This well-known apocalyptic vision of the valley of dry bones pictures the manner in which Yahweh would restore His people.473This may be the best known section of the Book of Ezekiel.
"Few other passages have suffered more from the extremes of interpreters who see either too much or too little in both meaning and application of the figures, symbols, and types."474
"The New Covenant involves a new heart and a new spirit, to be sure, but it is deeply rooted in history and land. The promise to Abraham was unconditional and included in its benefits a geographical inheritance--indeed, not just any territory but specifically the land of Canaan (Gen. 12:1, 7; 13:15-17; 15:18-19; 17:8). It is that land that is in view throughout Ezekiel's historical and eschatological purview, for unless that land is the focus of God's covenant fulfillment the ancient promises lose their intended significance.
"The coalescence of the New Covenant and the renewed land is nowhere in the Old Testament better explicated than in Ezekiel 37."475
37:1-2 The Lord lifted Ezekiel up by His Holy Spirit and transported him in a vision to the middle of a valley full of dry bones (cf. 1:3; 8:1). This may have been the same valley (or plain, Heb. biq'a) in which Ezekiel saw his vision of God's glory (cf. 3:22). In this vision, the prophet walked around among the many very dry bones that littered this valley. They represent the Israelites slain during the conquest of the land and now in exile for a very long time.476
37:3-4 The Lord asked Ezekiel if the bones could live again. The prophet replied that only the Lord knew (cf. Rev. 7:14); He could make them live, Ezekiel believed, but he did not know if that is what God would do. The Lord also instructed Ezekiel to prophesy over the dry bones and to tell them to hear His word.
37:5-6 The Lord told the bones that He would cause breath (Heb. ruah, wind, spirit, Spirit) to enter them and they would come back to life (cf. Hos. 6:2).477He would also put sinews on them, make flesh grow back on them, cover them with skin, and put breath in them. They would come back to life and know that He is Yahweh.
37:7-8 Ezekiel spoke to the bones as the Lord had commanded him, and as he did he heard a noise of rattling as the bones began to come together. The prophet saw sinew, flesh, and skin come back on them, but there was no breath in them; they were not alive.
37:9-10 The Lord then told Ezekiel to prophesy to the breath and to command it in the name of the Lord to come from the four winds (i.e., every direction) and give life to the bones (cf. Isa. 43:5-6; Jer. 31:8). Ezekiel followed the Lord's instructions, and breath came into the corpses (cf. Gen. 2:7; Rom. 8:1-17). They came to life, stood up, and formed a very large group of people, as large as an army.
"What is the significance of the two stages [vv. 4-8 and 9-10]? The difference between them is surely to be found in the directionof Ezekiel's prophesying; first to the bones, telling them to hear, and secondly to the spirit, invoking its inspiration. The first must have seemed to Ezekiel very much like his professional occupation, exhorting lifeless people to listen to God's word. The effect was limited: true, something remarkable happened, but the hearers were still dead men. The second action was tantamount to praying, as Ezekiel besought the Spirit of God to effect the miracle of re-creation, to breathe into man's nostrils the breath of life (cf. Gn. 2:7). This time the effect was devastating. What preaching by itself failed to achieve, prayer made a reality."478
37:11-13 The Lord explained to Ezekiel that the bones represented the whole house of Israel (cf. 36:10). The Israelites were saying that they were like dry bones: they had been dead for a very long time spiritually as well as physically. They had no hope of life in the future; they had lost all hope of becoming a nation again or of seeing God's promises to them fulfilled literally. The Lord had cut them off completely; the bones were separated from each other, and the Israelites were scattered over the earth. Consequently, Ezekiel was to prophesy to them that the sovereign Lord would open their graves, cause them to come up out of their graves, and bring them back into the Promised Land. Then they would know that He is God.
37:14 He promised again to put His Spirit within them, bring them back to life, and place them in their land (cf. vv. 9-10, 15-28; 36:22-32). This would teach them that He is God.
Notice that what God promised was both a spiritual and a physical restoration of the Israelites, and the end time is in view (cf. Matt. 24:30-31). So this is not a vision of the physical resurrection of all Israelites sometime in the future, nor is it a vision of the spiritual salvation of Jews and Gentiles in the future.479
"This could genuinely be termed a rebirth' of the nation. Just as the necessary elements of a nation were essential to the initial formation of Israel in Genesis through Joshua--a people, a government, and a land--so God would provide all three essentials once again in this rebirth of Israel in the future. The people of that day are brought together through restoration in 36:16-37:28. The land is provided in the prophecy of 35:1-36:15. The government of renewed Israel would be given in Ezekiel's apocalyptic vision revealed in chapters 40-48."480
"There is no finer illustration of the life-changing power of the preached word than what the prophet saw in his vision. It has the power to transform those who are dead in trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1-22) and make them new, living creatures in Christ (2 Cor 5:17)."481
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