The book of Ezekiel is a very rich book of forty-eight chapters with applications even for today. Some think that this is the most neglected book of the Bible and that there are difficult passages to understand.
Ezekiel, a prophet, was taken away by the Babylonians in the second carrying away (597 BC). God called Ezekiel in the fifth year of his captivity and he began his work around twelve years after Daniel. His writings spanned about twenty-two years of the seventy years that Israel spent in captivity. Ezekiel’s name means “God strengthens” and he was a watchman for God (Ezekiel 3:17).
This week’s article will focus on the interpretation and fulfillment of Ezekiel’s vision in Ezekiel 37: The Valley of Dry Bones. Next week’s article will focus on the vision of the two sticks and the lessons learnt from these two visions.
Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones
The vision of the valley of dry bones was given to Ezekiel in Ezekiel 37:1-10. The spirit of the Lord caused Ezekiel to be set in the midst of a valley which was full of bones. Ezekiel noted that there were many bones around and they were very dry (Ezekiel 37:2). God then asked Ezekiel if the bones could live and Ezekiel answered that only God would know. God then commanded Ezekiel to prophesy to the dry bones. He would then cause breath to enter into them and they would live. God also said that He would put flesh on the bones together with skin. In doing all these, people would know that He is Jehovah God. Ezekiel did as he was told and prophesied. There was noise and shaking and the bones started to come together with the tendons joining them, flesh came upon them and the skin covered all of these. However, there was no breath in them. God then told Ezekiel to prophesy to the wind and tell the four winds to breathe upon the bones covered with flesh and skin. Ezekiel did as he was told and prophesied to the winds. As such, breath came into the bodies and they “lived and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army” (Ezekiel 37:10).
Interpretation of the Vision
God tells us the interpretation of this vision in verses 11-14.The dry bones represented the whole house of Israel (Ezekiel 37:11). A people dried up of hope and physically devastated by their enemies. At that point, the whole house of Israel was under captivity with foreign nations. The northern kingdom of Israel consisting of ten tribes had been taken into captivity by the Assyrians in 721 BC. The southern kingdom of Judah consisting of the remaining two tribes were taken into captivity by the Babylonians over three carrying away (606 BC, 597 BC and 586 BC), of which Ezekiel was a part.
God told Ezekiel that He would open their graves, cause them to come up out of their graves and bring them into the land of Israel (Ezekiel 37:12). God was going to restore the entire house of Israel despite the hopeless and impossible situation, like putting tendon and flesh back onto dry bones.. Through this restoration, the people would know that God is the Lord. God also said that He would put His spirit in them, like the breath into the still dead bodies. He would place them in their own land and they would live. Everyone would know that the Lord had spoken and fulfilled whatever that He had said He would do.
Fulfillment of the Vision
History tells us that whatever prophecy God gave to the people through Ezekiel was fulfilled. Babylon fell in 536 BC and the king of Persia Cyrus allowed a remnant of the Jews to return to their homeland. There were also three returns. The first return was led by Zerubbabel in 536 BC, the second return led by Ezra in 457 BC and the third return led by Nehemiah in 444 BC. Zerubbabel and Ezra led in the rebuilding and beautifying of the temple in Jerusalem which was previously destroyed. Nehemiah led in the rebuilding of the walls and it took just fifty-two days to rebuild everything (Nehemiah 6:15).
A small clay cylinder, famously known as the Cyrus Cylinder, measuring about nine inches long was found by archaeologist Hormoz Rasam in 1879 in the ancient city of Babylon (modern Iraq). This clay cylinder is located in the British Museum today. King Cyrus recorded several things on the clay cylinder. A translation of a segment of the cuneiform text found on the cylinder reads:
“…I returned to [these] sacred cities on the other side of the Tigris, the sanctuaries of which have been in ruins for a long time, the images which [used] to live therein and established for them permanent sanctuaries. I [also] gathered all their [former] inhabitants and returned [to them] their habitations. Furthermore, I resettled upon the command of Marduk the great lord, all the gods of Sumer and Akkad whom Nabonidus has brought into Babylon to the anger of the lord of the gods, unharmed, in their [former] chapels, the places which made them happy.”
The above text discovered aligns with what the Bible tells us of the exiled Israelites returning to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.
Both archaeology and historical accounts add weight to what was recorded in biblical accounts for us, showing that the vision given to Ezekiel was fulfilled.
Sneak peek for next week: Ezekiel’s vision of the two sticks and learning points from these two visions.
References:
Archaeology And The Old Testament.
Stan Crowley, “Ezekiel – An Introduction”.