37:15–19 Whereas the first part of the chapter concerned a private vision received by the prophet (albeit in response to the people’s words), the second part concerns a public sign-act performed by the prophet. Ezekiel carried out a number of these sign-acts earlier in his ministry in order to convey the inevitability of the coming judgment upon Jerusalem; they were part street theater, part acted-out parables designed to draw the attention of a resistant audience and provoke it to thought (e.g., ch. 12). In the same way here the prophet is instructed to take two ordinary sticks and write on one “For Judah, and the people of Israel associated with him” while inscribing the other stick “For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him” (37:16). The northern kingdom of Israel is often called Ephraim after the name of the largest northern tribe, one of Joseph’s sons. Ezekiel is instructed to hold the two sticks together in his hand, presumably end to end, so that they look like a single stick.

The symbolism of sticks representing tribes recalls Numbers 17, where the staffs of all the tribal leaders were collected and left before the ark of the covenant overnight, after which Aaron’s staff budded, blossomed, and bore fruit (Num. 17:8), indicating the Lord’s choice of Aaron alone to serve as the priestly tribe in the aftermath of Korah’s rebellion, which had challenged him (Num. 16:3). Here, though, instead of the Lord’s choosing one stick to separate one tribe from the rest, the two sticks, representing the two halves of Israel, are put back together into a new unity. The keyword in this section of Ezekiel 37 is “one” (Hb. ʾekhad), which occurs ten times—the same number of times the keyword ruakh occurred in verses 1–14.238

The symbolism of this sign is so transparent that the people watching could hardly fail to grasp its significance. So their question (“Will you not tell us what you mean by these?”; v. 18) is likely more concerned with “How can this be?” How is it possible that these two long-divided nations, which have fought repeated wars against each other and both been driven from their ancestral homelands, could in the end be brought together once again?

The answer is familiar from the opening vision and is found in the repeated words “I will” that dominate the remainder of the chapter. The Lord will take the two sticks and merge them together in his hand and make them one.239 No one else could accomplish such an astonishing feat, but who can doubt that, if the Lord is determined to do it, he will carry it through, just as he raised those dry bones from the dead and gave them new life (vv. 1–14)?

37:20–23 The Lord expands on this preliminary answer in what follows. While the sign-act is still in front of the people, the prophet is to confirm to the people the Lord’s intention to do the seemingly impossible and bring back the people of Israel—from both northern and southern kingdoms—to their historic homeland in the mountains of Israel (cf. ch. 36). The old divisions will be transcended in a reunion into a single kingdom, with one king over the whole land, as it was in the days of David and Solomon (and has not been since then; 37:22). Not only will there be political reunion; there will also be spiritual revival. The people will no longer defile themselves with their idols and detestable practices but will turn away from their transgressions and backslidings (v. 23).240 This spiritual change will also fundamentally be the Lord’s work: “I will save . . . cleanse” (v. 23). No one other than the Lord can accomplish such a total transformation in the people, but by it he will accomplish his original goal for his covenant relationship with Israel: “They shall be my people, and I will be their God” (v. 23).

37:24–28 The original schism in the two kingdoms was caused by the arrogance of one of the early kings, David’s grandson Rehoboam, who neglected the advice of his older and wiser counselors in favor of the guidance of his brash young men, who told him to impress his authority harshly on the kingdom as a way of establishing his power (1 Kings 12:1–19). Instead, however, his harshness tore the kingdom apart. Fittingly, the solution is a new king who will recall a previous monarch who united the twelve tribes: David (Ezek. 37:24). Instead of reigning foolishly like Rehoboam, this new David will rule humbly as the Lord’s servant and the people’s shepherd, establishing a lasting reign over the reunited kingdom, as anticipated in the Davidic covenant in 2 Samuel 7. According to 1–2 Kings the exile—and many previous disasters—was due to the kings of both northern and southern kingdoms leading the people astray and calling down divine judgment upon themselves and the land. But the God-honoring reign of this new king will instead bring lasting peace for the people and their land (Ezek. 37:26).

Instead of defiling the sanctuary with false worship (or even setting up rival sanctuaries, as the northern kings did; 1 Kings 12:28–33), this king will make the land safe for the Lord to dwell in forever. This permanent dwelling place for the Lord was promised in Deuteronomy 12, a promise reiterated in 2 Samuel 7 and accomplished in the building of the Solomonic temple but then tragically lost through the people’s sin (cf. esp. Ezekiel 8–11). Now, as a testimony to the nations all around, that sanctuary will be restored, with the Lord once again dwelling in the midst of his people as a permanent demonstration of his sanctifying power. Only if the people have genuinely been made holy could God’s holy presence dwell in their midst forever.241 Because this transformation is entirely the Lord’s work, he alone will receive the glory for it.

This chapter closes the section on the renewal of Israel in Ezekiel 34–37 and sets the stage for the vision of the renewed temple in chapters 40–48. The Lord has given his purified people rest from his enemies all around, and, having transformed them into a holy nation, it seems time for the Lord to build himself a house, in time-honored Near Eastern fashion. Yet there is one final cataclysm to be endured: an assault on the purified people of God, who have been returned from exile to their own land and are dwelling in peace there. The Lord will bring against them one final coalition of enemies simply so that he can defend his people against all their foes and demonstrate his power to conquer all who may rise against them (cf. chs. 38–39).