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Ezekiel 37:1-14: And You Shall Live!

The hand of YHWH was [Qal Perf 3FS hayah) upon me, and YHWH brought me out [Hiph 3MS WCPret yatsah with 1CS suff] in the Spirit and set me down [Hiph 3MS WC-Pret nuach with 1CS suff] in the midst of the valley, and it [the valley] full of bones. 2And he caused me to pass by [Hiph 3MS WC-Pret abar with 1CS suff] them, round about, round about [sabib sabib]; and behold, there were exceedingly many on the face of the valley; and behold, they were exceedingly dry. 3And he said [Qal 3MS WC-Pret amar] to me, Son of man, will they live [Qal 3FP Impf chayah] these bones? And I said [Qal 1CS WC-Pret amar], Lord YHWH, you know [Qal 2MS Perf yada]. 4And he said [Qal 3MS WC-Pret amar] to me, Prophesy [Niphal MS Impv naba] over these bones, and say [Qal 2MS WC-Perf amar] to them, O dry bones, hear [Qal MS Impv shama] the word of YHWH. Thus says [Qal 3MS Perf amar] the Lord YHWH to these bones: Behold, I am causing to enter [Hiphil MS Part bo] into you Spirit, and you shall live [Qal 2MS WC-Perf chayah]. 6And I will give [Qal 1CS WC-Perf natan] upon you sinews, and I will bring up [Hiphil 1CS WC-Perf alah] upon you flesh and cover [Qal 1CS WC-Perf qaram] upon you skin, and I will give [Qal 1CS WC-Perf natan] in you Spirit and you shall live [Qal 2MS WC-Perf chayah], and you shall know [Qal 2MS WC-Perf yada] that I am YHWH. And I prophesied [Niphal 1CS Perf naba] like as I was commanded [Pual 1CS Perf tsawah]. And there was [Qal 3MS WC-Pret hayah] a voice as I prophesied [Niphal 1CS Perf naba + k participle], and behold a shaking, and they drew near [Qal 3FP WC-Pret qarab] the bones, bone to its bone. 8And I saw [Qal 1CS WC-Pret raah] and behold to them sinews and flesh came up [Qal 3MS Perf alah], and it covered [Qal 3MS WC-Pret qaram] on them skin from above; but [waw disjunctive] Spirit there was not in them. 9And he said [Qal 3MS WC-Pret amar] to me, Prophesy [Niphal MS Impv naba] to the Spirit. Prophesy [Niphal MS Impv naba], son of man, and say [Qal 2MS WC-Perf amar] to the Spirit, Thus says [Qal 3MS Perf amar] the Lord YHWH, from four the four winds/spirits come [Qal FS Impv bo], O Spirit, and breathe [Qal FS Impv naphach] on these slain [Qal MP Pass Part harag] that they may live [Qal 3MP Juss chayah]. 10And I prophesied [Hithpael 1CS Perf naba] like as he commanded me [Piel 3MS Perf tsawah with 1CS suffix], and it came [Qal 3FS WC-Pret bo] on them, the Spirit, and they lived [Qal 3MP WC-Pret chayah] and they stood [Qal 3MP WC-Pret amad] upon their feet an army great exceedingly exceedingly [meod meod]. And he said [Qal 3MS WC-Pret amar] to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel, they [the hemah appears to have no translation value in English, but refers to the army standing before him]. Behold, they are saying [Qal MS Act Part amar], Our bones are dried [Qal 3MP Perf yabesh], and our hope is lost [Qal 3FS WC-Perf abad]; we are cut off [Niphal 1CS Perf gazar] from ourselves. 12 Therefore, prophesy [Niphal MS Impv naba] and say [Qal 2MS WC-Perf amar] to them, Thus says [Qal 3MS Perf amar] the Lord YHWH, Behold, I am opening [Qal MS Act Part patach] your graves, and I will cause to go up [Hiphil 1CS Perf amar] you from your graves, O my people. And I will cause to enter [Hiphil 1CS WC-Perf bo] you in the land of Israel. 13And you shall know [Qal 2MP WC-Perf yada] that I am YHWH in the opening [Qal Inf Cons patach + b prep] of your graves and in the causing to go up [Hiphil Inf Cons alah + b prep] you from you graves, O my people. 14And I will give [Qal 1CS WC-Perf natan] my Spirit in you, and you shall live [Qal 2MP WC-Perf chayah], and I will place [Hiphil 1CS WC-Perf yanach] you in your land. And you shall know [Qal 2MP WC-Perf yada] that I, YHWH, have spoken it [Piel 1CS Perf dabar] and performed it [Qal 1CS WC-Perf asah], says [Qal MS Pass Part neum] YHWH.
