OT Notes Ezekiel 37

One of our members keeps reminding me that we do not work with the Spirit nearly enough in church.
Here we have a good etymological point as wind/breeze/breath is the word for spirit as well, rua(c)h here.

I realize that this passage has been beaten to death to speak about church revitalization.

Speaking/delivering prophecy to the four winds is not to be missed. Just as the recent PBS show on Jews indicated, this is a faith of the word, spoken and read.

Not only do the bones need to be revivified but they need to be connected-
I am reminded of the scene in Lord of the rings when the army of the dead appears to make atonement for their previous cowardice in life.

We tend to see the vision in terms of the individuals being restored. Yet, does it not lean more t9oward a corporate restoration. One of the many loathsome things I found in the bush administration's Iraq policy was its refusal to have the coffins that landed in our country be televised. The wanted to present a vision of a sanitized war.

This is a visual masterpiece. Please consider highlighting that-take the listener to Gettysburg or the windswept Normandy beaches, or the local cemetery.

Ezekiel does not answer if he thinks the bleached bones can live, does he?

cut off can refer to being under the sway of death.

Is this not a replay of the creation of humanity in Gen.2? Doe we require both tthe breath and spirt of life?
One could do well to play around with wind/breeze/breath/Spirit in working with theis passage in a sermon.