Israel at War, Ezekiel 37
Enlightening prophecies of the Bible have burst into view with current events in Israel. I have watched and learned about the return of the Jewish exiles over the years. In fact the return has increased rapidly since world war II. This is part of biblical prophecy.
But suddenly, with the attacks on Israel during the past three weeks, rather, specifically on the last day of Sukkot this year, October 7, a question faces all of us who follow Bible prophecy. Why suddenly, now that the return of Jews to the Land of Israel is this disastrous war with Hamas blowing our world apart? And why now do we see several surrounding nations starting their engines to come and finish us off? And at the same time the US demanding we compromise in exchange for military aid by accepting a 2-State Solution?
The valley seems to be a place of burial for everywhere Israel and the Jews have been exiled. God asks Ezekiel if the bones can live, and then tells him that He will cause the bones to come together….(are we seeing this? People returning to be together in the Land of Israel with fellow Jews?) But the prophecy continues that even as the tendons appear and the skin covers them, there still is no breath to vivify them. What is this breath sent by the Creator? We see that this breath comes from the four winds. What does breath from the four winds mean?
As the world has received the horrifying news, thousands of young Jews from around the world are coming to support the fight against Hamas and Hezbollah. Peoples in every nation are alarmed and praying for Israel—many, even Christians are sending money to support the war effort.
Dry Bones: Who is this?
Eze 37:1-12: 1 The hand of the LORD was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, ” LORD God, you alone know.”
4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5 This is what the LORD God says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am YHVH.’ ” 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin 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 it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’ “
10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet–a vast army.” Woohoo! What is this? and what just happened in Israel?
11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the LORD God says: ‘My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel.’”
Why Focus on Ezekiel 37?
Why a valley of bones?—Israel was cut off from the Land:
“Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ Eze 37:11.
So this is not a physical death but a spiritual one. Desperation at the apparent cutting off from the covenant with the Eternal… But wait! He has not forgotten His part of the deal!
Mal 3:6-7 “For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. 7 Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?”
Lev 26:44: “Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking my covenant with them. I am the LORD their God.”
Jer 31:35-37: Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name: 36 If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. 37 Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD.”
Why does the House of Israel claim in Ezekiel 37:11 that they are cut off? Apparently God has not cut us off! Does this cutting off have to do with the many abominations that drove them/us into exile? What were the sins that caused Israel to be cut off from being a nation?
Lev 18:24-29: 24 “Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: 25 And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. 26 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you: 27 (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;) 28 That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you. 29 For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people.”
1Ki 9:6-9: 6 But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them: 7 Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people: 8 And at this house, which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and to this house? 9 And they shall answer, Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshiped them, and served them: therefore hath the LORD brought upon them all this evil.
So we were cut off from the Land but not from God’s constant watch care nor the promise that we would return.
Breath to come from the four winds…
What does that mean? In the Book of Daniel the 4 winds represent not only the 4 directions, but strife of nations—nations that may be at the ends of the earth.
Dan 7:2 Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. (then we see the rise of the different nations during times of war represented by the 4 winds on the sea—peoples/nations of the world).
What do we see now with Israel at the very center of the conflict? Ships from other nations parked in the Mediterranean, just waiting…
So if the call is for the winds to come and wake up those who are forming from the dry bones, then a tremendous upheaval, war among nations, war against Israel, brings about life—even though we all fear it will bring death. The love for the Land of Israel and fellow Jews has awakened, the indignation against the atrocities committed against our people has done something to everyone. External divisions are falling off. At this point it is not about a spiritual repentance. It is about saving the life of the Jewish people that they not be obliterated from the face of the earth. Repentance comes later. What happened when our first parents were created? The body was formed and then the breath of life was blown into the nostrils. Do we see the physical body forming now? And we feel the winds of the nations threatening to cut our land in half, to support our enemies and to resupply them that they may continue to fight against us. We dare not compromise with these nations. I don’t care if they are bigger and more powerful. As Elisha said to his servant who was afraid of the Syrians:
2Ki 6:16-17 “And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. 17 And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.”
The people are returning, the nations are spitting them out with their antisemitism, which is now at an all-time high. Jew hatred rages everywhere. But there is little spiritual life, only a strong desire to unite as one people. That is the first part of the story in Ezekiel 37.
The Eternal promises:
“My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel.” 37:12
The body of Israel is hurting and the Jews are returning en mass to help. Is this a sign? The nations are blaming the Jews for their own tragedy. This is prophecy. Out of the ashes rises a nation stronger than any people on earth.
Isa 11:11: And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. (From everywhere they have been driven?)
Eze 36:24-25: “For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. 25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.”
We are at war with Hamas and Hezbollah at the moment, will a world war, one from the four winds come to fully awaken us? Something is being accomplished by this war! We have been promised more land to be able to house all of Judah and the 10 tribes, lost among the nations. Will we see that happen this time? Or will we again bow to the nations under a compromise which will give away our land? Will we ever learn that the Eternal has promised to restore us?
Extend our borders? How? Who?
Isa 54:2-3 “Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; 3 For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.” Who is them above? Does this mean someone else is going to restore our borders?
What will happen that will bring a spiritual awakening? And who will lead the majority of religious Jews out of a false belief system established for more than two millennia? Can this happen during wartime? It seems this is later, perhaps at the coming of the true Messiah and the restoration of the Levites and the Temple.
So why do I point to false beliefs (idolatry) as the cause of exile? We were strictly commanded not to add to or take from the commandments of YHVH. But that is what has been done, Talmud, Gemara, Midrash, Zohar replace the written Torah and are believed and practiced as the only guide to Torah Law. “Chain of command” is embraced as authority for the majority of the sages to interpret and define Torah. Original truth has been lost for over two thousand years. A couple of examples are
the keeping of the Shabbat, which has become a burden because of all the rules of melacha and the required series of prayers repeated over and over. The Eternal never meant for the Shabbat to be a burden. And the rules of Kashrut have become so strict that one cannot even eat on a plate or use the same oven where both milk or meat has been used. One cannot eat in a home that does not follow the same rabbinic rules of Kashrut, which has become a huge profit-making enterprise. All this stemming from a simple law to not boil a kid in his mother’s milk (read my thoughts on this here). And these things are part of what has divided the Jewish people and made them like dry bones scattered in a desolate valley. We have not been united.
We might well ask about the original meaning of any of the commandments instead of letting some book apart from the Tanakh define our Halacha. Where did we get off track when we see clearly that in the chain of transmission from Moses to Joshua, Joshua was clearly commanded not to change anything!
Jos 1:7-8: “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”
So, in the midst of suspense about what happens next in this war with Hamas and whomever else, we must encourage one another and pull together to bring people home and support one another. This is the love that unites us and will bring about our healing as a nation. This cannot fail! But in the meantime the war will rage and we must seek our God as an Eternal Refuge!
Ariella Casey
To be continued in Part 2, “Hamas and who is Gog and Magog?”
Take Hold the Tzitzit 