Ezekiel 37:1
1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,
bones
Having announced (Ezekiel 36:24) the restoration of the nation, Jehovah now gives in vision and symbol the method of its accomplishment. (Ezekiel 37:11) gives the clue. The "bones" are the whole house of Israel who shall then be living. The "graves" are the nations where they dwell. The order of procedure is:
(1) the bringing of the people out (Ezekiel 37:12); (Ezekiel 37:19).
(2) the bringing of them in (Ezekiel 37:12);
(3) their conversion (Ezekiel 37:13)
(4) the filling with the Spirit (Ezekiel 37:14).
The symbol follows. The two sticks are Judah and the ten tribes; united, they are one nation (Ezekiel 37:19). Then follows (Ezekiel 37:21) the plain declaration as to Jehovah's purpose, and (Ezekiel 37:28) implies that then Jehovah will become known to the Gentiles in a marked way. This is also the order of (Acts 15:16); (Acts 15:17) and the two passages strongly indicate the time of full Gentile conversion. See also (Isaiah 11:10).