(14) Put my spirit in you.--Here, as throughout this series of prophecies, the moral resurrection of the people and their restoration to their own land are intimately associated together. The former was at once the necessary condition of the latter, and would also be its consequence in a still higher development. Compare a similar association of the spiritual with the literal resurrection in John 5:21-29.
Ezekiel 37:15-28 constitute another prophecy, which probably was given very soon after the former, since there is a close connection between the two. In the former, under the figure of the revival of the dry bones, God had set forth His power to accomplish the promise He made of the spiritual resurrection of Israel; in the latter. He adds to this the specific declaration of what had been before only implied, that the two long-severed nations of Israel shall be re-united and prosperous under the rule of the future David, while He Himself will dwell among them, and they shall be obedient to Him. These promises prepare the way for the prophecy of the great and final attack of the enemies of the Church (Ezekiel 38, 39) and their overthrow by the power of God. The promise of this prophecy is first set forth by a symbolic action (Ezekiel 37:15-17), which is then to be explained to the people (Ezekiel 37:18-20), as in the case of the vision (Ezekiel 37:11), and then the promises of blessing follow.
37:1-14 No created power could restore human bones to life. God alone could cause them to live. Skin and flesh covered them, and the wind was then told to blow upon these bodies; and they were restored to life. The wind was an emblem of the Spirit of God, and represented his quickening powers. The vision was to encourage the desponding Jews; to predict both their restoration after the captivity, and also their recovery from their present and long-continued dispersion. It was also a clear intimation of the resurrection of the dead; and it represents the power and grace of God, in the conversion of the most hopeless sinners to himself. Let us look to Him who will at last open our graves, and bring us forth to judgment, that He may now deliver us from sin, and put his Spirit within us, and keep us by his power, through faith, unto salvation.
And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live,.... Not only a spirit of courage to go up into their own land, and live a civil and comfortable life there; but the Spirit of God, as a spirit of grace and supplication, of truth and holiness, of faith and adoption; and as a spirit of life, having produced a principle of life in them, and so should live spiritually and soberly, righteously and godly; see Ezekiel 36:27,
and I shall place you in your own land; settle them there in peace and quietness, in safety and security and in enjoyment of all mercies and privileges, temporal and spiritual:
then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord; that all this was a promise of his, foretold by him, notified to them by his prophets, and now fully accomplished exactly; which they would observe with wonder and thankfulness, and give him the glory of it.
Ezekiel 37:15-28 constitute another prophecy, which probably was given very soon after the former, since there is a close connection between the two. In the former, under the figure of the revival of the dry bones, God had set forth His power to accomplish the promise He made of the spiritual resurrection of Israel; in the latter. He adds to this the specific declaration of what had been before only implied, that the two long-severed nations of Israel shall be re-united and prosperous under the rule of the future David, while He Himself will dwell among them, and they shall be obedient to Him. These promises prepare the way for the prophecy of the great and final attack of the enemies of the Church (Ezekiel 38, 39) and their overthrow by the power of God. The promise of this prophecy is first set forth by a symbolic action (Ezekiel 37:15-17), which is then to be explained to the people (Ezekiel 37:18-20), as in the case of the vision (Ezekiel 37:11), and then the promises of blessing follow.
and I shall place you in your own land; settle them there in peace and quietness, in safety and security and in enjoyment of all mercies and privileges, temporal and spiritual:
then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord; that all this was a promise of his, foretold by him, notified to them by his prophets, and now fully accomplished exactly; which they would observe with wonder and thankfulness, and give him the glory of it.