Referring to Christ, who is the real David (see note Ezek. 34:23¹). In relation to Israel the prophecy given here will be fulfilled in the millennium, the age of restoration, and in eternity, in the new heaven and new earth.

The two lifeless pieces of wood symbolize the two parts of the divided nation of Israel, the southern kingdom of Judah and the northern kingdom of Israel. These two kingdoms could not be one, and in the eyes of the Lord they were thoroughly dead and dried up. After being enlivened, they are able to be joined together and become one (v. 17). See note Ezek. 37:10¹. Whereas the dry bones in vv. 1-14 are for forming an army to fight the battle for God, the pieces of wood in vv. 16-22 are for the building of the house of God as His dwelling place.

The revelation in this chapter shows that the unique way to have the Body, the church, and the house of God in the genuine oneness is the way of life. When the breath entered into the dead ones, it became life to them, and they lived and stood up in oneness to become an exceedingly great army. The dry bones and the two dead branches in vv. 16-17 became one not by gifts or by teaching but by life. The dead bones and the dead branches were enlivened and became one as the issue of the dispensing of life and the growth in life (cf. John 17:2, 11, 17, 21-23; Eph. 4:11-16).

The dry bones first came together, and then the breath came into them (v. 10), showing that we must first gather together in oneness, and then we will receive the breath of God (cf. John 20:19-22; Acts 1:12-14; 2:1-4).

Or, spirit; Heb. ruach; variously translated wind, breath, spirit in vv. 5-10 and 14. In spiritual experience, when God blows on us, His breath is the wind; when we breathe the wind, it is the breath; and when the breath is within us, it is the Spirit. When Ezekiel prophesied, God blew the wind, the people received the breath, and the breath became the Spirit, the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:6). Cf. John 3:8 and note John 3:8^1a.

Ezekiel’s prophesying in this chapter was not a matter of predicting but a matter of speaking forth, declaring, something for the Lord. When Ezekiel spoke forth, God gave people the Spirit (vv. 10, 14). The main meaning of prophesying in the Bible is not to predict but to speak forth the Lord, to minister the Lord to people. See notes on 1 Cor. 14:24-25.

Chapter 34 portrays God’s recovery of His people outwardly through His coming as their Shepherd to seek His lost sheep and bring them back to their own land, and ch. 36 concerns God’s inward recovery by life by giving His people a new heart and a new spirit and putting His Spirit within them. Chapter 37 reveals how God’s Spirit enters into His people in order to enliven them that they may become a corporate Body formed into an army and built up to be God’s dwelling place.

The vision of the dry bones shows that before God came in to renew and regenerate us, we were not only sinful and filthy (Ezek. 36:25) but also dead and buried in “graves” of various sinful, worldly, and religious things (vv. 12-13). We were like dead and dry bones, disjointed and scattered, having no oneness. But the Lord is the Savior of the dead (John 5:25; Eph. 2:1-8).