The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 268

that the bones of the dead, strewn upon a battle-field, should be restored to life and should become again an army of mighty warriors. To the mind that thinks deeply o.nd justly it will seem still more surprising that our humanity, sunk in the slumber and the death of sin, should awake to newness of life, should receive the Spirit of God, and should become his living army of truth and righteousness. It was the purpose of Christ's comin.~ that we might have life, and that in abundance. It is the Spirit that quickeneth. Thus it may be said that the production, fulness, and increase of spiritual life is the ma.in result of the advent of the Saviour and the gift of the Holy Ghost. V. THE TRANSFORM.A TION AND CONTRAST BROUGHT ABOUT IN FULFILMENT OF PRO- PHECY. God speaks by his herald and representative, and his word is a word of power. 'l'be disjointed and sundered a.re united, the dry bones are clothed with desh, the dead live, movement and the glad sound of life follow the stillness and the silence of the gral'e. An army of the living God is fashioned out of material the most unlikely. Thus the presence and operation of the Eternal is made manifest, the dagging faith of men is re"'ived, and the future of humanity is irradiated with immortal hope.-T. Vers. 11-14.-The Divine Restorer. The interpretation of the vision of the valley of dry bones was given by the prophet himself. It was intended that the Israelites, when restored to their own land and to national unity and vigour, should discern in this restoration the hand of Divine Providence. .A. most unlikely event was about to happen, and Ezekiel desired that those in whose favour the great interposition was about to be wrought should be mindful, both of the condition of hopelessness into which they had been plunged by their own sins, and of the marvel of the Divine mercy to which they owed their deliverance, renewal, and revival. I. THE DEATH AND DESPONDENCY OF THE CAPTIVITY, The Jewish people had endured many afflictions and chastisements; but the Captivity was the sorest disaster which had overtaken them, the profoundest humiliation into which they had been plunged. To so earnest a patriot as Ezekiel the case seemed, apart from Divine commiseration and help, one utterly depressing to contemplate. Human deliverer there was not; way of deliverance opened not up ; the prospect was dark. The whole house of Israel, con- templating the situation, summed it up in the mournful exclamation, "Our hope is lost; we are clean cut off." IL THE COMPASSIONATE INTERPOSITION OF TIIE DIVINE DELIVEBEB, When human help there was none, the Lord looked in pity upon his own. "Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, 0 my people." Their state was as that of those dead a~d buried out of men's sight. But with God nothing is impossible. His voice can summon even the dead to life. The hearts of kings and rulers are in his hands. He deviseth means whereby his banished ones may retum. III. THE SPIRITUAL ENERGY OONDITIONING TBE BEOOVERY A.ND llENEW AL, Provi- dential intervention is not all that is necessary. An internal as well as an external condition is requisite. No great work on behalf of a nation can, any more than a great work on behalf of an individual, be effected apart from the state, the character, the purposes, the voluntary co-operation of those who are to be benefited. We have an intimation of this in the present case in the promise, "I will put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live." To put a people in their own territory would be of no avail to the national life were not the people gifted with a spirit of patriotism, of unity, of hopeful- ness, above all, of true religion. A restoration such as that effected for Israel, in order to be a real thing, must be accompanied by the new heart, the new national endeavour and patience, the new devotedness to the higher aims of social and political existence, God, who gives the boon, gives also the preparation by which the boon may be appro• priated and used. IV. THE RESTORATION ITSELF. This was mainly, at all events in the general apprehension, a political movement. The capital was reoccupied, the temple services were restored in something like their former dignity and beauty; the reputation of the nation was in some measure retrieved. But beyond all this, in the apprehension of the ~ore thoughtful there was a religious reformation of greater interest and importance. The hfo from the d,ead w~s hfe unto J ebovah anq 11nto his laws 11,n(i. ordina11co11-a lif~ not  diI. :tixvxt. 1-28.j TltE BOOK or THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 271