October 1927
658
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
K. B. PROPOSITIONS
P r o p h e t i c S t u d y “The Valley of Dry Bones” By David L. Cooper f N Ezekiel 37 appears the wonderful prophecy of the restoration of the chosen people to the land of their fathers and to the favor of their God. In verses one to three is given the vision of the valley of dry bones. The prophet said, “The hand, of Jehovah was upon me and He brought me out in the Spirit of JehovaH and set me down in the midst of the valley.” The words “hand of Jehovah” are frequently recurring ones which simply mean that he was under the influence and the power of God, “hand” being used sym bolically for power. The expression “in the Spirit of Jehovah” is a phrase used to specify more definitely the former expression just mentioned, since, as is well known to Biblical students, this verse is thrown into the form of “Hebrew Parallelism.” While in the spiritual condition the prophet was always perfectly natural and cognizant of the things which he saw and heard (cf. Rev. 1 :10 f.). The picture presented in this vision was that of an ex tremely dry valley filled with dry bones, scattered promis cuously, the number of which was “very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.” While looking at this unusual scene the Lord asked the prophet, saying, “Son of man, can these bones live?” To which question the prophet answered, “O Lord Jehovah, Thou knowest.” The ques tion put to the prophet seemed to have been for the pur pose of focusing his attention upon' the scene before him. (Cf. David’s similar use of the'method, of questioning seen in Psa. 2.) In the answer which Ezekiel gave is reflected his unquestioning and abounding faith. To Ezekiel all things are possible with God, although circum stances may point positively in the opposite direction (see Matt. 19:26; Rom. 4:18). T he C ommand to P rophesy In verses four to six God commanded Ezekiel to prophesy over these bones, saying, “Thus saith the Lord Jehovah unto these bones'. Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah.” In the paragraph consisting of verses 7-10 is an ac-_ count of the prophet’s strict obedience to the command just given. “So I prophesied as I was commanded.” Men of God never question. God’s commands,, but are always actuated by the Spirit: “Speak, Lord, thy servant hear- eth;” “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” God pre fers obedience to sacrifice (1 Sam. 15:22, 23). When he prophesied “there was a noise [ thundering, R. V. mg.] and, behold, an earthquake; and the bones came together, bone to his bone.” The noise and the earth quake are related to the coming together of the bones, bone to its bone, as cause and effect.- When the bones, as if they were possessed of intelligence, came together, as is described above, sinews which bound them together, ap peared ; flesh likewise began to appear and later skin cov ered this flesh; but these corpses were lifeless. Being commanded to prophesy to the wind [breath, R. V. mg.], he obeyed, saying, “Thus saith the Lord, Jehovah; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” Immediately upon his prophe-
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