37:1–3 The vision opens with the hand of the Lord coming upon Ezekiel, as with his other visions (1:3; 3:14; 8:1; 40:1). This detail highlights the fact that this vision is an integral part of Ezekiel’s larger prophecy: the four visions in chapters 1–3; 8–11; 37; 40–48 form an important structuring element in the book. A “valley” (or “plain”; Hb. biqʿah) among the exiles (cf. 3:23) is the polar opposite of a “very high mountain” in Israel (40:2), where one might expect an encounter between the Lord and his prophet to take place. In particular, a “plain” in Babylon is the natural home of idolatry; it is the location of the Tower of Babel (Babylon) in Genesis 11:2, as well as of Nebuchadnezzar’s gigantic golden statue in Daniel 3:1. Yet, as the vision makes clear, this place of death, where the defeat of the Lord’s people seems so comprehensive, is just one more location at which the Spirit of the Lord can bring life and hope.

At first, though, the overwhelming reality facing the prophet is pervasive death. The “Spirit”235 deposits the prophet in the midst of the valley and then brings him back and forth so that he can survey the scene. The inescapable conclusion is stark: the valley is filled with bones (Ezek. 37:1) that are “very dry” (v. 2). These are not fresh corpses from which life has only recently departed and that might perhaps be raised to life by a prophet empowered by the Lord—as occurs a number of times in the OT (1 Kings 17:17–24; 2 Kings 4:18–37; 13:21). They are not even skeletons that maintain their individual integrity. Rather they are old, dry, separated bones—the complete antithesis of life. Thus far the exiles’ fears seemed to be fully confirmed (cf. Ezek. 37:11). When the Lord asks Ezekiel, “Son of man, can these bones live?” (v. 3), the answer seems obvious: “No!” The Lord is not asking the prophet a general philosophical question about the possibility of resurrection: “Can people, once they have died, be returned to life?” Rather, the Lord is posing a painfully specific question about the exiles: “Can these bones live?”

The prophet has spent enough time with the Lord to recognize a trick question when he hears one, however. The answer is not no, for nothing is impossible for God. But it cannot simply be yes, either—nothing short of a new creative act on God’s part could bring new life to these bones. Certainly, no human being could accomplish that feat.236 Wisely, Ezekiel defers to God’s wisdom: “O Lord God [ʾadonai yhwh, a title stressing the Lord’s absolute sovereignty], you know” (v. 3). The Lord certainly “knows” what will happen in the future, but more is implied here: the Lord has the power to make the future whatever he wants it to be, even one filled with seemingly impossible things like dead bones’ returning to life.

37:4–6 The Lord exercises his sovereignty over the future by means of the word of the prophet, who speaks the Lord’s word and then watches it come to pass. Ezekiel is instructed to speak to the dry bones, which represent the exiles, and command them to hear the word of the Lord (v. 4). The Lord’s message to the bones is not an invitation to live, for dry bones have no ability to respond to any invitation, even a divine one. Rather it is a declaration that they have been chosen for life: “Behold, I will cause breath [ruakh; “spirit”] to enter you, and you shall live” (v. 5). The divine word and Spirit bring life, even to the spiritually lifeless, transforming them from helplessness and hopelessness to a vibrant knowledge of the Lord (v. 6).

37:7–10 The prophet obeys the command to prophesy and instantly sees the impact of his preaching. In chapter 11, while Ezekiel was “prophesying” (Hb. kehinnabeʾi; v. 13) at the Lord’s command, his words of judgment had an immediate effect: one of the men committing abominations, Pelatiah, fell down dead (v. 13). Here there is an equally immediate response to Ezekiel’s prophesying (kehinnabeʾi; 37:7) in the coming together of the bones. Just as the death of Pelatiah served as a firstfruits of the coming judgment upon Jerusalem, so here the coming together of the bones serves as a guarantee of what it symbolizes: the ultimate restoration of Israel as a nation.237

Yet a problem rapidly emerges: the bones join themselves together and are connected by sinews and covered by flesh, but the bodies still lack life (v. 8). It is as if the recreation of Israel has proved too difficult even for the Lord. But that cannot be. Like the creation of Adam in Genesis 2:7, which begins with the shaping of his body out of the clay and is completed by the inbreathing of divine breath (though there the Hb. word is neshamah rather than ruakh), so too the recreation of Israel is a two-stage process, with each stage being dependent on the prophetic proclamation of the Lord’s sovereign word.

When Ezekiel speaks, life is returned to the bodies (Ezek. 37:9 calls them “these slain”) through their infilling by the Spirit of God. Restored to life, they stand on their feet, ready to serve the Lord as an enormous army (v. 10). Ezekiel could hardly miss the parallel with his own experience. At the outset of his calling he was himself twice rendered flat on his face when confronted by the awesome majesty of God (1:28; 3:23). On each occasion the Spirit “entered” (boʾ) him and raised him to his feet (2:2; 3:24). So too here the Spirit enters (boʾ) the prostrate corpses, raising them to their feet (37:10). What first occurred in Ezekiel’s life will come upon renewed Israel as well, restoring it to useful service to the Lord.

37:11–14 In this case the prophet himself gives an authoritative interpretation of his vision. The dry bones are the discouraged and demoralized “house of Israel” (here, primarily the exiles who have recently received the news of the fall of Jerusalem; 33:21). They feel hopeless and helpless, cut off from God as a consequence of their sins. Yet, as the vision demonstrates, what is truly hopeless from a human perspective is never hopeless for God, who is determined to bring his people back from the dead. This message is reiterated by means of a slightly shifted metaphor. The dry bones in the valley were unburied—the ultimate insult—but now the Lord declares that he will open the graves occupied by the Israelites and bring them back to life and back home to Israel. Essentially, the interpretation presents the same lyrics as the earlier vision, merely sung in a slightly different key. The corpses that represent God’s people will be exhumed, filled with the Lord’s Spirit (ruakh = “breath” in v. 9), and restored to life in their own land. There is no need for the exiles to be discouraged if the Lord has committed himself to do this as a public demonstration of his recreative and redemptive power. Their present state is not the end of the story; the Lord will fulfill his promises and revive his people, against all odds.