Haftarah V’yigash
“Sticks and Bones”
Ezekiel 37:15-28
excerpted from TorahScope Haftarah Exhortations
In the past century, there was an old school yard rhyme which was used to ward off the verbal attacks of opponents intent on demeaning schoolmates, when physical force could potentially result in after school detention: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Certainly, there is some corporeal validity to this retort from spoken taunts or name calling. However, one might argue that the spoken, or even written word, has the residual potential to do far more psychological damage, than a broken bone which will mend itself over time. This recent defensive expression came to mind when I considered the messages conveyed by our examinations in the Torah, as the sons of Jacob were rescued from the results of a regional famine in V’yigash (Genesis 44:18-47:27). But even more reflection was stimulated when I considered its corresponding Haftarah selection, which speaks directly of a restored family of all Israel, after depicting a resurrection of dry bones.
The great chasm and potential animosity, which could have developed between Joseph and his brothers, as a result of him being sold into slavery, never really occurred, as our Torah portion for this week relates. Instead, the banished Joseph, recognizing the providential hand of God upon his life, mercifully used the circumstances of crop failures, to teach his siblings a tremendous lesson about His sovereign hand upon the affairs of humanity. Whether the brothers were able to comprehend and appreciate what had transpired in their generation, is certainly open to conjecture. But no doubt, the maturation of Judah, as he struggled with personal transgressions and issues of life which drew him closer to the Creator, is certainly a contributing part. He unconditionally offered his own life for the life of his brother Benjamin, the final son of Jacob and his beloved wife Rachel:
“Then Judah came near to him, and said, ‘Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, and don’t let your anger burn against your servant; for you are even as Pharaoh. My lord asked his servants, saying, “Have you a father, or a brother?” We said to my lord, “We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother; and his father loves him.” You said to your servants, “Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.” We said to my lord, “The boy can’t leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.” You said to your servants, “Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will see my face no more.” When we came up to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. Our father said, “Go again and buy us a little food.” We said, “We can’t go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down: for we may not see the man’s face, unless our youngest brother is with us.” Your servant, my father, said to us, “You know that my wife bore me two sons. One went out from me, and I said, ‘Surely he is torn in pieces;’ and I haven’t seen him since. If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.” Now therefore when I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us; since his life is bound up in the boy’s life; it will happen, when he sees that the boy is no more, that he will die. Your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant, our father, with sorrow to Sheol. For your servant became collateral for the boy to my father, saying, “If I don’t bring him to you, then I will bear the blame to my father forever.” Now therefore, please let your servant stay instead of the boy, my lord’s slave; and let the boy go up with his brothers. For how will I go up to my father, if the boy isn’t with me?—lest I see the evil that will come on my father’” (Genesis 44:18-34, WMB).
It is at this point in our Torah reading, that the clear distinction between the two leading sons of Jacob is indelibly marked. Judah, the fourth son of Jacob and Leah, had become the dominant brother of his generation, and ultimately received the mantle of inheriting the line of blessing passed down from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob. On the other hand, the two sons of Jacob and Rachel, Joseph and to a lesser extent Benjamin, maintained a different stature—with Joseph perhaps predominating, as a Messiah-like son saving Israel from extinction. Due to Joseph’s position as the viceroy of Egypt and his marriage to Asenath, the daughter of the priest of On (Genesis 41:45), and father of the two sons Manasseh and Ephraim, Joseph eventually received a double portion blessing when Jacob adopted his grandsons (Genesis 48:5), making them joint heirs with their uncles. Consequently, there would be two distinctive strains among the Ancient Israelites: those who became associated with Judah (the Southern Kingdom), and those who became associated with Joseph and son Ephraim (the Northern Kingdom).[1]
The differences between two emerging sectors of Israel began to manifest themselves after Joshua’s conquest of the Promised Land. The Books of Joshua, Judges, and the Historical Books of Samuel-Kings and Chronicles, provide an overview of what transpired, as the various iniquities and transgressions of their ancestors—specifically worshipping other gods—were passed down, and multiplied from generation to generation, just as the Torah said they would:
“You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me, and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments” (Exodus 20:3-6, WMB).
By the time one arrives at Ezekiel’s generation, the required judgment upon and exile of the Northern and Southern Kingdoms, had been dispensed. God had used the Assyrians and the Babylonians to take the Israelites away from the Promised Land, sending many into the nations. The promise of a restoration of the captives to Zion, came to Ezekiel in a vision of dry bones coming to life, as they took on sinew, muscles, and flesh (Ezekiel 37:1-14). Then a profound prophecy was made about returning all Israel to the Promised Land:
“‘You will know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, my people. I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live. Then I will place you in your own land; and you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken it and performed it,’ says the LORD” (Ezekiel 37:13-14, WMB).
What an awesome vision about Israel’s restoration! The balance of Ezekiel 37, which makes up Haftarah V’yigash, describes aspects of what the sticks of reunification entail. The picture of two inscribed sticks in the hand of the Son of Man is prophetically comforting, when you consider how Judah and his companions and Joseph and his companions, will one day be reunited:
“The LORD’s word came again to me, saying, ‘You, son of man, take one stick and write on it, “For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions.” Then take another stick, and write on it, “For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions.” Then join them for yourself to one another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand” (Ezekiel 37:15-17, WMB).
