Dry Bones, Breath, and Life

Dry Bones, Breath, and Life

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Ezekiel 37:1-14, the passage on the valley of the dry bones is one of the most famous Old Testament passages, definitely the most popular of the Book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel is more structured than other OT prophet books, and it is one of the few times in the OT that life after death is discussed. About 600 years before Christ, Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon defeated the Hebrew people, the Kingdom of Judah, some of the people we held captive, while others were exiled. The people of God were in disarray and Theologians refer to this period as the exilic period, a byproduct of the period was some of the rich OT literature, and the finalization of the literature that was already out.

This also influenced literature and art for the later years. James Weldon Johnson, author of Lift Every Voice and Sing also penned a song in dialect, you may have heard of…

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones.

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones.

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones.

Now hear the word of the Lord.

Influenced by Ezekiel 37

This passage is pretty popular.

Ezekiel is taken to a valley of dry bones, you can tell a lot about an organism based on its bones. I remember taking a health class in High School and the teacher showing us a skeleton. The teacher asked us to tell if the skeleton was male or female. No one knew how to determine this and after many guesses, the teacher showed us the hipbones, they pointed out, he said that was for child bearing so the skeleton was a woman. You can tell a lot by the bones, that is why we have archeologists digging up fossils and when we have something wrong with us medically we get x-rays.

The bones in the valley were dry, we can relate to dry situations. Trying to look for colleges, find money for colleges, looking for a spouse for the first or second time, struggling to have children, struggling to raise children, health issues, finances, looking for a job, loosing family members, friends, or dealing with our own mortality, we all have dry periods in our lives.

God asks “can these bone live? I wonder what was going through Ezekiel’s mind when God asked him that? The very idea seems preposterous, bones do not get up they stay down. I know we can see the end already but I am wondering what someone like Ezekiel would have thought in this situation. Bones stay down, dry bones are dead and gone, and how do you reconcile that in your mind?  The prophet is told to speak a word that will give life and power, but be have learned not to trust words anymore because we are flooded with them.

We are bombarded constantly with commercials, radio, television, magazines, billboards, news presentations with words all over the screen social media, now companies compete for the “second screen, meaning they know you are watching TV, but looking on your phone or tablet at the same time. I know better than to get on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram on Thursday nights after 9pm CST unless I want Scandal spoiled before I get to watch it.

We have learned not to trust words over time; speed limit signs are merely a suggestion. We know politicians are lying either by omission, commission, or the fact that they really don’t understand how hard it is to pass a bill or really changes laws when it is not their time. Make campaign promises, get to Washington and learn they cant even be on the committee that makes the laws they promised to change because they are a Freshman Senator. We make vows and break them; sign contracts and renege, gossip columns and blogs are more popular than ever. I heard one news reporter say the problem with news now is companies would rather be first to break the story and wrong than fifth to report on it and right. We have stopped placing value on the word.

But the word of God is different than the word of man. When God speaks things happen, the word is still important.

Genesis 1:3

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

³ Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

Isaiah 55:10-11

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

¹⁰ For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
    and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
    giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
¹¹ so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
    it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
    and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

John 1:1

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:14

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son,^[a] full of grace and truth.

Psalm 119:25

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

²⁵ My soul clings to the dust;
    revive me according to your word.

You see the idea would seem silly or preposterous to some because they have tried to control their god. God is only as big as they want him to be, they decide what kind of God they have and keep him in a box.

Shubert Ogden said “God is the all inclusive whole of all reality”

Anything less is not God. Even though Man may have failed us, we can rely on God. God has the knowledge that we do not.

God gives a word, and then he gives breath.

Breath is important, we use the word for so many terms, Breathe child breathe, when somebody is shocked or surprised. You can take the air out of the room, when somebody talks a lot with no action we say they are full of hot air. When you try to tell someone something but it is not received well, you are wasting your breath, a burst of energy is called a second wind. When you don’t think something is going to happen you tell people not to hold their breath on it. Breath is important, in the Hebrew the word used for breath in this passage is also used for wind and spirit, ruah or ruach.

God’s word was promising them life, also note how the text says they were promised breath/life but they got put together first. The promise came in verse 5, but the breath did not actually come until verse 10. Dealing with a verse 6-9 moment can be hard but

Isaiah 40:31

King James Version (KJV)

³¹ But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

It is hard waiting but once we are finished waiting we will appreciate the hard times and be glad we went through them. A period of financial hardship will help us appreciate the next time we get money. A period of sickness will force us to take better care of our health. We should be grateful for the waiting period because after the waiting period comes the breath of life.

James Weldon Johnson saw resurrection of a dry dead situation in his life, he was the son of a waiter, went to college, graduated and became an attorney in the late 1800s. Once of his examiners walked out in protest because they did not want to see a Black men become a lawyer. Johnson went from the son of a waiter, to a college graduate, to an attorney. Johnson went on to work on Theodore Roosevelt’s Presidential campaign and was appointed Consul to Venezuela. He had seen a dry situation resurrected and come to life!

The breath of life that can resurrect our dry situation, the breath of life that resurrected Lazarus, the breath that was with Jesus when he gave himself up for us so that we might be saved, so that death does not have the final say over us.