What Do You Believe About Ezekiel's Dry Bones Vision? Please choose an option closest to your view & explain caveats

The Valley of Dry Bones

37:1 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. 2 And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. 3 And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. 14 And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”

I don’t see how anyone can make this point to the NT resurrection of believers without pulling it astray.

I believe the context implies God’s dealing with Israel, as the broader context of Ezekiel has little to do with the NT, however, I believe that there isa clear principle here of God making what is dead alive again. I think this could also be applied in spiritual regeneration of salvation. Unless God’s Spirit (breath) breathes upon a person, they are yet dead in their sins. But when God’s spirit revives a person, they are alive unto God. So I see it as double, mostly about Israel’s regeneration and restoration, but also about God’s power and delight in general in making dead men live again spiritually.

[Ed Vasicek] There are actually two “bone” illustrations; one is of bones scattered, the other of graves opening. Although the primary teaching is that God will revive Israel, there might be a double-meaning. I say “might,” so I am not saying this is certain. At bare minimum, Jesus is alluding to the same imagery.

Ed-

Interesting - I’ve never heard these two passages connected together before. I’ll look at it some more, but I’m not as convinced that Jesus is alluding to the Ezekiel passage as you are. To me, the emphasis of this passage [the John one] is that Jesus is God. I think that if Jesus were referring to Ezekiel, then he would not refer to the ‘tombs’ [v. 28] , but rather the bones.

Jerry, I’m assuming that you’re a Covenant theologian, based on what you wrote. Is that correct?

I just realized that I wasn’t paying attention to the latter part of the Ezekiel passage…too focused on v. 1-10, so please disregard that post. Sorry ‘bout that!