Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 37:2
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.
2. the often valley ] lit. on the face of the valley. The bones were strewed over the valley in vast numbers, and they appeared bleached and dry. Their great number no doubt was suggested by the actual fact that vast multitudes of the people had been slain with the sword or had otherwise perished; and their “dryness” expresses at least the utter deadness of the nation and the apparent hopelessness of its revival, if not that it had been long dead ( Eze 37:11).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Caused me; I was made to go round about them, in the same manner in which I was carried to see them.
Round about; round, round, perhaps twice or oftener, to view them well. Behold: he reports what he observed remarkable.
Very many; first for number, they were not only many, but very many, as Eze 37:10, they made an exceeding great army.
In the open valley; next the place, the face or surface of the plain, exposed to wind, weather, and to violence.
Very dry; the quality of them, dry, very dry, in which could be nothing that might promise life.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. drybleached by longexposure to the atmosphere.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And caused me to pass by them round about,….
Round, round s; several times round, that he might take exact notice of them, of their number, situation, and condition:
and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; as the Jews were in captivity; and as they will be when they shall be converted; and as the number of Christians will be in the spiritual reign of Christ; and as the dead will be at the time of their resurrection, both of the just and unjust:
and, lo, they were very dry; through length of time they had lain there, exposed to wind and weather; the flesh being wholly consumed from off of them, and the marrow within quite dried up; so that there was no probability or hope, humanly speaking, of their being quickened: these are a fit emblem of men in a state of nature and unregeneracy, who have no spiritual life, but are dead in trespasses and sins; have no sense of sin or danger; no strength to redeem and regenerate themselves, or do anything that is spiritually good; have no spiritual motion; no inward desires after God, or affection to him; no lifting up of the heart to him, or going out of the soul in faith and love to Christ; but in themselves entirely lifeless, helpless, and hopeless.
s “circum circa”, Pagninus; “undique undique”, Montanus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(2) Very dryas showing that it was a long time since life had left them, and that the possibility of their living again was far removed.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Eze 37:2 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.
Ver. 2. And, lo, they were very dry. ] Ex vetustare et carie. This added to the miracle.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
round about = on every side. Hebrew. sabib sabib = on this side and on that side. Figure of speech Epizeuxis (App-6), for emphasis.
behold . . . lo. Figure of speech Asterismos. (App-6), calling special attention to that which was seen.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
valley: or, champaign, Deu 11:30
they were: Eze 37:11, Psa 141:7
Reciprocal: Jer 31:40 – the whole Rev 20:5 – This
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 37:2. The prophet was shown a valley that was full of bones, and he says they were very dry. They were so represented because they stood for the nation of Israel that was lo spend 70 years in the valley which was Baby-lon. In that length of time all the flesh and moisture would be decayed and gone from the bones.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Eze 37:2-3. He caused me to pass by them round about To take an exact view of them; and behold, there were very many in the open valley As if it had been a place where a great battle had been fought, and a vast multitude slain, who had been left unburied till the flesh was all consumed, and the bones were divided and scattered about. And lo, they were very dry Having been long exposed to the sun and wind in the open valley, and the marrow within, as well as the flesh without, being utterly wasted. This circumstance was intended to show how unlikely it was, humanly speaking, that the Jews should ever be delivered from their dispersions and restored; should ever be brought together again, and formed into a body politic, or even into the skeleton of one. Still more unlikely it is that the dead in sin should be quickened, and raised up into living Christians; and most unlikely of all, that the dead bodies of men, after they have been turned into dust, and scattered to the four winds of heaven, should live again, and become bodies of light and glory. And he said, Son of man, can these bones live? Namely, immediately, and in your sight? Or, as Houbigant renders it, Shall these bones live? The question, as he justly observes, is not concerning the possibility of the fact, for the prophet well knew that God could do all things; but the Lord, introductory to what follows, asks him whether these bones should now revive or not. And though this be the right interpretation of the place, yet a resurrection from the dead is very justly collected from it: for a simile of the resurrection, says St. Jerome, would never have been used to signify the restoration of the people of Israel, unless such a future resurrection had been believed and known; because nobody ever confirms uncertain things by things which have no existence. And I answered, O Lord, thou knowest Raising the dead can only be an act of thy power and good pleasure. The prophet replies in a doubting manner, because he knew not the scope of the vision.