by Bill SalusApproximately 2500-years ago the prophet Ezekiel envisioned a future valley filled with dry bones. His account is described in Ezekiel 37:1-13. It appears the dry bones represent the Jews in a holocaust condition dispersed throughout the nations of the world. This conclusion can be safely suggested because Ezekiel 37:11-12 says,
Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!’ Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
These passages clearly evidence that these bones represent the “whole house of Israel.” Furthermore, it pictures the Jews in a desperate condition. Their “hope is lost”, and they “are cut off.” Lastly, they are being restored “into the land of Israel,” meaning they were outside of the land of Israel during the vision.
Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Dr. David Reagan, and many other dispensational teachers conclude that Ezekiel’s dry bones vision pictures the Jews during the Diaspora, and that Hitler’s holocaust caused their condition of hopelessness. Thus, Ezekiel sums up the metric of time that the Jews would be without a homeland, not in years, decades, or centuries, but in their helpless concluding condition.
History testifies to the accuracy of Ezekiel’s prediction because shortly after the holocaust the reestablishment of the nation Israel officially occurred on May 14, 1948. It is important to note that Ezekiel prophesied that the Jewish people would arise from their hopeless condition as refugees and emerge into an “exceedingly great army.”
So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army. (Ezekiel 37:10, nkjv).
The ongoing Arab – Israeli conflict has forced Israel to form a great army. The Israeli Defense Forces (I.D.F.) has had to become the superior military in the Middle East as a matter of national survival.
In my book, Isralestine, The Ancient Blueprints of the Future Middle East, I devote an entire chapter to the existence of today’s I.D.F. in fulfillment of bible prophecy. In addition to Ezekiel 37:10, prophecies written in Obadiah 1:18, Ezekiel 25:14, Zechariah 12:6, and elsewhere also seem to indentify today’s I.D.F.
Based upon the above premises, the remainder of this article discusses the debate among scholars as to whether or not Ezekiel 37:10 describes an exceedingly great army or not. Some bible teachers, like Joel Rosenberg and me, believe Ezekiel describes an army, whereas other’s like Dr. Thomas Ice and Ray Gano believe Ezekiel is predicting a great multitude or host will emerge out of the dry bones.
Point 1 - The Hebrew word Ezekiel uses in verse 10 for army is, "chayil" and it is used 12 times elsewhere by Ezekiel and over 225 times throughout the Old Testament. All of Ezekiel’s usages and many Old Testament renderings clearly depict it as either an army, or riches acquired via the spoils obtained by an army, in the aftermath of a war. Nowhere else in the book of Ezekiel can it possibly be translated as a multitude or host. This establishes precedent that an army rather than a multitude is being described by Ezekiel.
Ezekiel’s 12 specific usages of the word “chayil” are as follows;
1. Ezek. 17:17 – describing Pharaoh’s army,
2. Ezek. 26:12 – depicting the Babylonian army taking “riches” or spoil from victory over Tyre,
3. Ezek. 27:10-11 – alluding to the armies of Tyre,
4. Ezek. 28:4-5 – picturing the riches acquired by the ruler of Tyre,
5. Ezek. 29:18-19 – describing Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian army,
6. Ezek. 32:31 – alluding to Pharaoh’s army,
7. Ezek. 37:10 – describing Israel’s “exceedingly great army,”
8. Ezek. 38:4, 15 – predicting the coming armies of Gog of Magog.
Point 2 - Further supporting the proper interpretation being an army, the following Bible translations interpret chayil to be an “army”: King James Version, New King James Version, American Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, New International Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version, and The Living Bible.
Conversely, the Revised Standard Version translates the word as “host”. The New Revised Standard Version calls it a “multitude”.
Conclusion - Obviously the above reasons overwhelmingly favor the interpretation of Ezekiel 37:10 as an army rather than a host or multitude. Isralestine points out that the purpose of this army is to protect Israel from its surrounding enemies who someday confederate in a final attempt to destroy the Jewish State of Israel according to Psalm 83.
In light of the 2011 "Arab Spring," I believe the Psalm 83 Arab-Israeli war could occur soon, and that today's I.D.F. is fit for the challenge.