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Comment V. 1: The word ruach, which can mean either s/Spirit, wind, or breath, shows up in the first verse of this passage. At first I thought that ruach was in construct to the name YHWH (Spirit of YHWH), but Keil has corrected my exegesis: In the second clause of ver. 1 Yahweh is the subject, and is not to be taken as a genitive in connection with beruach, as it has been by the Vulgate and Hitzig in opposition to the accents. Beruach stands for beruach elohim (ch. xi. 24), and elohim is admitted simply because Yahweh follows immediately afterward.1 I am inclined to think that defining the ruach right away as YHWHs Spirit should give us direction as we come across ruach through the rest of the passage. Daniel Block, on the other hand, writes, The present phrase, Spirit of Yahweh, occurs elsewhere in the book only in 11:5, where the falling of the Spirit of Yahweh upon Ezekiel is followed by a command to prophesy. But one should distinguish the role of the ruach as agency of prophetic inspiration from its role as agency of conveyance.2 Christopher J. H. Wright points out that the beginning of the story is very familiar within Ezekiel, but for ominous reasons: It was day-trip time again for Ezekiel. The last time The hand of the Lord had lifted him up and set him somewhere, it was to witness the awful abominations going on in the temple in Jerusalem (chs. 8-11). The last time he had gone out to the valley he had been confronted with the vision of the glory of Yahweh for the second time (3:22-23), and came home unable to speak or leave his house for nearly five years. What atrocious vision or fate awaited him this time? he may have wondered3 Iain Duguid points out the significance of the landscape: In light of 3:22-23, it becomes clear that the valley was not just a random geographical location by a valley in exile. Yet, viewing the vision in the light of chapters 40-48 suggests the significance of the fact that it is a valley.: The valley in exile forms the ultimate contrast to the very high mountain within the land of Israel (40:2). It is the place of death, from which Israel must be delivered before they can be brought into the land of life.4 V. 2: Presumably, it is still Ruach YHWH who leads Ezekiel through this extremely careful survey of all the bones with a thoroughness that is captured by the repetition of sabib (round about, round about). Moreover, we are meant to get a sense of the immensity of the bones through the use of meod (exceedingly) to modify the plural form of many (rabbot). Finally, all the exceedingly many bones, of which Ezekiel makes an extremely thorough search, are all exceedingly (meod) dry. Wright reminds us that, As a priest he was not allowed to touch a human corpse.5 Furthermore, Wright notes that for the bones to be unburied suggested not merely death, but death under a curse: To be unburied meant the perpetuation of suffering into the afterlife. It was a destiny fit only for the truly cursed. Indeed, it was one aspect of the fate decreed for Israel under the covenant curses [Deut. 28:25-26; cf. Jer. 34:17-20].6

C.F. Keil, Biblical commentary on the prophecies of Ezekiel, trans. James Martin (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1960), 115. 2 Daniel Block, The Book of Ezekiel: Chapters 25 - 48. (NICOT) (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 373. 3 Christopher Wright, The message of Ezekiel : a new heart and a new spirit (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2001), 303. 4 Iain Duguid, Ezekiel (NIVAC) (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1999), 426. 5 Christopher Wright, The message of Ezekiel : a new heart and a new spirit (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2001), 304. 6 Christopher Wright, The message of Ezekiel : a new heart and a new spirit (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2001), 304.

