Comments on Ezekiel 37 This chapter covers two eschatological prophecies, the first being the resurrection and redemption of Israel (v. 1-14), the second being the reunification of Israel under the throne of David (v. 15-28). The two prophecies are connected in that they both deal with the redemption and reunification of Israel. And the ultimate fulfilment of both occur at the same time, the Day of the Lord. Israel will be united, both mortal and post- mortal, physical and spiritual, on the Day of the Lord. This chapter is most widely known for the use of v. 15-19 as a Biblical proof text for the Book of Mormon. Interestingly enough, while this passage is quite popular among Missionaries and members in general, only once in subsequent revelations is it explicitly identified as such, cf. D&C 27:5. Naturally, we wouldn't expect to see any references to it in the BofM as Lehi left Jerusalem previous to the Babylonian exile. But, there are other allusions to records by Ephraimites appearing in 1 Ne. 13:41, 2 Ne. 29:14. v1-14 In verses 1-10 Ezekiel recounts a vision. Ezekiel sees and walks through a great valley filled with many old and dry bones (v. 1-2). The Lord asks Ezekiel if life can be restored to the bones, and he answers "Only you know" (v. 3). The Lord then tells him to command, by His word, the spirit and flesh to return to the bones and to return to life, then he will know the Lord is God (v. 4-6). Ezekiel follows the Lord's command and tells the flesh to return to the bones, and it does. However, there is no spirit in them (v. 7-8). The Lord tells him to command the spirits to gather in from the four winds and enter into the fleshed bodies (v. 9). He does so and the bodies come to life and stand upon their feet (v. 10). The Lord then explains the meaning of the vision in v. 11- 14. The bone he has seen are the House of Israel. That the bones are dried up is symbolic of Israel's lament "Our bones are dried up, out hope is cut off, we are doomed" (JPS) referring to their physically and spiritually scattered state (v. 11). Therefore Ezekiel is to tell them the Lord will open up their graves and restore life to them (v. 12-13) and place them in the Promised Land. Then they will know firsthand the Lord is the God of Israel (v. 14). v1 "the hand of the Lord was upon me", a Semitism meaning he was experiencing a revelation from the Lord, cp. 1:3, 3:22, 8:1, 1 Chron. 28:19. v5 "breath", the Hebrew "ruach", is variously translated to "wind" and "spirit". v9-10 While the bones are fleshed again and may be alive in the organic sense of a functioning biological organism, it is not until their spirits are summoned and joined with the bodies that they get up off the ground and stand up as an animated living soul. v9 "from the four winds", i.e., from all over the face of the earth as in "from the four corners of the earth". As Israel was scattered to the four winds and the four corners of the earth, so shall she be gathered in from there. v10 "an exceeding great army", the KJV rendering sounds a bit militaristic. A better translation would be "a vast multitude" (JPS). v11 clearly has reference to both the temporal and eternal condition of Israel with respect to being temporally scattered and eternally cut off from the Lord as a result of sin and death. v15-28 Ezekiel relates a series of symbolic actions the Lord tells him to perform in public. He is to take a tablet and write on it "Of Judah and the Israelites associated with him" (JPS) and then he is to take a second tablet and write upon it "Of Joseph the stick of Ephraim-and all the House of Israel associated with him" (v. 15-16). He is to take these two tablets and bring them close together and join them in his hands as though they were one stick (v. 17). And when the people ask him "Won't you tell us what these actions of yours mean?" (JPS) he is to tell them the Lord will take the tablets of Judah and Joseph and join them together in His hand (v. 19). The Lord then explains to Ezekiel what the symbolism of the action in v. 11-20 means and tells Ezekiel to relate it to the people. The Lord will gather Israel from all of the nations they have been scattered to (v. 21) and will make Israel one nation with one king, no longer divided as they were historically (v. 22). Then they will no longer resort to idols or defile themselves with sin, but He will deliver them and they will be His people and He will be their God (v. 23). The Davidic Throne will be reestablished and Israel will obey the Lord's commands (v. 24). They will inherit and dwell in the Promised Land as was granted to the Patriarchs (v. 25). A covenant of peace will be established and the Temple will be as well (v. 26-27). All nations will then know the Lord is with Israel and His Temple is to be found among them (v. 28). v16-17 "stick", for the Hebrew term "'ets" the Strong's entry is as follows: 06086 `ets {ates} from 06095; TWOT - 1670a; n m AV - tree 162, wood 107, timber 23, stick 14, gallows 8, staff 4, stock 4, carpenter + 02796 2, branches 1, helve 1, planks 1, stalks 1; 328 1) tree, wood, timber, stock, plank, stalk, stick, gallows 1a) tree, trees 1b) wood, pieces of wood, gallows, firewood, cedar-wood, woody flax The _International Standard Bible Encyclopedia_, G. W. Bromley, 1988, says under the entry for "Stick" on page 618: Among the symbolic acts the Lord tells Ezekiel to perform is taking two "sticks", one for Judah and one for Joseph, writing on them, and then joining them together to symbolize the reunification of the nation (Ezk. 37:15-28). The difficulty is determining whether Hebrew `es here means "sticks" or perhaps wooden tablets (cf. Targum, which reads tuha', "tablets"). Thus, the Hebrew is ambiguous in meaning and the Targum, the Aramaic language version of the OT, suggests what is being referenced here are tablets. The LDS Institute manual comments for this chapter has an interesting entry where they show a picture of an ancient tablet with raised edges surrounding a wax layer which contains inscriptions. Two of these fairly large thin tablets would be hinged together with leather so they would close on the raised wood edges and protect the enclosed wax. Regardless of whether such a device is what Ezekiel is referring to (v. 20 suggests the tablets themselves are inscribed), it make it clear there were writing tablets common among the Jews at that time. Jewish and Christian commentators commonly see these "sticks" as staves that serve as gathering points, like the staves to which a banner is connected. The connection of the two staves of Judah and Joseph would then mean they are gathering into one body. However, as noted above, the Targum doesn't support such a reading. v17 "one stick...one in thine hand", strictly speaking this event has not as yet occurred. The stick of Judah has been ever- present and the stick of Ephraim has been revealed, but they have not been joined into one in the sense this passage is conveying, see also 2 Ne. 29. The unification of the word of the Lord is concomitant with the reunification of all of Israel, which explicitly requires Judah and Ephraim here. That clearly hasn't happened yet. v20 "the sticks whereon thou writest", the JPS renders this "the sticks which you have inscribed". Compare Isa. 30:8 for an inscribed/engraved record for the latter days. This Hebrew term "kathab" is used in all of the Exodus references to writing such as the Ten commandments (Exod. 31:18), the remembrances Moses was to document (Exod. 17:14), as well as more mundane legal and historical documents (Deut. 24:1, 1 Kings 11:41). v22 nostalgically hearkens back to the time of the original David (2 Sam. 5) when all of Israel was united under one king and was worshiping the Lord. It also uses this as a type of the Millennial Theocracy-Monarchy which is to be established. v24-28 The various statements concerning the unification of Israel, the reestablishment of the David monarchy, the covenant of peace, the Temple, and the deference the nations pay to Israel all clearly point to the ultimate fulfilment of this passage being in a Millennial context. Copyright © 2002 by S. Kurt Neumiller . All rights reserved. No part of this text may be reproduced in any form or by any means for commercial gain without the express written consent of the author. 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