Dublin, OH
Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
37:15-28 The Houses of Israel and Judah. The re-creative activity of vv. 1-14 included homecoming (vv. 12, 14). Although homecoming remains a minor element in the "dry bones" vision, it provides a link to this oracle (vv. 21, 25-26)--a symbolic action as in chs. 4-5 but much simpler than those Ezekiel performed earlier in his ministry. The instructions for this bit of street theater are given in 37:16-17. The reunion of Israel and Judah is another theme that Ezekiel shared with Jeremiah (cf. Jer. 30:3; 50:4; esp. 33:14-16, which joins the same themes as this passage). This action prompts questions from the onlookers (Ezek. 37:18) and sets up two oracles: vv. 19-20 announce the reunification of old northern and southern kingdoms; vv. 21-23 give the renewed nation its moral and political shape. Verses 24-28 elucidate the second oracle. The closing verses, with their allusions to the temple, provide a bridge to chs. 40-48.
37:16 Joseph, as father of Ephraim (see Gen. 48:5, 8-20), here represents the northern kingdom of Israel. Judah represents the southern kingdom (cf. Ps. 78:67-68).
37:19 make them one stick. Although the hopes for a reunion were alive at this time, Israel's deportation by the Assyrians was already in the past. It may be that the "dry bones" vision in vv. 1-14 allayed doubts as to the plausibility of this hope.
37:21-22 This renewed national unity requires a secure national home (v. 21). The reunion takes concrete political shape under the rule of one king, which is not Ezekiel's usual title for the messianic figure (cf. "prince," v. 25).
37:23 The life of this nation is consistently moral and pure. The people are enabled to live in this way by God (I will save them). The covenant formula appears here and in v. 27, one mirroring the other.
37:24-25 The assignment of David as shepherd-king recalls 34:23-24, there in terms of prince (v. 25), as well as several passages in Jeremiah (e.g., Jer. 23:5; 30:9). Divine enabling to live rightly (Ezek. 37:23) does not exclude moral vigilance on the part of the people but enforces it.
37:26 The covenant of peace (see 34:25) and everlasting covenant (see 16:60) appeared individually earlier in Ezekiel. Here they come together to provide the charter for the renewed nation. The joining of these covenants also combines political life and the natural world, as if people and land are in symbiotic unity.
37:27-28 My dwelling place shall be with them. The oracle's conclusion emphasizes the centrality of God's presence to the renewed people, the greatest of all blessings by far. The "dwelling place" (Hb. mishkan) recalls the wilderness tabernacle. The sanctuary (Hb. miqdash; see v. 26) points rather to the temple, in particular the renewed temple, which will occupy Ezekiel's attention in ch. 44.