A proper interpretation and application of the specific promises seen in Ezekiel 37:15-28, are things over which many people today do not agree. Some Jewish interpreters believe that the prophecies have been fulfilled. Some Christian interpreters allegorize these prophecies as speaking of ecumenical unity in today’s Church. Various Messianic interpreters often believe that these are futuristic prophecies, and others simply do not want to touch them because of controversy. Those who do touch these prophecies of Scripture are very brave souls indeed!
When one sees the various views present of Ezekiel 37:15-28 in the Messianic movement, you find a great number of sticks and stones of verbal and written accusation. There can be abuse, slander, hatred, strife, and all sorts of evil deriving from various people—simply because you have decided to offer your interpretation of a prophecy speaking of Israel’s restoration. Instead of bringing great comfort and encouragement to God’s people, particularly in the past decade as the Messianic movement has grown significantly, these verses have been used to bring great division. But this is no fault of the Scriptures! It is instead the fault of those who fail to look at Ezekiel 37:15-28 with an attitude closely guided by the Holy Spirit.
It is a shame that every year when we encounter V’yigash, the great reconciliation which took place in Egypt over three millennia ago, and Haftarah V’yigash, which prophesies of the full restoration of the whole House of Israel are read—ancient animosities tend to prevail. Is it possible that the iniquities of the ancestors are simply being passed down to the third and fourth generations which are alive today? Are old wounds of Jewish and Christian misunderstanding, pogroms, persecutions, inquisitions, the Holocaust, and prejudice—simply being replayed by another set of actors? Is there reconciliation which needs to take place among those today, who make up the Messianic movement, namely Jewish Believers who have recognized Yeshua as Messiah—and non-Jewish Believers who have embraced their faith heritage in the Scriptures of Israel?[2]
While attempts at reconciliation have been made in recent years, the ability to overcome the spoken and written words of contempt, has continued to fall short of the goal of universal acceptance. A spiritually edifying and constructive way to approach the issues, has often not prevailed. As you read the balance of Ezekiel’s prophecy, you will have to note how many of the aspects of the promised restoration have not come to pass. Most notable is the fact that God’s Sanctuary will be in the midst of the Earth forever! Does anyone honestly argue that this has taken place yet in such fullness? What will it take in order to see it finally take place?
“‘Say to them, “The Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land. I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. One king will be king to them all. They will no longer be two nations. They won’t be divided into two kingdoms any more at all. They won’t defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will save them out of all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. So they will be my people, and I will be their God. My servant David will be king over them. They all will have one shepherd. They will also walk in my ordinances and observe my statutes, and do them. They will dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob my servant, in which your fathers lived. They will dwell therein, they, and their children, and their children’s children, forever. David my servant will be their prince forever. Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them. It will be an everlasting covenant with them. I will place them, multiply them, and will set my sanctuary among them forever more. My tent also will be with them. I will be their God, and they will be my people. The nations will know that I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is among them forever more’”’” (Ezekiel 37:21-28, WMB).
In recent years, we have likely seen the beginning of the fulfillment of this prophecy, and many others. The formation of the State of Israel in 1948, was a significant part of this. Jewish people coming to faith in Messiah Yeshua, is also quite significant and absolutely required. But now questions are being asked from large numbers of non-Jewish Believers, who are drawn to Israel, things of Torah, and their Jewish Roots. What this means has been difficult to ascertain for many.
In spite of many of the challenges which currently exist, the Scriptural references we see in the Torah, Tanakh, and Apostolic Writings, indicate that all Israel will be restored. Recognizing all of God’s people as a part of the Commonwealth of Israel (Ephesians 2:11-13), is a good place to start discussing what prophecies like Ezekiel 37:15-28 mean. For as those being brought together will say, “Will you not show us what you mean by these?” (v. 18, RSV). This is a question many people across the broad Messianic community are asking today.
The sticks and bones of Ezekiel are certain reminders that, in time, the prophecies of Scripture will come to pass. Great David’s Greater Son, Yeshua the Messiah, will rule over a restored and reunited people of Israel—composed of native born and fully welcomed sojourner alike—forever. Thankfully, the sticks and stones of ancient generations, when the Southern Kingdom and the Northern Kingdom were at war with one another, are not being used to break the tender bones of those receiving the Ruach and turning to renewed paths of righteousness. But sadly, we do have some who are hurling invectives, which continue to keep the Messianic community divided, and actually do more to deter the restoration process than to accelerate it.
Hopefully, as we revisit these ancient stories about Joseph and Judah, and we re-acquaint ourselves with the prophecies of Ezekiel, the Almighty will bring new revelation to the minds and hearts of those hardened by the words of condemnation. God is able to heal broken bones and even broken hearts. Our challenge is to lay down the sticks, and as His people, embrace one another with open arms of repentance as the Ruach fills us and leads us.
May He do so quickly!
NOTES
[1] Cf. Genesis 48:19-20.
[2] Approaching Ezekiel 37:15-28, Joseph Blenkinsopp, Interpretation, A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching: Ezekiel (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1990), 175 considers the
“immensely problematic issue of Christian-Jewish relations…The attainment of a lost unity may be an eschatological goal but one that no Christian body professing allegiance to the biblical tradition can afford to neglect.”
He, and other interpreters, often view Ezekiel 37:15-28 as a word regarding the unity which is to occur among God’s people, both internally within their own denomination, and externally between Christians and Jews.
