What is the "Valley of Bones in Ezek 37 all about?

Rev20 said:

Thanks for the scripture. This is something else that has been going around regarding the Septuagint. It was translated in the 200-300 BC era, during the restoration, and verse 19 is translated this way:

"Then shalt thou say to them, Thus saith the Lord; behold, I will take the tribe of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel that belong to him, and I will add them to the tribe of Juda, and they shall become one rod in the hand of Juda." -- Eze 37:19 Septuagint

The "original" Hebrew doesn't say that were combined into Juda; only that they were combined. The word going around is that the Septuagint translators, all Hebrews, considered that verse, Ezekiel 37:19, already fulfilled. And for that reason, when Jesus came along, all Israel was under the banner of Judah, as "Jews."

There is one other point that is seldom mentioned. When the Jews returned under Cyrus to rebuild the temple, it is apparent that both houses of Israel returned, since they are identified separately in Ezra. The Jews are identified by name 7 times, Judah is mentioned 15 times, Benjamin 3 times, and Israel many times. At the dedication of the Temple the sin offerings were twelve he goats, one for each tribe; and the "children of Israel" was specifically mentioned, which would not have been the case if the northern tribes were completely dispersed or "lost." In that secenerio they would have been identified only as the "children of Juda" or "Judah." Nehemiah actually used the term "all Israel" in several verses as resident or dwelling in the land.

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A New World said:

How does Paul's reference to Ezekiel in 2 Cor. 6 fit into that thought process?

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A New World said:

How does Paul's reference to Ezekiel in 2 Cor. 6 fit into that thought process?

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ViaCrucis said:

For Paul and the early Christians all that had come before, all the covenants and promises, the Temple, the sacrifices and offerings, the priesthood, the whole lot of it is recapitulated in and by Christ and what Christ has done/is doing.

As such the language of Temple is iterated in the language of the People of God in Christ; Christ who is "God with us" and by our union with Him and in Him sharing in Him as His Body, as the Temple and dwelling place of God.

So for Ezekiel who foresees the restoration of the Nation following the Babylonian Captivity, in the vision of the dry bones coming to life, there is also for early Christians like St. Paul a view of God bearing to fruition the sum total of all divine promises in the Person of Jesus Christ, and the Church by Mystery one with Him and in Him as His Body.

-CryptoLutheran

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Rev20 said:

I guess I wasn't clear in my last post, but I agreed with you. After their return from Babylon, "David" (Christ) became their king and shepherd, and He built his sanctuary "in the midst of them," that is, in their hearts (vs.28). There will be no physical temple, because God dwells within us (Lk 17:21).

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ViaCrucis said:

For Paul and the early Christians all that had come before, all the covenants and promises, the Temple, the sacrifices and offerings, the priesthood, the whole lot of it is recapitulated in and by Christ and what Christ has done/is doing.

As such the language of Temple is iterated in the language of the People of God in Christ; Christ who is "God with us" and by our union with Him and in Him sharing in Him as His Body, as the Temple and dwelling place of God.

So for Ezekiel who foresees the restoration of the Nation following the Babylonian Captivity, in the vision of the dry bones coming to life, there is also for early Christians like St. Paul a view of God bearing to fruition the sum total of all divine promises in the Person of Jesus Christ, and the Church by Mystery one with Him and in Him as His Body.

-CryptoLutheran

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FireDragon76 said:

Ezekiel was in Persia, so perhaps he walked past a Zoroastrian charnal ground, where the dead were left out and exposed to birds (the traditional practice of the Magi), and that was the inspiration for this passage. Charnal grounds were a common, eerie sight in many eastern cultures.

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zeke37 said:

the spiritual awakening of the elect, before the end time tribulation

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1whirlwind said:

A very dear soul said that, as he was a preterist, he considered this to have been fulfilled. I am not a preterist, at least not in the sense of us now living in the millennium but....I do agree. The awakening, the bones being rattled and coming together has been happening and continues now.

Ezekiel 37:6-7 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 the LORD. So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.
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We come together as one body....bone to His bone even as (especially as) we come together on this forum and others like it.

Malachi 3:16-18 Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon His name. And they shall be Mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not.
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