The Valley of Dry Bones (Ezekiel 37)

Question 4132

The vision of the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37 is one of the most vivid pictures in all of Scripture, and the prophet does not leave us to guess at its meaning, for God himself supplies the interpretation within the chapter. Ezekiel is set down by the hand of the LORD in the middle of a valley full of bones, very many and very dry, the remains of an army long dead. He is asked, son of man, can these bones live, and he answers, O Lord GOD, you know. Then he is told to prophesy to the bones, and as he speaks there is a rattling, and the bones come together, bone to bone, sinews and flesh appear, skin covers them, and finally breath enters them and they stand on their feet, a vast living army.

The meaning of the valley of dry bones is given plainly in verse 11, where the LORD says, these bones are the whole house of Israel. The vision is a promise concerning the nation, a people who had said, our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost, we are clean cut off. Into that despair God speaks the promise of resurrection and restoration.

What the valley of dry bones represents

Israel in exile felt as good as dead. The kingdom had fallen, the temple lay in ruins, the people were scattered in a foreign land, and any hope of national life seemed buried beyond recovery. The dry bones, bleached and scattered across the valley floor, were the perfect image of their condition, not only weak but lifeless, not only sick but long past saving by any human means. The question put to Ezekiel, can these bones live, is the question every honest observer would have answered with a no. The vision is Gods answer, and his answer is that he will do what no man can do, he will bring the dead nation back to life. The wider purpose God is working out for the nation is set out in our answer on whether God still has a plan for Israel.

This is why the vision belongs to the people of Israel in particular and not to the church. The promise is the regathering and renewal of a specific nation that had been scattered, and reading it according to its plain sense keeps us from spiritualising away what God actually pledged. The God who scattered them for their unfaithfulness would gather them again and give them life, and the centuries since have seen the beginning of that ingathering, with the fuller spiritual life still to come.

Two stages in the valley of dry bones

There is an order to the vision worth observing. First the bones come together and are clothed with sinew, flesh and skin, so that whole bodies lie on the valley floor, and yet there is no breath in them. Only afterward does Ezekiel prophesy to the breath, and the breath enters them and they live. The restoration comes in two movements, the assembling of the body and then the giving of life. Many have seen in this a picture of how God deals with the nation, first a physical and national regathering to the land, a coming together of a scattered people, and then, in Gods appointed day, the breathing in of spiritual life when the nation turns to its Messiah. The renewal of the heart that this spiritual stage involves is the theme of our answer on the new heart and new spirit of Ezekiel 36.

The word for breath in the vision is the Hebrew ruach, which can mean breath, wind or Spirit, and Ezekiel plays on its range throughout the chapter. The breath that gives life to the assembled bodies is at last identified with the Spirit of God, for the LORD says, I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live (Ezekiel 37:14). The same Spirit who hovered over the waters at creation and breathed life into the first man is the one who will breathe national and spiritual life into the restored people of Israel. There is no life apart from the Spirit, whether for a man, a nation, or a dead soul.

The valley of dry bones and the hope of resurrection

Although the vision speaks first of the nation, it rests upon a truth that reaches wider still, that God is the one who gives life to the dead. The same God who can stand a dead army on its feet is the God who raises the dead in the resurrection, and the God who makes a spiritually dead sinner alive in Christ. The vision is not a proof text for the general resurrection on its own, but it draws on the same power and the same God, and it assures us that no situation is too far gone for him. Where there is nothing but dry bones, he can speak and there is life. The life he gives to dead souls today by the same Spirit is the theme of our answer on the Spirits role in regeneration.

This is the comfort the vision was meant to bring. Israel said their hope was lost, and God answered not with a rebuke but with a promise of resurrection. The believer who looks at a hopeless situation, a hardened relative, a dead church, a nation far from God, may take the same comfort. The question is never whether the bones are too dry, for they are always too dry, but whether God is able, and to that question the valley gives a resounding answer.

The vision and the faithfulness of God

There is a detail at the close of the vision that is easy to pass over. The bones do not revive into a scattered crowd of survivors, but stand on their feet an exceedingly great army (Ezekiel 37:10). What had been a valley of defeat, the bones of those who had fallen and been left unburied, becomes a host alive and on its feet. The God who restores does not do a half work. He does not bring the dead back to a feeble and uncertain existence, but to fulness of life, and the place of greatest loss becomes the scene of the greatest display of his power.

The vision also answers the despairing words the people had spoken. They had said, our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost, we are clean cut off (Ezekiel 37:11). Each of those phrases is taken up and overturned. The dried bones are clothed and revived, the lost hope is restored, and the people who felt cut off are brought back and planted in their own land. God does not ignore the despair of his people, but answers it with a promise larger than the despair, and he stakes his own name on keeping it, for the vision ends with the refrain, then you shall know that I am the LORD.

Read in the light of the whole counsel of Scripture, this points to a real and future restoration of the nation, both to their land and, in the appointed day, to spiritual life through faith in their Messiah. The same hope is held out in the words of the prophets and of the apostle Paul concerning the future of ethnic Israel, which we take up in our answer on whether ethnic Israel will be saved.

It is worth holding the comfort of this vision close, for it speaks to more than one kind of death. The God who promised to raise a dead nation is the same God who raises dead souls to life in Christ and who will one day raise the bodies of his people from the grave. Wherever death has seemed to have the last word, the breath of God is able to answer, and the valley of dry bones stands as a lasting witness that no condition lies beyond the reach of his life-giving Spirit.

So, now what?

Let the vision lift your eyes to the God who raises the dead. When you face what looks beyond recovery, whether in your own heart, in someone you love, or in the wider church, remember that the measure of hope is not the dryness of the bones but the power of the Spirit who gives life. Pray as one who believes that God can speak life into death, because he has done it and has promised to do it again.

Take heart, too, in the faithfulness of God to Israel. The same word that promised to regather and revive the scattered nation has begun to come true, and the God who keeps that promise will not fail to keep the rest. His dealings with Israel are a standing testimony that he does not abandon what he has purposed, and that testimony steadies our confidence in all his promises.

Above all, if you are still among the dry bones, spiritually lifeless and far from God, hear the word the prophet was told to speak. The Spirit who gives life is able to make you live, and the Lord Jesus calls the dead to himself and raises them. Come to him, and the breath of God will do for your soul what it did in the valley.

“And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the LORD.” Ezekiel 37:14