Ezekiel 37:11 – The Valley of Dry Bones – the ‘House of Israel’ awakens.
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בא Bo – (‘Go’)
Exodus 10:1 – 13:16
Our Parsha, ‘Bo‘ בא which means ‘go‘ is aptly named as it is within these chapters of Exodus that Pharaoh finally relents and commands the children of Israel to leave Egypt. The final straw was the final judgement, the death of the firstborn sons of Egypt including Pharaoh’s.
The Firstborn
Israel is the Lord’s firstborn,
And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:
Exodus 4:22
וְאָמַרְתָּ אֶל־פַּרְעֹה כֹּה אָמַר יְהוָה בְּנִי בְכֹרִי יִשְׂרָאֵל׃
Thus we see that during the Exodus from Egypt the prominence of the ‘firstborn‘ in the narrative.
In Matthew 2:15 we read
Out of Egypt I called forth my son
This scripture is applied to the Messiah Yeshua who went down to Egypt with his parents due to Herod the Edomite’s determination to kill the King of the Jews. He failed of course and Yeshua returned to Israel after Herod’s death.
Of course Matthew was quoting Hosea with a bit of Exodus 4:22 added in.
When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
Hosea 11:1
כִּי נַעַר יִשְׂרָאֵל וָאֹהֲבֵהוּ וּמִמִּצְרַיִם קָרָאתִי לִבְנִי׃
Pharaoh’s firstborn
Just as Israel is God’s firstborn so Pharaoh’s son represents Satan’s firstborn. If the wicked will not bow to the maker of heaven and earth then they will be broken. Just like the donkey that will not be redeemed so their neck must be broken, Exodus 34:20. Ultimately disobedience yields to judgement if we harden our hearts. Pharaoh’s heart was further hardened by the Lord so that the Lord would display his judgement and power.
And so we have a judgement of Pharoah’s firstborn in order to bring out the Lord’s firstborn.
And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.
Exodus 4:23
And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts.
Exodus 11:5
For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.
Exodus 12:12
And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle.
Exodus 12:29
Passover – the Lamb judges the firstborns
Exodus chapter 12 concerns the Passover which inaugurates and enables the deliverance of Israel. All those that had the blood of the Lamb upon their doorposts would be saved from the coming angel of death. Even Egyptians that feared the Lord would be saved from the death of their firstborns if they applied the blood of the lamb to their doorposts.
This of course is a type and a shadow of the Lamb of God, Yeshua who shed his blood during a Passover 2000 years ago. Passover inaugurated the New Covenant. 50 days later we have Pentecost (Shavuot) where the Harvest of wheat commences. This has been fulfilled over the past 2000 years.
These past 2000 years have been 2000 years of Messiah while the church (congregation) of Messiah is being built. See the article titled ‘The Rapture‘ for more on this. The church age began in Acts chapter 2 and shall come to it’s fulfilment in the time of the latter day outpouring spoken of by Joel. This shall be about the same time as the Lost tribes return to the land -an awakening is coming.
The earthquakes are announcing a birth. And birth can be messy and bloody. In order to bring out God’s firstborn, Satan’s firstborn must die.
The same Lamb that saves those that put their trust in Him is the same lamb that shall judge the wicked. If we fall upon Him in repentence we will be broken (brought to an humble dependence upon him). But if we harden our hearts then he will fall upon us and grind us to powder, Matthew 21:44. The same Lamb of God both saves and judges.
Passover & the Sanctification of the firstborn of Israel
Pharoah’s firstborn is killed while Israel, God’s firstborn is saved and brought out of Egypt. We are then told that Israel is to set aside the firstborn to God, they are to be purchased with money. Later the Levites are taken in place of the firstborn of every family to be a priestly tribe to God.
Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine.
Exodus 13:2
And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem.
Exodus 13:13
And it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the LORD slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all that openeth the matrix, being males; but all the firstborn of my children I redeem.
Exodus 13:15
Later in the book of Exodus we read that the firstborn is an important principal in everything that genders or bears fruit.
Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors: the firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me.
Exodus 22:29
But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty.
Exodus 34:20
The Valley of Dry Bones
The exodus from Egypt shall find a much greater fulfilment in the future.
And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you.
