37 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones.2 And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. 3 And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. 14 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; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”
Before we go further in interpretation, however, we should note that the word 'valley' in 1 is the same word as 'plain' in 3:22, the place where Ezekiel had seen the glory of the Lord. There is a wonderful association of ideas here, because it means that God takes the prophet out to the same place where he once saw the glory, only this time he sees the dry bones. It is as if God had said, 'Ezekiel, do not concentrate too much on the dry bones, remember rather the glory you once saw here, for this is the same place'. If this be so, it bears a wonderful message and significance for us, because if we have seen the glory and majesty of God, then no valley of dry bones, however many and however dry, will ultimately make us cast down, or put us in despair. Here is an important lesson at the outset - our thoughts are directed away from the dry bones to the God of glory. We should recall the remarkable vision at the beginning of the prophecy of the 'wheels-within-wheels’, symbolising the incredibly potent activity of God 'behind the scenes', invisible, yet ever present. The point being made is that if that immense potency were to brood upon the dry bones, then of course they would live. God is the one great Circumstance. With Him all things are possible. Ezekiel, then, is made to relate the two visions together, and not take the one without the other. What a word of hope this is! In face of the dry bones, Ezekiel, you are to think of the God of glory, and prophesy and pray. This is the heart of the message, for Ezekiel and for us alike, as we shall see in our continuing comments in the Notes that follow.