As we have noted, the deportation of Israelites from Jerusalem to Babylon took place in several waves, over a couple of decades. Ezekiel was part of the second wave of exiles, and tells his story from Babylon (Ezekiel 1:1). Then, a dozen years later, Jerusalem had been destroyed (33:21), and nearly all the remaining able-bodied men, women, and children were carried off to be sold as slaves in Babylon. Jeremiah had offered his woeful assessment of everything that had been lost (Lamentations), and for the Jewish slaves in Babylon, everything felt hopeless: “Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely” (Ezekiel 37:11).

This is the context, then, for the famous story of the valley of the dry bones, the vision that God showed to Ezekiel (37:1-2). God said to him, “Mortal, can these bones live?” And Ezekiel answered, “O Lord God, you know” (37:3). This is such a fine response: it does not presume to know what God can do or will do; instead, it awaits God’s decision, secure that God knows the answer even though Ezekiel does not.

But then God directed Ezekiel: “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you shall live” (37:4-5). We should note the sequence: God is the one who is going to work the miracle, bringing the dead to life; yet it will be a human being, Ezekiel, who needs to proclaim it, before it happens. And so although the people of Judah feel certain, at this point, that all their hopes for restoration are dead forever, God will nevertheless restore them to life and bring them back to the land of Israel once again (37:11-13).

There had been all those proclamations of the coming judgment of God: and that disaster had indeed come true, as wave after wave of the people of Judah had been carried off into slavery, in the Exile. Yet in the very depth of despair and destruction comes the promise of restoration. We need to notice as well this combination: the word of judgment may be very severe, but it is not the last word. The judgment of God is real, but it does not last forever. The day will come when “I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord” (37:14).

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And when we today find that our bones are dried up and our hope is lost, O God, we pray for that same strong assurance: that you will put your Spirit within us and make us alive again, that you will enable us to know that you are the Lord who redeems us, that you will let us hear what you have spoken, and see what you will do.

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