Exodus 13:19
וַיִּקַּח מֹשֶׁה אֶת־עַצְמֹות יֹוסֵף עִמֹּו כִּי הַשְׁבֵּעַ הִשְׁבִּיעַ אֶת־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לֵאמֹר פָּקֹד יִפְקֹד אֱלֹהִים אֶתְכֶם וְהַעֲלִיתֶם אֶת־עַצְמֹתַי מִזֶּה אִתְּכֶם׃
The exodus from Egypt shall find a much greater fulfilment in the future. In the following prophecy the 10 lost tribes of the ‘house of Israel’ is pictured as a ‘valley of dry bones‘.
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.
Ezekiel 37:11
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי בֶּנ־אָדָם הָעֲצָמֹות הָאֵלֶּה כָּל־בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל הֵמָּה הִנֵּה אֹמְרִים יָבְשׁוּ עַצְמֹותֵינוּ וְאָבְדָה תִקְוָתֵנוּ נִגְזַרְנוּ לָנוּ׃
The Regathering of Joseph’s seed & the ‘House of Israel’
A few verses later we find that these dry bones of the whole ‘house of Israel‘ will be joined with the ‘house of Judah‘ (the Jews).
Moreover, 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?
Ezekiel 37:16-22
19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
דַּבֵּר אֲלֵהֶם כֹּה־אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה
הִנֵּה אֲנִי לֹקֵחַ אֶת־עֵץ יֹוסֵף אֲשֶׁר בְּיַד־אֶפְרַיִם וְשִׁבְטֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל חֲבֵרָיו וְנָתַתִּי אֹותָם עָלָיו אֶת־עֵץ יְהוּדָה וַעֲשִׂיתִם לְעֵץ אֶחָד וְהָיוּ אֶחָד בְּיָדִי׃
20 And the sticks whereon 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 heathen, 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:
Thus Israel shall be regathered.
And it shall be a joining of two formerly separate peoples. They shall be under a king and a kingdom. This has never been fulfilled. When the Jews returned from Babylon they did not join with another people that were as good as burried. Neither did they set up a kingdom under a Davidic monarch. The priestly line took over and later exalted themselves as kings which the Torah did not give them this right. Later an Edomite (Idumean) family named ‘Herod’ would rule as Kings which broke the rules of Torah for no foreigner was to be allowed to reign upon Israel. And to rub salt into the wound of those that think this scripture has already been fulfilled, the Jews lost the land of Israel and Jerusalem after 70 AD. The two houses of Israel have been divided until this day.
So this ‘Valley of Dry Bones‘ prophecy is still awaiting fulfilment in the future as is the joining of these two sticks, the two houses, Israel & Judah.
Ezekiel 34 describes many of the details of this 2nd exodus, including the judgement of the shepherds of the house of Israel and many of the sheep for their wickedness. Jeremiah 23:8, 31:8 speak of a return of the House of Israel from the ‘North Country‘. Neither of these prophecies have been fulfilled. Thus they are in our immediate future because we are already beginning to wake up to Torah and we are beginning to see the New Covenant through biblical Hebrew eyes once more. Joseph’s dry bones are beginning to live. This awakening and regathering through judgement will most likely occur at the same time as ‘Jacob is made thin’ after the destruction of Damascus as prophesied in Isaiah 17. The Psalm 83 prophecy of a confederacy of Israel’s enemies in a conspiracy against Jacob is also still awaiting fulfilment. We live in momentous times.
So there is a great deal of old testament prophecy still yet to be fulfilled before we even get to the events of the tribulation as recorded in the book of Revelation. We are living in awesome days where the bones of Joseph are beginning to rattle and come together, even as America and the world falls apart. Joseph’s bones shall be regathered from the North Country and from the ends of the earth where his horns have pushed the nations. The earthquakes are evidence of the awakening that is already in progress. And these quakes shall intensify as the time of travail draws closer. This travail is not the final travail of Revelation chapter 12, but the travail of the rebirth of the physical nation of Israel. At present the ‘State of Israel’ is still secretly under Rome. Shimon Peres, the president, reports to the Pope often. But within the State of Israel is the people of Israel (actually the house of Judah). Soon there shall be a great awakening and a reconciliation between the two houses of Israel, under the Torah of Israel and the Messiah of Israel. Then the bride must make herself ready. Then we shall have the final events recorded in the book of Revelation.
