The reading
1 The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out
by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was
full of bones. 2 He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the
valley, and they were very dry. 3 He said to me, "Mortal, can these bones
live?" I answered, "O Lord God, you know." 4 Then he said to me,
"Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of
the Lord. 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter
you, and you shall live. 6 I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to
come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall
live; and you shall know that I am the Lord." 7 So I prophesied as I had
been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling,
and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 I looked, and there were
sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but
there was no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the
breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come
from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may
live." 10 I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them,
and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude. 11 Then he said to
me, "Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say,
"Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.'
12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am going to
open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will
bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 And you shall know that I am the Lord,
when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. 14 I
will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your
own soil; then you shall
know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says
the Lord."
The message
(sung, not by me)
Dem Bones
Ezekiel cried, "Dem dry bones!"
Ezekiel cried, "Dem dry bones!"
Ezekiel cried, "Dem dry bones!"
"Oh, hear the word of the Lord."
The foot bone connected to the leg bone,
The leg bone connected to the knee bone,
The knee bone connected to the thigh bone,
The thigh bone connected to the back bone,
The back bone connected to the neck bone,
The neck bone connected to the head bone,
Oh, hear the word of the Lord!
Dem bones, dem bones gonna walk aroun',
Dem bones, dem bones, gonna walk aroun'
Dem bones, dem bones, gonna walk aroun'
Oh, hear the word of the Lord.
This familiar tune has been a stable of Sunday School
classes and bible stories with children for decades. The fun up beat rhythm is the sort of song
that gets stuck in your head and you find yourself singing the words again and
again throughout the day. At the same
time, the Book of Ezekiel is filled with some of the strangest and most complex
visions in the Bible. This vision of the dry bones is physical, earthy and
seems better suited for a tv show about zombies or Halloween than it does for
Sunday morning. Honestly it might be
dismissed as too difficult or strange, like the rest of the book of Ezekiel
often is, if it were not told as a catchy song.
Since it was first written in the 1920s Dem dry bones has been used in secular and spiritual
ways. This song has been recorded by gospel singers, rap stars and punk rock
bands. As recent as this year, the odd
rock band Phish opened their concerts with it.
It has also been used as a simple introduction to anatomy, teaching
children that our body move, walk, pick up things and all those other motions
because of connected bones. It has been
reworded for modern times, brittish rapper MIA, changes the words to make it a
society commentary for today and our dependence on technology, need for creative
safety and privacy. For her, the Hand-bone connects to the internet/ Connected
to the Google/ Connected to the government.
It’s not really a children’s song, at least not originally. The
song was first written in the 1920s by James Weldon Johnson and made famous in
1928 when it was recorded by the Myer Jubilee singers. It was a popular text
amongst African American preachers in the late 19th and early 20th
century. While Johnson was not
particularly religious in his later years, he saw the power in spiritual songs
and a social movement built on people coming together, finding hope where there
was no hope and experiencing new life among the abandoned and discarded. . This reading from Ezekiel found particular resonance with the African
American communities of the 19th and 20th century and
with many defeated and rejected people that had not seen much go right for
them. That is because the vision was originally shared with people who were
defeated and felt rejected.
All that separates
the secular and spiritual uses of this song and story, the teaching of anatomy
or teaching How great is our God, of helping a people come together for a
common good or of heling people come together, under God, for a common good, are
the introduction, “Ezekiel said to the dry bones” and the end of the chours “
oh, hear the word of the Lord”, but those few words make a big difference. In the vision of Ezekiel that inspires the
song, it is God’s word that works, that makes things happen, Ezekiel does not
get some crazy glue to rebuild broken pieces and string to tie bones together,
he does not have a bag of skin grafts and organs to carefully place in their
right spots. It is God’s word that
causes the dry bones to move and connect, it is God’s word “Come from the four winds, O breath, and
breathe upon these slain, that they may live” that causes those put together but not quite living bodies to
breathe and live, it is God’s word that explains the vision to Ezekiel and all
further generations. This is not
Halloween, this is not Zombies, this is God’s promise: O my people; and I will bring you back to the
land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves,
and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within
you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil.
This vision is God’s answer to an ancient refugee crisis, to
Ezekiel’s pain at seeing the loss of Jerusalem and the loss of faith or trust
in God’s promises, The people of Israel that Ezekiel speaks God’s
word to, they felt like they are in that pile of dry bones, He shares the word
with people in exile (around the year 590).
This moment in history was bad, no probably the worst. It was the fall
of Judah, of the southern kingdom of Israel, of the people who the Messiah was
expected to grow up from. This time was the destruction of the temple where God
lived amongst the people. It was the
kingdom and temple promised by and protected by God that would be destroyed. Ezekiel, with visions and secrets, does not
shy away from hard conversations, he asks has God abandoned the temple and
Jerusalem, Does the suffering of God’s
people have some redemptive purpose, is it part of a bigger plan, is any of
this even real. To each answer, Ezekiel
share a word, No God has not abandoned the people, we cannot know God’s complete plan, God, who has done great things before, will
do so again. At the center of this vision of the dry bones is the promise that
God will restore Israel, which had become little more than a lifeless nation on
the brink of destruction. This might
all sounds like wishful thinking, false hope or just some comforting words for
people who are so defeated and desperate, they will fall for anything.
We do not stress this enough but we have to remember, the impossible does happen. The dry bones rise in the vision and Israel rises again too. The exiles do return, the temple is rebuilt, the law and promises of God are rediscovered, the word of God is read in the assembly, praise and worship given, the poor are cared for, the people live in their own land again, In the years after the destruction of Jerusalem, The Persians lead by Cyrus the Great completely defeat the Babylonians and take over their empire. Cyrus is asked for permission to return and he allows the people of Isreal to go home, to rebuild and re-establish their communities. Earthly empires rise and fall, but God’s word lasts forever.
What is this story: This vision is news to those stuck in a
valley of dry bones, who look around and see nothing. This is a warning to those who do not think
our God is big enough or cannot do truly great things. This is condemning and
correction to those who think they will do things without God. It is an invitation
to tell the others “hear the word of the Lord” and to know that matters.
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