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sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the nations whither ye went. 23. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the nations, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the nations shall know, that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. 24. For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. 25. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. 26. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. 28. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God -31. Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. 32. Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God; be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel—

xxxvii. 1. The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and

set

set me down in the midst of a valley which was full of bones, 2. And caused me to pass by them round about: and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and lo, they were very dry. 3. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. 4. And he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones*, hear the word of the Lord. 5. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live. 6. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh

* Dry bones.] The extreme accuracy of symbolical prophecy is very remarkable. St. John, wishing to describe the short extinction of the Smalcaldic witnesses which continued only three years and a half, describes them as being slain indeed, but as lying unburied during the space of three days and a half; after which life entered into them, and they stood again upon their feet (Rev. xi. 7-10. See my Dissert. on the 1260 years, vol. ii. p. 60. 2d edit. p. 62.) Isaiah, on the other hand, exhibiting to us the long political extinction of Judah, represents his children, as not only dead, but buried. (Isaiah xxvi. 19.) While Ezekiel, treating both of the long extinction of Judah and the yet longer extinction of Israel, calls us to behold the resurrection of a heap of dry bones; of bones, all whose covering even of putrid flesh had long since decayed away; whose very sinews were wasted : of bones altogether bare; and, not only altogether bare, but which had so long been bleaching in the sun and the wind, that lo, they were very dry. The prophet adds, These bones are the whole house of Israel, Ephraim, as well as Judah; and puts these emphatic words into the mouth of that nation, which separately or wholly has been expecting, expecting, and trampled under foot, more than 25 centuries, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost.

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upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you; and ye shall live, and ye shall know that I am the Lord. 7. So I prophesied as I was commanded: and, as I prophesied, there was a noise; and, behold, a shaking; and the bones came together, bone to his bone. 8. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. 9. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind; Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath *, and breathe upon these slain that they may live. 10. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

11. Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, our bones are dried, and our hope is lost; we are cut off for our parts. 12. Therefore prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. 13. And ye shall know, that I am the Lord, when

* Come from the four winds, O breath.] "The words figu"ratively represent the restoration of the Jewish nation from "the several countries whither they were dispersed over the "world, expressed by their being scattered toward all winds." Mr. Lowth in loc.

people, and

14. And I

live, and I

I have opened your graves, O my brought you up out of your graves. will put my Spirit in you, and ye shall will place you in your own land: then shall ye know, that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord.

15. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 16. And thou, son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions. Then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions* 17. And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand. 18. And, when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these? 19. Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim,

Judah, and the children of Israel his companions-Joseph, and all the house of Israel his companions.] This remarkable expression might alone prove, that the restoration of the house of Israel, so often predicted by the prophets, did not take place, to the degree that it ever will take place, at the return from the Babylonian captivity. Judah is here mentioned, with the children of Israel his companions; or Levi, Benjamin, and such individuals of the ten tribes as followed him from Babylon: while Joseph is separately mentioned, as having all the house of Israel for his companions; or the great body of the ten tribes. After the destruction of Antichrist, Judah so circumstanced, and Joseph so circumstanced, are to coalesce into one people.

and

and the tribes of Israel, his fellows, and will put them upon him with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand. 20. And the sticks, where on thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes. 21. And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: 22. And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all; and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all. 23. Neither shall they 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 wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 24. And David my servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd and they shall walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. 25. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they and their children, and their children's children, for ever and my servant David shall be their prince for ever. 26. And I will make a covenant of peace with them: it shall be an everlasting cove

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