CFBC Wed Study | 11-8-23 | Israel, Prophecy and the Middle East | Session 4

Dr. Chuck Herring | Ezekiel 37:15-28

ONE KINGDOM UNDER ONE KING

Here’s a summary statement I want you to get firmly fixed in your mind and heart…

Ezekiel clearly envisioned the transformed land of Israel in chap. 36 and the national resurrection of Israel in chap. 37.[1]

1. Two Sticks Become One Stick

Ezekiel 37:15–17… The word of the Lord came again to me saying, 16 “And you, son of man, take for yourself one stick and write on it, ‘For Judah and for the sons of Israel, his companions’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions.’ 17 “Then join them for yourself one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand.”

(16) And you, son of man, take for yourself one stick and write on it, ‘For Judah and for the sons of Israel, his companions’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions’— At God’s instruction, Ezekiel took two sticks. On one was writing identifying it with Judah and on the other was writing identifying it with Ephraim (that is, Israel). The sticks represented the kingdom of the northern ten tribes (Israel) and the kingdom of the southern two tribes (Judah).

§  In Ezekiel’s day the northern kingdom had been conquered and destroyed for some 150 years. Yet God still considered them a people, even though they were scattered among the nations.

§  “Incidentally, these same scriptures show the folly of the ten lost tribes.… The prophets all recognized the northern tribes as still in existence and knew of no such error as ‘lost’ tribes.” (Feinberg)

Isaiah 49:5–6… And now says the Lord, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, To bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel might be gathered to Him (For I am honored in the sight of the Lord, And My God is My strength), 6 He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” 

§  Joseph represents the ten tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel.  The tribe of Ephraim was the largest and most influential tribe of the northern kingdom.  In fact, several times in the Old Testament the northern kingdom was called Ephraim.  Jeroboam, the first king of the northern kingdom, was from the tribe of Ephraim. 

(17) Then join them for yourself one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand—God told Ezekiel to join the two sticks together so they would become one.

“Certainly no basis exists in this text for the strange Mormon teaching that the sticks refer to two scrolls. According to the convoluted interpretation of this cult, Ezekiel was prophesying that one day the Book of Mormon (the stick or scroll of Ephraim) would be joined to the Bible (the stick or scroll of Judah) to form the complete revelation of God.” (Smith)

This new section begins with a command to perform a symbolic action (vv 16–17) and continues with a question and answer format that in Ezekiel is used to create a hinge between a symbolic action and its meaning.

2. The Meaning Of The Joined Sticks

Ezekiel 37:18–20… “When the sons of your people speak to you saying, ‘Will you not declare to us what you mean by these?’ 19 say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will put them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.” ’ 20 “The sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes. 

(18) Will you not declare to us what you mean by these?— Ezekiel’s audience among the exiles were somewhat mystified by this acted-out prophecy. Perhaps they wondered what God would do with the northern kingdom (Joseph/Ephraim) some 150 years after their apparent extinction.

(19) Make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand—Here’s the meaning.  When God would ultimately restore the tribes of Israel, He would restore them all.  That which was previously divided in the days of Rehoboam (1 Kings 12-14) would be restored as one.  Douglas Stuart observed…

The north and the south of Israel had not been unified politically since the revolt of Jeroboam, after the death of Solomon in 931 b.c., nearly 350 years prior to this prophecy. Since 722 b.c., when the north lost its political identity and was annexed by the Assyrians, and especially since 586 b.c., when Judah had also fallen, the idea of a reunified Israel of the sort that David and Solomon had ruled over in the ninth century would have seemed ludicrous to any observer of international events in Ezekiel’s day.

This prophecy about the two kingdoms again becoming one and never ever again becoming divided would have provided immense assurance that the Lord was not through with His covenant people.  He does have a plan for Israel in the last days.

The vision of 37:1-14 and the graphic illustration of the two sticks being joined together points to other prophecies concerning the future of Israel and Judah. Hosea stated that the children of Israel and the children of Judah would be gathered together and would appoint for themselves one head. 

Hosea 1:11… And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together, And they will appoint for themselves one leader, And they will go up from the land, For great will be the day of Jezreel. 

Zechariah spoke of a time when the Lord would strengthen the house of Judah and the house of Joseph and bring them back. 

Zechariah 10:6… “I will strengthen the house of Judah, And I will save the house of Joseph, And I will bring them back, Because I have had compassion on them; And they will be as though I had not rejected them, For I am the Lord their God and I will answer them.” 

Here is God’s unequivocal declaration that all the descendants of Jacob were heirs of the covenant. 

3. The Promise Of Restoration And Reunification

Ezekiel 37:21–23… “Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; 22 and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be king for all of them; and they will no longer be two nations and no longer be divided into two kingdoms. 23 “They will no longer defile themselves with their idols, or with their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. And they will be My people, and I will be their God. 

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