listings of the 144,000, it is not all Jews as some believe. Only three tribes qualify as being Jews, Judah, Benjamin, and the Levites. The other ten tribes were Israel, along with some of the Levites. The importance here is that the vast multitude of the 144,000 are not coming out of the Jews, They are coming out of the heathen nations, but not as Jews. This is a fact that many a prophecy teacher or student misses.

So while this interpretation cannot really be proven in any way, and therefore is hypothetical, it seems the most probable explanation of what this passage means. Often we get so caught up in the dogmas of tradition rather than really looking to the Word to guide us, that we get into a very narrow mindset that does not allow for any flexibility, when God is often very flexible. We need to be careful not to become too rigid in our traditional thoughts that we dismiss what God is trying to teach us, because it doesn't set well with our traditions.