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Bible School · Old Testament survey · Class 58 of 68

A new heart and a valley of bones: Ezekiel's promise of restoration

Ezekiel 36–37 · about 26 minutes · A new heart; dry bones

By the end of this class you should be able to

Read the passage

36“And you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say: O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD. 2This is what the Lord GOD says: Because the enemy has said of you, ‘Aha! The ancient heights have become our possession,’ 3therefore prophesy and declare that this is what the Lord GOD says: Because they have made you desolate and have trampled you on every side, so that you became a possession of the rest of the nations and were taken up in slander by the lips of their talkers, 4therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD. This is what the Lord GOD says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys, to the desolate ruins and abandoned cities, which have become a spoil and a mockery to the rest of the nations around you. 5Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Surely in My burning zeal I have spoken against the rest of the nations, and against all Edom, who took My land as their own possession with wholehearted joy and utter contempt, so that its pastureland became plunder. 6Therefore, prophesy concerning the land of Israel and tell the mountains and hills, the ravines and valleys, that this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, I have spoken in My burning zeal because you have endured the reproach of the nations. 7Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I have sworn with an uplifted hand that surely the nations around you will endure reproach of their own. 8But you, O mountains of Israel, will produce branches and bear fruit for My people Israel, for they will soon come home. 9For behold, I am on your side; I will turn toward you, and you will be tilled and sown. 10I will multiply the people upon you—the house of Israel in its entirety. The cities will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt. 11I will fill you with people and animals, and they will multiply and be fruitful. I will make you as inhabited as you once were, and I will make you prosper more than before. Then you will know that I am the LORD. 12Yes, I will cause My people Israel to walk upon you; they will possess you, and you will be their inheritance, and you will no longer deprive them of their children. 13For this is what the Lord GOD says: Because people say to you, ‘You devour men and deprive your nation of its children,’ 14therefore you will no longer devour men or deprive your nation of its children, declares the Lord GOD. 15I will no longer allow the taunts of the nations to be heard against you, and you will no longer endure the reproach of the peoples or cause your nation to stumble, declares the Lord GOD.” 16Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 17“Son of man, when the people of Israel lived in their land, they defiled it by their own ways and deeds. Their behavior before Me was like the uncleanness of a woman’s impurity. 18So I poured out My wrath upon them because of the blood they had shed on the land, and because they had defiled it with their idols. 19I dispersed them among the nations, and they were scattered throughout the lands. I judged them according to their ways and deeds. 20And wherever they went among the nations, they profaned My holy name, because it was said of them, ‘These are the people of the LORD, yet they had to leave His land.’ 21But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they had gone. 22Therefore tell the house of Israel that this is what the Lord GOD says: It is not for your sake that I will act, O house of Israel, but for My holy name, which you profaned among the nations to which you went. 23I will show the holiness of My great name, which has been profaned among the nations—the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when I show My holiness in you before their eyes. 24For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all the countries, and I will bring you back into your own land. 25I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. 26I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances. 28Then you will live in the land that I gave your forefathers; you will be My people, and I will be your God. 29I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will summon the grain and make it plentiful, and I will not bring famine upon you. 30I will also make the fruit of the trees and the crops of the field plentiful, so that you will no longer bear reproach among the nations on account of famine. 31Then you will remember your evil ways and wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and abominations. 32It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord GOD—let it be known to you. Be ashamed and disgraced for your ways, O house of Israel! 33This is what the Lord GOD says: On the day I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be resettled and the ruins to be rebuilt. 34The desolate land will be cultivated instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass through. 35Then they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden. The cities that were once ruined, desolate, and destroyed are now fortified and inhabited.’ 36Then the nations around you that remain will know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt what was destroyed, and I have replanted what was desolate. I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do it. 37This is what the Lord GOD says: Once again I will hear the plea of the house of Israel and do for them this: I will multiply their people like a flock. 38Like the numerous flocks for sacrifices at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so the ruined cities will be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”

Open Ezekiel 36 in the reader (BSB)

