Day 4 of 14
Ezekiel: Exile, Dry Bones, Return of Glory
When the Temple Is Destroyed, Where Is God?
Scripture Readings
Today's Reading
Read Ezekiel 37:1-14. The hand of the Lord sets Ezekiel down in a valley full of dry bones -- utterly dead, utterly hopeless. God asks, "Son of man, can these bones live?" Ezekiel answers, "O Lord GOD, you know." God commands him to prophesy to the bones, and as he does, there is a rattling, a reassembling, sinews and flesh and skin. Then God commands him to prophesy to the breath, and the breath enters the bodies, and they stand on their feet, "an exceedingly great army."
Reflection
Ezekiel was a priest who was taken into exile with the first wave of deportees to Babylon in 597 BC. He was called to prophesy to a community that had lost everything: their land, their temple, their king, and seemingly their God. The question that haunted the exiles was devastating: Has God abandoned us?
Ezekiel's answer unfolds through one of the most dramatic structures in the Bible. In chapters 8-11, Ezekiel watches in horrified vision as the glory of God -- the visible manifestation of His presence -- rises from the temple, pauses at the threshold, moves to the east gate, and finally departs. The temple is now an empty shell. God has left the building.
But the story does not end there. Goldsworthy rightly observes that the theme dominating Ezekiel is the glory of God -- its departure, its presence with the exiles, and its promised return. God was not absent from Babylon. He was with His people even in exile. And in the climactic vision of chapters 40-48, Ezekiel sees a new temple, and the glory of God returns from the east to fill it (43:1-5). Wright notes that for Ezekiel, the great hope was that God would return to Zion, bringing with Him a whole new temple, a whole new city, a whole new world.
Between the departure and the return stands the valley of dry bones. This is not a vision about individual life after death. It is a vision about national resurrection -- God reassembling His scattered, dead people and breathing new life into them by His Spirit. "I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land" (37:14).
Going Deeper
The New Testament picks up Ezekiel's imagery in stunning ways. Jesus describes the coming of the Spirit as new birth (John 3). Paul says the Spirit gives life to our mortal bodies (Romans 8:11). The church itself becomes the new temple where God's glory dwells (Ephesians 2:21-22). What Ezekiel longed for, Christ accomplishes. Where do you need the breath of God to bring life today?
Key Quotes
“The theme that dominates Ezekiel is the glory of God: its departure from the temple, its presence with the exiles, and its promised return. The whole book revolves around this one question: where is God?”
“For Ezekiel, the great hope was that YHWH would return to Zion. He envisaged a whole new temple, a whole new city, a whole new world, with God's presence at the centre.”
Prayer Focus
Ask God to breathe new life into any area of your life that feels as dead and hopeless as a valley of dry bones.
Meditation
Picture yourself standing in the valley of dry bones. Hear God ask, 'Can these bones live?' What in your life or community feels impossibly dead? Dare to answer as Ezekiel did: 'O Lord GOD, you know.'
Question for Discussion
Ezekiel's vision of dry bones coming to life was originally about Israel's national restoration. How does this vision also speak to the experience of spiritual death and resurrection in the life of a believer or a church community?