June 2024
‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall
live’ Ezekiel 37.5 (RSV)
The prophet Ezekiel received these divine words during the
vision he was given of the bones of an army lying in a dry valley. Years
earlier, in 597 B.C., he had been exiled with many of the Jews to Babylon by
Nebuchadnezzar. He was from a priestly family, but now cut off from the temple
in Jerusalem. God called him to minister to the exiles as a prophet. For years
he warned the people of the harsh consequences of divine judgement and the
inevitable fall of Jerusalem. The Jews
had to endure exile, living at peace with their neighbours and with God. Finally Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 and
from then on the message changed to become one which promised hope and
restoration.
The vision of the dry bones is perhaps the most memorable of
Ezekiel’s visions. Finding himself
alone, surrounded by heaps of completely lifeless dried out victims of
destruction, he is told to give this word to them. As Ezekiel watches, he sees the bones come
back together, and the bodies of the soldiers become whole again. Then God
gives him a command: ‘Prophesy to the breath ... “Come from the four winds, O
breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live”’. It is only then
that the army becomes alive again. This is a two stage creation. Just as
mankind was originally created from the dust of the ground, so is this army
revived from it. Yet it is not until God
breathes into Adam’s nostrils that he becomes a fully living being (Genesis
2.7). Similarly, here, the bones need
living breath to complete their reanimation.
When we spend time in contemplation of the Word, we can
become conscious of our own breathing, the way in which the ‘ruach’ (the Hebrew
word for spirit, wind, breath) can come into the depths of our lungs. We take
God’s word into our heads and into our hearts, and the word comes to life when
we allow the Holy Spirit to enter into our very being. Thus our bodies can
become fully alive, and we can, this month and always, grow to know the glory
of the Lord.