“Dry bones, hear the word of Yah weh”
1 The hand of Yahweh was upon me. He brought me out and led me in spirit to the middle of the valley which was full of bones.
2 He made me walk to and fro among them and I could see there was a great number of them on the ground all along the valley and that they were very dry.
3 Yah weh said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live again?” I said, “Lord Yahweh, only you know that.”
4 He then said, “Speak on my behalf concerning these bones; say to them:
Dry bones, hear the word of Yah weh!
5 Yahweh says: I am going to put spirit in you and make you live.
6 I shall put sinews on you and make flesh grow on you; I shall cover you with skin and give you my spirit, that you may live. And you will know that I am Yahweh.”
7 I prophesied as I had been commanded and then there was a noise and commotion; the bones joined together.
8 I looked and saw that they had sinews, that flesh was growing on them and that he was covering them with skin. But there was no spirit in them.
9 So Yahweh said to me, “Speak on my behalf and call on the Spirit, son of man! Say to the Spirit: This is the word of Yahweh: Spirit, come from the four winds. Breathe into these dead bones and let them live!”
10 I prophesied as he had commanded me and breath entered them; they came alive, standing on their feet – a great, immense army!
11 He then said to me, “Son of man, these bones are all Israel. They keep saying: ‘Our bones are dry, hope has gone, it is the end of us.’
12 So prophesy! Say to them: This is what Yahweh says: I am going to open your tombs, I shall bring you out of your tombs, my peo ple, and lead you back to the land of Israel.
13 You will know that I am Yahweh, O my people! when I open your graves and bring you out of your graves,
14 when I put my spirit in you and you live. I shall settle you in your land and you will know that I, Yahweh, have done what I said I would do.”
15 The word of Yahweh came to me in these terms, “Son of man, take a piece of wood and write on it: ‘Judah and the Is raelites loyal to him.’
16 Take another piece of wood and write: ‘Joseph, the branch of Ephraim and the Israelites loyal to him.’
17 Join one to the other to make a single piece of wood in your hand.
18 When your people say to you, ‘Won’t you tell us what this means?’
19 say to them: Yahweh says this: I am going to take the branch of Joseph which is in the hand of Ephraim and the tribes of Israel loyal to him and put Judah’s branch with them, and they will be as one in my hand.
20 And you will hold in your hand in their sight the pieces of wood on which you wrote.
21 You will then say to them: Thus says Yahweh: I am about to withdraw the Israelites from where they were among the nations. I shall gather them from all around and bring them back to their land.
22 I shall make them into one people on the mountains of Israel and one king is to be king of them all. They will no longer form two nations or be two separate kingdoms,
23 nor will they defile themselves again with their idols, their detestable prac tices and their sins. I shall free them from the guilt of their treachery; I shall cleanse them and they will be for me a people and I shall be God for them.
24 My servant David will reign over them, one shepherd for all. They will live according to my laws and follow and practice my de crees.
25 They will settle in the land I gave to my ser vant Jacob where their ancestors lived. There they will live forever, their children and their chil dren’s children. David my servant will be their prince forever.
26 I shall establish a covenant of peace with them, an everlasting covenant. I shall settle them and they will increase and I shall put my sanctuary in their midst forever.
27 I shall make my home at their side; I shall be their God and they will be my people.
28 Then the nations will know that I am Yahweh who makes Israel holy, having my sanctuary among them forever.”
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Comments Ezekiel, Chapter 37
• 37.1 Can these bones live again? This page announces the restoration of Israel which had been dead in every sense of the word.
Our bones are dry. The dry and scattered bones represent the Israelites, exiled and dispersed. For many years, the people of Israel believed that God would manifest his glory in the world by granting them prosperity and by working miraculous liberations on their behalf. These were nothing but human dreams. God’s plan is to teach his people through centuries of struggling, mistakes and suffering. Nations, like people, cannot reach true maturity without passing through the death of their pride and their ambitions. This is precisely when God sends the word which makes the dead rise again.
I shall cover you with skin and give you my Spirit, that you may live (v. 6). First, God sent his prophets. Their words were not listened to during their lifetime, but they fell to the ground as seed. After a few years, some people would emerge to restore the nation with Ezra and Nehemiah.
When we speak about the resurrection, we always think about the resurrection of people. John spoke about it in 5:25-28 showing how Christ calls dead people to rise from sin or from death. History shows that God raises his people not once, but several times, and even daily as can be seen in the present history of our Church.
• 15. The Jewish nation’s “original sin” was its divi sion since Solomon’s death.
In the restored Israel the division would be removed and healed: there would be one people and one shepherd (see Jn 10:16).
Even after the exiles came back from Baby lon, Israel understood that she had to gather her children who had emigrated all over the world. Jesus, likewise, intended to gather all the scattered children of God (Jn 11:52), since he did not come for the Jews alone, but for all those who do not belong to the flock also (Jn 10).
If we reflect on this extensive mission of Jesus’ disciples, it becomes evident that the word “assemble” does not mean to gather to gether all the nations into one, or impose on them the same institutions. For them it is a matter of forming one living body where all that is human and the uniqueness of each one may flourish. Such a unity is a gift of God: to have reached it would mean that we have arrived at the end of history.
Meanwhile, to truly become the New Peo ple of God, the Church must be one even in its visible structure. To become divided is to revert to the sin of Jeroboam.