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Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
37:1-14 The Vision of Dry Bones. This vision, Ezekiel's third in the book (see 1:1), is one of the most famous passages in Ezekiel. While it stands on its own as a powerful statement of God's power to re-create the community, the context is significant. The promised gift of new heart and spirit (36:26-27) left questions hanging (i.e., how can this be? and can it be true for us?). Chapter 37 addresses these questions. The vision itself is reported in vv. 1-10 with vivid power. The landscape is filled with bleached bones to which Ezekiel is commanded to prophesy. As he does, the bones are restored to life. The vision receives a double interpretation in vv. 11-14. The primary meaning relates directly to the exiles' despair (v. 11) and concludes the vision in v. 14. Verses 12-13 transpose the metaphor to a graveyard and contain one of the few hints of resurrection in the OT (see note).
37:1 The vast landscape of dry bones suggests the aftermath of battle, the ultimate outcome of the judgment of ch. 6.
37:3 The question can these bones live? anticipates the exiles' own self-perception (v. 11): total hopelessness. It also introduces one of the key words in the passage: the verb "to live" appears in vv. 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, and 14. Ezekiel's response leaves the outcome to God's sovereignty.
37:4-6 God commands Ezekiel to do what seems pointless (prophesy over these bones, v. 4), and includes the promise that he will perform the impossible (vv. 5-6)--bring them back to life. The key to "resuscitation" is stated in v. 5: breath is the Hb. ruakh, the same word used for "the Spirit" in v. 1, and which appears seven more times in the vision.
37:8 The first phase of prophesying results in the rebuilt bodies, which lack breath. So far this activity only yields corpses--but it is still a necessary first step.
37:9-10 The second phase of prophesying is addressed to the breath (or wind or spirit/Spirit; Hb. ruakh, which can take all three meanings). The coming of the wind/breath/spirit that gives life powerfully alludes to God's creative work in Gen. 2:7. God creates, and God re-creates.
37:12-13 I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. The vision of national revival is transposed into the metaphor of a cemetery, which seems to be related to the experience of exile (v. 12b). By using this language, Ezekiel also contributes to OT teaching on resurrection. Although clear statements of bodily life after death are not common in the OT, one of the clearest comes in Daniel (Dan. 12:2-3). In addition, there were hints in earlier texts that prepared the way. The influence of a number of these texts, including Isa. 26:19 and Hos. 6:1-2 and 13:14, is immediately apparent in the NT. Other passages include Job 19:25-27 and Ps. 17:15 (see note).
37:14 The fundamental lesson of the vision is repeated: when the Spirit is present, God's people are enabled to live. This is the only basis on which hope can be held out to the despairing community.
