Ezekiel saw this vision in a prophetic trance, under the influence of God's inspiration. At the same time its details were no doubt due to the peculiar working of his imaginative mind on the thought expressed by the exiles in Ezekiel 37:11.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE NEW ISRAEL (EZEKIEL 33-48) So long as the Jewish kingdom remained in existence Ezekiel's prophecies (those in Ezekiel 1-24) dealt almost exclusively with the nation's sin, and with the certainty of its overthrow. But when these prophecies were fulfilled by the fall of Jerusalem his message assum... [ Continue Reading ]
A SHAKING] RV 'an earthquake.' 8, 9. WIND.. BREATH] The same Hebrew word means wind, breath, or spirit. The wind of the vision represents the Spirit of God in the actual process of the nation's revival: see Ezekiel 37:14.... [ Continue Reading ]
CUT OFF FOR OUR PARTS] RV 'clean cut off.' 12, 13. GRAVES] The figure here is somewhat changed. Still the reference is not to the graves of those actually dead, but to the heathen world as the grave of the dead nation of Israel, compared to which their own land was the land of the living.... [ Continue Reading ]
MY SPIRIT] see on Ezekiel 37:8; Ezekiel 37:9. _(B) THE REUNION (EZEKIEL 37:15)_ Ezekiel is directed to take two pieces of wood, one having 'Judah' and the other 'Joseph' inscribed upon it, and to join them together (Ezekiel 37:15). The explanation of the symbol is that the two divisions of the nat... [ Continue Reading ]
JUDAH] the southern kingdom of the Two Tribes. JOSEPH.. EPHRAIM] the northern kingdom of the Ten Tribes; Ephraim, one of the two tribes descended from Joseph, being the principal one of the ten. ISRAEL] used here and in Ezekiel 37:19, as generally by Ezekiel, in the sense, not of the northern kingdo... [ Continue Reading ]
Him] RV 'it.' MINE HAND] probably rather, 'his' (Judah's) 'hand,' to correspond with 'the hand of Ephraim' already mentioned in the v. The united stick is placed in Judah's hand because the king is to belong to Judah's royal house.... [ Continue Reading ]
DWELLINGPLACES] RM 'backslidings.' SO SHALL THEY BE MY PEOPLE, etc.] another feature taken from Jeremiah's New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:33): see also Ezekiel 37:26; Ezekiel 37:27. 24, 25. MY SERVANT DAVID] in the same sense as in Ezekiel 34:23; Ezekiel 34:24.... [ Continue Reading ]
A COVENANT OF PEACE] as in Ezekiel 34:25. 26, 27. MY SANCTUARY.. MY TABERNACLE] Jeroboam had set up rival sanctuaries to Jerusalem at Dan and Bethel (1 Kings 12:28), but the reunited nation would have one centre of religious worship. God had forsaken the Temple at Jerusalem (Ezekiel 11:23), but He... [ Continue Reading ]