37The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out by His Spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley, and it was full of bones. 2He led me all around among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, and indeed, they were very dry. 3Then He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones come to life?” “O Lord GOD,” I replied, “only You know.” 4And He said to me, “Prophesy concerning these bones and tell them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5This is what the Lord GOD says to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you will come to life. 6I will attach tendons to you and make flesh grow upon you and cover you with skin. I will put breath within you so that you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’” 7So I prophesied as I had been commanded. And as I prophesied, there was suddenly a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8As I looked on, tendons appeared on them, flesh grew, and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. 9Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and tell the breath that this is what the Lord GOD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, so that they may live!” 10So I prophesied as He had commanded me, and the breath entered them, and they came to life and stood on their feet—a vast army. 11Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Look, they are saying, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished; we are cut off.’ 12Therefore prophesy and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘O My people, I will open your graves and bring you up from them, and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13Then you, My people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14I will put My Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD.’” 15Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 16“And you, son of man, take a single stick and write on it: ‘Belonging to Judah and to the Israelites associated with him.’ Then take another stick and write on it: ‘Belonging to Joseph—the stick of Ephraim—and to all the house of Israel associated with him.’ 17Then join them together into one stick, so that they become one in your hand. 18When your people ask you, ‘Won’t you explain to us what you mean by these?’ 19you are to tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel associated with him, and I will put them together with the stick of Judah. I will make them into a single stick, and they will become one in My hand.’ 20When the sticks on which you write are in your hand and in full view of the people, 21you are to tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will take the Israelites out of the nations to which they have gone, and I will gather them from all around and bring them into their own land. 22I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king will rule over all of them. Then they will no longer be two nations and will never again be divided into two kingdoms. 23They will no longer defile themselves with their idols or detestable images, or with any of their transgressions. I will save them from all their apostasies by which they sinned, and I will cleanse them. Then they will be My people, and I will be their God. 24My servant David will be king over them, and there will be one shepherd for all of them. They will follow My ordinances and keep and observe My statutes. 25They will live in the land that I gave to My servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They will live there forever with their children and grandchildren, and My servant David will be their prince forever. 26And I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary among them forever. 27My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be My people. 28Then the nations will know that I the LORD sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is among them forever.’”

Open Ezekiel 37 in the reader (BSB)

01Background

Ezekiel was a priest, the son of Buzi, who was taken to Babylon with King Jehoiachin and thousands of others in 597 BC (; ). He was called to be a prophet in the fifth year of that exile, by the Kebar canal in Babylonia, and his dated oracles run from 593 to about 571 BC. For the first part of his ministry he announced that Jerusalem would fall. In 586 BC it did, and word reached the exiles in . From that point his message turns from judgment to restoration, and to 48 form the second half of the book.

and 37 come from that second half. They were spoken to people who had lost their land, their temple and their king, and who had been told by their own prophet that it was deserved. The exiles' own words, reported in , are that their bones are dried up, their hope is lost and they are cut off. The book as a whole is traditionally credited to Ezekiel himself. Some scholars, following a line of study associated with Walther Zimmerli, see later editing by his disciples, while others defend a single author. Either way, the sequence of the chapters places these oracles after 586 BC.

comes just before and is directed against Mount Seir, that is Edom, which had taken advantage of Judah's fall. begins as the answer: the mountains of Israel, which the neighbours had claimed, will be given back and fruitful. The audience is therefore both the exiles and, in a sense, the land itself.

02Outline

  1. Prophecy to the mountains of Israel: the land will bear fruit again
  2. Why the exile happened: defilement and the profaned name
  3. For the sake of my holy name: gathering, cleansing, a new heart and the Spirit
  4. A land like Eden and a city full of people
  5. The valley of dry bones: breath, Spirit and life
  6. Two sticks made one: one king, one people, an everlasting covenant

03How to read it

These chapters are prophecy in the form of oracle, sign and vision. Hebrew prophets spoke for God to a particular audience in a particular crisis, and their words usually have a near horizon (the return from exile) and a larger horizon that is not exhausted by the first fulfilment. The language is figurative and often draws on earlier Scripture. is full of the language of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, and compares the land to the garden of Eden.