V. 3: YHWH addresses Ezekiel as Son of man, a phrase used throughout the whole book. The question posed, Can these bones live? becomes the central question that the passage addressesthere are five other statements asserting that the bones would live in v. 5, 6, 9, 10, and 14. Moreover, Ezekiels response to the question is important: O Lord YHWH, you know. In v. 6, 13, and 14, YHWH asserts that all this (the resurrection of the bones, the opening of the graves, etc.) will happen so that you shall know that I am YHWH. YHWH gives life in order that we might know him. Keil points out7 an interesting cross-reference to Revelation 7:14: Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come? I said to him, Sir you know. And he said to me, These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 7:13-14). I am not entirely sure what conclusions to draw from this cross-reference, but I wanted to note it for future thought. V. 4: YHWH gives Ezekiel the first of the four imperatives to prophesy (v. 4, 9x2 to the ruach, and 12 to the whole house of Israel), and this time Ezekiel is to prophesy to the dry bones, that they must hear the word of YHWH. Of course, this is an absurd idea. Ezekiel should prophesy to dead, dry bones? What possible response could inanimate objects make? V. 5: The message, at least, is pertinent. YHWH vows to cause ruach to come into them, and you shall live. The most pressing issue for dead bones is the hope of lifeunless the bones come to life, no further instructions matter. And how will they come to life?through YHWHs causing ruach to enter them. As mentioned in v. 1, there is some ambiguity about what ruach means here. Is it the Spirit of YHWH? Although the story of creating Adam from dust in Genesis 2 has very clear parallels to this story in Ezekiel 37, Genesis 2:7 (God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life) does not use the word ruach for breath or breathe, but the words related to naphach, a word used in Eze. 37:9. On this question, Wright writes, At the beginning and end of the section it [the word ruach] refers unmistakeably to the Spirit of Yahweh which had lifted Ezekiel and set him in the valley (1), and would eventually also lift the whole people and settle (same word) them back in their own land (14). But the word also means breath in a literal, straightforward sense, and this is its meaning in verses 5, 6, 8, and 10. Ruach also means wind powerfully moving air and this too is found in verse 9, where from the four winds means from all directions of the earth. The central use, in verse 9, O breath, which Ezekiel is commanded to summon by prophetic word, has the ambiguity that it doubtless means the Spirit of the living God, but also accomplishes the miraculous act of artificial respiration by which the corpses begin literally to breathe again and stand up alive and vigorous as an army. The whole scene, then, is permeated by the various activities of ruach human, natural, and divine: breath, wine, and Spirit. And the single total effect of all this activity of ruach is life, life out of utter deadness.8 Duguid reminds us that Ezekiel also has experienced the entrance (bo) of the Spirit in his own life: Twice, confronted with the awesome majesty of God, he was reduced to prostration (1:28; 3:23); each time the Spirit entered (bo) him, raising him to his feet (2:2; 3:24). This is exactly what happens to the dry bones [page] after they have been re-formed into bodies: The Spirit enters (bo) them, raising them to their feet (37:10). What had first happened in his own life now happens to the renewed Israel through the means of the powerful prophetic word.9
C.F. Keil, Biblical commentary on the prophecies of Ezekiel, trans. James Martin (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1960), 116. 8 Christopher Wright, The message of Ezekiel : a new heart and a new spirit (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2001), 307. 9 Iain Duguid, Ezekiel (NIVAC) (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1999), 427-28.
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V. 6: In v. 6, God promises to give sinews, to bring up flesh, to cover them with skin, and, most significantly, he promises to give ruach in them. Then, we have the phrases And you shall live, followed by, And you shall know that I am YHWH. As mentioned above (see comment in v. 3), these two phrases signify the goals of this whole resurrection activity. God wants these bones to live in order that they may know that he is YHWH. V. 7: So, Ezekiel begins to prophesy, just as he had been commanded to prophesy. As he prophesies, he hears a noise, and behold!a shaking. Ezekiel then watches the bones come near/together, bone to its bone. Daniel Block notes, The syntax of While I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, is awkward, but it emphasizes the connection between the prophetic word and the event.10 V. 8: Then, just as God had promised, Ezekiel looks to see sinews upon them [verb to give not used here] and flesh brought up and skin covering them from above. But then the text is very clear: But ruach there was not in them. I am not sure how far to press the imagery here, but, at this point, the word of God alone causes these dry bones to assemble, and causes sinews, flesh, and skin to attach themselves to the skeletons. The word of God has a power in itself, since the text is very clear that Ruach YHWH has not yet come upon the great army of corpses. My systematic theology would suggest that, apart from the Spirit of God, no work is accomplished; however, perhaps that needs to be modified to acknowledge that the Word of God is mighty in itself to do preliminary work (e.g., assembling dead heaps of bones and fitting them with sinews, flesh, and