Sunday, March 4, 2012

What is the significance of the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37? Does Isaiah 11:11 have any bearing on Ezekiel 37?

“The call of Abraham” was the beginning of the Jewish nation. God wanted His own people and established the “Abrahamic Covenant” with Abraham. God protected Israel when the people obeyed Him and scattered them when they didn't. The people repented and God provided them with a deliverer until the next time they again fell into sin.
I find Ezekiel 36 of great interest as God let the Israelites know, “This is what the Sovereign LORD says: It is not for your sake, people of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name.” God would not put aside his covenant with Israel.
Ezekiel 37 and the “Valley of dry bones” is a well-known as being prophetic of the restoration of Israel. Ezekiel was taken in a vision to a valley scattered with dry bones. Dried out bones wouldn't have any possibility of life in them and most likely not even a little DNA. As Ezekiel watched the bones came together and humans were formed. The bodies didn't have life unit it was breathed into them.
Ezekiel 37:21 and say to them, “This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. 22 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel.”
In my opinion, like Ezekiel 37:21, Isaiah 11: 11 also is/ has been happening. “In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush,[a] from Elam, from Babylonia,[b] from Hamath and from the islands of the Mediterranean. “In that day” would be after the rebirth of Israel as a nation. There is a story about people in Ethiopia heading for a location but not knowing why. When they got to what seemed to be their destination, airplanes were waiting to take them to Israel, “On wings of Eagles.”
The establishment of the state of Israel in the last century is, as I understand, the final restoration of Israel before the second coming of Jesus. However, in reading Ezekiel 36:22, God lets us know that the restoration of Israel was for His glory:
God will protect the Jews as prophesized in both Ezekiel 38 and Psalm 83. They are His chosen people and have an eternal covenant with God.

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