Ezekiel 37:9-14 (NLT)
9 Then he [God] said to me [Ezekiel], “Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man. Speak a prophetic message and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.’”
10 So I spoke the message as he commanded me, and breath came into their bodies. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army.
11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones represent the people of Israel. They are saying, ‘We have become old, dry bones—all hope is gone. Our nation is finished.’ 12 Therefore, prophesy to them and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: O my people, I will open your graves of exile and cause you to rise again. Then I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 When this happens, O my people, you will know that I am the Lord. 14 I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live again and return home to your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken, and I have done what I said. Yes, the Lord has spoken!’”
DRAWING NOTES:
TIME OF DAY:
Unspecified in the Bible narrative.
LIGHTING NOTES:
The sun (unseen & high in the sky on the left) illuminates this scene, casting shadows below & to the right of the figure & objects.
CHARACTERS PRESENT:
The prophet Ezekiel.
A great army of Israelite soldiers.
RESEARCH/ADDITIONAL NOTES:
There are two versions of this scene:
01) (This page) Ezekiel 37 – Valley of bones – Scene 04 – Great army (with soul lights).
02) (Next page) Ezekiel 37 – Valley of bones – Scene 04 – Great army (without soul lights). The only difference between the two versions is the presence or absence of the soul lights.
The word “winds” in Ezekiel 37:9-10 refers to the Hebrew transliteration: ruach, which variously means wind, breath, mind, spirit; in reference to the spirit of a living, breathing person (their soul) or animal life, also of the mind or seat of the emotions. The word can also refer to God’s Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity.
God commanded the prophet Ezekiel to prophesy, to speak, to the souls of these bodies, to come back to them & fill them again, that they may live. The four winds (verse 9) refers to all parts; in every direction. Ezekiel was to call back the departed life essences of these people, & call it back into the lifeless bodies, so that they might live once more. In my first version of this scene (on this page) we can see the souls of people returning to their bodies, depicted as streams of yellow light. I thought I would remove these light streams in the second version (see next page) to simplify the scene, in case the light streams detract from the figures and features in the picture.
In both versions of the picture we can see the prophet Ezekiel standing on a rocky outcrop, with his staff held high, calling back to the souls of the soldiers into their bodies. Since the end of verse 10 refers to “A great army” I knew I would have to draw a lot of soldiers… that took quite a while to draw & colour in!
I have used more internet photo reference of Makhtesh Ramon again (a long & thin geological “crater” found in the Negev desert of southern Israel) to illustrate the background in this scene. The prophet Ezekiel is standing on a rocky hilltop. When looking at the photo’s of Makhtesh Ramon, it appears there is an outcrop of columnar jointed sandstone rocks; dark in colour, which form the hill the prophet is standing on. Columnar jointed igneous (Basalt) rock occurs in many places throughout the earth, but similarly jointed sandstone seems to be very rare, perhaps unique to Makhtesh Ramon? Quite a puzzle!
The three Common Cranes from the previous scene 03 can be seen in the sky.
Here’s the scene without any of the figures, birds or soul lights included.
Background of Ezekiel 37 – Valley of bones – Scene 04 – Great army
Click on the colour bar below to view/buy this Background:
Background of Ezekiel 37 – Valley of bones – Scene 04 – Great army
37:1-14 HUMANITY, Life (2.43A)
This prophetic story occurred as the nation Israel was “dead”, in exile. God used the graphic symbol of a valley of dry bones to illustrate just how dead the Israelites really were. And yet, as the story unfolds, God shows that once dry, lifeless bones can live. In verse 14 God promised the prophet Ezekiel that He would make the nation of Israel live again. Jesus has shown us that dead believers will rise to eternal life again after physical death.