skin), even if only the Spirit of God finally brings that body to life. V. 9: At this point, God now commands Ezekiel to prophesy not to the bones/bodies, but to haruach. The imperative to prophesy is given twice in quick succession: And he said to me, Prophesy to haruach. Prophesy, son of man The repetition of the imperative Prophesy sounds (to my ears) like a building intensity of the drama of the passagealmost as though the miracle that has thus far happened is no big deal, because now haruach becomes a part of the story! To haruach, God instructs Ezekiel to say, Thus says the Lord YHWH, from the four ruchot come, haruach, and breathe in these slain ones, and they shall live. This is where the ambiguity of the meaning of ruach becomes tricky. The ESV translates ruchot as winds, and haruach as breath. That translation isnt necessarily incorrect, but I do not know to what extent we should behold here the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit himself. Wright preserves the ambituity to some extent, but nevertheless argues that the four winds are symbolic of the Spirit of God [who] is at work everywhere in the world, in all directions.11 The word given as an imperative breathe into these slain ones is the same word (naphach) used in Genesis 2 to describe Gods breathing into Adam to give him life. Genesis 2, however, also uses the noun form; only the verbal imperative form is used in Ezekiel 37. Also, Block writes, The identification of the lifeless corpses as the slain corpsesoffers the first clue to the identity of the deceased. The bones are the remains of victims of some enormous battle. While the oracle expresses no interest in which battle they might have fallen, Ezekiel would naturally have thought of his compatriots, casualties to Nebuchadrezzars conquest of Judah and Jerusalem (cf. v. 11).12
Daniel Block, The Book of Ezekiel: Chapters 25 - 48. (NICOT) (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 376. Christopher Wright, The message of Ezekiel : a new heart and a new spirit (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2001), 311. 12 Daniel Block, The Book of Ezekiel: Chapters 25 - 48. (NICOT) (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 377.
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Block continues, While Ezekiel would undoubtedly have been reminded of this curse [see notes on v. 2], the command to prophesy to the breath to enter these corpses that they might live offers hope. Yahweh is hereby announcing the lifting of the curse!13 More Block: But the dead rise not because they are reconstituted biologically, nor because of some internal force, but because Yahweh has infused them with breath. The two-phased process of resuscitation also serves a theologico-anthropological function, emulating the paradigm of Yahwehs creation of adam. According to Genesis 2:7, the lump of soil that Yahweh had molded into the form of a man did not become a living beinguntil he had breathed into it his own breath.14 As in v. 3, God refers to Ezekiel as son of man. V. 10: Using a similar phrase to v. 7, Ezekiel begins to prophesy just as he is commanded to do. And, in stark simplicity of language, haruach enters into them (the bodies), and they live! Standing on their feet, Ezekiel beholds a great and terrible army. The language is powerful: an army great exceedinglyexceedingly (chayil gadol meod-meod). There is significance, I think, that these resurrected bones become an army. They do not return to lives as farmers, merchants, or even as prieststhey are resurrected to be an army of YHWH Tsabaoth. V. 11: Once more (v. 3, 9), God calls Ezekiel son of man. Here, God explains that these bones (now a resurrected army) are the whole house of Israel. Of course, the whole house of Israel was in rough shapeAssyria had scattered the ten northern tribes to the wind, and Babylon has conquered Judah. Therefore, Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off from ourselves. Keil reminds us that All Israel says: our bones are dried, i.e. our vital force is gone. The bones are the seat of the vital force, as in Ps. xxxii. 3; and yabesh, to dry up, applied to the marrow, or vital sap of the bones, is substantially the same as balah in the psalm (l.c.).15 We should not understand this statement to refer to post-resurrection Israel, but to pre-resurrection Israel: the statement still describes their bones as dried up. The point, then, is that God can resurrect Israel, who is now without hope, just as he can resurrect dried bones. It does not matter to God if they have no more hope, because God can bring life to the dead. Block describes this verse: The peoples comment is a lament, cast in rhythmic tripartite form, each statement consisting of two words and concluding with the rhyming sounds enu/-anu.[page] The despondency of the Israelites is obvious in the present quotation. They had counted on Yahwehs immutable promises for their security, but he had abandoned them.16 V. 12: So, on the basis of the laments of Israel (therefore laken), God commands Ezekiel again to prophesy by passing along all that Thus says the Lord YHWH. Here, God further states that he will open the graves of Israel, and that he will cause them to rise up out of their graves.

Daniel Block, The Book of Ezekiel: Chapters 25 - 48. (NICOT) (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 378. Daniel Block, The Book of Ezekiel: Chapters 25 - 48. (NICOT) (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 379. 15 C.F. Keil, Biblical commentary on the prophecies of Ezekiel, trans. James Martin (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1960), 119. 16 Daniel Block, The Book of Ezekiel: Chapters 25 - 48. (NICOT) (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 380-81.