The dry bones in are a vision, not a report of an event, and the passage supplies its own interpretation. After the vision, the LORD tells Ezekiel that the bones are the whole house of Israel (), and what is promised is that graves will be opened and the people brought up and returned to their land (). In the text, then, the primary meaning is the restoration of a dead-seeming nation. The Talmud records a debate among rabbis about whether the event was real or a parable. Christians have long also heard in the passage a promise of bodily resurrection, and the Bible itself develops that hope later (; ). The two readings are not rivals if the second is understood as growing out of the first.

The structure helps. The chapters move through three stages: the land restored (), the people cleansed and renewed from within (), and the people raised and reunited (37). The sequence has a logic. A people cannot live in the land again until they are made able to obey. Another rule is to notice that the explanation is part of the text. and tell the reader what the images mean, and the reading should begin there.

04What the text says

. Ezekiel is told to speak to mountains, which in Israel's thought stood for the land. The enemies had said the ancient heights were theirs. The LORD now says he is 'for' the mountains: they will be tilled and sown, the people will multiply, the ruined cities will be rebuilt, and the land will no longer be a place that bereaves its inhabitants. The reversal answers the taunts of the nations.

. The exile is explained. The people defiled the land by their conduct, and the LORD poured out his wrath on them. Then comes a surprising turn. The deeper problem was not only their sin but the damage done to God's reputation. When Israel was scattered, the nations looked at them and concluded that the LORD's people had been driven from his land, so his name was profaned. The exile, intended as discipline, had become a misreading of who God is.

. This is the centre. The LORD introduces the promise by saying that he acts not for Israel's sake. He will act for his holy name, and this settles that the restoration rests on his character, not on Israel's merit. He will vindicate his holiness before the nations, gather the people from the lands and bring them home. Then three acts follow.

  • First, he will sprinkle clean water on them and cleanse them from all uncleanness and idols, language drawn from priestly ritual such as the water of purification in .
  • Second, he will give them 'a new heart' and put 'a new spirit' within them, removing the 'heart of stone' and giving a 'heart of flesh'. In Hebrew thought the heart is the centre of will, thinking and desire, so this is a new inner life, not a reform of habits.
  • Third, he will put his Spirit within them and cause them to walk in his statutes. The problem of the old covenant, a people who could not keep the law, is answered by an inner enabling. The covenant formula follows: you will be my people and I will be your God. add that they will remember their evil ways and loathe themselves, and be told it is not for their sake. Grace here produces shame, not pride.

. The promise returns to the land. Where the ruins stood, towns will be inhabited, and the desolate land will become like the garden of Eden. The comparison tells the first hearers that the restoration is a new creation. Their flocks of people will be as many as the flocks brought to Jerusalem for the festivals.

. The hand of the LORD brings Ezekiel by the Spirit to a valley full of bones, dry and scattered, the sign of long death. He is asked whether these bones can live and answers, as a faithful prophet should, that the LORD knows. He prophesies, and the bones come together with a rattle, with sinews, flesh and skin, yet no breath in them. He prophesies again, this time to the breath, and it comes and they stand as a vast army. The Hebrew word ruach means breath, wind and spirit all at once, and the passage plays on all three. The Spirit of the LORD carries the prophet (), the winds bring breath (), and the LORD promises 'I will put My Spirit within you' (). The picture also echoes , where the LORD formed man and breathed life into him. Life is a gift of God's breath, not a possession. The exiles are told that the LORD will open their graves, bring them up and settle them in their land, 'and you will know that I am the LORD'.

. A sign act follows. Ezekiel takes two sticks, one marked for Judah and one for Joseph or Ephraim (the northern kingdom), and joins them in his hand. The divided kingdom, split since the days of Rehoboam, will become one nation with one king. The king is his servant David, a promise of a Davidic ruler and shepherd (compare ). They will no longer defile themselves with idols, they will walk in the LORD's ordinances, and they will live in the land forever. The LORD will make a covenant of peace, an everlasting covenant, and will put his sanctuary in their midst, his dwelling place will be with them. The nations will see this and know that the LORD sanctifies Israel.

