Scripture Daily

Context No. 145 of 4322 · Ezekiel

Context · Reflection

Ezekiel 37:15-23: in context

15The LORD’s word came again to me, saying, 16“You, son of man, take one stick and write on it, ‘For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions.’ Then take another stick, and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions.’ 17Then join them for yourself to one another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. 18“When the children of your people speak to you, saying, ‘Won’t you show us what you mean by these?’ 19tell them, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his companions; and I will put them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in my hand. 20The sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes.”’ 21Say to them, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land. 22I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. One king will be king to them all. They will no longer be two nations. They won’t be divided into two kingdoms any more at all. 23They won’t defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will save them out of all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. So they will be my people, and I will be their God.

Ezekiel is in Babylon, and the kingdom he grew up in has been split for centuries. The northern tribes were destroyed by Assyria and scattered beyond recovery. Judah has now been deported too. This passage follows the vision of the valley of dry bones, and it is a small piece of theater.

God tells him to take a stick and write on it, for Judah, and take a second stick and write on it, for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim. Then join them together in his hand into one stick. When people ask what he means, he is to explain: God will take the stick of Joseph and the stick of Judah and make them one in his hand.

The promise that follows is that the exiles will be gathered from among the nations, brought to their own land, and made one nation with one king, never again two kingdoms, and cleansed of the idols they defiled themselves with. Two pieces of wood held in a fist is a small image for reversing four hundred years of political and religious division. Ezekiel does not argue the case. He holds up his hand and lets people ask. What long-standing split have I stopped even praying about, on the grounds that it has been that way too long?

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