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Then, tucked away at the end of that phrase is the word ammi, or my people. Although I am happy to be corrected here, this placement looks purposefula subtle way of reminding the reason why God would bother to answer their complaints and to raise the Israelites from their grave. He does this because Israel is his people. Block comments, The deictic participle hinneh, Look, arouses the audiences attention, pointing to the good news announced in a triad of promises that correspond to the tripartite lament, which is that he will open their graves, raise them from their graves, and bring them into the land of Israel. 17 Finally in v. 12, God promises further to cause his people to enter again into their landspecifically, I will cause you then enter into the land of Israel. Israels restoration to their land has to do with their identity as the people of God and their mission to be a light to the world. Whatever resurrection means, it doesnt mean restoring to Israel the ability to do business as usualit means setting Israel back to the task God has appointed them to. While Wright is uncomfortable about drawing a quick-and-easy path from Ezekiel 37 to the doctrine of bodily resurrection, he argues persuasively that this passage functions as a very important link in a theological chain to which the full biblical hope of resurrection is anchored. At one end is the connection we have already noted between Ezekiels vision of God breathing life into the lifeless bodies of Israels defunct army and the Genesis tradition of God breathing the breath of life into the human-shaped pile of dust that then became a living human being. Gods renewal of Israel was like a rerun of creation. Or, to put it the other way round, what God was about to do for Israel would be like the first act in the renewal of humanity as a whole. Here again, as in so many ways, the links between Israel and humanity are apparent. Israel had been called in the first place, through Abraham, to be a blessing to all the nations of the earth. Their election and redemption were for the sake of the rest of humanity. Likewise, therefore, just as their sin and punishment mirrored the fallenness of the whole race, so too their restoration would prefigure Gods gracious purpose of redemption for humanity. Resurrection for Israel anticipated resurrection for all. And at the centre of the chain stands Jesus himself.The most significant echo of Ezekiel 37 [in the life of Jesus] comes in a locked room on the very evening of his resurrection, when, we read, he breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit The Lord of life himself, freshly risen to his feet from where he had lain among the bones of the dead, adopts simultaneously the posture of Ezekiel in summoning the breath of God, and the posture of God himself in commanding the breath of the Spirit to come upon the disciples.18 Duguid adds, Because of his [Gods] wrath, their death is real; because of his grace and his sovereign will to have a people of his own, however, their future prospect of life may be equally real. It is this that the prophet is called to proclaim to them. What he has first experienced himself [see comment on v. 5] he now announces to others: life in the Spirit through the power of God.19 V. 13: The goal for Israel of all this work is stated explicitly at the beginning of v. 13, which repeats v. 6, and will be repeated again in v. 14: And you shall know that I am YHWH. An intimate, personal knowledge of YHWH, Israels God by blood covenant, is the whole point of resurrection. Without knowing YHWH, resurrection is pointless. But when will Israel know that their God is YHWH? When he opens their graves and causes them to rise from their graves.

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Daniel Block, The Book of Ezekiel: Chapters 25 - 48. (NICOT) (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 381, [382]. Christopher Wright, The message of Ezekiel : a new heart and a new spirit (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2001), 310. 19 Iain Duguid, Ezekiel (NIVAC) (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1999), 430.