05Key terms

breath, wind, spirit ruach
All three meanings occur in . The word links the Spirit who carries the prophet, the winds from the four directions and the Spirit placed in the people.
heart lev
The centre of thought, will and desire, not only the emotions. A 'heart of stone' cannot respond; a 'heart of flesh' can.
my holy name shem qodshi
The LORD's reputation and presence among the nations. His honour is the stated reason for the restoration in .
dry yavesh
Bones long dead and without any moisture or life. The same word is used for the exiles' own description of themselves in .
covenant of peace berit shalom
A covenant that brings wholeness and security. It is called everlasting in and is linked to the Davidic king.
dwelling place mishkan
The word for the tabernacle. The promise that it will be with them recalls the tent of meeting and looks beyond a building to God's presence.

06In the whole Bible

is one of the Old Testament's clearest statements of the new covenant. It stands beside , which promises a law written on the heart and the knowledge of the LORD for all. Ezekiel adds the gift of the Spirit and the cleansing. The pattern across the Bible is that God does not merely repair the old arrangement. He renews the people from within, so that the failure shown from Sinai to the exile is answered.

The passage also teaches the priority of God's grace. The LORD acts for the sake of his holy name, which means that salvation rests on his own character and promise. It guards against the idea that Israel earned the return. The Bible's fullest statement of this logic is Paul's: that God justifies the ungodly ().

  • Third, it teaches resurrection as the work of God's Spirit. The exiles say their hope is gone, and the LORD answers by naming the grave as the place he works. This hope runs on through and to the New Testament.
  • Finally, the chapters join the hopes of the nation and the king: a reunited people under a Davidic shepherd, in a land like Eden, with God dwelling among them. These themes end the story in , where God's dwelling is with humanity.

07Where Christ is

The connections here are mostly promise and fulfillment, and the New Testament makes several of them. Jesus tells Nicodemus, a teacher of Israel, that no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit (). Jesus's surprise that Nicodemus does not understand fits the promise of cleansing water and a new spirit in , which many interpreters see behind the saying. Paul writes that the Corinthians are a letter from Christ written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, on hearts of flesh (), language that draws on and . The promise of the Spirit within is fulfilled at Pentecost (, -18).

The dry bones find their answer in Christ's resurrection. Paul says that the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to the mortal bodies of believers (). In John, the risen Jesus breathes on his disciples and says to receive the Holy Spirit (), an echo of and probably of . The raised saints in may also echo the opened graves of , though this is an echo and not a stated fulfilment.

The two sticks and the one shepherd are taken up in , where Jesus speaks of other sheep who will be brought in so that there will be one flock and one shepherd, and in , where Christ makes Jew and Gentile one. The promise of David as king is taken up in the Gospels, where Jesus is the Son of David. And Paul quotes the promise that God will dwell among his people, citing the language of and , in .

08How traditions read it

Christians and Jews read the restoration promises of these chapters differently. Many Reformed and amillennial readers see them fulfilled in Christ and the church: the new covenant, the Spirit and the one flock of Jew and Gentile. Dispensational and many other premillennial readers hold that the promise of the land and the reunited nation (, ) also awaits a future restoration of ethnic Israel. Jewish readings take the chapters as promises of return and of a coming age under a Davidic king, and the modern return to the land is sometimes read in their light. Catholic and Orthodox worship uses the chapters in the liturgy of Holy Saturday and the Easter Vigil, hearing them as a promise of baptism and resurrection. The class reads the text first as a promise to the exiles, then in the light of Christ, and notes the contested question of a future for national Israel without settling it.

09Review questions

  1. What event separates the first half of Ezekiel from the second, and how does the message change?
  2. Why does the LORD say he will restore Israel, and what does this reveal about the basis of the new covenant?
  3. What three things does the LORD promise to do in , and what problem of the old covenant does each answer?
  4. How does the word ruach connect the different parts of , and what does the LORD himself say the bones represent?
  5. Which New Testament passages take up the new heart and Spirit, the breath of life and the one shepherd, and what do they say?

Prepared with AI assistance. A scholar's review is still to come; if you spot anything to correct, please tell us.

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EdomEdenJerusalem
Dashed outline: region boundary as scholars identify it. Locations are best identifications, not certainties.Geocoding: OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0) · Map: Natural Earth

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