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And again, the verse ends with the word ammi, my people. You almost get the feeling that this is a husband speaking intensely, yet tenderly, to his dying wife, vowing to do anything at all to secure the medicine that she needs in order to live again. In fact, that is exactly what is happeningYHWH sees his covenantal bride succumbing to death, and he vows not only to restore their lives, but to resurrect them to the proper, personal, covenantal knowledge of the Fountain of Living Waters himself. V. 14: Again, God promises to give my ruach into the Israelites, in order that they might live. And again, he promises that he will place them in their land. And yet again, this is so that they might know him. Allen notes the correlation between v. 14 and 36:27-28: 14 The editorial rounding off of the unit wants also to tie it to the preceding piece. The vision and its interpretation were of a piece with the message of 36:27, I will put my spirit within you. The following of the promise with an assurance of dwelling or settling in the land both in 36:28 and here confirms that an echo of 36:27 is intended. In fact, the placing of this whole unit in its present position seems to have been due to an intent to amplify 36:27: ruach breath, spirit is used no less than ten times. The metaphorical reviving breath given by Yahweh (v 6) is related to a new potential, the opportunity to comply with Yahwehs covenant terms and so to enjoy the life that is life indeed (cf. 20:21; 33:10).20 But the last phrase has one textual difference from v. 6 and v. 13: YHWH ends this passage not by vowing that his people would know him per se, but that his people would know that I, YHWH, have spoken it and have performed it, saith YHWH. YHWH wants his people to know what he will have done for them. Also, note the double-use of YHWHs covenantal namethis is a blood-sworn vow of the utmost seriousness. And we should not overlook the power that this passage is meant to project. Specifically, this passage projects the power of the Holy Spirit of God. Christopher Wright writes, no passage of Scripture, short of the actual resurrection of Jesus himself, more powerfully portrays the sovereign Holy Spirit of God the Lord and Giver of life. Here again we are privileged to learn something of the power of the Holy Spirit through the Old Testament.21 Wright presses this point of the power of the Holy Spirit further: Of course we say that we believe in the Holy Spirit. But, as we have seen from the very first chapter of this book, are we fully aware of all that he is, of all he has done, still does and will do? He is the Spirit of God who spoke creation into existence and breathed life into humanity. He is the Spirit whom Ezekiel saw raising Gods people from the dead. He is the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead. He is the Spirit who now gives life to his people and to every individual in whom he dwells by faith in Christ. Thiswe gasp when we realizeis none other than The Spirit who lives in you.22 Duguid notes the significance in how we see our union with the Son: Jesus took on himself our death.The Lord of life was laid in the tomb, the body of the one who created the universe was laid alongside the bones of those whom he had made. Why? It is because Gods wrath against sin demanded that a just penalty be paid. God could not simply wave a magic wand and make sin disappear. Sin had to be paid for. In order to accomplish that, Jesus was, as it were, laid among the dry bones of the valley

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Leslie Allen, Ezekiel (WBC) (Dallas: Word Books, 1990), 187. Christopher Wright, Knowing the Holy Spirit through the Old Testament (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2006), 131. 22 Christopher Wright, Knowing the Holy Spirit through the Old Testament (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2006), 136.

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for my sake. So now my baptism is a burial with him in that death, an identification with his death in my place.23 Keil quotes Theodoret, who gives a fantastic assessment of how to understand the relationship of this passage to the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead: Theodoret comes much nearer to the truth when he gives the following as his explanation of the vision: that on account of the unbelief of the Jews in exile, who were despairing of their restoration, the almighty God makes known His might; and the resurrection of the dead bodies, which was much more difficult than their restoration, is shown to the prophet, in order that all the nation may be taught thereby that everything is easy to His will; and when, accordingly, he calls what occurs in the vision a type not of the calling to life of the Jews only, but also the resurrection of all men.24 Keil also gives a stunning exposition of this passage within the larger biblical story: The true restoration of Israel as the people of the Lord commenced with the founding of the new kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, through the appearing of Christ upon the earth. But inasmuch as the Jewish nation as such, or in its entirety, did not acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Messiah foretold by the prophets and sent by God, but rejected its Saviour, there burst afresh upon Jerusalem and the Jewish nation the judgment of dispersion among the heathen; whereas the kingdom of God founded by Christ spread over the earth, through the entrance of believers from among the Gentiles. This judgment upon the Jewish people, which is hardened in unbelief, still continues, and will continue until the time when the full number of the Gentiles has entered into the kingdom of God, and Israel as a people shall also be converted to Christ, acknowledge the crucified One as its Saviour, and bow the knee before Him (Rom. xi. 25, 26). Then will all Israel be raised up out of its graves, the graves of its political and spiritual death, and brought back into its own land, which will extend as far as the Israel of God inhabits the earth. Then also will the hour come in which all the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and come forth out of their graves to the resurrection (Dan. [page] xii. 2; John v. 25-29); when the Lord shall appear in His glory, and descend from heaven with the trump of God (1 Thess. iv. 13), to call all the dead to live, and through the judgment upon all the nations to perfect His kingdom in glory, and bring the righteous into the Canaan of the new earth, into the heavenly Jerusalem, to the imperishable life of everlasting blessedness.25

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Iain Duguid, Ezekiel (NIVAC) (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1999), 432. C.F. Keil, Biblical commentary on the prophecies of Ezekiel, trans. James Martin (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1960), 125. 25 C.F. Keil, Biblical commentary on the prophecies of Ezekiel, trans. James Martin (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1960), 127-28.

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